How Will You Celebrate?

We recently went through the process of joining a new church, our eighth since my husband and I married 34 years ago. No, we are not chronic church-hoppers. We just move a lot.

The questions we were asked as part of the new member process got me thinking about my church history. Unlike many who were raised with strong denominational ties, I was raised a bit more ecumenically. My mother was Methodist, but we left the Methodist church to attend a non-denominational church when I was young. My father is Jewish. And my parents sent me to Catholic school.

I’ll admit it was a bit confusing for me as a child. Without the capacity to recognize the deeper theological differences, what I saw were different traditions and celebrations. Worshipping the same God but holding different views on the identity of Christ. Experiencing the various traditions at church, at school, and when I attended celebrations such as Passover, weddings, or bar mitzvahs with my father’s family caused me to think deeply about faith at a young age. The end result was that I felt a great deal of freedom to investigate and decide for myself who Jesus was. Ultimately, this made my faith stronger.

One thing I truly love and admire about the Jewish faith is all the built-in celebrations and traditions to remind them of God’s faithfulness. Jewish celebrations include Rosh Hashanah (The Jewish New Year), Hanukkah, Purim, Passover, and Shavuot, just to name a few! They also set aside traditional days of remembrance (Yom HaShoah, Tisha B’Av, Yom HaShoah) and self-reflection (Yom Kippur).

Bar or bat mitzvas are another meaningful Jewish celebration. They mark the age when, according to Jewish law, children become accountable for their own actions. Looking back at what their parents have taught them, they look forward to how they will embrace their faith.

My faith’s roots in Judaism make these traditions rich in meaning for me. After all, Jesus was raised with some of these same traditions.

Looking Back and Looking Forward

In Psalm 143, David looks back on all that God has done, then looks forward, stretching out his hands to grasp more of God:

“I remember the days of old; I meditate on all that you have done; I ponder the work of your hands. I stretch out my hands to you; my soul thirsts for you like a parched land.” (Ps. 143:5-6 ESV)

Celebrations and traditions are opportunities for us to look back and to look forward. To recall God’s faithfulness. To stretch out our hands to God.

In the same way that Moses built altars to commemorate God’s faithfulness, our modern-day celebrations and traditions memorialize in the present what came before preparing us to move forward into what lies ahead.

Recognizing and Establishing Meaningful Traditions

In her book, Treasuring Christ in Our Traditions, Noel Piper defines traditions as planned habits with significance, a way to hand down information, beliefs, and a worldview from one generation to another.

As you celebrate significant holidays and milestones, how do your traditions help you to look back and look forward? How are you handing down your beliefs to the next generation? How do your traditions treasure Christ?

Consider the traditions within your church and the ways you celebrate. Talk with your family about how these traditions and celebrations call us to look back at what God has done and look forward, reaching for more of him. Communion is one example. Corporately, we look back to the night when Jesus took the bread and broke it, to the night when he was broken for us, then we look forward to the restoration of all things that was made possible by the cross.

In hindsight, I wish I had been more intentional about making celebrations significant when my children were young. I wish birthdays had included more poring over baby pictures and sharing childhood stories. More conversations with my children about their dreams for the future. More worship. More praising God for establishing our family. More treasuring Christ.

One cherished family tradition was celebrating Christmas Eve. Attending a Christmas Eve service and planning a special family dinner were essential. The children also received new pajamas on Christmas Eve. At the end of the evening, dressed in their new pajamas, we would gather under the Christmas tree. Sitting on the floor, sipping hot cocoa, we would read The Night Before Christmas” followed by the account of Jesus’ birth from the Gospel of Luke. We looked back at the night our Savior was born: Immanuel, God with us. We looked forward to what that means for us as Christians, the promise that through Christ comes redemption for all who would put their faith in him, and we stretched out our hands to take hold of more of Jesus.