Christmas Traditions

My Dad loved Christmas.  He believed in Santa Claus until the day he died.  Grandma would embarrassingly share how he towered over all the much younger kids in line to meet with Santa at the department store.  And Dad dragged that Christmas spirit into our holidays.  We had a ton of Christmas traditions in our house.

Santa brought the Christmas tree.  Do you know how much work goes into Santa bringing the tree?  Work cannot start until the kids are asleep.  And the finished product had to be so gigantic, so ostentatious that all the neighborhood kids—and many adults—would believe Santa was real.

Putting up the Christmas lights was an ordeal because our display had to be the best on the street.  And the presents--each one of us seven kids had to get at least one gift for each of our siblings.  My Mom bought into all this by overdoing it with gifts.  She would buy extras, so if a guest happened to pop in at any time during the holidays, there would be a present available for them. 

My family overdid it—overspent, overate, and it was overwhelming.  Did I mention the over-drinking?   Hot toddies on December 23, spiked cider on the weekends.  Alcohol flowed.  After church on Christmas Day, we finally started opening presents—one by one.  We would take an hour-long break so Dad could concoct his homemade eggnog.  It was stronger than straight Irish whiskey. On and on until New Year’s.

Lori and I started our own Christmas traditions.    Taco Bell for Christmas Eve dinner—it’s a long story.  For several years we visited a random rest home and brought socks and toiletries to those without families.  This energized Lori and sort of depressed me.  We took an annual trip to a live nativity scene followed by hot chocolate at a restaurant.  For over a decade we chopped down our own tree and bought a new tree stand because they are specially designed to never work.  One year after a particularly challenging tree stand incident I blurted out, “Why is cutting down our own tree so important to you?”  And she replied, “Important to me?  I thought it was important to you?”  We’ve had a fake tree ever since.

But the temptation to overbuy, overspend, overeat and overdo it remains.

It is December, it’s the time when the Christmas spirit is supposed to find us and all those Christmas traditions re-emerge. 

The question is, how do we handle all of our Christmas traditions?  Sure, we all want that elusive Christmas spirit, but how do we deal with the myriad of holiday traditions that entice us?

I’d like for us to look at some words from the Apostle John—and others—for an answer.

My dear friends, don’t believe everything you hear. Carefully weigh and examine what people tell you. Not everyone who talks about God comes from God. –1 John 4:1 (Message)

Dear friends, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God…

 --1 John 4:1 (NIV)

John says not everything is from God.  Not every tradition is from God.  Not every holiday opportunity is godly.

Dear friends, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God…

because many false prophets have gone out into the world.  This is how you can recognize the Spirit of God: Every spirit that acknowledges that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, 3 but every spirit that does not acknowledge Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you have heard is coming and even now is already in the world.

John suggests a test, and this is a great time of year for a test.  Because there are at least three types of Christmas traditions.  There are at least three kinds of Christmas spirits floating around.

Type one tradition: Mark 7

So the Pharisees and teachers of the law asked Jesus, “Why don’t your disciples live according to the tradition of the elders instead of eating their food with defiled hands?”  He replied, “Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you hypocrites; as it is written:

‘These people honor me with their lips,

    but their hearts are far from me.

 They worship me in vain;

    their teachings are merely human rules.’

 You have let go of the commands of God and are holding on to human traditions.”

And he continued, “You have a fine way of setting aside the commands of God in order to observe your own traditions!  For Moses said, ‘Honor your father and mother,’ and, ‘Anyone who curses their father or mother is to be put to death.’  But you say that if anyone declares that what might have been used to help their father or mother is Corban (that is, devoted to God)--then you no longer let them do anything for their father or mother.  Thus you nullify the word of God by your tradition that you have handed down. And you do many things like that.”

--Mark 7:5-13 (NIV)

Jesus is clear that some traditions are downright harmful.  Some traditions get in the way of doing what God asks us to do.  Some traditions nullify the very Word of God.

Maybe we don’t take money earmarked to care for our aging parents and put it in our own foundations, but some of the stuff we have scheduled for December might be harmful.

As our kids have gotten older and had their own kids, they have mentioned to me that my propensity to overdo it on gifts isn’t best for anyone.  So, we made some changes.  We do secret Santa and have our big family celebration on a different day to help the family.

One harmful family tradition we lived through as kids was the annual making of the gravy on Thanksgiving and Christmas.  For some reason my Dad’s perfectionism would come to a climax and a Festivus-like airing of grievances would ensue as the always wrong amount of flour was added to the gravy mixings.

Decembers were generally great as a kid, but Januarys were the worst.  One long pot of chicken soup as the family tried to recover from overdoing it.

 We can get so caught up in sales and office parties and indulging that we miss the true spirit of the season.

Type one tradition: Harmful

Type two tradition: Romans 14

One person considers one day more sacred than another; another considers every day alike. Each of them should be fully convinced in their own mind. --Romans 14:5 (NIV)

Some traditions can be harmful.  Others are simply harmless.

Today is National Pie Day.  I thought that it was March 14.  This one adds the e.  It is also National Secondhand Sunday where celebrants purchase items at second-hand stores to promote their businesses. In addition, today is National Eat a Red Apple Day. Tomorrow is National Fritters Day.

Those are harmless spirits, unless you eat a dozen fritters and throw a pie at a second-hand store.

Paul reminds Timothy—and us:

"Everything created by God is good, and nothing is to be rejected if it is received with thanksgiving, for it is made holy by the word of God and prayer." --1 Timothy 4:4 (NIV)

Some traditions aren’t worth arguing about.  What day you open presents, who hosts this year, whether to observe Boxing Day or not, all harmless.  Let’s not turn harmless traditions into days of obligation or a war of words.  We can let it go. 

If you eat a red apple today, fine, if not, no worries.  Taco Bell is harmless, well, maybe not.

Let us therefore make every effort to do what leads to peace and to mutual edification. 20 Do not destroy the work of God for the sake of food. All food is clean, but it is wrong for a person to eat anything that causes someone else to stumble.  It is better not to eat meat or drink wine or to do anything else that will cause your brother or sister to fall.  So whatever you believe about these things keep between yourself and God. Blessed is the one who does not condemn himself by what he approves. —Romans 14:19-22 (NIV)

Type two tradition: Harmless

Type three tradition: 1 Corinthians 11

For I received from the Lord what I also passed on to you: The Lord Jesus, on the night he was betrayed, took bread,  and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, “This is my body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of me.” In the same way, after supper he took the cup, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood; do this, whenever you drink it, in remembrance of me.” For whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes. –1 Corinthians 11:23-26 (NIV)

There are a number of traditions that God instituted in the Bible.  He told his people to celebrate the Passover when they were freed from Egypt.  In Joshua chapter four God told Joshua to pick twelve men to gather twelve stones and set up a memorial to remind the people how God helped them cross the Jordan river.

In the book of Hebrews we read:

Let us think of ways to motivate one another to acts of love and good works.  And let us not neglect our meeting together, as some people do, but encourage one another, especially now that the day of his return is drawing near. —Hebrews 10:24-25 (NLT)

God instituted some traditions to remind us to think about what he has done for us.  A couple of great Christmas traditions are to be in church and to participate in communion.

Christmas is not primarily about decorations and eggnog or even Santa Claus.  It is a reminder that God sent Jesus for us.  We were lost in our sins, destined for destruction, but God in his overwhelming love gave his son to come to earth to live for us and then die for us so we could be forgiven and live the amazing life he has planned for us.

Christmas brings us back to the ABCs:

Admit we need a Savior

Believe Jesus is our Savior

Commit to follow Jesus as Lord

Type three tradition: Helpful

Three types of Christmas traditions, or spirits if you will: Harmful, Harmless and Helpful. So, back to our original question:

How do we deal with Christmas traditions? The answer is carefully.

See to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy, which depends on human tradition and the elemental spiritual forces of this world rather than on Christ. –Colossians 2:8 (NIV)

This year, can we be more intentional about eliminating the harmful traditions; accepting the harmless traditions and enhancing the helpful traditions that we face?

Here is the Big Challenge:

This Christmas season:

  Eliminate one harmful tradition.  Cut it out, say, “No.”  Retire it. 

  Embrace one harmless tradition.  Don’t complain, just go with it. 

  Enhance one helpful tradition—Join a Bible-reading plan, attend church, practice generosity.

Be very careful, then, how you live—not as unwise but as wise, making the most of every opportunity. -- Ephesians 5:15-16 (NIV)