Advent is here!

Photo by KaLisa Veer on Unsplash

When I was young it was trendy to make a hard separation between Christianity and “religion”. Religion was some thing that was old, cold, and man-made at its best, and at its worst it was down right idolatrous. We would revel in the stories of Jesus taking apart the Pharisees for honoring their tradition over truth. But as I have gotten older I have learned there is an important difference between remembering the limitations of religious exercise and simply destroying all tradition.

To destroy tradition is to erase memory and to steal any sense of history from our children¹. Today we see a horrible identity crisis in young people, I don’t want to be simplistic, but I think it is fair to say this is at least aggravated by the fact that so many children are raised with no sense of history or tradition. Nothing to anchor them and no sense of who they are or where they come from as a people, and therefore no sense of who they are as an individual. This makes them easy prey for the sellers of perverse ideas regarding so called “identity” that currently flood the media and education systems.

Growing up we were Lutheran, and there we plenty of traditions, this may even be why the anti-tradition message resonated so loudly with me back then. There was common cup communion, confirmation, advent and Easter and too many smaller traditions to list. There were candles and evening services with my Mom and Dad on cold nights, dreaming of Christmas while we sang Christmas songs together. Not every thought in my head was historically accurate, but it established in me a sense of history which in turn gave me a sense of hope for the future. I knew who I was, where I came from, what we did as family and why we did it. This gave me a very solid platform from which I could navigate my future. (Too bad I did not make better use of it, but that is another story altogether)

Advent is one of those traditions, that technically is not a Biblical mandate or teaching, but it is a time set aside to remember the gift of God to us at Bethlehem and to remember our hope for the future in Jesus. Jesus has come and advent reminds us of the absolute mystery and wonder of that event. But advent is also a time to remember that he is coming again to bring final justice to all, and eternal life to all that believe. The mess that self-serving human government has made and continues to make, will one day end. Jesus came once many years ago and he is coming again this time to stay.

For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; 
     and the government shall be upon his shoulder, 
         and his name shall be called 
Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. 
     Of the increase of his government and of peace there will be no end, 
           on the throne of David and over his kingdom, 
                 to establish it and to uphold it with justice and with righteousness 
                 from this time forth and forevermore. 
The zeal of the Lord of hosts will do this.  
(Isaiah 9:6-7 ESV)

This week let’s not allow ourselves to be pushed along by the things we call urgent, and carve out some time to reflect on our history and our future. Let’s allow the wonder of God’s gift to a rebellious and sinful people to soak in a bit. It’s time to fight this anchorless culture and establish a culture and a tradition of remembrance, honor, and hope in Jesus. Start a new tradition or reestablish an old one. Let’s help each other remember that there is hope for the future in Jesus.

Have a great week!

1. There were several festivals in ancient Israel designed especially to help people remember and to teach their children their story of God’s faithfulness.

“You shall count seven weeks. Begin to count the seven weeks from the time the sickle is first put to the standing grain. Then you shall keep the Feast of Weeks to the Lord your God with the tribute of a freewill offering from your hand, which you shall give as the Lord your God blesses you. And you shall rejoice before the Lord your God, you and your son and your daughter, your male servant and your female servant, the Levite who is within your towns, the sojourner, the fatherless, and the widow who are among you, at the place that the Lord your God will choose, to make his name dwell there. You shall remember that you were a slave in Egypt; and you shall be careful to observe these statutes.  (Deuteronomy 16:9-12 ESV)