Quest 43 - The Intention of Tradition

What traditions are important to you and your family? 

For my family we have several - one tradition is that the opening weekend of college football is a massive deal and I know I will not move from the couch all day so I take my girls to breakfast. Another tradition is to play a game of pick up basketball on Christmas. Another is that whoever’s birthday it is gets to pick the menu of food for that evening, no questions asked. 

You see, traditions are absolutely important. They bond people together and create moments where you are gathered and centered around key ideas. For all of those it is football, playing together, and the birthday person. In all of those situations, I treasure the memories in my heart. 

That’s why I loved this week's reading in quest. It was a focus on the element of tradition. The passover meal was a part of the Jewish culture for thousands of years and it centered them on God’s goodness. Then Jesus took the passover meal and changed it with a different look, but same meaning, a focus on Christ’s goodness. 

When we participate in the Lord’s supper, as we call it now communion, what we are doing is reminding ourselves of what Jesus did for us up on that cross. 

Mark 14:22-24, “22 As they were eating, Jesus took some bread and blessed it. Then he broke it in pieces and gave it to the disciples, saying, “Take it, for this is my body.”23 And he took a cup of wine and gave thanks to God for it. He gave it to them, and they all drank from it. 24 And he said to them, “This is my blood, which confirms the covenant[e]between God and his people. It is poured out as a sacrifice for many.”

Jesus was creating a brand new tradition for his people and it came with a great intention… to remind ourselves of the sacrifice of Christ that saves each and every one of us from Hell. All we have to do is believe in Him. What a thing to celebrate! What a thing to remember! What a joyous occasion that we get to partake in every time we take communion!

Yet, I don’t know if we fully grasp this moment. 

We might take communion quickly during service, we might take it during holiday services, or we just might take it in spirit because the walk is too far. What I believe is that the tradition that is laid out before us, we can take to a whole new level of intention. 

Here is what I mean by that. 

Take communion. Yes, it's great. It’s powerful and you should make it a part of your worship. 

But don’t just practice this singular tradition in this moment, take the concept and create more tradition with intention. 

We all have different traditions that occur in our lives as I said earlier. How many of them are centered around Christ and his goodness? Probably not as many as we would like to say. I sat here and wondered why people struggle to feel connected to God, but our last series made it clear as day. We are in such a hurry to get to the next moment that we don’t pause and create a spiritual moment. 

I believe we need to create these traditions to reflect and celebrate the goodness of God. There are so many ways that you can accomplish this, it might be a meal a week with your family, it might be a thank you walk with your loved one, it might be a yearly day of celebration. 

The options are endless, that is what is beautiful about this, my traditions and your traditions are not going to be the same thing. Don’t miss out on the joy of this though, the more opportunities that we give ourselves to pause, practice sabbath, and celebrate God the better our lives are going to be. 

Have intention with your tradition. Celebrate Jesus and what he has done in your life. There is so much to be thankful for.