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A recent survey on popular Christmas songs says the top four are White Christmas, Winter Wonderland, Silver Bells, and The Christmas Song (Chestnuts roasting on an open fire). They all focus on the sentimental feelings of the holidays with no mention of Christ. Traditions have a way of wrapping up truth in small, manageable pieces, and tradition is to truth as a bottle of water is to a river. The water in the bottle came from a river; it’s part of a river, but the real river is miles of life streaming across the land with rapids and swimming holes, muddy banks, and rocky bottoms. Inside the bottle is a tiny, incomplete piece of the river. Our Christmas traditions: the star, manger, wise men and shepherds, even Mary, Joseph, and baby Jesus, are just part of what God is doing; the action of God is vast and sweeping. We want God in our traditions, but it’s like trying to catch a river in a bottle; the Spirit of God at work is more than tradition can convey. Traditions are predictable, the Spirit is not, and traditions are comforting. Still, the action of God’s Spirit is always challenging and will change our lives. Tradition brings happiness, which is nice, but the Spirit leads us to joy, which is better and deeper.
