How did you spend New Year’s Day? We spent it together as family, enjoying some of our traditions and taking time to appreciate one another. Most of what we did would be considered boring by many people, but the day was filled with a sense of meaning and family, even the nap I took to catch up on the sleep I lost watching the ball drop at midnight.

Too often we are tempted to believe that common, ordinary, traditional things need to be replaced by new, innovative, modern choices. Sometimes, they do, but there are some routine traditions that add meaning to our lives by sharing in them regularly. This is true for our family and cultural lives, but it is especially true for our spiritual lives.

The journey through the Christmas season takes us back to biblical story of the birth of Jesus. We read and relive the journey to Bethlehem and the beginning of God’s act of loving redemption found in the birth of the Messiah. We also connect with the traditions of the faith that have encouraged those who walked this journey before us, and we celebrate more recent traditions that help us find our place within our community of faith. The simplest things we do solidify our identity within the household of faith, and within the family of God.

We are never called to be stuck in the past, for our God is the God of the living, but we do need a sense of rootedness that arises from celebrating where we’ve come from. Making regular times for these moments of reflection helps us make sense of who we are, where we are, and where we are going.

The Gospels make it clear that Jesus took the traditions of his faith and culture seriously. He participated in the retelling of the stories of faith, and even helped others discover the deeper meaning of the traditions they followed. He made a sharp distinction between traditions that rooted faith, and meaningless human traditions that actually kept people from experiencing the fullness of God. He practice was not either-or, instead, he chose to reflect on the meaning of his practices and embrace those that built relationship with God, and strengthened community.

I know many are starting to feel tired of Christmas. They are ready to move on. After all, it is the New Year, and time to get started on new things. It is so tempting, after months of marketing, Christmas specials, and the flurry of activity that precedes Christmas Day, to want to just move on, but patience is worth it. Taking just a little longer to reflect on the meaning of Christmas, of new birth and new life, helps us approach the New Year with a better perspective, rooted in the revelation of God and the community of faith.

I pray your New Year’s Day was blessed and full of meaning. I pray that God is revealing fresh life and vision for the coming year. I also pray that as you move forward, you allow the traditions of the season to keep you rooted in God, and connected to one another. God is doing a new thing! Thankfully, it will be something connected to what God has done, and continues to do. Together, we are a part of the grand story of God. A new chapter is ahead of us, but it is built upon the chapters that came before. Let’s celebrate the story, and our place in it!