FOR THIS DAY
Volume 5 Issue 4
FOR THIS DAY Our Holy Day Traditions
by Jon and Vivien Jordan
Our family has a running disagreement about how many Holiday traditions we actually have. Vivien would argue that neither of our extended families have long-standing traditions that have been passed down to us, and she is right. I like to point out the reality that because of this reality Vivien has the tendency to crave traditions, and will often introduce multiple new traditions for our family each and every season! So as a family, we both do and do not have many Holiday traditions.
The traditions we have begun to keep over the past few years are shaped by two things: what we love, and what we want to love.
Our family loves spending time together. Given our varied interests and pulls on our time and energy, simply being in the same place at the same time during the Holiday season is one of our great joys as a family. This love has led to us making sure to find time to watch Elf, bake cookies, drink hot chocolate, and wait for one of our children to initiate an impromptu family dance party.
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FOR THIS DAY
Volume 5 Issue 4
Our family also loves those who God has placed in our lives, and we are willing to take "road triiiiiiips!”—as our daughter affectionately calls them—across the city and across the state to celebrate with those inside and outside of our immediate family. This love has led us to join families from our small group each year in attending a Live Nativity in Dallas, cooking and eating ribs for Thanksgiving with my wife's parents since they don't like Turkey, and crashing our friends' family dinners in order to see them in their element, and get to know those who helped shape them.
These traditions are born out of what we love. But we also have some traditions that are in place because of what we want to love.
As much as we love time together and with others, what we desire most is for our family to love the God we worship with all of our hearts, minds, souls, and strength.
We belong to a Christian tradition that re-lives the life of Jesus year after year by following the Church Calendar. We order our time and seasons around the life of Jesus - anticipating and celebrating his birth (Advent and Christmas), recalling his revelation to the gentiles (Epiphany), entering into His period of fasting in the wilderness (Lent), walking with Him on the road to Calvary (Holy Week), feasting in the joy of the Resurrection (Easter), and experiencing the challenge and comfort of “We also have belonging to the Church, whose beginning is marked by some traditions the giving of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost.
Our Dallas campus PreK Moms visited the school to share their Holiday Traditions with the class.
that are in place because of what we want to love.”
To be honest, we don't always want to follow these traditions. In the moment, they are not always enjoyable. It often means packing up the car and making the drive to Church on a day that isn't marked as a national or cultural holiday. And sometimes it means doing that multiple times in a single week. With toddlers. And jobs. And social engagements. And toddlers. Did I mention toddlers?
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FOR THIS DAY
Volume 5 Issue 4
But what else can we do to combat the individualistic, consumeristic, and downright ugly shape the months of November through January tend to take in culture that wants to celebrate something but has forgotten that the only reason we have these Holy Days is because God emptied himself to take on flesh and dwell among us. (This is also where we get the term ‘Holiday season’ - this time from November through January is full of Holy Days.) And what do we do when we notice these same tendencies in our own lives?
Following the Church Calendar has not automatically made our family more holy. (If you know how to do this, please let us know!) But by re-living the life of Jesus through the Church Calendar we are starting to discover that our conversations about God throughout the year tend to be richer, and our time during the Holiday season tends to be more focus on the Incarnation of our Lord than it used to be.
So while we do not get the instant gratification from this tradition that we do from others, we do get something. What we get in return, even when we don't see the incremental changes day by day, is a growing desire to become more like Jesus each year.
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The Jordan family attends the CDA Dallas campus, where Jon is the Logic School Director and Vivien is a bit-too-enthusiastic room mom for Zoë’s PreK class. In their spare time they like to take goofy pictures in fields while their son, Rowan, wonders why he was placed in such a ridiculous family.
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