What's your favorite holiday movie? Here's a few to consider: “How the Grinch Stole Christmas” ( the 60's cartoon or the 2000 Jim Carrey movie); “Its a Wonderful Life” (those in my family either love it or are totally bored); “A Christmas Carol” (But which one--the 1951 version with Alistar Sims—personal favorite; the 1984 with George C. Scott; the 1999 with Patrick Stewart; the 2009 with Jim Carrey; updates like “Scrooged” with Bill Murray; or cartoons like Mickey and Muppets); “A Christmas Story”(“You'll shoot your eye out!”)? “Frosty the Snowman,” (60's cartoon with Burl Ives); or maybe “Home Alone” (fun take on our childhood nightmare of being left behind). For me, some of these movies are part of my holiday tradition. I don't feel in the mood for Christmas until I've had my "fix." Whether your tradition comes from a century's old heritage or is simply a comfortable habit, it is part of the fabric of your life.

In another movie, “Fiddler on the Roof,” the main character, Tevye, a Jewish man struggling to adapt to a changing world in Russia in the early 20th century, says, “And because of our traditions, every one of us knows who he is, and what God expects him to do.” Inherited ways of approaching life give cohesiveness to families and society but also can stifle differences, whether they're helpful or not. A balance is obviously necessary. A world without tradition is like a world without language and a world with overpowering tradition is a place with language but without the freedom to speak. Each extreme leads to life without communication between generations.

For example, many of my age rejected traditional worship because it seemed devoid of real life and our elders rejected our contemporary songs as lacking substance. In the resulting “worship wars,” the two camps became competing Towers of Babel, each trying to reach the heavens while hurling invectives at the other. Obviously we did not understand the words of the songs being sung nor each other. Now many of the current generation reject contemporary worship because it is disconnected from the heritage of countless believers who've gone before us. The new tradition of no tradition is now the old tradition to reject.

Tevye spoke of life without tradition being as difficult as being a fiddler on a roof. It's impossible to maintain your balance. Things that God revealed in the past and the means that our ancestors used to implement obedience to Him are meant to be a hand reaching out to us, to steady us, to keep us from falling. But how do we walk in the present while holding hands with the past? As I write this, it's late November and I'm beginning to think of Christmas. My work schedule and changes in my season of life mandate that some of my cherished ways of celebrating God's gifts must change. My traditions have to evolve, but the heart of the holidays doesn't change.

Tradition and language are shorthand for objects and actions and responses—but are not those things in themselves. I must decide whether my way of celebrating or the things celebrated are most important. I will find new ways to celebrate old holidays while taking care to incorporate all that's been given to me in a new day. The fingers of the hand of tradition that don't adapt becomes the bars of a prison as it reaches out to us. I become caged in a 'past-present' by memories—real and imagined.

That seems to be what's happened to us as a culture. We live imprisoned, disconnected from our heritage and we have only a memory of someone else's memory of what the holidays are meant to accomplish. After a few generations, it becomes like a slave's inherited stores of being free in a distant land. Those memories inspire vague good feelings (or incredible dispair) , but are only thinly connected to reality and truth. We roast a turkey for gathered family and friends, but can't say why. We give gifts, but have no knowledge of the Gift given us. “White Christmas” is as meaningful as a Christmas carol of God born among us. The result is celebrations with nothing to celebrate, language with nothing to say, and traditions in a vacuum, without meaning. Football, parades, giving gifts without giving ourselves, songs about reindeer and snowmen, and watching movies about others celebrating the holidays instead of celebrating them ourselves are the result.

Long ago, as the Lord was in process of saving the Israelites from slavery in Egypt, He commanded them to have a yearly celebration called the Passover. He specified what was to be done and even food to be eaten. He then demanded both obedience in celebrating as He commanded, and then in passing on both the tradition and reason from one generation to another: Listen to His words:
“When you enter the land that the LORD will give you as he promised, observe this ceremony. And when your children ask you, 'What does this ceremony mean to you?' then tell them, 'It is the Passover sacrifice to the LORD, who passed over the houses of the Israelites in Egypt and spared our homes when he struck down the Egyptians.' " (Exodus 12:25-27)

The Lord did not command a Christmas celebration as He did the Passover, but the birth of God is worthy of a holiday. An event 2000 years ago impacts our lives. Those who have honored His birth over the centuries have left us with ways of doing that have been meaningful to them. Use them, add to them, and adapt them to a new millennium. They are a means of communicating God's grace to us and to those who will come after. Think, plan ahead--as you decorate, make cookies, give gifts, put up a tree, watch movies, sing songs, gather with family, worship, and continue or create traditions--of what you will say when asked, "What does this ceremony mean to you?"

I'll be the first. What does Christmas mean to you?