Are Traditions Real?

It's coming up to Easter again, gee time does pass quickly sometimes. Anyway, it has got me thinking about what I do, how I spend my time and celebrate this momentous occasion. What did I do as a kid? What's changed?

Family traditions are funny things. If you join a family at such an occasion and they're trying something different that year it is quite often taken as something which they will do every year. What do we do when we find out that this is not right or when a tradition is changed. Do we buck up and want to stick with what we had or do we embrace the new ideas, the idea of new traditions?

 

When I was a kid I remember going to a Tenebrae Service on the Thursday night. Everybody would come and it was a great time. When it stopped, I didn't know what to do. Is it still Easter if we don't have the Tenebrae Service? Another thing we would do is get up at the crack of dawn to drive the 50 minutes to the nearest Dawn Service on the Sunday morning in the next town over. When I left home for the first time I remember coming back to go to that Dawn Service, as I didn't want to let it go.

Later I remember spending some of Easter time with friends instead of just family. Of going to a different dawn service where I was able to invite others along. Now, we have a new thing we do every Easter. We go camping, well in a caravan park around the place somewhere. We meet new people every year, we celebrate and remember with different people every year, but no matter where we are, we are with family. Our family in Christ.

Recently I've been thinking about what kind of new traditions I might like to start up. I don't have a family of my own or anything like that but what's to say that we cannot start up a new tradition anyway? Of maybe putting something on to invite others along to. The thing is, it doesn't really matter what we do at Easter as long as we remember what it's really about, and celebrate that, not losing it amongst everythings else.

Why do we cling to those things which we know, the false security we find in order and traditions? I would like to suggest that we remember the times which we have had with such things, the fun, the laughter, or the solemnity, that the occasion just doesn't seem quite right unless you do it that way. That is until you actually try something new! I challenge you to actually think about what you do, who you spend your time with, and where you go. Would you like to change anything?

So, anyway, amongst all that is above my question to you is what are your traditions, and why do you keep them?

God Bless.

Not Enough

You know sometimes we don't have much to say. This is sometimes because we have used too many words already that we've run out it seems, or it is because words in themselves are just never going to be enough. You know that feeling when you are able to just sit quietly in companionship with another without saying or doing anything and not feel like you need to. I pray that you may all know and have this.

My question to you is what kind of relationships do you have?

 

God Bless.

Life! ..or something like it?

You know, sometimes it feels pointless writing blogs. Why do people do it? It's like you're talking to yourself or maybe talking to someone else who isn't really there, like an imaginary friend when you were a kid, or maybe writing a letter to someone who has passed away. Anyway, I think writing blogs is also a bit like prayer. Only with prayer you don't need to wonder about the point of it or if there's anyone at the other end listening, it is a certainty.

I was at a bible study this morning and we were looking at Acts 8 and 9. Those stories about Philip and the Eunuch and then about Saul's transformation. Isn't it amazing to see how God is at work in so many different peoples lifes at the same time, directing their movements, and bringing them together, to ultimately lead them to Him! That he has the ultimate authority and that no matter what we do we are never to bad or too far removed that he can't reach out and save us, and show us that we ourselves don't have real authority but only him alone!

Sometimes life is going right and you think, yeah, I've really got it all good at the moment, aren't I doing a great job? And then sometimes life isn't going so great and you think what else can I do to make it all better. That reliance on ones self is the problem, when really the answer is above.. remembering that God has the ultimate authority and that repenting and turning to him in prayer is the only way anything is actually going to go right in your life, as before this happens, real life is unknown. Take a glimpse at those around you and tell me, who is really living?

So, the question I have for you is what makes your life real?

God Bless