Rediscovering Tradition

Imagine not having Thanksgiving.

Imagine giving up on Thanksgiving because of all the sins of our past.

So the people went out and brought them, and made booths for themselves, each on the roofs of their houses, and in their courts and in the courts of the house of God, and in the square at the Water Gate and in the square at the Gate of Ephraim. And all the assembly of those who had returned from the captivity made booths and lived in them; for from the days of Jeshua son of Nun to that day the people of Israel had not done so. And there was very great rejoicing. And day by day, from the first day to the last day, he read from the book of the law of God. They kept the festival seven days; and on the eighth day there was a solemn assembly, according to the ordinance. - Nehemiah 8:16-18

In today's reading, the people of Israel rediscover a lost tradition, the Festival of Tabernacles, a seven day pilgrimage festival of remembrance.

The people remember the journey from Egypt to Canaan when they lived in booths or tabernacles. 

What i find interesting about this reading, though, is not that the people remember the tradition, but that for generations they had lost it and now reclaim it.

The idea of coming home to something lost is a powerful one.

I believe we really do treasure something more, when we lose it and then get it back.

Where would our faith be if Jesus had not returned to his disciples after death as the resurrected Christ?

Nehemiah gives us a picture of a people reclaiming their heritage and rediscovering the traditions that keep them aware of them.

This Thanksgiving, we should try to do the same, reconnecting with the struggles and successes of our past, acknowledging the difficulties and inconveniences, and even experiencing them again, just to be able to appreciate where we have been and where we are now.

Of course, we could just blot it out, seeing our tradition as a distortion of history, but then, I think, we would miss the point altogether.

So, as we approach Thanksgiving, we can take time to reflect on how far we have come, acknowledging the past, accepting the truth of our history, and celebrating the growth we have seen on our journey.

It works for me.

More to come...