Happy Advent!  As a new church in a new season, we want to consider what we are doing. Jesus attacks traditionalism, elevating our traditions to the level of God’s commandments. But traditions are inescapable. The only question is whether they are consistent with Scripture and edifying or not. It is possible for something to be lawful but not helpful, and this is what the Reformers found in much of the late medieval church calendar. They whittled it down to the Five Evangelical Feast Days: Christmas, Good Friday, Easter, Ascension and Pentecost. This covers about half the year, followed by Trinity Sunday and season, making up "ordinary time" for the rest. It’s good to frame your year around Jesus this way and not fundamentally by the 4th of July and Memorial Day, to be Christian first before American in orientation. "Advent" means "coming" and kicks off the church year. It looks back to Jesus’ first coming and forward to his second.