Treasuring God in Our Traditions [Hardcover]

Noel Piper (Author), John Piper (Foreword, Contributor)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 16, 2003

Only God can bequeath God to our children. But he uses means. He uses God-centered traditions and Bible-saturated family patterns and grace-laden heirlooms. Only God can give our children a taste for the sweetness of God. Only God can awaken them to his worth. But year in and year out there are traditions that show children that God is our Treasure.

Noël Piper opens her home to you—more than thirty years of marriage and mothering. She invites you into the happy, imperfect Piper pattern of life (including a few family-occasion poems written by her husband, John). But, even better, she roots things in the Bible.

God-treasuring traditions can be ordinary, everyday habits such as telling stories, attending church, and using affectionate nicknames. They may be rare “especially” occasions such as funerals and weddings. And they are the creative ways we reflect Christ in our holidays.

Noël Piper believes that by our traditions we can help the next generation treasure God, and at the same time deepen our own love for him. Like a scribe trained for the kingdom of heaven, she brings out of her treasure what is new and what is old—making the old new and rooting the new in the old. In this way, the next generation absorbs the truth that the treasure we have in God is ancient in wisdom and strength, and fresh as the morning dew. Noël loves making children (and adults) bow their heads with reverence and clap their hands with joy.

"God created us for His glory—and gave us a character that craves traditions. Nevertheless, the frantic pace and highly mobile nature of our society rob many families of any sense of tradition—and any cherished traditions of their own. Noël Piper understands the traditions of the Christian faith and their importance to family and church life. Treasuring God in Our Traditions is a much needed corrective and a wonderful gift to Christians in this age. We must recover a biblical affirmation of faithful traditions in this generation, for God's glory and our joy."
Al and Mary Mohler

“Noël Piper offers Christian parents uncommon wisdom and hope in her Treasuring God in Our Traditions. Her vision for a God-centered home and family is both biblical and inspiring, and her many ideas and suggestions (including activities and recipes) offer much food for reflection and application. This parenting guidebook is at once motivational, instructive, practical, and based on a deep and beautiful vision of God.”
Bruce and Jodi Ware

“As Christians we long to pass on the faith to the next generation. In this amazingly practical book Noël Piper gets right to the heart of what we need to pass onto our children and grandchildren. Sometimes we think that being God-centered means that we always live spontaneously. This book reminds us that traditions and patterns woven into the fabric of everyday life can cultivate love for God.”
Tom and Diane Schreiner

“Treasuring God in Our Traditions offers the reader an intimate glimpse into a remarkable Christian family. This book will lead you and your loved ones to the Ultimate Treasure. Read it—the next generation will thank you!”
Raymond and Jani Ortlund

Product Details

• Hardcover: 117 pages
• Publisher: Crossway Books (September 16, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1581345089
• ISBN-13: 978-1581345087
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (18 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #935,370 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent Look at the Role of Tradition in your Family November 24, 2008

By Tracy E. Mickle

Format:Paperback

When I was a child, I looked forward to each major holiday in our home as a time when we would do the same family activities in the same way year after year. Even today, I treasure traditions I grew up with and hold to them very closely. They continue to give me a sense of belonging, of comfort, and of anticipation. In Noel Piper's book, Treasuring God in Our Traditions, she states that "both heirlooms and traditions strengthen our sense of history and belonging" (15). In our chaotic and hectic lifestyles, we need, as Christian families, to think through our traditions and intentionally set out to develop the best of what we grew up with, as well as the best of what we develop for our current families. Piper's book is full of practical suggestions and inspiration for doing just that!

Piper begins by establishing that the most valuable family heirloom we have is our relationship with Christ. If this is true in our lives, then we should structure our "everyday traditions" and our "especially traditions" around this fact. Traditions and ceremonies in our home become visual representations of our faith and allow our children, as well as visitors in our home, to see our faith illustrated in concrete and tangible ways.

The ceremonies, yearly feasts, and remembrances God gave the Israelites in the Old Testament speak of the power of such annual events. God designed these times as reminders for the adults, as well as teaching times for the children. Piper defines a tradition as, "The things we do regularly that help us in our deepest being to know and love and want God, the things that help our lives to be infiltrated with God--those things are tradition. And then if there are children in our lives, to pass these God-focused activities to the next generation--that's what tradition is for a Christian." (25).

The next question is how traditions are imparted, or how they teach the truths we want them to express. Piper responds with two main points. First, tradition must be intentional. It must be planned. We must think beforehand what we want our holidays to say, and then plan traditions that will support that teaching. Second, tradition must be consistent. We must do things the same way each year, while being flexible and realizing that some things change with the ages of our children, or the make-up of our family.

A particularly profitable section of the book is two chapters devoted to "everyday traditions". We often live very hectic lives with chaotic schedules at a haphazard and frantic pace. We do not have time to do intentional things, nor do we spend much time thinking about the day-to-day rituals of our lives. Piper gives many practical suggestions about ordering your child's day, scheduling one-on-one time with Dad, doing morning chores, accomplishing bed-time, going to church, and doing daily family devotions. All of these activities become much easier and happier when everyone knows what to expect. We also illustrate for our children how important they are when we make them part of our everyday traditions.

The next three chapters are devoted to "especially traditions" including weddings, funerals, birthdays, Christmas, and Easter. I found the chapter about Easter especially exciting as we tend to have many traditions around birthdays and Christmas, but perhaps fewer intentional traditions centered on Lent and Easter.

The only disappointment I had with this book was the lack of any real place for what I would call "just-for-fun traditions". While I would heartily concur with Piper that our traditions ought to speak of Christ and our Christian faith, and holidays in general are far too secular, I would also like to see a few fun traditions throughout the year. It may have been beyond the scope of Piper's book to include such events, but what about hunting for pumpkins at the local pumpkin patch in the fall, making strawberry pancakes on the first day of spring, or dying Easter eggs at Easter. While these kinds of things do not necessarily fall under the category of religious traditions, they can speak to a child about the joy of special activities reserved for special days. They can be fun times for the whole family, even if that is the only real spiritual lesson they impart.

I heartily recommend this book to all families whether you have children or not. All people, whether adults or children, need the special place of yearly traditions in their lives. We all need the comfort and assurance that there are some things we will do the same way every single time. Along with that, we can all be challenged to live our everyday lives with a little more ritual and dependability, making sure the intentional things we want to do are given the priority in our day. After all, God is a dependable God. These rituals and traditions are but a shadow of our God with whom there is no shadow of turning or change. May God bless your family, and the traditions you hold dear!

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars This book was a blessing and encouragement December 22, 2005

By Jaia

Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase

I'm a new mom and relatively new to the marriage thing as well. As we discuss how we want to raise our family, what traditions from our own backgrounds we want to blend, and most of all, our desire to exemplify our love for God to our children, it has been easy to get overwhelmed and discouraged. Noel Piper hits the nail on the head, the truth that our children can't "inherit" Christ from us but that the traditions we pass on can point them to a true knowledge of him. Instead of empty habits, we want to be intentional about our everyday and "especially" traditions, teaching our kids what we believe and why. Thank you, Pipers!

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Traditions & celebrations to strengthen and share your faith January 5, 2004

By Careful Reader

Format:Hardcover

A few pages into this book, I started making a mental list of women I want to share it with. The author, Noel Piper, mother of five (four by birth, one by adoption), is the wife of John Piper, renowned pastor, theologian and author. (She is not a pastor herself, as another reviewer has written.) Bits and pieces of her husband's writings add to the book, which is filled with practical suggestions based on the foundation of the Word. I highly recommend this for all women, but especially for newlyweds or those just starting to establish family traditions. To quote Noel, "How much more of God there is to find when we are on the lookout, when we shape our 'everyday' and 'especially' around him. God will show himself in special and new ways when we celebrate him. He will use our celebrations, our traditions, to stoke our heart's fire for him."