Another reason traditions are important...

...is that they create and express culture:

Now that the culture we live in is no longer even nominally Christian, we can expect that the gulf between the traditions of a Christian family and the traditions of the surrounding culture will become wider and wider.

As that cultural gap widens, basic Christan faithfulness will require us to be conscious and deliberate in forming and preserving the traditions that will shape the culture of our families. Gone are the days (if they were ever more than an illusion!) when we could unthinkingly absorb the traditions and patterns of life that we saw in the culture around us and make them the traditions of our families.

The importance of this for our task of passing on the gospel to our children and grandchildren is obvious, but it has an importance beyond the family as well. Sharing the gospel is about more than just clever individuals mounting logical arguments that defend Christian beliefs and expose the flaws in alternative belief systems. The New Testament calls us not only to defend the gospel with our ideas but also to adorn the gospel by the lives and families and communities that it creates....

You can read the rest at EQUIP book club.