“Remembrance is an act of love.” — Alexander Schmemann
“It’s one of those traditions that when I’m away from Kanuga and traveling for business, people who have any knowledge of Kanuga will bring it up,” says Jimmy Haden, Executive Vice President for Engagement. “They’ll ask, ‘What is this toast we hear about?’”
The first encounter? Well, one could say it’s a bit abrupt.
The sign above the tray says Toast, so naturally you assume you’re about to enjoy a perfectly ordinary piece of toast. It’s golden brown, so you expect a little crunch—nothing like a burnt piece of bread. Yet as you try to sink your teeth into the alleged toast, your chompers are met with a startling crunch, something more akin to biting into a giant crouton than a slice of breakfast bread.
And here’s the thing: this toast is legendary.
Dating back to the 1930s, it has been a breakfast staple at Kanuga for generations. Well…except for that brief moment in the late 1980s when Kanuga changed food service vendors, and the new staff made the devastating mistake of serving regular ol’ toast.
As Jimmy recalls, “There was practically a riot among guests. The new staff didn’t realize they were messing with tradition. The next day there was Kanuga toast.”
I spend a fair bit of time onboarding new leaders. At the top of my list is encouraging them to begin by building relationships through listening to the stories of the people they have been called to lead. That’s where they discover not only the organization’s history but also the traditions that have shaped its culture. Miss that moment – miss that opportunity – and the honeymoon will almost certainly be a short one.
Honoring tradition is neither an exercise in nostalgia nor an unwillingness to embrace new possibilities. Rather, tradition provides the framework from which we can faithfully explore those possibilities.
Merriam-Webster defines tradition as “the handing down of information, beliefs, and customs by word of mouth or by example from one generation to another”. I would go a step further and suggest that tradition is the very DNA of a community. It is woven into the fabric of a people’s culture, context, and history. It helps form their identity. That’s why, when tradition is minimized – or worse, ignored – the impact is often far greater than we anticipate.
As I often tell leaders, hold firmly with one hand the rope of tradition and with the other hand hold the rope of new possibilities. Your work is to stand in the middle, maintaining the tension and balancing both.
Which is why, at Kanuga today, you can choose either the legendary Kanuga toast…or a bagel.
“So then, brothers and sisters, stand firm and hold fast to the traditions that you were taught by us, either by word of mouth or by our letter.” — 2 Thessalonians 2:15
BP