From Where I Sit

Around this time every year cartoonists all over the world begin to draw images of a wizened, sometimes battered old man greeting an infant. Symbolizing the ending of an old year and the arrival of a new one, they are often funny, sometimes poignant, occasionally fuming. Almost always the cartoons look back at some past event, and seldom do they look ahead to envision new possibilities with a sense of hope. How sad.

One of our traditions is to watch ‘Christmas movies.’ ‘A Muppet Christmas Carol’ is clever and charming. The 1938 film, which neither of us had seen before, is very well done. Part of the genius of Charles Dicken’s ‘A Christmas Carol’ is the transformation of Ebenezer Scrooge when The Ghost of Christmas Future shows him a future based on continuing what he has always done and then tells him that it doesn’t have to be that way. The lesson for us of course is that the future doesn’t have to be ‘the same old same old.’

Every new year presents itself with a set of fresh opportunities - an invitation, if you will, to start anew. That was the point of the now neglected practice of new year’s resolutions. A new year is a transition time - new calendars - cleaning house after the frenzy of the holidays - planning for the year ahead - and more. It is as though we receive, annually, an invitation for a new year, with a reminder that the future doesn’t have to be ‘the same old, same old.’ When it comes to a transformation of our life in the year to come, it is useful to consider doing what gives us energy and avoiding what saps our spirit and what brings negativity into our lives. Put another way, it means choosing to invest our thoughts, our time, our resources in endeavors that produce positive and enduring results, as well as a satisfying, faithful life.

In matters of faith it comes down to choosing our priorities. When Jesus was asked about the greatest commandment, his response was immediate and to the point: “You shall love the Lord your God with all you heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength, and with all your mind; and your neighbor as yourself.” Typically, we read this as a demand, and a daunting one at that. But, in keeping with how Jesus treated the people around him, what if we regarded it as a “great invitation” - viewing it as an opportunity for a new life in a new year?

This is a perfect time to look ahead from Christmas, a time when our appreciation of Christmas turns into an active faith, rooted in a new way of life, which seeks to transform a weary world - in a way, an invitation for a new year. For me that is said best by the late Howard Thurman, Dean of Marsh Chapel at Boston University School of Theology.

THE WORK OF CHRISTMAS 

When the song of the angels is stilled, 

When the star in the sky is gone, 

When the kings and princes are home, 

When the shepherds are back with their flock 

The work of Christmas begins: 

To find the lost, 

To heal the broken, 

To feed the hungry, 

To release the prisoner, 

To rebuild the nations, 

To bring peace among brothers (and sisters), 

To make music in the heart.