Christmas Nostalgia: The Obstacle to Our Joy?

“How lovely is Christmas with boughs in the hall,  
When bells ringle-jingle, and friends come to call, 
How lovely is Christmas with joy on the wing,  
While under your window the carolers sing,  
God rest ye be merry, give peace where you may,  
Remember the child who was born on this day,  
How lovely is Christmas with songs in the air,  
a bright merry Christmas dear friends everywhere.” 

Each Christmas, as far back as I can remember, I would sit in our living room and listen to a record that my mother had given me. On this record was the story of young Jethro, a lad who lived in a cabin with his parents a century ago in the wilderness of Kentucky.  

The lights were turned off, the tree was aglow, the nativity scene lit only by the star that hung above the manger. I cuddled up with a blanket and stared enraptured at the picture on the record jacket while I was transported with Jethro back to an age long ago.  

“How lovely is Christmas with boughs in the hall,” sang the carolers on the album. The music alone takes me back.

The hearing of the story “An Axe, An Apple and A Buckskin Jacket” by Arnold Sundgaard is an annual tradition for me. Yes, even well into my adulthood this yearly Christmas homage to my childhood reigns supreme. Indeed, I am eagerly awaiting the moment where I can find time to listen again to this age-old favorite.  

The Christmas Season is filled with moments like this for all of us. We recall baking cookies with our grandmother decades ago. We take trips to see ‘the lights,’ listen to the same Christmas albums, use the same decorations that we did when we were newlyweds 60 years ago. An important practice in our holiday experience tilts toward the euphoric, the nostalgic, the gauzy comfort of Christmases long-gone.  

But is any of this particularly good for us? Some will quickly chime in and confess that it is precisely this that makes Christmas so difficult for them.  

“It magnifies the losses I’ve experienced,” they will say. “All I can think about are the people who are no longer a part of my life and I spiral into sadness.”  

One commentator argues that our predilection to “romanticize…our youth and childhood memories” can “get in the way of what we should be enjoying in the moment.”*  

“Nostalgia,” he tells us, “has a complex etymology.”  

“The first part stems from nostos, meaning “homecoming” in ancient Greek, which was a heroic quality desired by Ulysses in The Odyssey. That epic poem charted Ulysses’ return to Ithaca after the Trojan War. But the second half of the word, algia, means “pain”. The word as a whole implies the “painful homecoming” – the difficult journey – the return home that’s not without trouble.” 

To suggest that our Christmas traditions and practices are distractions seems callous and hollow. The coziness of my Christmas memories is significant and worthy of being savored. But, there is something that rings true in the idea that these wistful recollections are ‘painful homecomings.’ 

Our celebration of Christmas should be more than a nostalgic longing for the past. As followers of the Christ Child, we should be mindful that His birth is far more than just a snapshot from the past. At Christmas, our energy and attention should be directed at the miracle and majesty of Emmanuel—God with Us—with all its eternal implications.  

Yes, if we linger too long in the harbors of Christmas Past we will not have any space left to savor what is unfolding in the present. This is bittersweet in two ways: It moves us out of our idealized pasts—which were not always so ideal, if we pause to think about it; and second, it gives us the freedom to move out of one season and begin another. 

Here’s the source of our joy! God’s redemptive power, made manifest in the person of Jesus Christ, can transform the past into a joyful new day and new tomorrow.    

So may the joy of Christmas remind you that in Christ Jesus all things are being made new. Be gentle with yourselves and with your memories this Christmas so that you can allow God to graft new moments of joy today and always.  

*”Christmas Nostalgia is Something to be Wary of, According to Literary Greats” is an article by Nick Taylor-Collins, and was published in the journal, The Conversation, on December 20, 2017. 

BALL Club Christmas Party

The BALL (Being Active, Living Longer) Club will have a Charades Christmas Party Thursday, December 21, 2017 at 10:00 am in the Gathering Room.  Bring a sandwich for yourself--drinks and dessert will be provided.  
Jennie and Sheila  399-0623

Christmas Eve Candlelight Service

Begin your family’s Christmas celebration with the story of Christ’s birth. Join us at 5:30 PM on December 24th for First Baptist Church of Sylva’s Christmas Eve Candlelight Service. Our family friendly event will capture the magic of Christmas with familiar carols, the retelling of the Christmas story and the glow of candlelight. Don’t miss this opportunity to create lifelong memories with your entire family!

A Letter from John Deitz

On the cold morning of Tuesday, December 12th, while snow was on the ground, a group of men from First Baptist Church was at my house at 8:00 AM. They bulit a handicap ramp for my house within about 5.5 hours. These men did fabulous work. I really appreciate that they took the time and had the skill to build my ramp. Please let these men know that I thank them.

Merry Christmas
- John Deitz

Mission Trip Donations

We now have an account open year-round that is designated specifically for mission trips! If you would like to make a contribution to our Summer 2018 Mission Trip, please write "Mission Trip Fund" in the memo line. Thank you all for your support in helping us to do God's work!

Eyes Open to Good Surprises

“But the angel said to the shepherds, “Do not be afraid; for see—I am bringing you good news of great joy for all the people: to you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is the Messiah, the Lord. This will be a sign for you: you will find a child wrapped in bands of cloth and lying in a manger.” Luke 2:10-12

The weather folk called for a dusting and we ended up with 10 inches of snow.

For this weather junkie, this was especially “good news of great joy!”

Our Snow Surprise! last week bucked the trend that we’ve come to expect here in winter. Around here, winter storms rarely sneak up on anyone. They emerge on someone’s computer screen days in advance and tease us with possibilities. The chatter at work and on social media reveals our anxiety about the potential disruption, and the volume of milk in our refrigerators escalates. And once the big day arrives, we sometimes discover that what looked like a historic snowstorm was only the enlarged shadow of our hopes, dreams or nightmares. The anticipated foot of snow becomes a windblown dusting of disruption. Meh.

Not. This. Time.

Sure, go ahead and claim that you saw last week’s snow coming. I’ll regretfully concede that it was not on my radar screen. True, I had kept up with the forecasts but agreed with the meteorologists that a brief hit of light snow was the best we could hope for. Instead, we were treated to the rising suspicion on Thursday evening that something might be up. The school system showed their cards and delayed school by a couple of hours hinting at the possibility that something more significant could be in the works. But still. When we were turning in that night, who among us expected that we’d see anything more than flurries?

But when we awoke to a couple of inches of snow on the ground and heard a rapidly changing forecast, it became clear that the weather forecasters had blown it. Deliciousness. It snowed a most-lovely and persistent snow. When the snow slacked off, it began again. When the heavy snow turned to flurries, it started up again in earnest. Snow upon snow, flake upon flake, our world was transformed into a Winter Wonderland of old.

Last week’s snow was for many of us a good surprise.* (see comment below)

The Bible tells us that a group of shepherds received a good surprise, as well. It’s not hard to imagine that what happened to them in the wee hours in a pasture surrounded by sheep was anything less than shocking. Angelic messengers made few

appearances, they knew, and they certainly wouldn’t waste their time on a bunch of ragtag, blue collar workers. But that was part of the surprise just as much as the actual message.

“Do not be afraid; for see—I am bringing you good news of great joy for all the people: to you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is the Messiah, the Lord. This will be a sign for you: you will find a child wrapped in bands of cloth and lying in a manger.”

The shepherds could read between the lines: “God has decided to make good on His age-old promise to save His people! This is good news! And the fact that you lowly and looked-down-upon folk are hearing about it first reveals that this is great news for the world’s least of these.”

This is what a good surprise looks like.

Good news and good surprises can be in short supply. We may be so discouraged and dismayed by our circumstances that we cannot see anything good beyond our pain. Sometimes, God’s good news can’t be missed—the shepherds’ experience speaks to this. But at other times, good news and good surprises are more subtle and can be missed. God’s good surprises are often veiled in the mundane and the run-of-the-mill.

On Christmas Day so many years ago, the Shepherds’ eyes were opened and they saw the good that God was doing in their midst. May our eyes be opened this Christmas, as well, to see the blessings that God does shower upon us each day.

Who knows? Those showers of blessing and good news just might be snow showers.

*No, last week’s dumping of snow was not good news for everyone. Many of our neighbors and friends were without power and suffered other inconveniences. But, with apologies to these individuals, I am going to claim last week’s near-one-foot-of-snow event as a good surprise. Thank you in advance for permitting me some glee.

Moravian Love Feast

We will be having a Moravian Love Feast this Wednesday, the 13th, in the Mission and Fellowship Center at 6 PM following our usual Weds. Night Dinner. Join us for an affirming and uplifting program of carols, hot cocoa and sweet pastries!
*This will conclude our Sylva First Wednesday programs for 2017. Wednesday Night Activities will resume on January 3, 2018

Christmas Choir and Drama Performances

Join us for worship on Sunday, December 17th at 10:30 AM as our Children’s Choir & Drama Troupe will be sharing the Christmas story!

Our Worship Service will also be featuring our Adult Choir as they share songs of the season.

Christmas and the Case of the Missing Manger

Yesterday, I learned that the manger for the children’s Christmas production is missing. Unless we find it soon, the Baby Jesus will have no place to “lay down his sweet head” when the children lead in worship on Sunday.

Now, lest I start a panic, let me convey that I have full confidence in our ability to find a home for the Christ-child. But it has me thinking. Does Christ have a home in Christmas?

At first blush, the response to this question seems plainly obvious. That is, until you start to press the issue. The Christmas season as we know it has become a mess of contradictions and mixed metaphors. Admit it. It’s flat-out confusing. We cannot even seem to agree on what holiday season we’re in—is it Advent? Is it Christmas?

Advent is supposed to be a season of waiting and anticipation for the arrival of the Christ Child on Christmas Day. Christmas Day, then, is supposed to begin the season of Christmas, right? If Advent is an exercise in waiting and delayed gratification, then we fail miserably at it.

“Why in the world should we wait for anything?” we wonder.

The story of Jesus’ birth suggests a season of quiet contemplation as Mary “treasured all these things and pondered them in her heart.” And yet, nothing is more chaotic and stressful than the month of December. We pack our calendars to the brim with activity, but in truth, we’re stretched thin and emit a strange odor that belies our commitment to hand sanitizer and our dependence on cough drops. By the time we arrive at Christmas Day, merriment is the farthest thing from our mind. It feels more like we’ve crossed the finish line of a marathon. Joy? Ha. We’re often exhausted and find ourselves near-to-comatose on our couches.

And then there’s the expectations. We know that it’s best for our economy if Santa delivers quite the haul to family and friends. We admittedly struggle with this as we reflect on a Holy Family that was in a starkly different income bracket than our own. We give gifts to one another (and score some great deals for ourselves while we’re at it!), but can’t really place our finger on the reason why. The Magi, we know, gave gifts to the Christ child—not to one another.

Christmas cards that we’ve saved from years gone by show snowy scenes and folks dress up like eskimos. But lately, it’s been warm enough to turn on the air conditioning while Santa gets down to business.

The truth is, the Christmas Season is not unique in its complexity and mixed messages. Life is complicated and full of contradictions. For the record, I don’t think there’s a particular animosity towards a Christmas “like the ones we used to know.” I think Christ has never been at home in our culture and in our world. He was born on the periphery to a marginalized couple in questionable circumstances (Oh, and the Law was after him, as well). Perhaps we shouldn’t be surprised.

As a pastor, I’ve always found the Infancy Narratives to be a challenge to convey in the midst of the expectations that our world has laid upon it. For while the actual story feels "Christmas-y,” the lessons that we learn from the story of Jesus’s birth are decidedly out of step with the values of our current milieu. Each individual in our nativity scene tells us something about faith.

A messenger of God announces that God will come to earth in the most vulnerable way possible.

Mary rejoices that she will become part of a plan that will bring about the salvation of the world.

Joseph teaches us about trust, fidelity and obedience.

The Shepherds teach us about God’s dedication to the ‘least of these.’

The Magi show us what commitment, dedication and crafty-resilience look like.

Even Herod confirms our hunches about the tendencies of worldly tyrants.

Did I leave anyone out?

It’s easy to forget about Jesus, isn’t it? It’s even easier to forget about his adulthood and the things he taught and stood for.

John 14:23 reads, “If anyone loves me he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we shall come to him and make our home with him.” Maybe our goal this season should be to create space in our lives for God to make His home with us.

“Everything’s in place. Now, what did we do with that manger?”

When the Weather Outside Is Frightful...

Here are a few things to remember when snow, sleet and freezing rain are in the forecast:

1.) Wednesday evening programming will not be determined by local school closings. The church will broadcast any cancellation on Wednesday via an email, our church’s website, Facebook page and in the local media.

2.) If weather proves to be inclement on Sunday morning, we will make every effort to have church. If that goal proves to be elusive, we will likely A.) cancel Sunday School and offer only Worship at 10:30 AM; or B.) Schedule worship at 2:00 PM in the afternoon.

You may determine the status of our church programming at any time by checking our website, Facebook page, or our local media.  A decision will be made at least two hours prior to the regularly scheduled event.

Lastly, thank you for your understanding in advance as we strive to make decisions that are complicated by weather conditions which create different realities in our county due to location and elevation. Overwhelmingly, we are striving to to provide continuity of ministry offerings while balancing concerns about road conditions.