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Last week my Dearly Beloved approached me and said, “I think it’s time to throw this out.” Thankfully, she was not talking about me. She was talking about a small Christmas tree decorated with tiny, dried red roses (that she herself had dried) that has adorned my church office for the past 15 or 20 years. For a moment, I hesitated. She was right (of course): the roses were broken and not as red as they used to be, the lights didn’t always work, and the thing was just “tired.” But I have loved it. My mind flashed through memories of the two other offices I’ve occupied at the church and the good memories they evoked, and where she put this little tree in them. I am a bit sentimental; you know. I wondered if she could replace it with something just as wonderful.
Anyway, the tree was dumped, and I went off to something else and then came back a bit later to discover a new tree, decorated with flamingo lights and golf balls. It’s really cool! I won’t forget my red rose tree, of course, but now I have a new tree that will create its own memories, I’m sure.
Christmastime can be a time when we look back wistfully at the past and fearfully at the future. It’s a human trait to do so. Unsurprisingly, the scriptures speak to this fact. So, the day after tomorrow we’ll celebrate the 3rd Sunday of Advent and we’ll again enjoy some secular Christmas music as a way of thinking about nostalgia for the past and trepidation about the future. Please read Job 29:1-6, Ecclesiastes 7:10, and Hebrews 13:6-8, so you’ll be prepared to hear: “Sing We Now of Christmas: Past, Present, and Future.”
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