Innovations, Tradition, and Eternal Truth

For Thanksgiving dinner we will have turkey, stuffing, sweet potatoes, squash, cranberry sauce and pie. The next day the Christmas decorations will be brought up from storage and Christmas carols will be the music of choice. The tree will be decorated and presents will appear under it, but won’t be opened until Christmas morning. Once again, as in every year past, I will watch “It’s a Wonderful Life” and “A Christmas Carol”–the one with Alistair Sim’s marvelous recreation of Ebenezer Scrooge. I will also read Dickens’ wonderful story of one man’s rebirth through the spirit of Christmas. On Christmas Eve we will hang our stockings on the mantel and spend the night in church. Some things never change.

Despite my love for innovation and change, my need to find new ways, I know that in some things, I require tradition. I want to sing “O Come, All Ye Faithful” during worship on Christmas Eve and “Christ the Lord Is Risen” on Easter Sunday. I want to celebrate my birthday with an angel food cake and the New Year with a round of family hugs and kisses. I want to know that some things are safe, that some things will never change. I need eternal verities. Once again, as in centuries past, Advent arrives, signaling the beginning of a new church year.

Once again, from Jesus’ birth, through his ministry of preaching, teaching, and healing, to his death, resurrection and ascension, we tell the story of God incarnate. Once more, as throughout history, we rejoice at the one eternal truth of which we can all be sure: God is with us! No matter if changes inexorably come, or times are troubling, this is the message of Christmas, and the mainstay of our lives.

However you celebrate Christmas, whatever traditions you keep or innovations you try, may you know Christ when he comes, feel the divine presence within you, and be filled with joy and peace!

Pastor Eileen