A brief Christmas message, included in Christmas cards and newsletters distributed around the Riverside Parishes (near Darlington).
Nostalgia. I try to avoid it, but it keeps bugging me. Especially at Christmas. Memories of childhood come to mind: the decorations, the anticipation, the excitement, the presents, the food … happy family times!
It’s not often that churches are full these days. But lots of churches are getting bumper attendances at Christmas time (though not on Christmas Day, interestingly). Whether it’s a Christingle service or a traditional carol service, often it’s standing room only. Why is that?
I wonder if nostalgia is part of it. You leave the house, silence your phone, and make your way to a special building – one that brings back happy memories of the past. For an hour or so, you forget the stresses of today and the worries about tomorrow, you listen to familiar stories and sing familiar songs, and you allow yourself to be taken back to a time when life was … simpler.
Why is nostalgia so appealing? I think it reflects a longing that we all have. It’s really a longing for home: a place of comfort and security, surrounded by those we love.
But why is nostalgia so dangerous? If life is difficult in the present, and if the future is uncertain, then by indulging ourselves in the past, it just makes us feel worse when we return to the present. We need more than a bit of nostalgia to sustain us into the bleakness of January and into the rest of 2025.
What if the familiar stories of Christmas might actually be … true? The Christmas story is one of God making his home among us, and inviting us ‘home’ as part of his family.
Try listening carefully to the Christmas message this year, and see if you hear God calling you home. The Christmas story doesn’t need to be something that’s only in the past. It can also be something that sustains us in the present, and gives us hope for the future too.