I’ve mentioned this to a few of you in passing over the last few weeks, but one of my favorite nights of the year is coming up. Let me explain. I enjoy the Christmas season and I enjoy a lot of the decorations that go along with the season. I like the reds and greens and golds of Christmas. And I’ve got a good number of Christmas decorations myself. But you know the problem with decorations? They have to be dragged out of storage, dusted off, and then put up. That takes a lot of time and energy and thought and precision. When it comes to decorating, I don’t necessarily have all those things. That is especially true when it comes to the Christmas tree. All those ornaments. All those branches. It’s just too much!
The other problem with decorations? I really do like them! So, on the one hand, I enjoy having all these things around my apartment. On the other hand, I don’t want to take the time to put them all up! So, years ago, I asked myself, “How do I decorate for Christmas without decorating for Christmas?” And then it came to me! I texted some of my friends and invited them over to my apartment to help me decorate my Christmas tree. “In exchange,” I told them, “I’ll make a pot of chili and feed you.” I’m not great at decorating, but I’m pretty good at making chili! Sure enough, they showed up! We ate chili, decorated my tree, and spent the evening talking and catching up with each other.
We have gotten together every year since 2017 (with one notable exception in 2020) to eat chili and put ornaments on my tree. It has become a tradition among my friends and me. And every year the tradition flexes to include new people and new ideas. My friends will bring new dishes to go with the chili. They’ll bring presents if we’re not sure when we’ll see each other next. We’ll invite other friends to come and join us. This year I think we’re going to bake cookies together as well that night. But in all of it, we reaffirm our love and friendship. What started out as a sneaky way to get my tree decorated has morphed into a sincere night of friendship.If you were here for the Hanging of the Greens service, you’ll remember I talked about the idea that the traditions we carry forward tell a story about what we believe. They are a refrain to a song that we sing throughout our lives. In the church, we carry traditions regarding the birth of Christ, his death and resurrection, and all manner of other wonderful things God has done for us and for our world. They tell the story of our faith. They tell the story of the God we worship. They are beautiful expressions of our shared beliefs, as long as we remember that they tell the story of a God who loves all people in all places.
What are the traditions in your own family? What story do they tell? How do they connect you to others? How have they changed to accommodate new people? And what does all that say about the God we worship?
Merry Christmas,
Pastor Ben