Deep in December . . . New Beginnings

Deep in December, it's nice to remember,
Without a hurt the heart is hollow.
Deep in December, it's nice to remember,
The fire of September that made us mellow.
Deep in December, our hearts should remember
And follow.
(From "Try to Remember" from The Fantasticks; lyrics by Tom Jones, music by Harvey Schmidt)

These lyrics from the long running musical seem to speak of a mature love -- "deep in December" -- looking back to an earlier time when love may have been more youthful, more urgent -- "the fire of September" -- recognizing that as we mature, so does our love, but life goes on as we follow its path. The lyric also says, "Without a hurt, the heart is hollow." In other words, it is through experiencing pains and troubles -- the hurts of the heart -- that we gain experience, maturity, wisdom, understanding, fullness, and growth. And this is almost a biblical concept: suffering produces endurance, endurance produces character, character produces hope, and hope does not disappoint us because we have God's love in our hearts (Romans 5:3-5).

In this last week of the year, we are "deep in December," and a new year is about to turn. It is natural to look back, to remember, to think on the past, including the trials, frustrations, failures, and hurts. Most of us can name them. They are often part of our Watch Night or New Year's worship services, and part of our Communion liturgy.

As pastors, musicians, worship leaders, we experience our share of "hurts of the heart" in the church. Sometimes we keep them, internalize them, hold them to ourselves, and sometimes we choose a more confrontational way to resolve them. Sometimes we are able to move on through suffering, endurance, character, and hope, while at other times we are almost immobilized by our inability to get past them.

This is the time to remember -- deep in December, at the turning of a new year -- and it is time to experience and move on, through prayer, through song, through worship, through confrontation or reconciliation. Let the worship services of the end of the year -- celebrating the Incarnation, rejoicing in God's breaking into human history and relationships, looking back on New Year's Eve Watch Night, looking forward on New Year's Day and a new civil year. Do not remain paralyzed by the sufferings of the past, but look forward, through healing, to what God has in store that is new.

We might sing "Try to Remember," but let us also sing Brian Wren's hymn (UM Hymnal no. 383):
"This is a day of new beginnings, time to remember and move on."