Lord, tonight we come to you as a group of individuals. We are bound together by ties of family and friendship that are ever loosening and tightening - each of us caught in our own busy, messy lives. Our personal worlds are spinning, yet we do our best to set aside the pandemonium and be here at this moment.
Still, we can’t help but carry some of our worries with us.
Will that chemistry grade come through before break? Will the growing pile of gifts in the hallway get wrapped? Will our health hold steady? Did we choose the right gift—the one we weren’t so sure about? Can I push off that oil change another month?
These are all normal, responsible thoughts. And most of us are trying to gently set them aside, if only for a moment, to soak in tonight. This is a skill the young don’t need, and the wise have mastered. For the rest of us, myself very much included, we do our best.
Often, in the search for perspective, we turn to the past. In many Christmas prayers before, we’ve remembered the legacy of Nana and Pop-Pop. But tonight, Lord, help us do something different. Help us imagine Christmas 80 years from now, in a time when only our youngest members here tonight will remain. I don’t mean the flying cars or AR glasses, or kids arguing over whether to play Forza 47 or GTA 12. Beyond the funny clothes and the fancy phones, I think we’d find something deeply familiar.
We would see Jeanne’s passion for the arts in the style of the room decor and her cherishment of tradition in the family legacies being continued and the ones newly forged. We would see Ken Sr.’s passion for sports and the outdoors by the recountings of trophies won and trophy fish lost. We’d see Cricket’s passion for travel and family in the adventurous stories of the past year being recalled by those in attendance. We would find pieces of everyone in this room, and of those who have been here before and no longer are. Though the location may change, the event may evolve, and the world will be a different place; we would find, even 80 years from now, a room filled with the same palpable love and compassion that I feel tonight.
Despite the chaos and madness of our individual lives, we still choose to come together. And what we do tonight, what we do each holiday season, has lasting ramifications. Lord, help us look to the next generation and recognize that while we catch up with one another; share our challenges and success from this past year, we reinforce something much greater than ourselves. Something that endures long after us. Lord, let that knowledge provide us the ability to be present tonight and for the nights ahead of us.
Amen.
