“Those were the days my friends, we thought they’d never end…”* That old song is the most succinct expression of nostalgia that I’ve ever come across. When I find myself singing it, I know I am courting trouble.
This time of year, it’s pretty easy to drift into the sentiment of nostalgia. Labor Day may be the last hurrah of summer, but as soon as the Fair ends we know the end is near. As the carnies start packing up the rides, we know it’s time to begin saying our goodbyes to the carefree season of sun. The sunset is already noticeably earlier and before long evenings will be cooler. After a week of being delighted at easier sleeping, we will start hunting around for a sweater to wear when we go out in the evening. For a lot of people, this transition from summer to fall is one that we are hesitant to accept. We don’t want to let go of this time of year that seems to slip by so quickly. That clinging hesitancy to move on is a form of nostalgia.
The transition from summer to fall is a time of resumption of routine and so we often refer to this in terms of ‘heading back.’ It’s “back to school.” Summer vacation is over. This time of year, we accept that we better get back to work. Summer schedules and relaxed work expectations are dissolving like cotton candy. For sports fans, its back to the Cap. Although the boys of summer will keep playing until October, the dawn of pre-season games by the Bills nudge us into Fall. At church we head back too: back to Sunday School, back to choir rehearsals and back inside for worship.
Truth be told, the resumption of routine in the fall is really about beginning again, not repeating the past, but its familiar patterns and rituals stir memories of bus stops, of anxious and excited first days at school. Some parents will feel a longing to hold on to the past as they send their child off to school for the first time or as they trudge like beasts of burden, carrying the worldly goods of their child through chaotic dorm hallways and leave a son or daughter to make their way in the world.
Going back to a time when we understood the rules, when we knew what was expected of us, when we felt safer and more secure, is a pretty natural feeling. Holding on to what we have and what we know is a natural tendency. Churches especially, tend to valorize the past. In some respects, this is to be expected. Churches preserve traditions and doctrines as a matter of course. But we don’t stop there. We also look lovingly back on full Sunday School rooms and big choirs and imagine that those were the glory days. We must be careful, lest we deprecate the present as we appreciate the past.
Nostalgia may be perfectly natural, but it’s backward gaze is not wise.
It’s not just that we can’t get back to days gone by. As people of faith, we really should avoid the longing backward look. Ecclesiastes 7:10 says, “Do not say, ‘Why were the former days better than these?’ For it is not from wisdom that you ask this.” These are the days that God has entrusted to us and we need to live fully in them. Being distracted either by nostalgia or by dreams of an unrealized future can keep us from being fully alive and engaged in this day. As you read this, take just a moment to thank God for the gifts and graces of this day, for this time of your life, for this opportunity to come more fully alive.
Prayer: Eternal God, let me delight in this day and spend it in such a way that it will delight you. Amen.