I was caught by Woody Allen’s most recent film, Midnight in Paris. In it a nostalgic dreamer, Gil (played by Owen Wilson) struggles with fantasies of living in a better time and a better place – he yearns for a Paris of the 1920’s. Gil is balanced onscreen by Paul (Michael Sheen) a cynical, if somewhat insightful, professor who pontificates with endless lectures. Discovering that Gil is writing a novel whose protagonist works in a “nostalgia shop” Paul launches into a condescending diatribe against the desire for the golden age of long ago. “Nostalgia” says Paul “is just denial of the painful present.”
He makes a good point. Nostalgia can be quite damaging, diverting as it does our attention from the very real here and now toward the often misconstrued or downright imaginary past. [Spoiler Alert] When Gil is transported one evening, at the stroke of midnight, into the Paris of his fantasies, the 1920’s, and is introduced to the literary and artistic lights of that era, he discovers the perfection he had hoped for. Yet, as he gets to know the residents of his golden age, he finds that they too are disenchanted with the era in which they reside. They pine for the turn of the century and the Renaissance and the middle ages. Gil discovers that there are always greener pastures – always a more golden age.
Of course the church has fallen victim from time to time to this golden age fallacy. We can enshrine and even try to recreate our nostalgic memories of a bygone era. It isn’t uncommon to hear around the church – I remember when… Stand in a church long enough and you could get the impression that things were always better before now. And, of course the opposite can be equally true. Everything will be better in the future. When we finally get our attendance or our finances or our mission statement perfected – then things will be truly great. This is just as true outside the church as in.
I bring all this up because we find ourselves yet again at the threshold of a new year, a time when the whole world takes stock of what has past and resolves to do better and be better in the year to come. For me, this looking back and looking forward can take on an unhealthy tinge. Casting my gaze behind me, I remember the earlier me, the more carefree, thinner, more fun, and unencumbered me and I find myself resolving to be that guy all over again. Or, I’ll look to the horizon and far off in the distance I’ll see the goals and accomplishments I hope for myself in the year or years to come and I’ll find myself resolving to become that guy moving forward. Golden ages and greener pastures hold the potential of denying, as Paul says, the pain of the present, and in so doing, I would add, missing the beauty inherent in that very same present. Right now, like before, and like whatever is next, is a complex and humbling mysterious blend of all pain and joy of life.
While as Christians we remain committed to and deeply informed by our history, and while we live confident in a hoped for future, we are called to be present to the very real here and now. If we learn nothing during this Christmas season (only half way done) let us remember the truth we celebrate – God with us, here, now, in our present reality. Whatever the pain or the joy or the confusion – God resides in it with and for us.
May you and yours have a blessed New Year!
Faithfully,
Jered+