Looking back and looking forward

I am glad for this time of year when we bake special pies, cookies, and cakes. This Christmas I finally got some fruitcake with marzipan. My wife must have gotten tired of having to listen to my annual nostalgic yearnings for days gone by when I ate South African Christmas fruitcake. I am glad for her empathy because this year our traditional Malva pudding did not turn out. Apparently, she forgot to set the timer. In our tribe, as I am sure it is with your family as well, food plays a significant role in the way we pass on traditions from the past. This is what happened just a few weeks ago, as our family gathered at our Christmas table. That table connected me with the Christmas table gatherings of my childhood. I was taken back in time (even just for a split second) as faces, voices and the smell of food vividly came to the forefront of my mind. Sharing traditional food and gifts and telling the story of the birth of Christ are all part of our Christmas celebration. I think traditions are a good part of our common human experience. It has a way of creating rhythms and giving us a sense of identity.

On New Year’s Eve, Brenda and I were by ourselves. Our children scattered to Branson, Missouri and Clearwater, Florida, and we sat in the living room trying to get excited as we anticipated the coming of 2019. On television, we watched as different bands played the favorite genres of our day and we were grateful when 12 o’ clock finally rolled around with the countdown of a huge crystal ball dropping from the sky in New York City. We said cheers with sparkling Apple cider (that my son-in-law brewed) and hugged and kissed each other, and I mumbled something about “Auld Lane Syne” on our way to bed.  Without family around this evening was not as exciting as it could have been. Come to think of it, there was nothing about this New Years Eve that tied us to a tradition. Maybe I can learn from the Greek Orthodox Christians…

I am learning that they have this very old tradition of baking coins into a cake known as vasilopita. … The first slice is set-aside for Christ and then each person present gets a slice of the rest of the cake. Whoever gets the coin hidden inside is said to have luck with money for the rest of the year. The tradition is part of the St. Basil’s Day feast, which takes place on New Year’s Day. What I like about it is that Basil of Caesarea (c. 329 -379) was one of the early Greek fathers who supported the Nicene Creed and opposed the heresies of the early Christian church. He along with Athanasius took on Arius to refute his position that Jesus was not of the same essence as the father and was a created being. Basil, intellectually brilliant and known for his rhetorical skills, argued that Jesus was of the same substance of the father and eternally coexisted with the father. As it was, Athanasius and Basil were instrumental in giving us one of the earliest formations of our doctrine on Christ which was formalized at the Council of Constantinople in 381, two years after Basil’s passing. Basil is also celebrated as a saint because of his care for the poor.

This Orthodox tradition makes me think that our New Years Eve celebration can do with a complete makeover. For next year, I envision friends and family around and starting a St. Basil New Year’s tradition. We will have cake with coins inside to remind ourselves of Christ’s presence in our lives. The coins can help us to be mindful of the poor and to be generous in our giving to those who struggle. In honor of Basil’s rhetorical skills I’m also thinking about starting a brand new tradition. It would be a tradition of asking rhetorical questions in anticipation of the future…

Come to think of it, this would actually be a tradition inside another tradition.  In the ancient world when Greek and Roman gods ruled the day, it was myth, magic, and superstition that controlled the outlook of people’s everyday lives. One of the most powerful myths was the myth of the Roman god Janus.  The cult statue of Janus depicted the god bearded with two heads. This meant that he could see forwards and backwards and inside and outside simultaneously without turning around. And yes, you guessed it; our January tradition of looking forward and backward is named after Janus, the Roman god of beginnings and endings.

I think the Basil tradition of asking rhetorical questions of each other inside the January tradition is worth exploring. Think of it – good questions are some of the greatest gifts we can give to ourselves and to our friends and family around us. In a world of punch-line certainties, I think we are far too focused on our competing answers. Asking good rhetorical questions could lead us into listening as we ponder our future together. We don’t need quick answers. Good rhetorical questions could very well be a picture into the very heart and soul of our loved ones. Like the movie “Inception,” it may just tell us the story inside the story inside the story.

Would you like to try to ask rhetorical questions as we stand at the threshold of this New Year? Of course you can say: “Why bother?” or “Who cares?”, but why not give it a go? Here are some of mine…

• Is anything too difficult for the Lord?
• Should old acquaintance be forgot?
• Why pray when you can worry?
• Who says?
• What’s love got to do with it?

So, I raise my glass to new traditions, to shared experiences, deepening bonds and good questions.  May we set aside a slice of cake for Christ as he leads us into this New Year.

Happy New Year!

Johan