Dear Friends,

This year, the season of Christmas has beckoned me to see and do things very differently as I’ve tried my best to keep the long-loved traditions kept by my family and our church community. Shared meals, gift giving, cookie making, once so spontaneous and free flowing, have been preceded by COVID rapid tests and no small amounts of anxiety. Our Christmas church services, a time when we open our doors and fill our pews, have required extra care and caution to seat people at a distance and keep them safe. This week, my family is spending time in their rooms, recovering from COVID instead of going out on walks, delighting in our gifts, and enjoying Christmas leftovers. The mood of Christmas is very different, indeed.

This has had me thinking about the psalm appointed each year for our Christmas Eve church services, Psalm 96. It is a song about singing a new song, and here are some of its verses:

Sing to the Lord a new song.

Sing to the Lord, all the whole earth….

…Let the heavens rejoice, and let the earth be glad;

let the sea thunder and all that is in it;

let the field be joyful and all that is therein….

This psalm was particularly important to Howard Thurman, the great author, theologian, and educator who in his years as a civil rights leader and advocate for social justice and transformation, reflected upon it a number of times. He knew well the need to sing a new song when the old songs had lost their capacity to revive the soul and lift our wearied spirits. In his collection of meditations in The Mood of Christmas & Other Celebrations, he offers this:

The old song of my spirit has wearied itself out.

It has long ago been learned by heart;

It repeats itself over and over,

Bringing no added joy to my days or lift to my spirit.

I will sing a new song.

I must learn the new song for the new needs.

I must fashion new words born of all the new growth

of my life – of my mind – of my spirit.

I must prepare for new melodies that have

never been mine before,

That all that is within me may lift my voice unto God.

Therefore, I shall rejoice with each new day

And delight my spirit in each fresh unfolding.

I will sing, this day, a new song unto the Lord.

May you find your own new song to sing, in the Spirit of Christmas,

Amelie+