days were the kids late because we couldn’t get
the last weeks of every year came to house Thanks-
organized in the morning? How many socks are in
giving and Christmas, Hanukkah, and so many
the linen closet without a match? How many books
other celebrations. Some of it is seasonal, based
are still on the nightstand waiting to be read? It’s
on natural events, some of it is purely historical.
natural to see the year as a unit to be evaluated,
(Spoiler alert: Jesus wasn’t born on December 25!)
measured, and contemplated.
I, for one, think that however these things came to pass, their placement is just about perfect.
The annual calendar marking one year is somewhat ISLAND IMPRESSIONS BY FR. TOM PURDY, RECTOR OF CHRIST CHURCH
TIME TO TURN THE PAGE
S
arbitrary. True, it’s a measurement of the earth’s trip
As we enter into the final weeks of every year,
around the sun. The marking of the time, however,
people in this country are still working off extra
is a human construct. Life goes on as days, weeks,
pounds from their Thanksgiving feasts, but more
months, and years go by. Seasons are malleable,
importantly, are carrying the glow of a season of
when not measured by the calendar, as migrations,
thanksgiving. We have been gifted with the oppor-
hibernations, blooms, and precipitation do their
tunity to focus on and celebrate our gifts and bless-
own thing. They don’t seem too concerned about
ings. That season flows directly into Christmas, a
what exact day or week it is. I’ve yet to find a crea-
season that, for me as a Christian, births hope and
ome years are better than others. There
ture in the wild that celebrates its birthdays or sets
God’s faithfulness into the world from that manger
are also portions of years that are bet-
off fireworks for New Year’s.
we all learned about in Sunday School. The incar-
ter than others. A troubling period can
nation of the love of God, and the life it brings,
color the whole calendar in some cases.
Nonetheless, our annual measurement of the passing
is perfectly timed to arrive at the moment we are
The opposite is also true. We can have years that
of time is helpful. For one, it means we can get our
playing through our recordings of the year passed.
are just the best. Ever. Or there can be a certain
AARP discount at the appointed time. More helpful,
event that was so joyful that the glow that follows
however, is the sense of beginnings and endings that
It is hard to get lost in our worst parts, our failures,
it continues to bring a smile to our face each time
each year brings. Such endings and beginnings allow
and our losses when we are invited to be thankful
we think about it. As we prepare to turn the page
us to do a reset of sorts. We can evaluate distinct
for all our blessings and then look towards the new
on 2018, many of us are engaging in a review of the
periods in our life and learn more easily from them
year and the world we live in with the hopeful eyes
year, whether we are doing it with great intention
having subjected them to some sort of limitation.
that accompany the religious messages that many
or somewhat subconsciously.
Where things might too easily blend and blur into
of us encounter. We can celebrate and grieve what
one long lifetime, we can visit waypoints and take
has happened in the previous twelve months, but
measurements. This is, inevitably, a good thing.
we cannot get lost there. We are invited to raise our
Every year that winds down brings with it the mandatory retrospectives: Who did we lose this year
eyes to the horizon and face the rising sun and the
in Hollywood? What were the biggest hits on the
There is a lot of history behind the location of some
dawn of a new day, a new year, and maybe even a
charts? How did a certain market perform? Our
of the things on our annual calendars, and there is
new era. Turning the page on our calendars can be
retrospectives may be more mundane: How many
not room here to discern and debate how and why
a gift. May it be so this year for you.
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ELEGANT ISLAND LIVING
