On the Seventh Day of Christmas: Auld Lang Syne
"After the ball drops in Times Square on New Year's Eve, the crowd cheers, couples kiss, confetti flies and the song you hear is "Auld Lang Syne." For Americans this song is associated with another year passing, but it means something else entirely in other cultures. Since the Scottish poet Robert Burns first published the words to the song in the 18th century, the melody has been adapted as a soccer ballad in the Netherlands, a graduation song in Japan, and more. This video explains how an obscure Scottish folk tune took on new life around the world and how Guy Lombardo solidified it as the sound the US hears at the stroke of midnight on New Year's Eve."
No matter how you plan to celebrate this final day of 2019, I'm guessing you'll hear this tune along the way. Why do we sing this song that we really don't understand every year on December 31? I don't know, but this video helped me understand a little bit better: The New Year's Eve song, explained.
Watch: Auld Lang Syne - celebrating the New Year with classic movies
Read: Psalm 93; 1 Samuel 1:1-2,7b-28; James 4:13-17, 5:7-11; John 5:1-15
Pray: As I've been pondering an appropriate prayer for our family's new year, this is the one that comes to mind. 2019 was a tough year and has shaped us profoundly in the deeper wells of grace and mercy we've found waiting at the bottom of each unexpected descent. It's a year I've spent more time than usual in a therapist's office (thank God for this indescribable gift!), and this prayer came up in our conversation on several visits. I'm hoping to pray these words with clear eyes and a full heart today. Would you like to join me?
God grant me the serenity To accept the things I cannot change; Courage to change the things I can; And wisdom to know the difference.
Living one day at a time; Enjoying one moment at a time; Accepting hardships as the pathway to peace; Taking, as He did, this sinful world As it is, not as I would have it; Trusting that He will make all things right If I surrender to His Will; So that I may be reasonably happy in this life And supremely happy with Him Forever and ever in the next. Amen.
Do: Celebrate today, the final day of 2019!
I've also been thinking about how the little church I grew up in had a New Year's Eve party that included a lot of food, games, and hilarity, but also a time for sharing hopes and requests, culminating in taking communion together just before midnight. I love that balance of ringing out the old and ringing in the new. Find a way today that is meaningful to you (and your friends and family) to do the same. In the past, we've sometimes each placed a small list of resolutions/hopes/intentions for the new year in the toe of our Christmas stockings to pull out the following year at Christmas.
Encourage reflection at your table today. It can be as simple as "Name one disappointment and highlight from 2017 and one hope for 2018. If you want to dive a little deeper, here's a great list of questions for conversation and reflection during today's celebration: 20 Questions for New Year's Eve via Art of Simple.
Happy New Year, friends!
You might also enjoy:
My New Year's Eve playlist on Spotify
