Dear Friends,
Since 2003, the Applegates have lived in Granville, Ohio – a quaint college town (Denison University) that is a New England village transplanted in Central Ohio in 1805. Granville has maintained its ties to the past, preserving a historic district that boasts over 100 buildings on the National Register of Historic Places. It shares with Lake Woebegon the idea that it is a town “that time forgot and decades cannot improve.”
Each year, the Chamber of Commerce sponsors a Christmas Candlelight Walk on the first Saturday in December featuring musical performances of various kinds, businesses sponsoring open houses, horse drawn carriage rides, and a visit from Santa and Mrs. Claus.
In preparation for the event, fresh cut fir trees are set up along Broadway. Children from the elementary school make ornaments and walk to the village center to decorate the trees with them – each class accepting responsibility for a tree. My wife, Terry, is in her 20th year teaching first grade in the school, and annually leads her students to take part in the tradition. This year, for the first time anyone can remember, one of the trees went missing. It was the tree her class had decorated. As the local newspaper asked, “Who in the name of Whoville would do such a thing?” Didn’t they know that little children had made the decorations?
The mystery was solved quickly when Granville police officers found the tree in the Denison University dorm of two young men, who, as the police chief put it, “imbibed a little too much and made a silly mistake while in a really good mood.” The tree was returned, the students apologized, and the matter resolved. Such is life in a quaint college town.
Unlike the Grinch, the students were not trying to stop Christmas from coming. Nor did their hearts need to grow several sizes. But we all know people whose hearts need to grow, and we certainly know from reading other news stories that Christmas won’t come this year for many people in war torn places around the world – certainly not the bucolic, pastoral Christmas so often bathed in nostalgic longing for an idyllic holiday.
As we move through the season of Advent – this season of preparation – what are we preparing for? I certainly hope it’s more than Currier & Ives – sleigh bells and tinsel – holly and ivy. I hope we are preparing for the coming of God’s light and love once again in Jesus – light that shines in the darkness and love that always wins.
Blessings,
Stephen Applegate