December 9
White Christmas
I tend to get confused about the films Holiday Inn and White Christmas. They are both based around a country inn, yet were produced twelve years apart, the first during World War II and the second in 1954. Both are based on the realization of a dream for a property, first of a place where musical performances revolve around the holidays, and the second, a Vermont inn owned by a retired general.
Both films also feature, “White Christmas,” the Irving Berlin song that’s sold one hundred million copies around the world. Bing Crosby sings with such longing, “I’m dreaming of a white Christmas, just like the ones I used to know.”
Advent is a season of dreams. For Zechariah, a dream brought good news and a silenced voice. For Joseph, a dream brought confirmation of a coming birth, and a later dream warned of approaching danger to a holy child. In Advent, we repeat these prophetic dreams, but we also whisper our own dreams, large and small, for white Christmases and peace on earth, for family connections and a world without COVID-19.
Some of our dreams long nostalgically for what we remember, while others guide our path as we wait with expectation for what is to come. In these days of Advent 2020, when it seems so difficult to dream of what can be post-COVID, I’m claiming the guidance of Langston Hughes: “Hold fast to dreams, for if dreams die, life is a broken-winged bird that cannot fly.”
I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh; and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, your young men shall see visions.
Joel 2:28
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