A (Very Belated) End of Year Anti-Recap, Recap
And Why the End of Year Dead Week is My Least Favorite
I know it’s now mid-January, and literally, no one cares to read or see another recap of anything ever again. I swear to you that I did try to get this written earlier, but the black hole between Christmas and New Year’s sucked me in once again, and I’m just now seeing the light.
This end of year sluggishness continues to be my least favorite holiday tradition.
Speaking of which, can we just acknowledge for a moment how difficult this time of year can be?
The dreariness of the weeks between Christmas and the new year are compounded by the pressure brought on now by social media to share said end-of-year recaps, resolutions for the new year, etc. Of course, there is no ill intent behind so much of this content, and I actually love seeing these little snippets of how friends and family spent their past year. But I must admit that there is also a not-so-great part of me that immediately plays the comparison game when I read or listen to what others have accomplished or experienced in the last year or what they hope to live up to for the next.
I wish I was not like this, really I do, but year after year, I find myself in this cycle: as the week after Christmas brings with it some reprieve from the holiday rat race, it also inundates me with uncomfortable thoughts about how much I didn’t achieve in the past year. Then, all of a sudden, it’s New Year’s, and I have not only not accomplished my goals, but everyone else has accomplished their own. I am a failure not only in my own eyes but also in the eyes of everyone else (it would seem). No wonder I find this time of the year dark and dreadful.
I wish the hopeful reality of Christ’s birth clung to me a bit longer after Christmas morning. We have, after all, just endured the darkness of Advent and the reflections of our innermost need for a Savior so that the good news of his birth shines brighter. One would hope that reality would stick with me. Instead, the weeks following December 25 feel like the day I would return home from summer camp: they are the very bottom of a valley that seems to follow that mountaintop spiritual high so quickly. On Christmas morning, I may have briefly remembered that Jesus is fully man and fully God, born into this world a helpless infant. Still, because I can’t escape sin, guilt, and condemnation of every stripe and degree on my own, I just as quickly forget. Thus, I spend the following days not seeking freedom from judgment but mired in it - whether that’s of my own making or judgment brought on by real sin and failure.
According to the Church calendar, Christmas technically only begins on December 25 and continues through the New Year. What a blessing this liturgical detail is to us, regardless of whether or not we are great at putting it into practice. Here, the church calendar proclaims the truth that God’s promises will outlast the condemnation from sin, death, and the devil we feel when confronted by God’s law (as well as the little-l laws of our day). While we are so quick to move on from the hope and truth of Christmas morning, Christmas sustains us even through New Year’s badgering and bullying.
If you find yourself – like me – brought low by the beginning of another year and overwhelmed by all that has been left undone, do not be discouraged. Even when we don’t see it, the Christmas gospel supersedes the New Years’ condemnation. The gospel is what sustains us and it always will be. If New Year’s gets you down, I pray you are starting to see the light again. Remember that regardless of your track record this past year, in Christ alone, you matter, you belong, and his death and resurrection are enough for you.
Now that that huge preface is out of the way, here is my Outside Ourselves recap (lol). So let’s just call it an anti-recap recap because to do otherwise would render the above paragraphs moot, and it is so very late as to be ridiculous at this point.
Top interview on YouTube: C.S. Lewis and the Chronicles of Narnia with Michael Ward. I’m sure this had something to do with the 1517 HWSS Conference theme this year centered on C.S. Lewis, but I was pleasantly surprised that this interview topped the charts. I found my conversation with Dr. Ward fascinating and enlightening - if you know anything about C.S. Lewis or, at the very least, the Chronicles of Narnia, you are in for a treat.
Top interview on podcasting apps: Mental Illness and the Gospel with John Bryant. This was not a surprise to me as my interview with John was one of my favorites from 2023. Although I read John’s book, A Quiet Mind to Suffer With, leading up to the interview, I had not met him, and boy, his humility and gentleness took me back. He was so kind and willing to explore questions with me. I think John exemplifies what Luther meant by being a theologian of the cross who understands suffering not as a means to an end but as redemptive solely because of Christ’s own suffering for us.
Five noteworthy themes:
Talk of identity issues in today’s culture and how and why Christ brings a timely solution to those showed up time and again, especially in Christian Parenting and the Future of the Church with Melina Smith and Identity and Holistic Spirituality with John Kleinig.
A major theme throughout 2023’s interviews was the tension between recognizing suffering with compassion and empathy while also pointing to and holding onto the future hope we have in Christ as suffering’s ultimate solution. This came out most especially in my interviews with John Andrew Bryant, Sarah Condon, and Jane Grizzle.
Of course, reformation doctrine in (I would argue) all it’s beauty was also dominant in interviews like Living as Sinners and Saint with Steven Paulson, Law, Gospel and the Parables with Daniel Emery Price, and Robert Kolb and Two Kinds of Righteousness
One theme that surprised me a bit was that of catechism and the argument that not only is catechism important for kids in today’s church, but for adults as well. This came through in my conversation with Todd Hains, Mel Smith, and Philip Carey among others.
Finally, threads of doubt and faith were frequent in many interviews, including Who’s Afraid of Deconstruction with Bruce Hillman, Faith and Fiction: Exploring Christian Belief and Doubt with Sarah Hinlicky Wilson, and The Relationship between Faith and Reason with Davide Andersen.
Most memorable moments:
Hearing Adam Francisco deny the existence of aliens all the way until the end of our interview before saying if he had an old fashioned in hand, he had “some stories” (presumably of the unexplained type!) to share from his time as a Navy Seal.
Melina Smith’s advice to connect with your kids through their interests. That’s such a simple thing to say, but I’ve already found it more difficult in practice - even with toddlers. Obviously, the urge to encourage our kids into who we want them to be and what we want them to do is not always bad; however, learning to hold this need loosely and let our kids light up about the things they are naturally inclined to is an art.
Chad Bird was not only my first guest in 2024, but also last year. In that original interview, he speaks a little about the death of his son, Luke. Chad is always so insightful and wise, and I think what he has to say about God’s faithfulness throughout life’s circumstances will stick with you.
Perhaps the moment I’ve thought about most is when Sarah Condon told me how the death of her parents allowed her to lose her ambition. I think it has had an impact on me because of where I find myself in life: with little kids who need me a lot and less time than I would presumably like to pursue my own ambitions. Her words have made me think a lot about how I prioritize things and just how fragile and precious these years are with my kids. Thank goodness for Sarah’s reminder that we don’t need to be everything to everyone and that the resurrection does change what's most important for us in both the present and the future.
Finally, I can’t help but mention a recent moment that I missed completely until rewatching the interview. I failed to ask any follow-up when Natasha Kennedy, an illustrator by trade, mentioned that her father is blind. The fact that Natasha creates art for a living and grew up with someone so close to her who cannot see is a profoundly beautiful thing to me and one I wish I had had the awareness in the moment to ask more about.
Four personal takeaways:
Even if we don’t share the same vocabulary, as Christians, we can and should look for shared tenants of the faith. Some of you may read this and say, “duh.” But for some of us who find ourselves in traditions with very particular and precise language (of which I would argue there is often good reason), I hope this is encouraging. I’ve really loved being able to draw parallels between something a guest is saying and something I believe as a reformation Christian, and I really love when I’m aware enough to point this out in an interview. Realizing there is overlap between differing denominational backgrounds especially on tenants such as justification by faith, God’s grace and mercy, and the centrality of the cross, has only added new dimension and depth to these dearly held beliefs.
It’s the stories that stick. I love doing all sorts of interviews, but the interviews that listeners seem to connect the most with continue to be those where guests share about themselves and connect the topics they are speaking on with stories and examples from their own lives. Sometimes these end up being on something surprising, even to me, and I would like to focus more attention toward creating this type of conversation this next year.
Suffering is a part of the deal as a human being and Christianity has the best antidote to despair in hard circumstances. Speaking with people who have been through really difficult life situations and some who are still in the midst of them, and hearing over and over again of the sustaining power of God’s promises despite such circumstances does something to you, at least I would say it’s done something to me. It’s clarified exactly what these promises are and aren’t which helps, I think, with the tension we so often feel when bad things happen to good people. Faith in Christ isn’t a solution to life’s problems, but it does allow you to lift your shoulders, to continue through, and to hold on to a hope that is anchored in something very real and very true - Christ’s death and resurrection for you.
The gospel does what it says. “Your sins are forgiven.” “You are free on account of Christ.” “You are loved and cherished.” “You owe God nothing.” “You will rise again one day.” If there’s anything I’ve been made more sure of this year, it’s this. The gospel does what it says. It is good news not only for what it promises but what it does in the very moment you hear it. I know this is true not only from speaking to guests about the impact the gospel has had in their own lives, but from hearing from each of you, too. Here’s to more reminders of this revelatory fact, and more proclamation of the gospel itself to each other in 2024.
If you made it through that, I hope you did so in the freedom of Christ and I hope you find yourself warm as you read. Now is the place where I should promise what’s coming next, but its still January, I’m just thawing out from the latest Texas ice storm, and I’m still coming out of the holiday haze and maternity leave…so let’s not get crazy.