Nobbled by Nostalgia

Professor James K.A. Smith teaches philosophy and writes at Calvin University. When he spoke recently at Jessup University, he described the dangers of nostalgia in compelling terms.

We all have nostalgic moments when we look back and long for simpler, better, and less complex times. Who has not felt that from time to time? Exhaustion or disillusionment in the present moment can certainly produce a wistful wishing for yesteryear. Indeed, some political figures have created powerful movements that tap into our disordered desire to recover the great days of the past.

Remembering is not the same as nostalgia. In fact, remembering is vital. The Israelites quickly forgot God’s faithfulness to them when he brought them out of Egypt, and their forgetfulness turned them into a nation of ingrates and infidels. Jesus invites us to participate in the Lord’s Supper regularly in part so that we don’t forget what he has done to restore us to God. Remembering matters.

If we had no memory, there would be no music. Each note that we hear depends, in part, on our memory of the note(s) immediately preceding it. It’s the same with speech. More broadly, memory helps us locate ourselves in God’s goodness and God’s story.

Memory is good, but nostalgia is not.

Nostalgia can become an effort to preserve the past, rather than give thanks for the past. And the problem with nostalgia is not what it remembers but what it forgets, because “we only remember half.” In essence, nostalgia becomes an effort to preserve a sanitized and selective past. It is a romantic effort to recover things we liked, without the inconveniences or difficulties that we did not like. Nostalgia seeks to restore and re-experience an era that worked well for us, if not for others. In effect, nostalgia pines for the past and denies God’s gracious work in the present.

As Smith noted, “The risk in nostalgia of getting what you want is losing what you’ve been given.”

We can feel nostalgic about our marriages. Why couldn’t that honeymoon period last forever? We can feel nostalgic about when our kids were small. Why did they have to grow up? We can feel nostalgic about our workplace. Why can’t we just do things the way that we used to? We can feel nostalgic about aging. I hate growing old and sure wish I was twenty again.

Has God ceased to do his good work? Did grace stop flowing when those days passed? Have hardship and heartache reduced our lives to nothing? Or might God be redeeming each day to make us someone we could never have been in the past?

I’m inclined, at times, to look back longingly. Most of us do. But that pining usually reflects a moment of spiritual blinkering. I want to go back because I cannot see the God of the present moment. I yearn for yesterday because I’ve lost sight of God today.

We dare not forget the past, but we equally dare not try and restore it or live in it either. Remember with gratitude. Recall with joy. But let’s refuse to let nostalgia take root in our hearts or minds. It cannot deliver what it promises. Worse, it is nothing more than a destructive distraction. God himself lives in the eternal present. As the old song said: “No turning back; no turning back.”

Might you be caught in this time traveler’s trap? Who hasn’t? Let’s not give it a foothold. How might God be working to redeem today’s challenges, hurts, disappointments, and confusion? The past is a closed chapter that offers no rewrites. Today is filled with potential and possibility. Do we have the courage, vision, and faith to live today fully?