“So this is Christmas… what have we done?”

I’ve becoming increasingly frustrated with how we in America go about Christmastime.  When I say ‘we’ I mean the country as a whole, but also the willingness of the followers of Christ to not stand out and be any different.

Since I am part of His Body, the Church, I’m going to use the word ‘we.’  I also use ‘we’ because I am frustrated that my heart has not changed in this area as quickly as I would like.

We rail against communities and schools for not allowing ‘Merry Christmas’ or Christmas songs at the school concerts and bristle at words like ‘Happy Holidays’ and ‘Seasons Greetings’.

Yet apart from our meager activity of attending our half hearted services, there can be little discernable difference that we are, in fact, followers of Christ.

I realize that is a very wide brush I am painting with and many churches are doing great things to be Incarnational at this time of year, but I think we can say that when those outside the faith think of Christians at Christmas they don’t see us as Incarnational, but as faith-based consumers.

The consumerism aspect has become way out of line in association with Christmas.

This has been driven home to me by a few notable things: 

-         our just-finished church sermon series detailing the plight of the least resourced, least esteemed and least protected around the world

-       the over-the-top, but sobering documentary “What Would Jesus Buy?”

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and the work of Advent Conspiracy

I am convinced that a joyful, Biblical celebration of the Incarnation has nothing to do with ‘Early Bird specials beginning at 3 AM’ – or crowds that trample one another in the name of getting a hot deal on a ”Christmas” gift.

We spend inordinate amounts of money on useless items while the plight and misery of the poor increases.  If you didn’t watch the Youtube clip please do – the numbers are astounding.

We often say things like this:

“We give gifts to remember that God gave His greatest gift – His Son”

But really if that is the lesson we want to teach our kids – then shouldn’t the gifts we give, be ones that we give away to those who are not a part of our family?

“We’re remembering that St. Nicholas gave gifts…”

Yes – Nicholas gave gifts – to poor children. 

“Well, it helps the economy – there’s a reason it’s called ‘Black Friday’”

Yes, it does help the economy – in fact when we were in China to adopt our daughter we learned (from our Chinese guide) that the Chinese government has allowed ‘Christmas’ to be something of a national ‘shopping’ holiday to spur the economy.  The banners across the streets we visited read “Merry Christmas” (ironic that such banners are outlawed in our democratic country).  The government of China saw how America celebrated ‘Christmas’ and decided it could work for their economy too.  And it has…

Here’s my take on the economy angle:

Christmas in the U.S. has been celebrated since about the Civil War.  From that time until the early 20^th century it was a celebration marked by family, charity, worship and a few gifts given.  The economy chugged along just fine without Black Friday – and gifts were not the focus.  If Black Friday & Christmas gifts bought are necessary to the health of our economy there is much more wrong then we are willing to admit.

Side note:  my 10 year old and I were talking after church last week and noted that it was interesting that the day we remember Jesus’ crucifixion is called ‘Good Friday’ and the day that promises the best deals on merchandise is called ‘Black Friday’.

These are my wrestlings; my frustrations with myself and others in the US who are followers of Christ with how we can obfuscate a demonstration of  the power and wonder of Christmas with shallow times of bathing each other in our comparative wealth.  And I will be the first to say that I do not have this conquered… but I want to.

 Please, this year and next and the next and the one after that, join me and others to pause to consider Christmas afresh.  Let’s pray that God would make us less self-centered and more incarnational.  Let’s find ways to reflect the heart of God by giving away instead of hoarding.  Make a difference rather than just consuming.

Instead of a Wii system, $200 could be multiplied by 5x from grants to provide $1000 in food and aid to Africa.

That 42” high def TV could be turned into $7000 to help with medicines around the world or even to help the desperately poor right here in the US!

We have an incredible chance to make an impact to help people live right now, but also for eternity.

 Are our neighbors seeing us dive into the gluttonous shopping fray and saying, “So this is Christmas?”

I know my heart needs to be changed more…