Conversation Point

Christmas Shopping

Where were you this morning as dawn's early light crossed the sky? If you were shopping at the mall I used to work at, or the one up the road, you had probably already made several trips back to your car with goodies galore at discounts so fantastic you may also be able to finance a down payment on a house with all the money you saved. Or so we are told.

Many malls, shopping centers and department stores opened at earlier hours than ever before on this secular holiday known as Black Friday. Traditionally one of the busiest shopping days of the year ( the busiest is the Saturday before Christmas), brings retailers back to profitable status, and brings retail workers to their knees in prayer for stamina to make it to close of business on Christmas Eve, a full month away.

If you aren't driven to participate in "Wild Holiday Savings You Won't Want to Miss!!!" that require hauling yourself out of bed in the middle of the night, or not going to bed at all, perhaps you are at a loss as to what possesses those who do line up hours in advance in the cold, darkness to save an extra ten or twenty percent. Count me in on the wondering. Nothing of material value means so much to me that I will give up sleep to call it my own. Nothing. But I am sure you and I are in the minority. Several early risers quoted in my local paper talked about their holiday shopping experience in terms of the "thrill of the hunt." Are they harking back to our cultural roots as hunters and gathers? Or are we really in need of a wake up call other than, "Welcome shoppers! The mal is now open for your shopping convenience?"

My confusion, and sadness, over what I can only describe as rampant consumerism, would not run so deep if its dual nature were not culturally systemic complaining about having to please so many people with all these purchases. The majority of our United States population seems to believe that they must spend lots of money on relatives and friends or their holidays will all be miserable and it will be their fault. Charlie Brown raised this issue years ago, and it has only become much worse. Interesting that we equate money and gifts and misery with what is billed as the most loving, generous season of the year. But, we do. Somehow we have managed to effectively turn receiving a joyful, loving gift from God in the Christ Child into love as an all-consuming attack on our planet's resources and humanity's will to live in peace and harmony.

Perhaps this is why some folks get so angry with God over what they feel they should have in their lives, but don't. If God really loved them they would have everything they wanted and needed without having to work or struggle for it. It is amazing, then, that people put so much energy into things they don't really need or want, things like lifestyles they can't afford and relationships that are not nurturing or loving. But many people feel compelled to create images and reputations based in material wealth, and although God doesn't seem to begrudge people enjoying the abundance of creation, the love of money does have its ill effect in distancing us from our Creator. When we turn ourselves toward loving money over loving God, we have chosen a new God to worship. No wonder that that distance is felt, fear sets in and anger follows. We human beings aren't much for feeling left out of the pleasure of being loved unconditionally.

Granted, God's gifts can be a harder sell, at least when measured up against electronics and jewelry, the anticipated best sellers of this holiday season. I Corinthians 12 displays a fine catalogue of what is on God's gift list for the body of Christ. I'm sure you are familiar with some of them - knowledge, faith, wisdom, healing. Paul goes on to tell us that, "Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit; and there are varieties of services, but the same Lord; and there are varieties of activities, but it is the same God that activates all of them in everyone. To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good (I Corinthians 12:4-5)."

It would interest me very much, even intrigue me, to see what each of us could create and offer to other people out of the gifts God has already given each of us. What would a gift born of wisdom and faith look like under the tree and shared with the kind of love with which God created us? How does hospitality blossom in the hands of one who cherishes its richness and can't help but delight in passing it on to others in every way imaginable? That is a Christmas shopping spree I would drag myself out of bed to behold and in which I couldn't wait to participate.

posted by Cory L. Kemp @ 9:53 PM