I am so grateful that I am past the frenetic activity surrounding Christmas. I will put up a few decorations and lights, but that is it. No gifts to buy or wrap, no big meals to prepare, no parties to attend. My husband and I opted out of gift-giving years ago and chose instead to do our gifting at appropriate times during the year.
Yet that doesn’t leave me any less concerned about the ways we have made accumulating our God here in the US. The fact that we have multi-billionaires and so many poor is obscene and absolutely inexcusable. When did we make money, our God, or have we always? What has happened to family and Jesus-centered values, being concerned about the other, starting with family, then those, no matter what class, color, or creed? Do we need these horrendous destructive storms to make us pay attention to another’s pain?
The Trump campaign was partially built on the promise that he would make the US safer for Christians, not that Christians have ever been threatened in the US. But if we claim to be a Christian nation, why have we stopped following Jesus and taking his life and teachings seriously? What about his teaching about wealth, his warning that we cannot serve both God and money?
When I listen to some people talk about the gifts they are giving, I find myself wondering when enough is enough. At what point do we have our needs met? Or is life about pursuing our wants? How do we determine our charitable giving? Scripture tells us to give to God first, not give from what is left. What determines our charitable giving? Something that promises to give prominence to our name, or something done quietly without fanfare?
I am asking these questions of myself as I am one of the fortunate ones who are financially secure. Doesn’t that make me even more culpable? Am I not responsible for the welfare of my brother, even if I never see or meet him? And where does fear set in, fear of not having enough, fear of being left stranded in the future? I think of Jesus’ reminder that it is far more important to develop caring communities in which we take care of each other. That doesn’t mean living in a commune, but it does mean helping out when a need, not a want, arises.
I could go on and on, but you get the picture. All I want for Christmas is for you, my readers, to do some self-examination and re-evaluate your priorities, which is something we need to do periodically, anyway, for these blogs, or whatever they are, to have stimulated some serious thinking and have helped you become more at peace with yourself and your God.