Next sunday is the beginning of Advent. It is the time of waiting for the birth of Christ. My pastor today taught about the Christmas story. He opened with some videos he saw on youtube that showed footage of a Wal-Mart on Black Friday. The video showed a massive sea of people running through the entrance of the store, without regard for anyone else. The next video showed some older (50 year olds) arguing over some items. Suddenly, one of the women who wasn't even that involved in the discussion walked in front of another woman and hit her with her fist right in the middle of the face! She then just walks off. The point that Chris (my pastor) was trying to make is that the Christmas season has absolutely nothing to do with Christ. He further pointed out that Wal-Mart (and a bunch of other retailers) were in a big fight last year about whether the greeters should say "Merry Christmas" or "Happy Holidays." All the retailers, besides Best Buy, decided that they would say "Merry Christmas" to the shoppers who walk in the store. Chris then urged us to avoid all of those retailers and instead to shop at Best Buy. He said that Christ does not and should not be associated with that ridiculous display of American consumerism at work. Those people that are running over and hitting each other at stores are not celebrating the birth of Jesus.
The reason that we give gifts at Christmas is to imitate the gift giving of the Magis to Christ. That should still be the primary focus of Christmas. Jesus said "If you do unto the least of these, you have done to me." We can easily give Christ gifts still. It is about showing those the down-and-out the love of Christ. Chris didn't say that we shouldn't give gifts to our friends and family, because that is a wonderful way to bless people, but he urged us to give gifts with a meaning. Instead of buying that family member that you aren't sure what he wants a wrench or some other random tool, make a donation in his name and tell him what you did. That person isn't going to be angry that you decided to help others with that money. It was that or getting a gift that that person would forget about in a few days.
Please make Christ part of your Christmas, instead of just celebrating a holiday.
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1 comment:
Good post. That was a pretty thought-provoking message. Inspired partially by the his sermon and partially by the fact that I'm staying in Houston for the holiday, I'm going to do volunteer work on Christmas Eve and Day.
Thus I think it's going to be one of my most meaningful Christmases ever.
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