"Christmas is coming and the geese are
getting fat. Let's all put a penny in the poor man's hat."
This little rhyme, penned so many generations ago, indicates
very simply the two main ways in which Christmas should be celebrated:
making merry and making sacrifices! Rejoicing that Christ has
come: yet taking seriously the stark message of the manger.
Getting the balance in anything is difficult. And Christmas
is certainly no exception. Most people today would, I think,
agree that materialism and commercialism have largely taken over
the Christmas season. Self-indulgence is big: self-denial is
small. Parties and presents predominate. Excess is far more common
in the consumption of food and drink than in the spirit of giving
and self-sacrifice. And this, despite the fact that what we are
celebrating is the birthday of a Saviour who sacrificed his entire
life and whose call to us is to do likewise.
Can we redress what has become one-sided and distorted? Well,
the secret of improving any life situation is to embrace what's
good in it and ignore what's bad! In this way, the good will
prosper and the bad will wither away. We should be wary of targeting
directly the negative elements, even in the hope of correcting
them; the attention only empowers them and enables them to grow
and consolidate.
So this Christmas, instead of preaching cut-backs on self-indulgence,
let's encourage and fan into flame the good elements that are
present. Let's GIVE! care or money to those who need them. And
to ourselves, time to reflect on the deeper hungers of the human
spirit, so that we may find ways to nurture them.
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