The second sermon on our Restoring Christmas series was entitled Spend Less. This sermon was awesome, although Pastor Dale said that there were a lot of really unhappy people after the sermon! People don’t like being told how to spend “their” money. The message is basically this: We have so materialized Christmas. Americans spend an average of almost $1,000 dollars on Christmas gifts! Can you believe that amount? That is a total of about 457 BILLION dollars spent on Christmas gifts alone. Goodness gracious. Can you imagine is even HALF that amount was given instead to foreign missions or to feed hungry children or provide medical care or disaster relief? Just half? Most Americans will pay off Christmas credit card debt through JUNE of the following year. That is ridiculous.
The sad thing is that we’ve equated Christmas with spending money. Most of the gifts we buy are obligatory. We feel we should by so-and-so a gift and it has to be worth a certain amount or else it seems rude. But the wrong thinking is this: Where did the idea come from that in order to show someone we really love them we have to spend lots of money on them? The most meaningful things Jeff has done for me have nothing to do with money. But I have often felt this way. I’ve often felt bad because my gift didn’t seem big enough or expensive enough or they weren’t wrapped that great and didn’t wow the recipient. But that is a selfish motive. If we buy someone a nice gift in order to impress them, we’re really giving ourselves something: pride! It is truly sad how twisted our thinking has gotten in terms of gifts.
However, keep in mind I’m not saying that gifts are bad. I bought lots of gifts this year. But, we always make a CHristmas budget before hand and we always stick to that budget. More and more, we are giving relationally and spiritually valuable gifts more than monetarily valuable gifts. For example, now that we have a son, we give photogifts! Photobooks, calendars, mugs, sweatshirts, and t-shirts are such a great way to bless grandparents. I was recently given the gift of a Family Question set: a glass cube filled with cards with questions as conversation starters. What a great gift! I love it because it is something I’d never buy for myself but it promotes family and relationships and significant conversation. This year my brother requested that for Christmas we buy farm animals for Gospel for Asia families. It was so easy, you just go to their website (click there for link) and we were able to purchase a pair of rabbits and pair of chickens for an Asian familyh in need in my brother’s name. What a great idea! So for his gift we got him a little rubber chicken and a stuffed bunny from the dollar store to signify the animals that were given at his request. I have to admit, I’m not as selfless as my brother yet–I asked for gift cards to clothing stores for Christmas. 🙂 (Hey, give me a break–that’s how I do all my shopping during the year!)
I had the sweetest day this week because my parents wanted to provide food for the charity food boxes that our church gives away over Christmas. So my dad gave me $100 cash and I went to Winco and loaded up on all the things from the church’s list of needed items. It was SO MUCH FUN to pick out healthy non-perishable items and think about blessing people with them. After that I was able to give some to a homeless man I saw on the on-ramp on I-205. But then you know what? I splurged on a pair of jeans (“for Christmas”) and that was the least fun part of my day. The one part of the day where I got myself something ended up being the most draining. In fact, I wasn’t happy with them later and took them back. But what that showed me was that the joy of doing something for other people was a million times better than doing things for myself. I’m not cured, that’s for sure, but I think I’m maybe starting to learn.
So, perhaps it’s a little late this year (although it’s not too late to return things! Today I returned that pair of jeans I bought), but I challenge you to spend less this Christmas. Take at least 1/4 of what you usually spend and give it to a charity organization. We have so much. And if you can’t buy everyong on your list an amazing, pricey present–who cares? SHOW them you love them. Make them a card, write them a letter, paint them a picture, change the oil in their car, give them a tank of gas, bake them cookies, enlarge their favorite picture. Let us not love in word (and dollar!) only but in deed and in truth.