Getting Our Wants May Sacrifice Needs

Sat., Dec. 21, 1996

Paul Graves The Spokesman-Revie

Christmas is coming. So it’s time to proclaim two truths that need proclaiming: (1) God is NOT Santa Claus! (2) Santa Claus is not God (a god for many children and parents, perhaps, but not the God of Christmas)!

It shouldn’t really surprise serious-thinking Christians that Christmas has degenerated into a race to determine who can out-give whom. After all, don’t we fall back on cliches like “You can never out-give God”? Sure we do.

And isn’t Christianity, especially the American revised standard version of Christianity, a materialistic religion? Of course it is.

In the very best possible way, Christianity is very much a touch-the-material expression of spiritual connection.

Why, the very essence of our faith is that God became flesh in the form of a baby boy. What is more touchable and real than a baby?

I suspect that in his wisdom God knew he would get our best attention only by giving us that part of God we could touch and hold and love. God knew very well what we needed. What we still need.

But the big problem with Christmas U.S.A.-style is we aren’t satisfied with what we need. We go for what we want!

We keeping planting “I want” seeds, and so the Christmas harvest we reap is too often trivial and expensive. So while we may get what we want, we easily miss what we need.

I just received a Christmas gift catalog from my denomination’s retailing arm. A few of the items seemed both useful and inspirational (two characteristics I find appealing when I want to give gifts).

I’m sad to report that most of the merchandise I saw seemed to trivialize the very faith it is meant to portray! That merchandise was also pretty expensive.

Have you ever noticed that “trivial” and “expensive” often go together when it comes to giving gifts?

I’m not great on knickknacks to begin with. So the lighted stained-glass church seems a little silly.

It’s meant to help me “recall the warmth of cherished days gone by.” That may be important for some, but Christians are already too prone to wallow in the past. We don’t need to spend $129.95 to help with that.

Would you like a needlepoint Bible cover? I don’t really need that, as pretty as it might be.

In fact, I don’t really understand the fashion fad about Bible covers, needlepointed or leatherbound or knitted or whatever.

It seems like we’re far too successful in covering over what is on the inside of the Bible. Why compound our sin by covering the outside, too? Hmmm. Maybe I do partially understand why Bible covers are currently in vogue.

Perhaps you would like a Flight into Egypt Musical Waterglobe. The Holy Family figures are glued into position while the music box plays “Joy to the World.” Is that really music to flee by? And if so, the figurines could at least move in a circle, couldn’t they?

I’m sorry if my skepticism offends your gifting tastes. But things like I’ve just discussed reflect nothing of the vibrant, makes-a-difference faith that I want to celebrate during the Advent and Christmas seasons.

I’m also sorry my denomination has fallen in line with countless other religious merchandisers and trivialized Christianity at the altars of consumption.

Fortunately, long after the stained glass church is accidentally broken by a contrite grandchild, the Christ-child event will continue to shout and whisper and live its revolutionary message of love and justice. Long after the needlepoint cover is ripped and tattered, the Bible will continue to break free of the bondage of misinterpretation to which we all subject it.

Long after the music box rusts to a stop and the waterglobe springs a slow leak, human beings will still be searching for ways to flee from internal and external tyranny. Hopefully in that search, we gain new strength so we can turn around and transform those tyrannies with the tools of truth and peacemaking.

I guess my gift-giving leans more to gifts that give more than sentimental feelings. I want my gifts to represent more than the silly and trivial ways by which we represent our spiritual heritages.

However, I won’t presume to give you my own list of preferred gifts. It may be just as trivial to you as this catalog’s gifts are to me.

You know best what you and your loved ones need deep down. Don’t you?

Maybe the best gift we can all offer is a trusting gratitude for God’s amazing willingness to somehow transform the trivial and/or expensive gifts that we offer to each other into gifts that clearly speak the real love in our hearts.

Perhaps then, even the trivial and expensive gifts can remind us of a truth that mustn’t stop when the toys are broken and the tree is thrown out with the other trash: We must live out our inconsistent and usually inadequate faith on a daily basis.

You see, Santa Claus does become a little god when we focus primarily on getting what we want or even just giving people what they want.

But the Christmas Good News? God stays God - rather than becoming Santa Claus - when Christmas is celebrated every day as we offer people the gifts they truly need.

xxxx

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