By the Way: Plan to make the perfect Nativity, not the perfect Christmas

By Medicine Hat News on December 9, 2017.

This time of the year I, like many colleagues, am tempted to do a rant on ‘keep the Christ in Christmas’. It seems that the festive season begins with Black Friday and culminates with Boxing Day, a month of intensive buying and selling with a vengeance. Why would anyone in their right mind line up at a big box store at 6 a.m. to score a bargain? Or fight their way through crowded malls full of pop-up booths, frantic shoppers and a cacophony of musak blaring? Even so-called Advent calendars marketing beer, wine and chocolate miss the point by mistakenly designating the month of December as Advent when, in fact, often includes a week in November as well. Exactly what is being advertised, and why?

Perhaps the time has come for communities of faith to retreat from the cultural insanity called Christmas and to reclaim the narrative of our faith. Dismiss the ‘Christmas’ of consumption and greed to engage instead in a quiet time of reflection. Celebrate the birth of the Christ, not the ka-ching of capitalism that has appropriated the Saviour’s name. Call the holiday Nativity and leave the frantic buy and sell routine to those who find the meaning of life in a minute of instant gratification.

No, I’m not Scrooge, although I do share his ”Bah, Humbug!” refrain. Here are some suggestions to make Nativity work in your household.

Buy fun and comic gifts or practical items that express the recipient’s tastes and personality. The laughter that comes when you find the perfect item to match Grandpa’s grumpiness or Mom’s chronic multitasking is worth far more that extravagant purchases. Even better, imagine and create a gift from the heart — a spare pair of hands for Mom shaped from clay and rubber gloves; a designer coffee mug; a t-shirt with a caption that captures the personal traits in a few words or images. One Christmas when our family was young the gift was ‘Mother’s Magic Medicine’, a pill bottle full of jellybeans with a prescription slip that identified each colour for a specific ailment. That’s one gift we still remember.

Give gifts that matter, like the gift of giving. Donate to a local or international non-governmental charitable agency to help those suffering illness, abuse, exile (refugees), or economic stress. Your investment now may have long-term effects that transform generations of lives. Who knows what your generosity can accomplish? Give conscientiously, avoiding popular campaigns that make you feel good but offer little benefit for recipients. Even better, give through your church which, in partnership with responsible global development agencies, can ensure that your money goes where it is most needed without deducting a percentage to cover administration and advertising. It’s a win-win, give-give way to celebrate the Nativity.

Don’t hang around the mall to be tempted by marketing schemes. Practice environmental sensitivity and buy local when possible. Beware of bargain items produced by exploited workers. Search out free-trade chocolate. For gift wrap give the forest a rest and make colourful reuseable gift bags from fabric, or recycle newsprint or paper bags with hand-crafted designs. Be practical and use common sense. Avoid the heart —tug ‘made for Christmas’ gimmicks and gadgets that you supposedly can’t live without. You have lived this long without, so why now?

Plan to make the perfect Nativity, not the perfect Christmas with lavish and extravagant décor. Keep it same and simple. No one was prepared for the birth of the Christ child, so who are we to do better? Make a simple crche the center of your festivities, not lights and tinsel and gold and gluttony. Celebrate Nativity in a humble stable and commercial ‘Christmas’ in a mall.

May you have a gentle, reverent and Christ-centered holiday hearing once again tidings of great joy.