It's Christmastime

In both the church/chapel services I've attended and in the blogs of my friends, a lot of people have really been knocking on Christmas. Not so much the holiday but rather the consumerism that is linked to this holiday. I was really getting into this mindset and then I read this quote and it really challenged me:

"It might be easy to run away to a monastery, away from the commercialization, the hectic hustle, the demanding family responsibilities of Christmas-time. Then we would have a holy Christmas. But we would forget the lesson of the Incarnation, of the enfleshing of God - the lesson that we who are followers of Jesus do not run from the secular aspects of Christmas just as the early Christians baptized the Christmas tree. And we do this by being holy people - kind, patient, generous, loving, laughing people - no matter how maddening is the Christmas rush ..." (Andrew Greeley)

I find it really easy to poke fun at those Christians who want to separate themselves from the world. I think in my mind that they are actually sinning in a way because they make themselves so irrelevant that they could never reach anyone that was lost. Yet, I found myself in danger of doing the same thing during this Christmas season. How do we engage the world and disengage consumerism at the same time? I guess I'm not really sure. I don't think we should completely abandon the practice of gift-giving. There is something sacred in saying, "I bought this for you because you mean something to me." I hope we don't just buy our families, friends, and other loved ones gifts because it's Christmas so we have to. I hope we buy each other gifts as a recognition that we are meaningful to one another, so buying you a present is just a recognition that you are often on my mind and I care about you.

I'm willing to admit that I could be completely wrong and that the practice of gift-giving at Christmas should be ignored. No matter what on that issue though, let's remember that God gave us the ultimate gift, however cliche that statement is. Jesus was born. He lived, and He died to take away our sins and to bring us freedom from those things we are enslaved to. May we never forget and may God help us point others to that reality.