Rethinking Christmas

How much progress have you made with your Christmas shopping? Did you start early? Were you on line for the Black Friday sales or are you a last minute shopper, braving the crowds and perhaps even the cold, depending on what part of the country you live.

In America, billions of dollars will change hands between Christmas Eve and Christmas day. Can you imagine how much food, housing and medicine, a billion dollars could buy? And where is all of the money going? Take a look around the mall on Christmas Eve. People are maxing out credit cards to buy junk that nobody needs for people they sometimes don't even like!

And what are we celebrating? When I was growing up, they started calling it "X-Mas." That died. For the most part we are back to calling it, "Christmas" and any school kid, believer or not will tell you that the holiday is a celebration of the birth of Jesus Christ.

Jesus and Mary were poor people. The baby Jesus was born outside in a cold, stinking cave where animals were kept. As he grew into manhood, he again knew homelessness. He once said, "Foxes have holes. The birds of the air had nests but the son of man has no where to lay his head." Jesus never repudiated all weath as evil but its accumulation was never the organizing principle of his life. Even though, Jesus was economically on the margins, he and his followers sacrificed so that they could have money to share with the destitute. Which brings us to the Christmas holidays.

Amidst all of the ribbons, wrapping paper, X-Box games and diamond jewelry, where do we find Jesus? Mother Teresa said that she found Jesus in the eyes of the poor. If we are going to celebrate Jesus' birthday, then it wouldn't it make the most sense to use that sacred day to celebrate the birth of the divine Christ by caring for the people around us who find themselves in the throes of the crippling poverty that surrounded Jesus when he walked the earth?

Its time to rethink, Christmas. What do you plan to do on Christmas for that person who can't possibly do something for you? Is there someone who might be new in town or someone without a family who might truly benefit from an invitation to your dinner table?Who is getting an unexpected present from you this year? Is it that senior in a retirement home or the homeless person sleeping under that Macy's sign.

Jesus was poor. The very holiday stresses that point. You can ride through any neighborhood in America and see a manager scene. So, let's rethink the Christmas holiday. What will we do for the people whom Jesus called, "the least of these" in Matthew 25, this year?

Finally, you might feel somewhat down this year because you don't have the finances to do the things for your loved ones that you'd like to. As they say in the hood, "Don't trip, hear?' Your love for folks is not defined by the material items that you can put in their hands. And chances are great they don't even need the stuff you'd be buying them if you could.

Do you want to feel good about the holidays? Do something or give something to someone who could use the blessing. That might mean washing some senior citizen's car. It might mean volunteering to serve a meal at a soup kitchen. I have a friend who goes to the worst hood in the city and just hands out cupcakes. I saw her do that earlier his week. She didn't have much money but the homeless folks smiled and thanked her as though she were handing out Godiva Chocolates.

Honor Jesus Christ at Christmas time. Bless someone who needs it. And remember that blessing does not always have to be made of money to bring a smile.