Testimony Tuesday

Christmas Sucks!

According to the National Retail Federation (NRF), the average American is expected to spend around $902 on Christmas this year 2024. Google AI search results. This figure is on the low end of all the numbers I ran across. The lowest was $50.00, to the highest being $3,000. Living in a highly commercialized, capitalist society. Christmas is about presents. The value of your worth is based on the money spent on your present. This is reinforced even in the shows we watch. There is an episode of The Big Bang Theory where Penny gets Sheldon a present. He suspected she’d buy him one. Not knowing what she would get him, he bought a number of presents equal to the value he estimated she might spend. Sounds about right? 

As a loved one, we want to get our people things that are meaningful. That says, ‘we pay attention to you. We listen to you. We know your likes and dislikes.’

Years ago, I hated Christmas. You know that person: Christmas music SUCKS. Retail SUCKS! They start putting Christmas items out in July now. CHRISTMAS SUCKS! Not for the love of Christmas but to get your money. Remember: capitalism. 

Celebrating our human birthdays, we tick off the years leading to the end of our mortal lives here on earth. Each year is one year closer to the end. Celebrating the birth of Christ is so different. If we let it, we are re-energized with the Spirit of Christmas. It’s a warm, joyful feeling. It doesn’t change the world outside. It changes the heart inside. It changes the way we view everything, if we let it. However, we can slam the door in the face of Christmas. 

We often view Jesus as our Christian present. Our gift from God. It goes so much deeper than that. It’s taken me a long time to understand that Christmas truly is a feeling. A renewing of the spirit. A fresh start. A rebirth. This gift we have been given changes you from the inside. And this Spirit is perhaps it strongest at Christmas. Have you been paying attention to your fellow humans? Stress of capitalism aside, most people seem happier. They are kinder. This may not be the case when you want to throat punch your fellow shopper in line at Wal-Mart because they took the last bag of Doritos. On a whole people seem different. And it’s a difference you can sense at Christmas. 

Stress, anxiety, depression, loneliness, anger, a multitude of real issues weigh us down. And makes us slam the door shut on the Spirit that is Christmas. I am in no way making light of these very real, personal responses. I feel them just like you do. The Spirit of Christmas is all around us. A force bigger than anything. Brighter than the sun. Sweeter than honey. Stronger than steel. Can you feel it? Is it tugging at your heart but you can’t define it? Christ is Christmas. Christ is that Spirit. He will not force himself upon you. Leave your door ajar.

“Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude.”

-1 Corinthians 13:4

“Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you.”

-Ephesians 4:32

“But love your enemies,and do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return, and your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High, for he is kind to the ungrateful and the evil.”

-Luke 6:35

“She opens her mouth with wisdom, and the teaching of kindness is on her tongue.”

-Proverbs 31:26

The Bible