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Advent is a wonderful season in the Christian year. It’s a time of expectation, reflection, wonder and preparation as we get ready for the birth of Jesus Christ. Sadly much of the joy of Advent is lost in the frenzied preparations for Christmas (or Xmas as many prefer to call it). Xmas leaves Christ out of Christmas which is pretty much the state of affairs today I’m sad to say. For many people Christmas begins in October and is followed by three months of endless trampling around shops worrying what to buy. Buying presents may be fun, and it is for many people, but on the scale of things it is the least important aspect of Advent – it really is. OK, the Magi did bring gifts to Jesus but they brought something more valuable than that – themselves! Think about it. Why else would they have travelled thousands of miles over some of the most challenging terrain on earth if they hadn’t wanted to be with Jesus in person? They certainly didn’t go to such lengths just to present Jesus with the equivalent of a bottle of Max Factor, a gold chain from Kemps and a jar of embalming fluid from eBay. We miss so much about the travel adventures of the Magi unless we get our heads round why they decided to set off for Bethlehem. And there would have been much to ponder over not least the route, the hazards to be faced along+++ the way plus family and friends left behind whom they wouldn’t see again for many months. Why would they have sacrificed so much unless the journey overland was an important one to make? But that’s the point. The Magi wanted to see Jesus, to be near him, to be in his presence, to fall at his feet and to worship him. And only after this would they have presented him with gifts - simple tokens of their visit. And it is through this prism that the giving of gifts at Christmas should be seen.
This year Advent will be a tough time for many. In years past people were encouraged to spend money they didn’t have and charge it to the “card.” The good times were here for good it seemed. But then the crash came taking some of the biggest names on the high street down with it. And the solution? To go out and do it all over again - to spend, spend, spend at the shopping malls to save us all! But does God really want this for us? I don’t think so. Jesus came to set us free from all that would enslave us – including a failed system that promotes relentless growth (and money) over people. The pressure to spend at Christmas is immense and hard to resist. For years I’ve been advocating the £10 Christmas at home i.e. a limit of £10 on any one present. The problem is I’m usually the first to break that rule!! But if only we could get Christmas under control by spending less money and receiving more of what God wants to give us we would be more content as a people and much happier as a world. Christmas is not all about money but it is about accepting a gift; a child in a manger and a God forever with us.
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