Reinventing Christmas

There is a counterfeit story that culture is telling us we need to live into. And it’s a story marked by the idea of getting and the belief that if we get what we want we will be happy.

We believe in this culture that by buying and consuming things, life will somehow be right. But it’s just not true. And the reality of this culture and the story we’ve been told is not a new one. Go back to Genesis. It’s the same story. God creates Adam and Eve in perfection with everything they could every need - nakedness and all. Yet what did they want?

More.

Same thing in Numbers. God rescues his children from slavery, and oppression, you name it, and they soon find themselves out in the desert where food is coming from the sky and water from rocks and what do they want…

More.

So we can sit here and point our fingers and call those guys stupid but we are the richest people in the history of the earth and we never cease to obsess over what we do not have. And we believe that when we get “that thing”, it’s going to bring meaning and it doesn’t… because it can’t. They’re empty and meaningless.

And then we wonder why these things never seem to satisfy…

I think the bible makes the reason why clear, we were made for the opposite of consumption. We were made for co-creation with God to fulfill his purposes. Bringing heaven to earth and bringing justice to a world marked by a terrible imbalance.

So forgive me for getting preachy, but my dream is that we can get beyond fake happiness and realize authentic joy in pursuing a Kingdom oriented way of life and begin to consider how a deeper understand of the Gospel could reshape our decision-making in a consumer-driven society.

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Now. Truth be told, I was in no way intending to include everything I have so far when I started writing you, but it just happened that way so I’m going with it. The real reason I’m writing is because I think there’s something terribly wrong with how followers of Jesus celebrate Christmas and I have something to ask of you.

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Ironically, Christmas time, the time when we are to celebrate the birth of Christ our savior and worship God, is ironically the worst time of the year for us with consumerism. This year, Americans will spend over 450 billion dollars on Christmas gifts. Not to mention that every year we spend 18 billion dollars on makeup. Perfume 15 billion dollars. Pet food 17 billion dollars.

So we take these statistics and then we look at the problems of the world and realize that these things are solvable. It’s estimated that for 5 billion we can solve the problem of universal literacy. For 10 billion we can solve the world water problem, today’s number one killer (20,000 a day). And for 19 billion we could completely illuminate hunger and malnutrition.

(Here’s where all that stuff I didn’t intend to say becomes relevant!)

This Christmas I encourage you to celebrate Christmas a little more and truly worship God by offering your time and presence to others, and spending less so that we can give more. And maybe, just maybe, we’ll come to fully realize that by having nothing to give to each other, we have everything because God is here with us and that my friends, changes everything.

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This Christmas I’m only asking for money from those who insist on giving me presents and I’ll be using it to help out my friend Keith. Keith is homeless and can be found most nights on the corner of Oakland and Walnut Street in downtown Pasadena. Fifteen years ago his marriage fell apart and shortly after he lost his job. Not long after, he found himself on the streets. Now ask Keith to tell his story and he’ll give the same story, it’s just that he has this way of making you believe he is “homeless by choice”. So no I’m not calling Keith a liar, because he is in fact homeless by choice, it’s just that was the only choice he had. And as for him likening his homelessness to the “wilderness adventures” that some people go on to find God, it’s merely out of his psychological need to make the best of the situation.

You see, Keith already knew God well before he went out on his “wilderness adventure”. In fact the dude is a super solid follower of Jesus and the majority of his day is spent in the library studying the Scriptures and Christian thought. The only reason he’s somewhat justified in calling it his “wilderness adventure” is because before he found himself homeless, the Gospel really messed him up. In short, he began to recognize that although most of us earnestly desire to follow Jesus, our execution of that desire is distorted because it’s bound up in the materialism of our culture. And this is what makes his homeless experience oh so amazing.

For fifteen years, he’s made it on the street without social security, without food stamps, and with little help from shelters. Keith truly lives out his faith, dependant on God’s daily providence for even the most basic need of life – food. And best of all, Keith not only finds his purpose in ministering to other homeless friends, but more importantly (in his opinion), to those who think their ministering to him.

Keith is an ordinary radical. And it’s weird, but I see Jesus in his eyes, and I find myself learning more through him and his life as we talk it up on the steps of public library late at night than any pastor ever has.

To cut to the chase, Keith has found the understanding he was looking for all along and as you can imagine is ready to get off the streets. For years he’s been finishing his day with a prayer for God to deliver him from the streets (and he tells me this as he teaches me the importance of praying consistently), and without the formal education to land a solid job these days with a paycheck to get him above the poverty threshold he has developed a business plan but needs 500 dollars to get it started. So maybe you get where I’m going with this but as for that money you’ll be saving since you’re spending less this Christmas, maybe you’d want to consider joining me in becoming the answer to his prayer.

(And for those of you who’s first reaction is to say I’m stupid, well I’ve wondered the same. But I also know that 1 Corinthians 1:27 says that God uses the foolish. And I don’t think God will ever tell me it was a waste.)