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Bemerton
Methodist Church |
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Revd. Rosemary Richter
Dear friends, I wonder whether the protest camp outside St Paul’s Cathedral will still be there at Christmas, and if so, whether they will sing carols in the cold night air? On the news I saw a banner saying ‘What would Jesus do?’ because people of different faiths and none have picked up that Jesus was the one who came to give good news to the poor. Some of the lines of carols may chime with protester’s feelings: Coming in need, Mary’s child; Sacred Infant, all divine, what a tender love was thine, Just as poor as was the stable then; Dearer to God are the prayers of the poor. Although there has been controversy both in and outside the church about the protests, it has reminded us it is essential for Christians to engage in discussion about money, ethics and society. One of the issues that has worried me for some years is that many people spend too much and get into debt for Christmas and over Christmas. Borrowing money gets people into a debt spiral, and credit cards dull our sense we have to pay it back sometime. Of course parents want their children to have the best - but should that really be expensive quantities of toys they cannot afford? Why should people be thought kill-joys if they do not spend liberally on parties and drinks to keep up with their colleagues? Far from making us happy, spending too much creates worry and tension. If we really want to celebrate and honour the baby born in poverty and laid in a manger because there was no room for him even in the inn, spending what we haven’t got takes us far from the spirit of Christmas. As does spending extravagantly because we can and because we have too much in relation to others! No one is against gifts, and you may say the magi brought extravagant gifts with gold, frankincense and myrrh – but these were symbolic gifts, and it was their symbolism which mattered, they did not make any difference later on to the ordinary day to day running of the simple household in Nazareth. And lovely though the nativity plays are when the little shepherds bring lambs to the cradle, we are not told in the Bible they brought a thing – they came just as they were. It is relationships that matter more than any money. It says in the Song of Songs: Many waters cannot quench love; rivers cannot wash it away. If one were to give all the wealth of his house for love, it would be utterly scorned. Money cannot buy love. Let us remember the truth of Christmas – it is as far as it can be from the love of money or things: Love came down at Christmas, love all lovely, Love divine. Every blessing for Christmas and the New Year
December 2011 |
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