Ask the Thoughtful Pastor: What about Christmas gifts?

Christmas gifts: do they interfere with the real “reason for the season” of the Christ birth? Or do they just add to the joy?

Dear Thoughtful Pastor: Why is your feeling about gift-giving at Christmas time? Have you found that your feelings toward gift giving at Christmas has changed over the years?

In my younger, more black and white days, days of fervency for Jesus and accuracy of the message, I had real problems with the intermingling of the religious aspects of honoring the birth of Jesus and the pagan roots that underlie most of our “Christmas” traditions.

I loudly proclaimed, “Jesus is the reason for the season,” and often made large donations to charities in lieu of gifts. I completely understood why the Puritans banned Christmas and Easter celebrations as they saw them hopelessly tainted by their non-Christian roots.

Our celebrations, with or without Christmas gifts, are historically inaccurate.

But I do appear to have mellowed, and for many reasons. While I maintain my fervency for Jesus, I’m more aware that accuracy is problematic here.

First, we have simply no idea the specific date Jesus was actually born, but December 25 is highly unlikely. It was picked as the date to celebrate mainly to co-opt the common winter solstice celebrations. In the Northern hemisphere, Dec. 21 is the shortest day of the year. It’s a big deal to see the days getting longer again–so people have partied for centuries around then. I have long worried about the folks in the Southern hemisphere who are trying to do Christmas and snow and reindeer on the longest, and often hottest, days of the year, but that’s another story.

Second, the “religious” observations of it have it pretty far off as well. The “stable” seen in most nativity scenes is a modern invention. When Joseph and the very pregnant Mary show up, they didn’t deal with some sort of a heartless innkeeper who coldly sends them off to themselves with the animals. They were at a private residence of distant relations who already had a house full of others coming to register for the census.

The “inn” is the upper sleeping chamber of most houses of that era. The “stable” was the lower area where the animals were housed for the night for safe keeping. The young couple were simply offered the best available option, and would most certainly have been surrounded by caring relatives.

Third, the “three wise men,” didn’t show up that night, but up to two years later. And we don’t know how many there were, only that they bore three gifts. I could go on, but you get the point.

As to gifts . . . I have finally figured out that a bit of extravagance, whimsy, and genuinely crazy gifts along with the proliferation of ugly Christmas sweaters is not a bad idea at all. Life is serious enough so much of the time. It’s a perfect time to let up on the seriousness, indulge in Christmas gifts and simply celebrate joy.

The economic realities of Christmas gifts and shopping.

And then there is the economy. And aren’t we all worried about the economy? Or if we are not, we probably all should be.

So here’s a quick, and extremely simplistic, lesson. The US economy at this point is pretty driven by consumer spending. Look at the multiplier effect: You and I go to local merchants (I’m dreaming here–stay with me), and purchase gifts for all our family and friends.

The local merchants turn a profit for the year, and maybe need to hire some folks. Those new hires now give back to the economy by having a paycheck to spend. Maybe some young people living at home can move out and rent their own space, so now builders and rental property owners and furniture stores have a bit more income that they can spend as well. We all do better.

Now, about charities: this is the time of year to donate. Actually, the entire year is the time of year to donate, but let’s really think about it now.

Don’t stop charitable giving!

What are the pressing societal problems that concern you? There are enough to go around. I’ll name just a few here:

• Lack of resources to help care for those suffering from mental illness.
• The large and growing number of children in every school district that are acknowledged as homeless.
• The on-going tragedy of sex-trafficking around the world. This is also linked to the selling of girls as child brides. Some parts of the world that have long used sex-selective abortion to guarantee male offspring now face a shortage of women of marriageable age.
• The growing inequality of educational and health resources in our poorest neighbourhoods.
• The fact that some people are just plain hungry.

I could name dozens more. Fine agencies, staffed by gifted and seriously underpaid people and supported by multiple volunteers do their best to address many of these ills. They need your help, your generosity.

So . . . to get back to the question: how do I feel about gift-giving this time of the year? I think it is a great idea. Let’s have some fun with it, do what we can to offer joy, and see what we can do to be healers of the world in the process.

[Note: a version of this column was scheduled to run in the Nov 25, 2016, edition of the Denton Record-Chronicle. The Thoughtful Pastor, AKA Christy Thomas, welcomes all questions for the column. Although the questioner will not be identified, I do need a name and verifiable contact information in case the newspaper editor has need of it. You may use this link to email questions.]