A few days ago my wife Jane met a young lady out shopping who looked frazzled, and Jane muttered something sympathetic; but the young woman smiled and said, “Oh, no, it’ll be fine. I really like it that this is the one time of the year we are practically forced to give gifts!” She obviously liked the idea of giving gifts; but was just getting a bit worn down by the reality.
So: what do you think about giving gifts at Christmas?
We are surrounded by messages which say that the best gifts are the most valuable ones. We live in a capitalist world which relies on people giving each other expensive things, but it is important not to get sucked into that mindset. Giving people you hardly know, gifts you can hardly afford, sounds like a recipe for disaster to me; but it is a self-imposed kind of disaster which we can learn to avoid. And remember that some people give valuable gifts because they are feeling bad about something: they haven’t spent enough time with their family this year, or things aren’t going well in their relationship, so they give an expensive gift in the hope that will somehow make things better. It won’t! And even worse, the recipient might suddenly get curious about what you are feeling bad about…
Other people think the best kinds of gifts are things which people really need. This is pretty safe when someone is setting up a flat or a couple is newly married; but it is really hard for anyone whom we don’t know well. My wife’s grandmother had a lovely habit: she used to love giving people a small amount of cash, and she would write in the card, “This is for a frivvle”: that is, something frivolous which you’d just like to have, but don’t really need. The big problem trying to give people things they really need is that you can find you are trying to tell them something: like giving an ironing board to the guy who always wears rumpled shirts. Those gifts may well not be appreciated!
Lots of people think the best kind of gift is something you have made yourself: you’ve invested some time in it and you’ve been thinking about the person to whom you are giving it. This works really well for young children making a macaroni picture for mum; but if you’re doing this as an adult it does help if you have good taste and some kind of talent: we all remember the lumpy knitted jerseys Ron Weasley’s mum used to make.
For very many people the best kind of gift you can give at Christmas is a little of your time: travelling to be with someone you love, or phoning someone on the other side of the world.
But I’ve just spent this whole talk dealing with the giving of gifts as though it were an end in itself. And this is my whole point. I don’t want you to go home thinking about the best kinds of gifts to give at Christmas! What I’d like you to remember is that, actually, we give gifts at Christmas because we are reminding one another of the most amazing gift God gave to us.
Christmas is when we remember God’s gift to us: a giant “I love you!” no matter what are our circumstances or how we are feeling. Christmas is an annual reminder of the gift of Jesus. When we look at the stories of Jesus in the Bible we see what it looks like when you love God and love your neighbour. Nearly everyone, no matter what their faith, believes in some sort of higher power: but the Good News is that the God who created the Universe is not some kind of impersonal force: He knows each one of us by name; and He loves us. His love sets us free from worry: and free to love others. The gifts we give are not the important thing: they are just a reminder, a token, of the inexhaustible love which God has for each one of us.
Perhaps the best gifts we can give at Christmas are to people who have no claim on our friendship: not to our family or friends: but, like God, giving something amazing to people who didn’t expect it. We know one lady from Levin who goes to Wellington and cooks bacon for 100 homeless people. What about inviting one person who you don’t know well, to share your Christmas meal? Or dropping round to an elderly neighbour with some mince pies on Boxing Day?
God is the supreme giver; when we give at Christmas we are merely reminding ourselves of His generosity; so what I’d really like is for all of us to reflect on our generous God, and think about living generously – and I don’t mean just at Christmas! - as a result!
Christmas 2012
So: what do you think about giving gifts at Christmas?
We are surrounded by messages which say that the best gifts are the most valuable ones. We live in a capitalist world which relies on people giving each other expensive things, but it is important not to get sucked into that mindset. Giving people you hardly know, gifts you can hardly afford, sounds like a recipe for disaster to me; but it is a self-imposed kind of disaster which we can learn to avoid. And remember that some people give valuable gifts because they are feeling bad about something: they haven’t spent enough time with their family this year, or things aren’t going well in their relationship, so they give an expensive gift in the hope that will somehow make things better. It won’t! And even worse, the recipient might suddenly get curious about what you are feeling bad about…
Other people think the best kinds of gifts are things which people really need. This is pretty safe when someone is setting up a flat or a couple is newly married; but it is really hard for anyone whom we don’t know well. My wife’s grandmother had a lovely habit: she used to love giving people a small amount of cash, and she would write in the card, “This is for a frivvle”: that is, something frivolous which you’d just like to have, but don’t really need. The big problem trying to give people things they really need is that you can find you are trying to tell them something: like giving an ironing board to the guy who always wears rumpled shirts. Those gifts may well not be appreciated!
Lots of people think the best kind of gift is something you have made yourself: you’ve invested some time in it and you’ve been thinking about the person to whom you are giving it. This works really well for young children making a macaroni picture for mum; but if you’re doing this as an adult it does help if you have good taste and some kind of talent: we all remember the lumpy knitted jerseys Ron Weasley’s mum used to make.
For very many people the best kind of gift you can give at Christmas is a little of your time: travelling to be with someone you love, or phoning someone on the other side of the world.
But I’ve just spent this whole talk dealing with the giving of gifts as though it were an end in itself. And this is my whole point. I don’t want you to go home thinking about the best kinds of gifts to give at Christmas! What I’d like you to remember is that, actually, we give gifts at Christmas because we are reminding one another of the most amazing gift God gave to us.
Christmas is when we remember God’s gift to us: a giant “I love you!” no matter what are our circumstances or how we are feeling. Christmas is an annual reminder of the gift of Jesus. When we look at the stories of Jesus in the Bible we see what it looks like when you love God and love your neighbour. Nearly everyone, no matter what their faith, believes in some sort of higher power: but the Good News is that the God who created the Universe is not some kind of impersonal force: He knows each one of us by name; and He loves us. His love sets us free from worry: and free to love others. The gifts we give are not the important thing: they are just a reminder, a token, of the inexhaustible love which God has for each one of us.
Perhaps the best gifts we can give at Christmas are to people who have no claim on our friendship: not to our family or friends: but, like God, giving something amazing to people who didn’t expect it. We know one lady from Levin who goes to Wellington and cooks bacon for 100 homeless people. What about inviting one person who you don’t know well, to share your Christmas meal? Or dropping round to an elderly neighbour with some mince pies on Boxing Day?
God is the supreme giver; when we give at Christmas we are merely reminding ourselves of His generosity; so what I’d really like is for all of us to reflect on our generous God, and think about living generously – and I don’t mean just at Christmas! - as a result!
Christmas 2012