Evangelical Association

Don’t consider me a holiday humbug; I love Christmas and the surprise of a gift thoughtfully selected. It is indeed wonderful to get that right present for another that brings happiness and contentment; yet too often we attribute this satisfaction to material wealth and possession of stuff. The real issue with materialism is the problem inherent in not having enough stuff. And Christmas is stuff-centered. And having stuff is costly.

We Americans forget how blessed we are with stuff. Our stuff is the envy of the world. It is why our world is in the turmoil it is. It is why we have a problem with stuff that may be hazardous to our health because we want lots of cheap stuff. So it is also with our faith. The abundance of religious stuff (churches, ideology, denominations, and our reliance on right to private judgment) has led to lack of personal commitment in faith building and practice. We take church and our faith for granted. Even in our churches we have lots of physical stuff but not enough spiritual stuff.

Each of us, even me, is guilty of some part of taking the church and our faith for granted. It is why God sent His Son, He knew we could never get it right on our own. He knew we’d be focused on the wrong stuff.

This "Christmas after" I would urge you to think of what came after the first Christmas: the life, teachings, death, and resurrection of the grown Christ child – Christ stuff. Let’s begin the process of moving away from the material stuff toward the spiritual stuff.

I am not going to urge you to try better this New Year; that decision is yours to ponder, rather I will point to Richard of Chichester’s well known prayer written above to let you know that it can be different if we take it one day at a time, seeking out and finding Jesus Christ. It’s not hard if you commit to doing the best you can each day.

Yours In Christ,