By now many of you will have started your Christmas shopping – running the gauntlet of getting the right gift for the right person. More often than not knowing that the person you are buying for does not actually need or want for very much at all.
During the week I heard the statistic that last year in Australia 25 million unwanted gifts were disposed of after last Christmas. This gives a whole new meaning to boxing day! The estimated cost of these gifts was one billion dollars! This amount of money is staggering and no doubt we have all given and received gifts that are not appreciated.
As Christian people the celebration of Christmas must find its way back to its roots – celebrating God’s gift of Jesus, a gift of abundant life and renewed relationships. Maybe this Christmas instead of absenting ourselves from family for hours on end to buy the gifts we could consider the gift of time shared: growing those cherished relationship; reconciling those relationship that have become strained; and celebrating our shared existence in the light of God’s love.
If you still have a hankering to spend money on gifts why not buy something from the UCA “Everything in Common” catalogue or the World Vision “Smiles” catalogue for someone who really does need a helping hand.
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