The Shiny Seeming Shallow: The Pressure of Christmas

I have made this statement a number of times about how the holiday season is like a Hurricane.   I am sure I have overused this simile a few other times in the past three years of this blog.  

For those of you who have lived in areas where there are typhoons, tropical cyclones, or hurricanes (all the same thing) you have warning that it is coming.  Your job is to prepare for the storm to make sure you have everything you need to survive what could be the worst.   People make small talk in lines about the latest hurricane forecast and where it may or may not be making landfall.  The talk is all over the local and regional media.  The local weather forecasters are the people everyone listens to.   Some people may get a hurricane tracking chart and plot the points of where the storm is heading.   By the time the hurricane has hit landfall, you have your hurricane kit prepared and you are ready and locked in your house or maybe at a hurricane shelter.

I felt like it was like hurricane preparation when I went to my local Walmart on Thanksgiving night and people were all lined up to get specials that were being rationed out.   Far more people are in the mall from the day after Thanksgiving until December 24.  Everyone is under a deadline to get in everything.   

There will be extra events to go to and things to make. There will be expectations to do things.   As an adult with adolescent children, these are on top of what I usually do all ready.  It is tiring getting ready for the hurricane . . . I mean Christmas.

The church used to keep sole track of Christmas, the economy in most western nations has taken over. 

As a result of the economic exploitation of Christmas, the Christmas season starts at Halloween.  We have an intense environment that intensifies further at the holidays much like an artificial hurricane.  

I have to say that the advertisers at Christmas time really know how to work their motivational techniques to get us out and buy.  The music is loud, the images are vivid, the smells are strong, and the lights are shiny. The urge is to get out there because there is not much time.  You must go and get stuff to make that day magical and special with all of those relatives who you are going to have a great time with!  

 Here in the United States patriotism has been blended with consumerism. It is your patriotic duty to get out and buy merchandise because your retail sector needs you.   The media will take economic temperatures and report the stories as a subtle commercial to get out and buy whatever.  Some consumers will either feel motivation or guilt because they have not done their share in holding the economy up.

(record scratch).

It is interesting how guilt at Christmas can be about not buying enough stuff versus your sins.  The real message of what Christmas is about has got lost in many cases.  It less about reflecting on our lostness and our need for salvation than it is about getting out and buying stuff.  My eternal destiny is not based on what I buy for my kids this Christmas. The shiny seems shallow. 

The center of Christmas is about the one who brought us and still brings us peace and forgiveness.  The toys get broken, the Christmas lights break, decorations get worn out and the Christmas cookies get stale, but Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever (Hebrews 13:8) New International Version.