A Christmas Emergency

My friend Mark asked me a thoughtful question (under my post "What Christmas Means to Me" by C.S. Lewis) concerning this gift giving time of year, and I thought his question was excellent and worthy of making it a post.  Mark also linked to a blog post by a woman named Nancy Wilson which you should read first before reading my answer to his question.  


Corey,
What are your thoughts on how to not offend in our culture, both family and friends, when gifts are expected? Also related to advent and some of your other posts (advent conspiracy) what do you think of this? http://www.feminagirls.com/2010/11/19/christmas-is-an-emergency/

Be seeing you,
Mark

                                                                                               

Mark,
On how not to offend, perhaps one way through the hysteria is being upfront with family/friends prior to Christmas by letting them know that you aren't in need or want of anything, and perhaps suggest a gospel outreach that all of you can contribute to.  It's something my family and extended family have looked into an ensy-bensy bit but have never got serious about it and actually pulled the trigger on.  We should.  Anyway, that's one thought.
       As far as Mrs. Wilson's blogpost, I really couldn't disagree more whole-heartedly. Not only with the silliness about blowing money reserved for emergencies ("Christmas is an emergency! Get a thousand bucks out of your savings and whoop it up with your kids."), but her bizarre rational for whooping it up with one's family.
       As Mrs. Wilson rightly wrote, "God sent His Son to us, to save us from the horrible plight we were in. He lavishes us with His generosity, His kindness, His love and mercy." Yeah, amen, that's right, and we're called to IMITATE that mercy and love.  Jesus emptied Himself, keeping nothing back, and gave His whole-life for those in NEED. This is where Mrs. Wilson goes off course and doesn't seem to grasp that "need" concept.
       Rather, what she advocates is spending yer dough on your kids, your family, and apparently others who don't need a stinking thing! The exact opposite of what Christ did! Quite frankly, I think she misses the whole dang point! (As you can see this kind of thinking fires me up a bit...)
       We USAer Christians need to grasp that we live in "christmas" our whole lives! What we really need to do, especially during the Advent season, is stop spending on ourselves, and give to others who are in actual physical or spiritual NEED just like our Lord did.
       In all likelihood, what most of us (my family included) all need to do is take a buying-crap-for-ourselves fast which would certainly be alot closer to imitating what Jesus did for us in the Incarnation than purchasing loads of useless junk for ourselves and our kids.

Hugs and holy kisses,
Corey