Friday, December 12, 2008

Dec 25th - Consumermass

We are a society of consumers. We are not materialists, but functionalists. We really don't care care about material things but we care about what they can do for us. This has two major impacts on our spiritual lives.

First, it gets us to spend a lot of time and money aquiring stuff in the hopes that they can make us happy. This is money that we cannot save and time we cannot be in ministry. The truth is that only God can make us happy.

Second, we spend a lot of time with our stuff trying to get it to make us happy. Again, only God alone is our source of true happiness.

It seems that Christmas has become more and more about stuff and less and less about Jesus. It seems that every year, "Christmas" (or, more accurately "Consumermass") starts earlier and earlier. We saw Consumermass items in Sams around Labor day this year!

Now, I am as guilty of running after the latest gadget and buying stuff as the next person. So, what is the antidote? I believe the best antidote is prayer and meditation. "For God alone, my soul in silence waits (Pslam 62:1)"

Advent is a time of waiting. It is a time of preparation. To aid the handful of people who read this blog in their preparation, I offer the following link:

O Come, O Come

YBIC,

Phil Snyder

1 comment:

mousestalker said...

This is the second year we have celebrated Tossmas. Of all the new holidays that have cropped up recently (Kwanzaa, Festivus etc) it is the one we feel we can really support.

On a serious note, the only thing more moving than a midnight mass on Christmas Eve is a midnight mass on Easter Eve.

Which is as it should be.