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Reminders that Christmas is the season of hope, joy, peace,
and love bombard our senses and infuse our worship experiences. This is the
time of year we get to feel good about our faith.
This also is the giving season. No other time of the year
does our Christian faith so boldly remind us that we are called to be givers,
just as God gave of Himself through the birth of Christ. As we celebrate the
greatest blessing of all, we are constantly reminded that, Christian or not,
not all people are blessed in the same way with the same resources for
themselves and their families.
During Advent, the birth of Christ often is juxtaposed with
the state of the poor in our country. Our churches and Christian faith
communities celebrate the gift of Christ and, at the same time, call upon Christ
followers to offer hope, joy, peace, and love to the poor through food
donations, free resources, and gap-fillers of many other felt needs.
But to what end? Is all our Christmas giving really going to
sustain, let alone help change, the lives of the poor over the long haul?
Before you label me a Scrooge, stop
and truly consider whether our churches’ responses to poverty during Christmas are
the right responses. Are they helping people find hope, joy, peace, and love
beyond the Christmas season? Are they teaching Christ followers how to address
the real issues of poverty beyond the basic necessities?
Our friend Pastor Carrie Jena recently wrote a blog about
her work with the urban poor. She says, “If you ask most middle to upper middle
class people, ‘What are the biggest problems facing the poor and homeless
today?’ They will usually say, ‘money, housing, and jobs.’ And they
would be right. But if you ask the homeless the same question, they will
say, ‘Loneliness, Fear, Depression, and Worthlessness.’
This Christmas season, we pray you will read Pastor Carrie’s
blog on three ways churches and Christians can be better gift givers this
Christmas season. http://changingliveshealingthecity.blogspot.com/2013/12/healing-relationships-what-poor-have-to.html
In her blog, Pastor Carrie references a blog by
Shawn Smucker titled, “35 Years in Church and I Still Don’t Know How to Respond
to Poverty.” Here is a link to Shawn’s
blog as well. http://www.churchleaders.com/outreach-missions/outreach-missions-articles/162500-35-years-in-church-and-i-still-dont-know-how-to-respond-to-poverty.html
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