Saturday, December 10, 2005

Christmas? Gifts?

Hum.

I don't seem to recall Jesus ever giving gifts and presents to people.

Of course not, the guy was a poor peasant.


What did he give? Something worth much more than any material gift: compassion...care...attention.

So why is it that for one month we fuss so much about 'what to get *insert name here*'? Are we trying to avoid giving them what really matters? Are we trying to avoid actually involving ourselves in the lives of others around us? In celebrating 'Jesus' are we just avoiding everything his life stood for?

"Here, have a gift. Really, I do care about you."

Sure. As if all I needed in life were another iPod, or a nice hat.

-Kev

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Give the gift of...The Bible! Two birds one stone. I win. Happy Hannukah

Anonymous said...

how bout salvation?

Anonymous said...

"They tried to kill us, we survived, let's eat."

Gwahahah. Thats jewish gold. Oivey.

Kevin said...

What about salvation?

Not sure what you mean.

Sure, you can say that is how Jesus' life is interpreted from the outside in (i.e., the Christian interpretation): an act of salvation. But I don't think that explains what he was doing in his life. As if his only thought through life was, "I came to die for the sins of people". The only sin he died for was standing up to the religious and political powers of his day. Yeah, they got him good for that one.

The impression I get from reading the Gospels, especially the synoptics, is a bit different. He seemed to be up to much more than 'salvation'. I'll leave that to another post some other day, heh heh.

Cheers

Anonymous said...

gift giving is a nice tradition, but sometimes it kinda causes too many conflicts we'd all rather avoid. like you said, it's better off just giving care and love.

and to answer your inquiry into what embarassing songs i listen to, i will give you an example. remember that 'butterfly' song by crazytown? yes, that's one. it's like those catchy songs on the radio that the kids actually genuinely like.

Anonymous said...

hi kevin. nice blog you have here. anyways, would food be considered a gift? because Jesus did feed all those people fish and bread. if i was there and hungry i would consider that a present. or not whatever. i have a feeling you're hard to argue with. but i am too. haha