On the 12th month of this year, these words just came to me...
twelve months of saving,
eleven Christmas dinners
ten times more heating,
nine lots of wrapping
eight (too much chocolate)
seven days of slobbing
six festive parties
five - prawn - rings
four bulging Bruces
three carol concerts
two excited kids
and some presents around a bald tree
But is that it? Is Christmas, no - being a Christian, just about singing and eating and busyness?
I actually stopped to think while listening to the 'big kids' Christmas service at my sons' school (Carol service number four already). Two things stood out from that jam-packed gym hall Christmas presentation.
The first is the Year Six girls who got the giggles mid-prayer. While Nathan was trying to film it, I was trying to sneak a look at the head mistress's face. One was not amused.
The other 'stand out' moment was a second prayer. This time a younger girl, who beautifully memorised her words, asked God to help us not be swept up in consumerism this Christmas.
A big word, for a wee red-cheeked lassie.
Consumerism.
According to the dictionary it's the concept that an ever-expanding consumption of goods is a good thing for the economy.
Hmmmm.
It got me thinking.
See, just like a dog, it's not just for Christmas.
I think it's a culture infiltrating most areas of our lives. And as Christians if we are not careful we can skip right past Paul's wisdom when he says in Philippians 4 that he's learnt how to be CONTENT whether he has little or much. Consumerism is the polar opposite to contentment. It's a peace stealer. It's a church wrecker. It puts ME before HE.
Take a moment to transfer the definition into the Kingdom. Let's re-read it:
"the concept that an ever-expanding consumption of what's on offer is a good thing for the Kingdom?"
Takes on a new form eh?
What might it look like?
It looks like teenagers feeling like they are missing out on something if they don't date the entire youth group.
It looks like churches buying into whatever new wave (however relevant or otherwise it is or isn't for where they are actually planted) is hitting the shores of the world's churches next.
It looks like worldly thinking on sex and relationships creeping into the House of God. "Well I can't not sleep with him before I marry him, how will I know if we are compatible?"
You may think I'm bit a bit over sensitive, but this 'try before you buy' attitude isn't Kingdom and it's also not helpful.
Consumerism is basically, at its heart, a me-centric way of living.
A consumerist John the Baptist would have had a very different cry...
"More for me, from you Lord." Instead of the iconic and true-gospel banner, "Less of me, more of you, Lord."
A consumerist attitude says 'I am the most important entity around, and as such I should be able to indulge myself any way I wish.' So what am I saying, should you not be able to 'do what you want?' well you can, but you are neither a disciple or under submission if all you ever do is what you want.
Do I always want to get my kids up at 7.30am every Sunday morning so we can be at our church set-up? No, of course not. But I am committed not just to my part but to also being an example for others. Consumerism, by the way, doesn't care about others.
Revert it back to the Christmas shopping analogy. Consumerism only cares about the amount spent. It cares not for who is hurt in the process. So while the big department store does a roaring trend, the small business might be impacted.
Flip it back again. Consumerist Christians are only concerned for what's best for them. They don't care who is else affected.
Please don't misunderstand me. I have had more than one moment of opting to be 'me, me, me'. Just this week I had a 'debate', shall we say, although very one-sided, with the big man. Sometimes you do need to take time to look after and nurture yourself, your family and your relationship with God. But even that decision should be rooted in the responsibility we carry and the lives we affect by our decisions.
When it gets ugly is when the God card is played.
- now before I go on I will answer the questions that will inevitable follow:
have people ever left the church I help lead - yes.
did it hurt me personally - yes.
should it have - the jury's out.
has it shaped my thinking on this subject - absolutely.
so I'll move on anyway.
The God card.
It looks like this.
"I'm just taking time out of church for now, I feel the Lord has told me to do it." You can delete and amend this as appropriate for 'leaving this church', 'joining your church' etc etc.
Is this an genuine sentiment, almost certainly. Is it Godly? I just don't know. Call me old fashioned but I have my beliefs rooted in the Word and not just in my feelings. And when I say that, I am willing to admit, that at times in my life I have misunderstood the voice of God for the voice of me, and so I have to 'back up' whatever I 'feel' God may be saying with the scripture (what he has actually said.)
Can I be honest for a minute? I've found the last season a real tough one. There have been times, on more than one occasion where I have had to take myself off to one side and have a word with myself. To 'fan into flame' the gift that's within me. To reaffirm my belief that 'the same power that conquered the grave, lives in me'.
So when people tell me God has told them to leave church, forgive me if my face shows disbelief. I believe they think it. It's not scriptural.
In Hebrews we are told to 'not stop meeting together as some have already done', our function as Christians, within the commission Christ gave us, is outworked through the church. Whatever else you think your destiny is, it's primary function is to make disciples. How can you do that if you aren't in church?
And is our God consumerist? Does he go along with the idea the more things we buy and try the better? I just don't think so. Does God tell people to leave one church and go to another? Honestly, I don't think He does. In all honesty, I reckon we just make that decision ourselves and God is just happy if we decide to keep worshipping. So maybe we mistake 'his voice' or 'his peace' for his delight that we haven't left Him.
I couldn't with confidence say God told Nathan and I to leave our last church to plant one in Middlesbrough. I reckon he allowed us the freedom to make that decision ourselves and having made the decision to go, he then led us to our next step. Did we up sticks before that direction? No way. We stayed and served. Was that an easy few months? No, not really. But another thing I've learned from scripture is that obedience is better than sacrifice.
Actually, if we are going to talk about being consumed - maybe we should look at Psalm 69:9 when it says 'passion for your house has consumed me'. Man, if we are going to be consumed by anything surely it should be for the love of the one thing Christ still builds in our nation? And if we love the Church, and we understand submission - why move, why not just knuckle down?
Now let me be frank, I've actually thanked God at times when someone 'leaves' or takes time out, when God is part of the reasoning. In a funny way, it's an answer to my prayer that they would include God in their life, way back before he was ever a factor, let alone Lord.
But alternatively, why don't we move from being consumed by being consumers, to being invested in being investors. People who put others first, who proactively look for ways to give, to sow, to build and to bless; Who can be disciplined enough to put down their own feelings - even if it's just for a time - to help see others move forward and through?
I spoke to the girls at our Sisterhood just last week from Colossians 3:13 "Make allowance for each other’s faults, and forgive anyone who offends you. Remember, the Lord forgave you, so you must forgive others."
I love that concept that when we 'budget' our time and in our lives we need to make allowances for each other to make mistakes. Investors do that. They see past 'glitches' and work on ways to move forward. Together. Consumers take it personally.Like after a bad coffee in Starbucks, they move to Costa.
Until Starbucks bring in something new.
Just in finishing, I want to take you back to the carol service at my wee boy's school. Afterwards I got chatting to one of the mums. We have been friends now for six years. Our kids are the same age, our husbands like football. We both also happen to be pastors in Teesside. The conversation got round to the fact that someone from my church is leaving to join hers.
Awkward.
And that's just it. That decision is not just about the person leaving. It doesn't affect one group of people, it affects two. It doesn't just affect them and their Sunday worship, a couple of steps down the line a friendship is also touched.
Now don't worry about me. Me and my friend will survive. I just reckon this last week has made me all the more determined that I cannot be someone who gets up or lies down, moves forward or retreats, by a consumerist feeling, but instead my decision making has to come from being someone invested in the House and Kingdom of God.
So yes, year six girl in the grey dress. Please keep praying, that we don't get swept up in consumerism, and instead we keep Jesus at the centre of it all. Not me. Him. Thy will, not my will.
Merry Christmas everybody, let's see our villages, towns and cities changed for the better, not by a consumerist economy but the investment of Christ, through us.
