I love this day. I love this day because the secular world really doesn't know what to do with it. This day stands in the middle of the high holy days of consumerism like an oasis in the midst of a desert.
It all begins with Black Friday, the "traditional" start of the holiday shopping season that has, in recent years, begun to encroach upon Thanksgiving, with stores opening "early" on Thursday so shoppers can get outstanding deals. Then comes Small Business Saturday, the day we are supposed to eschew the major chains where we spent lots of dollars the day before in favor of the mom and pop shops in our town. After all, 67% of all dollars spent at local small businesses stay in the community.
Then there's today - the first Sunday of Advent. We'll come back to that.
Tomorrow is Cyber Monday, a day that grew along with the rise of the internet that offers outstanding online shopping deals for those who haven't yet spent enough money in search of the perfect Christmas gift. Then, after we have spent hundreds of millions of dollars on ourselves, we have Giving Tuesday. This is a day for "giving back" by donating to various charities that are always in need of funding. What better way to alleviate the guilt we feel for being selfish than by throwing a few dollars towards the need and deserving.
By the way - don't forget to support UKirk's Giving Tuesday campaign. Here's a link:
Now don't get me wrong - there's nothing wrong with shopping and there's nothing wrong with gift giving. There's also nothing wrong with supporting worthwhile causes.
It's just that today, the Sunday-without-a-special-name, the Sunday Christians call the 1st Sunday of Advent, flies in the face of the other four days. Why? Because the other four days are built upon a deadly myth that is rampant in our society - the Myth of Scarcity. The Myth of Scarcity says, "There's not enough to go around."
The prominent Stanford economist, Thomas Sowell, has said, "The first lesson of economics is scarcity. There is never enough of anything to satisfy all those who want it."
The Myth of Scarcity says we'd better get ours before someone else does. It creates a zero sum mindset - the idea that there must be a winner and a loser in every transaction, that for every gain there must be a corresponding loss. People with a mindset of scarcity see life as a finite pie; if someone else gets a big piece of the pie, that means less for others. Less for me.
Black Friday, Small Business Saturday, Cyber Monday, and even Giving Tuesday work because of the Myth of Scarcity, because people have bought the lie that there is not enough to go around. We have to get to the sale early or someone else will get a better deal than me. Small Businesses have to convince people of the value of shopping local because it's hard to compete with the big box stores. If we have the right online code or catch just the right flash sale we can win Cyber Monday. Worthwhile charities that do really good work in the world must fight and compete with other worthwhile charities that do really good work for the scraps that fall from the table once gluttonous Americans have satiated their own appetites by being the loudest or the slickest or the most persistent or demonstrating the most need or giving people the most compelling guilt trip.
And right in the middle of all of this is the 1st Sunday of Advent. A day that secular consumerism has not been able to get its hooks into and that most people treat as just a day to rest in between shopping days. And on this day, the 1st Sunday of Advent, we proclaim a message that is in direct opposition to the Myth of Scarcity.
We proclaim the message of hope - hope in a God of abundance who sends his Son into the world to show the world grace and love and mercy and to let the world know there is more than enough to go around. The scriptures start out with a liturgy of abundance, God promises Abraham and Sarah abundance, God provides abundantly in the wilderness, Israel consistently and constantly celebrates God's abundance in the Promised Land. The people of God give to God and share with others off the top, rather than out of their leftovers, because they trust God to provide more.
When Jesus feeds the 5,000 (the only story to appear in all four of the Gospels), it is the disciples who say, "There is not enough to go around." But when they share what they have, at Jesus' command, there is more than enough for everyone to be fed. That is the counter-cultural message of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Grace is not a finite pie. When we share what we have with others, there is more than enough for everyone, especially when we take care of others, rather than ourselves, first.
Our economy, the global economy, oil companies, banks, corporations, retail stores are all based on the Myth of Scarcity. They literally bank on our fear that there won't be enough to go around.
But on this day we stand and shout to the world - WE DO NOT BUY THE LIE OF SCARCITY! WE SERVE A GOD OF ABUNDANCE! WE SERVE THE GOD OF HOPE!
As Pastor Sarah says, "May it be so."
Amen, Tim! Thank you!
ReplyDelete