Saint James UCC of Hamburg, NY

Acts 19:21-34, Matthew 21:12-17

Preached by Rev. Dr. Robert Matlack
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Here we go again! After a brief respite for Thanksgiving, the Christmas shopping season is upon us. We only have a few more weeks to spend money that we don't have. go to parties every weekend, to decorate, bake, send out cards, and finally collapse in exhaustion when Christmas does come. In the practice of our society, Christmas has become an important commercial holiday, rather than a religious one. Oh yes, we give lip service to the birth of Christ, and Christmas Eve many people will stop for a few minutes to worship, but for far too many people, their time, their energy, their money, and their focus are on the commercial aspects of the celebration. We might say that in our society Santa Claus has become more important than Jesus Christ.

Chris Dolson, pastor of a church in Shreveport, Louisiana, wrote this parody of the Christmas Story, titled, "Joy to the Mall".

"And it came to pass in those days, that there went out a decree from the U.S. Treasury that all of America should go shopping. (And this decree was first made when leading economic indicators dipped to their lowest point.) And all went out to shop, each to his own mall.

"And a Christian also went up from his suburban home to the city with its many malls because he wanted to prove he was from the household of prosperity. And with him was his wife, who was great with economic worry. And so it was, that, while they were there, they found many expensive presents, pudgy-faced dolls, trucks that turn into robots, and a various assortment of video (and computer) games. And the woman wrote checks for those they could afford and charged the rest on many different kinds of plastic cards; she wrapped the presents in bright paper and laid them in the garage; for there was no room for them in her closet.

"And there were in the same country children keeping watch over their stockings by night. And, lo, Santa Claus came upon them; and they were sore afraid (expecting to see the special effects, they had seen in the movies). And Santa said to them, 'Fear not; for behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people who can afford this holiday. For unto you will be given this day, in your suburban home, great feasts of turkey, dressing, and cake - and many presents. And this shall be a sign unto you: you shall find the presents wrapped in bright paper, lying beneath an artificial tree adorned with tinsel, colored balls, and lights.

"And suddenly there was with Santa Claus a multitude of relatives and friends, praising one another and saying, 'Glory to you for getting me this gift; it's just what I wanted.

"And it came to pass, as the friends and relatives were gone away into their own homes, the parents said to one another, 'I sure am glad that's over. What a mess! I'm too tired to clean it up now. Let's go to bed and pick it up tomorrow.' And when they had said this, they remembered the statement that had been told them by the storekeepers: 'Christmas comes only once a year.' And they that heard it wondered at those things that were sold to them by the storekeepers, but the children treasured all their things in their hearts, hoarding their toys from each other. And the parents, after a drink, went to bed, glorifying and praising each other for all the bargains they had found in the stores."

The first time that I read this, I was amazed at how it hit home, how much it captures what really happens at this time of the year. But, you know, it doesn't have to be this way. Gift giving is an important and loving act, but Christmas is about something far more important than buying gifts, and we need to stand up for what we believe.

In our text from Acts we find the Apostle Paul arriving in Ephesus. There a crowd riots against him because the teachings of the church are threatening the business of selling silver idols of the goddess Artemis. By teaching that idolatry was wrong, the church was undercutting the business of the silversmiths. But Paul didn't back down, and the church didn't back down. On the other hand, they didn't bring about great changes immediately either. The silversmiths kept on making and selling their idols, while the church kept on teaching the good news.

Essentially, that's what I see our job as being this Advent Season - to keep our focus on teaching the good news, rather than succumbing to the advertising. I know that we won't suddenly and dramatically turn around the commercialism that has taken over the celebration of Christmas in our society. Yet, quietly and faithfully we can work at keeping always before us what Christmas is really about. We can prepare ourselves to really celebrate the birth of God's son.

Our text from acts isn't the only place in the Bible where the teachings of Jesus bring people into conflict with commercial interests. Another place of course is in our text from Matthew, where Jesus enters the Temple and drives out those who were commercializing this center of the Jewish faith. Now this was taking place for a number of reasons. The first was that in the Jewish faith, people would come to make sacrifices at the temple, either as a thank offering to God, or perhaps as an offering in atonement for some wrong. To indicate the value of the offering being made, it was common practice to only offer the best - the finest unblemished animals, and the very best of the crops or other products. Because some of the worshipers came from a distance, it became the practice to offer for sale at the temple animals and goods to be sacrificed. Then in order to increase the volume of business, priests began to refuse offerings that people just brought in on their own. They would find some blemish in them. So that by the time of Jesus, in practice, it was only the goods that were sold at the temple that were considered to be acceptable offerings to the Lord.

In addition, some worshipers would travel to Jerusalem from other lands. Money changers would gather at the temple so that people could change their money into local currency. Unlike today, where the practice of exchanging different currencies is tightly regulated, with the prices published as to what you should be able to buy currency for - and to sell it for, the money changers back then would try to take advantage of people who didn't really know the value of their currency. In other words, they would get all that they could out of the transaction.

Jesus drove the moneychangers and the animal sellers out of the temple saying, "It is written in the Scriptures that God said, 'My Temple will be called a house of prayer.' But you are making it a hideout for thieves." The chief priests were angry when Jesus was healing the sick and teaching the children, but once again, Jesus was calling the people to focus on why they were really there. What was the primary purpose of coming to the temple? To pray and to give thanks to God.

As we prepare ourselves to celebrate Advent this year, we need to cut through the commercialism and the hype, and to ask ourselves once again, what is it that we are really celebrating? For if our celebration is really about the birth of God's Son, if our celebration is an experience of awe and wonder at this incredible gift of God's love, if we are really coming to bow down before our Lord and Savior, then we need to use these next few weeks as a time of spiritual preparation for this priceless experience.

I would suggest that you might want to spend some time reflecting on Christmases of the past. What are those things that you have done that really helped you to get in touch with the meaning of Christmas? Then, take another look at your plans for these next few weeks, and see how you can shape them to really celebrate the birth of God's Son.

I would suggest that instead of attending one more party, you might want to consider something like next Sunday's Advent Family Workshop, where we not only make craft projects together, but spend time singing Christmas Carols. Instead of buying one more present, you might give others a meaningful gift, like joining us as we go Christmas caroling to some of our older and shut-in members. Instead of spending all of your time shopping and decorating, you might gather to worship each Sunday, allowing the special music of Handel's Messiah next Sunday, and the Christmas Pageant the following week, to help you to give thanks to God for this wondrous gift of love.

There is much more that I could suggest, but I think you get the point I am making, if we're really serious about celebrating the birth of God's Son, then we need to celebrate in ways that help us to focus on this wondrous gift. Somehow we need to climb off of the "Merry Go Round" of commercialism.

I'm not saying that giving gifts is a bad thing, for indeed a real gift is an act of love. What I am saying is that giving gifts shouldn't be the only thing - or even the main thing that we focus on at Christmas time, for the greatest gift has already been given. It is God's gift to us in Jesus Christ, and the most important thing we need to do this time of year, is to prepare ourselves once again to receive this wondrous gift of love.

Amen