It Really Isn't About the Gifts by Lisa Shoemaker
They have scattered abroad their gifts to the poor; their righteousness endures forever; their horn will be lifted high in honor.
(Psalm 112:9 NIV)
As you are reading this Advent devotional, you are nearing the end of the section entitled “Spend Less, Give More.” We have twelve days until Christmas, a time when holiday shopping is at a frenzied peak. In the midst of this frenzy every year, however, many of us actually do settle down and consider the message of the season.
It really isn’t about all the gifts.
Well, maybe that’s not true. Christmas has always been linked to God’s gift of the Christ child to all humanity, the gifts of the Magi to the child, and gifts to the poor. The gifts in this Hebrew passage have to do with giving gifts to the poor, specifically, not just the kids, Uncle Jeffrey, or that unnamed person in your office when you drew her name.
In this acrostic psalm (the first word of each line of this psalm starts with a consecutive letter of the Hebrew alphabet), the psalmist is describing many characteristics of the upright, righteous man of God, as well as the picture of this man’s life on earth. Verse nine announces, “He has scattered abroad his gifts to the poor, his righteousness endures forever, his horn will be lifted high in honor.” (NIV)
If we can look at this verse as a description of all of us who seek to be “upright,” then this verse holds a special emphasis for us at Advent. We need to be scattering abroad gifts to the poor. Christmas seems to be the most popular time of the year in which to give to those who don’t enjoy the fortune that many of us do, even though the mandate is for a constant, ongoing giving of gifts to those who suffer from less than we have. As well, the meaning of gifts here seems to intend material necessities like food, clothing, shelter.
Christmas is the time when we can spotlight this sharing of our plenty with those who just don’t have it. I can remember taking my girls — who at the time were just beginning elementary school — with me as I delivered food baskets and gifts of warm clothing and toys to families in our community designated as those “without.” I wanted them to see that not all folks lived as comfortably as we did, and I wanted them to model this kind of giving behavior once they become adults. Giving became a side-word with Christmas, just as it is today. We have. We give.
Do we spend less? I wish I could say that we have always been moderate with spending at this time of year. If we can get to the point that we spend less money and give more time, thought, and caring actions to others around us, then I think we will have grabbed the idea of “scatter[ing] abroad [our] gifts to the poor. . . .”
We have. We give. Merry Christmas.