A recent article I read stated the average dollar amount Americans will spend per person this year for Christmas is $786. The good news for merchants is that amount is up slightly from 2012.
But, on the other hand, it is way down from 2007’s high of $866. Already, we are hearing mixed reports depending on the network you listen to of how Christmas sales are either up or down from last year.
But wait, there’s more! A recent online poll revealed the cost that Christmas spending can have on people’s mental health. One organization said 40% of their respondents were experiencing increased levels of stress and anxiety as a result of paying for the Christmas season, and 25% had increased feelings of depression. Now ask yourself, and be honest, have you ever said, “But, it just won’t be Christmas without (fill in the blank),” or, “We just can’t afford Christmas this year.” When you think about it, that statement never really doesn’t make much sense, because Christmas is a birthday that comes this time of year, every year and, still, we seem to get caught off-guard. Now, let me add this, could any of us really afford the gift that God gives us in His only begotten Son?
But there’s something very extraordinary about this birthday of Jesus. His special day is also our ultimate Gift. How can we even begin to fathom the value of such a gift? Have you ever sat and recounted all your Christmas gifts? Which one gift meant the most to you? Why? We all have received a gift that meant the most to us for a variety of reasons. Sometimes, the gift has no monetary value (such as the coupon books our kids made when they were younger to take out trash, give hugs, clean their rooms, etc). Although these gifts have no monetary value, one cannot place a value on the love behind those kinds of gifts. Sometimes, a gift we receive has special meaning to us all because of who gave it. For example, from a child to a parent or from one’s closest friend.
It is safe to say, that all of us look forward to giving and receiving gifts. Some of us even feel like leaping up and down with joy like little children when we receive a gift that means a lot to us. Remember, the unborn baby John the Baptist, leapt in his mother’s womb with joy at the news told his mother Elizabeth that God’s gift had arrived and that Mary was carrying it!
What a wonderful time of year, when we, too, can jump up and down with joy celebrating this ultimate gift of a Savior who was born for us in the city of David. It was the sacrificial gift of our Father’s one and only Son, all God had, He gave for us. Without this Gift, we would be lost forever. This gift of God is truly the one and only gift that keeps on giving. This is the gift that you and I cannot live without. This Christmas is an opportunity for us to come together in worship and again experience receiving our newborn Savior and King in a real way, wrapped in swaddling clothes, not under a tree, but in a manger.
Come to the heart of Christmas, approach the altar of God’s grace, receive the Gift of Christmas in worship… there are no strings attached. Be blessed by joining together (and inviting others to join you) in your Christmas celebrations.
If you do not have a church home, let me take this moment on behalf of the members and staff at Hope to invite you to join us this Christmas. Our Christmas Eve worship services will be at 7 and 10:30 p.m., and our Christmas Day service begins at 10:30 a.m.
Remember: God’s gift in Christ never disappoints us. Come and see why St. Paul said, “Thanks be to God for his indescribable gift.”
The Rev. Dean R. Pfeffer is the senior pastor at Hope Lutheran Church, Plant City. For more, email him at hopepcpastor@gmail.com.