From the Vicar, December/January
‘Tis the season’, and all around us we are witnesses of and participants in a mass act of consumption. What used to be the simple exchange of tokens of affection between loved ones has now become a cornerstone of our economy. Our stores actually need us to be ‘good consumers’ in order for their businesses to be successful. Don’t get me wrong, I’m all for gifts. However, I know also something about being trapped in a consumer mind-set, and what it means to be in the grips of that old vice called ‘avarice’.
Avarice simply means ‘extreme greed for wealth or material gain’ and I’ve got it bad from time to time. I especially like gadgets and music (oh, and books). Errm, and DVDs… Actually, I’ve got quite a list of things that I like, and I often think about how I can get them (this usually involves extensive lobbying of our domestic finance committee — comprised of one significant person). The interaction that occurs around Christmas time isn’t just about consuming, however. It’s also about asking, and about making our desires known to one another. This can be a redeeming feature of Christmas because even though I think most of us would acknowledge our consumption to be excessive around this time of year, showing our love and appreciation for one another, and letting one another know what our desires are (most importantly not our desires for gadgets etc) can never be excessive.
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