“. . . Perhaps the time has come to journey toward Christmas not with an outpouring of spending, but with acts of generosity and compassion that affirm the humanity of others in response to the assurance that all people —including ourselves — are of infinite value. Perhaps it is time to recognize the critical difference between human needs and wants, and in doing so, to embrace the crucial need of life-giving deeds that build up rather than tear down. Perhaps it is time to affirm the life-freeing reality that we do not need valuable things in order to be valuable beings, nor do we need to acquire goods in order to be affirmed as good. And ultimately, perhaps it finally is time to have the security, strength, and freedom to refuse the desire to always consume something new, but instead live inspired, and in doing so, always be made new.”
Brian E. Konk0l, chaplain of the College at Gustavus Adolphus College in St. Peter, MN, in a blog article titled “Being Human in December“