COMMENTARY: Values feel different this Christmas

c. 2008 Religion News Service (UNDATED) Little by little, one reconsidered decision at a time, Americans are reshaping the holiday season. Even though headlines are grim _ plummeting retail sales, 1.2 million jobs lost in the last three months, travel plans abandoned, and an overall atmosphere of caution _ the holiday picture at ground level […]

c. 2008 Religion News Service

(UNDATED) Little by little, one reconsidered decision at a time, Americans are reshaping the holiday season.

Even though headlines are grim _ plummeting retail sales, 1.2 million jobs lost in the last three months, travel plans abandoned, and an overall atmosphere of caution _ the holiday picture at ground level seems more likely to be different than dire.


For example, I hear adults quietly negotiating pacts not to give each other lavish gifts this year. I see throngs enjoying store displays but not carrying as many shopping bags. Some are ratcheting down children’s expectations.

If a holiday tradition is free, like the lighting of the 72-foot tall Christmas tree at Rockefeller Center, 30,000 people turn out to watch. If a favorite activity costs money, not this year. I hear more talk of sitting beside open fires in family groups than of jetting off to Aspen.

Hard-headed analysts warn us not to get sentimental about simplifying Christmas. If Wal-Mart is the only retailer that thrives this year, an economy grounded in consumer spending will be teetering closer to the brink. The more rational decision, they say, would be to spend a little less but not a lot less.

We’ll see. The thing about a manic phase is that, when it ends, many assumptions cease to be convincing, not just a few. Just as large pickup trucks and SUVs began to look wasteful for most drivers, so a lifestyle built on credit-funded excess doesn’t look like adult behavior.

Large houses look different now. So do large wardrobes, large travel budgets, large parties. The question many are asking isn’t, When can I resume living large? It is, What was I thinking?

In the faith community, values feel different this year. I doubt that setting aside large floral displays and costly pageants will make a big difference. It will be enough just to be together. The high point of Christmas worship, after all, isn’t admiring the display, but kneeling together for “Silent Night.”

A forced exercise in values clarification isn’t fun. I doubt that the chairman of General Motors enjoyed parking the corporate jet and driving a Chevy Malibu to Washington last week to beg for money. But I hope he learned something. Maybe the tone-deaf head of Merrill Lynch will learn something, too, when his last-ditch effort to protect a $10 million bonus while 200,000 comrades in finance lose their jobs comes up empty.


All organizations are dealing with budget crises, from churches to museums to universities. Each will have its own moments of values-clarifying truth. Does a faith community need a “big show” or a big heart? Does a museum need to make status-winning acquisitions or to pique the curiosity of art’s next generation? Will better athletic facilities enhance students’ educations?

These are times for caution, not despair; for focusing on what matters, not feeling betrayed by a falling tide.

It is a good thing for us to ask, What were we thinking? Manic prosperity led us astray. Read The Wall Street Journal’s bizarre new magazine, “WSJ,” and ask what $2,195 backpacks, $40,000 electric guitars and $75,000 crystal toilets have to do with anything.

No one forced us to live large on debt. We did it to ourselves. Now we can undo it, starting with what could be a lean holiday.

That isn’t a bad way to “put Christ back into Christmas.”

(Tom Ehrich is a writer, church consultant and Episcopal priest based in New York. He is the author of “Just Wondering, Jesus,” and the founder of the Church Wellness Project, http://www.churchwellness.com. His Web site is http://www.morningwalkmedia.com.)

DSB/AMB END EHRICH

A file photo of Ehrich is available via https://religionnews.com

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