Christmas - A Time to Reflect on our Shopping Habits

No sooner have we finished our Thanksgiving dinner than the invasion of the Christmas shopping season begins. This year as we are painfully aware many stores moved their opening times back into Thursday evening to capture still more sales. This blatant consumerism offended myself and many others, but apparently didn't stop many people from rushing to the stores to get that great deal. I shouldn't be surprised really, because consumerism is one of our American idols, although it receives precious little attention from the pulpits of our churches. It does strike me as extremely sad that a country which so warmly embraces and affirms a celebration of Thanksgiving follows it immediately with an orgy of buying more stuff.

In some years past I have adopted a quite negative attitude toward gift-giving. I would argue that it detracts from the “true meaning” of Christmas, that it promotes greed and consumption and really runs counter to the very message of the Gospel. In many ways it does. But I now look at it differently and recognize that this season of gift-giving can be a time of blessing, a time when by promoting giving we do emphasize a very positive quality. By refusing to give or receive gifts, I may very well rob myself and others of the joy that can come from giving. By adopting an anti-gift mentality, do I become like Scrooge?

This year I want to be more open and free in giving and receiving gifts. This does not mean I should go into debt to buy gifts or that I need to buy multiple gifts for everyone—including my family. But it can be a time to express my appreciation and love for others by giving a significant item or two. I want to recapture the joy of giving that I have lost in my tight-fistedness over the years.

Because Christmas does include gift-giving, it presents a great opportunity to stop and think about our purchasing habits. What are we buying? Where did it come from? What does our quest to pay the lowest price mean for those who produce the items we buy? What does it mean for the environment? We should be conversing about these things as a society and certainly as followers of Jesus Christ. We shouldn't engage in mindless consumerism, mistakenly thinking that our shopping habits have nothing to do with morality or justice. They do, very much so.

I doubt that any of us can completely abstain from shopping. If nothing else we need food to live and things do wear out and need replaced. But I greatly admire Danielle at From Two to One for her goal of not buying anything new this year. I also appreciate her desire to move beyond tokenism in buying goods that are fair trade or support various ministries. We do well to consciously think about how we can purchase gifts and everyday items in ways that benefit the producers and promote sustainable economic practices. We can look for vendors who sell meaningful items and not just cute trinkets so that by our shopping we affirm the value and dignity of those who produce the items. PerfectNumber628, on her blog Tell Me Why The World is Weird, correctly reminds us that fair trade shouldn't be about cute and adorable. It should be about changing the way we shop and the way we produce so that the entire transaction becomes one that affirms worth, affirms dignity, creating value for both producer and consumer and at the same time respecting the world in which we live. I really appreciate these two authors and many others who are helping us to think more carefully about our shopping habits and offering us alternatives that go beyond cute, adorable tokens that we really don't need.

Of course shopping this way does take more effort than simply looking for the greatest deal on Amazon.com or at the local Walmart. It may mean at times choosing not to buy. It also requires that we shop realistically and recognize that unfortunately not everything can yet be found from fair-trade, sustainable, dignity-affirming producers. Rather than judging others for their purchases, we can encourage them to think about the implications and impact of their purchase so that perhaps next time they (or we!) will consider what they buy more carefully and make changes where possible. We will not change the economic structure of our culture or globally by our changing our shopping habits, but we can each make a small but significant impact as we carefully spend the money God has provided for us. We won't eliminate the consumerism of Christmas in America, but in small ways we can transform it for good.

I'd love to hear how you are creatively transforming not only your Christmas shopping but your overall buying habits. What creative ideas and dignity-affirming vendors have you found?

Eating to Live

Some people eat to live, others live to eat. I fall into the first category. Although I enjoy eating – far too much so in fact – I don't view it as one of life's great pleasures. I am not a foodie. I'm not a gourmand and I'm not really that creative nor do I joy experimenting with food. I enjoy my food fairly basic and simple. Don't bother trying to sell me on that gourmet fancy burger for an exorbitant price. Just give me something nice, basic and savory at a fair price and I'll be quite happy. 

My view on food causes my wife great distress. She falls into the second category above: one who lives to eat. She would love to have a husband with exotic tastes and not only a willingness but a passion for culinary exploration. Sadly I have greatly disappointed her in this area. And our children are no better than I. Poor lady. She's probably got a gourmet chef inside her just waiting to be unleashed all these years and she's been chained by a husband and family who wouldn't appreciate the chef even if she were set free.


For my wife's sake as well as my own health, I am trying to expand my culinary appreciation, if not my passion for food. I try to receive gratefully and appreciatively the new dishes she prepares, although I know I fall far short of offering her the praise and affirmation that she really craves. It's tough when most often I'd be quite happy with something very simple and non-creative. I am truly a fortunate man that she tolerates me in this area, but how does one create enthusiasm and passion for something that one finds largely a matter of indifference?


As I get older though, I am finding I need to pay more attention not only to what I eat but more importantly how much I eat. I have to discipline myself to not mindlessly graze on snack food while I am working at my computer or doing other things around the home. (Since I work out of our house, the kitchen is essentially always accessible to me – not such a great thing.) When we lived overseas I did not have such an issue with this. My lifestyle was much more active and I had less access to snack foods that I didn't need. But returning to the US has not done well for my waistline.


Ultimately I know that I must take responsibility for my diet and lifestyle habits. However, I must add my voice to those speaking out against the way our society treats food. The issues with fast food are well known and widely discussed. But the fast food restaurants are not the only ones guilty of pushing an unhealthy lifestyle. Most restaurants are guilty of this. Yesterday evening my family and I went to the Texas Roadhouse at the invitation of my parents. They served great food. I have no complaints in terms of quality. But I do have a complaint in terms of quantity – not that it was too little, but that it was too much. We simply didn't need all the food that comes with a standard meal. My wife and I chose to purchase one entree and split it between us, adding an extra side to round out the divided meal. This proved to be a very nice solution, though even at that it was probably more calories than either of us needed. But what would we have done had we been single, or could not come to agreement on a shared entree? (The latter is most often our challenge.) Why do restaurants push such large portion sizes? Couldn't they offer smaller portions for a smaller price?

We are blessed in this country with an overabundance of food – and it's killing us. I bemoan the rising food prices as much as the next person, but maybe they are a hidden blessing. If we cannot afford as much maybe we won't eat as much, although so far it doesn't appear to really be slowing us down. I don't think that being responsible in eating requires that a person become vegetarian or vegan, although I can respect those choices. It does require that we eat in greater moderation. I know there are a lot of good books and blogs on this topic, with better insights and reflections than I have to offer. As for myself, I am going to strive to eat smaller portions and to expand my culinary appreciation so that I can enjoy more of what's good for my body. I probably won't ever become the foodie my wife would like me to be, but I hope we can find a healthy balance together.

The Gay Agenda

In the media, particularly the conservative and Christian media, we often hear criticism of the “gay agenda” and the “gay lifestyle.” What exactly are these and should we really be afraid of them? In this video I came across recently LZ Granderson takes a humorous, thought-provoking look at these two phrases and what they look like in reality. 






Not so long ago I would have been among those who spoke out against the threat of the “gay agenda” and decried the “gay lifestyle.” As my views transition, I see that my response arose from my fear of the unknown. I painted the homosexual community with a broad brush so that I could demonize (or “other”) and thus disregard them. It's much easier to ignore, reject, dehumanize or mistreat a group of people if you can simply lump them all into a category, paste a label on it and then associate that label with all sorts of negative and undesirable connections. So the “gay agenda” obviously seeks to overthrow all that is good and decent in American culture. The “gay lifestyle” obviously promotes debauchery of kinds that are scarcely imaginable (although Hollywood seems to try harder every year to make sure we can in fact imagine it).


This video pointed out clearly one thing that I have come to understand. To the extent that one can speak of a “gay agenda,” it is simply that those in the GLBT community deserve equal treatment before the law. Whether I agree with their lifestyle or not is irrelevant. Our constitution affirms the equality of people. Unfortunately it took us 100 years to begin to apply that to black people – a process still going on – and longer than that for women, which is also still an on-going process. What about GLBT people should exclude them from this same equality? Do they really threaten my identity, my lifestyle or my culture that seriously that they should not be treated equally? I don't think so. It is probably an overused comparison, although it has been and is reality in other parts of the world, but what if those who hold power should decide someday that being a Christian was aberrant and Christians should not receive equal treatment under the law? We can't ask for that which we are not willing to extend to others.


What do you think after watching this video? What was your perception of the “gay lifestyle” and the “gay agenda” prior to and after watching this?

Down We Go: Embracing Downward Mobility

When I began to read Kathy Escobar's book Down We Go: Living Into the Wild Ways of Jesus my heart immediately resonated with her message. In fact, I would say it is not her message at all but the message of the Gospel, the call to join Jesus in identifying with the outcast, the marginalized, the powerless and voiceless. It is the call to authentic relationship, to honest and open vulnerability, to giving away power instead of accumulating and clinging to it. I have heard this Gospel message before, but over the years it has easily been lost or buried in the voices around me that proclaim a different Gospel, one that calls us to an upward path. Kathy describes it this way:

“For years, I had been taught that, with enough prayer, scripture and Christian fellowship, I wouldn't struggle. This ascent theology definitely catalyzed my secular longings to 'rise above' and 'make it to that place where I wouldn't have to struggle anymore'. However, I discovered I couldn't reconcile this idea with the realities of my own story and the stories of so many others.”

For an alternative Kathy looked to the Beatitudes as a pattern for the Jesus life. This pattern, she saw, calls us to welcome pain, to honor doubt, to give away power and privilege, to practice equality and remove boundaries rather than raising them, to demonstrate love, mercy, compassion and justice rather than judgment, condemnation, and to live authentic lives rather than trying to present an image that we've got it all together, that life with Jesus is, as the old sacchariny-sweet song said: “Every day with Jesus is sweeter than the day before.” That's a nice sentiment, but it's not the reality many—maybe most—people live.

The Beatitudes mess with your life, Kathy says. They don't make sense in our world and in our contemporary culture.

“Success, war, vengeance, power and strength are the guiding principles of our day. Humility, gentleness, desperation, spiritual poverty, advocating for justice and being persecuted for standing on the side of the oppressed are sure to make us inconvenienced, challenged and humbled.”

Unfortunately much of the contemporary Church, especially the conservative evangelical American church, has effectively embraced the story of power and success—even in churches that do not advocate a prosperity Gospel. While we often seek to minister “to” the poor, we generally live apart and above them, reaching down to them from our positions of power and privilege. (More on that later as we examine other chapters in the book.) We have excluded people more than we have included, directly or indirectly communicating to people that they cannot really be “in” until they change and become like us. And in some cases, such as with women, we've basically said they can never really be equal because, well, because they don't fit our image of what it means to be a Christian. They really aren't qualified to lead and their stories don't have a place in our churches.

I'm realizing more and more how wrong we are in this. We've emphasized power and control, comfort and security. As a white male from a middle class background I have benefited from and by choice or by passive non-choice have perpetuated this system. I've been wrong to do so and now repent of my choices and failures to act and am seeking to change my course to the downwardly-mobile Jesus life that Kathy has called to my attention. But the change is not easy and it's not an overnight one. Like Kathy I would say “Embedded in my DNA is a desire for clean, neat, tidy, and 'successful'.” Like her I am kicking, screaming and resisting this downward momentum, largely because I'm scared. I'm scared to follow a path that tells me that the things the world (and often the church) say are valuable have no value in the Kingdom of God. I'm scared to encounter the poverty of others, to enter the place of the outcast, the marginalized, the powerless and voiceless. I don't want to surrender my position of power and privilege.

Nonetheless this downwardly-mobile life calls me. It calls me because it leads me to become the person I want to be. I resonate with Kathy's description:

“I want to be a person of humility, willing to give up my safety and comfort for the sake of others. I want to be a person who risks, engaging in the dangerous work of living the Bible instead of only learning about it. I want to be a person of hope, sacrificing my current circumstances to participate in building a better future. I want to be a person of courage, boldly practicing love.”

Kathy herself is much further along on this journey than I am and she acknowledges that still for her it is not always easy. She admits that the view from below is not always beautiful. “Yes,” she says, “sometimes it definitely stinks down here. But I've learned to really love the smell.” I hope that I will learn to as well.

How about you? How do you respond to the invitation to live a downwardly-mobile Jesus life?

Upward or Downward?

I spent most of Easter Sunday either on an airplane or waiting for flights at airports—primarily in Houston. While not an ideal way to spend Easter, it did allow a lot of time for reading. The day before I left I received a couple new books in the mail and I am thoroughly enjoying them on this trip. The first is a relatively new biography of Dietrich Bonhoeffer by Ferdinand Schlingensiepen. I have a deep and abiding interest in Bonhoeffer's life and writings, so am looking forward to this latest biography and may write some about this in the future (particularly comparing it to the more well-known but inferior biography by Eric Metaxas.)

However, I am captivated even more at present by the other book I received: Down We Go, by Kathy Escobar. I find that I often deeply resonate with things that Kathy writes on her blog (included in my blog list: the carnival in my head) and when I saw that she had written this book I quickly ordered it. I rarely devour books, but this one has captured me and I completed half of it by the time I arrived in Germany. Kathy challenges us that living a Jesus-centered life will force us to live counter to the dominant trend not only in our culture, but also within most churches. This is not in itself a new teaching and Kathy does not claim it is. But she describes more specifically what it means to “live into the wild ways of Jesus,” as the books subtitle declares. She shares a lot of good thoughts and challenging ideas and I plan to share thoughts and reflections from it over the coming days or weeks.

As I traveled on Sunday I took an occasional break from Kathy's book and browsed the in-flight magazine. If you've ever flown you know what these magazines are like: filled with glossy pictures of exotic locations, high-end hotels and spas and glamorous people. The magazine articles invite you to live in this chic world, tempting you with visions of paradise. Apparently even if you fly in coach class you must have the means or at least the desire to inhabit such a realm. And the truth is, it appeals to the hedonist in me in some ways. I wonder what it would be like to live in such luxury that I could travel anywhere, stay in the nicest hotels and never (apparently) have to worry about money.

The irony of the contrast struck me. On the one hand I had this glossy magazine depicting the world's images of success and leisure. On the other I had a book challenging me to live a downwardly-mobile life, to identify with the marginalized, oppressed and outcast. The contrast couldn't have been much sharper (unless perhaps I'd been reading this magazine while walking through the slums of Haiti). To be fair to Kathy, she isn't necessarily calling everyone to give up their material wealth and move into the slums. But she is calling us to live in a radically different way that forsakes power and control; that rejects the upward climb toward success and security. The downwardly mobile life is precisely the opposite of what the world and, unfortunately, often the church encourage and practice.

I'm tempted to pursue the life depicted in the in-flight magazine. Part of me thinks that this would be such a pleasant way to live. But I wonder whether it truly satisfies. It may be comfortable, secure, even influential, but does it fulfill the soul? Does it stimulate and allow for real relationship? I can't honestly say because I don't live at that level, but I suspect that much of it is empty. As strange as it seems, I'm much more attracted to the downward life Kathy writes about. As she says, “It stinks down here but I really love the smell.” I'm not there yet. I think Kathy herself would say she's still learning and growing in this lifestyle, but she's already ahead of me.

What about you? Are you pursuing upward mobility, not just in the material world but spiritually? Or are you willing to take the downward path and enter into the “wild ways of Jesus?”

Look for more on this in the coming days or weeks and I encourage you to pick up Kathy's book and read it for yourself.

Wal-Mart, the Green Giant?

In the midst of processing the thoughts I shared last week about the impact of our lifestyle on our environment, a book at the library caught my attention. Force of Nature by Edward Humes traces the changes within Wal-Mart over the past several years, changes that Humes describes as a green revolution. A quite unlikely story indeed!


I have not been a fan of Wal-mart for a long time for a number of reasons. They treat their employees poorly. Their drive to sell at the lowest price leads them to sell poor-quality merchandise and at the same time drives other retailers from any market they enter. This same drive for the lowest price has also led to them purchasing from the lowest-cost supplier without much regard for the impact on the society and environment in the place of production. My list could go on, but you get the idea. I also simply don't really like the atmosphere in a Wal-mart store. I much prefer the atmosphere at Target, though the stores are quite similar in many ways. I will acknowledge that I do at times shop at Wal-mart. Sometimes I cannot find what I'm looking for at Target and Wal-mart is a convenient place to shop for some things, such as for the box of paperclips I needed yesterday.


With this perspective I found it amazing, even inconceivable to think that Wal-mart might somehow undergo a green revolution, much less that it might become a leading force in promoting environmental awareness, responsibility and sustainability. But in this book Humes documents precisely how and why this is happening. Through the influence of an environmentally-minded consultant named Jib Ellison, Wal-mart's executives became convinced that it was in their best business interest to make changes that positively affected the environment. They didn't make this decision primarily out of a sense of corporate responsibility or social awareness. They did it because they understood that paying attention to the environmental impact of their entire business, from the production and supply-chain to the final sale, could positively affect the corporation's bottom line. Good environmental stewardship makes good  (and profitable) business sense. As one consultant emphasized to them repeatedly: carbon=money. Cut the carbon, save money. 


Humes doesn't argue that Wal-mart is suddenly the greatest company in the world, or that everything about their business should be emulated. He criticizes many of their practices even now. But he recognizes and emphasizes the profound impact that a company the size of Wal-mart has when it decides to change its approach to business and embrace greater environmental responsibility as part of its core business model. The knock-on effect is amazing. For example, when Wal-mart decided to start buying more organic cotton, suddenly the market for organic cotton broadened such that thousands more acres were planted and harvested organically, because Wal-mart created demand for it. When Wal-mart realized that packaging products in smaller containers could save on shipping and production costs, suddenly whole industries were compelled to follow suit. If they didn't, they wouldn't be selling at Wal-mart anymore, and few companies want to be shut out of that market.


This book excites me. It offers hope that businesses can change and we can begin to interact with our world in a healthier, more sustainable way. It also challenged me to think more about my own lifestyle. Where can I make further changes that will reduce my impact on the world around me and allow me to live in a sustainable manner, sustainable for me, for my children, for their children and for the rest of the people on this planet.? I've only begun to reflect on this question. Last Friday I shared a few small steps I've made, but I hope that they will prove to be only the beginning.


Nonetheless, all the changes Wal-mart has made and all the positive impact these changes have had do not solve the fundamental issue. “Can Wal-Mart be sustainable?”asks Hume in the epilogue. “Can the biggest retailer in the world—can any large, mainstream business in this outsourced consumer economy—be green? The simple, accurate answer is no.” The answer is no because no matter how much we remove waste from the production, distribution and sale of products, no matter how much we shift to producing things in a more environmentally-friendly manner, we cannot sustain an economy that thrives on selling people things they do not need. Planned obsolescence is not sustainable. But making long-lasting quality products in an environmentally-responsible manner isn't going to provide the continued demand that produces the growth and profits that Wal-mart and their shareholders demand. So our current economic structure is fundamentally flawed and unsustainable. 


“As American shoppers said hello to Wal-Mart a half century ago, they said farewell to a society of less  stuff, of products built in America and built to last, of saving instead of spending, of postponing purchases rather than borrowing for them, of knowing your customers personally rather than surveying their demographics.”


Ultimately Wal-mart is not solely responsible for our unsustainable lifestyles. We are. Sure, their sales approach and business model fuel the fire, but we are the ones supplying the demand. We are also often the shareholders demanding a profitable return on our investment. We can choose to live differently. We can choose to buy less and pay greater attention to the impact of our purchases, both locally and halfway around the world in the place they are produced. But are we willing to make the changes necessary to live sustainably? Am I?