What I Want For Christmas

bq. Buy Nothing Christmas is a stress-reliever, and more people need to hear about it. You can change your world by simply putting up one of these posters (or make your own) in your church, place of worship, home or work. Be sneaky about it if you have to. The point is to get people thinking. It’s an idea whose time has come, so get out there and make a difference!

It’s a great idea. Friends traditionally didn’t even recognize Christmas and kept their schools and shops open on December 25. I remember being stunned when I first learned about this, but it’s a very powerful way to state the core Quaker belief that all days and all people and all moments are equally worthy to God. It’s about being plain and honest and presenting the same care and attention and appearance at all times.

These beliefs were expressed through other Quaker peculiarities: Friends wore plain dress for all occasions, thinking it was dishonest to dress one way for one type of event and another way for a different type. Friends did away with haggling over the prices of goods, thinking a flat price was the most fair. Friends forebade swearing on God or the Bible, it implied a double-standard of truthfulness. (“Matthew 5:34-37”:http://bible.gospelcom.net/cgi-bin/bible?language=english&passage=matthew+5%3A34-37&version=KJV).

Christmas is a difficult time for believers today. Every year war-making politicians make pious speeches about peace on earth. Harried parents run around creation buying the right crappy toy for their kids (when what the kid probably wants is less running around and more attention). Quakers don’t really have a corporate stand on any of this anymore. Most Meetings have events related to Christmas, some even bring in trees and other idols. I usually enjoy the Christmas parties, they mix us up and I have conversations with people I don’t talk to enough during our regular Sunday morning 11-12 timeslot.

Thanks to “Gutlesspacifist”:www.gutlesspacifist.com/archives/00000516.htm for his post on BuyNothingChristmas.