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First Christmas in Alaska

As tempting as it is, I'm not going to whine about the fact that Alaska is the exception to all the free shipping deals online. I know I should shop locally and I know the amount I pay in shipping is nowhere close to the PFD we got this year. No whining. Not even when I complete an order and shipping is $100 and the rest of their costumers get it for free.

But I will whine about adopt-a-family programs. I'm trying not to, but I can only resist not whining about one thing at a time.

I'm not a fan of adopt-a-family programs. I'm sorry, but I really struggle with them.

• Do I think we should assist families who face a sudden crisis during this season? YES.

• Do I think we should make winter clothes accessible to families without means? YES.

• Do I think we should figure out a way to walk with families through the extra economic stresses around food, housing and transportation? YES.

• Do I think we should fund early childhood education, better addiction treatment, prison reentry programs, mental health programs, and a living wage? YES.

Poverty sucks and I see huge gaping holes where resources could help families move out of poverty. And as a pastor I value meaningful relationships over doing something that makes us feel good.

I find adopt-a-family programs involve a huge amount of resources without meaningful relationships or bridging gaps. There is a part of me that struggles with whether they may actually be destructive to a family's sense of integrity and the very nature of a gift.

We read the Legend of the Poinsettia last night at church where the young girl offers weeds to the baby Jesus after hearing the wisdom, "any gift is beautiful because it is given." 

I recognize that I'm writing this out of a place of privilege and you can poke me in the eye the next time you see me for taking potshots at this sacred feel good holiday phenomena, but I'm going to refuse to give into the religion of consumerism and the idea that the gospel has something to do with having more junk from China (or wherever it is made). It's hard for me to call something a gift when it doesn't come from the giver.

I suppose this struck me when one of the families requested a robe for Christmas. It just seemed like such an intimate gift for someone we didn't know anything about and it made me think about when Kirt and I were first married without much money to our names. I sewed him a stinking robe in my office at church with scraps of fabric some of the church ladies gave me. It wasn't the most amazing robe in the world by any means, but it had my hands and heart in it (and probably some blood because I'm not good with sharp things). 

I'm not advocating everyone be awesome like me and sew pathetic robes with lots of love. But I am saying that we might undermine someone's humanity when we take away the beauty of a gift given.

There are ways we may accompany families who are devastated by life and circumstances. But it requires active engagement year round and serious examination of our economic and social systems. 

I actually believe the good news of Christmas is the incarnation, the God who chooses to dwell in the vulnerability of flesh and blood. What if we stopped with the "feel good" programs and instead dwelled with folks in the vulnerability, the flesh and blood, of poverty? 

Yeah, it's probably easier to buy the robe.