Living In Hope

It's amazing how in town suddenly a number of shops have opened up selling just things to do with the Christmas season.  Everywhere you turn someone is trying to sell you wrapping paper, novelties or cards.  One such shop had its name painted in bold letters - All You Want For Christmas.  Ah!  That sounds good!  I went in to browse and see what they had that I might want.  What I would really like is a nice big fat cheque made out to my name but I couldn't see one anywhere!  But the idea of getting what you want set me thinking.  Hopes, wants, expectations. 


Advent is a time of looking forward with hope.  Children are encouraged to write a letter to Santa Claus saying what toys and games they would like to receive.  Some write long letters with long lists of things they want. Others are not so fortunate.  A few days ago I shared a post on Facebook about a young 10 year old boy called Santiago who lives in a part of Bahia Blanca in Argentina.  He was given a sort of wooden chopping board by his parents for his birthday and his reaction was a big smile and 'thank you' and he said that he looked forward to using it to cut up food.  It is the custom to use a wooden board to serve up and use at a barbecue instead of the usual plate so now he had his very own.  He was then handed another gift that his very poor parents had managed to save up for.  His reaction is priceless as he opened it to discover not a wooden tablet but a tablet that he had really hoped for but knowing how poor they were never expected in his wildest dreams that he would ever receive.  You can watch the video here but be sure to have your tissues at hand.


In our home for many years we have made wish lists.  Maybe it's because of working in shanty towns and seeing how little some people have to live on but to us at least it's preferable to give/receive something that is actually wanted and hoped for rather than something that will be put in a drawer and never used or recycled.  We do put enough items on the lists so there is a choice and we still don't know what we will actually receive so the surprise element is still there.  But it seems to me that so many of the lists to Santa are written with more than just hope.  Things are not just hoped for but actually expected to the point that parents have been known to search all over and pay anything in order to get the required gift.  Is this the real hope that is enshrined in Christmas?  Is this the advent message that we are giving our children?   Businesses are hoping for more profit this year than last year.  It seems that hope for the world has become a matter of wealth and ownership of material things that tomorrow are discarded.  As the Queen song says 'I want it all and I want it now.'


God came to humanity on that first Christmas, not as a big Santa Claus laden with toys and gifts, but as a baby to bring real hope to the world and a way to live, sharing love with all.  Enjoy the gifts but remember why we give presents to those we love. Beyond the material gifts, what is our hope this Christmas?  What are my hopes for myself and my family?  Success at work, health, wealth, more things or something money can't buy?  Of course we need things - that's essential in 21st century Britain but we are really rich in a deeper sense if our hope is in something or someone beyond material wealth.