Sunday, November 27, 2005

Church today
This morning, I went to a Catholic church for the first time since my son was baptized. It was a work-related issue that I won't go into but needless to say, I was glad I was there. The pastor's comments about the beginning of Advent really struck me and I was glad he made them. Paraphrasing, he stated that we shouldn't be obsessed with the consumerism of Christmas and should instead understand the reason for the season. He stated at how shocked he was that people were lining up at 3 a.m. for a store opening at 6 a.m. and how people were trampling over others just to get a deal. He said that people were using shopping to replace spirituality in their lives. He even noted that he was getting caught up with "the stuff," instead of why we should be enjoying this time of the year with friends and family. You've gotta clean out that junk drawer full of stuff and let Jesus into your hearts, again, paraphrasing. At the end of the sermon, I went to talk to him for a bit, and he thanked me for coming. I did pull his ear a bit, mentioning that there was a Buy Nothing Day movement out there talking about similar things and that his sermon would have been more effective BEFORE Thanksgiving, saving the flock from the shopping mayhem that ensued. He agreed that it was a good point and admitted that he was getting caught up in it himself and that was how the sermon came to him.

2 comments:

biscotti dana said...

Hey Tony,

Amen to that drawer cleaning and spirituality message. I'd love to be of the non-shopping variety, and at least am happy to report that I do all my shopping on-line except when purchasing from small, local vendors (Capital Craftsmen, Upstairs at Daniels here in Henniker, the Village Greenhouse for my flowers and whatnot, and from the school kids hawking stuff just for a chance to raise funds for field trips and other extracurricular activities).

Anyway, I'd LOVE to give up the materialism of it all, but let's face it...to do so in a family means that ALL the family members have to "buy" into it. (Sorry about the pun...but not THAT sorry.) Otherwise, you're just the spiritual cheapskate. Not that I've ever tried it, but at least I do keep to my limited budget pretty well.

Happy holidays. May the blessings of the season greet us all.

Tony said...

Hey Dana,

Thanks for the post. First, for our other readers, your awesome new blog about filmmaking in New Hampshire is here:

http://greenchairpictures.blogspot.com/

Second, hey girl, whip that family into shape! Just teasing. I can just imagine how it is with older kids and, you know, I will soon know myself. Here's hoping for the best.

Have a great holiday and touch base again soon!!

PS: How did the pilot go?