I performed a few Christmas carols with my new best friend (the Uekele) down at our local Kmart this week. Hmmm..strange place for a performance? Yes.
I was there to help them officially launch the KMart Christmas Tree, where people leave presents for those who will struggle at Christmas time. I live in Foostcray (Melbourne), which is a very diverse and mulitcultural community, and so it was a lot of fun performing right in the hub of my own community and watching so many people from so many walks of life, faiths, and cultures stop to listen to the music.
This is not an ad for the Wishing tree by the way. I was happy to support this event and help out a few friends, but I'm also quite cynical and can't help but think that the biggest winners in all of this is KMart themselves, as poeple buy the gifts from their store....(clever) and so they end up selling more of their environmentally and socially unfriendly products. Oh well.
But there are plenty of ways in which we can all look out for the lonely, the poor, the marginalised this Christmas, both locally and globally.
What could we do this year to share a bit of extra love and care? Let's put our thinking caps on!
Please leave your ideas as a comment and I'll share in a different post!!
Mezz xx
I need to think a bit more and a bit harder but I know in our community here in mitcham, we are doing christmas lunches and dinners for anybody and everybody. We are having a lunch at the mithcham salvos, we are doing a dinner for the single people living in emergency accomodation, and a dinner for the men where I live. We are also singing carols in the streets so that people can feel part of the joy and festivities that christmas can bring. But I know these ideas arent very original, but they work in making people feel loved and important. No bible bashing and no santa talk either, just sharing meals and having conversations.
ReplyDeleteHi Mezz,
ReplyDeleteThanks so much for this post. We used it to provoke some very special conversation with the girls. We posed your question, then told the story of the REAL 'Santa Claus' (our kids know the man in the red suit is a fake!!) and talked about how in our area there are loads of people whose Christmases may not be very happy ones.
We decided to focus on our local Women's Refuge (there are often children staying there too) and the girls decided to wrap up some of their toys they don't use anymore to give as presents, make some Christmas cakes and Christmas decorations, and take them all in.
Unfortunately, most Christmas 'welfare' campaigns focus on people outside of our own communities. Its really important to focus back in. Our kids are so darn privileged, I worry that they may be growing up without a real understanding of some of the issues their own local people deal with everyday.
Looks like you've got us all thinking about the real meaning of Christmas and how best we can express that. It's wonderful giving to those we love and that brings us much joy (no pun intended!). But to listen for Gods still small voice directing us to do something for someone we may not naturally gravitate to, there's the challenge. As you know, we have been known to invite others for Christmas lunch/dinner to share Christmas with a family. I know how important that was for me, no longer just mum, dad and me, but surrounded by the love of the extended family. So, I'll be interested to see who God puts in my path this year, and what He wants me to do about it. It may be something completely different, I just want to be open to His ideas. And not only at Christmas.....xo
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