Thursday 14 November 2013

Thinking about the true Christmas message...

The scenes of devastation from the Philippines are truly heart-breaking.

All those poor people with nothing to eat, or drink, or anywhere to live, wading through steams of polluted water wearing just flip-flops.

Death and destruction are all around them.  Disease will surely follow.

I saw a lady interviewed on a news bulletin - she said quite simply that they don't need computers, mobile phones or televisions, they need the basics of life - food, water, shelter.

In complete contrast, this country is gearing up for the excesses that the Christmas season now seems to bring.

Each commercial break on the TV has yet more adverts encouraging us to spend, spend, spend.

Yes, I've seen the 'Holidays are Coming' advert, which for some seems to herald the arrival of the festive season.

However, I didn't rejoice on seeing this, or the 'Magic and Sparkle' or the 'Hare and the Bear'.

Now, don't get me wrong, I like Christmas, but I have to say that I think these adverts are so far from the true message of what this should be about that it's really not funny.

Please can we remember that we're meant to be celebrating the birth of a baby, to parents who were not wealthy, who was laid in a manger in a stable because there was no room at the Inn - hopefully everyone's still familiar with this, although when I hear that there are spacemen and frogs in school Nativity plays I must admit I do wonder!

Can we perhaps get back to basics ourselves, and remember that all we really need for Christmas is food, drink and shelter, and the love of our families?

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