Scroogenomics

For the discussion question this week I asked you guys on facebook to tell me about a great gift that you had received, and what made it a great gift.

I really appreciated the responses. It’s fun to share those stories because there is something special about receiving a gift from someone. God created a physical world for us to live in where we can give a hug, or share a doughnut, or sit a table and drink coffee with a friend. And it is a part of our culture to take special time to show our care for family and friends during the holidays.

Digging In:

Once upon a time I stumbled on a book called Scroogenomics at Barnes and Noble. And I thought it was really interesting. Basically, this economics professor was teaching, in a funny way, how little value some of the gifts we receive have to us.

What makes a poor gift?

Scroogenomics describes this poor gifting by describing value destruction. He tries to make it clear that we give gifts that are worth less than what we paid for them, or are even worthless to the recipients:

“the aisles are blocked not just with panicked shoppers, but also with tables covered with ‘gift items’. In the aisle near the men’s clothing department you’ll find lots of golf-themed knickknacks—mugs festooned with golf balls, golf club mittens, etc. Would anyone buy this stuff for him-or-herself? Does anybody want it?”

I struggled to buy gifts for my father-in-law for years. We do not have the same tastes, and anything he needs, he can purchase for himself. So I have stood next to the golf-knicknack , and the packers knickknack table, wondering if I should pick something like this up, but after reading Scroogenomics, I instead bought him a box of high quality golf balls instead, not having golfed since I was 16 years old, and hoped that it was a practical gift.

No one wants to give or receive a gift that is worthless. So what can we do? 

What makes a great gift?

We can give someone permission to have something that they haven’t been able to afford. (Buying a gift card for someone for something that we know that they really want would be an example of this. Jerry’s parents giving him an iPhone in response to his patience and responsibility is another example.

We can give someone access to something that they didn’t even know existed. By doing research, or by sharing our expertise in an area, or by scouring the shelves of a thrift store, we can discover something and give it as a gift that our loved ones didn’t even know existed. Ally’s cat that doesn’t give mom an allergic reaction would be an example of this.

We can make sure that our gift “functions as a conduit of warm feelings between the giver and the receiver.” An example of this would be writing a really nice card along with the starbucks gifts card. Or even making a bracelet and writing a note.

This is the way that Scroogenomics teaches us to give gifts. In this way we could give someone a gift that is priceless instead of worthless. The teacher who taught me to play a strategy board game when I didn’t even know those existed, gave me a priceless gift that has brought me countless hours of enjoyment. The note that my mother-in-law wrote to send with my birthday card was worth at least as much as the $40 of cash inside.

What about God? What does God have to say about giving gifts?

The main thing that I think God has to teach us about gift giving is found in this section of Scripture:

“If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? Even sinners love those who love them. And if you do good to those who are good to you, what credit is that to you? Even sinners do that. And if you lend to those from whom you expect repayment, what credit is that to you? Even sinners lend to sinners, expecting to be repaid in full. But love your enemies, do good to them, and lend to them without expecting to get anything back. Then your reward will be great, and you will be children of the Most High, because he is kind to the ungrateful and wicked. Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.”

-Luke 6:32-26

This teaches us what true, Christian, charitable giving is. It is only a gift, if it is given freely. As Christians, we can do well to put these words of Jesus into practice.

It can be hard to give and to receive without repayment. But I believe it is worth fighting to keep a gift a gift. Let us make it clear to the world that Christians do not give as the world gives. If someone gives you a gift and you were not expecting it, do not apologize. Say thank you. It was a gift.

If you give a gift and do not want to be repaid, then make that clear. “I just wanted to give you this. No need to give a gift in return.”

Even more difficult is to teach ourselves to give with the right attitude. Remember that you have been given the world. And it is the least we can do to give good gifts to those people in our lives.

Give one good gift to someone this year that is not expecting a gift from you, and you can show them a sliver of the kind of undeserved love that God has shown us.

Reflection:

Who is the difficult person on your Christmas list? What makes it hard to find something for that person?

Christmas Cliffhanger

On the Junior Staff Facebook page, I asked the question, should we celebrate Christmas every year? Why or Why not?

I enjoyed hearing about how important it is to celebrate the birth of Christ, and also the contrasting point that the holiday of Christmas has become something much more inflated with other ideas, and meanings, and materialism.

This week I wanted to share an excerpt from a great book, that I think helps us to remember what needs to happen in our hearts and minds in order for us to prepare for the arrival of Christ,

Digging In:

Well, the problem I see is this: we celebrate Christmas with such enthusiasm, both in Christian ways, and secular ways. And we push so hard to create a certain magic with the season. But after a dozen or more Christmases go by, there is a temptation to ignore the spiritual implications of Christmas, because they have not changed. You and I are just as saved by the work that Christ did when he came to earth at Christmas and gave his life on the Cross, as we were last year, or as your parents were when they were children, or as anyone has been in history.

There is a danger to our faith, when we act in the confidence that the story is written. 

One danger is that we are not involved at all in the work of Christ in this world because we are so content with our own place in heaven. 

Another danger is that we are so accustomed to being saved, that we don't celebrate that precious gift that we have unwrapped each Christmas for as long as we can remember. We are more concerned with what is new, and upcoming here in this world.

I'm going to share a couple paragraphs from the book Orthodoxy by G.K. Chesterton.

He proposes what I think is a good solution to this problem:

  

As Christians, we must have hope for all souls. And it is quite realistic to imagine that any man may be saved. "It is sensible [to think this way], but it is not specially favorable to activity or progress. Our society ought rather to insist on the danger of everybody, on the fact that every man is hanging by a thread or clinging to a precipice."

"But to a Christian existence is a STORY, which may end up in any way. In a thrilling novel (that purely Christian product) the hero is not eaten by cannibals; but it is essential to the existence of the thrill that he MIGHT be eaten by cannibals. The hero must (so to speak) be an eatable hero. So Christian morals have always said to the man, not that he would lose his soul, but that he must take care that he didn’t. In Christian morals, in short, it is wicked to call a man “damned”: but it is strictly religious and philosophic to call him damnable."

"All Christianity concentrates on the man at the cross-roads.... The true philosophy is concerned with the instant. Will a man take this road or that?—that is the only thing to think about, if you enjoy thinking."

I think that it is an important idea to remember how dire our situation is. This picture of being threatened by cannibals, or hanging from a cliff is a very serious one. 

It is difficult to imagine watching the scene in the Return of the King where Frodo is hanging on the cliff, and Sam is reaching down, without caring about whether he accepts the help, or chooses to let go and fall.

It is hard to watch this scene without a tear:

Mufasa asks his brother for help. And Scar throws him to his death.

When we consider our fellow humans during the Advent season, and when we consider our own state, it is imperative that we keep ourselves aware of how much we needed Christ to come, and we want to hold onto a mindset that longs for Christ’s coming.

So we are hanging from a cliff, and what happens at Christmas is that God lowers his hand to pull us up.... In the last chapter of the Bible, we hear Christ say, "I am coming soon." and our response is "Come, Lord Jesus!"

Reflecting:

Think of a way that you can celebrate Christmas this year that takes you to the cliff, and lets you consider how great it is to have the hand of God reach down from there.

Share your best ideas here, so we can learn from you.