“Put Christ back into Christmas!”

“Jesus is the reason for the season!”

And other seasonal phrases stitched onto throw pillows!

I grew up with these proverbial idioms, often melodically sung with a confident swagger or a passive-aggressive bite. Being religious from birth and raised without a TV influencing every moment of my life, Christmas always had Christ in it without any need to put him back. But like honey butter on hot cornbread, it wasn’t long before I was seeped in a consumerist culture of American materialism, eating a steady diet of glossy advertisements, loud commercials and scarcity fear-mongering.

And here I am, the day before Christmas, frustrated at how easily I got swept into that manic frenzy throughout December. Our American consumerist culture is a fizzy Red Bull, giving you wings and hype and diabetes. It might keep you going but it’s depleting you, stripping nutrients from your body and filling you with lies. We believe Christmas is about a ton of awesome gifts under the tree. We ask our kids what they want, spooning entitlement into their open mouths, and then get frustrated when gratitude isn’t their response. We fret we didn’t get the right things or we weren’t thoughtful enough or we could have done better. We spend money we don’t have on things we don’t need all for a day. For one day. One day of “joy” for months of debt, bank accounts and bodies anemic and starved.

I’m not wanting to cause you guilt — I truly believe most of us are doing our best under the circumstances of our lives. Many of us are barely hanging on in our families that we’ll gladly go into debt for a brief moment of “joy” and “peace” in our homes. But what if there was more to your life than brief moments? What if joy and peace became the steady diet you consumed, not based on your circumstances or the Red Bull swirling chaos around you, but on the simple truth that you’re not alone — God is with us.

When every third photo on Instagram and Facebook shouts the story of what I’m missing and lack and need, if I’m not careful I will believe the noise. The way I see myself and others subtly shifts, convincing me of something I never thought I would believe: I’m not enough, I’m alone, I don’t matter without This Amazing Product. I think Christmas takes the everyday onslaught of consuming materialism and, using a candy cane, shovels it over us until we can’t get another breath. And instead of stepping away from this chaos and gaining a bit of perspective, we put our hands out like a linebacker, put our heads down and pummel our way just trying to make it through this season.

But Christmas isn’t something we’re meant to get through. It’s something we’re invited to fully experience. Instead of high-fiving your spouse at the end of the day, like you just completed a marathon, what if you slowed down, like to an awkward and uncomfortable pace? What if you made your kids slow down (to their raging horror)? What if you invited a friend over for breakfast or, with your family, brought hot cocoa and a bagel to someone hungry? What if you read the Christmas Story out of Luke 2 and sang a carol together? What if presents were only opened after breakfast or just one gift per person per hour? What if you made out with your partner and rubbed their feet and brought them coffee while the baby screamed and the kids said they hate you — certainly not perfect, but maybe a little more present?

What if you became present to the gift that is your life and the lives of those around you this Christmas morning, breathing deeply and slowly? Might you begin to notice the reason for this season, the holiness of this day, the moment when God came near — as close as your very breath. Might you see this Happy Holy-day, this Merry Christ-mass, as an opportunity to rebelliously reorient your perspective away from consuming materialism and into real joy and peace?

It’s not something that can be stitched onto a throw pillow, but it’s definitely something that can be sewn into your heart.

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Bethany Cseh is a pastor at Arcata United Methodist Church and Catalyst Church.