By Meg Newton
My family became kitten owners this fall, and we’ve all quickly grown to love our new family members – two males from the same litter who look almost identical. I can only tell them apart by looking at their noses. And they are barely ever separated – they play together constantly, chase each other, wrestle like pros, clean each other, sleep together, even purr in unison. The one time I’ve seen animosity between them was when I dropped a piece of sausagy cornbread while making my stuffing for Thanksgiving. One kitten got to it first, and defended that little cube with hostile growls when his brother tried to get a bite. It was a disconcerting sight, to see how quickly the one could turn on the other over an unexpected snack. And it was a mildly comical – but all too real – reminder of how often we humans let material possessions, finances, inheritance, or other “things” get in the way of our relationships and the things that really matter.
In his teaching known as the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 5-7, Jesus talks about the danger of serving money – or Mammon, as it’s transliterated from the Aramaic – instead of God. “No one can serve two masters,” Jesus says. “Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and Mammon” (Matthew 6:24). He may be speaking in hyperbole when he speaks of loving and hating, but Jesus is reminding us that it is all too easy to make an idol of our possessions or wealth. Meaning, we look to it to save us, or define us, when we should be looking to God to save us and define us. We look to it to give us security when we should be trusting in God. But when we place our trust in money, we start to serve it – to the detriment of our relationships with God and with others.
I’ve known siblings who wouldn’t talk to each other because of battles over who gets what in an inheritance. I’ve seen people stay in jobs that sucked the life out of them because they couldn’t let go of a salary that supported the lifestyle they thought they had to have but couldn’t really enjoy. I’ve seen others make dishonest or even illegal choices in order to get ahead, because they couldn’t imagine living with the less they’d have if they operated honestly.
In contrast, I’ve seen the freedom and joy that someone experiences when they act generously, when they place people before possessions, when they choose to spend less on something they want in order to give toward something someone needs. I have friends who choose a family to bless every Christmas – they shop for gifts for everyone in the chosen family, and then sneakily deliver the Christmas packages “ding dong dash” style – and that’s one of the best parts of Christmas for the gift-giving family, adults and kids alike. (And what a great way to teach your kids the joy of generosity!)
So in this Advent season – the season of waiting and preparation leading up to Christmas – how can we serve God more than our credit card, more than our wish lists, more than the “stuff” of the holiday? How might we care a little less about our Christmas decorations and more about the ways we’re practicing generosity? We are, after all, celebrating the birth of the One who was willing to give up everything, who “made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness” (Philippians 2:7) and who chose to be born into the most humble of circumstances in order to then give all of himself, to give his life, so that we could have life in his Kingdom and be a part of his family.
Meg Newton is a wife, mother of two teenagers, owner of two hilarious kittens, and the associate pastor of Trinity Church in New Canaan.
