It’s that season again – when gift-giving (and buying) go into overdrive as, around the world, Christians and those of other faiths celebrate Christmas, each in their special way.
To Mary Baker Eddy, the founder of this newspaper and of The Church of Christ, Scientist, the occasion transcends material gifts. “Christmas, in Christian Science, stands for the real, the absolute and eternal, — for the things of Spirit, not of matter,” she wrote in the New York World in December 1905.
As theology professor Dion Forster wrote in The Conversation a few years ago, “the focus has turned from the sacred to the secular and from God to the human self.”
However, recent years have also seen a growing concern over the commercialization of Christmas. And this year, tight budgets and rising prices have more than 50% of Americans reporting they will be cutting back on spending for gifts.
Together, these shifts can help Christians, in particular, to rediscover the spiritual import of what a popular carol calls the “tidings of comfort and joy” that heralded the birth of Christ Jesus and the divine Truth he represented. And in that process, they might find that small acts of generosity and fewer, smaller gifts resonate with greater meaning.
In the war trenches of Ukraine, “comfort and joy” glimmered at the start of its annual winter holiday season in early December. An online initiative helped transmit heartfelt greetings from civilians to soldiers.
In turn, troops carried good cheer to young students displaced by the fighting.
“Visiting the children and talking with them is what motivates us,” a representative told the Mezha news outlet. “In this way we … thank them for all the support they provide us.”
A recent survey confirms that Americans are placing greater value on the joy of sharing attention and presence, rather than presents: 60% of respondents said gifting culture is “out of hand” and 44% said they preferred “the gift of time” instead of things.
These evolving views track with reports of an increased interest in Christianity in the West. A study on the United Kingdom’s “quiet revival” estimates that church attendance has risen by 50% since 2018. In France, the number of baptisms among 18-to-25-year-olds more than quadrupled between 2020 and 2024. And in the United States, the decline in churchgoing appears to be reversing, as more young adults seek spiritual connection and comfort.
“Don’t Be a Cynic About Today’s Religious Revival,” urged a headline in The Dispatch earlier this month, the article noting “a marked change” in college students’ curiosity about religion.
Together, the trends toward more faith and fewer rituals can help us better appreciate the eternal gift of Christmas.
