… is cold, grey and misty – you can’t see far ahead, not unlike the financial situation we find ourselves in at present. Many of us will be dreading the arrival of the credit card bill for our Christmas celebrations.
‘Buying things on credit is like drinking too much’, said the bishop of Reading, Stephen Cottrell. ‘There’s the initial heady excitement, but there is a long hangover to follow. Never in the history of human commerce has so much been owed by so many to so few. It’s so easy, so beguiling, so seductive – to see what we think we want, to offer that little oblong of plastic, to tap in our PIN, to receive the fleeting gratification, a temporary high, the need for another fix, another purchase. We call it retail therapy. Retail addiction would be more accurate.
Odd, when the Christmas story is about Jesus coming to earth to pay our debts, to show us how to live, to show us what being human could look like, that we respond by running up more debt.’ (from ‘Do nothing, Christmas is coming’ p18)
And now it’s all gone back in the box, the decorations, games and unwanted presents, all we are left with is the consequences. A bit like life really. At the end of it we’ll all end up ‘back in the box’ and standing before Jesus to face the consequences, to ‘pay our debts’. The good news for those who place their lives under Jesus’ rule is that he takes one look at you and says ‘I’ve cleared your debt. There’s nothing to pay.’
Following Jesus may not keep us clear of the financial turmoil in the months to come, but it will mean that ‘when it all goes back in the box’ we can rely on that rock solid promise of a better, debt free, joyous life to come – and that’s a present worth getting any time of year!
Shalom
Derek
If you are struggling with financial difficulties then act now. Please don’t do nothing and hope it’ll go away. There are people who would be only too pleased to help you. Contact: National Debtline on 0808 8084000 or the Citizens Advice Bureau www.adviceguide.org.uk or the Church of England’s Matter of Life and Debt pages on www.cofe.anglican.org/debt
Revd Derek Witchell 01296 682320
