Buy Nothing Day

Unfortunately I did buy something in fact, I bought a lot of things, which is a shame as I recognise that consumerism really is a massive problem, both in my own life and in the wider context of western life. In response to this problem I suspect the church should really be a leading agent on buy nothing day, so perhaps I should feel especially guilty.

Good news is that we don't need to wait a whole year to show our discontent. Just stumbled across Buy Nothing Christmas on the internet (which has a great youth study guide)

"This Christmas we'll be swamped with offers, ads and invitations to buy more stuff. But now there's a way to say enough and join a movement dedicated to reviving the original meaning of Christmas giving.

Buy Nothing Christmas is a national initiative started by Canadian Mennonites but open to everyone with a thirst for change and a desire for action.

Buy Nothing Christmas is a stress-reliever, and more people need to hear about it. You can change your world by simply putting up one of the posters (or make your own) in your church, place of worship, home or work. Be sneaky about it if you have to. The point is to get people thinking. It's an idea whose time has come, so get out there and make a difference!"

I'd love to say I will go against the grain and won't buy anyone anything this Christmas, but I suspect I will. I guess it would work in a tight knit community but actually the people I buy presents for I rarely see and so buying them something creative is an important expression of my appreciation of them, so instead ethical gifts get the thumbs up from me... which isn't surprising as ethical consumerism effectively pays my wages!

On the lighter side of things I also stumbled across  Rev Billy and the Church of Stop Shopping. As this video nicely demonstrates, Rev Billy does a mean impersination of Benny Hinn but changes the message of health, wealth and prosperity, to a message against consumerism and particularly against multi-national capitalism. I'm fairly sure he's taking the pee but if uber-charismatic Pentecostal churches catch on to the whole Make Poverty History thing perhaps this will be the result. Don't know if that scares me or excites me!

Comments

[Jonathon Norman]

thanks for the link to the youth lesson. i'll check it out.

shalom,
jonathon

[John]

Wasting money is unChristian, of course, but I'm hesitant to participate in Buy Nothing Day. When we buy good or services, we purchase them from poor people (at somewhere in the chain of production) who will lack because of our decision not to buy their stuff.

This special day is well intentioned, of course. But I'm wary of the unintended consequences.