Reclaiming Christmas on 25th November

It's Didcot Street Fair this Thursday, which is always a big event for us as a town centre church. We'll be hosting Father Christmas as usual along with offering refreshments and stalls in the church. This time round we will also be doing something different.

As Christians, we often talk about ‘the real meaning of Christmas’. But that’s not always enough to stop us from getting caught up in the hustle and, often, actual stress of preparing for the big day. For many of our friends, family and neighbours, who may not have that Christian celebration at the centre of the day, the stress can often override the celebration.

There are Christians around the world looking at different ways of approaching Christmas. In North America, the ‘Buy Nothing Christmas’ movement advocates present-giving without consumerism.

Closer to home, Operation Noah runs a campaign called ‘Reclaim Christmas‘ encouraging us to say no to the materialistic Christmas. Their view is that less consumerism means more time and money for the things that matter, and a smaller impact on the earth.

The Green Team has picked up this idea for something new we can offer the community at the annual Didcot Street Fair - exactly one month before Christmas Day.

We will be inviting visitors - particularly children - to ‘reclaim Christmas’ by making their own Christmas presents using recycled ‘scrap’ materials. Our team on the day are expert in making attractive items from scrap, having previously done this at summer holiday kid’s clubs. We displayed examples at the church Open Day in June and some visitors asked where they could buy them. The answer was: ‘You can’t, but you can make them yourself!’

We want to show that making your own presents is more personal, more fun, more economical, and better for the environment.

As Operation Noah say: ‘Advent was traditionally a period of penitence and quiet anticipation. But now it seems no more than four weeks of frenzied consumption in which stress, needless debt and damage to God’s creation have become its defining hallmarks.125,000 tonnes of plastic packaging will be thrown away this Christmas. We’ll use 83 square kilometres of wrapping paper. Countless unwanted “gifts” will end up, at best in the charity shops and at worst, in the landfill. If Jesus returned in December 2010, what would he make of us doing all of this in His name?’