It has been a few years since I’ve really been to boxing day shopping. I may have dropped by a mall here and there in the last two boxing days but never wake up early and go shopping. Today I’ve decided to go with my mom and family to check out the crazy festivities; and also that I was asked to buy a new winter jacket because my winter jackets were a) not warm enough and b) not the kind of jackets for the rought winter plays such as winter camp. So we woke up early to head down to Eaton center.
Prior to this though I have been struggling with the whole concept of boxing day. It is very strange because the North American market relies so much on the sales and the business generated through Christmas; boxing day becomes the single biggest day of commodity in the North American retail culture. I was listening to the radio today and heard that 1/3 of Canadians are buying but just buying online. The commodification of Christmas is ever vibrant even in our recession. (although it does seem less packed this year)
Today at Eaton center there are buckets of people piling in the mall by the hour. We got there at 8am and people were already shopping. It was madness I tell you! Hollister and A&F were so packed with people that the lines waiting outside started to go around the block. I suppose that there are great deals happening there?
As I departed from my mom and the fam I started walking around the different stores and reflecting. I looked at the people lining up and rummaging through the busy mall, I see the lines of people waiting to go into Hollister and A&F and I see people with bags from all kinds of stores. I wondered to myself whether or not this has become one of the greatest festivals of Mammon manifested in another form? Mammon being a Babylonian (I think?) god of money – but isn’t our world of “stuff” just another reflection of Mammon? 46″ TVs, cameras, clothes… STUFF… just another reflection of a god and an idol to the desires of our heart; the yearning to consume and to HAVE. What a struggle eh? Honestly I was quite disguised at being at the mall and looking at the jacket was no longer appealing and with any lure at all. Although there were moments when I was a little tempted haha as I walked into Foot Locker and saw these Air Pippens (my fav shoes since grade 5) were on sale, they were remades! Original 300 but now for 200. But however I let that go too because it’d be foolish of me to pay for something like that. I kept walking and I began to search for Jesus somehow in the mall? You may think I’m delurious or something to be in search for Jesus but I really wanted to see and hope to see that Christ would be lieved out by people in the mall. Not-too-surprisingly through the pushing and shoving by people I felt that the mall would have been hard for one to live this lifestyle. I was very compell to go around then to show love; the love of Christ to others – especially those who are in need. I must tell you though I’ve missed a few opportunity which I wish I could take it back. But I had a few good conversations with some of the store keeps. In the short two hours I began a journey just to meet different people. In that time I’ve walked around Eaton Center 3 times, Future shop, Yonge Street and Queen Street. Honestly I wasn’t sure what I was looking for but just driven to walk around. Maybe it was also the phrase “When you have two coats you have stolen a coat from the homeless” by Dorothy Day really stood out to me and I was pressed with that thought. I was struggling because I’m buying a coat and yet I already am wearing a coat. I think I was actually beginning to look for someone who was homeless and maybe just chat with them. Surprisingly I was left with no one on the streets except busy shoppers. It was strange… instead of people who were pan-handling on the street corners I see people beside their big screen TVs standing in the street corners waiting to be picked up. A very different kind of view to say the least!
After about 30 minutes out in the cold as it began to snow (and it was quite cold caz I left my jacket in the car) I’ve decide to go back in. I went for a drink and some grubs since I hadden eaten all morning. At the same time I began to observe people with their bags and as they walk here and through the mall. I believe that there began a very different perspective in my paradigm in the homeless. The homelessness isn’t just the physical homelessness but it is also the spiritual homelessness. A kind of wandering where we are not able to define who we are but use world identifiers to have signify and identify ourselves. Home depends on the kind of clothes we wear, the television we have and the different gadgets that we own. But depth of these things… does it have depths? I dunno something for all who read to respond and dialogue with me about. I begin to struggle to see that the homelesses are within the means of the people in and around me; this mall packed with people aimlessly walking hoping to save a few dollars; the latest gadgets, the beautiful dresses. But isn’t life more than that?
Do I really have two coats? or am I to give you my coat, the one that I cherish but because of loving people so much that my coat is yours? That love compells and takes fills all things?
Consider the story of the prodigal son… he was clothed with new clothes and a new ring… his identity isn’t so much about the new things but about the love that came from the father who embraced him and received him. It was the son’s identity in his father that made the significance of the clothing.
I can imagine the father saying “Son this is your coat, it belongs to you because you are my son. It is because you are my son that you can wear the coat and have the blessing and be proud of your identity in me.” So I pray that I can give my coat away and be sharing in the ministry of God’s love and for others to see their identity and their home in God.
