This stewardship devotion is offered monthly on the Women of the ELCA website to encourage women in WELCA congregational units, circles, and any small group as they take up an offering while meeting. These devotions vary each month and focus on sharing gifts personally and as a community to support the ministry of Women of the ELCA.
by the Rev. Dr. Becca Ehrlich
Read 1 Corinthians 12:4-7
Now, there are varieties of gifts but the same Spirit, and there are varieties of services but the same Lord, and there are varieties of activities, but it is the same God who activates all of them in everyone. To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good.
The lead-up to Christmas is upon us. Christmas merchandise has been in stores since before Halloween (yes, I saw a display of Christmas ornaments next to Halloween costumes on October 22nd), and in the United States, we are expected to throw ourselves into a consumer culture-driven Christmas: buying presents and wrapping them, decorating our houses and Christmas trees, frantically making preparations for Christmas meals, and rushing from holiday party to holiday party. By the time we get to Christmas Day, we are often exhausted and don’t have much energy to enjoy the fruits of our labors.
When many of us think of Christmas, one of the first things that comes to mind is the practice of giving and receiving gifts. Gift-giving can be a joyous event, but buying the “right” presents for loved ones—and having the financial resources to do so—can also be a huge source of stress. In fact, according to a study by NerdWallet, 28% of holiday shoppers were still paying back their debts from the 2023 Christmas season in October 2024, and 55% of holiday shoppers stated that the financial burden of buying Christmas presents stresses them out.
Sometimes we even dread the coming of Christmas, when there is so much societal (and sometimes familial) pressure to make the perfect Christmas happen. While Christmas is supposed to be a celebration of Jesus’ birth, in the United States, it has become a consumerist holiday in which gifts are a major highlight (and often the centerpiece) of Christmas.
Gift-giving in itself is not a bad thing to do; the reason gifts are a part of Christmas traditions in the first place is because the Wise Men brought gifts to Jesus. But when buying and giving/receiving gifts becomes the main point of Christmas, it can take the focus away from the joy of Jesus being born and the celebration with our loved ones. The mental load of buying gifts for people, and the financial stress, is very real.
As we think about Christmas gifts and de-centralize gift-giving in our Christmas celebrations, we can also remember that God gifts us with our own spiritual gifts: abilities given to us by the Holy Spirit for the common good. Each of us is given a different mix of spiritual gifts; if all of us had the same gifts, nothing would ever get done!
If you are unsure what spiritual gifts God has given you personally, you can take a spiritual gifts assessment. Women of the ELCA offers a Spiritual Gifts assessment. If you’d like to go even deeper, there is a longer spiritual gifts assessment found in The 3 Colors of Your Gifts.
Our spiritual gifts indicate to us the many ways we can use our gifts to fulfill our baptismal and personal callings from God, to help those in need, and to share God’s love with others. We are all called to do this differently, and our gifts can show us the way.
Are you worried that God may not have given you spiritual gifts, or that you’re not someone God would call to do something? God calls people we would not expect all the time! For example, the Wise Men, or Magi, used their gifts of astrology to locate Jesus and pay him homage (Matthew 2:1-12).
We are invited and called by God to use our spiritual gifts to serve God and others. How are some ways God is inviting you to use your own spiritual gifts during Advent and Christmas?
The Rev. Dr. Becca Ehrlich is a pastor, writer, author, and spiritual director. She serves as Executive Director and Founder of New Breath Spirituality Center, and Adjunct Professor of Christian Spirituality at United Lutheran Seminary. She blogs about minimalism from a Christian perspective at www.christianminimalism.com and her book Christian Minimalism: Simple Steps for Abundant Living was released in 2021.
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