What can I do for you?

The story of Santa Claus begins with a man called Nicholas, who was born during the third century in the village of Patara. At the time the area was Greek and is now on the southern coast of Turkey.

His wealthy parents, who raised him to be a devout Christian, died in an epidemic while Nicholas was still young. Obeying Jesus' words to "sell what you own and give the money to the poor," Nicholas used his whole inheritance to assist the needy, the sick, and the suffering. He dedicated his life to serving God and was made Bishop of Myra while still a young man. Bishop Nicholas became known throughout the land for his generosity to those in need, his love for children, and his concern for sailors and ships.

Through the centuries many stories have been told of St. Nicholas' life and deeds. These help us understand his extraordinary character and why he is so beloved and revered as protector and helper of those in need.

One story tells of a poor man with three daughters. In those days a young woman's father had to offer prospective husbands something of value — a dowry. The larger the dowry, the better the chance that a young woman would find a good husband. Without a dowry, a woman was unlikely to marry. This poor man's daughters, without dowries, were therefore destined to be sold into slavery. Mysteriously, on three different occasions, a bag of gold appeared in their home providing the needed dowries. The bags of gold, tossed through an open window, are said to have landed in stockings or shoes left before the fire to dry. This has led to the custom of children hanging stockings or putting out shoes, eagerly awaiting gifts from Saint Nicholas or Santa Claus, as we call him today.

Sometimes the true meaning of Christmas gets hidden by all the festivities. How many of us, for instance, remembered when we saw Father Christmas at stores and bazaars and schools or while we were hanging up our stocking that he is actually a follower of Jesus. How many of us remembered that he is originally St Nicholas who gave away all he had because Jesus had first given him all he had? Jesus gave himself to us by coming into our world as a baby and growing up to die on the cross as our Saviour. This is what is at the heart of Christmas and so we need to remember that Christmas is about giving to others instead of getting for ourselves.

This year, unusually, a Christmas advert has captured this truth in exactly this way. I’m thinking of the John Lewis advert with a little boy and a present. The background music to the ad – ‘Please, please, please, let me get what I want’ a song written by the Smiths – leads us to believe the boy is desperate to open his presents on Christmas morning but the ‘catch in the throat’ moment that is the ad’s punchline is that he’s actually desperate to give his parents their present from him. So, while, like all ad’s, this ad wants us to buy the company’s products, it is also reminding us that the real joy of Christmas is found in giving rather than getting.  

This Christmas, Bible Society is asking everyone to take part in a new campaign called: ‘What can I do for you?’ To celebrate the birth of Christ, they are asking everyone to take a moment of their time, on 25th December, to offer help – however large or small - to one other person by asking them this simple question and then fulfilling their request.

The answer may be: “peel the potatoes” or “call me more” – it really doesn’t matter. It just means that, for a few moments or more, on the 25th of December, people are given the chance to experience what Jesus meant when he said: “It is more blessed to give than to receive”.

Of course, there’s no need to only ask that question of others on Christmas Day and there are lots of initiatives and groups that can help us. Here are just two others:

If you’d like ideas and reminders regularly about ways of giving to others and living more generously then you could join a group like Generous which is building a global community of people who believe in changing the world for good … one step at a time. Generous is about imagining a different way of living, about innovating, trying new things, believing that things can be better, simpler, more beautiful. Every action unknown to everyone else - from unplugging appliances to dumping bottled water, from sharing your car journey to buying Fair Trade - incrementally shifts history in favour of the planet and its people. The more people who go Generous, the greater their impact.

Acts of Kindness is a project by artist Michael Landy celebrating everyday generosity and compassion on the Tube. Landy’s project invites us to notice acts of kindness however simple and small. The artist explains, ‘Sometimes we tend to assume that you have to be superhuman to be kind, rather than just an ordinary person.’ So, to unsettle that idea, Acts of Kindness catches those little exchanges that are almost too fleeting and mundane to be noticed or remembered. Landy has invited passengers and staff to help by sending stories of kindness that have been seen or that people have been part of on London Underground and he has chosen a selection of the stories to place in Central line stations and trains. Acts of kindness between strangers undermine the idea that we should compete and always strive to be independent. Instead, they’re an acknowledgement of our shared humanity. Landy says, ‘That’s what “kindness” means – we’re kin, we’re of one kind.’

Rachel Rounds, Senior Press Secretary at Bible Society, has said: “The act of giving of ourselves reminds us that we are part of a wider community; it reminds us of the practical outworking of the two greatest commandments - to love God first and then our neighbour. Somewhere in the midst of all the noise, that still small voice may ask us all: What matters most to you?’”

May we all hear that still, small voice this Christmas whether it’s through St Nicholas, the John Lewis ad, ‘What can I do for you?’, generous, Acts of Kindness, or the Christmas story itself.

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Valdemar - What Can I Do For You.