Advent thoughts 6: Consumption

Today I have been mostly thinking about...

...work...volunteering...money...Christmas...friendship...socks...chocolate...tea...

By consumption I obviously don't mean the colloquial name for tuberculosis. I mean the idea of getting stuff. We're all familiar with the idea that we live in a consumerist society. It's a state of affairs that affect our national economy, with the idea that we're a nation that just consumes the stuff other nations make, rather than making our own stuff. (Can you tell I don't really know all that much about economics?)

It's one of those things that those of us that are Christians are likely to have been challenged about. Do I have too much stuff? Does my stuff mean too much to me? Do I worship my stuff instead of worshipping Jesus?

If we've been exposed to biblical ideas of justice we might have been challenged to think about where our stuff comes from and who makes it. Working in a shop which aspires to high levels of ethical behaviour and believes that what it sells can make a difference, I've been challenged to revisit what I believe about consumerism. Is consumption inherently bad? Does the fact that the item I've bought here in the UK can be traced back to a particular producer somehow mean I have a responsibility to buy more stuff? Or does the basic idea of storing up treasures in heaven rather than in a storage unit still hold true?

I've been at work today, and as you can imagine on a Saturday in retail three weeks before Christmas the pressure of the bottom line really begins to rear its ugly head. A good Christmas can make or break a business, especially small ones like the kind I work for. Fortunately, we don't go in for hard sell - I'd have a major, major problem with that - but there is an innate pressure to encourage individuals to buy more than they'd intended to, to spend just a little more than they'd really like to.

I have a responsibility to my colleagues, to our suppliers and, ultimately, producers who want a better life for themselves, their families and their communities, to make sure that at Christmas we sell, sell, sell. But I also have a moral and ethical responsibility to challenge the prevailing narrative that we all need more stuff and that by giving people stuff we demonstrate their value to us. It's a tricky line to tread.