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Britain has long been called a nation of shopkeepers. But are we no longer a nation of shoppers? Hard-pressed retailers have been hoping for a Christmas boom after a particularly hard year. Tomorrow, being the last Saturday before Christmas, could be make or break for many high street shops. Even the online retailers have been hit this year with poor sales and are heavily discounting. Some analysts say that we’ve hit peak retail and we’ve entered a post-consumer age, with people tired of making purchases.

That might seem like a good thing and that spending in the run-up to Christmas is not what the festive season is all about. All this materialism, some argue, is anathema to Christianity.

But I’m not convinced. It’s not good to see shops closing, our high streets dying and shop workers out of a job. And while I wouldn’t want people who are struggling financially to feel pressured about spending what they haven’t got, there are reasons why indulging in present buying is for me integral to Christmas as a religious festival.

Christianity like all religions is focused on the spiritual but it’s focused on the material too. The birth of Christ is about God becoming part of this material world – the incarnation of God is about him taking flesh. His birth was a season of present giving – and lavish ones at that, when the kings brought their gold, frankincense and myrrh – all priceless things at that time.

Above all Christ made man was a gift – a gift given freely and without condition and with love, just as our presents to one another are.

This Christmas no doubt one of the loveliest of carols will be sung at concerts and services across the land. The words of In The Bleak Midwinter were written by the Victorian poet Christina Rossetti. In her final verse she asks:

What can I give him, poor as I am?
If I were a shepherd I would bring a lamb.
If I were a wise man, I would play my part.
Yet what I can I give him: give my heart.

For Christians that is the gift that God desires of us, and the greatest gift we can offer those we love. But if you go out tomorrow for your final round of shopping, I don’t think you should be condemned for being too consumer driven. Nor would I think you guilty of only being interested in life’s frivolities. To me you’d be doing your bit for Britain’s high streets. You’d be bringing some pleasure to those you love. And you’d be commemorating the moment that God gave his greatest gift possible to the world by becoming one of us.

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