When I finished primary school I remember we had one thing to celebrate its ending. It was a pool party at one of the girl’s houses. I think her dad cooked the barbecue. Afterwards I think we just said goodbye and that was it.

Well folks gone are the days of the simple pool party. Now there are celebrations across the whole last week of school. Like Stations of the Cross, each is organised to mark the momentous events of the past six years of primary school. We have dinners, lunches, breakfasts, picnics, assemblies and 'clap outs' all to mark its end.

The only formal I ever attended was at the end of high school and this was an occasion where you might splash out and hire a tuxedo; oh and by a girl a corsage for her dress.  I remember that event being hyped up for months only to find wearing the tux, uncomfortable, the venue in the ‘cool’ Cross to be totally dodgy, the food meager and the cost outrageous.  At least someone tried to do something special for our year, right?  You’re so ungrateful Stephen!

When I joked to my daughter that next year they’ll want a limo, the reply came back swiftly, ‘no dad, they did that last year’. I said to my wife, why don’t they just have the pool party, dress up and get a magician or an entertainer to come along and entertain them? Oh, apparently, that was the year before the limo.

I should be thankful that some parents have kindly tried to make it really special for the kid’s end of school bash.  And in a way, I am. I'm sure they are having fun. But I worry what we are teaching them in all of this. It seems that each year has the top last. More is more. Consumption is good.

One person who pursued it all and had it all was Solomon, King of ancient Israel. He had all the fun you could imagine under the sun. He amassed wealth and fame and achieved great projects.  Yet when he looked at all his hands had done he said, ‘vanity, nothing was gained underneath the sun’. He said, ‘better one hand with contentment, than two hands with trouble’.

He told a story of a man he watched pursuing it all, one thing after another. Yet he had no son or brother (Ecclesiastes 4). There was no end to his work and his pursuit of the next thing, the next experience, and the next bling. Yet later in life he wasn’t happy with all that he had, the experiences, the things made his heart grow sad. Solomon saw the evil that this pursuit produced. It oppressed the man working so hard for every next thing. It oppressed those around him who were trampled and pushed aside as he made sure his heart was satisfied. This man worked for a lie and rather than being satisfied with ‘one full hand’ he chased after more. Believing that life was best lived in selfish consumption, he ended up miserable.

Solomon asked ‘why did he do this?’  Good question, why do any of us do this? His answer: envy; the urge to keep up and ahead of what anyone else has got or is doing.

I dropped by to pick up some groceries from a local retailer the other day and when he asked how the kids were going I mentioned the week long ‘end of year 6 festival’. He laughed heartily and knew exactly what I was talking about. He said, ‘you know what that’s about don’t you?’ I said, ‘I’m trying to nut it out. What’s your take on it?’ He replied, ‘It’s all the parents, trying to be one step ahead’. So there you go. The prophet has spoken.

Solomon’s gave his solution to this problem with a few riddles.  Keeping warm at night; defending a fort; a cord of many strands. Life is better shared not consumed. Life was better when we gave, not when we got.  Why is this so? The world was made for sharing, because it was made by a God who is other person-centred.  He made the world to share and it ‘works’ when we give, not when we just consume.

[caption id="attachment_496" align="aligncenter" width="648" caption="Anton's Antics Christmas show with Stephen telling the story using live drawings"][/caption]

Christmas is a celebration that replaces the heart of envy and consumption. At Christmas God shared of himself to the full, by sending his Son into the world.

It’s good to celebrate ‘end of’ stuff. I get it. I like the fun of it all. I'm thankful parents are trying to make it special. But perhaps we can do more to encourage our kids away from the vacuum of consumption and competitiveness? Christmas celebrates the end of that vanity.  But to see it, you have to be prepared to look closely at the boy in the dirty manger.

This Christmas Stephen will be performing his Anton’s Antics show, “Raincloud” based on Ecclesiastes 4 at Cronulla Anglican’s Christmas Eve Carols in the garden on December 24th