By T.J. Ray
Columnist

As strings of lights disappear from bushes and trees, our little world fades back to normal.

Perhaps some folks don’t smile as much as the last two weeks. By now many, many gifts have gone back to the store, returned as quickly as they might have been chosen, without much thought to the recipient. A gift card does not equal a batch of chocolate fudge!

In all likelihood, one or two more Christmas cards will come in. Not ones addressed to me but some addressed by me. I sincerely hope the folks who didn’t get my card were busy enough with the season to overlook my vagrant card. Until all the cards are in and all the decorations are stowed for the year, Christmas is still with us.

And so, too, are people in need.

The Salvation Army kettles had a lot of dollars stuffed in them. Just as the kettles and the volunteers who stood by them are out of sight now, so are the people who benefit from those dollars. Perhaps your collection of free calendars and sticky mailing labels from charities seeking donations has grown, but the army of needy folks has not decreased. They may still be out of sight, but they still need help.

Consider for a moment the ratio of the few dollars vanishing into Salvation Army cauldrons and the amount spent inside the store.

Would it be possible to create a tithe at that moment? Say, for instance, we wait till we leave the store with our turkeys and candy and fruits before making a contribution. What if we set our minds — and hearts — to donate ten percent of what we just spent on ourselves to a worthy cause? Just for the Christmas season?

In the church I grew up in, the tithe was a serious matter. Though I may never have given the literal ten percent of my money to the operation of the church, at least I had the feeling that I should. Much of that tithe went to the operation of the church, which is laudable, but wouldn’t it have been more praiseworthy if ten percent of the ten percent was set aside for needy folks?

For now you can set the proposal of the grocery-store tithe aside as I will remind you of it in November. What you cannot in good conscience put aside are the admonitions most faiths set before us, the reminders to feed the poor, help the lame, and salvage the downtrodden. In other words, it’s not just a matter of what we do in the Christmas season that squares our debt but what we do as a matter of course.

With that in mind, please consider joining me in a Christmas pledge:

The Christmas Pledge:
Believing in the true spirit of Christmas, I commit myself to.
Remember those people who truly need my gifts.
Express my love in more direct ways than gifts.
Examine my holiday activities in the light of deepest values.
Be a peacemaker within my circle of family and friends.
Rededicate myself to my spiritual growth.