Santa wants us to spend a lot. We all know this. But just as we feel numbed by endless adverts, slogans, and tacky plastic reindeer bells, a horrifying reality hits us:

Nearly one third of all New Zealand children are living in poverty. More than half of them will never escape it.

That’s the grim reality painted by the recently released Child Poverty Monitor report.

It seems all the more harrowing seeing as we’re just around the corner from Christmas — the time for joy, hope, family, and BIG roast dinners. I’ll be having my Christmas lunch this year, as I have just about every Christmas of my life. Potentially 300,000 kids in NZ won’t.

While we could point the finger at politicians or (worse) at the parents of the children, we would do much better to realise this is our problem. Every one of us. Children’s commissioner, Dr. Russell Wills, explains here. This is an issue that we as a country need to stand up against.

Earlier in May, this article was published, debunking some of the typical myths about child poverty. Jonathan Boston (a good Presbyterian) produced the research.

Reading about all of this, it struck me that Jesus was born in an insignificant town, Bethlehem, one of the least in all of Judah. Not in Jerusalem…with the lights, and the temple, and the palace, and the big Christmas lunches…well you get the point.

We’ll have the opportunity to pray for this at the Living Room on Sunday night, but I encourage you to keep it in your personal prayers as we head into Christmas. And pray too, that we might be turned from Consumerist Santa toward the impoverished Christ this Christmas. May we receive generous and compassionate hearts!