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Wasteful living
If Bill McKibben's main point in "Christmas Unplugged" [Dec. 9] was that materialism damages God's creation and we should change our ways, I agree. If his point was that Christmas should be celebrated frugally because materialism is harmful, I think he neglected a much stronger line of reasoning, and incidentally forgot to mention the significance of Christmas. A stronger and simpler argument would be: Since Christmas commemorates the birth of Christ, Christians should celebrate in a manner appropriate to the event.

It would seem more fitting to celebrate by giving gifts to the poor and homeless, and by worshiping God with awe and adoration for his compassion and humility. We neglect both of these activities year-round, to our shame.

-Susan S. Monk
Chapel Hill, N.C.

I agree wholeheartedly with McKibben's suggestion to turn off our tv sets. My wife and I did that years ago, and we've felt our lives richer for the increase in time spent together and the decrease in meaningless distraction. But he also wants us to stop spending at Christmas. He says to stop spending at $100, but one supposes that he really means to stop, period.

I suggest that McKibben do what my wife and I have found so satisfying. We have "adopted" a needy child through Metro Ministries in Brooklyn, New York. We don't decrease our spending at Christmas, we greatly increase it. We get our "daughter" and her family as many presents as our finances will allow, and we wrap them and send them off and thank God for the opportunity to make a difference in just one family. We spend far more on this family than we do on our own. The joy we receive is incomparable.

If McKibben allowed God more room to worry about his creation and its environment, and spent more time (and money) helping to change the lives of the only part of creation that the Bible assures us possesses immortality, the author's future advice might change to "spend more, lots more, but only on someone who would have little or nothing without you."

-John H. Busser
Blaine, Minn.

I'm appalled by McKibben's assertions on global warming. It's simply not true "the world's scientists are now in agreement that we have begun to warm the planet." Yes, the earth is getting warmer, but according to a survey by the environmental group Greenpeace, only a third of climatologists blame human activity.

-Roger D. McKinney
Anadarko, Okla.

So we can add Christmas to the ever-growing list of environmental hazards. I suppose that it won't be long before we discover that Easter causes cancer.

-Scott Dempsey
Ft. Payne, Ala.

Newbigin: A valuable asset
* Thanks for the profile of Lesslie Newbigin ["God's Missionary to Us," Dec. 9]. In him the Christian church has a valuable asset. Newbigin has restored theological integrity to cross-cultural ministry, a ministry that has been dominated by pragmatic communication models for far too long. Newbigin exemplifies the truth that solid theological thinking need not be the antithesis of meaningful cultural engagement. Is it not ironic that people today feel that "missions" is neither theological nor relevant? Why? Few theologians have felt mission as a topic worthy of their serious thought just as missionaries have felt theology was irrelevant to their daily schedules. When each can do without the other, something is wrong. Newbigin reverses this trend by engaging culture theologically and so ends up engaging it meaningfully.

-Eric Flett
Woodinville, Wash.

* Thanks for bringing out this most recent contribution of Lesslie Newbigin, the call to a missionary encounter of the gospel with our Western culture.

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February 3 1997, Vol. 41, No. 2