Advent 2020: Fasting as
Frugality

Activity: Save

Frugality is not being stingy. Stingy people do not give or spend of what they have because of pride, greed, and fear. Frugal people do not give or spend because of planning. The motivations are different. Frugality allows for carefully planned “yeses” - the many “nos” are also part of the plan. Perhaps a better way to describe frugality is “not yet” - the “yes” is coming, but it is still on its way.

What does frugality have to do with hospitality, you might ask? Well, frugality is one aspect of fasting - saying no to something good for a time. But frugality creates margin in the financial budget and the calendar so that you many invest in hospitality later. If there’s no financial wiggle room, no time margin, then hospitality will be a hardship, not a joy.

One of the easiest ways to create such a margin is to save or to swap. Consider these saves and swaps:

• SWAP: Instead of going out for an activity, do it at home, such as making coffee or meals.

• SWAP: Use reusable items instead of throw-away items for plates, cups, flatware, straws, paper

  towels, and take-away containers .

• SAVE: Reduce your purchases of unneeded items. Make a list of what you purchase and put it in

  one of two categories: Needs/Survival and Wants/Bonuses. Reduce purchases in the second

  category.

• SAVE: Start your monthly budget by first subtracting your tithe and giving to the church, then the amount you are setting aside to save. Live within the rest of this budgeted amount. Seek additional advice from someone in your church who is wise financially.

When we set aside money to save up funds for something, we delay gratification and satisfaction. When we say “not yet” to comfort, fashion, or easy access, we get just a taste of the much grander and most holy aspect of the Incarnation: self-sacrifice. Jesus did not consider himself so distant from us so as to think of us beneath him, but Jesus came to us, in our skin, at our level, to be among us, to redeem us (check out Philippians 2:6-11).

Today as you decide what to save, consider when Jesus set aside all of the glories of heaven to live here on the earth, to partake in our lives, and to ultimately set in motion our freedom and healing from sin, death, and hell.