On the news today, there was a report of a WalMart employee in Long Island who was trampled to death when a crowd of shoppers broke down the doors of the store, at 5 a.m. and surged in. A pregnant woman, and two other people were also injured in the stampede.

These were probably ordinary people, out early on "Black Friday", the day after Thanksgiving in the US, when stores offer huge bargains on Christmas shopping. Essentially it's the equivalent of our Boxing Day.

It is interesting that the church is entering the season we call Advent - waiting, beginning, coming - in which we look for the birth of the Spirit of God and the promise of new life. In the story of Jesus' birth, there were gifts given, and of course that's part of how the tradition of gift-giving began.

Christmas, however, seems to have ceased to be about the birth of a human baby who brought a message of new life. The spiritual and hopeful side of Christmas has been overtaken by the drive to get that perfect gift as cheaply as possible, to beat other people to the bargains, to make sure we get in there first and get what we want, and too bad for everyone else.

At the beginning of the season of new life, the waiting with expectation for a child - a life has been taken, and others put at risk. How sad, and how insane.