Week of November 29, 2009

  • Pastor David Hillis
  • Nov 30, 2009
  • Series: Welcome to My World

Thanks to all of you for joining us in the Advent Conspiracy.  If you missed this week's message and would like to know more about it, CLICK HERE.

Below are just a few web links to help you and your family with ideas for the Advent Conspiracy.  Below those links is an article by one of the church pastors who started the Advent Conspiracy in 2007.

 

ONLINE RESOURCES TO HELP IN THE "CONSPIRACY"

Here are some websites that you can use for ideas for your own family "conspiracy"!



Making More of Christmas with Less

by Pastor Rick McKinley, Imago Dei

There is something magical that captures us during the Christmas season.  But this year, in the midst of a credit crunch, uncertain markets, and job lay-offs, creating a magical Christmas will be a challenge for many people.

Here is good news: You can have more with less.  Why not simply exchange consumption for compassion?  And instead of allowing the stress and anxiety of the season to control you, exchange worry for worship?

That’s what thousands of Christians in hundreds of churches around America and in dozens of other countries are doing this Christmas season.  Calling it the “Advent Conspiracy.” They are making four commitments:

  1. To worship God more fully than they ever have.
  2. To spend less money on Christmas than in past years.
  3. To give more meaningful gifts to people.
  4. To love all people they come into contact with, especially those most in need.

At the heart of their effort is a fresh look at the original Christmas story.  The story has been bought and sold and marketed and commercialized for hundreds of years.  Yet the story remains deeper and more meaningful than most of us often realize. 

The Creator of the cosmos sets aside his heavenly crown and chooses to come to us.  And he does so in the simplest, most natural of ways—through a divine plan and womb of an obedient teenage girl.  Of course, all babies born that night on earth were miraculous.  But this birth was more miraculous because it was God himself, through his son Jesus, who came to mankind as a vulnerable baby boy.

Why would God do that?  The answer can help us go from life-absorbing shopping lists this Christmas to life-altering significance. 

When Jesus came to us, he came in simplicity to a humble couple who had very little money.  So the true meaning of Christmas has never been about stuff; it has always been about Him.  God offered us a relationship with a person—Jesus.

Because the heart of Christmas is relationships—first with Christ and then with each other—we can learn how to spend less and give more of ourselves to others.  That is what the Advent Conspirators across the globe have been doing in growing numbers since last Christmas.

Jerry Shannon, pastor of Lancaster Vineyard Church in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, says that last year, rather than buying her father a present, a woman in his congregation took Dad out for a meal, so they could work at building their relationship.  “The ‘date’ with my dad has encouraged him to spend time with me alone,” she says.  “Since he and I both work from our homes, it is easy to meet during the week for lunch.  We have had a strained relationship in the past due to my parents’ divorce.  But we’ve come a long way, and this gift helped to grow our relationship even more.”

Another woman broke her habit of buying and sending her grandmother expensive gifts.  Instead of spending money on something her grandmother probably didn’t need, she bought a pound of local coffee and made a beautiful card:  “Grandma, my gift to you this Christmas will be to spend an afternoon with you.  I would love you to tell me the stories of your childhood.”

A few days after Christmas, the two spent a priceless afternoon, more valuable than any mall gift, as the young woman listened to the joys and sorrows, aches and pains, dreams and disappointments of her grandmother’s life—well lived.

But what about the kids?  Especially in today’s Nintendo world, will they feel shortchanged?  “We talked with our kids about why we were doing Christmas differently,” says Jeanne McKinley of Imago Dei Community church in Portland, Oregon.  “We explained why there wouldn’t be as many presents under the tree this year and why we would all be making some of our own presents.  We helped them be aware of the needs in the world and how much we have to be thankful for.

“At first we were afraid that they would hate the idea, but instead they seemed to grasp it even better than we did.  It was an incredible worship experience for the whole family.”

We must always remember God identifies with the poor of our world.  As the Scriptures say, he who was rich became poor so that he could make us rich.  Jesus did that his first night in Bethlehem and he still does it today.  Last Christmas, at Ventura Missionary Church in Ventura, California, “we had an awakening to the poverty next door,” says community life pastor Jesse Giglio.  “We wrapped a huge cardboard box as a giant present with a slot on top and asked the people if they would consider giving up one gift and putting those funds in the box for the homeless in our community.  We counted the money on Christmas Eve:  $21,000 was raised.”

The conspiracy is catching on in other countries as well.  At Ridgeway Ministries in Johannesburg, South Africa, many families gave up gifts last year and allocated that money to support underprivileged children.  “We were able to have a Christmas party for needy children, and give 750 children Christmas gifts,” says Peter Veysie.

Even in a down economy, Americans alone are projected to spend more than $400 billion on Christmas shopping.  In caparison, according to the World Health Organization, the cost of providing clean water to the 1.1 billion people around the world who need it would range between $10 billion and $30 billion a year.  Driven by this math, some congregations are focusing their Advent Conspiracy on cutting back Christmas spending in order to build clean water wells in developing nations.

Last Christmas, Portland’s Imago Dei Community, Houston’s Ecclesia Church and St. Louis’s Windsor Crossing Community Church raised more than $500,000 to provide a dozen clean water wells in Nicaragua and Liberia.  Ecclesia pastor Chris Seay recalls the impact it had on his family:  “The stories of life change were amazing.  Thousands of people now have clean water, and lots of kids will not die this year due to water-borne illness, just because we spent less on Christmas.”

Pastor Seay is one of thousands of Advent Conspirators who are spending less, giving more, and loving all—and showing once again that Christmas can still change the world.

2 Comments | Login to Post Comments

Karen DeMarco on Dec 5, 2009 10:52am

David,
Thank you for getting the word out about "The Advent Conspiracy" - awesome ideas!It's been a tough year for us financially and I have been wondering how I could stretch this year's Christmas budget. We won't be able to send our 6 nieces the usual gift card with $, but after last Sunday I got to thinking, and now I'm copying some of my favorite recipes for them instead. Thanks ! Karen DeMarco

David Ross on Dec 15, 2009 1:22pm

I have mixed feelings on this. Since retailers make most of their money during Christmas, our economy would tank and most people would find themselves unemployed in the new year. The domino effect would be that people would have less to give to churches, charities, and non-profits for years to come.