What if the countdown to Christmas didn’t make you groan?
What if you looked forward to it again, like you did when you were a kid?
What if, somehow, Christmas brought some good news to the world instead of stress and debt and extra holiday pounds?
If that sounds good to you, you need to join a conspiracy.
Advent Conspiracy is a movement to replace the consumerism of Christmas with the good news of hope. It is about giving our presence, not our presents. It is about remembering that if you are reading this on the internet, you already have more resources than millions of people in the world. It’s about giving and living together.
Knowing that my church, Christ Fellowship, is getting ready to join the Advent Conspiracy, I recently agreed to write a review of their new book and DVD. I didn’t realize what a dangerous decision that was. Read this one little book by Rick McKinley, Chris Seay and Greg Holder in a day or two and you will be changed for the rest of your life. The premise is simple:
Worship Fully – Because Christmas begins with Jesus!
Spend Less – And free your resources for things that truly matter.
Give More – of your presence, your hands, your words, your time, your heart.
Love All – The poor, the forgotten, the marginalized, the sick, in ways that make a difference.
What do you think? Could we do it? Could we take a step or two back from our rush to the mall and re-prioritize our Christmas, now…before we get started? “The heart of what we’re truly searching for — hope, peace, love, rest, worship –is in Christ, but each time we try to meet our desire for fulfillment at the mall, we take another step away from the nativity.”
Advent Conspiracy started several years ago with a group of people who wondered if they could make a difference in the world just by scaling back on Christmas. With the extra money they thus released, they pooled their funds and dug wells in Liberia through Living Water International. Think of it: just a few extra dollars, joined with other’s extra dollars, resulted in whole villages drinking clear, clean water. Our Christmas spending alone could wipe out the problem of unclean drinking water all over the world.
Order the Advent Conspiracy book and DVD. Watch it as a family or gather a few friends and families together. Then start praying about how this can be a life-changing year for you and your community. And if I haven’t given you enough inspiration yet, just come back to Coffee Shop Journal all this month. I’m going to be sharing all month as we lead into the Advent season, a season of generosity.
This year is going to be different.
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Advent Meditations by John E. Windell includes short story illustrations based on scriptures from the Revised Common Lectionary for each each day in Advent.