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I first heard about the Advent Conspiracy during a recent conference in Atlanta. The spokesperson made a really good point. All too often as followers of Jesus, we can feel like we are left with only two choices during the holiday season: - We can emphasize the secular part of the holiday and Christmas can morph into X-mas, or Stress-mas, or GottaBuyEveryoneAGift EvenIfTheyDoNotWantIt-mas.
- Or instead we can join with other Jesus followers and get mad that some new courthouse or mall or “fill in the blank” has been forced to stop having a Christmas tree or nativity scene. Christmas wouldn’t be Christmas if we weren’t angry, right?
There is a third option… we could use the Advent season to reflect on the true gifts Christ brought into the world: gifts like freedom, restoration, joy, peace, and reconciliation… and then we could take those gifts and spread them out to others. Like previous years, this Advent book contains many reflections by FPC folk about what the gift of Jesus means to them. But this year we also have included some reflections with proactive things you can do to share God’s gift of love with someone else. All the Action Items cost something; usually money or time (through prayer or service). The goal is not to make you feel extra burdened during the holidays. It really is just to provide some additional choices for you. In fact, all of them have several different items for you to choose between. Don’t feel pressured. Just do what you are able. What I love most about these ideas is that there is a third cost associated with all of them. All the Action Items challenge us to open our hearts up to others. During Advent, we remember how God opened his heart to us all by sending his son to earth, so I’m pretty sure this kind of “cost” is exactly what Christmas is all about… Pastor James |
