As hard as it is to believe, Christmas is right around the corner. There are signs of it everywhere; trees tied to mini-vans, radios stations playing Christmas carols, parties, the movie "Elf" on tv somewhere every night of the week, the smell of fireplaces, and toy catalogs, oh yeah then there is; traffic, endless trips to the mall, in-laws (I love mine), stress, full calendars, and credit card offers in the mail. All of these signs point to the crescendo of God's redemptive plan through the introduction of Jesus to the world, or do they?
Most of our activity has little to do with savior and more to do with self. Most families will spend ungodly amounts of money going further into debt for stuff that will be broken or out of style in months. Our gifts to the people we love often takes the place of a more costly gift, the gift of our time. Most people are hoping to get stuff the "need" and we forget that there are folks who really do have "needs".
I really do love Christmas, I love the traditions and there is nothing wrong with any of these things. I just find it interesting that all of these things causes most to miss the point, and in an effort to have a "BIG" Christmas, it just winds up being very small.
The distractions that surround Christmas are nothing new. We are not the first generation to miss the point. in fact the very first one was missed by almost everyone. The story of Christmas, or the birth of Jesus is clearly associated with some see it, but most do not. On the day Jesus was born, although he was anticipated for hundreds of years by many, only a few even knew that it had happened.
This year we are doing something different as a church and are joining a movement of churches to recapture Christmas making it more reflective of what God was doing by sending Jesus. Advent Conspiracy will be experienced by churches from around the world in an effort to [Worship Fully], [Spend Less], [Give More], [Love All]. The aim is simple, stem the tide of hyper-consumerism by saying no to overspending. Give your time not just gifts to the people you love, to reflect God's relational gift to us in Jesus. Then with the money saved redistributed to those who are in need, locally and globally, many churches (including ours) are partnering with Living Water Intl. to provide clean drinking water to those who are without. Finally, we will not do this all out of charity but as an act of worship, making the intentional step not to leave the worship of Jesus out of the holidays.
Honestly, I have never really been excited about preaching during Christmas, this effort has really captured my heart and I believe it better reflects the heart of God for this season. Check out week 2 this week with us...
Most of our activity has little to do with savior and more to do with self. Most families will spend ungodly amounts of money going further into debt for stuff that will be broken or out of style in months. Our gifts to the people we love often takes the place of a more costly gift, the gift of our time. Most people are hoping to get stuff the "need" and we forget that there are folks who really do have "needs".
I really do love Christmas, I love the traditions and there is nothing wrong with any of these things. I just find it interesting that all of these things causes most to miss the point, and in an effort to have a "BIG" Christmas, it just winds up being very small.
The distractions that surround Christmas are nothing new. We are not the first generation to miss the point. in fact the very first one was missed by almost everyone. The story of Christmas, or the birth of Jesus is clearly associated with some see it, but most do not. On the day Jesus was born, although he was anticipated for hundreds of years by many, only a few even knew that it had happened.
This year we are doing something different as a church and are joining a movement of churches to recapture Christmas making it more reflective of what God was doing by sending Jesus. Advent Conspiracy will be experienced by churches from around the world in an effort to [Worship Fully], [Spend Less], [Give More], [Love All]. The aim is simple, stem the tide of hyper-consumerism by saying no to overspending. Give your time not just gifts to the people you love, to reflect God's relational gift to us in Jesus. Then with the money saved redistributed to those who are in need, locally and globally, many churches (including ours) are partnering with Living Water Intl. to provide clean drinking water to those who are without. Finally, we will not do this all out of charity but as an act of worship, making the intentional step not to leave the worship of Jesus out of the holidays.
Honestly, I have never really been excited about preaching during Christmas, this effort has really captured my heart and I believe it better reflects the heart of God for this season. Check out week 2 this week with us...
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