Monday, November 26, 2007

The Advent Conspiracy



Christ tends to get overlooked at Christmas. Let’s be honest. December comes and you think, “OK, this is the year.” This time you swear you’ll slow down and take it all in. Make the most with family. Help the needy. Zero in on what it really means to be a Christ follower during this holy season.

That paragraph was taken from a site I recently discovered called The Advent Conspiracy. It's a site encouraging churches and individuals to Worship More, Spend Less, Give More and Love All this Christmas.

I was immediately drawn in to The Advent Conspiracy because every year I am searching for ways of adding meaning to this consumer-driven holiday we call Christmas. I'm always saddened by the gluttony I witness in the stores and malls; the debates over Happy Holidays versus Merry Christmas and the efforts to strip all signs of Christ from his own birthday party.


We try to focus our home on the real reason for the season, but it's sometimes like swimming up stream against a culture that is driven by greed, materialism and a false sense of fulfillment. I'm embarrassed to say we often get sucked into the madness and then come up for air on December 26 with frayed nerves, a huge credit card bill and a deep regret that we never really connected with the Christ child.

So what does it mean to Worship More, Spend less, Give More and Love All this Christmas? How do we honor Christ AND still enjoy the many traditions of Christmas without compromising?

Come back tomorrow and I'll give you a few ideas how we can walk this out.

1 comment:

The Gang's Momma! said...

soooo good. will be referring "my moms" to this discussion in my email this week . . . hope they hit it and read it - they'll love it.