Conspiratorial Thoughts
"the wise men came
three made their way
to shower him with love while he lay in the hay"
-Dave Matthews, "Christmas Song"
Our Sunday School class is doing (studying?) Advent Conspiracy this year. Here is the video they've been showing in our church service to promote it, which is actually a good introduction to it.
Sharon and I were talking about this, and I mentioned that I want to support this, but I'm afraid people will get the wrong message. For the record, I think the video above and the website get the message exactly right. But it's hard to explain their message without the potential to have it misunderstood.
The right message is that Christmas isn't about consumerism.
The wrong message is that Christmas isn't about gifts.
Let me explain, because if you've read this blog before you know Christmas is not only my favorite holiday but that I think the Incarnation is both the most amazing and most misunderstood idea in all of Christendom.
The Incarnation is God in the flesh. The idea is so outrageous that our closest religious cousins (Islam and Judaism) consider it blasphemy and more recent variations (like Baha'i and Mormonism) dilute it or shift it. But it's not just a side issue: it is bedrock to our faith. Without incarnation God is distant forever. In it, He not only voluntarily becomes like us, but He brings us to Him by His actions once incarnate. How does He do this? He gives himself.
Christmas is all about giving, and celebrating being given. I think it is a great idea to give of yourself at Christmas: recklessly, extravagantly. We have been given a huge gift - it's time to party.
I can see people hearing about this and thinking "oh yeah, I shouldn't spend so much money and give it to the poor instead." Your answer is in John 12:3, but I'll interpret here: we all know "that person" who donated money to the whales instead of buying you a present. This isn't like that. If they did it because they know you want to save the whales, then they've shown you love but otherwise they're still missing the point. Christmas isn't about helping the poor.
The problem also isn't that we're consumers (or rather, that's not the main problem). The problem is we don't understand gifts. We use our gifts to build up ourselves in some way. We worry about what to get the person who already has much more than we do. We worry about the asymmetry of giving something to someone who has much less than we do but is otherwise our peer. We feel pressured to value our relationships monetarily - to have our gift somehow reflect the value of the person in our eyes - so that if we don't spend enough we haven't shown enough love.
The point here is to give gifts and give the best ones. Give of yourself and your time to those who you have relationship with, give of your money to those who need it most, give of your service to those you can help. Give. Give. Give.
Some of you are exhausted. You give all the time. You have nothing left. Some of you are broke or out of a job or sick. This is not for you. God didn't give what he didn't have.
But, what Jesus did have, He gave. And what He couldn't give (His equality with God) He set aside in order to better give. He emptied Himself, taking the form of a servant. That's humanity: the form of a servant.
Yes, don't buy the sweater she won't like - do something else. Say something else. Even buy something else. But don't be afraid to buy the sweater she will like if you're doing it to show love. Show her/him/them love. Love. Love. Love.
Shower them with love while He lays in the hay.
three made their way
to shower him with love while he lay in the hay"
-Dave Matthews, "Christmas Song"
Our Sunday School class is doing (studying?) Advent Conspiracy this year. Here is the video they've been showing in our church service to promote it, which is actually a good introduction to it.
Sharon and I were talking about this, and I mentioned that I want to support this, but I'm afraid people will get the wrong message. For the record, I think the video above and the website get the message exactly right. But it's hard to explain their message without the potential to have it misunderstood.
The right message is that Christmas isn't about consumerism.
The wrong message is that Christmas isn't about gifts.
Let me explain, because if you've read this blog before you know Christmas is not only my favorite holiday but that I think the Incarnation is both the most amazing and most misunderstood idea in all of Christendom.
The Incarnation is God in the flesh. The idea is so outrageous that our closest religious cousins (Islam and Judaism) consider it blasphemy and more recent variations (like Baha'i and Mormonism) dilute it or shift it. But it's not just a side issue: it is bedrock to our faith. Without incarnation God is distant forever. In it, He not only voluntarily becomes like us, but He brings us to Him by His actions once incarnate. How does He do this? He gives himself.
Christmas is all about giving, and celebrating being given. I think it is a great idea to give of yourself at Christmas: recklessly, extravagantly. We have been given a huge gift - it's time to party.
I can see people hearing about this and thinking "oh yeah, I shouldn't spend so much money and give it to the poor instead." Your answer is in John 12:3, but I'll interpret here: we all know "that person" who donated money to the whales instead of buying you a present. This isn't like that. If they did it because they know you want to save the whales, then they've shown you love but otherwise they're still missing the point. Christmas isn't about helping the poor.
The problem also isn't that we're consumers (or rather, that's not the main problem). The problem is we don't understand gifts. We use our gifts to build up ourselves in some way. We worry about what to get the person who already has much more than we do. We worry about the asymmetry of giving something to someone who has much less than we do but is otherwise our peer. We feel pressured to value our relationships monetarily - to have our gift somehow reflect the value of the person in our eyes - so that if we don't spend enough we haven't shown enough love.
The point here is to give gifts and give the best ones. Give of yourself and your time to those who you have relationship with, give of your money to those who need it most, give of your service to those you can help. Give. Give. Give.
Some of you are exhausted. You give all the time. You have nothing left. Some of you are broke or out of a job or sick. This is not for you. God didn't give what he didn't have.
But, what Jesus did have, He gave. And what He couldn't give (His equality with God) He set aside in order to better give. He emptied Himself, taking the form of a servant. That's humanity: the form of a servant.
Yes, don't buy the sweater she won't like - do something else. Say something else. Even buy something else. But don't be afraid to buy the sweater she will like if you're doing it to show love. Show her/him/them love. Love. Love. Love.
Shower them with love while He lays in the hay.
