Greetings, Diocese of Olympia.
The holiday season is upon us. You know this, of course, because it’s been upon us since probably early October when at least I first saw those holiday M&Ms in their red-and-green variety encouraging me to buy them even before the Halloween candy was gone. And yet here we are just beginning this season of Advent, of watching and waiting as we prepare for the coming of the Christ child again and as we prepare for the coming of Christ into our midst a second time.
A number of years ago now, I came across a book and a website about the Advent conspiracy. It’s online at adventconspiracy.org. There were three pastors who got together who wanted to make this time of Advent more meaningful for their parishioners. And so they began to question all that surrounds the consumerism within our culture, and wondered if we could get back to the real meaning of this time. They suggest that we focus on four things during this season of Advent.
First, that we worship fully, recognizing that this season is an invitation for us to watch and wait for the coming of Christ, and that we can watch and wait more fully when we engage with the living God and starting our practice there rather than trying to figure out what’s on our list and checking it twice.
The second thing they encourage us to do is to spend less, to take less money and put it towards those gifts that are really unimportant. You know those ones, where you’re buying something willy-nilly to stuff into a stocking or those gifts for your friends, brothers, sisters, aunt or uncle, and this random person twice removed. It gets kind of crazy how long that list really gets, isn’t it? And they recognize that many in our culture will end this season with credit card debt or needing to pay back things that they bought that they thought someone might like, but really didn’t.
Their third thing that they encourage us to do is to give more, which is not the same thing as spending less mind you, because what they encourage is that we, in our gift-giving, really dig into the relationship of those gifts to give something that encourages and builds our connections with others. Things that take time and energy to invest in and think about, rather than just buying another sweater for somebody. To say maybe what could we do together to deepen our connections and to find new ways to learn from each other.
Finally, they encourage us to love all recognizing that how much money we spend during this time, we could be giving gifts that might help impact those around the world who might be needy. They encourage you to maybe give the gift of water to a community or maybe an animal through Heifer International, or finding other ways to connect through gift-giving on behalf of others, to give things to people who might really need it.
Those things would indeed help us to get ready for the coming of Christ. It would be a conspiracy against all that our culture holds dear, and yet would bring us closer to the real meaning of this time. So, I encourage you this Advent to think about maybe doing just one or two of those things. To find new ways to worship or to spend less, to give more, to love all. And through that process, draw closer to the one who is coming again, the one for whom we long for and wait, the one who comes to set us free and to bring peace for us and for all the world. May this season of Advent be a blessing to you and to those that you love. And may we truly be ready to greet the Christ child when he comes once more into our midst.
