The Advent Conspiracy ...and Other Thoughts

The Pastor’s Page
There were two moments this week, no, maybe three, where I inhaled what this season is all about.
One was when I read online about something called “The Advent Conspiracy.” A group of religious leaders have banded together and taken a stand: do not spend yourselves into debt, but rather, “conspire” to serve others.” If there is something to be given, they say, let it be yourselves, and your willingness to serve God.
Hooray.
Then, I was getting my nails done, and my technician said that the shop had voted, instead of exchanging gifts, to adopt a needy family, and give to that family. “We have enough already,” she said.
She said that the family chosen was a lesson to all of them, helping them to keep things in perspective. The mother has died, and so the 31 year old father is raising his four children alone. He recently lost his job and his home, so the family has moved back in with his mother. They have no healthcare.
Their situation was hard to listen to, but what they asked for warmed my heart. The grandmother wants a cross to wear around her neck. One of the children wants a mattress for his bed. One of the daughters wants new socks; all of hers have holes.
As my technician was talking, my eyes filled with tears. That’s what the gift-giving should be about: giving to those who do not have, not even the things many of us take for granted. Christmas isn’t the time to go into debt buying things just to buy things. If the truth be told, if someone is close to you, he or she ought to be worthy of receiving gifts all year long, not for a specific holiday, but just for being in your life.
This is not “bah, humbug,” this is “yes, Lord!” theology.
Whoever told us that we don’t love someone unless we go into debt buying them “things?” How did Christmas get to be that? When I was little, Christmas wasn’t so much about getting a lot of things; we children usually got one book and one toy…but we were happy. Why? Because there was the Christmas tree, and there was the smell of all those cookies and pies and cakes that my mother baked. There was the fudge that my father made once a year. There were Christmas lights in the house, and in the stores. One of our traditions was to go down to the J.L. Hudson Department store to see all the animated figures in the windows. I loved them. It was enough. It was simply enough.
I like that Advent Conspiracy thing. I like what my nail shop is doing. And I am hoping that nobody in this congregation, or reading this piece, feels bad if he or she cannot buy lots of “stuff” that supposedly says “I love you.” Love isn’t stuff. Love is giving self. That’s it, plain and simple. A pair of expensive sneakers does not say “I love you” if you cannot spend time with the one whom you say you love. More clothes, when one’s closet is already filled, doesn’t do it. Actually, one little gift that says, “I know you and I appreciate who you are,”something that will be around when you are dead and gone … something that the receiver can always pick up and remember you …that’s love.
I think that’s what Jesus would do.
Well, I think that’s what Jesus DID do. He left us … himself.
Have a good week.

Pastor Smith