The Advent Conspiracy

Preparations for Christmas have started in our household. The Christmas tree is up and decorations are appearing all over the house. I know…it’s just Thanksgiving today. But even when I say that to my lovely bride…Erin just looks at me in that endearing way (doubling endearing right now ‘cause she’s so great with child!) and smiles and I realize I’m not going to stop this freight train from going where it wants to go.

Sam’s in on it too. He gave us a Christmas list last week, two pages worth, on unlined paper with incredibly small print! It was mostly filled with Legos, the Star Wars kind that are so popular right now. I think Erin and I were a bit taken aback. I know we live in a culture of supersized consumerism and that advertising aimed not only at Erin and I, but at our children is every where evident. But to see it so clearly in the wishes of your children?

It was an opportunity for conversation—about Santa, about gifts, and about whose birthday we’re actually celebrating.

You see because Christmas is Jesus’ birthday. Not mine. Not Sam’s. Not Erin’s. Not yours. No doubt that if we could, we would all give those closest to us the desires of their hearts…even the world if they asked for it and we could deliver. And that’s just very natural and very human.
But the reality is that somewhere in the glitter and glow, in the ceaseless playing of National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation (one of the greatest Christmas movies of all time!), ELF, White Christmas, and a Christmas Carol, Jesus has been lost. In the flow of television adds, billboards, bulk emailings, texts, and mass mailings all trying to entice us to buy the wares they are promulgating, Jesus has been lost.

Jesus has been lost. No, the truth is that the Lord of creation can’t actually get lost. But we can certainly lose sight of him…especially in this season where the reason has been co-opted by our consumeristic expectations.

So churches all over USAmerica have been starting a countercultural revolution. It’s called The Advent Conspiracy and you can check it out at www.adventconspiracy.com. It’s principles are basic and go like this:

1. Worship Fully
2. Spend Less
3. Give More
4. Love All


From the website...

Christmas can [sill] change the world.

The story of Christ's birth is a story of promise, hope, and a revolutionary love.
So, what happened? What was once a time to celebrate the birth of a savior has somehow turned into a season of stress, traffic jams, and shopping lists.

And when it's all over, many of us are left with presents to return, looming debt that will take months to pay off, and this empty feeling of missed purpose. Is this what we really want out of Christmas?

What if Christmas became a world-changing event again?

Welcome to Advent Conspiracy.

Worship Fully
Spend Less
Give More
Love All

Welcome to the Advent Conspiracy. So here’s my question to you St. Stephen: When was the last time you participated in a really good conspiracy?

That’s what I thought. It’s time to press the societal reset button and give Jesus the biggest gift we can. Ourselves. Our worship. Our resources given for the sake of the poor of the world. Jesus gave himself to the world, both in life and death, that ALL might have life. So this Christmas, whether it’s in a large way or a small way, give your family the gift of finding someway to help those who are struggling with life find life through you, and through your generosity…the kind that points to Jesus.

Happy Advent!

Pastor Nathan

Day 40 -- It all ends in a party...

Tonight we celebrated the culmination of our 40 days journey with a party. Our plates were full of food, our tables filled with people, and our hearts growing...all signs of new community taking shape around us. It was terrific to hear Dennis Donahue say, "This was a fantastic evening, and the best part was that I only knew half the people in the room!"

Yeah we're growing and connecting in deeper, more profound ways. Just the acts of journeying together in small groups, gathering together, centered in Jesus and his life altering work, connecting in prayer, and engaging life together in service transform us for the Christian walk we're called to. And the result? A party. Life tonight. Like the future.

God likes parties. The Holy Scriptures drip with them. Jesus begins his ministry with the biggest sort of party in his day: a wedding. And in the book of Revelation creation is redeemed and fulfilled as the heavenly Jerusalem comes to this earth...the meeting, literally, of heaven and earth in a celebration that never ends. A party.

You can't have a party without community. And if you have a joy-filled community, then there will always be a party. It's just how our communal life works. Together we are better than we are apart. Together in Jesus, we are the body of Christ and life flows through us, giving us life and life to those we touch on the journey of our lives.

And the result? Celebration. Look to the party Saints. It's where Jesus and his action are!

Grace and peace as we continue the journey of community!

Pastor Nathan

Day 39 -- Finding Life with THE Sacred Cow: MONEY

All of this conversation about COMMUNITY. You'd think we'd be able to get through 40 days of conversation on its distinctly Christian warp and woof and leave all of our pocket books well enough alone! But no. It doesn't work like that.

You'd think we'd all get a pass because the stock markets look like they do and because we see plunging pension accounts, bank accounts, and rising consumer prices! But no. It doesn't work like that.

You'd think we'd all get a pass because so many of our homes are in foreclosure or because so many of us are losing our jobs or see shaky employment ahead! But no. It doesn't work like that.

You'd think that we'd be able to sell ourselves on the age old addage: "I worked for it! It's mine." But no. It certainly doesn't work like that.

It doesn't work like that because we are community centered on Jesus...the same Jesus that spent the majority of his time talking about stewardship, where it is that you and I are investing the resources (read MONEY) of our lives.

It doesn't work like that because we are community formed around a generous God. He gives all life, nourishes and sustains, and provides in all circumstances. As his community we take on the characteristics of the One (God) that we serve. Because we serve a generous God, we are called to be his generous people. No doubt none of us will ever be able to out give God...but our generosity, especially marks us as his. Because generosity isn't natural for most of us. Generosity calls us to give, even when it is not apparently beneficial to do so. It calls us to give even when our family's balance sheet reads deficits. It calls us to give because the Scriptures are all unanimous on this point: when we are generous, we find a depth of life we never thought we could have.

Mostly this is because generosity frees us from the illusion of self protection. As we give generously financially, we are freed from the illusion that our lives need to revolve around our pocketbook, the false gods of security that we all erect in our lives.

I know that there are many ways to give. But there is no way that given the Scriptural witness and the words of Jesus (that where your treasure is there your heart will be also) that we can get away from the need to give money, at some level, to the work of God's kingdom.

In Christian community, and what Rick Warren is driving at, we take our generosity of resources and pieces that may seem like a little come to form A LOT. It's amazing how when we begin to offer the money resources of our lives to our King, how that same King multiplies that little and leverages the increase for the transformation of people. It's just how it works.

We're not talking about duty. We could talk about it at that level...because there is a conversation to be had about duty. But God really wants us giving, financially, together, in community, from hearts of joy and gratitude. As St. Paul writes in 2 Corinthians 9:7, "Each person should give what they have decided in their hearts to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver."

The surest way to spiritual transformation? Giving. Straight up. Where your money goes, there goes your heart. You want your heart to be with God? Give to him. You want your heart to reside where his heart resides? Give to him. You want your life to reflect his generosity? Give to him. It's that simple. It's not rocket science. It's just a matter of budgeting...of making giving to God first a priority for your lives and then investing, diligently, consistently, from the resources that God gives you.

I know that there are situations that may make giving an impossibility. But I think even the Scriptures deconstruct this. Jesus' model for generosity is the widow who takes and puts her very last bit of money in the temple treasury. All she had. Blown not on food, but on God.

I have to believe, from the way that Jesus highlights her and lifts her up, that she was fed that day and the day after. That God honored her life because she so clearly honored his. He loved her anyway. But how much more so because even in her lack, her little bit of treasure communicated LOUDLY exactly where her heart was.

Where's your heart? What percentage of your income are you intentionally putting in the service of the King? Are you on the journey? If you're not? Why not? What's preventing you?

I know that this money conversation is a Sacred Cow, but I don't know anyway to deconstruct the Sacred Cow without just talking about it. And here's the thing I know for sure about every good Sacred Cow. They make the BEST gourmet burgers!

Sizzle-sizzle folks. That's the sound and smell of a community full of individuals and households coming to terms with their own scarcity thinking and self-serving practices with regards to their finances.

Give it all to God. See what happens. And don't be surprised if you find life: ABUNDANT, RICH, AND OVERFLOWING.

From the old gray leather coach in the Swenson-Reinhold family room,

Pastor Nathan