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Radical Faith: Rants & Rambles of a 40-something Jesus Freak

December 23, 2009 • 10:27 am 0

Advent Conspiracy Week 4: Love All

Note: This is the fourth & final entry in a series of posts inspired by the Advent Conspiracy movement and the book, Advent Conspiracy, by Rick McKinley, Chris Seay and Greg Holder.

“For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me…I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.”

Matthew 25:35-36, 40

The entire universe was his. From the largest star to the smallest quark, it was his creation. His property. If wealth and power were to be found in the material, his was unsurpassed and unsurpassable.

And yet, he gave it all up. And for what?

When God chose to clothe himself in humanity, to leave his heavenly throne to dwell among his created, he did not come as a king or a president. He did not come as a powerful businessman or captain of industry or a well-dressed preacher with shiny hair and even shinier suits.

He came as a baby. In poverty. In the lowliest of lowly circumstances.

Had it happened today, no social service agency would have reached low enough to find him.

And for what?

To love the poor. To fellowship with the sick, the outcast, and the forgotten.

To lift up the overlooked. To bring hope where there was only despair. To bring light and life into loneliness.

It was a kind of love no one had seen before. It was a love that reached beyond all barriers and into all places. A love that asked for nothing in return. A love freely given. No tricks. No strings attached.

Contrary to what many believe and preach, Jesus didn’t come to institute a new sin management program for humanity. He came to love. And to show us how to love like he does.

It’s one thing to tell someone that God loves them. It’s another thing altogether to show them.

Christmas is our chance to remember what that love looked like. And what it can still look like today. How we choose to celebrate God’s entry into our world, into our communities, into our families and into our lives can still change the world.

So how will we celebrate? Will we celebrate the excessiveness of our material culture? Or will we spread just a little bit of Jesus’ love back into the places he came to show it originally…with the poor, the sick, the forgotten, and the lonely?

It is fine for us to enjoy the bounty of the blessed life we have been granted. It is a good thing to gather with friends and family, to exchange gifts and be festive. But think how much more meaningful your festivities can be if, in the midst of this season, you do one small thing to show God’s love and goodness to someone who has no reason to believe in it.

Merry Christmas!

Filed under: Faith, Gospel, Social Justice , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

December 12, 2009 • 9:26 pm 0

Advent Conspiracy Week 3: Give More

Note: This is the third in a series of posts inspired by the Advent Conspiracy movement and the book, Advent Conspiracy, by Rick McKinley, Chris Seay and Greg Holder.

If you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any fellowship with the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion, then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and purpose. Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others.

Philippians 2:1-4

What is the most memorable gift you’ve ever received? Chances are, it probably wasn’t the most expensive one. It was probably the one that came from someone’s heart.

If you’re like most people, the most memorable gifts are the most meaningful ones. The ones that speak volumes about a relationship.

God’s answer for the world’s problems has never been more “stuff.” It’s never been about money or power or status. It’s never even been about good stuff like health or food or shelter. Or prosperity.

God’s answer is the gift of a relationship. It’s the gift of himself.

Giving at Christmastime is a great way to express our love for Jesus and his love for us. It’s a great way to express our love for each other. And when we give of ourselves in meaningful ways, in some small way that still expresses the beauty and power of God giving himself to us.

That’s how we can give more at Christmas while still spending less. Instead of costing more money, what it costs is our time and our energy. Sure, that can be more difficult than just picking out a sweater or a cheese log or a gift certificate. But we have to remember that the gifts we give are not about us…about what we spend or how easy it is to pick out. The gift is always about the other.

Jesus paid attention to people. He listened to them. He noticed. In essence, he said, “you are important to me. I want to know you.”

Giving to each other out of relationship says the same thing. It says, “you are too important to me for me to waste money on a meaningless gift. I want to give a gift that helps me know you better.”

Think of how powerful a gift that is. And think about the money it can save.

Then think about how that money you save can help other people in the world. Or right here in your community. People you may not even know. But people you love because God loves them.

Whether you choose to give to people in Nicaragua, or Liberia, or in your hometown, your gift says to them, “You are important to God, so you are important to me. I want you to know that God loves you. And he’s using me to show that love.”

That is what it means to Give More. And that is how Christmas can still change the world.

Filed under: Faith, Gospel, Social Justice , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

December 4, 2009 • 10:25 am 0

Advent Conspiracy Week 2: Spend Less

Note: This is the second in a series of posts inspired by the Advent Conspiracy movement and the book, Advent Conspiracy, by Rick McKinley, Chris Seay and Greg Holder.

 Our desire is not that others might be relieved while you are hard pressed, but that there might be equality. At the present time your plenty will supply what they need, so that in turn their plenty will supply what you need. Then there will be equality, as it is written: “He who gathered much did not have too much, and he who gathered little did not have too little.”

– 2 Corinthians 8:13-15

When did we begin to equate peoples’ value to us with how much we spend on them?

More to the point, when did we begin to believe that our own worth is tied to how much people spend on us?

In this season of conspiracy, how can we begin to reshape that paradigm? How can we honor the worshipful tradition of gift-giving without turning our worship to consumerism and materialism?

According to Living Water International, Americans spend something on the order of $450 BILLION every year on Christmas. The average American will spend approximately $1,000 on Christmas gifts.

For people in the world who live on less than $2 a day, that’s almost 3 years worth of survival. Spent on one day in America. If we channeled just 3% of what we spend on Christmas into clean water projects, we could solve the world water crisis in a year.

What does that say about how we value other people?

Where in that equation are we living Jesus’ command to love our neighbors as ourselves?

I’m not talking about selling everything you have. I’m not even talking about cutting back on gift-giving.

This is about how we value each other. It’s about breaking the cycle that matches extravagance to love. It’s about making gift-giving a meaningful statement about relationships.

Spending less doesn’t mean not spending at all. It just means evaluating what we spend and how we spend it. It means looking beyond the pricetag to the true cost of what we purchase. It means understanding that our checkbooks bear only a portion of that true cost. What about the cost to the people who produce what we buy? What about the cost to our planet–to God’s own Creation–for the raw materials used, for the by-products that enter the environment?

Buying and giving gifts is a good thing. The challenge is balancing our desires with the needs of others. Understanding that it’s not the gift itself that brings happiness and fulfillment. It’s the love behind the gift. It’s the good that can be done in the world because of how we choose to give.

Filed under: Faith, Gospel , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

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