conspire

Christmas is supposed to be a joyous time of the year, and it is, however, perhaps we have allowed the gifts and traditions to get in the way of the sort of celebration that Christmas is. It is the sort of celebration where we remember, where we proclaim the entrance of Christ to the world, the defining moment of history where God came and dwelt among us. But instead we have by tacit consent allowed this celebration to be co-opted by consumerism, allowed the meaning of Christmas to fade. We have given up the glory of Christ for the glory of riches, we have allowed the world to set the tone for what Christmas means, 'it's about Santa and presents right?' We have stood by and allowed our consumerism to harm others, the chocolate we buy, is mostly made by slave labor, the vegetables and fruit we buy at cheap prices are grown by workers who endure outrageous conditions, the cloths we give to one another are made by children in sweat shops so we can give a thoughtful but cheap gift, the systems of power that keep the rich content and apathetic cause harm to others, and worst of all we are terrified to change or worse yet unaware of how we get our stuff. Experience has made us suspicious of others, so much so that we cannot give ourselves to one another relationally for fear that we might experience heartache. What a fallen and sinful world we live in, truly the gravity of our own sin, which we constantly overlook, cannot continue. I do not intend this note to be full of doom and gloom, merely realistic.

On the bright side of things, all of the world and all of its powers and principalities cannot stop the overwhelming power of love. Love need not be complicated, love is simple, love is about caring, love is about being aware. One of the problems with our world today is that the world is filled with people who want to feed the hungry, who want to take care of the sick, who want to invite the stranger in, who want cloth the naked, but who know not how and cannot transfer want into reality.

This Christmas we have the opportunity to take hold of the life that is truly life, people who follow Jesus are asked to be generous, with our time, with our stuff, with our resources, we are blessed so that we may bless others. We are saved by grace through faith in order to do good deeds. In first timothy chapter 6 it says, "Command those who are rich in this present world not to be arrogant nor to put their hope in wealth, which is so uncertain, but to put their hope in God, who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment. Command them to do good, to be rich in good deeds, and to be generous and willing to share. In this way they will lay up treasure for themselves as a firm foundation for the coming age, so that they may take hold of the life that is truly life."

This holiday season let us conspire to be more generous, to worship fully, to love like Jesus meaning to love all people, our families and those who make our stuff, to conspire to being the change we wish to see in this world. Our thoughts and words are powerful, but our will is so weak, we listen and listen but never understand, the way in which we do Christmas in America is not the way in which is has to be. We can imagine a different world, we must never forget that another world is possible. We are blessed, may we find a way to be more generous, perhaps it starts simply, perhaps it starts with the way we think about the things we own, we often forget that it belongs to God, there is enough to go around, as the saying goes, there is enough for everyone's need but not enough for everyone's greed. Our extra coats, shoes, shirts, pants, those things belong to other people those without coats, shoes, shirts, pants, it starts with a thought in a living room and grows into the mustard seed Kingdom.

So this Christmas may we be blessed, may we worship fully, may we understand that our stuff are luxuries most of the world doesn't have, may we come to see how we can be more generous.

Worship fully
Be Aware
LOVE ALL

May peace be upon you

J