Advent Conspiracy 2010 video – make THIS Christmas REALLY matter

The incredible irony of Black Friday

Does it seem ironic to anyone else that the day after Thanksgiving is now known (in America at least) as Black Friday?  A day dedicated by many to the full expression of greed and materialism that our Christmas holiday has become.  Christmas – the holiday when we typically remember that Jesus was born.  In the fourth gospel the apostle John said this about Jesus, “In him was life, and the life was the light of men.  The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.”  (John 1:4, 5)  This is the same Jesus whose light still shines today, even in the darkness of a land where days like Black Friday are among the “holiest” of days.  And the same Jesus who told us not to lay up treasures on earth, but in heaven.

Here’s an earth-shattering announcement: You don’t have to join in the commercialism that Christmas has become.  Watch the video again, and then decide to help someone who is far less fortunate than you are this Christmas season.  Someone, for example, who has to get their drinking water from a mudhole.

To learn more about the Advent Conspiracy, click here.

Now that Christmas is over…

This post is a conglomeration of several things:

• a follow up to an earlier post I wrote about Christmas,
• a spin-off from a brief post on Project Church‘s website/blog (thank you),
• a positive approach to being practical about Christmas as demonstrated by Advent Conspiracy,
• a follow-up to a page on the other blog called “Ideas for giving,”
• and further thinking about the issues raised by Make Way Partners.

Basically, this is my way of saying, after the fact, don’t just refrain from being typically American about Christmas, but be profoundly and proactively Christ-following about Christmas and every other day and/or season of the year.

Here’s a video on the topic as presented by Advent Conspiracy:

 

Don’t read this

Is it possible to unravel the streams of syncretism (pluralism?) that make up our world, and so determine what truly IS and thus should be understood and believed?

I suspect some will read the following words and suggest that I have somehow betrayed some aspect of the Christian faith.  Don’t believe it.