An angel of God appeared to Zachariah in the temple, telling him, "Don’t fear, Zachariah. Your prayer has been heard. Elizabeth will bear a son by you. You are to name him John." Zachariah was in disbelief and questioned the angel, to which the angel Gabriel replied, "...because you won’t believe me, you’ll be unable to say a word until the day of your son’s birth. Every word I've spoken to you will come true on time — God’s time."
Zachariah was silent until the birth of his son, John, the one that would prepare the way for the Messiah. Nine months of silence. Can you imagine not uttering a syllable for 3/4ths of a year?
Too often, we feel like time (especially around Christmas), flies by. There are so many things to get done: shopping, gift-wrapping, cooking, baking, running here, rushing there, making lists, checking them twice... you know the routine. January comes as a welcome relief from all the chaos. And too often, we look back and realize we've missed the joy of the season.
Do you remember how long the Christmas season was as a child? It seemed like an eternity between Thanksgiving and Christmas. Waiting for the break from school. Waiting to see all your extended family. Waiting for the cookies and candy. Waiting for the celebrations and gifts. The anticipation and impatience was enough to make you excitable and restless... and drive your parents absolutely crazy. Seriously, parents, you know it's true.
And then Christmas finally arrived... and it was everything you imagined it would be. Cody remembers it well. He talked about a favorite, childhood Christmas memory. (We're told there is a photo of this event, but it's yet to appear.) Picture this: It's Christmas Eve and young Cody, dressed in polyester, plaid, bell-bottom pants and a bright red sweater, is surrounded by the many presents he's received from Santa and his family. Toys abound and it's clear this child is very loved and possibly a little bit spoiled. And there he sits — not playing with all his new toys — but rather, playing with and sitting in the big box they came in. Ah, the joys of childhood!
The Advent Conspiracy: Christmas was meant to be celebrated, not regretted.We all want our Christmas to be a lot of things. Full of joy. Memories. Happiness. What we don't want is stress. Or debt. Or feeling like we missed the moment. Advent Conspiracy is a movement designed to help us all slow down, and experience a Christmas worth remembering. But doing this means doing things a little differently... a little creatively. It means turning Christmas upside-down.
The second part of our scripture picked up with Luke 1:26-38 (The Message), the introduction of the Virgin Mary. God sent the angel Gabriel to a virgin who was engaged to be married. His name was Joseph, and the virgin’s name, Mary. She was shaken by the angels appearance, but Gabriel assured her, "Mary, you have nothing to fear. God has a surprise for you: You will become pregnant and give birth to a son and call him Jesus. He will be the Messiah." Mary didn't understand how this could be. The angel answered, "The Holy Spirit will come upon you and the child you bear will be called Holy, Son of God." Then he told her of her cousin Elizabeth's pregnancy. "Everyone called her barren, and here she is six months pregnant! Nothing, you see, is impossible with God." And Mary said, "Yes, I see it all now: I’m the Lord’s maid, ready to serve."
Even at the tender age of 13, Mary understood the importance of her role. She would be the mother of the Messiah, the one for which these oppressed people had waited thousands of years. It was a scandalous tale that would challenge the ruling empire.
The Advent Conspiracy mission is about making Christmas a season of peace, justice, mercy, grace, and Jesus's revolutionary love. It is estimated that Americans spent $500 billion on Christmas 2012. That equates to about $1,000 per family. Most of that is on credit cards, many of which aren't paid off by the following year. Every year, we hear about fights, and even deaths, that occur as a result of the craze of Black Friday shopping. Is that the Christmas story God would want?
What do we want our own Christmas story to be? Over-indulgence and over-spending or helping others and becoming closer to those we love? Let's focus that attention on worship. Let's conspire together, to shift our attention to God and turn Christmas upside-down.
Written by Kay Weiss, guest blogger
No comments:
Post a Comment