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A few years ago, my pastor had the idea to do Christmas differently. It was titled “Advent Conspiracy.” That word “conspiracy” immediately makes me wonder if the government is still listening to our conversations and monitoring our NetFlix selections.
Yes, I said “still.”
But back to the other conspiracy…Maybe just watch the video: (Update from 2009’s post to the NEW 2011 version)
This year, some friends and I started an Advent Conspiracy group where we watch a DVD that our pastor and some other dudes created. Then we discuss our thoughts on what we can and should do.
I shared with the group that for the first couple years of Advent Conspiracy I was very much on board. However, I know deep down it was easy to become cynical of malls and all things consumerism.
I thought very highly of myself for coming up with “meaningful” gifts as opposed to an iPod. And, because of the economy, a lot of us did’t have much $$$ to begin with, so it was easy to jump on board with this cheap…err…meaningful gift idea. Not to mention become judgmental of everyone else who didn’t follow suit.
And so we can still miss it. I missed it the first two years.
We don’t do this because we are better. We do this because we believe.
We give meaningful gifts to our family and water to those without because we want a gift to be a reflection of our love, not because it’s something to check off a list.
And we celebrate Christmas as worship because of how much Jesus loved us.
We worship by sacrificially giving what we have like the Wise men did with their Gold and Frankincense.
We worship by our presence and dropping to our knees like the shepherds did.
And we worship by proclaiming His arrival in our life through our voices like the Angels. (ok, my voice has never been likened to that of an “angel” but I was born an alto, what can I say?)
If you have been changed by this little baby being born, then more than ever, this is the time to worship and proclaim. It’s the best gift you can give to Him and those you love.
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Do you believe? How will you worship and proclaim?
Long before Jesus was born, a prophecy and proclamation of his life is seen in Isaiah. This chapter always blows me away at it’s accuracy.
Isaiah 53 (The Message)
Who believes what we’ve heard and seen? Who would have thought God’s saving power would look like this?
The servant grew up before God—a scrawny seedling, a scrubby plant in a parched field. There was nothing attractive about him, nothing to cause us to take a second look. He was looked down on and passed over, a man who suffered, who knew pain firsthand. One look at him and people turned away. We looked down on him, thought he was scum. But the fact is, it was our pains he carried— our disfigurements, all the things wrong with us. We thought he brought it on himself, that God was punishing him for his own failures. But it was our sins that did that to him, that ripped and tore and crushed him—our sins! He took the punishment, and that made us whole. Through his bruises we get healed. We’re all like sheep who’ve wandered off and gotten lost. We’ve all done our own thing, gone our own way. And God has piled all our sins, everything we’ve done wrong, on him, on him.He was beaten, he was tortured, but he didn’t say a word. Like a lamb taken to be slaughtered and like a sheep being sheared, he took it all in silence. Justice miscarried, and he was led off— and did anyone really know what was happening? He died without a thought for his own welfare, beaten bloody for the sins of my people. They buried him with the wicked, threw him in a grave with a rich man, Even though he’d never hurt a soul or said one word that wasn’t true.Still, it’s what God had in mind all along,
to crush him with pain.
The plan was that he give himself as an offering for sin
so that he’d see life come from it—life, life, and more life.
And God’s plan will deeply prosper through him.Out of that terrible travail of soul,
he’ll see that it’s worth it and be glad he did it.
Through what he experienced, my righteous one, my servant,
will make many “righteous ones,”
as he himself carries the burden of their sins.
Therefore I’ll reward him extravagantly—
the best of everything, the highest honors—
Because he looked death in the face and didn’t flinch,
because he embraced the company of the lowest.
He took on his own shoulders the sin of the many,
he took up the cause of all the black sheep.
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Love and Respect (Now) is a division of Love and Respect. Please be considerate.
renea mac thinks...
Excellent, Joy. I really appreciate your three-fold worship metaphor. Love to you, friend.
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