Herod’s Kingdom (the culture in which Christ literally showed up) was once driven by the values of mass wealth, power of military force, greed, and personal gain. Christ enters this culture through poverty, weakness, dependency, and sacrifice. This is the biblical picture of Advent.
How does our current celebration of Christmas reflect this incarnation? That is, does our experience of the Advent season match the biblical values of the gospel? What would our Advent season look like this year if we intentionally chose to be a prophetic voice in our culture? How can we model the Advent story prophetically to our culture by the way we live and by what we choose to value? Can we actually celebrate Advent in a meaningful way that points to the story, that points to Jesus? These are the things we want to explore this Advent season as a community. Here are the themes we see in the advent of Christ that we would like to pursue as a congregation:
- God became poor so that we could be rich.
What are the social implications of this for us? How can we choose not to waste what we have but give it away in ways that meet significant needs of those around us? Can our gift giving feed hunger instead of greed?
- God gave himself relationally.
First and foremost we desire to give gifts to each other this season that are relationally driven. We desire to learn what it means to give of ourselves and not just give stuff. We will be resourcing you with many ideas on how to approach this.
- When Jesus showed up, people worshipped him.
What would it look like if Jesus was actually the focus of Advent? Can we respond like the shepherds and Magi, who celebrated the first Advent by praising God and worshipping the Son?
- When we receive, we receive Jesus, not stuff.
If Jesus became poor that we may be rich, are we truly receiving the riches that he has given us? Are we receiving Him? How do we as a community ultimately embrace Jesus this Advent season and not be distracted by all the hype around us?
Well staying out of shopping malls would probably help!
Or away from immersing ourselves in religious christianity where the baby Jesus was birthed by his mother (he was fully dressed and clean upon exit no less!) Sterile and the hay all neatly in place. If we truly want to meditate on the meaning I think giving our heads a shake and accepting the reality of the circumstances would be a good place to start.
I wonder what that would look like also :)
Posted by: wanderer-she | November 26, 2006 at 11:41 PM
Thank you for this wonderful post. I am thankful every day for the Advent- even moreso do I look forward to the return of our King. Love the pictures!
Posted by: Trailady | December 06, 2006 at 05:08 AM