In preparing to experience this Advent season with you, I've been reading a variety of articles that have helped me more clearly focus on the reason for this blue, penitential, four week long, "Is it CHRISTmas yet?", time of the church year.  An article written by a very new pastor in the New Jersey Synod serving Saint Stephen Evangelical Lutheran Church in South Plainfield caught my attention.  As Christopher Lee Halverson prepares for this Advent as a very recently ordained shepherd, he raises some important issues for his flock and us too!  Let me share his insights.

     "Advent is one of those odd seasons - it sort of feels like Lent being mugged by Baby Jesus.  As in Lent we await the coming of Jesus, as in Lent we reflect and prepare, we even decorate the church in similar colors (Blue in Advent, Purple in Lent).  The main difference is where we are looking for Jesus to come from - in Lent we await his coming out of the tomb, in Advent his coming is out of the womb.  We prepare ourselves for Christmas.

     Now, it's kind of a strange thing, to prepare ourselves for Christmas, especially since society at large has been preparing us for Christmas since the day after Halloween.  We of course prepare by lighting candles, opening chocolate laden Advent calendars day by chocolaty day, giving additional offerings to the church, and setting up our nativity sets.  Yet, what do our church Advent practices have to say about our secular Christmas preparations?

     According to one group - The Advent Conspiracy - a faithful response to the overloaded anxiety ridden Christmas season our society tends toward, is to take the four weeks of Advent and infuse them with four alternative ways to prepare for Christmas.  They are: Worship Fully, Spend Less, Give More, and Love All.

     WORSHIP FULLY - Christmas marks the moment where God's promise was fulfilled and love took form, tiny fingers and all.  It is a moment that deserves our full attention and praise.  We put WORSHIP FULLY as AC's first tenet because we believe the level of our involvement at Christmas is based entirely on how much we are celebrating Christ's birth.  He deserves celebration; one that is creative, loud and directs every heart His way.

     SPEND LESS - Quick question for you: What was the one gift you remember getting for Christmas last year?  Next question: What about the fourth gift?  Do you remember that one?  Truth is many of us don't because it wasn't something we necessarily wanted or needed.  SPENDING LESS isn't a call to stop giving gifts; it's a call to stop spending money on gifts we won't remember in less than a year.  America spends around $450 billion dollars during the Christmas season, and much of that goes right onto a credit card.  By spending wisely on gifts we free ourselves from the anxiety associated with debt.

     GIVE MORE - We know what you're thinking.  "Wait, didn't they just say I should spend less, and yet here they are telling us to GIVE MORE?  What gives?"  The most powerful, memorable gift you can give to someone else is yourself.  And nobody modeled this more than Jesus.  So what does this look like for you?  Tickets to a ball game or the theater?  A movie night?  The main point is simple: When it comes to spending time with those you love, it's all about quality, not quantity.