You know what makes me smile a lot?  When I get emails from from people I would normally never expect who love the concept of [AC]. Recently I’ve been receiving an unusual amount of emails from atheists who love what this movement represents.  Yesterday I talked with a person online who wrote me this note. She gave me permission to post it:

I love this movement, the Advent Conspiracy movement. I’ve been trying to get my family to do this for the last two years, long before I heard about this. A few years ago, I told my family that i think we should refrain from buying gifts for each other on Christmas, and instead donate the money to charity. My family all thought it was a terrible idea, and even called me a Godless heathen. (In jest, mind you, but still I found it quite ironic). For the record, I am a former Catholic who drifted comfortably into atheism some ten years ago, although I still celebrate Christmas out of family tradition. Over the years, I became more disgusted with the commercialization of Christmas and realized that it had become a Hallmark Card holiday, having little to do with the core values of Christianity and more to do with retail sales figures all wrapped up in marketable Pagan imagery. The greatest thing about Christianity to a non-believer like myself is that, even after you strip away the more miraculous elements of the faith, you are left with a central figure in Jesus Christ, who preached love and forgiveness and charity and goodwill to his fellow man. At its best, Christianity is a religion about love and peace and I believe that message is all but lost among far too many of today’s Christians. Anyway, I just want to tell you I think you’re doing a great thing and I hope that more people follow this movement. I’m going to forward this video to everyone I know who celebrates Christmas (including Christians, Catholics, Protestants and even Godless heathens like myself, still bound to the holiday by tradition)

Keep up the great work!
And Merry Christmas!

Now here’s the deal. I know that [AC] isn’t the only thing that’s wooing people back to God. I know you have stories where His love reached a person in your life in ways that is nothing short of a miracle. I just celebrate that this thing is, in its own small way, spreading the Gospel to people who have given up on God. It’s telling people that maybe there’s still hope. That maybe God isn’t finished with their story yet. That maybe the sum total of God’s grace isn’t wrapped up in a bad experience they had years ago. Will this person come back to her faith? I hope so. But I’m thankful that God gave us a small part in redeeming her story. I am personally dealing with a similar situation with a very close relative of mine. She really wants to know Jesus, but she has SO much baggage from her past. For some time I use to feel like I was responsible for saving her. I felt like I had to “sell” Jesus to her. I was so wrong. I had to step back and simply love her, and be ok with that. Is she a Christ follower yet? No. But she and I have had some beautiful conversations. That’s largely happening because I’m no longer an “on the clock” Christian with her. So here’s my challenge: This season, as you hang with families and friends who may not agree with your faith, sit and hear their story. Love them genuinely; don’t feel like you have to punch in the spiritual clock and “sell” God to them. Let God be God, and then see what happens.

Wowza.

Something happened today. Advent Conspiracy exploded. Apparently somebody told someone, who told someone else, who probably told an Uncle, who told CNN about this little movement of ours. Then Yahoo featured us on their homepage. We were all, like...Yahoo! (sorry, obvious joke). And now we’re being hounded by the press and a whole lotta extra people are learning about us. This is all a really cool thing. Scratch that. This is an amazingly holy thing. We are thankful that God has called each of you into this movement. He’s definitely up to something...as if we should be surprised.

But don’t believe the hype. First, we are incredibly thankful that the press has latched on to this. It’s neat to see that this concept is making sense to a wide variety of people. But you all know how the press works. It’s like an electronic version of the “telephone game”. Remember playing that as a kid? You tell one sentence to a friend, who tells a friend, who tells a friend, and by the time it gets back to you, the sentence that started as “Jane walked her brown dog.” has been morphed into “Boba Fett threw the dance instructor some beef jerkey.” That’s what happens when you let someone else tell your story. No offense to any of the press, and I will say for the most part they’ve done a really good job of covering what we’re about. But I also know some of the facts could use a little help. So if you’re new, welcome, and here’s what you need to know straight from the reindeer’s mouth:

1. [AC] was created by three pastors who simply wanted to challenge people to make Christmas personal again. We are asking folks to consider doing four things: Worship Jesus Fully, Consider Spending Less on gifts that are bought out of obligation, Give More relational gifts, and use a little bit of the money you didn’t spend to Love All by helping those in need.

2. No money comes through, to, under, over or around [AC]. We are not an organization. We’re a movement.

3. We really love giving people clean water (did you know the lack of clean water is the number one killer in our world). You should check out Living Water International for more info. That being said, we want you to make this a personal thing between you and God. If you have another organization that you wish to support, go for it!

4. ALL of our resources (brochure, stickers, logo, videos) on our website is FOR YOU. Take it, download it, change it up. This is an open source movement. Just make sure you link it back to [AC]. Oh, and we like to give gifts too. We made you a mixed tape...ok, a mixed...mp3. Check it out by clicking here.

5. Don’t make this a fad. Equip yourself. If we’re asking you to buy one thing, it’s the book we released this year. It’s full of good info about HOW to worship fully, spend less, give more, love all, and why it’s so important. I promise you it’ll be the best ten bucks you’ve spent in a while. And, a portion of the money from each book sale will go to drilling clean water wells. Very very cool. You can buy the book here.

6. We’re not Scrooge. We love gifts. We just think you should give gifts that actually mean something, rather than gifts that’ll make the rounds at the next white elephant party.

7. Mom, if you’re worried about how your kids will respond to maybe receiving one or two less gifts at Christmas, fret not. Kids are the first ones that actually get on board with this thing. They love thinking of new ways to help those in need.

8. There’s a TON of great relational gift ideas found on this site: www.rethinkingchristmas.com (don’t worry, they’re not all glitter glue and Bedazzler projects)

Those are the basics. Beyond that, welcome to all our new friends out there. Let’s turn this Christmas upside down, shall we. It’s not too late.

The [AC] Team

Last weekend I was putting my five year-old son to bed when he asked me a very big question. “Hey Dad,” he asked, “why do we love Jesus?” What transpired was a ten minute conversation with this little blue eyed boy in pajamas about the love Christ has for us. I’m not sure how well it went because when we got done he moved on to much deeper questions like why Spongebob loves Krabby Patties so much. I mean, maybe some of it sunk in. I hope it did. But for me, it was a gut check moment. Am I loving Jesus by Worshiping Fully? Do I even understand what that means? As you know, that’s the first tenet of [AC]. We really can’t give more, spend less or even love all until we get this one right. I think I often talk more about worshiping God with all my heart, soul, strength and mind than actually doing it. I often catch myself approaching the concept of worship in a very linear fashion. It’s something I do at church. It’s something I do in prayer. How robotic is that? Over time it feels more like I’m punching in my worship time with God, rather than making it something that is as common as breathing. So, last night I picked up the book again and read through it. If you haven’t picked a copy up yet, do so.  I promise you it’ll be the best ten bucks you’ve spent in a while. It was for me. Reading it again reminded me why worship is so important and why Worship Fully comes first in this movement. It reminded me why I must be an informed co-conspirator. See, a co-conspirator is one who can share with others that something deeper is happening in the story; someone who understands what they’re doing and why they’re doing it.  And while we rebel against the empire of more, in winsome and humble ways, we can invite others to say “yes” to the bigger thing that is happening in our midst.  God is still in the business of redeeming and restoring--He is still making things right.  And for some reason, He’s invited us into that story. It begins a conversation that goes beyond the holiday wish list and how much money we’re spending or not spending.  Our prayer is that the book informs, for sure, but more importantly, that it stirs things up--in dorm rooms, small groups, living rooms, sanctuaries, offices,neighborhoods, and little pajama boys with big questions.  From there, a whole bunch of us can then begin articulating what it is we’re saying “yes” to this and every Christmas.  This is the conspiracy.

This week’s Entering The Stories is from a father who lives with his family in China. As you may know, being a Christ follower in that area of the world is a tough gig. But this guy’s doing it, and he’s teaching his kids that Christ can bring light and love into the world no matter where your suitcase lands. Click here to watch.