The Nativity scene, Macy's shopping bags and consumption

On Sunday morning I was driving by a small church in our town that, like most other churches this time of year, has a nativity display.
It was a windy morning.
I happened to look over and see the traditional scene: Mary and Joseph, the shepherds and the wise men facing towards the center, bowing in worship of Jesus in the manger. There was only one problem: a giant plastic red and white Macy's shopping bag had been blown by the wind and came to a resting place exactly over top of baby Jesus on the manger!
It was so perfectly placed, in fact, it looked as though someone had placed it there intentionally.
I laughed out loud.
It was so funny, if I weren't in such a hurry I would have driven home and gotten my camera to take a picture of it. (It would have made for a perfect Create-a-Caption contest, for sure).

I thought about it on my drive. On the surface, it was a funny sight, but it seemed strikingly poignant to our current culture. Christ and his radical arrival through the fulfillment of a loving promise had been crowded out and replaced by the commercialism of it all. And this commercialism is central to our lives this month and worshiped by those nearby...sometimes even us.  It seems almost too perfect of a metaphor for what this time of year has become.

Last Sunday night at resonate we looked at the stark contrast of the lives of King Herod and Jesus. In contrast to the life of Herod, Jesus' arrival communicated a bold statement that flew in the face of everything that Herod was attempting to create. In the words of Pastor Rick McKinley at Imago Dei, Jesus' message was to resist the Empire. Resisting the empire doesn't mean we have to boycott Christmas and stick our heads in the sand until January. Resisting the empire means that we have the opportunity to live lives of generosity that bless others, rather than trying to live a life of simply consuming more. We talked in depth about how consumerism, the Herod of our culture, reaches deep into our hearts and tries to convince us that more stuff, more money, more power, more affluence, more reputation and more experiences (yes, even religious experiences) will make us feel better...but it won't last...or at least it lasts only until our credit card bill shows up in the mail in January.

It's part of the reason why we are participating in the Advent Challenge at resonate, as a way to resist the empire in order to live lives of generosity: so we can attempt to bless the world, rather than merely consume more.

Last week, as Megan and I were participating in the Challenge, we were counting different items and collecting our loose change, we found ourselves counting more items in our closets and on our shelves than we thought we would.

We found ourselves saying things like We haven't used these in a long time...do we need this many pairs of shoes? Do I really need that many coats in my closet? Do I really need to possess that many books? and Why do we still have these? I talked to others last week who are participating in the Challenge who felt the same way as they were counting.

Without even thinking much about it, a new element of the Advent Challenge bubbled to the surface as we thought, Why can't we also be generous with the items in our homes we are counting and give it to those who are under-resourced and less fortunate in our surrounding communities? Why can't we invite others to donate gently used items from their closet that they count in the Challenge, in addition to loose change?

So, we invite you to step up even more to the Challenge!

Starting this weekend at resonate we will be collecting gently used items from the Advent Challenge sheet, in addition to loose change. At the end of the month we will donate all of these items to local agencies that are dealing with the poor and under-resourced in the area.

(NOTE: If you are participating in the Challenge, but do not live in the Southeastern Pennsylvania area, consider collecting items and donating them to a local agency in your community that deals with the poor and under-resourced.)

Comments

[Stan]

Wow, the nativity scene with the shopping bag covering over baby Jesus. How sad and oh how true. If you can’t take Christ out of Christmas, then at least cover Him over with a shopping bag. The stress, the hurry, the distractions from what really matters. I am grateful that you came up with the wonderful idea of the Advent Challenge. I have heard some good conversations related to this, and it was encouraging to hear many young people in conversations in the spirit of giving, caring and concern.
As we are out in this Holiday whirlwind that blows shopping bags over Christ, I’d like to remind us all to take a little more time being intentional and really observe some of the things we may not usually see. This is a difficult season for many that we could walk right past, who are struggling in a multitude of ways. Depression season, addiction season, homeless season, still no job season, no fuel to heat the house season, no coat for the little girl that goes to school with your daughter season (she may not really be always forgetting it), and so much despair in the midst of this hurried rush. Let us all take a little more time for a kind word, a minute to listen and share Christ’s Love with our hearts too this season.

[KevinAndrewPDX]

Hey JR. Cool to see you guys engaging in a meaningful advent out there. Check out this new video with Rick for our Advent Conspiracy:
http://www.vimeo.com/421624

Peace,
Kevin

[Tom Smith]

So true!
Thanks for helping redeem this season - a season that almsot drowned in commercialism.

[Joshua Smith]

I am curious to know if it was ridiculous marketing attempt by Macy's.

They thought - If we can convince them that Jesus received gifts from Macy's, maybe Christians will shop at Macy's.