One of my favorite people to podcast is Rick McKinley at Imago Dei (Portland, Oregon). A couple years ago I heard him teach on The Advent Conspiracy. (If you want to hear the teaching go to itunes podcasts, search Imago Dei and listen to the 11/12/2006 teaching called "Advent")Since that teaching, Imago Dei has created what they call "The Advent Conspiracy." There is more information about "The Advent Conspiracy" here.
The idea is to limit your Christmas spending by cutting back on gifts you give this year. You know the obligatory $20 gift you give to someone. They get it, act excited while thinking, "I can give this in the next white elephant gift exchange or put it in my next garage sale." Why do we give gifts that don't mean anything?
This leads to another focus of the Advent Conspiracy. We need to learn to give more relationally. When we give a gift, it should mean something. Imago Dei puts together a catalogue of relational gifts you can give to someone. When I taught on this Sunday, I shared a cookbook my sister made for me at Christmas. It is one of the coolest gifts I have ever gotten. It was relational because she put thought into it and it was a family cookbook with pictures and stories of our family.
I had a lady come up to me on Sunday and tell me of a relational gift she gave by accident. She had gotten a gift card for a nephew to buy school clothes. His parents could not take him so this lady did. She said it was awesome to spend time with him that day. What another great example of a relational gift.
What are some relational gifts you have given or received over the years? We are going to put together our own catalogue of relational gifts. Hopefully we will be able to do a relational gift expo where people can show off examples of relational gifts. Maybe they will have people sign up for a demonstration at another time. A guy came up to me after worship and said he knew how to carve spoons out of wood. He could get some guys together one evening and help them carve their own spoons. What a way to build authentic community with other Christ followers.
Finally, with the money that is saved by cutting back and giving relational gifts the Advent Conspiracy encourages people to give those savings to a one time offering at Christmas. Half goes to build wells in countries that need fresh drinking water. The other half goes to local people who are in need. It is not about giving more, it is about redistributing money to give to someone who has a need.
I wondered how this teaching would go over. It has gone over well, with many people saying that they are going to participate in the Advent Conspiracy. How about you?
Post any relational gift giving ideas you may have and if you want to participate in the Relational Giving Expo.
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