Wednesday, December 16, 2009

It's not Christmas time in the city - not yet

The Advent Conspiracy came to my attention via Yahoo News when I signed in today. This is a good piece of reporting, worth a few minutes of your time.

But to a growing group of Christians, this focus on the commercial aspect of Christmas is itself the greatest threat to one of Christianity's holiest days. "It's the shopping, the going into debt, the worrying that if I don't spend enough money, someone will think I don't love them," says Portland pastor Rick McKinley. "Christians get all bent out of shape over the fact that someone didn't say 'Merry Christmas' when I walked into the store. But why are we expecting the store to tell our story? That's just ridiculous."...

In the past four years, Advent Conspiracy churches have donated millions of dollars to dig wells in developing countries through Living Water International and other organizations. McKinley likes to point out that a fraction of the money Americans spend at retailers in the month of December could supply the entire world with clean water. If more Christians changed how they thought about giving at Christmas, he argues, the holiday could be transformative in a religious and practical sense.

You may read the whole story here.

4 comments:

Canon Tallis said...

Sorry, but no good shall come out of Oregon. Of course, we in the United States have the money to give the entire world clean water, but it would be much better for us to give them the Living Water of our Lord, Jesus Christ. And it is even more important that we retain it for ourselves. We have a right to demand respect from the establishment which makes its annual profit margin off the feast of Christmas. It is very important that every Christian keep in front of themselves the necessity of maintaining the "free exercise of religion" when one of our major political parties is doing everything in its power to destroy such and require adherence to its anti-Christian agenda.

Our job as Christians is to preach Christ, to maintain and spread the faith and not to provide clean water for folks who have not figured out how to do it for themselves. If there is anything which Anglicans in the Continuum ought to be doing, it is to help struggling and small congregations acquire places where the altar can have a permanent place and the offices can be said daily and the Eucharist celebrated on all those times when the prayer book provides a proper or indicates by rubric that a celebration is appropriate.

poetreader said...

I'm sorry, Canon Tallis, but I have to respectfully express strong disagreement with most of your points.

Sorry, but no good shall come out of Oregon. Of course, we in the United States have the money to give the entire world clean water, but it would be much better for us to give them the Living Water of our Lord, Jesus Christ.

Why the opposition between these two? Why must it be one or the other? In Matthew 25 it is precisely for not giving water to a thirsty person that some merit "I never knew you". To claim to care for the soul without caring dor the body is not to care about the person at all.

And it is even more important that we retain it for ourselves. We have a right to demand respect from the establishment which makes its annual profit margin off the feast of Christmas.

Where in Scripture are we even permitted to DEMAND respect from anyone? Our Lord didn't. St. Stephen didn't. In fact, we are required to give respect, even where none seems due, as in the command to honor the king when the king was Nero. What I believe is required of me is to act in a way that objectively merits respect. Then I may hope that the respect is given, but "BLESSED are ye when men revile you and speak falsely against you for my sake. Rejoice,,,"

It is very important that every Christian keep in front of themselves the necessity of maintaining the "free exercise of religion" when one of our major political parties is doing everything in its power to destroy such and require adherence to its anti-Christian agenda.

This is no place for partisan politics. Both parties in this terribly polarized environment are following an essentially non-christian worldview. Both are relying upon political power (i.e. on the sword) to put down the opinions of their opposition. Both parties are expressing positive hatred for the other. I do not believe either party is operating in accord (or even nearly in accord) with the Gospel of Christ.

Our job as Christians is to preach Christ, to maintain and spread the faith and not to provide clean water for folks who have not figured out how to do it for themselves.

You tell me how that squares with Matthew 25. If they have not figured out how to do it for themselves, are we therefore entitled to enjoy what we have figured out without helping them? Are we pleasing our Lord by doing so? Furthermore, are they going to accept Living Water from those who refuse to help them with the physical water they need? That is an abomination.

Our job is indeed to preach Christ, primarily through our actions. As St. Francis is supposed to have said, "Preach the gospel -- use words if you have to."

If there is anything which Anglicans in the Continuum ought to be doing, it is to help struggling and small congregations acquire places where the altar can have a permanent place and the offices can be said daily and the Eucharist celebrated on all those times when the prayer book provides a proper or indicates by rubric that a celebration is appropriate.

Yes, all that is a worthy object, one of many worthy objects, but if that becomes our main concern, we can justly be accused of spening our treasure on ourselves, and neglecting the needs of others that are before us.

It is not "either/or" -- never -- James' famous equation applies here as well, "Faith without works is dead."

Now, we have just cause for deploring those who convert the entire Gospel into some kind of welfare program, but there is equally much cause to deplore those who neglect the practical works of mercy and neglect what the Scripture refers to as weighty matters.

ed

Fr. Robert Hart said...

Sorry Canon Tallis, but on this occasion I also must disagree. The clean water bit reminded me of our ACC Church in Haiti.

In the latest edition of The Trinitarian Archbishop Haverland reminded us that we are not an American Church, but a world wide Church. I hope that this Christmas we may see increased gifts to our churches in Haiti, South Africa, the Congo, the Sudan, etc.

Anonymous said...

Ed, thank you for that thoughtful post above. Those are very good points based on Scripture about ministering to the physical needs of the least among us. There should be no 'either/or' distinction between preaching the Gospel message and such ministry.

And thank you, FrHart, for your reminder from Archbishop Haverland as well.

Doubting Thomas