Worship Fully

     In the midst of all that is going on in our lives, its easy to get distracted.  School, work, homework, extra-curricular activities, family time, friends time, leisure time, sleep, and I’m sure you could add on to the list can create such a perfect storm that we rarely take time to stop and think and focus ourselves on what matters.

   This is true of Christmas time as well.  In the midst of all that has been added to this season; Santa, gifts, parties, sweet sweaters, The Elf, Christmas Vacation, wish lists, and egg nog - it can be easy for us to lose sight of what it is we are really celebrating.  The difficult part about that is that pretty much everything in the above list is a good thing.  Lots of good things can cause us to lose sight of a better thing!

    Christmas is a great time to consider what it is that we are truly worshipping.  What is it that we desire most, what are we living for, what matters most to us?  There is a constant tension in our lives as other things seek to take the space that should be God’s alone.  Kingdoms are at play that are moving in different directions and sometimes we latch on the wrong kingdom.  Sunday we read through Matthew 2:1-12 which tells the story of the wise men making their trek to visit Jesus.  Along the way, King Herod (representing one of the kingdoms of the day) sought to use the wise men to find Jesus so that he could extinguish any threat that this newborn king might pose to his kingship.  Jesus represented a totally different kingdom, one that he would teach about and call the Kingdom of God.  The kingdom that Jesus taught about was not about earthly power or territory, instead it was about displaying God’s glory, it was about God’s love, desire, and will being displayed on Earth as it is in heaven.  The wise men had to answer a question of worship - would they chose to worship Herod and the kingdom of their day or would they chose to worship a baby and the kingdom of God?

     We who live in comfort in America are posed with a question of worship too (especially during Christmas time) - will we worship God and seek to line our lives up with his Kingdom or will we worship consumerism and the Kingdom of stuff?  What matters more to us?  I challenged you to envision yourself as an 80 year old person looking back on your life (this is extremely hard to do and a bit weird - I know) and we asked the question, would your life matter more, would it tell a better story if it was spent blessing and giving to others (one example = clean water) or accumulating stuff for yourself (one example = a pile of Christmas gifts)?  What do you think...

Advent Conspiracy

     Sunday we began a new series called, Advent Conspiracy.  For many folks, Christmas is their favorite time of the year.  Its pretty easy to see why - presents, family time, days off of school and work, joyful music, snow… we could continue on because there is a lot to love about this time of year!  We’re not bashing that or saying that there is anything wrong with that, its great that people enjoy this season.  At the same time, as people who follow Christ, this season has a deep and rich meaning for us and we want to make sure that we drink that in over the course of the next month.

     In order to really engage the Christmas season we are joining in on an Advent Conspiracy.  That may sound a little sketchy to you but the idea is that we want to join together to bless other people during this season - pretty simple and really not sketchy at all!  Our goal is to change the way we celebrate Christmas a little so that instead of accumulating more stuff, we’ll have some money available to invest in a project that will give clean water to a village in Thailand that otherwise would not have it.  Having clean water to drink is a huge thing (do a google search and read a little about the effects of not having clean water!).  If we raise $500, 30-40 people will have the resources and help they need to pipe water down from streams in mountains into their village and for the first time in their lives they will have clean water available in their villages! The rest of the Central church family is giving towards the same goal and if together we raise $5,000 an entire village of 300-400 people will have clean water.

In order to do this, we’re asking you to consider doing two things:
(1) ask for less stuff - ask your parents to give you one less gift and instead donate what they would have spent on you to the Advent Conspiracy H2O Project
(2) give less stuff - instead of purchasing an item for someone who you were going to buy a gift for, give them a relational gift (more ideas to come for those!) and give the money you would have spent to the H20 Project

    Together, we can do things just a little differently this year and in doing so bless an entire village thousands of miles away!  I can’t think of a more beautiful way to engage the deeper meaning of the Christmas season and share God’s love with others.

     At Face 2 Face on Sunday, we talked about how Jesus showing up changes everything.  God moving into the neighborhood and promising that he would be with us always, changes everything.  Immanuel, “God with us”, changes everything!  We are invited to join with God, to believe, to have hope, to live the way Jesus did and in so doing leverage our lives to continue changing things!  One of the things that we recognize to be true in Jesus being born and giving his life for us is that his gift is a relational gift.  He gave himself and made a sacrifice, he gave so that we might know him and know love and grace.  So often, we expect things and gifts and stuff to fulfill us when in reality the things that we think will fulfill us often end up being forgotten about a few years down the road.  But the things we do remember, the things that have lasting meaning and significance to us are when people give of themselves and give us relational gifts, gifts that help us to know that we are loved and known.  This week, remember the relational gift that has been given to us in Jesus and consider what relational gifts you can give this year that might ultimately be more meaningful to your family and friends.  Maybe that means cooking a meal for your family, going for a walk with your mom or committing to have breakfast one Saturday a month with your dad, there are all kinds of gifts that we can give that will ultimately be much more meaningful than toasters and coffee mugs!