Word: advent
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McKinley is one of the leaders of an effort to do away with the frenzied activity and extravagant gift-giving of a commercial Christmas. Through a savvy viral video and marketing effort, the so-called Advent Conspiracy movement has exploded. Hundreds of churches on four continents and in at least 17 countries have signed up to participate. The Advent Conspiracy video has been viewed more than a million times on YouTube, and the movement boasts nearly 45,000 fans on Facebook. Baseball superstar Albert Pujols is a supporter - he spoke at a church event in St. Louis, Mo., to endorse...
Over the past four years, churches that support Advent Conspiracy 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 says, the holiday could be transformative in a religious and practical sense...
...years ago, when he was sitting around with some of his pastor friends and they realized they were all dreading Christmas. "None of us like Christmas," he says, adding, "That's sort of bad if you're a pastor." Instead of helping their congregations focus on the season of Advent and prepare to celebrate the birth of Christ, the pastors found themselves competing with a secular consumerism that made December the hardest time to make their message heard...
Like many Americans in interfaith households, I'm ping-ponging between traditions this weekend. The painted figures of the Nativity set are finally arranged in the front window; I've caught up on my Advent readings; and the Christmas-cookie-baking marathon is about to start. At the same time, the candles in the menorah are burning brightly; I'm practicing my Hebrew pronunciation for the blessing; and every corner of our apartment smells like latkes...
...that for at least some interfaith families, religious commitment can lead to a richer, more varied faith life and a greater willingness to experience traditions outside one's own. That provides some comfort at this time of year to those of us whose homes are ablaze in light from Advent and Hanukkah candles...