Advent Conspiracy: Worship More

In the classic folk story a small chicken is eating her lunch outside when an acorn falls on her head. She is convinced that this is a piece of the sky and she must immediately go and tell the king of the immanent danger. Along her path, Chicken Little meets other local animals, including Henny Penny and Goosey Loosey. Together they set out on their mission to inform the king of the danger.

You have probably heard the story of Chicken Little before and are probably quite familiar with her claim that the sky is falling.

Go ahead. Laugh at the poor little chicken. Laugh at the silly little hen. They thought that an acorn meant that the sky was falling. To them this was a tragic moment. That their world could come crashing down if the sky fell.

What would you do if the sky was falling?

Oh wait, look around. I think the sky IS falling.

Your retirement savings are gone. Trusted stores are going out of business. Your friends and family are losing their jobs. Another terrorist attack happened last week. And you know what, according to the news stations there is no end in sight. The financial, economic, environmental, employment and terrorist skies have fallen. And the king thought Chicken Little was silly for his grand notion.

But today in Isaiah we here the opposite of Chicken Little’s story. The prophet opens his arms wide and looks up to the sky and says “O that you would tear open the heavens and come down, so that the mountains would quake at your presence.”

Isaiah longs for God to rip open the skies to reveal himself so that the world might know and see and believe.

And you know what?

God does.

God rips open the skies and answers the call of his people and sends himself in the form of a baby so that the people might have some tangible touchable proof of all that God does and all that God is.

And some people see Christ tear open the sky and run in fear, run to tell the king, run to hide just incase life as they know it might disappear.

And some people see Christ tear open the sky and they worship. Bowing down with joy and love and peace – because the hope of all of the world has arrived.

I’m not quite sure I know which group I belong to. The group that looks at the world and worries that the sky might be falling and worries that all normalcy might disappear. Or the group that looks at the world and begs God to make the sky fall so that we wouldn’t have so many distractions to keep us from our real purpose as God’s beloved children.

I know that I ought to desire only the second option. That I ought to only long for worship and yet there is a lot of fear in me that knows if my house and my car and all of my possessions were suddenly gone that I would run around in fear and panic.

I suppose the fact that the sky is falling is inevitable. The real question then becomes, how do we react?

Well, this year, you actually have a choice. This Christmas, you have a clear and distinct choice about what to do about the falling sky.

You see, Advent, this season we are beginning today is usually a pastor’s worst nightmare. Because for the church this season is so incredibly important. It is the beginning of God’s answer to our pleas for a savior. It is God’s incredible and life saving gift for all of humanity. And clergy all over the world will stand up for the next four weeks and preach about simplicity and hope and peace and humility and about how jesus had nothing and yet when we all walk out of these doors we enter chicken little mode.

I’ve got pies to bake, cookies to exchange, presents to buy, gifts to wrap, parties to attend, cards to mail, lights to hang, trees to trim….

And when it's all over, many of us are left with presents to return, looming debt that will take months to pay off, and this empty feeling of missed purpose.

And I ask you and I ask myself… What is the purpose of all of this?

So, what happened? What was once a time to celebrate the birth of a savior has somehow turned into a season of stress, traffic jams, and shopping lists.

Sometimes it feels as though the church should throw up its arms and close its doors, only to reopen for candle lighting on December 24th.

But I have to step back and ask myself and ask you:

What if we had the power to make Christmas a life-saving event again?

What if we, 80 some people in Cecil County and beyond believed that Christmas can be lived out as God intended and that we have the power to reclaim Christmas for ourselves, our families and our God?

What if we made the decision to say to God – I choose to no longer be afraid that the sky might fall down, instead, holy one, I am asking you to rip down all that it is false and unholy and rebuild each one of us, molding us into the way you would have us be so that when that candle burns on December 24th, it is your light, saving god, your light that shines in that silent night.

Christmas can still save the world.

It started three years ago. Okay, I know Christmas started thousands of years ago. But a new wave of Christians known as the Advent Conspiracy joined together as 3 churches three years ago to put all of their energy and faith and hope behind the belief that Christmas can still save the world.

And now, just a few years later, millions of people across the world are signing on to be a part of this movement. To conspire, or work together, to take back Christmas, and to find ways so that we can honor God as we wait for God to break forth from the sky and enter our world again.

The Advent Conspiracy is made up of four simple themes.

The first is to Worship More Fully. To enter the advent season in worship, as we are doing here today. When the wise men and the shepherds traveled to see Jesus they bowed down in worship. Our journey to meet the babe in a manger should begin and end with worship alone, thanksgiving to God for the best gift we could have ever dreamed of.

The second component is to Spend Less. Nobody in this room can honestly tell me that they believe the purpose of Christmas is to spend money – so why does that seem to become the focus of absolutely everything that we do? The Advent conspiracy is asking each person to buy one less gift, just one. America spends 450 Billion dollars on Christmas Gifts each year and most of those gifts are made out of obligation.

The Third piece of the pie is to Give More. Now it might sound odd to spend less and still give more. But the focus of the gift that God gave us is a relationship with him through Christ. This is the greatest gift that has ever been given. This advent we will figure out ways to give so that our celebration is memorable and gives the gift of presence instead of the gift of Presents.

The last piece is to Love All. Christ came for all of us. The beautiful and the ugly. The poor and the rich. The insider and the outsider. This Christmas God is going to challenge us to find ways to truly love all of the people he has created.

It’ll take us four weeks to get to Christmas. We have this sacred time to ask for God’s help to change our lives and change our perspective. It’ll be a Christmas that costs less and means more. It’ll be a Christmas that opens our eyes to our own beliefs about fear and desire and greed, empties those feelings from our lives, and then fills us with all that is good and pure from Christ our King.

Can you make this first commitment? To worship more fully? To ask yourself with each holiday activity… am I worshiping Christ the newborn king with this action?

Join me in begging God to tear down the sky as we know it and to rebuild our lives around the babe in the manger so that this year Christmas really will save the world.

Amen.