That's the question answered by IgniterMedia in this video they posted on YouTube. Through a series of status updates, likes, and photos posted, the Christmas story is retold. Elizabeth, Zechariah, the Shepherds, and many others also chime in.
Some of my favorite quotes:
Joseph: I am pledged to marry someone very special.
Mary: Just who might that be? ;)
Joseph: It sounds crazy ... But an angel told me.
Joseph friend #3: Oh, that's convenient...
Shepherd # 1 started a group "A Savior is born to us"
Esther Joy King writes at RELEVANTmagazine.com about her experiences celebrating Navidad in Mexico. Her parents are missionaries in Juarez and their family had a unique role to play in the celebrations.
But for my family, Christmas started months before Los Pasadas. For months leading up to Dec. 25, people from the States would send stuffed animals, dolls, play cars and every other kind of toy imaginable to my family in Mexico. Boxes of toys would start to fill closets around the house. By Thanksgiving, we would start piling the boxes in our living room and, by Christmas day, our home was packed to the brim with boxes of Christmas gifts. We would move boxes out to the cars just so we could have room for a Christmas tree. But these toys weren't for me.
The presents were for the boys and girls in the community who would be invited to a big Christmas party/church service on the three nights after Christmas. After each service, the children who came would receive a gift sent down by Americans months beforehand.
Having just been out in the pushing and shoving of Americanized Christmas, I long for a simpler celebration of Jesus' birth like Esther does. Feliz Navidad!
We continue to bemoan consumerism that has taken over Christmas. Why do the stores get ready so early? Why do I find myself responding to ads just so I can get a loved one (or myself) one more cheap gift?
But what do we really do about it?
Advent Conspiracy is one answer. The challenge is for you to buy one less gift this year and give the money to support the clean water charity, Living Water International. Cutting back on your gifts severely would be tough especially since some people wouldn't understand. But think about what's left over when the festivities of "the holidays" are done:
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. Is this what we really want out of Christmas?
What if Christmas became a world-changing event again?
Welcome to Advent Conspiracy.
According to their website, Americans spend more than $450 billion on Christmas each year but it will only take about $10 billion to solve the clean water problem. That number seems awfully low to me, especially if desalinization plants will be needed, but even if the real cost if five times higher we still spend 14 times more on Christmas.
So what will you do about it? I am planning on giving a small dollar amount in honor of each of several friends and family members. Living Water International has PDFs of Christmas cards made specially for this purpose.
Monday, December 20, 2010 at 08:26PM 