A Tao of Christmas shopping, from a wannabe minimalist:<\/p>\n
So, i buy most of my kids\u2019 clothes at consignment sales. Also sell stuff there, so i almost break even. I go to this one sale twice a year (because it is at my church and i get to shop early!) While i\u2019m shopping for clothes, i also keep my eyes peeled for good toys at super cheap prices. I buy a few here and there, so by the time Christmas rolls around, I buy each kid one new thing, and i\u2019m pretty much done. They get about 4 gifts each, and i have spent less on my family than my congregation spends on the family we \u2018adopt\u2019 for the season. This, if you ask me, is how it should be.<\/p>\n
This year, i\u2019ve picked up my usual few things here and there. The only thing my daughter has asked for is a dollhouse. Sure, no problem. Santa can swing that. Found one (on Amazon, so i did not have to brave Target or the mall) and ordered it. $37. Done.<\/p>\n
Except\u2026it got here last night, and i opened it, excited to see what she would see on Christmas morning, and guess what? It came with exactly NO FURNITURE. I\u2019m sure the internets would have told me this, had i read the fine print. Quick trip back to Amazon tells me that buying the furniture for the house would cost more than the house. And by more than the house, i mean more than the house in which we live. Guess we\u2019ll be getting creative with cotton balls and popsicle sticks to make tiny beds and tables!<\/p>\n
Mom fail, yes. But also and excellent parable of congregational transformation. If you are in this line of work, I don\u2019t have to spell it out for you. \u201cIf we build it, they will come!\u201d And yet, not even a chair for folks to sit down once they get there. Much less a fully-formed mission, vision, or sense of community\u2026 You know that story.<\/p>\n
I think many churches have long gotten over thinking that they can REALLY just build a million dollar stadium, open the doors, and expect the neighbors to\u00a0roll in all 1950\u2019s-like and ready to write a check.\u00a0 However\u2026many of us still try to take this approach in more subtle\u2013yet just as backward\u2013ways. \u201cIf we start a youth group, then we\u2019ll have youth.\u201d \u201cStart a young adult ministry, then we\u2019ll get young adults!\u201d \u201cLet\u2019s have all-ages Sunday school again, and then people will come to Sunday school.\u201d \u201cLet\u2019s start an alternative worship service, and then the alternative people will come\u201d (guilty). \u201clet\u2019s have a great big church rummage sale! When people come to buy our junk, surely they will feel the love of Jesus.\u201d<\/p>\n
My friend Dawn preached a (much more eloquent) sermon on this latter point. If your church rummage sale really IS a great ministry, fine. But let us never confuse true outreach with getting rid of our\u00a0junk. And let us never confuse a big, new, empty house with a blank slate for mission.<\/p>\n
Of course, the right kind of space, the right program,\u00a0or\u00a0the right sort of gathering can serve as an open invitation to the life of faith. But to build, buy or create something whose sole purpose is to grow itself\u2026well, it\u2019s just backward. Not to mention costly.<\/p>\n
I\u2019m preaching myself a bit of a sermon here. I like to consider myself a forward-thinking leader. Trouble is, I often get ahead of \u2018what is,\u2019 in the quest for that which might be. I want to build the thing before we\u2019ve got the people to build and support it\u2026before we\u2019ve even got a chair for them to sit on. Lesson learned. Again.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, let this be one more reminder to us all, as we gear up for Advent-proper, that there is nothing about shopping and spending that does not lead to MORE shopping and spending. You buy the outfit\u2026you need the shoes. You buy the bike\u2026you need the helmet. You buy the house\u2026and well, you\u2019d just better hope that grandma and grandpa will buy the daggone furniture.\u00a0 Cause this santa is done shopping, and ready to wait. And wait, and wait, for whatever is coming, in the Spirit\u2019s good time.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
A Tao of Christmas shopping, from a wannabe minimalist: So, i buy most of my kids\u2019 clothes at consignment sales. Also sell stuff there, so i almost break even. I go to this one sale twice a year (because it is at my church and i get to shop early!) While i\u2019m shopping for clothes, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1154,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,5,6],"tags":[58,59,8,105,117,553,10,430],"class_list":["post-1743","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-advent-and-christmas","category-faith-and-community","category-marriage-and-family","tag-christmas","tag-church","tag-congregational-transformation","tag-ministry","tag-parenting","tag-shopping","tag-spirituality","tag-toys"],"yoast_head":"\n