We are making our way through The Advent Conspiracy at Girdwood Chapel.  The "conspiracy" is about trying to get at the real meaning of Advent through all of the tinsel and dross of this thing called "The Christmas Season."  And so, looking at the Biblical account and the overarching themes of Scripture--none of which says to buy lots of cool things for ourselves and others this time of year--we're asking the congregation to focus on what's most important about the message of our coming King as we lead to the birth story.

The themes for Advent are:

• Worship Fully
• Spend Less
• Give More
• Love All
• (with "Share Joy" being used for Christmas Eve)

We've covered the "Worship Fully" and "Spend Less" aspects of our conspiracy so far.  This coming week we'll address "Give More" and talk about what we financial resources we can put towards eliminating problems in our world and we'll talk about how we can give more of ourselves to persons we're in contact with in our community.  In just a couple of weeks we'll get to the "Love All" portion of the conspiracy.

"Love" has a tendency to be wishy-washy.  We make it out to be an emotion, a feeling, state of mind.  That kind of love isn't dangerous.  That kind of love isn't offensive.  That kind of love is not the love that got Christ killed.  How do we love everybody in such a way that it is threatening to this world of ours?  We are called to a love without limits.

That, truly, is a love that can get one crucified.

That, truly, is the love that comes to us on Christmas morning.

I think the above illustration from David Hayward might make an appearance.