Christmas Vacation or the Grinch That Stole Christmas?

Reflecting on Christmas: Join the Conspiracy!
Ok, I have a confession. I love Christmas! One of my favorite all time holiday movies is Christmas Vacation. Clark Griswold became my hero at a very young age and I always wanted to have more lights on my house than he did on his. Some years I think I almost succeeded. He set unrealistic expectations. He spent money he didn’t have to make his family happy and love him more, when really all they wanted was him. Clark wanted to have everything perfect for his family and friends so that Christmas would be a 10. In the end what they really wanted was him. Unfortunately many of us labor under this illusion, that if we do more, schedule more, spend more, decorate more that we will somehow experience the illusive dream of a perfect Christmas. The opposite of that is the Scrooge. Where is a meaningful medium? The good news is that this year we have a better plan and an opportunity for you to find new meaning, fulfillment and make a difference for someone else.

This morning I woke up to the terrifying reality that there are only 20 more shopping days left until Christmas. For those of us including myself, who have been putting off all the things on our holiday to do list, this strikes terror in our hearts. But this year many of us are resolving to celebrate Christmas in a different way; without all the stress, the debt, guilt and exhaustion. Don’t get me wrong. It’s not that we are not going to give presents or become the new Grinch. We are simply going to refuse to be swept away and buy into unrealistic expectations. We are going to seek to focus on the things that are really important. That is at the heart of what the Advent Conspiracy is all about: worship fully, spend less, give more and love all. I want to challenge you to think about how you will live out each of these in a way that enriches your experience of the Christmas season. VISIT OUR NEWHOPEPDX WEBSITE FOR MORE INFORMATION.

This week, I want to challenge you in two specific areas this week.

Give More: Relational Giving
I am excited about the adventure of doing Christmas different this year. I love the phrase “relational giving” which implies giving something much deeper than material gifts. It means giving our presence and not just presents. I want to challenge you to explore what relational giving can look like for you this Christmas. More than anything it is giving the most important gift we can give to someone we love, TIME. It used to crack me up when my kids were little and they would say to me, “Dad, let’s spend some quality time together.” I am not sure if they had a clue as to what that phrase actually meant, but I did know they wanted to be together and wanted my undivided attention. We adults sometimes use quality time as an excuse for not spending quantitative time with our loved ones. Quality time means spending quantity time too. It means being present and emotionally available when we are with the people we love. How will you give yourself in a relational way this Christmas?

Love All
To love as Jesus loved means to love and care for the least of these. In the Advent Conspiracy we resolve to spend less and resist the compulsion of having to go in debt to try to make Christmas meaningful. What if we just bought one present less or spent 10% less? What would happen if we would take part of that and invest it in people in a way that literally could save their lives? As we resolve to spend less this Christmas, let’s take part of it and give it away in an expression of love to the least of these. We will share more about the projects we have for our Christ’s Birthday Offering this year that will literally transform lives of the least of these. Each week in the Advent Conspiracy we will be sharing how together we can make a difference. Last Sunday we adopted the Angel Tree for children of inmates. It was amazing that we ran out of angels on the tree before the morning was over.

Food for the Hungry
Starting this Sunday and for the next four weeks, we will be collecting food for local organizations that provide food for those in need right in our own backyard. All food collected will be shared with Esther’s Pantry in Milwaukee, which serves those affected by AIDS, and the Clackamas Service Center on SE 82nd, a religious group we partner with that serves the homeless and low income families in Clackamas County. There will be well marked Advent Conspiracy food barrels in the lobby. Here’s what we are collecting:
Boxed and canned meals
Pasta (dry or microwaveable)
Rice (dry or microwaveable)

Share Your Ideas with Us
I would love to hear your ideas on how you will make Christmas more meaningful this year. These will be helpful for our whole church family. Please click here to share them with us.



SOME GREAT NEWS!
Congratulation to the New Hope Kid’s who just raised over $1,600 to help build our Habitat for Humanity House. Wow kids, that is a lot of money. The kid’s choir will be singing on Sunday December 14th and they will be presenting a check to Habitat that Sunday.

One hundred small group leaders and hosts were appreciated and honored at a luncheon at the Aerie Club House on Sunday November 23. We salute this incredible team.

Pastor Mike reported that 44 young marrieds attended The First Married Life event for this age group two weeks ago.

The final results for our First Fruits Offering are now approaching $75,000. Thank you Lord and our New Hope family! This was especially amazing on a fourth Sunday of the month, which is usually our lowest.

Over 100 people have signed up to sing in the Community Choir for the Christmas Candlelight Services. Pastor David Boots is directing it.

We are averaging over 4,000 unique visitors to our web site each month.

Almost 100 people have bought tickets for our Second Wind Christmas Brunch this Sunday December 7th at 12:30 pm. There is still time to get a ticket. Call the front desk, 503-659-5683 or get a ticket Sunday morning for $11 per person. Jay Barber will be the guest speaker, beautiful traditional Christmas music, door prizes and a whole lot more. It is open to everyone.

Thanks to whoever made the incredible, warm chocolate chip and walnut cookies for me this week after I encouraged people to make homemade gifts – and unashamedly (I should have been) mentioned those were my favorite.

Have a great week. We have a very special day planned for you this Sunday in our Advent Series as well as celebrating communion. Pastor Brent will be preaching.

I would love to get you feedback and comments on the ipastor blog!
See you Sunday.

Pastor Ray