Repeat, Apply and Clarify

Like the rest of the congregation we encouraged the students to buy one less gift this Christmas and in return do two things. In exchange for that gift they would have bought someone, do something for them or with them (i.e. bake them cookies, write them a letter). The second thing we wanted them to do is take the money they saved from that gift and give towards our well building project in Nigeria. The whole Advent Conspiracy project is a great idea but the obstacle we run into is the complexity of the concept. What makes this series so complex is the battle between what seems practical and what seems ideal. As an adult I have a budget for my gifts, so if I am going to get one less gift, I know exactly the sacrifice that I’m going to make. When I was a teenager I didn’t have a budget, I got one gift for my mom, one for my dad and one for each of my sisters. The idea of sacrificing one gift, meant someone wasn’t going to get to open a present from me on Christmas. It doesn’t matter if I’m doing something different, the idea of not giving them that gift is frightening, because if one of my sisters was not to give me a gift, that would be bad. And to tell you the truth it wouldn’t be that bad, and if you watch some of our Christmas classics(Charlie Brown, The Grinch Who Stole Christmas, It’s a Wonderful Life, Die Hard), you’ll learn it’s not about the presents, but more about the presence of who we are surrounded with. So here’s how you overcome that obstacle.

1. Repeat the concept: Repetition is important, repetition is important, repetition is important because it becomes familiar, and when something is familiar it’s more comforting, we have more time to wrap our emotions around it.
2. Clarify: Chance are the first time you do something complicated it’s not always clear. Especially if you don’t know how much time to give yourself to prepare for the concept, message or series. Figure out examples, figure out lingo, figure out the best ways to communicate the concept to different demographics.
3. Apply It To Your Life: If you preach and teach something you don’t live out, it’s going to be very hard to communicate. If you preach wise money management but don’t manage it yourself, then you aren’t going to be able to speak to people’s emotions. If you talk the talk but don’t walk the walk people are going to know and they are going to have a hard time grasping onto a hypocrites message.

With that said, this holiday season our entire congregation is trying to change the way we do Christmas. I know a lot of people out there that want to bring this whole spend less and give more concept to their families. But when it comes to communicating anything faith based (or complex) towards loved ones (especially teens) it’s important to Repeat, Apply and Clarify.
My challenge to everyone out there looking to do something different for Christmas is to think about how they are going to repeat, what they need to clarify and what are they not applying when it comes to spending less and giving more.