Advent Conspiracy Kick-Off!

Advent Conspiracy is a movement that urges us to live our lives to tell the story of Jesus. There are four areas or concepts that Advent Conspiracy focuses on: worship fully, spend less, give more and love all. The first area I would like to focus on is what does it even mean to worship fully?

To worship means to “be in awe, to bend a knee in honor” or someone or something. All of us have seen that poster with all of God’s Names and I know He is bigger than my brain can comprehend but I think that “bigness” makes me feel somewhat hopeless in that I will never understand Him so why try. I don’t think I’ve consciously allowed this to drive my actions but I think, if I were honest, it is a part of it. What exactly does it mean for Jesus to be the Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, and the Prince of Peace. I have heard these names a thousand times. I’ve even sung them. But do we live like these Names are true? Here is a brief breakdown:

• Wonderful: miracle, a marvelous thing + Counselor: advice, guide or resolve
• Mighty: powerful, warrior, champion + God: strength or mighty
• Everlasting: perpetually without end + Father: primitive word for father
• Prince: head person, captain, master, governor, keeper, steward + Peace: safe, rest, happy, wholeness

Drink in these names of your Jesus. The incarnation of God. God with legs, arms, eyes, ears, skin. Incarnation literally means to “embody a quality or concept”. This is the story we are to tell! This is what we are to worship! I feel like we, or rather I, spend the 4 weeks before Christmas anxious and stressed out because we have to go to the mall or shop for things that we hope our loved ones like with money most of us can’t really afford to spend. 450 billion dollars later, we’re left wanting. When really, Advent should be the story of Jesus coming to bring us peace and hope. The greatest gift ever given is Jesus! We are supposed to spend 4 weeks in anticipation, not of what gifts we are giving or getting, but of a Savior, coming to earth to make us alive! John Eldredge writes in his book, Waking the Dead:

If you’re not pursuing a dangerous quest with your life, well, then, you don’t need a Guide. If you haven’t found yourself in the midst of a ferocious war, then you won’t need a seasoned Captain. If you’re setting in your mind to live as though this is a fairly neutral world and you are simply trying to live your life as best you can, then can probably get by with the Christianity of tips and techniques. Maybe. I’ll give you a fifty-fifty chance. But if you intent to live the Story that God is telling, if you want the life he offers, then you are going to need more than a handful of principles, however noble they may be. There are too many twists and turns in the road ahead, too many ambushes waiting only God knows where, too much at stake. You cannot possibly prepare yourself for every situation. Narrow is the way, said Jesus. How shall we be sure to find it? We need God intimately, and we need him desperately.

What kind of story do you tell with your life? Donald Miller’s Book, A Million Miles in a Thousand Years, talks about how he wants his life to be an exciting, meaningful story. He writes:

If you watched a movie about a guy who wanted a Volvo and worked for years to get it, you wouldn’t cry at the end when he drove off the lot, testing the windshield wipers. You wouldn’t tell your friends you saw a beautiful movie or go home and put a record on to think about the story you’d seen. The truth is, you wouldn’t remember that movie a week later, except you’d feel robbed and want your money back. Nobody cries at the end of a movie about a guy who wants a Volvo.

But we spend years actually living those stories, and expect our lives to feel meaningful. The truth is, if what we choose to do with our lives won’t make a story meaningful, it won’t make a life meaningful either.

Telling the story of Jesus should not be like that, and yet I wonder if we think His story is good enough. I wonder if that’s why buying gifts is so important because, “Christmas can’t be just about Jesus’ story”. The story of Jesus has ignited something in me to tell a better story than I have been. I feel like so much of my life has been lived unconsciously or subconsciously. I have not been proactive but rather reactive and/or non-active. Saint Irenaeus says, “The glory of God is man fully alive.” John Eldredge in his book, Waking the Dead, talks about being alert and oriented times 4 which means we know who we are, where we are, what time it is and what just happened. But he wonders if for most of us, we’re alert and oriented times zero. We are not aware of what is going on around us, what time we are living in, where we live and we have even lost our identity. We don’t realize we are at war- the life we live is dangerous, hurtful, causes wounds, even though we are created to love and glorify a God who loves us and wants us to be His kids. Our eyes are open but not really seeing. Our ears hear but we’re not really hearing. We’re alive but we’re not really living.

I think to worship fully meaning to be in awe, to bend a knee in honor of our Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace as if we are alert and oriented times 4.


Does your life tell an exciting, meaningful story in which you worship the Savior of the world fully?



Jesse Tree Verses for Week 1:

12/1: Creation-Genesis 1:1-2:3 (Earth)

12/2: Adam & Eve-Genesis 2:4-25 (Tree w/ Fruit)

12/3: Noah & The Flood-Genesis 6:9-8:22, 9:8-17 (Rainbow)

12/4: Abraham & Sarah-Genesis 18:1-15 (Stars)

12/5: Isaac-Genesis 22:1-19 (Ram)

12/6: Rebecca-Genesis 24 (Camel)

12/7: Jacob-Genesis 28:10-22 (Ladder)