It's time to rescue Christmas from the jaws of consumerism.

Every year the Christmas "shopping season" starts earlier and earlier. Every year Americans spend 450 billion dollars on Christmas. Every year we're encouraged to go into debt to buy things that don't make us happy, that we won't remember a year from now, and that do nothing to celebrate the radical story of God's love for the world that's at the heart of Christmas.

But  this is the year all that can change. And we are the people who can change it.

The Advent Conspiracy started in 2006. It's a campaign that links churches all over the country in an effort to reinvigorate us with the radical truth of Christmas. This year, Holy Comforter will once again be participating in this effort.

The plan is simple: Worship fully. Spend less. Give more. Love all.

Worship fully: We will put Jesus right at the heart of all we do this Advent and Christmas season. We will place Jesus at the center of our lives each day during the Advent and Christmas seasons. To help us do that this year, in addition to our regular schedule of worship services, we'll be putting up meditations, scripture verses, and links on our Facebook page.

Spend less: We will buy less gifts this year and we will not go into debt.

Give more: We will give gifts of time, relational gifts, and things that we've made. There will be workshops after church on November 27 and December 4 designed to help you learn how to make meaningful gifts. In addition, you can find great ideas for relational gifts by clicking here and here. We'll also have daily gift ideas on our Facebook page throughout Advent.

Love all: Over the past three years, we have built two clean water wells in Peru with the money we have saved.  We plan to continue to bring clean water to those in need, partnering with our friends at Living Water International. Lack of access to clean drinking water is one of the biggest risks to the health of people in developing nations, but through our generosity and God's blessing, we can eradicate this problem in Peru and around the world. Additionally, last year we were able to sponsor a missionary, Fr. Ian Montgomery, in his work of spreading the Gospel to the people of Peru. You can find out more about our efforts in Peru here.

In 2009, when we did this for the first time, the national news media took notice:

It's a national news event when Christians choose to spend a little less on Christmas. Just think what we'll be able to do this year!

On the first Christmas, God came among us and gave Himself to us, not as a commodity to be bought and sold but as a person who would live among us and pull us up out of the muck. This Christmas, we can be followers of that God, beneficiaries of that love, and inheritors of that promise. Let the conspiracy begin...