The place God calls you is the place where your deep gladness and the world's deep hunger meet.
-Buechner

Wednesday, November 25, 2009

In An Attempt To Distract Me...Advent Conspiracy

In a desperate attempt to stop checking my email obsessively, in hopes of a "yes you did" email from Imagine, I thought I'd post our first Advent Conspiracy video. By "our" I mean the clip we chose to share as our lead up to the first of four Advent Sundays at Warmland.

I have had the privilege of selecting the clips we will show over the next month of Sundays (and the one this past week as a "warm up"). And I have to say, I am pumped. Trying to tie in the four concepts to...
  1. Worship Fully
  2. Spend Less
  3. Give More
  4. Love All
...was no small task.

Yet each time I watched (and re-watched) the clips to try and match each one to the four concepts, I felt privileged and also guilty for our wealth. Not only material wealth but for the clean water that sat beside the computer for me to sip as I scrutinized each one over and over. The fact that I could see through my nearly full glass and that I didn't have to walk anywhere to get it was enough to nearly push me over.

So, Warmland is dreaming big this season.

I just got off the phone with our Pastor and after he suggested a specific financial goal, (because on a global level we're raising money to build a well,) my response to him was that he has more faith than I. He laughed, as I then realized that I can dream big, too. And if our goal is big we will work harder to achieve it. Plus, his point to me was that any amount we give (big or small) won't be noticeable to us, in comparison to the difference it will make in the lives of those who will benefit from clean water. A hundred bucks (or more) is not going to change us. It won't cause us to live differently - and if it does then GOOD. Because what's the point in all this if I'm not gaining a better understanding of the global crisis and sacrificing for others so they can live the way they should.

And, isn't this a part of the Great Commission? Isn't this how we live it out? I am pretty sure.

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