Conspira Cy theories

Conspire to take back the holidays

Do you like a good conspiracy? Ever wonder what it would be like to join one? Here’s your invitation …

The Advent Conspiracy is underway. You can renew Christmas by undermining what undermines Christmas. It’s a spiritual “Occupy Christmas” movement.

Many Christians order their days by observing a calendar of worship that owes more to the life of Christ than to the Roman moon. The year begins four Sundays before Christmas with Advent, carries through the seasons of Christmas, Epiphany and Lent during the winter and early spring, reaches a high point at Easter through Pentecost, and then coasts through Ordinary Time all summer and fall until starting over again at Advent.

Ordinarily, Advent is a season of preparation for Christmas during which Christians make themselves ready again to welcome God’s surprising and transforming presence in their lives through the coming of Christ. The gift of Christ’s presence has called for the gifts of presents in response. Like the magi from the East who came bearing gifts for the Christ child, we give gifts to one another as signs of love and gratitude.

But somewhere along the way, merchants hijacked this tradition, turning it into retail heaven, and thereby making wholesale changes to the meaning.

The Advent Conspiracy wants to bring back the spiritual simplicity of Christmas without any Scrooge-like sneering. Over the four weeks leading up to Dec. 25, you may join others in this subversive act of insurrection. Worship Fully, Spend Less, Give More, Love All: These four movements build upon one another and lead to a more glorious experience at the manger.

Worship Fully. If you make worship your first priority, you are putting God first. Worship focuses our heart’s affection and our mind’s attention on the God who is alone worthy of it. Going to church (and if you are not a Christian, adapt here at will) in- oculates you against the commercial allure of the mall. It fills you up spiritually so that you have no need and no room to add unfulfilling idols of material things to your life. helping support the Worship section, call 214.560.4202.

Spend Less. I know this sounds unAmerican right now, what with a fragile economy that needs you to heed the siren call to spend as if it’s your patriotic duty. It’s not. My guess is that you will spend enough, even if you join this conspiracy. But spend less: one less unneeded sweater, one less soon-to-be forgotten Best Buy gift card, one less coffee mug to go with a collection of past Starbucks Christmases.

Give More. Saving by spending less may be a good place to stop ordinarily, but Christmas is not Ordinary Time — it is a season for giving. Now you have more to give elsewhere. Where? To a mission enterprise locally or around the world that will change the lives of needy people more than that one less gift given to loved ones. But at the same time, give something more and different and better to loved ones. Make a gift. Give yourself in some way: time promised, a service rendered, the present of presence.

Love All. Here’s the big one. When you get this far, you might be feeling good about yourself. But the gift of the Christ child was God’s message of love for all. God didn’t choose favorites; God favored all. So whom do you need to love that hasn’t yet fallen under your category of “all”? Could be a family member who is hard to love. Could be a coworker or immigrant or politician or anyone else who is “other” to you. When you make a move toward that person or those persons this Advent, you conspire to usurp hatred and prejudice in the name of God’s love.

Conspiracy theories are usually nonsense. This one makes good sense.

Listen to an interview with the rev. GeorGe Mason explaining why his church has joined the Advent Conspiracy movement, and how congregants are putting its tenets into practice. Visit lakehighlands.advocatemag.com/podcast.

St. John Episcopal Church (848 Harter) will host Advent Lessons and Carols Sunday, Dec. 4 at 6 p.m. The holiday event promises readings by Congressman Jeb Hensarling, City Councilman Sheffie Kadane, and Bishop Paul Lambert as well as carols by St. John’s choirs. For more information, call 214-321-6451 or visit stjohnsepiscopal.org.

The Wildcat Cheerleaders presented a $1,000 check to Kyle Crain at the Lake Highlands High School Black Out football game as a donation to the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation. On hand for the check presentation were Alan Walne, owner of Herb’s Paint & Body, and his executive vice president, AlanKirkpatrick

Lake Highlands High School senior girls won the Powder Puff football game in October to help raise funds for prom and other senior activities. They took down the freshman, sophomore and junior classes for the championship.

Education

Fifteen Richardson ISD schools have been named by the National Center for Educational Achievement as 2011 Higher Performing Schools, and three are in Lake Highlands. They are: Lake Highlands High School, Lake Highlands Freshman Center and Apollo Junior High The schools are chosen based on Commended Performance on TAKS and consistent improvement from previous years.

People

Katharine Bain, a former student at The Highlander School in Lake Highlands, raised more than $1,000 for the Special Olympics as part of the Over the Edge fundraiser. She rappelled 15 stories down the InterContinental Dallas Hotel in Addison for donations.

Volunteer

Vickery Meadow Learning Center needs volunteers to teach English to the non-Englishspeaking residents of Vickery Meadow, a lowincome neighborhood near Lake Highlands. Some 20 different languages are spoken among the approximately 36,000 residents of the 2.86-square-mile community. Orientation times are noon-2:30 p.m. Dec. 5, noon-2:30 p.m. Dec. 14, 9-11:30 a.m. or 6:30-9 p.m. Jan. 5, noon-2:30 p.m. Jan. 9. They are held at the

HAVE AN ITEM TO BE FEATURED?

Please submit news items and/or photos concerning neighborhood residents, activities, honors and volunteer opportunities to editor@advocatemag.com. Our deadline is the first of the month prior to the month of publication.