Tonight Katrina and I watched Jumper and What Would Jesus Buy?

Jumper is hardly worth mentioning.  Nice effects.  It had Anakin from the newer Star Wars movies.  I say again, it is hardly worth mentioning.

What Would Jesus Buy? Presented by Morgan Sperlock, (of Supersize Me fame), was a provocative and prophetic documentary that was released last Christmas.  It featured Reverend Billy and the Holy Church of Stop Shopping Gospel Choir.  At first I thought this whole thing was a big hoax for the documentary, but as I watched it, I realized that these people were just protesters who had left their picket signs in Washington and had hit the road to get the message out.  They drove two bio-diesel buses and dressed up in full Pentecostal flare.  They “preached” in churches, diners, even the Mall of America.  I don’t know how they had the guts to do everything they did, going into retail stores with megaphones warning consumers of a “Shopocaplypse,” and singing hymns denouncing capitalism as god,  but they did it.  Police were regulars on the tour, and “church members” regularly found themselves behind bars.

I found myself laughing in disbelief.  I had heard of Not Buying It, a great book about a lady who went a year without shopping, and Buy Nothing Day, a grassroots movement encouraging people to take a day off shopping and find meaning with family and friends rather than in consumption.  When I heard that the retail space in the United States could hold every North American, South American and European inside its doors all at once, and when I heard that every American (regardless of age/race/gender) holds an average of $13,000 in credit card debt, and 4.2 billion credit cards are mailed out to Americans EVERY YEAR - I realized the kind of power we’re up against.  My laughing wasn’t so much in disbelief as much as relief.

It is good to see someone finally take seriously the phrase “Jesus is the reason for the season,” and to do it with a little humor and performance.  Most street preachers with a megaphone rain down condemnation on passers by (I know, I’ve been pelted by some of it myself), but these guys went caroling with parodies of Christmas tunes!  I will listen to anyone who has a good joke and doesn’t take themselves too seriously.

While watching What Would Jesus Buy? I leaned over and said to Katrina, “Our kids are gonna be so weird.”  When I look at the state of the world today, and the direction its heading in - maybe ‘normal’ is what’s weird, and we’re just searching for sanity.  I’m not some crazy anarchist - I just think we’ve gone way overboard.  It’s high time someone called it for what it is.  God likes to use humor sometimes to do just that.

BTW - Amidst drunken credit card tomfoolery across the nation, Katrina and I have been receiving lots of financial peace from this guy.

So our lives have been ex-TV for the last two weeks. I’m proud to say I’m not desperately foaming at the mouth, and Katrina and I aren’t about to claw our eyes out from the boredom. In fact, we’ve had more silence and peace around here than we’ve had in awhile. We’ve had a chance to read more, to talk over meals, and to pray together. The best part about us getting rid of our TV is the story - so if you don’t mind, let me indulge:

We’d been trying to pawn off our TV for several months, each time chickening out - coming up with some excuse why we still needed it. It wasn’t until our good friends were putting on a garage sale that we finally worked up enough courage to pull the plug on our TV habit.

Let me tell you, hauling a 27 inch TV down a flight of stairs and shoving it into a two door car is not an easy job - but we did it. Then we hauled it out into the middle of a field (the “best” place for a garage sale…where’s the garage!?!) and set it up next to all the other stuff we could bear to part with.

Browsers and perusers kept eying the TV, but there were no takers. One lady “bought” it, but when she illegedly tried to “plug it into her car” it wouldn’t turn on. DUH. I’m not sure what that was all about, but we were happy to give her her money back when she started yelling profusely.

Then came this great Hispanic couple. They wanted to buy our TV, but didn’t have enough to make the full purchase. It was the end of the day, and I wasn’t looking forward to carting that thing back to our upstairs apartment, not to mention have to deal with the ball and chain of a TV now that we finally felt free enough to sell it. So we sold it for less than it was worth, and even drove it up to their house for them. Their words were full of joy and excitement. They pointed to their family’s names in the concrete. I noticed a few Scripture verses scrawled into their front porch.

As I was installing the TV, the wife asked if I liked tamales. When I responded in the affirmative, she left the room and brought back a big stack of homemade tamales! She confessed she was embarrassed they couldn’t afford to pay what I was asking for the TV, but would like to pay for the rest in tamales. I loved it! Believe me, those tamales were a gift of hospitality, not just a payment for the TV. I feel like I could’ve hung out there all day. It was a real place of peace.  That’s how the world ought to work in my opinion.  A world where capitalism looses ground and communism is unnecessary.  A sharing and redistributing of personal resources, rather than living off cash.  It’s old school, but I like it.

So, much like giving away a puppy, I was glad to know that our TV was in the hands of a good family. I suppose that only reveals my covert TV idolizing, and reveals how happy I am that its out of our house.

Now its on to bigger and better things. God is too big for prime time.

I’ll get back to talking about brain dumping again soon. I promise.
In the meantime, I want to share with you a little Christmas cheer. The other day I had my good friend Jennifer over. She was telling me about how she is planning on heading to meet with family for Christmas. Apparently, her parents rank at the top of the stack for dreamers at Christmas time. They want it all - -and they send her an itemized list prior to the holidays, so she can prepare… and save up her money.

Well, this year, she decided to buy them a llama. “A LLAMA?!?” You heard me right: a llama. I could hardly contain myself. Her logic went something like this, “Well, Katrina… It generously helps a family in the south, and it cost about the same amount of money I would have spent on them, and if they complain about it, they’ll have to live with themselves… it’s great.”

Needless to say, I could barely stop laughing out loud. At first, I thought she had physically bought them a pet. Then she mentioned Heifer International. She proceeded to describe a little toy llama she had bought for her family as well. “I’ll put in a box with a card, so they’ll have something tactile.” Brilliant. And the heifer website gives you a printout of the gift you’ve purchased, too. It’s great.

I knew about Heifer before this, but I never connected it with Christmas time. It’s great if you’re doing some last minute shopping. You don’t have to walk into any stores— you just print the card and hand it over. And it’s a great conversation piece. Merry Christmas!

With the biggest shopping day of the year just around the corner, I’m already thinking about ways to avoid the holiday rush. It’s got me on a few other rants too:

I’ve been listening to Speaking of Faith, a radio program and podcast on American Public Media which sparks some amazing conversations on ethics, religion, meaning, and more. Recently Krista Tippett did a episode on “Money and Moral Balance” (you can listen to it here). She spoke with Nathan Dungan. Dungan is a financial educator and president of Share-Save-Spend, an organization that helps people develop healthy financial habits. It’s a fascinating look at how our culture has moved to a new center - from freedom and a pioneering, adventurous spirit to capitalism and consumerism as the main force behind our culture. After the attacks on September 11, 2001, Bush urged his fellow Americans to show their American spirit and “go shopping”…ARE YOU KIDDING ME?

Bill McKibben, author of Deep Economy, wrote a book back in 1998 called Hundred Dollar Holiday: the Case for a More Joyful Christmas. The average American (averaged including children, the poor,) spends $863 dollars on Christmas presents. (Time) “What we need and long for now are the gifts of time, meaningful family connections, periods of silence, a relationship with the divine,” McKibben writes.

If I still haven’t convinced you to take a chill pill on the holidays, I just won’t shake ya - and I might as well show you this nifty tool.

Mark’s Wish List by mufincutter

Its a web wish list - meaning you can add items from any website. My wish list posted below for fun! Make a wish list and share it with me! We can yearn together.

Happy Turkey Day!

For by grace you have been saved through faith; and this is not your own doing, it is the gift of God–

For we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so that we can do the good things he planned for us long ago. — Paul’s Letter to the Ephesians

While we might all know from sermons and studies that it is BY grace we have been saved, do many of us know the grace FOR which we’re saved? I believe this man is learning. We are God’s unique gift to his creation.

The glory of God is man fully alive. — St. Augustine

May no man or woman go to their grave without having sung the song…without having reached their destiny and gracing the world with their unique masterpiece.