Sacred Screens and Holy Keyboards

It’s pretty tough to get into the Christmas spirit this year. I’m ashamed to admit that it’s already Monday & I’m not even sure what our family is doing on Christmas Day. So many of our holiday traditions have been ruthlessly erased by the pandemic.

But there is one Christmas tradition that COVID can’t touch: giving. In fact, I wonder whether financial generosity might turn out to be the best way to create sacred space in our houses as Advent turns to Christmas.

I’m not saying it will be easy: it will take prophetic vision to get outside of our own malaise. It will take prophetic imagination to turn our hearts towards those most impacted by the pandemic-multiplying effects of inequality, injustice, racism, and poverty. It will take prophetic courage to let go of some measure of the financial security we feel keeps us safe.

But the good news is that for years, each Giving Week, our CWOW community has been growing in prophetic vision, imagination, and courage. No shelter-in-place order can stop these qualities. As we type in our credit card numbers and send our gifts through cyberspace, a little bit of the incarnate Jesus’ reign will come, just like always. Our keyboards and screens will become a little bit of holy ground, just like always.

Thanks for reading this far! For the next 3 days, I’ll use this space to offer some updates on some of the best organizations to whom we’ve given in the past. See you tomorrow…

In the hope of Advent,

Gary

PS-  As I signed into WordPress to write this, I noticed that exactly a decade ago, on December 21, 2010, I was also blogging about Advent Giving. I guess this counts as a holiday tradition after all! 🙂