by Dean Donatelli
Each year we seek a more quiet, less stressful holiday season. We long to turn the season from hectic days to holy days. One group has even coined the phrase, The Advent Conspiracy, as a means of bringing attention to the work of achieving a simple holy season. (Advent Conspiracy can be found on the net and on Facebook). Their mantra is “Worship Fully, Spend Less, Give More, Love All.” Our ideal Advent would allow us to reflect on ideas such as this one offered by Robert Holtz, “The Various themes of Advent lead us back and forth between two poles: the fact that God has already acted decisively on our behalf in Jesus’ birth and the acknowledgment that there is still much work to be done to bring the kingdom to completion.”
As we approach the coming Advent season with various opportunities to worship, to gather socially, and to offer gifts to one another, we invite a certain simplicity, a certain permission to make this less a marathon and more a pilgrimage; a time to choose what feeds rather than depletes.
In this spirit we are listing some groups who are worth giving to this season. The list is by no means exhaustive and we encourage all persons to consider gifts to organizations with which you have connection and which have as their mission the restoration of human beings and the restoration of God’s creation. Below are a few who have caught our attention:
- Heifer Project—purchasing of livestock for families to engender a self-sustaining way of life. www.heifer.org
- Kiva—Loans that change lives. Make a loan to an entrepreneur across the globe for as little as $25. Kiva is the world’s first online lending platform connecting onlinelenders to entrepreneurs across the globe. www.kiva.org
- The Hoop Fund—Use a microloan of $25 or more to invest in the farmers and artisans behind some of the most important movements on the planet: Fair Trade, Farmer-Owned, Organic and more. Support farmers or artisans through a loan, purchase their products through a partnering brand. www.jointhehoop.com
- Episcopal Relief and Development—Gifts for life: fair trade gifts from producers identified by ERD. www.er-d.org/GiftsForLife/
These are only a few of many local and international agencies who benefit from holiday gift giving; giving that serves restoration and reconciliation through the engendering of human dignity and planetary resilience.