Environmental Justice
Merry Christmas?
Why a separate page for Christmas? Because that's the season that has been most distorted from its original intent. Christmas items can be found already on display by Labor Day! The commercialism of Christmas also is very hard on the Earth. Here are some resources for planning a more meaningful Christmas celebration for your congregation.
Christmas Campaign Planning GuideThe Alternatives for Simple Living organization provides a Christmas Campaign Planning Guide to help your church have a more Christ-centered, less commercial Christmas. Hundred Dollar Holiday by Bill McKibbenThis little book, Hundred Dollar Holiday: The Case for a More Joyful Christmas started as a project for the author's rural Methodist church in the Adirondacks. It's $12 - or less if you buy a used copy on Amazon or elsewhere. Bill McKibben is a prominent author on environmental issues as well as a United Methodist layperson and Sunday School teacher. Simplify the HolidaysThe Center for a New American Dream has a Simplify the Holidays website. This site has suggestions for alternative gifts, alternative gift fairs, gift tips, and a free brochure.
A heartwarming story of a non-commercial Christmas gift might be good sermon material. There are a number of useful non-commercial gift ideas in the "Post your gift ideas" for ideas from other people. You may want to post some of your own! In addition, on the menu at the left of this New Dream webpage, there is a link to very clever Alternative Christmas Carols. Unplugging the Christmas MachineHere's a sermon "You're a Keen One, Mr. Grinch: Unplugging the Christmas Machine" by Rev. Robin Zucker. |
WHOSE BIRTHDAY IS IT,
ANYWAY? - The centerpiece for [this year’s] campaign to get Christians
to re-evaluate how they celebrate Christmas is this photo by Phil Claeys.
The artwork and other resources are available from Alternatives for Simple
Living, 5312 Morningside Ave., P.O. Box 2787, Sioux City, Iowa 51106;
phone: (712)274-8875 or (800)821-6153; Web site: 
“Whose
birthday is it, anyway?” is the Christmas question asked by
Alternatives for Simple Living, an advocacy group that favors simple
living as an antidote to societal ills such as credit cards, personal
debt, shopping malls, big SUVs, depleting the earth’s resources, and
not spending time with family. A UMNS graphic by Doyle
Burbank-Williams, courtesy of Alternatives for Simple Living
Alternatives for
Simple Living encourages people to focus on "relationships and
traditions instead of mass-produced things," in this artwork by Robby
Mason. Since 1973, Alternatives has been "equipping people of faith
to challenge consumerism, live justly and celebrate responsibly." The
organization stresses simplicity throughout the year and for all holidays,
but the commercialization of Christmas is its major target. A
UMNS photo courtesy of Alternatives for Simple Living