HELLO!

Tonight, we held a meaningful Blue Christmas Service. I was moved by how the Spirit came alive in the music: Gus, Tapestry, Adelia and June. Here is the service: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FplH_FZjwJA

During my first year at St. Luke’s United Church in Tantallon I could see all the young families moving into the area (mine included, though Kim and were old parents compared to the others in the nearby suburbs). I remembered one of first times I stood near our home and waited for our child to be dropped off by the school bus. A parent stood with me, she asked what our plans were for Christmas. She and her husband were planning a trip to Florida, Disneyland. She told me her husband had been laid off, she was working part-time. She volunteered they would be charging the trip to their credit card. “We have to do this, for our child. She would never forgive us, if we didn’t”. Her daughter was five.

The church had recently remodelled its building, the sanctuary was like a theatre, with a large screen for videos. Given all the consumption, and debt, I could see around me, I wondered if a Christian witness might be to help us focus on the deeper meaning of our stories, experiences. I had recently watched the film, What Would Jesus Buy? It depicts the 2005 cross-country bus tour of Rev. Billy (actor Bill Talen) and his 35-member choir. They begin in New York where members of his Church of Stop Shopping do street theatre with Rev. Billy preaching against the rampant consumerism which has resulted in the trivialization of Christmas, massive credit-card debt. The documentary shows through interviews how children and parents are obsessed with the hottest consumer items.

Rev. Billy walks through the Mall of America (which has its own university and police force) speaking out against the idol of shopping, holds an exorcism (cutting up credit cards) and causes quite a commotion at Disneyland where he is arrested and hauled off to prison. Rev. Billy is part trickster, part clown, and a serious social activist trying to get people to "back away from the product" and to stop shopping. Here is a clip from the movie: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sGi21YQFjMM

I decided to show the film in the sanctuary on a Friday night, mid December. I wrote an article in the Masthead News, put up posters, and promoted in the church and the community. About 70 people came. There was a lot of silence in the audience. Later, I asked people what they thought. Many found Rev. Billy annoying, even irritating but most admitted he, and his choir, had a point. I have often wondered if I had the nerve to dress up like Rev. Billy, find singers to become a version of the “The Stop Shopping Choir”. The short answer is, I don’t. But I do think something like this, from the church, would offer a witness to what consumerism can do, to a culture, to families, to our earth. Peace, Kevin