News from SBCRC

I’m glad that people appreciated the intercessory prayer yesterday. There is something about placing headlines and images like that within the context of prayer that moves us to see it as something more than just news and information. It generates those “sighs too deep for words” that Paul talks about. It also helps to have a great song playing in the background. In this case, it’s the Soweto Gospel Choir singing “Khumbaya.”

Staff Writer Ken Bradford wrote a pretty nice article on Subkirke for Sunday’s South Bend Tribune.

Sarah Sanders couldn’t believe it.

She’s been a huge fan of the Great Lake Swimmers.And there she was on a Thursday night in October, just minutes from her home in South Bend, in the third row for a Great Lake Swimmers concert.

For 12 bucks.

In a church.

What are the odds of that?

Actually, if you’re a fan of alt-country/roots/folk music, your odds of seeing your favorite band locally are better now than ever.

That’s because Subkirke, an experiment in outreach to college-age music fans, has opened at the South Bend Christian Reformed Church on North Hickory Road.

“It was a collective brainstorm,” Subkirke organizer David Banga says. “We talked about how we can be useful in the community. One of the things that’s missing is a venue of this sort.”

The big-time greatest-hits acts have the Morris. The head-bangers have Club Fever. The cover bands have the bars.

What Subkirke — a phonetic acronym for SBCRC — offers is a 500-seat place with great acoustics for quieter bands with fans who really want to hear and study the music.

Banga believes South Bend, with its colleges and location, is a perfect place for what his church is trying to do.

Last fall, he managed to snag the Great Lake Swimmers for what would have been an off-day between concerts in Chicago and Grand Rapids.

“You can sit in a hotel room for two nights, or you can come meet your fans in a place like this,” he says.

Already, the word has gotten around that there’s a stopping-off place between Illinois and Michigan.

“There’s a lot of interest,” he says. “Some really well-known national acts are interested in coming here.”

If you haven’t heard of the Swimmers, that’s part of the problem.

In other parts of this country, the Toronto band is really big. Before its South Bend concert, it had a gig at Lincoln Hall in Chicago, and it headed to Europe for another tour in November.

The band’s played on NPR and you can find a clip online of singer Tony Dekker being interviewed by Brian Williams on MSNBC.

But the Swimmers haven’t toured here. There isn’t a local radio station dedicated to its genre of music.

If you knew the group, it was a sign you did your own homework.

The first Subkirke show, Samantha Crain and the Midnight Shivers, drew a small crowd on a Notre Dame football game night.

The church breaks even if it can sell 150 tickets for a band such as the Great Lake Swimmers, and it did, Banga says.

“And the average age in there is about 22,” he says. “We’re hitting the age group we’re looking for.”

Four seniors from the Trinity School at Greenlawn lowered that age average during the Swimmers’ concert.

“I’m really glad they have this,” Theresa Behrens, who was there with Yana Jones, Kelsey Timm and Kelsi Schmidt, says.

They’re all fans of the Swimmers and know the music well. “One of my friends actually covers some of their songs,” Schmidt says.

Because the place is smoke- and alcohol-free, people younger than 21 are welcome.

And there certainly is nothing of the honky-tonk feel at Subkirke.

The audience sits in a large room on padded pews or folding chairs. The band performs under a banner that proclaims, “Blessed.”

It’s a respectful crowd that waits until the final note has ended to applaud. It’s polite, almost to a fault.

There are no stoners yelling, “Free Bird.” No waitresses taking drink orders during a ballad.

After the two concerts in the fall, Subkirke took a two-month hiatus.

The main target audience is college students, and Banga wants to schedule when it’s best for them.

“We did two shows last semester, we’re going to do three this semester and likely five in the fall semester,” he says. “There may be a summer concert or two, but mostly just when the students are here, and when it isn’t final exam time.”

He suggests keeping an eye on Subkirke’s Web site.

He says word about concerts spreads mainly through campus publications and on The Globe, WGCS-FM (91.1), the radio station at Goshen College.

Dekker, the Swimmers’ singer and songwriter, says his band appreciates playing in venues like Subkirke.

Have they played in churches before?

“Yes, we have,” he says. “In fact, we like to record in places like this.”

Churches are built to allow sound to carry, and Dekker says the acoustics at Subkirke fit the Swimmers’ needs.

And although the Swimmers’ songs don’t typically have negative messages, anyway, Dekker says he didn’t feel inhibited in putting together the show here.

Instead, it gave him more options. “We did play a few of our more quiet songs here,” he says, “because of the space.”

Whatever the set list, fans such as Sarah Sanders came to the concert eager and left satisfied.

“It is so awesome to have them here,” she says.

She’s been listening to the Swimmers for two or three years and buys its CDs.

“I was really excited because we don’t have to drive to Chicago for a show like this,” she says.

Will she be back to Subkirke?

“If they bring in more good shows,” she says. “I’ve already e-mailed some suggestions.”

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On January 15, 2010, The BowerBirds will take the stage at Subkirke. This is an interesting band comprised of a husband-wife team, and one other member. They have a very unique sound (read the review below). You can see, hear, and read more about them at their website. Come, support this outreach, and hear a great concert!

Amanda Petrusich, from Pitchfork.com, writes:

Bowerbirds’ accordionist Beth Tacular paints– sometimes on paper, sometimes on craggy bits of salvaged wood– strange, whimsical landscapes, littered with critters and berries and plants and airplanes and skyscrapers and unicorns and feathers. Tacular’s visual art (already beloved by plenty) is packed with big, gnawing oppositions– industry vs. ecology, urban vs. rural, fantasy vs. truth, man vs. earth– and Bowerbirds’ tingly indie-folk is no less dynamic or indicting.

Tacular, along with partner/guitarist Phil Moore and multi-instrumentalist and producer Mark Paulson, churns out deceptively pleasing folksongs about plants and animals and the unforgivable things we do to them. Even in a post-Al Gore America (where Wal-Mart’s gone green– sorta– and hybrid cars are as much of an it-accessory as Goyard totes), it’s still awfully hard for a sweet-faced North Carolina couple to clutch their instruments to their chests and coo bits like, “It takes a lot of nerve to destroy this wondrous earth” without making everyone squirmy. But Bowerbirds’ pro-Earth proselytizing is more endearing (and inspiring) than precious or cloying, and if anything, all that earnestness will just make you adore them more (and, maybe, think a little bit harder about the interstates slicing up your hometown forests).

Snatching their name from an Australian chirper (bowerbirds are most famous for the inverse relationship between a male’s plumage and its ability to construct a mate-attracting nest), Bowerbirds’ debut long player (released by Pitchfork writer Grayson Currin’s label) will likely garner loads of comparisons to Devendra Banhart and Vetiver, but their brand of folk is more Appalachian than British (Carter Family over Bert Jansch), and less concerned with psychedelia than melody (think gypsy-influenced Sufjan Stevens). Opener “Hooves” starts small and modest, with Moore mewing about his mom over spare acoustic guitar (“Back when I was born on a full moon/ I nearly split my momma in two”), before the vocals double, drums kick up, and Tacular’s accordion starts to whine: the track is somehow quiet and jarring at the same time, and invites all kinds of twee analogies (a family of deer darting through a clearing! Thunderclaps at night! Rainbows!).

“In Our Talons” is equally mesmerizing, jazzy and rich, with lyrics both gentle and barbed (“We’re only human/ This at least we’ve learned”), while “The Marbled Godwit” is Bowerbirds’ most classically freak-folk moment (and most Newsom-inspired title?), with acoustic guitar, high, meandering vocals, and cutting violin. Hymns strongest tracks– “Slow Down”, “In Our Talons”, “Dark Horse”– manage to be both hypnotically pretty and a little bit weird, characteristics of the very best kind of Americana music. Bowerbirds do for backyards what the Hold Steady’s done for parking lots– translated place into sound.

This is the second of four posts on the subject of pastoral care here at SBCRC.  As in the last post, the focus here is on “pastoral care” in a broad sense, on efforts made by church leadership (i.e. the pastoral staff and council) keep in contact with individuals and families within the congregation and alert to particular needs they may have.  We are working to make small groups the primary vehicle by which this accomplished.

This raises the question about the 60 or so individuals and families not in a small group.  What about them?  How are we keeping in contact with them? Despite how encouraged we are by the level of participation in small groups, these are important questions.

THE CORE AND THE RIND

It was asking these questions that led us to form the Pastoral Care Team.  The focus of this group is simply to keep in touch with members not presently in a small group, to care for them, and to remain alert to particular needs they may have.

There are two levels of involvement one can have on the Pastoral Care Team.  First, there are those who meet regularly to discuss the needs that have come up (as well as celebrate good news), determine what contacts should be made (and who will might them), and pray for our congregation.  We’ll call this “the core group.”

Second, there are those not interested in attending the meetings and overseeing pastoral care of the congregation as a whole.  They simply are willing to keep in contact with a selected number of people, give them a call, maybe meet them for coffee.

For lack of a better term, we’ll call this “the rind group.”

MS. A AND MR. B ILLUSTRATE

Both Ms. A and Mr. B are part of the pastoral care team.  Ms. A is part of the rind group and can commit to checking in with three individuals or families a month.  She’s most interested in contacting people newer to the church.  Mr. B is part of the core group.  He commits to making six contacts a month, and, while not contacting the same people each month, he prefers to keep ongoing contact with a smaller pool of people rather than someone new each time.

At its next meeting, the core team determines not only who they’ll be contacting before the next meeting but also compiles lists of names for people on the rind team.  I pass these names along to rind team members– including five names to Ms. A.  Ms. A chooses three from those five.  Over the next month, she may talk on the phone with one, meet for coffee with another, and chats with the third after the service.  Before the core team’s next meeting, she emails me an update on her contacts, noting any particular concerns or needs they may have expressed.  I add this to our database.

That’s right, I said, “database.”  Nothing says “pastoral care” like an Excel spreadsheet.

IN DEFENSE OF SYSTEMS

I realize all this sounds a bit clinical. But that is not reason in itself to dismiss it.  After all, the same could be said of vacation itineraries– it’s just dates, times, and locations.  But the point of a good itinerary is to enable a great vacation.  It creates space and structure for people to enjoy being together.

Similarly, the point here is to create a system or structure through which this level of pastoral care can occur for everyone in our congregation.  In a description like this, it may sound clinical, but it won’t be experienced as such.

THE APPEAL

We are still in the beginning stages of implementing this new system.  If you are interested in being either a member of the “core” or “rind,” we would love to have you on board and now is a good time to.  As mentioned, you are free to determine the number of people with whom you make contact in this capacity and the type of person whom you’d like to provide this kind of care for.

POSTS IN THIS SERIES

Pastoral Care at SBCRC (Part 1): A New Model

Pastoral Care at SBCRC (Part 2): Filling in the Cracks

Pastoral Care at SBCRC (Part 3): Council Members in Small Groups (To be Completed)

Pastoral Care at SBCRC (Part 4): Levels of Pastoral Care (To be Completed)

For those who don’t believe; I have attached photos of the SBCRC Ultimate Frisbee gang after a two hour Frisbee snow fest game!   We had a ball out there, and when we finished, we joined my kids in “the ditch” by the parking lot for some sledding!

Remember Frisbee Sundays at 2:00, come one come all!!!

Happy New Year!!!!

Roger Thomas

WHAT “PASTORAL CARE” REFERS TO HERE

We should begin by recognizing that there are different levels of pastoral care.  My focus in this post is on pastoral care at a more basic level– the process whereby the leadership (i.e. the council and pastoral staff) keeps in touch with the individuals and families within the congregation and remains alert to particular needs.  When I was in campus ministry, we called this “contact work.”

Ideally, this kind of thing should just happen organically, naturally.  Back when everyone went to the same neighborhood church, it probably did happen like that.  You could just go for a walk and chat with members raking the lawn, playing catch with their kids, or sipping lemonade on the porch.  However, we represent not just a number of different neighborhoods but cities and, in fact, states– at last count, two.  So either we need pastors and council members interested in walking marathons or we need a system.

HOW THIS KIND OF PASTORAL CARE HAD BEEN DONE

Previous to this year, this was the system: the congregation was divided into groups by last name.  These were called “care districts” and each was assigned an elder, a deacon, and a Companion in Christ (or CIC) .  As part of monthly council meetings, the three of them would discuss how people in that group were doing and offer a prayer together for them.

Before describing changes to our pastoral care model, we should acknowledge the blessing that doing pastoral care this way  has been to our congregation.  More specifically, thanks goes to the leadership of Dan Triezenberg, who not only chaired the Congregational Care Team but provided training workshops each month for council members and CICs.

PASTORAL CARE AND THE WEATHER REPORT

When we created The Weather Report in 2008, it initiated this congregation into a time of transition.  One of the priorities of that report was the strengthening of small groups.   To accomplish this requires more than just making them another program on the church calendar.  They have to become integral to the way life operates within the church.  Toward this end, they are becoming central to how we do ground level pastoral care.  Elders and deacons, in other words, no longer oversee a district but rather attend a small group.  Those are the people with whom they remain in contact.

The strengths and weaknesses of this are relatively obvious.  The most immediate strength is that, while still “a system” of sorts, it feels more natural.  You’re less likely to simply offer information about particular needs to your elder or deacon, more likely to form a friendship.  You’re in regular, meaningful contact with one another.

There are weaknesses to overcome.  First of all, it is going to take time before we can distribute council members throughout the groups.  Ultimately we would like to be in a position where there is at least one elder in each group.  (Part 3 in this series will offer a fuller description of what the council member’s role in a small group looks like.)

Second and maybe more importantly, not everyone is (or can be) in a small group.  It is not realistic to assume that we will ever get 100% involvement.  The next post in this series will describe the measures being taken to fill those cracks in the system and ensuring that those not in small groups don’t fall through them.  However, even as we recognize this limitation to the model, we will conclude this post by this bit of encouraging news: about 70% of the church community is currently in a small group.   We are deeply appreciative of your commitment to ministering to one another in that way.

POSTS IN THIS SERIES

Pastoral Care at SBCRC (Part 2): Filling in the Cracks

Pastoral Care at SBCRC (Part 3): Council Members in Small Groups (To be Completed)

Pastoral Care at SBCRC (Part 4): Levels of Pastoral Care (To be Completed)

Each semester I have been here something about our Sunday evening programing has been different from the semester before.  We’ve changed the name, changed the order, changed the times.  We’ve probably implemented more changes to Sunday evenings in this time span than this church did in its first forty years of existence.

Being a part of the church today requires patience.  And the patience you’ve demonstrated through these changes has not gone unnoticed.  Thank you.

Less than ten years ago, one of my seminary professors said that you don’t find a lot of books on ecclesiology– studies into the nature and purpose of the church.  I was a little surprised by that and said, “I think that’s changing.”  Now, granted, when I first saw one, I thought minivans would never last, so I am no prophet.  However, on this matter, I was on target.  What it means to be the church and what the church is called to do are questions that are generating a lot of discussion.

It is beyond the purpose of this post to get into all that.  My point is simply to say that the fact that we’re changing and evaluating and changing again how we do things hardly makes us unique.  It just happens that a lot of the issues facing churches everywhere have implications for us in terms of Sunday evenings.  In an earlier draft of this post, I tried listing some of the specific issues involved in this discussion and it just became too long and complicated.  What follows simply offers a summary of the priorities that led to the revision and, following that, a description of the changes.

1. Sabbath. The schedule implemented this fall sought to reflect a commitment to developing small groups– as described in the Weather Report.  We are very pleased by the level of involvement in small groups.  Certainly the schedule played some role in that, as it allowed parents to send their children to Kidz Club or Boys’ and Girls’ Clubs while their group met.  But it was a smaller role than we’d anticipated.  What’s more it demanded a lot of leaders and, quite frankly, the kids– especially the younger ones.  (My kids loved Kidz Club– loved it– but were pooped on Monday.)  The idea of an exhausting Sabbath runs contrary to the whole purpose of the thing.

2. Church-wide Fellowship. Small groups are providing opportunities to develop closer relationships.  However there is also something about fellowship with the whole community.  Though such events can be a little chaotic (or is that just my kids?), there is something reassuring about having different generations of our church family coming together, sharing conversation and meal.  This was lost in our new schedule, and we hope to create a more prominent place for it again.

3. Worship.  Attendance was about half what it was last year at Mosaic services.  Council feels  this has more to do with the schedule than people’s desire to worship together outside of morning services.  It was decided we need a schedule that gives additional services some room to breathe.  Trying to squeeze one in before five o’clock just did not work for most.

With this in mind, here is what you can expect in the new year.

1. MOSAIC NIGHTS (EVENING WORSHIP & MEAL).  While the specific dates for meals and services will be posted later, the basic idea is that we will have a second worship service and a meal about once a month.  Unless there are already special services in that month (for example, Ash Wednesday in February), these will occur on the last Sunday of the month.  Meals will likely be potluck, with different small groups taking turns with set-up and clean-up.

2. YOUTH GROUP.  By and large, this remains as it is.  High school on Wednesdays, middle school on Sunday evenings.  There will, however, not be a separate program for middle school on evenings when there is worship and dinner.

3. BOYS & GIRLS CLUB.  Boys and Girls Club will meet every other Sunday.  The meeting time will be the same as with the middle school youth– 5:30 to 7pm.

4. KIDZ CLUB. For the reasons stated above, we will no longer be hosting Kidz Club.  However, in order to encourage families needing childcare to attend small group, there will be some money available from the church for that purpose.  More details to come.

Thanks.  Merry Christmas.

Among the oxen (like an ox I’m slow)
I see a glory in the stable grow
Which, with the ox’s dullness might at length
Give me an ox’s strength.

Among the asses (stubborn I as they)
I see my Savior where I looked for hay;
So may my beastlike folly learn at least
The patience of a beast.

Among the sheep (I like a sheep have strayed)
I watch the manger where my Lord is laid;
Oh that my baa-ing nature would win thence
Some woolly innocence.

— C. S. Lewis, from POEMS, edited by Walter Hooper, Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1977.

Preparing Ourselves First

The first, and most important thing we can do to prepare our children for Advent is to prepare ourselves first. After all, if we are impatient and crabby – pressured by all the busyness of this season – we won’t be very good at teaching our children anything about quiet, expectant waiting. If they never hear us talk about what we long for from the Lord, how will they learn about this kind of longing? And, if they hear “the coming of Jesus” talked about at church, and perhaps at school, but never hear us talk about the meaning of the coming of Jesus for us, what kind of message will we be giving them?

Of course, our children will be watching us and listening to us – what we say and do, and what we fail to say and do. So, the first thing we can give our children is our own commitment to enter Advent as deeply as we can. We want to clear our own spirits so that we can be present to theirs. The graces we receive can be the graces we share with them.

Talking with Our Children

To talk with our chidren about our own religious experience doesn’t mean we have to know all kinds of “theology” to “teach them,” nor does it mean we have to “dumb it down” to ridiculously simple terms. We don’t have to “burden” children with the burdens we have to bear in our adult relationship with God, and we don’t have to make their world more unsettling and scary than it already is. We just have to find the right time and place to talk with them about our faith.

We don’t have to criticize everything in our contemporary culture’s preparation for and celebration of Christmas. But, what we tell them about Advent, will help temper the materialism and consumerism involved in the marketing of Christmas to children.

The Message
We can tell our children about Isaiah, the prophet. We can tell them that God has wanted to be the one who would lead and take care of his people. But they rebelled against God, and demanded kings, just like all the peoples around them had. So, God let them have kings. As it turned out, there was one bad king after another. And God sent prophets to the people and the kings to remind them of the agreement – the “covenant” – God made with them: I’ll be your God and you be my people.

Now the way the people made someone a king was to pour a bit of oil on their head. The one who was “anointed” this way with oil became the king. Well, the prophets began to tell the people that God would send them “an anointed one” (the word they use to say “anointed one” in Hebrew is “Messiah.”) In fact, they said that this Messiah would be called “Emmanuel”, which in Hebrew means, “God is with us.”

So, the message of the prophets was about a promise – that God would save his people from all that they were suffering. The prophets use such wonderful images to tell the people that they could expect and hope for a day when “every tear would be wiped away.” It would be a day of great peace – “the lion would lie down with the lamb” and the people will beat their spears into hooks to prune trees with. And, the most unbelievable promise of all: “death will be no more.”

We all know now that what God was preparing his people for was the coming of Jesus, the Christ (Christos in Greek means “the anointed one.”)

Then, of course, we can tell them about Zachary and Elizabeth and about Joseph and Mary. We can tell them the story from Luke’s gospel first. What is so surprising about the story is that he comes, not like a king, but in great simplicity and poverty. Our God is truly with us, as a little baby. He knows what is like to be a child – everything.

We can tell this story to our children in so many ways. We can let them tell us what it means to them. Through all this conversation, the message will come through. During these weeks of Advent, we want to look forward to celebrating his coming to live our life and to set us free – free from our sins and free from death itself.

We want to open up Advent for them, so that they can get ready for – look forward to – Christmas in a different way. We want to introduce them to faith-filled meanings for light/darkness, hunger/thirsts, and all the other images of Isaiah. We want them to really know the meaning of “the Christmas story.”

Advent Activities

It would be great to create a Nativity “place” in our home. Before we just put a nativity scene there, we can let it be an empty space for a while. We can prepare for setting it up, by putting things in that place which represent the longing, the desire, the emptiness. Perhaps that place can begin with a basket. Children can place notes in the basket that express what they hope for, for each member in the family, for their friends, for people in the world. They can write special prayers for loved ones who are sick, for children in their school who are difficult. We can keep telling the children that it is into this special place of our longing and faith that Jesus comes. Then, when we set up the Nativity scene in that place, it can become a special place for the children.

We can involve children in preparing food for others. If there is a pre-Christmas party with friends or family, or even a “pot-luck” event we have to go to, we can involve the children in preparing something for the party. And, for Christmas dinner itself, we can tutor the children in making food for others to be happy and full and grateful. We can show them recipes they can make, and let them “in” on the big plans for the whole thing.

We can make plans to visit someone who is homebound or in a nursing home at this time. We can prepare our children for how to go there, how to be there, how to be grateful for the experience.

We can take an Advent or Christmas song, and copy it for our family reading – perhaps a prayer to be read, over and over. We can talk about what the words mean.

With older children, we might find a time to prepare food for a meal program for the homeless or go there to help serve and meet the families there. We may even be able to get them to tell the younger children about the experience, and why it fits so well with preparing for Christmas.

And, as we make these special family traditions during Advent, we will come up with others, that fit our family well.

http://onlineministries.creighton.edu/CollaborativeMinistry/online.html

Posted by Pastor Paula Triezenberg

Each Sunday in Advent this year we will be looking at one of the concepts of the Advent Conspiracy– worship fully, spend less, give more, love all. The Advent Conspiracy is a resource seeking to enrich the church’s preparation for and celebration of Christmas. One of the suggestions they promote is this: take money that would have been spent on gifts and buy wells for those lacking a clear water source.

Toward that end, this Sunday we’ll have available specially designated envelopes for any contributions you’d like to make.  There will be similarly designated receptacles where you can place them.  After Christmas, we will send that money to The Christian Reformed World Relief Committee for the purchase of wells.

Since we’ve not done this before, I thought I might anticipate and address some questions this might raise for people.

1. “What about the Giving Tree and other things that the church is promoting related to Christmas and year-end giving?  Won’t this just take away from those things?”

It shouldn’t.  This is specifically for money that would have otherwise gone to purchase gifts– either gifts that others would have given to you or you would have given others.  We hope that you will give to the other things as you would have normally.

2.  “I find our celebration of Christmas deeply meaningful already.  Should I feel guilty for not participating in this?”

Definitely not.  We’re doing this for people who, for example, feel like Christmas has become too much about consumerism and want to change their celebration of it in a way that helps make Christ central.  It’s certainly not the only way to do that.  Giving and receiving gifts is, for many people, another.  In fact, I hope that, as a result of our use of Advent Conspiracy materials, you’ll engage one another in conversation about your own Christmas traditions.  The goal here is to enable us all to have a more meaningful holiday.

3. “Do you have to commit to giving all the money or can you just spend less on a gift and give away the rest?”

You don’t have to commit to anything.  Whatever amount or percentage is great.  The whole idea of this is to help us celebrate Christmas, not add an addition obligation or burden.  This congregation has been very generous in its giving this year.  You certainly have nothing to prove on that account.

4. What about kids? Are they participating?

Parents and grandparents love giving kids gifts.  Kids love receiving gifts.  My recommendation is that you simply ask them.  I asked mine.  They weren’t interested.  We left it at that.  While it would have been great for them to chose to give, I don’t want them to do so because they feel guilty.  What applies with adults applies to them as well– it’s to help them celebrate Christmas.  If it doesn’t do that, don’t do it.

5. “Why wells?”

Jesus refers to himself as “living water.”  The metaphor is appropriate.  The lack of a clean water source can be deadly.  The organization Living Water states that “every 15 seconds a child dies from contaminated water.”  Building wells seems like a good way of showing gratitude for having received Jesus, our Living Water.

6. “What’s meant by ‘give more’?”

There’s two answers to that.  The first is rather obvious.  It refers to the giving of money to purchase wells.  But the other thing that the Advent Conspiracy emphasizes is the fact that often the gifts we give one another aren’t all that meaningful.  Or that there meaning is determined by their cost.  This isn’t the only way in which measure meaning.  In fact, it’s a pretty crummy way of doing it.  A handmade gift, for example, can also be meaningful because it reflect someone’s investment of time and energy.  There’s a personal investment.  The Advent Conspiracy encourages us to give one another gifts like that.

Here’s a website with lots of gift ideas.