Guest Article WORTH READING: A Society Beyond Consumerism

Choose from 20 daily Advent/Christmas guides/calendars. Some are lectionary-based, some are thematic. Copy your choice on recycled paper as a bulletin insert, in your own Advent-Christmas booklet or as a series in your weekly service bulletin.

Do-It-Yourself 'WHOSE Birthday?'

Table of Contents

Reflections & Activities

Legacy SLW! Advent-Christmas Blogs

• Explaining Santa to My Granddaughter 11/29/13
• Displacing Santa from the Top 12/24/13
• 12 Days of Christmas START on Christmas Day 12/25/13
• Going to Church on Christmas Eve 12/19/14
• Having an Epiphany for New Years 12/30/14
• 'Tis the Season 12/28/14

Legacy WHOSE Birthday? Editions Based on Cycle A (Matthew) --#'s 32, 29, 26, 23, 20, 17, 14, 11, 8, 5

Whose Birthday? How-To

• What Happened to Christmas?
• Why a Simpler Christmas?
• Weekly Family Time: How to Use These Reflections & Activities
• Let Us Have a Truly Christ-like Christmas
• Top 10 Uses of "Whose Birthday?"
• More Exciting, Helpful Ways to Use "Whose Birthday?"
• Going Beyond "Whose Birthday?"
• Alternative Giving \ Alternative Giving Index

Resources

• SLW! 'WHOSE Birthday?' Podcasts, Episodes 6-11, 32-35, 57-59, 80-83, 104-107, 116-119
• 10 Tips for a Simpler, More Meaningful Christmas
• Carols with Justice TEXT and AUDIO
• Finished-Ready Resources
  
  Advent Bulletin Insert series
  Advent 1-Simply Advent.pdf
  Advent 2-Simply Presence.pdf
  Advent 3-Simply Miracles.pdf
  Advent 4-Simply a Savior.pdf
  

  Consumo, Overlord of Overconsumption
  Consumo: Cover of 'Quaker Life'

  Christmas Packs:
  Christmas Budget
  Advent Budget

  Simple Living 101: Tools for Activists: More Resources for Speakers
  Let's Talk About Christmas - PDF 29
  Christmas Budget Worksheet 33
  Alternative Giving Card - PDF 34

  What Does Jesus Want for Christmas? pageant - PDF, TEXT and AUDIO.

  Whose Birthday Is It, Anyway? (Advent/Christmas)
  #20-text & PDF (Tony Campolo, Shane Claiborne and others)
  #19-text & PDF (Millard Fuller, Walter Wink, Ched Myers and others)

  Worship Alternatives: Sermons, Art, Litanies, Hymns, Prayers, etc. Look for PDF in all Worship Items categories.

• Bring Simpler Living to Your Group! If you want the convenience of a recorded speaker or workshop, choose from several at SimpleLivingWorks.org >> ArchivesAV
• 'Living Simply and Loving It!'
• 'Unplug the Christmas Machine' (including Participant’s Manual)
• 'Let Jesus Come, Let Santa Go: Celebrating an Alternate Christmas'
• If you want to make a presentation, Alternatives has materials you can use in 'Simple Living 101: Toolbook for activists shy or bold!'

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  • For more details, click Services at the top of any page.

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  Membership

  By being a self-starter, you help challenge the way our consumer society continues to usurp our holy days and exploit people and the environment. With your help, more people can experience the joy that comes from celebrating and living in ways that affirm all God's creation.

  Click Social Media at the top of any page and select the free support you want.

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  More Ideas and Inspiration Online!

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  Hundreds of free, inspiring articles are available anytime for personal inspiration or publication at SimpleLivingWorks.org >> Archives.

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Colleague Organizations

Before you start shopping, consider the following writings and podcast episodes by The Minimalists:

• Five Steps Toward a More Meaningful Holiday Season
• 40 Reasons to Avoid Shopping on Black Friday
• The Worst Christmas Ever
• Podcast 038 | Giftgiving
• Podcast 041 | Holidays

However you celebrate, the holiday season provides an opportunity express gratitude for what we have and to spend time with the ones we love. But for years, retailers have been trying to write a new story for the holidays, one that puts presents before presence. Instead of expressing our love by doing stuff with our families, corporations want us to keep buying Stuff for them.

1. Participate in Buy Nothing Day on November 24. Take the pledge to avoid crowded malls on the busiest shopping day of the year, and invite your friends to do the same!
2. Start a conversation about Stuff. Talk with your friends and family about where our Stuff comes from and where it goes--and the impacts on people and the planet along the way. Sharing The Story of Stuff movie on social media is a great icebreaker!
3. Give a non-material gift like event tickets, membership to a local museum, or a charitable donation in someone's name.
4. Gift something home-made or second-hand like baked goods, upcycled art, or quality used items.
5. Volunteer with a local charity or community organization--and bring your friends along, too.
6. Make a plan to relax. Holiday obligations and activities can leave us with little time to truly recharge. Set aside some time to get out into nature or to simply curl up with a good book.
7. Give the gift of an empty mailbox with Catalog Choice. This free website operated by The Story of Stuff Project can help you cancel unwanted catalogs and other junk mail. Sign up and get started now!

Finally, be sure to join the conversation on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram, where you can tell us how you #BuyLessLiveMore this holiday season.

From all of us at The Story of Stuff Project, Happy Holidays

Some of the items for this 'WHOSE Birthday?' are drawn from colleague sites, groups that we trust. So, if you read some of the articles here and then snoop around on the site, we're confident that you will not be drawn into a scam.

The content of this edition of 'WHOSE Birthday?' is not the same as the podcast. The podcast is taken from the audio tracks of a previous edition of 'WHOSE Birthday?' So, this year you get a two-fer.

NOTE: The Creative Commons license only applies to the content on this site. Since most of the content of this edition is not on this site, contact the owner of the content you choose before you make copies.

DIY WHOSE Birthday?

'Whose Birthday?' is a free online collection. Use as much as you need in print or online. Also, contribute your art and articles to SLW! for it.

'Whose Birthday?' #19 has been released as a SLW! podcast series. This legacy resource can also be used as text or audio.

DIY 'Whose Birthday?' Yes, you can produce our own customized, do-it-yourself 'Whose Birthday?' You're welcome to assemble and copy a version that meets your local needs. All of our resources and service are now free of charge.

• CREATE - select the items most appropriate for your congregation or group, including graphics. Add some of your own original material if you choose.
• PRODUCE - assemble the items in an attractive way, using publishing software (probably already on your computer) for a paper version; or electronic software for internet-based version (using PDF's of a paper version or a template for a newsletter version).
• DISTRIBUTE - Hand out copies to your congregation or group at a worship service or meeting or by mail, make additional copies available to share with friends and relatives. Do not sell for a profit or copyright it under our Creative Commons license. Post it on your congregation's or your personal web site.
• PROMOTE - Tell people where it's available using social media and any other ways available to you -- newsletter, worship bulletin, posters, etc.

To make your selections, visit:

• 'Whose Birthday?' index by editions.
• Alphabetical index of Advent/Christmas Alternative articles taken from 'Whose Birthday?' and our Christmas Packs
• Graphics at 'Spirit of Simplicity: Quotes and Art' and from 'Worship Alternatives'
• Complete Thematic/Seasonal index of Advent/Christmas resources
• For help with your workshop, visit parts 2 & 3 of 'Simple Living 101: Tools for Activists Shy or Bold'
• Although I no longer produce a podcast series, to hear past episodes of audio from 'Whose Birthday?', visit the index.
• For audio and video resources visit our AV index.

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MISSION: Equipping people of faith to challenge consumerism, live justly and celebrate responsibly // An all volunteer educational organization.