How to Reclaim Christmas in your community

Join us in celebrating Christmas traditionally...

Waste and Consumption

Advent was traditionally a season of penitence, so at a local landfill site or recycling centre, gather together for a short service of reflection on how we are running up ecological debts. You can bring shopping receipts, credit card statements and other symbols – burn them in a brazier!

In Church

1) Encourage pilgrims to walk or travel by public transport.
2) Stage a performance of the Operation Noah Advent drama: “A Present for the Future” with local schoolchildren. Read more and download the script here >
3) Build your service around the beautiful Canticle of Daniel  …or the wonderful Psalm 148, the so-called “canticle of creatures.”
4) You can find masses of useful hymns and prayers at www.webofcreation.org for a “Creation Praise service – culminating in the Operation Noah Advent Prayer.

On the streets

Run a “Green Give Away” on the streets. Scour your attics and cupboards and GIVE! This is not an excuse for dumping your junk, but a chance to help others. Look for gifts that a total stranger would find a real surprise! Maybe you can also help out charity shops? Other families with less than yourself? Those toys that never get played with? Reclaim Christmas and do a big inventory on your possessions. And then do all this with others! Surprise the world!

In your homes

Spend time with your family and friends MAKING your own presents at Craft Christmas Parties! It’s more personal to give a gift you have made yourself, you can have fun being creative with those around you and it will help out with the credit crunch! “Spend Like There Is a Tomorrow”. You don’t have to be a genius to make simple presents… The Buy Nothing Christmas website has many ideas of alternative presents that are homemade and thoughtful.

LET 2011 BE THE YEAR THAT YOU – RECLAIM CHRISTMAS