What Would Jesus Buy?

"You don't need to buy a gift to give a gift."

Reverend Billy and the Church of Stop Shopping have got to be some of my favorite activists. Not only are they totally entertaining, they have a wonderful message for the holidays and everyday. Reverend Billy, while not an actual reverend, uses the format of a religious service to get his point across - put family, God and love back into the holidays.

From their Statement of Belief:"Reverend Billy and the Church of Stop Shopping Gospel Choir believe that Consumerism is overwhelming our lives....So we are singing and preaching for local economies and real - not mediated through products - experience."

The theatrical release of "What Would Jesus Buy?" in the fall of 2007, produced by Morgan Spulock of "Supersize Me" fame, follows the Rev and his Choir on a tour of the country. It also features portraits of a wide range of people - from mega consumers maxing out credit cards, to the just barely not homeless - and how the holidays affect their minds, spirits and wallets.

Funny and scary at the same time, scenes of shoppers trampling one another to buy the latest video game system, spitting in the faces of employees who are the bearers of 'bad' news, and maxing out several credit cards, is enough to make you want to never enter a mall again.
Reverend Billy, being the only champion of victims of out of control shopping, has recently held several services in honor of Jdimytai Damour, a young man who was trampled to death by shoppers entering a store on black friday.

But the message of hope, of turning Christmas back into a holiday of love and family and being thankful for what you have is at the heart of the sermon. For some, this is a hard thing to do. We are accustomed to showing our love by giving wonderful material gifts to one another. And it is exciting to open a gift on Christmas, and especially fun to watch children open them! And it is fun thinking up a gift that you know your loved one will be very excited to receive.

At our house, even more than gifts, the point of the holidays are to get together with family and friends, to catch up with dear ones we may not have seen in a long time, and share homemade food, made from the heart. This ideal, to me, is my favorite part of the holidays. I feel so lucky to have a family to share it with!

Happy Holidays!

Update: 12/17/08 WWJB? Is now available On-Demand! "The Christmas Revolution is coming to cable! Families all over the world have watched WHAT WOULD JESUS BUY? on DVD and discovered how they can BUY LESS and GIVE MORE this Christmas, now you can also see it on over 100 "On-Demand" cable providers including: Comcast, Time Warner Cable, Cox, Charter, Cablevision, Verizon, AT&T, RCN, Insight, Mediacom, and Bresnan!"  We also saw that it was available to rent through our Library system, so check it out!