Challenging Consumermas
A sermon series given at All Hallows
by Ray Gaston during Advent 2003
It’s started already: the Festival lights are on, the adverts are appearing on the TV — Consumermas, the festival of over-indulgence and consumption, has begun. This year in Advent we will focus on the counter-cultural message of Advent and Christmas, and explore how we can celebrate Christmas in ways that speak of the true abundance found in Jesus Christ rather than the over-indulgence, debt and misery that often characterise the commercial capitalist Christmas.
Audio
As a bit of an experiment, Ray's Advent sermons in 2003 are being tape-recorded. If you wish you can borrow the cassettes — ask Ray — or you can listen to the sermons online. Just click on the appropriate link below:
| Date |
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Windows Media Player 9 format* |
RealAudio format* |
.mp3 format* |
| Advent 1 |
‘Be alert at all times’ The second coming of Christ is a strong theme in the Advent season — how might this help us to challenge consumerism?
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| Advent 2 |
Songs of Liberation 1: ‘Guide our feet into the way of peace’ Zechariah’s song of liberation is one of three such songs in Luke’s story of Jesus’ nativity. What do these songs tell us about the meaning of Christmas, and what relevance does Zechariah’s song have for our challenge to Consumermas?
[Note: the recording of this sermon is unfortunately incomplete.]
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| Advent 3 |
‘You brood of vipers!’ John the Baptist’s powerful and uncompromising message is a challenge to the system. What might John’s message be if he were to step into Leeds City Centre this Advent?
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| Advent 4 |
Songs of Liberation 2: ‘He has filled the hungry with good things, and sent the rich away empty’ Our second song of liberation is Mary’s song, often called the Magnificat. This song presents a strong challenge to the social and economic status quo. In challenging Consumermas we are becoming People of the Magnificat.
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*Notes on the audio formats
- MP4 format
MP4 format is a multimedia container format standard. Audio MP4 files can combine high compression with very high quality. Many media players can play MP4 files, including RealPlayer, QuickTime, iTunes, and recent versions of Windows Media Player (you may need to download a codec from www.free-codecs.com/download/3ivx.htm).
- Windows Media Player format
Windows Media Player is installed as part of Windows. If you have an earlier version, you can download version 9 (for Windows 98SE, Millennium and 2000) or version 10 or later (for Windows XP and Vista) from www.microsoft.com/downloads/Browse.aspx?categoryid=4. These are quite large downloads [~ 10 MB or larger], so if you have a dial-up connection you may prefer to ask Phil for a copy of the installation program on CD.
- RealAudio format
This requires RealPlayer (or the older RealOne Player) to be installed. A free version of RealPlayer can be downloaded from http://uk.real.com/player/ (choose the free player on the left of the page) — but again it’s a large download [~ 13 MB], so if you have a dial-up connection you may prefer to ask Phil for a copy of the installation program on CD.
Alternatively, you can install Real Alternative, which will allow you to play RealMedia files without having to install RealPlayer/RealOne Player. Real Alternative is free, and works well with all major browsers; it is also a much smaller download (5.7 MB). Get it from http://www.free-codecs.com/Real_Alternative_download.htm.
This page was last updated on Saturday, 17 April 2004
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