I don't want to claim myself as the initiator of this project (that is Josh Frank and friends), but I do want to highlight the Pentecost Project as another in a line of different practices Christfollowers pursue (in the mold of the Advent Conspiracy and others) over the course of each year, and our lives as a whole.

There is something very ancient about this commitment to different holidays (holy days) that give our lives meaning distinct from that of the surrounding culture, but there is something very present about this too as people reimagine different practices as new situations arise.  The new situation the Pentecost Project is latching onto is the tax rebate Americans are receiving this year that the government would desire for us to spend to boost our flagging economy.  The Project's folks would like us to reconsider this materialistic goal and instead truly invest our money in the world around us.

Here's a short blurb for understanding their vision:

The Pentecost Project is an experiment towards a more true and loving economy...What if, instead of becoming greater consumers, we encouraged people to move towards an even better economy, an economy of abundance? What if, instead of accumulating more stuff, we encouraged people to give things away? What if, instead of the possibility of making a down payment and opening new credit, we encouraged people to pay down their debt?…In this Spirit, we undertake the Pentecost Project: invest in others, share possessions, reduce debt. 

The three main moves in the Pentecost Project don't necessarily lock us in to having to give all the money away.  In fact, the third move, "reduce debt," encourages us to sink that money into debt we may be carrying, while simultaneously committing ourselves to reducing that debt over the long-term by spending less on ourselves, and tightening our belts so we can truly invest what we've been given to be stewards elsewhere in the world with much greater need.

This is a move from want (what we Americans often say is need) to finding out what we truly need.  This is a hard  process, a stripping of what has brought us comfort before, but over the long run more of ourselves is converted to the kingdom of heaven and more of our resources are freed to be invested in it.

As Jesus said in Matthew 11, "From the days of John the Baptist until now, the kingdom of heaven has been forcefully advancing..."  We live in that "now" two thousand years later and we can participate in that advance.