Leaders of the Church of England appeared to set themselves against the "carry on spending" message of the Chancellor when they urged consumers to stop shopping and turn to God instead.

The Church launched its "pray now buy later" message as part of a thrift campaign for Advent, the penitential period which comes before Christmas in the Christian calendar and begins on December 1.

The Advent period running up to Christmas, traditionally a time of reflection and contemplation, has been "squeezed" by consumer pressures and frenetic activity, the Church said at the launch of a new website to help Christians mark the season.

The site features an evocative YouTube interview with the Archbishop of Canterbury Dr Rowan Williams in which he appears in semi-monastic candle-lit surroundings, dressed in clerical black and advocating a more austere approach to the run-up to Christmas.

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The Archbishop said that even Christmas carols had become excessive. Referring to the torment of tinny carolling that consumers are about to be subjected to in shopping centres up and down the land, he said: "It's been said so often, it hardly needs saying again, but it is rather a pity that for a few weeks before Christmas we are saturated with Christmas carols.

"We don't have quite the sort of quiet we need to think, 'Well what would it be if Jesus really came as if for the first time into my life?"

Dr Williams admitted that "calendar" was the only association for most people in relation to Advent. The Church is concerned that children, asked to describe what an Advent Calender is, are more likely to refer to chocolate, Star Wars, the Simpsons or Lego than the birth of Christ.

"Advent is a time when you have calendars, and the Advent calendar is a countdown to Christmas, and it means daily sweets and chocolates," said Dr Williams. "It's a slightly thin and rather inadequate account of what has been for a long time one of the most important and significant times in the Church's year - a time of waiting, we sometimes say."

The Archbishop's message was given at the launch of www.whywearewaiting.com, in advance of the Advent season which begins on Sunday. The website features an online calendar, podcasts, reflections and "waiting tips" on the Advent season described as a "daily dose of chocolate" for the soul.

The aim is to counter the cult of instant gratification that permeates Christmas and "put the wanting back into waiting." Dr Williams and other church leaders want to recapture carols such as O Come All Ye Faithful for the Church, rather than let them be hijacked by the "Why Are We Waiting" refrain and everything it symbolises.

The Roman Catholic Abbot of Worth Abbey, in West Sussex, Fr Christopher Jamison, said the message of the campaign was "pray now, buy later" and not about telling people to stop shopping.

He said: "I really do believe that it is a real opportunity for people to just start thinking that maybe 'slower and less' can be better than 'quick and more'. One of the tragedies about the way Christmas is celebrated now is that Advent has disappeared. Advent with Christmas is fantastic but Christmas without Advent is dreadful."