Tuesday, December 16, 2014

Matthew 2:13-18
13 When they had gone, an angel of the Lord
appeared to Joseph in a dream. “Get up,” he said, “take the child and his mother and escape to Egypt. Stay there until I tell you, for Herod is going to search for the child to kill him.” 14 So he got up, took the child and his mother during the night and left for Egypt, 15 where he stayed until the death of Herod. And so was fulfilled what the Lord had said through the prophet: “Out of Egypt I called my son.” 16 When Herod realized that he had been outwitted by the Magi, he was furious, and he gave orders to kill all the boys in Bethlehem and its vicinity who were two years old and under, in accordance with the time he had learned from the Magi. 17 Then what was said through the prophet Jeremiah was fulfilled:
 18 “A voice is heard in Ramah,
    weeping and great mourning,
Rachel weeping for her children
    and refusing to be comforted,
    because they are no more.”


Reflection
If the whole teenage pregnancy, trip to Bethlehem, and
giving birth in a barn were not enough. now Mary finds out that Herod wants to kill them. What feelings do you think Mary had when she had to pack up her newborn baby and flee to a foreign land? What struggles do you think she is having with being faithful to God’s plan?

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Monday, December 15, 2014

Luke 1:26-33
26 In the sixth month of Elizabeth’s pregnancy, God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth, a town in Galilee, 27 to a virgin pledged to be married to a man named Joseph, a descendant of David. The virgin’s name was Mary. 28 The angel went to her and said, “Greetings, you who are highly favored! The Lord is with you.” 29 Mary was greatly troubled at his words and wondered what kind of greeting this might be.30 But the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary; you have found favor with God. 31 You will conceive and give birth to a son, and you are to call him Jesus. 32 He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, 33 and he will reign over Jacob’s descendants forever; his kingdom will never end.


Reflection
From the beginning of the story Jesus’ birth is not “perfect.” Jesus will not be born to a rich or influential family but a poor adolescent girl. It is easy for us to sanitize Jesus’ birth because we know the beginning and the end. Imagine facing the birth the way Mary did with little or no
explanation and no clue about what was going to happen. This way of looking at Christmas is far from perfect, it is real. What do you think your reaction would have been if you
received the news that Mary did (you are engaged and you are pregnant by the Holy Spirit)? How do you imagine others would respond? Would the angels’ words “do not be afraid” be enough to calm your nerves?

Weekly Theme December 14 through 20

Mary

  In the sixth month of Elizabeth’s pregnancy, God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth, a town in Galilee,  to a virgin pledged to be married to a man named Joseph, a descendant of David. The virgin’s name was Mary. The angel went to her and said, “Greetings, you who are highly favored! The Lord is with you.”
Luke 1:26-28
Have you ever had that moment of something happening in your life that you knew it was absolutely not possible except through the power of God?  It is in those moments that we come to realize that God is doing something wonderful and good in our lives, and in many ways it is a process of rebirth and renewal. How do those moments happen in our lives?  They happen when we come to the conclusion that we are totally and utterly powerless to bring about any change in our own lives, so we surrender to the power of God in our lives and say “yes” to what God wants to do in us and through us.  Through those moments, little by little and over and over again, God makes us into new creations.  At the same time, we need to always realize that what is happening in our lives is only possible because God is the one doing it.

Saturday, December 13, 2014

Matthew 1:22-25
22 All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet: 23 “The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and they will call him
Immanuel” (which means “God with us”).
24 When Joseph woke up, he did what the angel of the Lord had commanded him and took Mary home as his wife. 25 But he did not consummate their marriage until she gave birth to a son. And he gave him the name Jesus.


Reflection
Today we have the same scripture as Wednesday. This is so we can note the importance that even though Joseph has doubt and fear he still obeys God. What do you think it means to obey God? How does this get lived out in your walk of faith?

Friday, December 12, 2014

Matthew 13:53
53 When Jesus had finished these parables, he moved on from there. 54 Coming to his hometown, he began teaching the people in their synagogue, and they were amazed. “Where did this man get this wisdom and these miraculous
powers?” they asked. 55 “Isn’t this the carpenter’s son? Isn’t his mother’s name Mary, and aren’t his brothers James, Joseph, Simon and Judas? 56 Aren’t all his sisters with us? Where then did this man get all these things?” 57 And they took offense at him.


Reflection
In our scripture today we see Jesus get heckled in his hometown. This is a continued push to see that God does not operate inside of our assumptions. Just like Joseph and the people of Nazareth, we are all called to change our
assumptions from time to time. When have you had an experience or relationship that forced you to change some of your assumptions? What difference did it make?

Thursday, December 11, 2014

Matthew 1:18-22
18-19 The birth of Jesus took place like this. His mother, Mary, was engaged to be married to Joseph. Before they came to the marriage bed, Joseph discovered she was pregnant. (It was by the Holy Spirit, but he didn’t know that.) Joseph,
chagrined but noble, determined to take care of things quietly so Mary would not be disgraced.
20-23 While he was trying to figure a way out, he had a dream. God’s angel spoke in the dream: “Joseph, son of David, don’t hesitate to get married. Mary’s pregnancy is Spirit-conceived. God’s Holy Spirit has made her pregnant. She will bring a son to birth, and when she does, you, Joseph, will name him Jesus—‘God saves’—because he will save his people from their sins.”


Reflection
This is the same scripture that we read on Tuesday but
today we see it from another translation.  When we look at Joseph we see someone who is a great man of faith, trying to live out his faith. When Mary gets pregnant and he tries to do the right thing but an angel comes to set him straight. Many times we are faced with moments like this in our walk of faith where we are confronted with a challenge that calls us out of our comfort zone to serve God. What would you want to do if there were no limitations to share the good news of Jesus Christ?

Wednesday, December 10, 2014

Matthew 1:22-25
22 All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet: 23 “The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and they will call him
Immanuel” (which means “God with us”).
24 When Joseph woke up, he did what the angel of the Lord had commanded him and took Mary home as his wife. 25 But he did not consummate their marriage until she gave birth to a son. And he gave him the name Jesus.


Reflection
Our scripture today solidifies our point from yesterday. We like Joseph, may not understand and we may still doubt what will happen, but we follow in faith. What do you think about the idea that we can doubt and still have faith? What does this mean for your faith walk?

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