“And she gave birth to her firstborn son and wrapped him in swaddling cloths and laid him in a manger, because there was no place for them in the inn.” (ESV – Read the chapter)
Have you ever had anything not go the way you were expecting? Perhaps the better question is whether or not you’ve had that happen yet today. We regularly make plans only to have to throw those plans in the trash when they bump up against the walls of reality. The real question we need to face here is not whether or not we’ve faced this disruption of intent, but what we did about it when it happened.
“And the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God.” (ESV – Read the chapter)
The angel told Mary that she had found favor with God, and then set her on a road that was incredibly difficult. We’d sure like to think that being the recipient of God’s favor is a good thing from start to finish, but given the kinds of things Mary experienced, that’s not such an easy conclusion as we’d like. So, what does it mean to find God’s favor?
What does it mean to serve the Lord? Have you ever really thought about that? Followers of Jesus are told we are to serve Him, but we don’t often think about the details. As we continue our series, The Characters of Christmas, Mary’s story gives us a pretty comprehensive picture. Check this out to see what the picture of serving the Lord looks like.
The Life of a Servant
So, last week we looked at the story of Gabriel’s announcement to Zechariah that his barren wife would conceive and give birth to a son. In this, we saw that God’s promises are not fulfilled solely by the boldly miraculous or the faith superheroes, but instead, are made manifest when God moves in the lives of people very much like you and me. I have to think that the story of Zechariah’s encounter with Gabriel in the Temple would have spread pretty quickly. I mean, as far as we know, God had not spoken in a public way to His people in about 400 years at that point. Let’s be honest: We have trouble imagining 400 years period. Four hundred years is just about how long there have been permanent, successful colonies of Europeans in North America. Jamestown isn’t that far from here. You can go up to Williamsburg and see the remnants of that very first settlement in 1607. It’s a pretty neat museum and recreation.
This post and this afternoon’s post of yesterday’s sermon will be the only two posts this week. Enjoy celebrating Christmas with your family tomorrow and see you on Monday of next week! Merry Christmas!
“And Mary said, “Behold, I am the servant of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word.” And the angel departed from her.” (ESV – Read the chapter)
How did you respond the last time God asked you to do something hard? Were you ready to go, or were you more hesitant in the face of the great unknown stretching out before you? When God calls us on an adventure of some kind, that’s a scary place to be. His adventures tend to go well beyond what we can manage or handle on our own. But in that unease is the promise of life.
The Nexus 