Meet Mary, an ordinary person living an ordinary life. Her life had been all mapped out for her.
Considering the ‘rulers’ wielding power today, and those in Jesus’s day as well, a shepherd-ruler sounds like a contradiction in terms.
Yesterday, today, and tomorrow are entangled during this season as we join with the first-century Israelites in awaiting the Messiah’s arrival.
This is what we celebrate at Christmas: our God who sees our failings and, instead of pushing us away, comes to us in the midst of them.
It isn’t just a story. It’s real. It’s true. Christmas is real and living and breathing, and He is here with us.
Instead of being blown about by the wind, when we are together we experience the shaping power of God’s Holy Spirit.
This concept of God with us is not just theology, it is also our example to follow.
The much-beloved “Silent Night” was first performed at a Christmas Eve service in 1818 in a small city in what is now Salzburg, Austria.