Martha ii #adventbookclub
Luke 2:1-7 (CEV)
The Birth of Jesus
2 About that time Emperor Augustus gave orders for the names of all the people to be listed in record books.2 These first records were made when Quirinius was governor of Syria.
3 Everyone had to go to their own hometown to be listed.4 So Joseph had to leave Nazareth in Galilee and go to Bethlehem in Judea. Long ago Bethlehem had been King David’s hometown, and Joseph went there because he was from David’s family.
5 Mary was engaged to Joseph and travelled with him to Bethlehem. She was soon going to have a baby, 6 and while they were there, 7 she gave birth to her first-born son. She dressed him in baby clothes and laid him on a bed of hay, because there was no room for them in the inn.
Martha’s story reminds me that the coming of Jesus disturbed lives. People who thought their lives were sorted, going along nicely; those who thought their lives were full already. People whose lives were just going along – and then Jesus burst into them – and nothing was ever quite the same again.
People open their hearts and lives to God. And he comes. Changes priorities, opportunities presented, new life born, hope re-kindled.
And with that welcoming of God, comes a whole rush of other people to welcome too…
Lord,
your coming
changes everything.
I thought life was ok,
but then you burst into it.
And everything is somehow different,
even when it appears the same.
You have brought your life,
your hope,
your presence.
As I welcome you
may I make room,
and allow you to have an impact
on what you find there.
Join us reading Walking Backwards to Christmas by Stephen Cottrell from SPCK Publishing this advent. Be part of #adventbookclub, share your thoughts here, on your own blog (and let us know we’ll link to it), on Twitter using #adventbookclub or on the Adventbookclub Facebook page
Pam's Perambulation 