Martha #adventbookclub

•December 8, 2014 • 9 Comments

(for those following along without the book, Martha is the name given by Stephen Cottrell to the Innkeepers wife)

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.

Imagine having to make that kind of journey whilst very pregnant.  It must have been exhausting.  I once moved house when 38 weeks pregnant and that was no fun.  On a very human level, I feel for Mary.

Nazareth to Bethlehem

Nazareth to Bethlehem is 163km or 101miles.  According to the directions, that’s a 34 hour walk – if you’re not pregnant!  They weren’t able to jump in their car.  There must have been worries about whether Mary would go into labour en-route.  It wasn’t a journey they chose to make, a last minute holiday before the baby arrived, or even a decision to go and have the baby amongst their relatives.  This was forced on them by bureaucracy.

But, somehow, or Gods-how it all came together.  Jesus was born in the right place at the right time, among the right people.

Lord,
sometimes you call us
and lead us,
to set out on a journey with you.

We do not always understand it,
sometimes it is very frightening,
we cannot always see
where you are leading us,
but you take us faithfully.

And as we journey with you,
new possibilities are born,
your life comes to new places
and we are changed.

Be born in me today
as I journey with you
 


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

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David ii #adventbookclub

•December 7, 2014 • Leave a Comment

Luke 2:8-17 (CEV)

The Shepherds

8 That night in the fields near Bethlehem some shepherds were guarding their sheep. 9 All at once an angel came down to them from the Lord, and the brightness of the Lord’s glory flashed around them. The shepherds were frightened. 10 But the angel said, “Don’t be afraid! I have good news for you, which will make everyone happy. 11 This very day in King David’s hometown a Savior was born for you. He is Christ the Lord. 12 You will know who he is, because you will find him dressed in baby clothes and lying on a bed of hay.”

13 Suddenly many other angels came down from heaven and joined in praising God. They said:

14 “Praise God in heaven!
Peace on earth to everyone
who pleases God.”

15 After the angels had left and gone back to heaven, the shepherds said to each other, “Let’s go to Bethlehem and see what the Lord has told us about.” 16 They hurried off and found Mary and Joseph, and they saw the baby lying on a bed of hay.

17 When the shepherds saw Jesus, they told his parents what the angel had said about him.

These shepherds are the exact opposite of the star-seekers.  These are not learned men, readers of books, thinkers and leaders; these are men who lived by their wits, charged with keeping their sheep safe, by whatever means they could.  They were outdoor men, used to being on a hillside, living a wild life.

The beauty of Christmas, God’s coming to earth, is that he came to all.  He spoke in ways they could grasp and led them within their realms of experience.

Well bred, well read, well dressed people were welcome.  So too were rough and ready, straight from the fields people. Whoever we are, whatever our realm of experience or our way of life, God comes to us and welcomes us.

God comes, light in the darkness for one and all.  God with us.

As we reflect again
on the characters of the Christmas story,
we see how your coming,
your life,
your peace
is for each one.

For those who work with their hands
and those who study books;
for those of great standing
and those who society looks down on
or takes for granted.

God’s presence,
God’s love,
God’s peace
is for all.

Thank God!

 As it sinks in what that means for me,
may I live it in my life. 

 

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

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David #adventbookclub

•December 6, 2014 • Leave a Comment

Luke 2:8-17 (CEV)

The Shepherds

8 That night in the fields near Bethlehem some shepherds were guarding their sheep. 9 All at once an angel came down to them from the Lord, and the brightness of the Lord’s glory flashed around them. The shepherds were frightened. 10 But the angel said, “Don’t be afraid! I have good news for you, which will make everyone happy. 11 This very day in King David’s hometown a Savior was born for you. He is Christ the Lord. 12 You will know who he is, because you will find him dressed in baby clothes and lying on a bed of hay.”

13 Suddenly many other angels came down from heaven and joined in praising God. They said:

14 “Praise God in heaven!
Peace on earth to everyone
who pleases God.”

15 After the angels had left and gone back to heaven, the shepherds said to each other, “Let’s go to Bethlehem and see what the Lord has told us about.” 16 They hurried off and found Mary and Joseph, and they saw the baby lying on a bed of hay.

17 When the shepherds saw Jesus, they told his parents what the angel had said about him.

 What a night!  It seemed such an ordinary night.  There we were, doing what we always do, caring for the sheep.  Then all of a sudden, this bright light.  Blinding it was, terrifying.  I thought the world was ended, that the moon was on fire or falling to earth, or, or… Who knows what was happening.  Then, this voice. Light speaking into the darkness of the night,

Do not be afraid

Good news!  Good job as I was scared half to death.

But he’d come to tell us that our saviour had been born.  Not just ours, but for everyone.  Light born into the darkness.

Then there were more angels, a proper party of praise, promising peace.

When they had gone, we had to go and see.  If this was true, this is a game-changer, a life-changer, a world-changer…

God is here amongst us.  Nothing will ever be the same again.

Into the ordinariness of life
you burst Lord,
light in our darkest hour,
coming into our everyday life,
our mundane activities,
our work.

You are not just for special times and places,
but for normality.

 Help me
to see you
where I am,
to hear your message
and to respond to it.

 

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

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