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"Fulfilment, marriage and birth"
Wednesday, 20 2017
Matthew 1:22 All this happened in order to fulfill what Adonai had said through the prophet,
23 “The virgin will conceive and bear a son,
and they will call him ‘Immanu El.”[Matthew 1:23 Isaiah 7:14]
(The name means, “God is with us.”)
24 When Yosef awoke he did what the angel of Adonai had told him to do — he took Miryam home to be his wife, 25 but he did not have sexual relations with her until she had given birth to a son, and he named him Yeshua.
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After he quoted Isaiah 7:14, Matthew interpreted the Hebrew word “Emmanuel” for his Greek readers: Emmanuel means “God with us.” Scholar William Barclay summed up Matthew’s message: “Jesus is the
one person who can tell us what God is like, and what God means us to be. In him alone we see what God is and what man ought to be.” * Joseph “did just as an angel from God commanded,” reaching beyond what seemed logical or understandable.
• Jesus would later tell his disciples, “Whoever has seen me has seen the Father” (John 14:9). In what ways have you chosen to make the person of Jesus central to your understanding of what God is
like? Has that helped you to set aside some of the negative, frightening images of God that limit too many people’s willingness to relate to God? If so, how has that worked?
• Joseph followed the angel’s instruction (in Matthew 1:21) to name the child “Jesus” (the Greek form of the Hebrew “Joshua,” which meant “Yahweh is salvation”). Many Hebrews wanted salvation from
the occupying Roman army. But the angel didn’t talk about the Romans. This child, he said, would save people from humanity’s greatest enemy: sin, missing God’s path for living a fully human life. How confident are you that Jesus can in fact save you from any life missteps, that he is the savior from sin that we all need?
Prayer: Lord, Matthew wrote that “When Joseph woke up, he did just as an angel from God commanded.” Awaken my heart, and give me Joseph’s willingness to live my life as you direct me to.
Amen.
* William Barclay, Daily Study Bible Series: The Gospel of Matthew—Volume 1, Chapters 1–10 (Revised Edition). Louisville: Westminster John Knox Press, 1976, p. 21.
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Jennifer CreagarJennifer Creagar is the Financial Care Program Director in Congregational Care at Resurrection Leawood. She is married and loves spending time with her family, and she enjoys writing and photography.
Sometimes, with all the wonderful Christmas traditions, I forget that this is NOT a story about tradition. It’s a story about breaking with tradition and following God’s instruction. It begins with the story of a man and a woman who were brave enough to do “just as… God commanded.”
“When Joseph woke up, he did just as an angel from God commanded and took Mary as his wife.” (Matthew 1:24) Joseph listened to God’s voice through the angel, and it’s particularly powerful because it was completely outside of what his culture and, most likely, his own heart, would ask him to do. Joseph had some alternatives. It would appear to any sensible man that Mary had been intimate with someone else. He must have felt hurt and betrayed. His culture and his religious tradition provided him with some ways out of his commitment to take Mary as his wife. He could publicly declare her to be an adulteress and leave her to be cast out of the community at best and stoned to death at worst. There was also a gentler and quieter solution – he could simply end the engagement and walk away. That was his plan and it was in perfect step with the cultural norm.
When I look at the Holy Family in my nativity set, they don’t look like rebels or people who set off a series of events that changed the course of all eternity. When Joseph took Mary as his wife, and they set off in life together with a baby on the way, that’s exactly what happened. They moved outside the safety and comfort of living the life society expected. The face of Joseph is the face of a rebel soldier, following orders despite the risk to his own safety and reputation. The son who Joseph named and welcomed (because God asked him to) made the true nature of God visible and available to all of the world.
If Joseph had chosen to follow the socially acceptable path his faith and community offered him to get out of an uncomfortable situation, it’s likely that no one would have faulted him. He could have lived out his life without conflict and social upheaval. Instead, Joseph followed the angel’s instructions and became a part of turning the world upside down from those days forward, bringing salvation to his own people and the rest of the world.
I live a pretty comfortable life conforming to the culture and society around me, but looking at Joseph stepping far outside his comfort zone like this makes me wonder, “What am I missing?” Where is God calling me to move outside of what peaceful society expects? What am I willing to risk in order to do God’s will? This Christmas, while I thoroughly enjoy every tradition that makes this season beautiful, I pray that I also take time to listen and hear God’s voice calling me to act in non-traditional and radical ways in order to do God’s will.
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"Joseph’s life beyond Christmas"
Thursday, 21 December 2017
Luke 2:41 Every year Yeshua’s parents went to Yerushalayim for the festival of Pesach. 42 When he was twelve years old, they went up for the festival, as custom required. 43 But after the festival was over, when his parents returned, Yeshua remained in Yerushalayim. They didn’t realize this; 44 supposing that he was somewhere in the caravan, they spent a whole day on the road before they began searching for him among their relatives and friends. 45 Failing to find him, they returned to Yerushalayim to look for him. 46 On the third day they found him — he was sitting in the Temple court among the rabbis, not only listening to them but questioning what they said; 47 and everyone who heard him was astonished at his insight and his responses. 48 When his parents saw him, they were shocked; and his mother said to him, “Son! Why have you done this to us? Your father and I have been terribly worried looking for you!” 49 He said to them, “Why did you have to look for me? Didn’t you know that I had to be concerning myself with my Father’s affairs?” 50 But they didn’t understand what he meant.
51 So he went with them to Natzeret and was obedient to them. But his mother stored up all these things in her heart., Matthew 13:54 and went to his home town. There he taught them in their synagogue in a way that astounded them, so that they asked, “Where do this man’s wisdom and miracles come from? 55 Isn’t he the carpenter’s son? Isn’t his mother called Miryam? and his brothers Ya‘akov, Yosef, Shim‘on and Y’hudah? 56 And his sisters, aren’t they all with us? So where does he get all this?” 57 And they took offense at him. But Yeshua said to them, “The only place people don’t respect a prophet is in his home town and in his own house.”
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*** Did You Know?
Resurrection will welcome thousands of worshippers for 27 different Candlelight Christmas Eve services—10 at the Leawood Campus, 7 at the West campus, 6 at the Downtown campus and 4 at the Blue Springs campus. Plan now to be among them. Visit cor.org/Christmas and then select the campus or campuses for which you wish service times and information.
We’d love to quote in the GPS even a short speech by Joseph about the glory and challenge of being Jesus’ earthly father. But, as Pastor Hamilton wrote, “Unlike Mary, Joseph has no ‘lines’—we don’t read a single word he speaks in the Gospels…. He is the patron saint of those who serve and do the right thing without seeking any credit.” * We do get a few more glimpses of his influence on Jesus. We see him as a worried parent looking for a missing boy in Luke 2. And we see that Jesus’ hometown looked down on him for being a carpenter’s son.
Ø His worried parents asked Jesus why he was in the Temple, not with them. Jesus replied, “Didn’t you know that it was necessary for me to be in my Father’s house?” “My father’s house” clearly didn’t
refer to Joseph. Pastor Hamilton wrote, “Did you ever wonder how Joseph felt when Jesus spoke those words?” ** Skip Ewing’s song “It Wasn’t his Child” said that “like a father [Joseph] was strong
and kind and good…. But it wasn’t his child; it was God’s child.” *** Are you, like Joseph, able to set aside your own ego needs to serve others at God’s call?
• The texts mention Jesus’ mother and siblings, but not his father. Most scholars believe Joseph died sometime before Jesus’ public ministry began. (The gospels simply don’t say.) Joseph apparently
had a 12 to 30-year window to help protect and shape Jesus growth. What opportunities do you have to serve, bless or shape people and events? Are you ever tempted to think those opportunities will
last forever?
Prayer: Lord, the gospels suggest that you and your earthly father were carpenters. Sadly, many people in your day added the word “just” before carpenter. Help me to value all people, not only the ones who are like me or impress me. Amen.
* Adam Hamilton, The Journey: A Season of Reflections. Nashville: Abingdon Press, 2011, p. 45.
** Adam Hamilton, Faithful: Christmas Through the Eyes of Joseph. Nashville: Abingdon Press, 2017, p. 131.*** “
It Wasn't His Child” – songwriter: Skip Ewing, Lyrics © SUSSMAN & ASSOCIATES. You can watch Mr. Ewing sing the song by clicking here (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jwxRCEhPwsY)
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Chris AbelChris Abel is the Young Adults Pastor at Resurrection, and he describes himself as a "Pastor/Creative-type/Adventurer." A former atheist turned passionate follower of Christ, he completed his seminary education in Washington, DC. Before coming to Resurrection, Chris was a campus pastor near St. Louis, MO.
“Didn’t you know that it was necessary for me to be in my Father’s house?” (12 year old Jesus (speaking in front of his step-father Joseph))
Before I was ordained, I worked for years with middle school and high school students. It was exhausting and rewarding beyond anything I could imagine. And it gave me a peek into the lives of hundreds of families. As a 20-something guy, this was FASCINATING. No two families were alike.
But there was one conversation that I kept having with parent after parent, no matter how different the families might be. It was the “I am anxious about my child’s future and I feel inadequate in some way with my parenting” conversation. (Maybe you’ve had this conversation before).
And almost every time I had this conversation, I’d reference a poem from Lebanese poet, Khalil Gibran. It begins like this.
“Your children are not your children.
They are the sons and daughters of Life's longing for itself.
They come through you but not from you,
And though they are with you yet they belong not to you.”
You might be thinking “I’m glad our Youth Minister didn’t quote me poetry.” But I promise I wasn’t trying to be an esoteric Lebanese man. I just think there’s something really relieving about that first sentence. “Your children are not your children.” In my experience, parents walk around with the weight of the world on their shoulders. They feel SO MUCH pressure about not messing up these humans they are responsible for. I mean, we even joke about all the therapy today’s kids will need. (And to be fair a friend of mine is working with her therapist about the time her parents lost her as a five year old at Disney world...)
But, seriously, I wish I could take every anxious parent in the world and hold their faces in my hands and tell them “your kids are not yours.” While this would be a very confusing moment for a lot of people, the truth is the best parents I’ve ever met are the ones who see their children as small adults—not just extensions of themselves—but tiny people.
For most parents, the temptation is to mentally act as if your children are yours.
The ironic thing is, you do not have control over how your kid turns out. You might think all their decisions are a reflection on you. But that kid's decisions are not yours. That child is a unique person and their victories and defeats are theirs. You can try to force them into a mold. You can try to make them care about the things you care about. You can set them up for success with opportunities. But there are a lot of parents who have tried this and it has not gone like they planned.
Why am I sharing this?
Because Jospeh was responsible for raising THE SON OF GOD and he was just a carpenter. Not a king. Not a CEO entrepreneur with an IQ of 200. He was just a guy who had to do the best he could with a kid that wasn’t his. Can you imagine the pressure of being a parent for the incarnate Christ? (And having a teenage Jesus look at you with a knowing gaze every time you did something wrong? Yikes.)
But the angel never came to Joseph and said "you are responsible for making this baby into the savior of humanity." That was up to God. Joseph’s task was simply to be a good Joseph. That’s all that God asked of him.
Oh, and there's more to that poem.
“You are the bows from which your children
as living arrows are sent forth...
Let your bending in the archer's hand be for gladness;
For even as He loves the arrow that flies,
so He loves also the bow that is stable.”
Joseph was a bow that God used to help prep Jesus for the work he'd do in our world. Joseph's part of this was being the best bow that he could be. And Jesus wasn't even his kid. And it might be helpful to realize your kids aren’t yours, either. They have their own story, their own Father. You are simply their advocate and supporter for a little bit of time while you’re on this planet. And your responsibility, like Joseph, is to treat each arrow, each child, like they are personally being selected by God to be shot into the world for a greater purpose. These are God’s arrows and God’s children. You don’t get to aim. That’s between the archer and the arrow.
But you can be one heck of a bow.
So, parent, next time that kid does something absolutely embarrassing… don’t worry. That’s God’s kid, not yours. And when they achieve something great, that’s not yours either. You’re the bow. And that should be a relief (and maybe a challenge, sometimes.)
This Christmas, one of the biggest gifts you can give to your children (and to yourself) is letting them be who God has crafted them to be. And in the process, maybe you can let yourself be who you are, too. Joseph was Joseph. You be you. It'll be enough. Just keep steady in the Archer's hands.
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"The unwanted, important journey to Bethlehem"
Friday, 22 December 2017
Luke 2:1 Around this time, Emperor Augustus issued an order for a census to be taken throughout the Empire. 2 This registration, the first of its kind, took place when Quirinius was governing in Syria. 3 Everyone went to be registered, each to his own town. 4 So Yosef, because he was a descendant of David, went up from the town of Natzeret in the Galil to the town of David, called Beit-Lechem, in Y’hudah,
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Caesar Augustus’ purpose was purely earthly and pragmatic: to collect more taxes for his far-flung empire. But God “bent” Caesar’s decree to divine purposes, using it to bring Joseph and Mary to
Bethlehem, a difficult trip for pregnant Mary. That the trip was necessary also cast light on Joseph’s family connections being in Bethlehem, and not in Nazareth where Mary lived.
• The Christmas story shows God’s Great Reversal. Augustus, a human who thought he was a god, forced Mary and Joseph to make a hard trip with just a decree. That night Jesus, God become human, was a helpless baby born to two poor peasants. Two millennia later, Jesus is revered around the world, and Augustus nearly forgotten. Where do you see God’s power in the Christmas story? How does that redefine our sense of how “power” works?
• Micah was a prophet in Jerusalem about 700 years before Christ. As the armies of the mighty Assyrian Empire threatened Jerusalem, he wrote that God would send a deliverer, born in the small town of Bethlehem. Hebrew scribes quoted Micah 5:2 to tell King Herod the Messiah’s birthplace (Matthew 2:4-6). When have you seen God do something big through something “little”? Bethlehem meant “house of bread,” and Jesus, born there, later told his followers: “I am the bread of life” (John 6:35). How will you allow Jesus to nourish your soul this Christmas season?
Prayer: Lord Jesus, I don’t live anywhere near Bethlehem, but your love and grace nourish my soul. Thank you for being a God who does big things even through the small things of earth. Amen.
We’re sharing the Family Activity earlier this week, so you can be ready for it on Christmas Eve or Christmas Day:
Many Christmas movies include selfish, self-centered characters such as Scrooge or the Grinch. However, toward each movie’s end, those characters have learned to be more kind, giving, joyful and
Christ-like. Choose a Christmas movie and identify a character who grows more loving, kind and joyful throughout the story. Discuss what qualities the character had in the beginning, which ones they showed at the end and the event(s) that caused the change in their behavior or attitude. Ask each family member to share one behavior or attitude they can work to change this Christmas season. How can they be more joyful all year? How can they share this Christ-like love and joy with others? Ask God to grow your heart to be more like Jesus, whose birth we celebrate at Christmas.
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Ginger RothhaasGinger is a graduate of Saint Paul School of Theology. She and her husband Rob have a son, a daughter, and a high energy dog. She loves writing, conversations over coffee, and teaching spiritual classes.
As I reflect on the Christmas story this year, I keep noticing examples of God’s Great Reversal in movies, books, and songs – God turns societal power upside down and uses small people to do big things.
My daughter is currently in a production of Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol, so I have watched it many times and am intrigued with Dickens’ theology in his timeless story. Dickens’ plot and character development affirm the universal truth of God’s Great Reversal in our world: Dickens uses envisioning our death to remind us how to live. He uses a poor family in contrast with a wealthy businessman to teach us that loving others is the path to true wealth. With only a few words, Dickens uses the smallest boy on stage to remind us of the highest power of God’s love available to all of us.
The tiniest, youngest, and most physically broken character in the story, Tiny Tim, has the greatest effect upon the most powerful, senior, wealthy character in the story. Dickens uses this crippled humble boy to teach Scrooge the most pivotal lesson of love in his life.
A tiny baby laid in a manger is a Christian’s greatest teacher of love. The most divine human is born in an animal barn to fearful, humble, and seemingly powerless young people. The most powerless child is the greatest teacher of love.
One of my favorite scenes in Dickens’ story is when Tim’s father is telling his mother about what Tim said following the Christmas Eve church service: “He told me, coming home, that he hoped the people saw him in the church, because he was a cripple, and it might be pleasant to them to remember upon Christmas Day, who made the lame beggars walk, and blind men see.” * Tiny Tim recognizes that he is a walking reminder of God’s power to heal and provide hope.
A crippled boy in a poor family is the character Dickens uses to deliver a testimony of miraculous love. A baby born in a barn is whom God uses to deliver a testimony of miraculous love.
This weekend, remember God’s Great Reversal of power, God’s unconditional love of you and every other person too, and that love is the most powerful force available to each of us. I am sending you love, joy, peace, and wonder as you celebrate Christmas!
* Dickens, Charles, A Christmas Carol, originally published in 1843, reconstructed by Suzeto Enterprises based upon the 1940 edition printed by The Atlantic Monthly Press, 2015, page 48.
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"God came to earth as a baby in a manger"
Saturday 23 2017
Luke 2:5 to be registered, with Miryam, to whom he was engaged, and who was pregnant. 6 While they were there, the time came for her to give birth; 7 and she gave birth to her first child, a son. She wrapped him in cloth and laid him down in a feeding trough, because there was no space for them in the living-quarters.
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We know this story so well: the crowded town, the heartless inn-keepers, the wooden barn full of animals. Or do we? “Notice that there is no mention of an old wooden barn. It doesn’t state that they arrived just as Mary was going into labor….the word inn does show up in most English translations, but this is largely due to tradition. In these verses, the Greek word kataluma is more accurately translated as “guestroom,” as we find it in the Common English Bible. The kataluma was the equivalent of a spare bedroom….it’s likely that putting Mary and Joseph in the stable was an act of compassion…so that Mary could have privacy as she gave birth.” *
Ø Inn or guestroom, Jesus’ birth took place in an animal shelter because the other options were too crowded for Mary to be able to give birth in them. Year round, and particularly at holiday seasons like Christmas, many of us live very crowded lives. What role is Jesus playing in your Christmas celebration this year? How are you making room in your heart, and in your life, for him?
Prayer: Lord Jesus, you were born in an animal shelter, and laid in a feeding trough. Be born in my messy, yearning heart this Christmas, Lord, and dwell in me forever. Amen.
* Adam Hamilton, Faithful: Christmas Through the Eyes of Joseph. Nashville: Abingdon Press, 2017, p. 107.
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Gabbi DiamondGabbi Diamond is a junior at Olathe East and an active member of rezlife student ministries, including a leader on the middle school youth group Serve Team.
As I read the Christmas story in Matthew and Luke I realize that just like Joseph, I too have been tempted to run away from things I’ve been afraid of. As a teenager, I can truly appreciate that Joseph was scared to take Mary as his wife because she was carrying a child that had been conceived by the Holy Spirit. I can’t imagine how truly scary and unknown that must have felt for both of them. In my own life, something I was afraid to do and kept running away from was accepting Jesus Christ into my heart.
For years I had been in the dark, and was afraid to reach out and ask what accepting Jesus into my heart really meant in my life. I had been going to church and summer camp for quite some time and still had not truly figured it out. One summer at Kanakuk Kamps I heard a sermon about Jesus’ crucifixion. I had heard the story plenty of times, but this time in particular God was speaking through this speaker with such power, it was as though he was talking directly to me. That night I became unafraid and all my confusions went away, and all I wanted was to be a part of the Kingdom of Christ. For the first time I wanted to live my life glorifying the Lord.
I accepted Christ into my heart for the first time at the age of 14. Now at the age of 16 my heart is still so on fire for the Lord and I love every minute of it. My advice to anyone who is afraid of something, whether it be commitment, accepting Christ, or deciding what to do with your future--don't run away. Don't get scared and hide, because you never know what might happen if you run toward that goal or run toward something God has called you to do this Christmas season, just as Joseph did.
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Prayer Requests – cor.org/prayer
Praise for the births of: Rosie Courtney Martin, 12/6; Grayson Gregory Hultgten, 12/7
Prayers for Peace & Comfort for:
• Mary Lou Akright and family on the death of her husband Bill Akright, 12/13
• Lori Mulhern and family on the death of her mother Carol Owings, 12/8
• Anita Owings and family on the death of her mother-in-law Carol Owings, 12/8
• Donna Rhinesmith and family on the death of her sister-in-law Donna Epperson, 12/7
• Cindy Ash and family on the death of her mother Aileen Gieringer, 12/7
• Tina Waymire and family on the death of her father Anggi Widjaja, 11/23
• Janet Roush and family on the death of her cousin Jared Boorigie, 11/16
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