We have all experienced a number of Christmas seasons in our lives and these experiences will likely vary from person to person. I have very vivid and powerful memories of some special Christmas celebrations over the years and, without
exception, the best memories are centered around family times as we have shared the story of Jesus.

Kathie’s dad was an amazing father with a passion for drawing his family into the importance of various events, and Christmas was no exception. He modeled a ministry focus with his children, their spouses, and, eventually with his grandchildren. Family get-togethers always included sharing time with people who were experiencing challenges or illness. We sang for folks, we shared worship services together and, most of all, we reminded each other that Jesus loved people and it is our privilege to love people too.

At Christmas time we would invest significant time in discussions, plays, songs, and other creative activities as we told, and retold, the story of Jesus and how He had become one of us. That whole idea is rather amazing, really almost unbelievable that Divinity would become clothed in humanity and then experience life on earth in the context of the current events and culture. To think of that being true, to consider why and how it could all happen, and then to imagine what the actual sights, sounds, and smells of those experiences might have been like, challenges even the greatest imaginations.

The first couple of chapters of the Book of Luke are packed with profound insights to help us understand what our finite minds can comprehend of this, the ‘greatest story ever told’. This week we will unpack a bit of the experience of Mary, the young girl who was chosen to be the Mother of the Messiah. Together we will share some of the wonders of what it may have been like to be her and how she is, very likely, an illustration of perhaps the greatest response of faith we have ever seen. What an unlikely choice she was, or was she?

And so, we ask today, “Mary, did you know, did you?”

Pastor Phil


Scripture:
Luke 2:19 (NIV)
19 But Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart.