by Sharon O | Dec 25, 2012 | Uncategorized
In the day when Jesus was born the shepherds were not the most popular people.
They were considered out casts. Dirty. Not necessarily socialized we could even say they were marginalized people.
Yet the angels came to them first.
In the night as they were watching their sheep.
They were rough and mean. The the role of a shepherd was to fight off intruders or predators that might want to hurt their flock of sheep.
The were fearless. They were used to being out in the dark following and chasing off shadows of threat or intent.
When the angels came the word tells us they were ‘terrified’.
That is a strong word describing their state of behavior.
Luke 2:8-12 (msg)
There were sheepherders (shepherds) camping in the neighborhood. They had set night watches over their sheep. Suddenly, God’s angel stood among them and God’s glory blazed around them.
They were terrified. The angel said, “Don’t be afraid. I’m here to announce a great and joyful event that is meant for everybody, worldwide: A Savior has just been born in David’s town, a Savior who is Messiah and Master. This is what you’re to look for: a baby wrapped in a blanket and lying in a manger.”
They were terrified.
(Those rough and tough men who would fight off lions or other predators were terrified when they saw the Glorious angels.)
13-14 At once the angel was joined by a huge angelic choir singing God’s praises:
Glory to God in the heavenly heights,
Peace to all men and women on earth who please him.
15-18 As the angel choir withdrew into heaven, the sheepherders talked it over.
“Let’s get over to Bethlehem as fast as we can and see for ourselves what God has revealed to us.”
They left, running, and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby lying in the manger.
Seeing was believing.
They told everyone they met what the angels had said about this child.
All who heard the sheepherders were impressed.
19-20 Mary kept all these things to herself, holding them dear, deep within herself.
The sheepherders returned and let loose, glorifying and praising God for everything they had heard and seen.
It turned out exactly the way they’d been told!
Can you even imagine being the first ones told about the birth of the baby?
The Savior, Messiah?
They were chosen as outcasts to be very important.
Isn’t it like God to do that?
Hope comes to all of us no matter where we are in life.
Glory to God…God chooses us in spite of what others say or what we say about ourselves.
He found value and chose them to see and hear so they could be credible witnesses to the special birth.
Isn’t it wonderful to be chosen?
by Sharon O | Dec 24, 2012 | Uncategorized
When it came time she laid down and gave birth to a son and they called him Jesus.
“for today in the city of David there has been born for you a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. This will be a sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.”
And suddenly there appeared with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying,
“Glory to God in the highest, And on earth peace among men with whom He is pleased.”
Joining with Deidra on jumping tandem and the Sunday Community.
by Sharon O | Dec 22, 2012 | Uncategorized
When it came time for Mary to deliver I wonder what she felt like.
Not knowing what to expect and not having a doctor to discuss with her how it all would take place.
I wonder how did she know what to do?
She might have been told by Elizabeth but she had never had a child either.
Joseph most likely was no help other than to support her in the best way he could.
His experience was as minimal as hers.
How would they deliver a little baby in a stable filled with animal smells and perhaps nothing clean to lay down on?
There might have been the blanket that was on the donkey covered in donkey hair and matted smells after the long journey.
Perhaps Joseph tore his robe and made a comfortable bed of cloth for her.
I don’t imagine they packed much on the donkey as they began their journey.
This stable or barn or whatever it was had no comforts of home for her.
There are so many questions and we have no answers.
Mary was to deliver her baby without pain medications and without family support.
Could God have eased her pain miraculously?
Perhaps the innkeepers wife came and helped out.
We are not told of the details.
We don’t even know if there was fresh water to wash the baby off with after the birthing process.
Or a light of some sort to even see the newly born baby.
So much is not shared.
So much we have to guess and fill in our own blanks.
So much is prophetic yet so much is so normal.
Just like the young mom who had no choice but to stop and lay down and deliver
the baby who was to be born.
In a town called Bethlehem life took place and hope came into the world.
In a town called Bethlehem the cries of a young family took place.
The wonder. The majesty. The fulfillment of all they had been told.
A new baby was to be born.
Their baby.
Would change the world.
by Sharon O | Dec 20, 2012 | Uncategorized
The journey to Bethlehem was not an easy one.
Walking for miles and riding on a donkey.
Can you even imagine being round with child and riding a donkey?
It could not have been easy for Mary.
It was a long journey and for many miles they walked together.
Can you imagine Joseph leading as turmoil took place in the land?
It was not a quiet time.
There was a census being taken with much chaos and also
a baby ready to be born.
I imagine Joseph felt the pressure to find a place of comfort for them to sleep and rest and wait.
Not too different than any other expectant father who wants to take care of his family.
He tried to find a place but there was very little opportunity.
I wonder how desperate he began to feel.
I even read a blog one time about the the role of the donkey.
Jesus rode a donkey into a town before his crucifixion.
We have read the story as it was days before his death.
Mary rode a donkey days before his birth.
What a journey.
What a life.
What a Savior.
So many never knew or realized the prophecies fulfilled concerning his birth.
Even the closest to them never knew the significance of the moments.
Can you imagine the innkeeper who later realized after he said,
“I have no room for you” that the baby was born in his stable?
The journey was anticipated yet hardly understood.
Even now we sometimes fail to understand.
by Sharon O | Dec 17, 2012 | Uncategorized
 |
Our hearts are weeping
the darkness is dark
the sorrow is heavy and
we don’t know how to pray.
We cannot understand so much pain and
we cannot understand so much brokenness.
Senseless tragedy
without a reason
deep hurt.
Lord hear the cries of your people and
comfort us. |
Joining Deidra on jumping tandem and the Sunday community
(original photographers unknown)
by Sharon O | Dec 14, 2012 | Uncategorized
by Sharon O | Dec 10, 2012 | Uncategorized
The Christmas story is the reason for the season.
In our hustling around and shopping for many assorted treasures.
Let us remember what Joseph and Mary were ‘treasuring’ in their hearts.
Let us remember
the importance of the moments.
Let us remember
the significance of each prophecy.
As we remember
the story that has affected so many and has been told for so many years.
Let us remember the journey.
Joining Deidra on jumping tandem with the Sunday community.
 |
| photo source unknown |
by Sharon O | Dec 10, 2012 | Uncategorized
(re posted and revised from original written in 2010)
I have been thinking about the Christmas story.
One thing that has come to my mind is the parallel between the story and Psalm 139.
Psalm 139: 13-16 For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well. My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place, when I was woven together in the depths of the earth. Your eyes saw my unformed body; all the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be.
God knew and spoke life to the Angel… go tell Mary “I have chosen her.”
Just as he had chosen Elizabeth Mary’s cousin. Luke 1:13-15 the angel talking to Zechariah; “Do not be afraid, Zechariah; your prayer has been heard. Your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you are to call him John. He will be a joy and delight to you, and many will rejoice because of his birth, for he will be great in the sight of the Lord. The way was being prepared. With Elizabeth first then with Mary. Luke 1:26-32 In the sixth month of Elizabeth’s pregnancy, God sent an angel Gabriel to Nazareth, a town in Galilee, to a virgin pledged to be married to a man named Joseph, a descendant of David. The virgin’s name was Mary.
The angel went to her and said, “Greetings, you who are highly favored! The Lord is with you.”
Mary was greatly troubled at his words and wondered what kind of greeting this might be.
But the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary; you have found favor with God. You will conceive and give birth to a son, and you are to call him Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High.” vs 32b vs 34. “How will this be,” Mary asked the angel, “since I am a virgin?”
The angel answered, “The Holy Spirit will come on you, and the power of the the Most High will overshadow you. So the holy one to be born will be called the Son of God. Even Elizabeth your relative is going to have a child in her old age, and she who was said to be unable to conceive is in her sixth month. For no word from God will ever fail.”
Mary’s response: “I am the Lord’s servant,” Mary answered. “May your word to me be fulfilled.” Then the angel left her.
(I wonder what her thoughts were after the angel left remember she was young and this would be very life changing for her) Reading further… vs 39. At that time Mary got ready and hurried to a town in the hill country of Judea, where she entered Zechariah’s home and greeted Elizabeth. (I wonder what the greeting was~we aren’t really told) vs 41 When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the baby leaped in her womb, and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit. In a loud voice she exclaimed: “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the child you will bear! But why am I so favored, that the mother of my Lord should come to me? As soon as the sound of your greeting reached my ears, the baby in my womb leaped for joy. Blessed is she who has believed that the Lord would fulfill his promises to her!”
Isn’t it awesome that God knew us… just as He knew them before we were born. Elizabeth was honoring Mary her relative and the baby heard and the baby reacted. Life in the womb is often a mystery but it is life and it is real and babies can listen. God knew they would be boys. God knew their names. God knew the call on their lives before they were born.
Before they experienced a breath He knew their name and who they would be forever in history. Before they breathed a breath of life God knew them.
Do you believe that God knew you too?
by Sharon O | Dec 6, 2012 | Uncategorized
(originally written in 2010 revised version)
I often wonder
did Mary and Joseph talk about the angels who told them
about the baby arriving?
Each of them were greeted by an angel who spoke the life changing words “you will have a child”.
Wouldn’t that be something special to share with each other?
If we could listen in what would we hear:
“How did it appear to you Joseph and how did it appear to you Mary?
What did you feel or think? Were you scared?”
After all she was very young in her teens and he was just as unprepared.
Also I wonder how did it feel for them to move the engagement time up and become a family sooner than they planned.
The other thing I wonder about is if they ever talked about how Joseph saved her life.
For to be with child and unmarried Mary could have been stoned.
She knew the consequences and yet she said ‘I choose’.
I accept.
I will be obedient.
Joseph also knew she could not be with child and not be married.
He might not have fully understood it all but he knew his responsibility was to take her for his wife as the angel told him.
He had to follow through. There was no discussion it had to be done.
The angel said: Joseph… take Mary to be your wife.
There were so many questions that could have come between the two of them.
So many worries and fears.
I often wonder
what they were thinking in the quiet of the night.
Do you often wonder?
by Sharon O | Dec 4, 2012 | Uncategorized
When we begin to look at the Christmas story in the book of Luke in the new testament.
The word tells us that Mary was only around age 12-14 when the angel came to visit her.
That is the age of my grand daughter who is in eighth grade.
That is an amazing and almost hard to believe part of the story.
Our Pastor said on Sunday,
“She was not thirty like most people think she was or as ancient pictures present her to be.”
She was young.
She was a teen.
She was innocent.
The God who knows all and
sees all and
cares about all
decided that out of everyone ever chosen to be the mother
of the son of God
Mary was chosen.
Mary who was a teenager and Joseph who wasn’t much older.
Was chosen to be a vital part of this amazing story.
The story we are still talking about and
singing about and
sharing over and over every year at Christmas time.
She was not well known nor was she rich or highly educated.
She was young.
Our Pastor said, “Don’t ever discount or minimize the importance of your youth”.
God chose Mary and the amazing part was her acceptance.
She knew and had heard the story of a Saviour coming.
What she didn’t know would change her life forever.
When the angel said, ‘Do not be afraid’ she was more afraid of the angel talking to her than what the angel was saying.
She was deeply troubled by the angels words but she also accepted them.
Isn’t that amazing?
Here she was an obscure peasant girl very few people knew and
she was the chosen one.
I wonder
would we have the heart of acceptance and attitude of submission
if asked to do something very important.
It’s definitely something for us to think about as we
remember the Christmas story.
