The mystery of Christ’s birth
Matthew and Luke included Jesus’ birth stories, and John reminds us that Jesus existed before the beginning, increasing our sense of wonder and awe that God became incarnate.
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Self-Sanctioning Sacrifice (Excerpt from “Advent for the Broken-Hearted”)
Jesus was not a normal human baby. Unlike other human beings, Jesus chose to come into the world, even though he knew his purpose would be to suffer and die as a sacrifice.
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Mighty Magnificat (Excerpt from “Advent for the Broken-Hearted”)
Whichever way they turned, the people found themselves without recourse, being bled dry by their own countrymen.
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Advent For the Broken-Hearted
This devotional was adapted from a service that Mari wrote in 2023, created to honor the thrum of sorrow and loss that undulates beneath the largely cheerful Christmas songs sung throughout November and December.
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A Child Destined to Die
God had revealed to Joseph in a dream what was about to happen. Startled awake, his heart pumping and his mind racing, Joseph quietly woke Mary and together they hurriedly packed, bundled up their son, and slipped away under cover of the night.
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New Year: A Community in Mourning
“Happy New Year” symbolizes a fresh start, a chance to start over with the possibility of leaving the past behind. But what happens when the new year brings fresh trouble, fresh pain, or carries with it the things of last year that will not go away?
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Christmas: A Woman Without Family
The prophet Anna is often missing from the Christmas story, which focuses on Jesus’s birth, the wonder of the shepherds and the worship of the wise men.
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Advent: A Family in Poverty
They were a faithful couple, doing their best to adhere to God’s word, and now especially because of the little Emmanuel they had in their arms.
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Advent: A People Under Occupation
The story of Christmas honors people who are experiencing oppression, and people who feel despair over their government.
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Advent: A Marriage in Jeopardy
Only Matthew’s Gospel captures something of Joseph’s heartache when he received the news concerning Mary’s unexpected pregnancy.
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“Happy Holidays”
Tomorrow many of us will be sitting at a table laden with traditional Thanksgiving foods and offering up ways we are grateful. Perhaps it is only one thing we can be thankful for, perhaps many. But, some of us will not have a place to go, or a table spread for us.
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“Songs for a Savior” Advent Devotions
Advent comes right after Thanksgiving!
This new Advent Devotional will begin the end of next week, and is written in an “evergreen” way, so that it may be reread each Christmas season.
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HER STORY: The Birth of Christ, Anna the Prophet
How long have you been waiting for the longing you have been praying about to be fulfilled? A longing you have felt certain God has invited you to pray about, that you feel certain God has indicated will be fulfilled? Anna’s story can be told in three stages: There was tragedy early in her life,…
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A Virgin Shall Bear a Son
Look, the young woman is with child and shall bear a son and shall name him Immanuel. Isaiah 7:14 (NRSV) Isaiah was prophet to King Ahaz, among others, and it was to this young king Isaiah delivered the prophecy of a young woman with child. Isaiah’s prediction held near-term significance for the beleaguered Judean ruler.…
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HER STORY: The Birth of Christ, The Midwife
She is an imagined character, but she was surely there, a midwife to help the young Mary give birth to her first baby. What if the midwife was local to Bethlehem? What if she had already helped the aging Elizabeth give birth to her one and only child? Even though the character is imagined, there…
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HER STORY: The Birth of Christ, Virgin Mary
As the most written about woman in the whole Bible, what is your impression of Mary? There are thousands upon thousands of images of her, the beatific and holy Madonna, mother and child, otherworldly in her serenity; and the grieving mother holding her crucified son, again beatific, serene, otherworldly. We might get the impression that…
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HER STORY: Birth of Christ, Elizabeth
What fascinated Luke, the scientist and doctor, was Jesus’ special emphasis on prayer, the activity of the Holy Spirit, and joyfulness and in his account of Jesus’ birth he highlighted the Holy Spirit’s activity in the lives of five people in these first two chapters. Luke’s chronicle of Jesus’ life is the longest of the…
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HER STORY: The Birth of Christ, Candle of Joy
Have you ever wondered why the third candle in the advent wreath is pink? Why pink? Why the third Sunday? The short answer is joy! But the long answer is fascinating, and it has something to do with Lent, and something to do with an early Gnostic movement that dismissed Jesus as a real human…
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Comforter
God’s reassurance refreshes and restores, filling heavy hearts with hope, “Oh how serene and joyful, how deeply comforted is the person who is desperately sad, or desperately sorry, whose heart is broken, because God has profound comfort for that person.”
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Bread of Life
Thank You, O Lord, for preparing a banquet of righteousness for those who come to you longing to be filled.
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Advent Meditation: Faithful and True
Citizens of the Kingdom of Heaven are not surprised when the forces of darkness oppose the light and life of the Gospel.
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Advent Meditation: Worthy
The Kingdom of Heaven is now within every person who has placed their faith in Jesus, and in whom God abides.
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Advent Meditation: Alpha and Omega
Through her the protevangelium had been fulfilled this night, the first gospel oracle, spoken in God’s own voice, “the seed of the woman” who would one day have victory over evil itself.
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Advent Meditation: Only Begotten
the wonderful mystery of Your infinite and eternal Being becoming the only-begotten Son of God overwhelms us with awe. To You belongs all glory, honor, wisdom, power, and praise.
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Advent Meditation: Lamb of God
In her praise of God, Mary extended the Lord’s kindness to all those who would fear God, who would worship the Lord in all humility.
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Advent Meditation: Prince of Peace
The word “blessed” meant “divine joy and perfect happiness.”
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Advent Meditation: Meek and Lowly
Paul described meekness has having the same mind as Christ, looking to the interests of those around us, and in humility regarding others as going before us in importance.
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Advent Meditation: Anointed One
Mary had towering faith in the power, provision, and promise of Almighty God. This was a time to rejoice and sing praise.
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Advent Meditation: Lord of Lords
Mary received Gabriel’s message with humble, willing faith in God, and indeed, she was among the first to see God in the flesh.
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Mary’s Magnificat and Jesus’s Beatitudes
How often must Mary have sung her Magnificat to her tiny son, as His lullaby? How often did she remind Him of Who His Father truly was, and Who He truly was? Now as a grown man, the Lord fulfilled the destiny His mother had lovingly and faithfully raised Him up in.
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Advent Meditation: Light of the World
You are the Light of the World, the Life that is the Light of all people. Your Light shines in darkness and the darkness cannot grasp You, nor overcome You (John 1:4-5)
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Advent Meditation: Eternal Judge of the Living and Dead
. Strengthen our inner being with the power of Your Spirit that Christ will dwell in our hearts through faith. Ground us in love, fill us with Your fullness.
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Advent Meditation: Deliverer
Your promises are trustworthy and Your faithfulness is forever. Keep our hearts steadfast in the confidence that You will indeed rescue Your people.
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Advent Meditation: Living Water
Zechariah’s prophesy of salvation foreshadowed Jesus’s proclamation on the temple steps, “Let anyone who believes in me drink … out of the believer’s heart shall flow rivers of living water.”
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Advent Meditation: Savior
Hannah knew from personal experience that God guarded the faithful. And she had lived through times of war when the enemies of God and God’s people “perished in darkness.”
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Advent Meditation: Bright Morning Star
You are the Light of the World, the Life that is the Light of all people, Light that shines in darkness and the darkness cannot grasp You, nor overcome You (John 1:4-5).
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Advent Meditation: Lion of Judah
Zechariah praised God for remembering this ancient covenant in a fresh way, for now the true Lion of Judah was about to be born.
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Advent Meditation: King of Kings
Now, as King, Christ commands us to know salvation through Him, and to love one another as He loves us.
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Advent Meditation: Resurrection and the Life
“I am the resurrection and the life. Those who believe in me, even though they die, will live, and everyone who lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?”
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Advent Meditation: Creator of All Things
in You “all things in heaven and on earth were created, things visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or powers—all things have been created through You and for You,” (Colossians 1:16)
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Advent Meditation: Head of the Body
O Lord, Your promises are worthy of our trust, though they may be fulfilled in our lives in unexpected ways, and require of us our own readiness to receive them in the form You give them. Help us to move with Your timing and willingly yield to Your way.
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Advent Meditation: Lord Omnipotent
It was by God’s omnipotence that both Hannah and Elizabeth found themselves with child. God had done something miraculous that even in that moment was recognized.
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Advent Meditation: Mediator
But God weighs every action against the motives of our hearts, and what others might scorn, condemn, or dismiss God meets with tender mercy.
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Advent Meditation: Wisdom of God
Jesus often asked a penetrating question or gave startling insight to the people He met, revealing His divine knowledge of them.
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Advent Meditation: Most High God
Life is unpredictable, dramatic change can occur when we least expect it, and in ways we never saw coming
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Advent Meditation: Rock of Heaven
Moses also spoke of the “Rock Who bore you” and “The God Who gave you birth,” and perhaps Hannah had this image in her mind as she prayed and prophesied over her little boy.
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Advent Meditation: Holy One of Israel
Both Zechariah and Hannah must have reflected on the gentle yet powerful holiness of God Who is worthy of our grateful homage.
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Advent Meditation: Redeemer
y. Sometimes, God Who knows and understands our weakness and woe, does not deliver us from our pain, but rather delivers us through our pain.
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Advent Meditation: Almighty God
In her jubilation, Hannah employed a well-known symbol of triumph of her day—the call of the shofar proclaiming military victory and release from oppression.
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Hannah’s Prayer and Zechariah’s Prophecy
The first part of this devotional pairs Hannah’s prayer (mother of the prophet Samuel, who anointed King David) with Zechariah’s prophecy (father of John the Baptist, who heralded and baptized Messiah Jesus)
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December Advent Devotional
As you and I meditate on these words, let us think about the names all heaven and earth gave to this tiny, vulnerable baby, Who is God the Son.
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Anna the Prophet
How long have you been waiting for the longing you have been praying about to be fulfilled? A longing you have felt certain God has invited you to pray about, that you feel certain God has indicated will be fulfilled?
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Advent: When Christmas Became a Thing
Christmas is indeed a Very Big Deal, even for those who do not celebrate Christ’s birth. But how did it get to be Christendom’s most celebrated holiday?
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Advent: Enjoying the Bliss of Heaven
The pink candle on the third Sunday marks the transition from the more Lenten feel of preparing for Jesus’ Second Coming, to the Joy-filled celebration of Jesus’ first coming.
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Advent: Respite of Joy
Have you ever wondered why the third candle in the advent wreath is pink? Why pink? Why the third Sunday? The short answer is joy! But the long answer is fascinating, and it has something to do with Lent, and something to do with an early Gnostic movement that dismissed Jesus as a real human…
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Advent: Perfection in Numbers
There is a second explanation as to why Christmas falls on December 25, a spiritual one. Today’s post is taken from an article written for the Biblical Archaeology Society.
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Advent: Saturnalia or Mithras?
Advent originally was a time of instruction, prayer, fasting and self-reflection, in preparation to be baptized in the new year.
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The Virgin Mary
In each succeeding story, a picture emerges of a woman of great faith, spiritual wisdom, a scriptural scholar in her own right, one who believed in the power, provision, and promise of Almighty God.
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Elizabeth
In one of the more remarkable moments in the Christian Testament, Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit and God could not have been more fully present in that amazing moment.
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Second Day of Advent: Bathsheba
I wonder if Matthew, ex-tax collector and publican that he was, identified with these women and men at some level. Through this record God is displaying God’s grace to all people, victims and perpetrators. Even in this genealogy Matthew was already giving us a clue there is something unique and earth-shaking about Jesus.
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First Sunday of Advent: Tamar, Rahab, and Ruth
If Matthew had ransacked the entire Hebrew scriptures he would have been hard-pressed to find four more unlikely candidates for the Messiah’s genealogy!
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Advent Joy
Have you ever wondered why the third candle in the advent wreath is pink? Why pink? Why the third Sunday? The short answer is joy, but the long answer is fascinating, and it has something to do with Lent, and something to do with an early Gnostic movement that dismissed Jesus as a real human…
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Peril of Christ
This world is not our final home. When terrible things happen, as happened to these shocked and grieving families so long ago, it is good to remember this fallen, broken world, riddled with evil, is not our final home. We were created for eternity, and tragedy can never change that.
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Praise and Worship of Christ
Having, in faith, followed God’s guidance and having accepted and worshiped the Messiah, the wise men gained a deeper sensitivity for God’s voice. God took the Magi into His protection and guided them more directly,
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Proclamation of Christ
among all these pilgrims, the Magi’s opulent and exoticly laden camels, their turbans and jewels, their royal purple robes, their leopard skins and strange accents, would have parted the crowds and drawn gasps of awe.
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Prophecy of Christ
He was born in the hamlet of Bethlehem, an inconsequential dot on the map, but it was the birthplace of Kings, the very root and stump of Jesse, and from it now sprang this young shoot, the ruler who would sit on the throne of Judah forever.
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Prophetic Heredity
the most important name given to Jesus is the one Matthew used in his genealogy, in verse 1, verse 16, verse 17 and verse 18: Christ, Messiah, the anointed one.
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Divine Heredity
When I was a young girl, there was an enormous social stigma attached to having a baby when you weren’t married. You got sent away to extended family, had the baby in secret, started another life, or gave the baby up for adoption, very privately. Children raised out of wedlock didn’t have the same legal…
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Royal Heritage
But, if Matthew had ransacked the whole Old Testament, he’d have been hard pressed to find four more unlikely candidates for the Messiah’s genealogy than the following women.
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Christmas Series
Beginning Monday, Grace and Peace will present seven posts on Jesus’ heritage and birth, bringing the nativity narrative through Matthew’s gospel.
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The Midwife
My church, New Hope Chapel, Arnold MD, is finishing up a four-part Advent series called “We Were There.” Each member of the teaching team took a character from Jesus’ birth narrative and told the tale from that perspective. I got “The Midwife”
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About Me
My passion for the Bible began when I was eight or nine years old, somewhere in there, when on occasion my dad would take me to synagogue, where he sang. I remember watching the men in synagogue pray the words of scripture, murmuring and weeping, lovingly touching and kissing the Torah, and I wished I could read what they were reading.
Imagine, then, my wonder when I was given a Bible of my own! Read more
