The Gift of God

QUOTES FOR REFLECTION

“The [Christian] message is that there is hope for a ruined humanity – hope of pardon, hope of peace with God, hope of glory – because at the Father’s will Jesus became poor, and was born in a stable so that thirty years later He might hang on a cross.”

~J.I. Packer, 1926-2020, Theologian, cleric, and author

“Let us always love each other

Lead us to the light

Let us hear the voice of reason

Singing in the night.

Let us run from anger

And catch us when we fall

Teach us in our dreams

And please, yes please bless us one and all.

Bless us all with playful years

With noisy games and joyful tears

We reach for you and we stand tall

And in our prayers and dreams we ask you

Bless us all.”

~“Bless Us All” by Paul Williams, from The Muppet Christmas Carol

“The central miracle asserted by Christians is the incarnation. They say that God became man. If the thing happened, it was the central event in the history of the world.”

~C.S. Lewis (1898-1963) in Miracles

SERMON PASSAGE

Matthew 1:18-25 (ESV)

18 Now the birth of Jesus Christ took place in this way. When his mother Mary had been betrothed to Joseph, before they came together she was found to be with child from the Holy Spirit. 19 And her husband Joseph, being a just man and unwilling to put her to shame, resolved to divorce her quietly. 20 But as he considered these things, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, “Joseph, son of David, do not fear to take Mary as your wife, for that which is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. 21 She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.” 22 All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet:

23 “Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son,

      and they shall call his name Immanuel”

(which means, God with us). 24 When Joseph woke from sleep, he did as the angel of the Lord commanded him: he took his wife, 25 but knew her not until she had given birth to a son. And he called his name Jesus.