JourneyOnline
It’s that time of the year again and we find ourselves preparing for the advent season leading up to Christmas day when we celebrate the birth of Jesus.
This year we want to invite you and your family to join us as we prepare ourselves by following the journeys of 15 of the characters at the heart of the Christmas story. We will be reflecting on the real-life experiences of Elizabeth, Simeon, Mary, Joseph, the shepherds and even the angels before we finally get to Jesus himself. But as with all great stories we must start at the beginning, so let’s start with the initiator of the whole story – God.
We first encounter God in the creation stories of Genesis, where we find him brooding over the dark waters and literally speaking words that bring everything we know into being, and that breathes life into every living thing.
‘Let there be Light’
‘Let there be a vault between the waters to separate water from water’
‘Let the water under the sky be gathered to one place, and let dry ground appear’
‘Let the land produce vegetation’ ‘Let the water teem with living creatures and let birds fly across the sky’… and eventually,
‘Let us create mankind in our own image’
God is introduced to us as the all-powerful creator who out of his light, power and love, brought everything into being and placed humankind at the centre of the world and at the centre of his affections. The rest of history was meant to be an ever outworking of this world and its people in close relationship with God, and yet we know that that is not how things turned out.
God left the door slightly ajar by giving us the choice to willingly choose to stay in this perfection or to willingly choose to opt out. Unfortunately for all of us, we chose to go our own way.
The next 39 books of the Old Testament tell a sorry tale of selfishness, pain, greed, war, abuse, idolatry, suffering and almost every conceivable ill that people has subjected itself to, and yet the whole time God seems to be working on a comeback plan.
All through the Old Testament we get hints that God is working on a way out. He is revealing himself and his plans. He is calling out a nation to be his treasured people. He is sending prophets and priests and Kings to foretell of a mighty day, one day, when God will do 6| something amazing and unprecedented that will shake the world and reset the order of things and give the whole creation a chance to be put back right with God.
The story is building
the crescendo is lifting
the anticipation is rising
the tension is tightening
Strange stars appear in the sky
Wise men start travelling toward Bethlehem
Teen pregnancies go unexplained
Holy Men become mute
Angels flash across the sky
What will God do????
Continue the Journey to Joy here.
