JourneyOnline
Having recently welcomed a new addition to our family, the Wesley Hospital in Brisbane became a temporary home away from home in October as my newborn acclimatised to his new world.
Given some of the team at the Wesley read this magazine hopefully they’ll see this message: a big thank you to all the team for their care, expertise and support and we could not have wished for a better birthing experience.
As I wandered around the maternity wing looking at all the pictures of newborns and their happy (relieved?) parents stuck on the wall I couldn’t help but think about what life must have been like thousands of years ago when a Jewish virgin set off on her travels pregnant and dealing with her husband’s census problems as political turmoil and violent social unrest unfolded around them.
The Christmas narrative has become such a part of our culture you can be lulled into forgetting just how shocking the whole story is and how everything surrounding Jesus’ birth went well “Beyond expectations”—our Christmas campaign theme for 2019.
God was clearly shattering expectations of what we understand about humanity and social hierarchy when he had the “king of kings” enter the world in the most lowly of environments—it may have been a cave or a stable but it was definitely not a state-of-the-art hospital or a luxurious palace. He was shattering our expectations about biology through Mary’s unique pregnancy. And he was shattering our expectations of power and might by having the saviour of humanity come to earth in the form of a vulnerable baby.
So in the whirlwind of get-togethers with loved ones, rampant consumerism and church services typical over the Christmas period, hopefully you get a moment to reflect on the extraordinary and ask yourself what you are doing in your life that goes beyond the expectations.
How are you truly living out this gift of life and hope that the birth, death and resurrection of Christ gave you?
Ben Rogers
Editor
