December 23, 2018
If you paid attention over the years, you may have noticed the our Advent readings are seldom about Christmas and are generally about God's wrath... which we talked about last week a bit. But today we get a portion of what is the story of the birth of Jesus; well about his mother and her pregnancy at least. The lectionary schedule jumped past this announcement to Mary from Gabriel, “ And now, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you will name him Jesus. 32 He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Most High.” (Luke 1: 31-32) And we read that Mary didn't understand the physical workings of that and probably not spiritual ramifications, “How can this be, since I am a virgin?” But she obeyed as she told Gabriel, “Here am I, the servant of the Lord; let it be with me according to your word.”
That is where we join the story and I will read the account from Luke, chapter 1 verses 39-55.
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