To enjoy any of the 25 series we’ve produced over the last five years, please check out our back catalogue. There are series from all across the bible, and you can either view the PDF files online or download at your leisure.
- Day 15: 15th December – ‘The time came…’
And so we get to the crucial moment in the story – Jesus is born! Most of us know the story inside out… or at least we’re fairly sure we do.
Images of how the nativity happens are so full of our minds, it’s almost impossible to imagine it any other way. We’ve seen it so many times: Joseph and Mary travelling down to Bethlehem with Mary on a donkey (even though a donkey is never mentioned). Arriving late, with Mary’s contractions already starting. Joseph frantically dashing around trying to find an inn or guest house with a spare room. The last B&B in town offering them access to their stable just as Mary’s contractions get too severe to go any further…. a ‘modesty time gap’ fast forwards us a couple of hours to see Jesus in the wooden manger, with an exhausted but blissful Mary sat next to him, gazing lovingly at Jesus and then Joseph in turn…
And it’s possible that this is how it went. Unlikely, but possible! And it’s a much better story than the more likely one: that, given the length of journey, Joseph and Mary travelled down several weeks earlier and stayed with relatives in Bethlehem. That they shared the single living area with these relatives for the time they stayed there, only relocating into the other adjoining room – small Palestinian houses of that time had two rooms joined together: one for people, the other for animals – to offer some privacy for Mary when it was time for her to give birth. That the female relatives would therefore probably have been with Mary for the birth, rather than Joseph, who probably joined them shortly after Jesus was born, like most fathers of the time would have done. That the makeshift bedding arrangement of the animals feeding trough (manger) was likely made of stone, not planks of wood.
It’s much less romantic, isn’t it? A planned visit, a stay with relatives, decent midwifery, stone bedding furniture.
But it’s real.
And that’s the point. The nativity is not a fairy story, but a gritty, real-life drama. A real baby is born into a real family with a real home and real problems. In other words, when God comes to earth, this is a real God for real people. People like Joseph and Mary. People like you and me.
We like the fantasy version – it’s visually much more appealing, and allows us to put tea towels on our heads with impunity for a couple of weeks. But let’s never miss the real joy of this scene: a real baby is born – a real Messiah for real people. ‘And he is called Emmanuel’ – God with us. Amen.
- Day 5: 5th December – ‘He has shown his favour’Read more...
Poor old Zechariah. It’s easy to give him a roasting. All those years waiting hopefully and serving faithfully, and when his big moment comes…
But I wonder if Zechariah is not somewhat more like us than we care to admit. One of the great pointers to the truthfulness of the ...
- Day 4: 4th December – ‘Your prayer has been heard’Read more...
Most modern tellings of the nativity story begin with the Angel Gabriel appearing to Mary. But that’s not quite the beginning of the story – not even in Luke’s gospel itself. Six months before that historic encounter, Gabriel has another divine errand, to an old priest performing his duties at the temple in ...
- Day 3: 3rd December – ‘The divine promise-keeper’Read more...
Admit it – you skipped a few lines of today’s reading, didn’t you? Most people do. In fact, if I was able to secretly watch your reading time, I might find it was more than a few lines!
The bible is full of genealogies. Long lists of who begat who, ...
- Day 2: 2nd December – ‘A surprising Shepherd?’Read more...
The Advent story is full of surprises. In many ways we’re so familiar with it, that often those surprises pass us by. We think of shepherds and angels and wise men and it all seems so… normal. Which is odd, when you think about it!
Today’s passage from the prophet ...
- Day 1: 1st December – ‘God with us’Read more...
God with us. That’s really the whole ball game, isn’t it? Over the next 24 days, as we prepare ourselves in this season of Advent, we’ll tell the ageless story afresh, and we’ll marvel again at the wonder of it all: the angels, the shepherds, the wise men, the journey to Bethlehem, a ...