Podcast appearances and mentions of mary did

Fr. Roger J. Landry St. John Paul II National Shrine, Washington, DC Tertio Millennio Seminar on the Free Society Reunion Thursday of the 23rd Week in Ordinary Time, Year II Memorial of the Holy Name of Mary September 12, 2024 1 Cor 8:1-7.11-13, Ps 139, Lk 6:27-38   To listen to an audio recording of […] The post Loving by Christ’s Measure, As St. John Paul II and Mary Did and Teach, 23rd Thursday (II), September 12, 2024 appeared first on Catholic Preaching.

It's the question Catholics love to argue about. Let's get into it. Mary Did you Know?Episode 82 Show Host: Mike Tenney Show Page: https://www.awakencatholic.org/pop-culture-catechism/what-did-and-didnt-mary-know-mary-did-you-know Catholic Merch - https://catholicmerch.store Join my Patron Community www.PopCultureCatechism.com Listen wherever you find podcasts including: Apple Podcasts https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/pop-culture-catechism/id1530141366 Spotify Podcasts https://open.spotify.com/show/4hlSitS9FLX3sYqwr0RsFK?si=IObbssJPTWSwq9Qjn7VFaQ&fbclid=IwAR0aKkevoBgwo2CeJIpdeSnOHrE_h9vuHtKwffmOGHnYYl26XICYjllAzrU Bring the AWAKEN MISSION to your parish! https://www.awakencatholic.church/mission

What does listen to the music have do with Christmas? Well, my answer beloved is this. What music are you listening to? Let me explain. According to Billboard Music Charts, some the most popular songs this time of year are “All I want for Christmas is you” by Mariah Carey. “Rockin Around the Christmas Tree” by Brenda Lee. “Its the most Wonderful time of the Year” by Andy Williams. “White Christmas” by Bing Crosby.I am not here to knock or slam these songs that are favorites this time of year. The problem is this. None of the lyrics of those songs have anything to do with biblical reason for why Jesus Christ born. And yet for the vast majority of people, that is what they think Christmas is all about. Parties. Snow. Rudolph. Santa.The Lord Jesus declared, (and if anybody should know what Christmas is all about it would be Jesus!) “Thus it is written, and thus it behooved Christ to suffer, and to rise from the dead the third day: And that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in his name among all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. And ye are witnesses of these things” (Luke 24:46-48). Those words are the reason for the incarnation of Jesus Christ. That is why our Christmas theme this year is, Why the Incarnation?In the remembering of the biblical reason for why Jesus was born we are carrying out the Great Commission of the Lord Jesus Christ. You may have been blessed to have born into a Christian home, but nobody is born into this world a Christian. God does not have grandchildren. You must be born again. Born from above. If you listen to the words of these songs, “God Rest you Merry Gentlemen” or “O Little Town of Bethlehem” or “Silent Night, Holy Night” or “Mary Did you Know?” you will hear the lyrics that declare the reason for the incarnation.For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord” (Romans 6:23). God's gift of eternal life through faith in Jesus Christ is the message of the incarnation. The gospel of Jesus Christ is GOOD NEWS. It is a message of forgiveness of sin that manifests itself in inexpressible joy to the person who repents of their sin and receives Jesus Christ as Lord. Repent and believe the Lord Jesus Christ and you will begin singing a new song. SELAH

Special guest host Ken Hensley Ken expands on a topic from the first hour about “faith alone” and how he came to abandon Sola Scriptura R.J. (24:39) - What are your thoughts on the Chosen Series? Mary - Did you ever try to reach out to Lee Strobel for Case for Christ. It would be great if you could convert him? David - Luther believed that we were dung hills covered in snow. My thought is God gave us manure to help us grow. The bad things in our life are supposed to help us grow. John (46:14) - Protestants say that you can't be saved by works, but accepting Jesus on faith is kind of a “work” itself right? George – We worship God in three persons but Jesus has only two natures?

Oh, Martha and Mary! The sisters who both love Jesus but react so differently to His presence! Who is right? Are either of them “wrong”? Let's discover together what we can learn as we study Luke 10:38-42.  ***** Welcome to Walking in the Word, the biblical teaching arm of the Women World Leaders podcast. My name is Julie Jenkins, and I am honored to walk with you as we open the Bible together and ask God to show us His heart. If you are new to Women World Leaders, I want to offer you a special welcome. We are a ministry that strives to help others walk in their God-given purpose. As the ministry has grown, one of the things God has led us to is helping women become authors by helping them write and publish their God-stories. The resulting books shine the spotlight on Jesus so others can look to Him as they go through life. To date, each of our books has become a best-seller – people just can't get enough of God. And rightly so! This year, along with working with women, we have been blessed to partner with United Men of Honor to publish a book of God-stories written by men. The book—United Men of Honor: Overcoming Adversity Through Faith—was recently released and also became an #1 Amazon best-seller. I'm telling you, this book is amazing. I would encourage you to visit womenworldleaders.com to purchase a copy for the man in your life…but you may want to actually purchase two…because you will want one for yourself! While you are on the website, make sure to check out our teachings and devotions and sign up to attend our monthly leadership connection on Zoom. On this, the Wednesday editon of the Women World Leaders' podcast, we are currently walking through the gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John as we examine the life of Jesus. Today's teaching is from Luke, chapter 10, verses 38-42. Before we dive into scripture, let's pray… Dear Most Holy and ever-present God,  we thank you for guiding us through this lesson today. God, the scripture we are studying today is short, but it is SO packed with meaning. God, I pray that you guide my words. You know what we each need to hear from you today, and I ask that you use this time to speak to us. Guide each of our thoughts as we listen. Help us to hear YOUR heart, YOUR instruction, YOUR wisdom. In Jesus' name, I pray. Amen. Today's scripture is just 5 verses, but as I prayed, it is chock full of lessons for us. Luke has grouped this teaching with two other teachings, which we have already studied. Luke 10, verses 1-24 give the lesson that, as Christians, we are to be ambassadors of and for Christ. In these verses, Luke tells of Jesus sending out the 72 messengers, and then he tells of their return – and that the ambassadors are filled with joy because they saw how God faithfully worked through them on their mission. Then, in Luke 10, verses 25-37, we learn the importance of being a good neighbor through the story of the good Samaritan. So we've seen the importance, as Christ-followers, of being an ambassador for Christ and of being a good neighbor – the importance of working for the Kingdom. With that in mind, let's step forward into Luke 10:38-42 to see what our third lesson is. The New Living Translation states… 38 As Jesus and the disciples continued on their way to Jerusalem, they came to a certain village where a woman named Martha welcomed him into her home. 39 Her sister, Mary, sat at the Lord's feet, listening to what he taught. 40 But Martha was distracted by the big dinner she was preparing. She came to Jesus and said, “Lord, doesn't it seem unfair to you that my sister just sits here while I do all the work? Tell her to come and help me.” 41 But the Lord said to her, “My dear Martha, you are worried and upset over all these details! 42 There is only one thing worth being concerned about. Mary has discovered it, and it will not be taken away from her.” Jesus and His disciples are on their way to Jerusalem, and they come to Bethany, just a few miles east of the city, where three siblings, Martha, Mary, and Lazarus, live. Jesus was good friends with this family and often stayed with them. It seems that they were known for their hospitality. And I don't know if the house was very crowded or extremely large, but let's get the picture that there were at least 16 people there. If you have ever hosted Thanksgiving and Christmas for your family, you know how much work it is to feed a large group. When my family gets together, we do it potluck style – everyone is responsible for bringing one or two items. This helps alleviate the burden on the host and hostess, for sure. But in this case, and in this culture, Martha, as the homeowner and hostess, was responsible for doing all the food preparation. And Jesus was a very important guest. Later, scripture clearly tells us that Martha knew exactly who Jesus was, the Messiah, so of course she was going to go all out to serve Him and His disciples. Not only was there food to prepare, there were also beds to be made up, water to be brought in, and lamps to fill with oil. There is no doubt that Martha had been working for days before Jesus' arrival. And, we are told, she welcomed Jesus and His disciples into her home. She was pleased they were there, ready to enjoy their presence. But before she could rest, she needed to make sure that the food for the next meal was prepared. Martha had obviously hoped that her sister, Mary, would help her. Culturally, this WAS the woman's job…and we can guess that Mary DID help, but when it came to putting on the finishing touches, Mary went and sat at the feet of Jesus, leaving the remainder of the work to Martha. Let's focus on Mary for a moment. Sitting at the feet of a rabbi, soaking in the learning, was an honorable and esteemed place to be. And culturally, it was meant as a place for men. Women and girls were not allowed to receive any type of formal education. Society was quite segregated between men and women. Women were responsible for birthing babies, raising children, and preparing food. And that is where they gained their honor. But Mary stopped her work to sit at the feet of her beloved Jesus. And Jesus welcomed her. One of the biggest takeaways of this passage is that Jesus' teachings are not intended for a select group—all are welcome to sit at Jesus' feet. Today we don't have the literal feet of Jesus to sit at, but we do have individual and corporate Bible study, prayer, church offerings, Bible schools and seminaries, and, most importantly, the voice of the Holy Spirit. Jesus welcomes everyone to come and sit at His feet in whatever way His feet are available to them. He wants us all to come and learn and enjoy a relationship with Him. A second takeaway is that we are all different. God doesn't judge us according to our abilities and gifts, so we shouldn't judge each other either. Martha got frustrated with Mary because she wasn't helping her. But Mary was exactly where Jesus wanted her to be. We are all given different gifts and talents to be used in the body of Christ. Some indeed have the gift of hospitality and service, others lean more toward teaching and preaching. The gift you receive is up to God. And God doesn't make mistakes. Mary and Martha were different. Martha thrived on being a hospitable hostess. Mary had a bent for learning. Both were giftings from God – and both were good. Besides the lessons that Jesus' teachings are for all of us, and that we are not to judge others' gifts and abilities, we also learn that even good work can be distracting. We are all called to do and go for Christ – that simply can't be denied. There IS much work to be done, including sharing the gospel across the world AND with our neighbors, as Luke has taught us, but we must always be on guard against elevating the work we are called to ABOVE spending time with Jesus. What Martha was doing was important. She was serving Jesus!! What an amazing honor to prepare a meal for our Lord! It is no wonder that she wanted everything to be just right. But getting it all just right, in this instance, consumed her. We see that because frustration arose within her when Mary went and sat at Jesus' feet – leaving Martha with the work. When we are serving Christ in answer to His call and find ourselves frustrated with the way others on our team are serving, our hearts are no longer in the right place. So what do we do? Martha went to Jesus – which WAS the RIGHT thing to do! She said “Lord, doesn't it seem unfair to you that my sister just sits here while I do all the work?” If Martha would have stopped right there and listened for a response from Jesus, she would have been golden. I imagine Jesus would have said, “Martha, why don't you come and sit down, too. We can have dinner later.” And what a different ending THAT would have been! But after Martha went to Jesus with her frustration, she didn't pause to let Jesus speak. Instead, she told Jesus what to do, saying…”Tell her to come and help me.” When our work for the Lord leads us into territory that is frought with frustration, we should absolutely take our concerns to Him, but we should approach Him with an open, teachable heart that is ready to pause and listen to His instructions. We CAN trust that God has everything in His control. The work WILL get done. The dinner, literally or figuratively, WILL be a success—if we respond in obedience with each step. Even work done FOR Jesus can distract us from spending time WITH Jesus.   Jesus does respond, because Martha takes a breath, “My dear Martha, you are worried and upset over all these details! 42 There is only one thing worth being concerned about. Mary has discovered it, and it will not be taken away from her.” The primary takeaway from this scriputre is that despite the work we are called to, our relationship with the Lord should always be our primary focus. Martha was busy doing, and she became frustrated. Still, when she went to Jesus, He kindly and graciously pulled her into a deeper relationship with Him. When we go to Jesus, He will always pull us into a deeper relationship with Him, and no one can take that from us. Jesus will never stop trying to reach us. He reached Mary where she was, and He reached Martha where she was. And if you pause and listen, He will meet you, wherever you are. The Christian life requires balance. It requires us to go, be ambassadors for Christ and care for our neighbors—sometimes cooking a meal for many, but it also begs us to pause and allow the Lord to speak to our hearts. Jesus' teachings ARE intended for YOU – whether you are a man or woman, a pastor or a prostitute. Jesus' wants YOU to sit at HIS feet. Jesus gifting for each of us is different; therefore, the best we can do is do what WE are called to and not judge others. Jesus doesn't EVER want our work FOR Him to distract us from our relationship WITH Him. But most of all, Jesus wants us to pause and listen to Him, trusting He will ALWAYS be there to graciously lead and guide us. As Christians, nothing can take that away from us. It is clear from this passage just how much Jesus LOVED Martha and Mary. His patient care is almost palpable. I can just envision the kindness in His eyes that entranced Mary and melted Martha's frustrations. I'm sure glad Martha took a breath long enough to let Jesus speak. I pray that you and I will do the same today. Let's pray… Dear Jesus…how kind you are. Your kindness is beyond what we can fathom. We just seem to get off course sometimes, intent on going and doing. Let us each rest in your kind presence today. Help us hear your melodious voice and see your eyes running deep with peace and love. Thank you for always pursuing us and loving us. We give you today and thank you for giving us eternity. In Jesus' name, I pray. Amen.  

Mary Did you Know by Rev. Dr. Andre C. Loyd, Jr. Luke 1:39-45 NRSV

Yes, Mary DID know.

A popular meme making the rounds argues that Mary Did You Know is a bad Christmas song because Mary DID know. So today, on Coffee with a Calvinist, we ask, "What did Mary know?"

Emmy and Natalia dig into two historical church figures - Mary and St Nicholas - and the truth is so much better than the sugar coated and filtered versions we usually hear. Digressions include: Mary DID know, The Immaculate Conception, and the Epic of Gilgamesh Support the show at http://patreon.com/cafeteriachristian Find other podcasts on the network at http://alterguild.org  

Welcome to this edition of Michael's Weekly Perspective Podcast. In this edition, I'm going to share with you some of my favorite Christmas literature, then at the end, I'm going to share with you a Christmas Carol called Mary Did you know. This piece is played by my friend David Lai.  If you would like to send a contribution to this podcast, you can send me an email to munnmichael68@gmail.com or you can also call the listener line and that number is 4049230115.  Thank you for listen to this edition of Michael's Weekly Perspective Podcast and have a nice day. 

Join Allison Gingras and Danielle Bean for a fun conversation about all things Advent. In what ways will your Advent season look different this year? In what ways will it be the same? We share ideas for ways to add more time for quiet and prayer during the days of December and we have a funny (maybe even heated?) conversation about the controversial song Mary Did you Know? And this year we are sharing an inspiring playlist we at Catholic Mom made just for Advent. Check it out here!

Join Pastor Adam Cregan as he shares a message entitled "Mary Did you Know?"

On this day in Tudor history, 1st February 1587, Queen Elizabeth I called her secretary, William Davison, to her and asked him to bring her the death warrant of Mary, Queen of Scots. She then signed it. However, she didn't want it to be sent to Fotheringhay, where Mary was held, until she said so. But it was sent. Elizabeth wanted someone else to take responsibility for Mary's death, she even wanted her gaoler to assassinate her! Find out all about this, and how Mary DID end up being executed in February 1587, in today's talk from Claire Ridgway, founder of the Tudor Society. You can see this podcast as a video at the following link:https://youtu.be/Hq9b7nM51GY Also on this day in Tudor history, 1st February 1554, Queen Mary I gave a rousing speech at the Guildhall to rally Londoners against Wyatt’s rebellion. Find out what Mary said in last year's video - https://youtu.be/hwf3CbwYjWM  You can find Claire at:https://www.theanneboleynfiles.com https://www.tudorsociety.comhttps://www.facebook.com/theanneboleynfiles/https://www.facebook.com/tudorsociety/https://twitter.com/AnneBoleynFiles https://twitter.com/thetudorsociety https://www.instagram.com/tudor.society/ https://www.instagram.com/anneboleynfiles/

www.JoyousPodcast.com from www.SeasideCenter.org  This is Seaside Center for Spiritual Living’s 29th Annual Candlelight Service record on the evening of December 22nd, 2019. It’s a full 2-hours long and we’ve included the evening’s program here in our show notes. Enjoy the program and have a wonderful holiday. Prelude Holiday music, full band. Practitioners/Ministers processional O Come All Ye Faithful. Congressional song Joy To The World. Rev. Christen Sorensen’s Welcome Invocation & Elaine and Serena light the Menorah and sing. Leslie Green & friends light the Kwanza candles. Peggy Lebo sings Mary Did you Know. Congressional song Hark The Harold Angels Sing. Congressional song We Three Kings. Rebecca Jade sings Where Are you Christmas. Dr. Kathy Hearn reads from Luke 2: 1-16. Our 2019 Drummer Child MaKenna plays the drum and the congregation sings Little Drummer Boy. Congressional song Angles We Have Heard On High aka Gloria. Dr. Christina Tillotson reads The Metaphysics Of Christmas. Rosy Dawn sings her Musical Gift. Rev. Debbie McDonnell leads a responsive reading. Peggy Lebo sings her Musical Gift. Jim Coleman reads to the children The Night Before Christmas. Rebecca Jade leads the children in singing Jingle Bells. Rosy Dawn’s children’s choir sing Go Tell It On The Mountain and another song. Rev. Christen Sorensen lead all the men brave enough to come on stage in a sing-along of Deck The Halls With Boston Charlie. Rebecca Jade and Rev. Christen Sorensen lead everyone in a hilarious version of The 12 Days Of Christmas. The special “partridge” this year is Susan (Sully) Sullivan. Collection, Tithes, and Offerings with an instrumental background. Michael Paul’s Musical Gift. Rev. Christen Sorensen explains the candle lighting.  Peggy Lebo on piano assists 12-year old Hanna Kueneke who sings Light A Candle. Rebecca Jade and her mother Leslie offer their Musical Gift as a duet and sing Holy Night. Congressional song Silent Night. Congressional song Let There Be Peace On Earth. Rebecca Jade invites Santa onto the stage for the children and everyone sings We Wish You A Merry Christmas. Christmas cookies are served in the family room. We were blessed.

Happy Advent! In this special episode, Blake and Erin reflect on the season of advent by discussing the controversial and beautiful subject of Mary the mother of Jesus. Important note: Mary DID know (according to Luke 1). While this episode incorporates heavy amounts of Scripture and historical context, Rev. Erin Moniz can't not reference Lost Women of the Bible by Carolyn Custis James.What Blake is listening to: Josh Garrels "The Light Came Down" Music Credit: Hope and Doubt composed and recorded by Jenny and Tyler (All rights reserved. Somers Music Inc.)

A Homily for Advent 2 All Saints Anglican Church, Prescott, AZ December 8, 2019   Text: Luke 1:26-56   Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of our hearts be always acceptable in thy sight, O Lord our strength and our redeemer. Amen.               One of the things that I truly love about our town are the Christmas time festivities. The city really does pull out all the stops, it is beautiful, and amazing, and we are so fortunate and rich to live in such a place.             Last night, I stood on the court house square with a handful of friends, and probably several thousand others in the drizzling rain, as a man read the same passage of the Gospels According to St. Luke which we read this morning, the reading last night was intertwined with many of the children from the town singing classic, beautiful Christmas carols.             This moment stood in stark contrast to two other events this past week. The first was some Christmas movie that I put on the background while I cleaned, to be honest, I can’t remember what it was, or even the plot of the movie, but I remember thinking about the third thing that happened because, although the movie was about Christmas, it had nothing to do with Christ, it had nothing to do with what we will celebrate here in a couple short weeks.             The other event was more shocking, and more interesting. This past week we had a guest lecturer visit our class who works at a camp, he was discussing the generation that some are calling Generation Z, those young people who are under the age of 20 or so. It seems that at least some consider them to be the first truly-post Christian generation. That does not mean that there aren’t Christian in that generation but it means that the majority of them have never been exposed to any genuine Christian teachings. One of the litmus tests the lecturer, who was about my age, was giving for this was the fact that he and his peers grew up watching that great Peanuts Christmas Special in which Linus gets up and reads this same passage which was read last night, and again this morning and reminds everyone what Christmas is all about. In this special Linus wraps up with this:             “For unto you is born this day, in the city of David a savior, who is Christ the Lord. And this will be a sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger.” And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying, ‘glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace good will toward men!’ “… that’s what Christmas is all about Charlie Brown.”             New secular Christmas entertainment now rarely has anything to do with Christ, and the exposure to the gospels is so very limited. However, I do not wish for you to grow despondent. Our reaction can be indignation, or we can have hope. I was talking to a friend about this later on, and we agreed that one of two things may happen – God may kindle in the hearts of the people a spiritual awakening, which will be beautiful and we will get to see, or Jesus may return, which will be beautiful and we will finally be free from our sins – so do not be sorrowful about these things – but pray earnestly for a spiritual awakening, pray that we would love well, even those who are not like us, for the need for healing power of Christ is great.   I remember some time ago, I was attending a Bible study at a friends church. My friend was an peaceable chap, but rather more theologically liberal than me. Still, I enjoyed his company, and he was always good for an interesting conversation. I found myself talking to a woman I had never met or seen around. That evening we were discussing the Nicene Creed and out of the blue she said “well, I mean no one actually believes this stuff, it’s just something that’s nice to say.” I was rather shocked by the statement, I was young, and it was one of the first times I was exposed to someone who flat out denied the creeds of the church. Since then I have heard numerous other stories about this. Perhaps the most shocking stories are that of when progressive ministers retool the story we heard this morning to be about unexpected teenage pregnancy. That some how Mary was fooling around with someone, and became pregnant and then cooked up the story of the virgin birth. Friends, this is not what is going on here, the text does not support it, we will delve into this a little in a minute, but for now, all you need to know is this type of skeptical approach to the text is not even remotely accurate or true to what is being said. I want to make a quick side note. While we believe and affirm that traditional sexual ethics are thoroughly biblical and something that we are called to live in, that is to say, sex is only appropriate within the context of a man and a woman who are married, we recognize that this mold gets broken. We know that this isn’t always the case, we know that people make mistakes, get tripped up, stumble and fall. We know, too well that we have all sinned. Because of the inordinate grace which we experience in Christ for our own sins, we are called to love those people who have struggles, whether their sins are like ours, or different. We are called to love the single mothers, be open, and kind to them, We are called to show Christ’s love in this dark and dying world. This is one of the reasons we support organizations like Community Pregnancy Center that provides a whole plethora of services to women and men who find themselves in such situations. We love and affirm all life, and we desire God world be glorified in all things. Now back to Mary and back to the skeptics, some have argued that the word used which has traditionally been translated virgin could mean young woman, and they aren’t wrong in this. In fact it does, sometimes, mean a young woman of a marriageable age. However, it does not simply mean that she is of marriageable age, it has specifically to do with the chastity of the young woman, in reality then it means a woman of marriageable age who had never known a man and in reading the whole narrative we can take this word to mean nothing else. So it is that the text really is talking about a young virgin who had been legally promised in marriage to a man of the house of David, named Joseph. Now, another objection that occasionally arises is that this story was just stolen from pagan stories, that some how Christ’s miraculous and divine birth comes from those stories of when the pagan gods would come down and reproducing with human women. The most striking difference between these stories and the gospel message is that it in pagan lore it was never viewed as a moral act. The most interesting example of this was one story which I found early on in preparing this sermon and couldn’t find later was of one of the gods destroying her partner, and then recreated a son for herself out of his parts. I thought it was one of the Egyptian gods, but frustratingly, I was unable to find it. Although this myth is a more extreme example of the pagan god stories, when examined critically, there ends up being almost no comparison between the narrative of the birth of Christ, and the pagan stories. But here is the important question – does it really matter? Is the virgin birth as big of a deal as we claim that it is, or is it, as some have claimed some superstitious thing that Christians make a big to do about? Let me give you a spoiler before I unpack it further – yes – it matters tremendously. One of the interesting things about the Generation Z presentation was that where Modernist might be skeptical about the Virgin Birth or the resurrection, the young people of generation Z seem to be lest skeptical, but more concerned with why it might matter, and so while it is important for our own souls that we understand and accept this, it is equally important for the sake of our witness. First – the virgin conception of Jesus reveals the incredible uniqueness of Christ, never before, nor since, has a man walked this earth who was conceived of a virgin. Right away we see that this is a truly unique position for this man to be in. We all know how children come into existence and so we know how scandalous this truly is. Secondly – this conception created a special relationship between God-the-father and Christ, his son. In fact, in our reading this morning you see the entire Trinity already starting to act out its role in the salvific plan for humanity – an Angel was sent from God (the Father), to announce the birth of Jesus (the son), which would be made possible by the Holy Spirit. Each member of the trinity worked in perfect cooperation for Christ to be born, to live his life without fault in a dark and sinful world, to die willfully on the cross that sinners such as you and I might have eternal life, and be raised to new life, that we too could be raised with him on that last day. Third – Along the same lines, the virgin birth tells us the our salvation is a work of God. I have been contemplating this incredible grace as of late. I don’t believe that I can emphasize this enough: we do not save ourselves, we are not cooperators, but submitting subjects to our king and Lord in the act of our salvation and the process of our sanctification. God begins and ends the work in us. In the same way the virgin birth was a complete work of God. Mary only submitted to His will for her. While some of our beloved friends in other churches believe Mary was somehow sinless as well, this simply cannot be supported in scripture, but rather the virgin birth points to the amazing fact that God, and God alone, did this work. God started the work of our salvation, and God has completed it. Fourth – likewise – the virgin conception is a sign that God’s final salvation has come. There had been types and foreshadowing of this coming in the Old Testament, we saw some of them as we did our survey over the last year, but the real and fullest miraculous birth has now happened. Finally, the Christ, the one who would crush the serpents head, the son of Eve had come to set his captive people free. In fact, we could argue that the birth of John the Baptist was the final miraculous foreshadowing of the coming of Christ. For, like others before, John was born of a mother, who was far too old to conceive, and yet he was conceived. It was after the conception of John that Mary got her own visit from Gabriel, and finally, all that was promised was beginning to be fulfilled.[1] The final reason the virgin conception is of such importance is that it testifies to the incarnation. This amazing fact that God was made man, that God truly condescended, and lived a perfect, a fully human life – that means – that from the commencement of his gestation to his death and resurrection – he was fully and perfectly human and yet he is God. I realize that this last sentence may sound overly technical – but it gives me chills for two reasons – first, I spent several years working in animal reproductive sciences, I have watched mice embryos develop from semination, through various cellular stages, there’s something amazing to think that God came and was briefly a sing celled human embryo, and then a two celled, and a four celled, developing as you and I developed in the womb growing and maturing until his birth. That fact baffles me, the vulnerability, the love, that this act must have taken is staggering and beautiful. Secondly, we live in a time when those early cells of humanity aren’t considered human, but considered, well simply that, just cells. They can be tossed away as easily as the next thing. Yet, the God incarnate lived each and every gestational moment that you and I lived in our mothers wombs. Surely, this must foster in us an awe of the preciousness of life. If it were not enough that each human being is created in the image of God – the fact that God himself – the second person of the Trinity went through each scientific stage of development should drive us to wonder and respect for the sanctity of life. Now, I want to read you a section from Knowing God, which we’ve been reading from Christian Education because J.I. Packer summarizes the astounding fact of the incarnation exceedingly eloquently: “The really staggering Christian claim is that Jesus of Nazareth was God made man – that the second person of the Godhead became the ‘second man,’ determining human destiny, the second representative head of the race, and that He took humanity without loss of deity, so that Jesus of Nazareth was as truly and fully divine as he was human… “It is here, in the thing that happened at the first Christmas, that the profoundest and most unfathomable depths of the Christian revelation lie. ‘the Word became flesh;’ God became man; the divine Son became a Jew; the Almighty appeared on earth as a helpless human baby, unable to do more than lie and stare and wriggle and make noises, needing to be fed and changed and taught to talk like any other child. “ and there was no illusion or deception in this: the babyhood of the son of God was a reality. The more you think about it, the more staggering it gets. Nothing in fiction is so fantastic as is this truth of the Incarnation.”[2]   No other point of theology within the Christian tradition is as important, is as critical, is as amazing as the incarnation. Packer’s words point us to this, remind us, enliven us, encourage us, and help us to remember that very fact. What we read what was announced this morning to a young, scared girl in Galilee some two-thousand years ago was earth shattering, and altered the direction of humanity forever. And why does the incarnation matter? Like all points of theology it is easy to become overly heady, or God forbid become puffed up in our own knowledge, becoming conceited that we know something others don’t. But first and foremost, the incarnation should make us humble. For like the reality of the virgin birth, it points to the fact that it is God that saves, that salvation is not a work of man, it is God who condescended to us, and lived among us, he starts and he ends the work in us. It is not us, but Him alone. Secondly, the incarnation is a fact spelled out and testified to in scripture. I think we’ve talked about C.S. Lewis’s proof of Christ where he argues that Christ is either “Lord, Lunatic, or Liar.” If we read the Gospel accounts attentively, we realize that Jesus believed he was special, believed that he was in fact God. If you were walking down the street and met someone who believed that he was Lord of the universe – you would be forced to come to one of three conclusions – this man is crazy, this man is not telling us the truth, or this man is telling us the truth, and you are in the presence of someone great. The evidence with Christ does not point that he is crazy, nor that he is deceptive, therefore Jesus must be Lord, Jesus must be king of kings. The incarnation both makes this all the more believable but this is also testified to by the incarnation. Third – the fact that Jesus is God incarnation tells us it was God on the cross dying for our sins. The more I’ve contemplated the incarnation these past few days while getting ready for this sermon, the more in awe I am of this incredible fact – and I know I’ve said this at least twice already – but I am simply amazed by salvation, amazed how thoroughly God centered our salvation is – it is not you, nor I that made it possible, but from the very beginning it was God and it is God. It is God who held himself to the cross on that cross, it wasn’t just a good man, or some excellent teacher like Socrates dying that, it was the incarnate Lord who suffered there for all to see. Fourth – the resurrection tends to be another one of those modernist hang-ups but if Christ truly was incarnate, then of course he could be raised from the dead, and of course he WOULD be raised from the dead. Because how could the author of life possibly be contained in the grave? The incarnation testified to the reality of the resurrection, as the resurrection testified to the reality of the incarnation. The second half of this morning’s lesson ends with incredible joy and praise. Elizabeth, Mary’s older relative now heavy with child, greets Mary with joy for the baby in her womb jumps gladness as even he realizes who he’s in the presence of. Somehow Elizabeth and her unborn child already knows that Jesus is the Lord. This brings us to one final theological point. Elizabeth calls Mary the mother of her Lord. There was a major Christological controversy in the 5th century when a theologian objected to the term “Theotokos,” or God-bearer for Mary because he was afraid that this elevated Mary to a position another human shouldn’t hold. Yet, this is what Mary is, she truly is bearing in her womb the incarnate God. Even in this mornings readings we see that Elizabeth recognizes this. It is important we recognize that as Christ is God, and there was never a point where Jesus was not God and with hat in mind Mary can be nothing less than the Theotokos, the God-bearer. We close the lesson this morning with the hymn which we call the Magnificat. Those who do Evening Prayer at home or join us for Evensong during the week are familiar with this beautiful song of praise. Mary is moved to awe by all she is seeing, and learning, and experiencing the little child growing in her. While the song “Mary Did you Know?” Sometimes seems a little pedantic, and we want to say “of course she knew! The angel told her!” I suspect that this is uncharitable to the song writer. It seems likely that in one sense, of course she knew, but in another – very real sense, it was only slowly sinking in, slowly realizing that something amazing, something so much bigger than her was happening in her womb. How could she possible know and imagine that she would be the one to tend to, and care for that incarnate Lord who was a vulnerable baby in her womb, who was wrapped in swaddling cloth, who cried when he was hungry, who needed love and nurturing. How could she possibly realize that in it’s fullness? I realize – this morning we delved into some pretty deep and profoundly important theology. I hope and pray that I presented it in such a way that it enlivened your hearts, and brought you into a place of incredible awe at the grace of our God, at the tender care he gives his children, at the love that he has poured out for us. I hope that you have been reminded of this incredible truth of the incarnation that you hearts have been brought to a place of praise that the same Lord who came, who truly lived, who truly died, who truly rose again, and who will return on that last day was conceived of the virgin Mary, and in her womb grew as every child has ever grown and yet he was truly man and fully God. In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Ghost. Amen.   [1] Some points taken from class notes, Systematic Theology 2, Steve Tracy. [2] J.I. Packer, Knowing God, Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity, 1973, 53.

Last time we learned that Mary DID get the garage cleared out but it brought anxiety more than anything. In today’s conversation, Mary recognizes the progress she’s made and feels she’s on the cusp of normalcy.

Utah Red and Sky Russell are so happy to share a few of their Chrismas season songs they have been working on during their rehearsals. In Episode #2 songs include: Emanuel, Mary Did you Know, Heirloom and Silent Night.