Who’s My Outsider?
Photo by Jonny Gios on Unsplash The weekend scene was festive in Nazareth! The hometown hero was in town for a visit. His neighbors had heard of his famous exploits. They knew his Mom and Dad, and, old rumors aside, Joseph’s family was good enough folk. Normal people. Solid woodworking. So when the Sabbath came and he was still in town teaching, the worship center was packed! “This is going to put Nazareth on the map!” they thought. The community had always been pretty upstanding, even if it was poor. The accusations about Nazareth being a backwater town just
I Need Much More Than a Snickers
Photo by Mohamed Nohassi on Unsplash Read: Luke 4:1-13 Have you seen the commercials for Snickers bars? The ones with the slogan, “You’re not you when you’re hungry." There’s one in which a roommate turns into a gremlin because he hasn’t had lunch; he just needs a Snickers.  In another, a lumberjack becomes whiny because he missed his breakfast; he just needs a Snickers. They’re hangry—so hungry that anger comes easily. I think many of us can relate, yes? I wish stopping my sin was as simple as eating a Snickers. You know what? Jesus never got hangry. Hungry,
The Root of Jesse
Photo by Eilis Garvey on Unsplash  Read: Luke 3:21-38  In the passage that we are diving into this week, we are given a list of Jesus’ family lineage. Don’t you wonder why Luke did this? I know I do. Well, I am sure Carson will tell us (no pressure Carson), and maybe he can tell us why Luke dedicates space to this topic three chapters in when Matthew starts his book with a genealogy. Once again, no pressure. But I want to start here with this: We confess that Jesus is eternal. We confess that Jesus made everything, and through Him everything was made. We confess that Jesus is
Meditating On Our Passage (Luke 3:1-20)
Photo by Joshua Woroniecki on Unsplash Read Our Passage, Luke 3:1-22, for this Week... 3 In the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar, Pontius Pilate being governor of Judea, and Herod being tetrarch of Galilee, and his brother Philip tetrarch of the region of Ituraea and Trachonitis, and Lysanias tetrarch of Abilene, 2 during the high priesthood of Annas and Caiaphas, the word of God came to John the son of Zechariah in the wilderness. 3 And he went into all the region around the Jordan, proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. 4
Follow Jesus to Places of Learning
Read: Luke 2:41-52 We call ourselves "followers of Jesus" because we want to obey his teaching and live the way he lived. Paul, who taught in the markets while he made tents, told us we should be "imitators of me, as I imitate Christ." But should we imitate the child Jesus? In this week's account from the gospel writer Luke, we see the one story from Jesus's childhood that we should definitely imitate. Now [Jesus's] parents went to Jerusalem every year at the Feast of the Passover. And when he was twelve years old, they went up according to
Good News for the World
Photo by Omar Lopez on Unsplash Waiting, waiting, waiting. Day after day Simeon waited. God the Holy Spirit had revealed to him that he would see the Messiah, the Christ, before he died. So he waited. And waited. And waited. And then one day the Holy Spirit moved him to go into the temple courts. A poor, young couple came in to make the law's offering for their firstborn son. The courts were probably thronged with people, rather like Grand Central Station on a busy weekday. But somehow Simeon knew to go to this young couple, who presumably looked
On Our Familiarity With the Incomprehensible
Read: Luke 2:1-20 It’s arguably the most famous story in the world. A man and his young wife travel to a crowded city to register for a census. She is hugely pregnant and unfortunately, the city is so crowded, they can’t find a bed—a real problem since it seems that tonight, of all nights, she is in labor. They manage to find a stable just in time for a sweet baby boy to be born. Meanwhile, out in the fields, some shepherds are tending their flocks when a whole bunch of angels appear. The angels tell the shepherds to hurry into the city
Perfectly Imperfect: Life Lessons from a Children’s Christmas Pageant
North Wake has a long tradition of an annual Children's Christmas Pageant, where all the kids who come that Sunday get a chance to lead us in worship singing Christmas carols and reading about the birth of Jesus. This event is celebrated in an article by North Wake's Children's Ministry Director, Kelly Cissell, featured on the blog for the Center for Faith and Culture at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary (SEBTS). Everything about the Children’s Community Christmas Pageant is imperfect and definitely not silent. Yet year after year, we invite grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins, and neighbors to come hear the story
“And you, my child” Luke 1:76
Read: Luke 1:57-80 If you do a google search for “Are we replaceable?” you will find article after article battling out two points of view. One line of thought states that there is no way you are replaceable, and one says you are completely replaceable. The debate seems to be focused on whether it is a good thing or a bad thing to be replaceable. Some claim that being replaceable is empowering, and others say that it is a detriment to our view of ourselves and others. These types of arguments can leave us as individuals wondering if we have a place in this world–maybe
Mary, Elizabeth, and You: He Lives and Moves In Us
Read: Luke 1:26-56 The Holy Spirit has been called the "shy member of the trinity" because he focuses his attention not on himself but on Jesus, the Messiah. The Holy Spirit was the answer when Mary asked how she would conceive a baby without a man! God's messenger told her God's Spirit would act in her body to bring about Jesus's conception without a man's involvement. But the Holy Spirit had already been active: Mary's cousin, Elizabeth, and her husband, Zechariah, were expecting a baby filled with the Spirit from the womb. And sure enough, when Mary visited Elizabeth,
