I've just watched The Nativity on www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer Well worth it. But interestingly it very much follows along from what I was saying in my last post, about Mary being despised, Joseph struggling to accept it all - very much as one would expect a young man to be when his betrothed shows she's pregnant. Jesus is born away from friends and family and, even though it is never said, a prostitute is the midwife. Must be because she doesn't have her head covered.
A friend of mine has been having dreams that God is going to be doing something very new, and I think getting our heads round the idea that Jesus was born alone, with the despised of society around Him and that even though now Mary is revered at the time she was nearly stoned to death, and that wonderful Joseph took a while to be able to accept this truth.
I am interested to know what God is up to and wonder how much time I'll get over the holidays to pray and ponder it all?
Friday, 24 December 2010
Sunday, 19 December 2010
Mary and Joseph
I have been pondering Mary, the mother of Jesus, and it was pulled together a wee bit by the sermon I heard today. She is totally amazing in what she endured and yet so little is known about her or mentioned, which I suppose for the early readers didn't need to be said because it was known.
Here was a young girl, probably barely 15, who gets a visitation from an angel and becomes pregnant. God has put her with an awesome fiance who can understand dreams and is obedient to God. Following on from hearing the Jewish guy the other day with the key factor of Jews being they obey God this makes these 2 people pure Jews, totally ready to parent the Son of God.
But what must these 2 people endure. Did anyone suggest to Mary she have an abortion? Did anyone encourage Joseph to get her to get rid of the baby? We know he considered "putting her aside quietly" but as for what had been suggested to him about the baby we will never know.
I have been pondering on the whole thing of there being no room for them in Bethlehem even though she was heavily pregnant. The usual bit at the moment is that this was wrong and the couple would have been welcomed in by Joseph's family and she would've had the baby in the place in the home surrounded by Joseph's female relatives. But what if they had decided that she was duping their man, and that he was a bit of an idiot to still be hanging around with her. Maybe when they turned up at his family home he was told that he could come in but not the trollop and that if he was going to stay with this awful woman who had duped him into taking her on as his wife even though she was pregnant with someone else's child they he was not entering their home. This makes Joseph even more amazing than at first glance, being willing to be rejected by his family to obey God, but also makes the birth of Jesus even more of a place of rejection. It was not that the inn keeper would not let them in but there was no room for them in Bethlehem with anyone and that they were seen as total outcasts.
Wow! Again as I ponder the birth of Jesus I do wonder if I could obey God that much to be rejected by my family and be totally alone. Not such a great fluffy, fun story as most of our nativity plays and sermons make out.
As someone was saying the other day "Your God's not fair" meaning how only those who believe will get to live for eternity with Him, but I do wonder just how fair God is to allow His only son to be born not just into such poverty but into such rejection and for Him to have not emotional scars. He couldn't have done because He was still willing to lay down His life for us!
Here was a young girl, probably barely 15, who gets a visitation from an angel and becomes pregnant. God has put her with an awesome fiance who can understand dreams and is obedient to God. Following on from hearing the Jewish guy the other day with the key factor of Jews being they obey God this makes these 2 people pure Jews, totally ready to parent the Son of God.
But what must these 2 people endure. Did anyone suggest to Mary she have an abortion? Did anyone encourage Joseph to get her to get rid of the baby? We know he considered "putting her aside quietly" but as for what had been suggested to him about the baby we will never know.
I have been pondering on the whole thing of there being no room for them in Bethlehem even though she was heavily pregnant. The usual bit at the moment is that this was wrong and the couple would have been welcomed in by Joseph's family and she would've had the baby in the place in the home surrounded by Joseph's female relatives. But what if they had decided that she was duping their man, and that he was a bit of an idiot to still be hanging around with her. Maybe when they turned up at his family home he was told that he could come in but not the trollop and that if he was going to stay with this awful woman who had duped him into taking her on as his wife even though she was pregnant with someone else's child they he was not entering their home. This makes Joseph even more amazing than at first glance, being willing to be rejected by his family to obey God, but also makes the birth of Jesus even more of a place of rejection. It was not that the inn keeper would not let them in but there was no room for them in Bethlehem with anyone and that they were seen as total outcasts.
Wow! Again as I ponder the birth of Jesus I do wonder if I could obey God that much to be rejected by my family and be totally alone. Not such a great fluffy, fun story as most of our nativity plays and sermons make out.
As someone was saying the other day "Your God's not fair" meaning how only those who believe will get to live for eternity with Him, but I do wonder just how fair God is to allow His only son to be born not just into such poverty but into such rejection and for Him to have not emotional scars. He couldn't have done because He was still willing to lay down His life for us!
Thursday, 16 December 2010
Our Heritage
Yesterday in our Cultural Studies lesson we had a lovely Jewish man come and talk about his faith. Our current unit is religion and philosophy.
Listening to this Jewish man talk about his faith, which they don't call a faith but more a way of being, a lifestyle, a who they are, the more I could understand deeper some of the things of Jesus.
One of the things he said about was that they mustn't avoid legitimate pleasures, and there are rules about having to drink wine, of getting drunk at least once year, and of how many times a married couple must have sex, as well as other things! But what struck me was that when Jesus said "I will give you life and life in abundance" he was referring to these rules, because we must always remember that Jesus was talking to Jews. I think we so often forget that and put our western mindset on things. I believe what Jesus was saying was that we were no longer bound by rules but by Grace and so really our lives should be even more about grabbing the legitimate pleasure of God, not about being assure, miserable, solemn.
Another one was that the Levites were the priests because they were the most war-like of the tribes and it meant they would never carry weapons again. As Christians we are known as the Royal Priesthood, amongst other things, which to me means if we have those war-like tendencies lurking about which would make sense of the Crusades, Inquisition, etc.
Another he mentioned was that Jews expect God to have prepared a place for them in the world to come that will reflect how they lived their lives on earth, how they fulfilled the destiny God had for them. To me this is saying about when Jesus says "My Father has prepared a mansion/room/house" (depending on translation) to the Jews again this would be that reassurance that God knew what they were doing and was preparing things for them as He has promised.
And he talked about how Jews do the rules because the important thing is to obey God and that is what defined Abraham. This guy didn't believe Abraham was the only person God was talking to but he was the only one who obeyed. Again for me that is what defines me as a Christian, not that I remember to keep the rules, do the right thing, even that I live a good life, but that I obey God.
God was speaking to me about obeying Him and of Him having put me just where He wants me on Sunday during worship time and after in the talk, which I did need as I've been feeling like I'm having a hard time both at college and at home. And for me this whole thing of obeying God is what will mark me out as being different.
I noticed some in my class who had come with their own thoughts and theories and were going to voice them, and that is so how Christians can be. We think we know what is right and we are not going to listen to anyone else but, as I know I've said before, if we are all made int he image of God then we all possess a piece of God, and for me this Jewish man says he prays to God 3 times a day, he must be able to share with me, with us all, a piece of God and help us to grow in our spiritual journey here on earth.
If I get time I will continue these thoughts but ....
Listening to this Jewish man talk about his faith, which they don't call a faith but more a way of being, a lifestyle, a who they are, the more I could understand deeper some of the things of Jesus.
One of the things he said about was that they mustn't avoid legitimate pleasures, and there are rules about having to drink wine, of getting drunk at least once year, and of how many times a married couple must have sex, as well as other things! But what struck me was that when Jesus said "I will give you life and life in abundance" he was referring to these rules, because we must always remember that Jesus was talking to Jews. I think we so often forget that and put our western mindset on things. I believe what Jesus was saying was that we were no longer bound by rules but by Grace and so really our lives should be even more about grabbing the legitimate pleasure of God, not about being assure, miserable, solemn.
Another one was that the Levites were the priests because they were the most war-like of the tribes and it meant they would never carry weapons again. As Christians we are known as the Royal Priesthood, amongst other things, which to me means if we have those war-like tendencies lurking about which would make sense of the Crusades, Inquisition, etc.
Another he mentioned was that Jews expect God to have prepared a place for them in the world to come that will reflect how they lived their lives on earth, how they fulfilled the destiny God had for them. To me this is saying about when Jesus says "My Father has prepared a mansion/room/house" (depending on translation) to the Jews again this would be that reassurance that God knew what they were doing and was preparing things for them as He has promised.
And he talked about how Jews do the rules because the important thing is to obey God and that is what defined Abraham. This guy didn't believe Abraham was the only person God was talking to but he was the only one who obeyed. Again for me that is what defines me as a Christian, not that I remember to keep the rules, do the right thing, even that I live a good life, but that I obey God.
God was speaking to me about obeying Him and of Him having put me just where He wants me on Sunday during worship time and after in the talk, which I did need as I've been feeling like I'm having a hard time both at college and at home. And for me this whole thing of obeying God is what will mark me out as being different.
I noticed some in my class who had come with their own thoughts and theories and were going to voice them, and that is so how Christians can be. We think we know what is right and we are not going to listen to anyone else but, as I know I've said before, if we are all made int he image of God then we all possess a piece of God, and for me this Jewish man says he prays to God 3 times a day, he must be able to share with me, with us all, a piece of God and help us to grow in our spiritual journey here on earth.
If I get time I will continue these thoughts but ....
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