Tonight our staff team celebrated Christmas with Chris Tomlin, Louie Giglio, and Christy Nockels in Virginia Beach. What a fun night! I laughed, cried, and worshiped. Louie Giglio brought the word... never had I heard a better rendition of Luke 2, the Christmas Story. He invited us into the first Christmas night in Bethlehem and taught how God came down into the nitty gritty of this broken world. I loved how he illustrated the night of Jesus' birth and how the circumstances surrounding His birth were so far from perfect in the eyes of the world. Mary and Joseph were probably looked down upon for supposedly conceiving this child out of wedlock, it was tax day, and this child would be born in unsanitary conditions in a cave on the side of a mountain. Imagine that you were Mary at this time. Consider for a minute what was running though her mind. Consider the exhaustion after traveling to Bethlehem. Consider the uncertainty and confusion and dealing with the stares of judgement from outsiders. Consider Joseph and his role in it all. Phew!
John 1:14 tells us that "The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us."
or in the Message Version "The Word became flesh and blood, and moved into the neighborhood."
God decided to come down to earth. He became flesh, human form, in the form of an infant. I love how the message version says that He became flesh and blood and moved into the neighborhood. He came TO us. Humbled himself and moved into our neighborhood! In the midst of the brokenness, sinfulness, and self-gratifying ways of the world, HE MADE HIS DWELLING AMONG US. I don't know what is a more beautiful love than that.
Amy, Matt, Brian, Brooke and me
me and the girls with Christy Nockels
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