Difference between revisions of "Sermon for December 6th, 2020"
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==Angel Songs: Afraid to Love== | ==Angel Songs: Afraid to Love== | ||
| − | My wife Amy and I met and started dating each other when we were 16 years old. We've known and loved each other for almost 30 years, and we've been married for the last 20. You would think in all those years that I might have learned a few things about love. | + | My wife Amy and I met and started dating each other when we were just 16 years old. We've known and loved each other for almost 30 years, and we've been married for the last 20. You would think in all those years that I might have learned a few things about love. And you would be wrong. But that's never stopped me from sharing my opinions before, so... |
| − | #Love is like juggling knives, playing the bagpipes, or | + | #Love is like juggling knives, playing the bagpipes, reading Hebrew, or golf: It seems easy until you actually try it. |
| − | #Love is like haggis (or Menudo or hot dogs). Only those responsible for making it really know what goes into it. | + | #Love is like haggis (or Menudo or hot dogs or casserole). Only those responsible for making it really know what goes into it. |
| − | #When you love someone, you shouldn't criticize | + | #When you love someone, you shouldn't criticize that person's choices...because you are one of those choices. |
| − | #When | + | #When your spouse says that she loves you even more today than she did yesterday...it's probably because you made her really mad yesterday. |
#Love isn't about finding the right person. It's about becoming the right person and being the right person for someone else, over and over again, every day. | #Love isn't about finding the right person. It's about becoming the right person and being the right person for someone else, over and over again, every day. | ||
| + | |||
| + | Joseph loved Mary. We don't know exactly when or how their love story began...was it love at first sight? Was it an arranged marriage? We don't get any of those details in our scripture passage, or anywhere else in the Bible, for that matter. By the time we come into the story, it has already gotten to be a dicy situation. Mary has been "found" to be with child. What does that mean? Who did the finding? Was it public knowledge? Was it...obvious? | ||
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| + | The only thing that Joseph could possibly know, was that the child was not his. | ||
Revision as of 18:34, 5 December 2020
Matthew 1:18-25
18 Now the birth of Jesus the Messiah took place in this way. When his mother Mary had been engaged to Joseph, but before they lived together, she was found to be with child from the Holy Spirit. 19 Her husband Joseph, being a righteous man and unwilling to expose her to public disgrace, planned to dismiss her quietly. 20 But just when he had resolved to do this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, “Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife, for the child conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. 21 She will bear a son, and you are to name him Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.” 22 All this took place to fulfill what had been spoken by the Lord through the prophet:
23 “Look, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall name him Emmanuel,”
which means, “God is with us.” 24 When Joseph awoke from sleep, he did as the angel of the Lord commanded him; he took her as his wife, 25 but had no marital relations with her until she had borne a son; and he named him Jesus.
Angel Songs: Afraid to Love
My wife Amy and I met and started dating each other when we were just 16 years old. We've known and loved each other for almost 30 years, and we've been married for the last 20. You would think in all those years that I might have learned a few things about love. And you would be wrong. But that's never stopped me from sharing my opinions before, so...
- Love is like juggling knives, playing the bagpipes, reading Hebrew, or golf: It seems easy until you actually try it.
- Love is like haggis (or Menudo or hot dogs or casserole). Only those responsible for making it really know what goes into it.
- When you love someone, you shouldn't criticize that person's choices...because you are one of those choices.
- When your spouse says that she loves you even more today than she did yesterday...it's probably because you made her really mad yesterday.
- Love isn't about finding the right person. It's about becoming the right person and being the right person for someone else, over and over again, every day.
Joseph loved Mary. We don't know exactly when or how their love story began...was it love at first sight? Was it an arranged marriage? We don't get any of those details in our scripture passage, or anywhere else in the Bible, for that matter. By the time we come into the story, it has already gotten to be a dicy situation. Mary has been "found" to be with child. What does that mean? Who did the finding? Was it public knowledge? Was it...obvious?
The only thing that Joseph could possibly know, was that the child was not his.
