WEBVTT 00:00:00.680 --> 00:00:05.799 Well, like many of you, I absolutely love Christmas, and I look forward to it every year. 00:00:06.520 --> 00:00:11.120 And one of the things that we love to do, probably like many of you, is to watch Christmas movies. 00:00:11.240 --> 00:00:16.719 We have a whole list of movies, and there's a strategy that goes into when we watch which movie. 00:00:17.260 --> 00:00:21.500 And I'm very much next week looking forward to watching all of our favorites. 00:00:22.480 --> 00:00:25.140 And it's funny, if you think about all of our favorite Christmas movies, 00:00:25.879 --> 00:00:29.500 there are some that are sort of of the moment, and there are some that last. 00:00:29.500 --> 00:00:32.280 There are some that sort of endure for generations. 00:00:32.600 --> 00:00:37.460 And so as I think about some of my favorites, these are some that really have endured. 00:00:37.719 --> 00:00:40.060 Obviously, there are many versions of A Christmas Carol. 00:00:40.480 --> 00:00:42.320 That's one that many people love. 00:00:42.820 --> 00:00:43.899 It's a Wonderful Life. 00:00:44.700 --> 00:00:50.299 I always forget how wrecked I will be after watching that movie. 00:00:50.679 --> 00:00:57.100 By the end, I'm like, and I'm not kind of a crier, but man, that movie absolutely demolishes me every time I watch it. 00:00:57.100 --> 00:01:03.880 The Bishop's Wife, even How the Grinch Stole Christmas has this kind of enduring quality to it. 00:01:03.980 --> 00:01:15.480 And it's funny, I think one of the reasons why these particular stories resonate is because they all sort of have this theme of transformation in them. 00:01:15.480 --> 00:01:24.960 They all convey the idea or the hope that Christmas seems to have this kind of power to change people. 00:01:25.120 --> 00:01:28.719 It leaves them different after they encounter it. 00:01:29.300 --> 00:01:30.460 They become more generous. 00:01:31.400 --> 00:01:33.260 They become more selfless. 00:01:33.359 --> 00:01:34.380 They become more forgiving. 00:01:34.379 --> 00:01:38.579 People emerge from Christmas more humble, more joyful. 00:01:39.599 --> 00:01:41.299 And I think that resonates with us. 00:01:41.339 --> 00:01:47.319 At least it resonates with me because we want that kind of experience for ourselves. 00:01:47.659 --> 00:01:52.399 We want that kind of change in our lives. 00:01:52.579 --> 00:01:58.399 And the good news is that Christmas actually does have the power to change people. 00:01:58.400 --> 00:02:05.719 But we need to understand how that change happens if we are to experience it ourselves. 00:02:05.880 --> 00:02:10.939 And so what I want to do as we look at this gospel reading that we just heard from Luke chapter 1, 00:02:11.400 --> 00:02:17.319 I want to take a few minutes to look at the very first person ever to be transformed by Christmas, 00:02:17.700 --> 00:02:19.780 which is the person of Mary. 00:02:21.060 --> 00:02:25.659 To paraphrase Professor Carolyn Lewis, she says this about this passage. 00:02:25.659 --> 00:02:32.620 In these few verses, we witness the radical transformation from peasant girl to prophet, 00:02:33.460 --> 00:02:38.960 from denial to discipleship, from Mary to the mother of God. 00:02:40.000 --> 00:02:45.680 So we're going to look at this story and ask how this transformation happens in Mary's life. 00:02:45.780 --> 00:02:54.419 And we see three elements that are crucial for this kind of change to occur in her life, in our lives. 00:02:54.419 --> 00:02:57.259 Let's pray, and then we will look at God's Word together. 00:02:58.859 --> 00:03:04.579 Lord, we thank You for this Sunday morning, and we thank You for the excitement and the joy around Christmas. 00:03:04.779 --> 00:03:11.459 We thank You for the freedom and the ability to gather together, to sing these great songs, 00:03:11.599 --> 00:03:17.579 to pray, to open Your Word together, to come and to share the food at Your table, Lord. 00:03:17.580 --> 00:03:18.440 We thank You. 00:03:19.240 --> 00:03:24.500 And before we feast at Your table with bread and wine, I pray that we would feast on Your Word. 00:03:24.580 --> 00:03:29.080 I pray that You would nourish us with Your Word and do Your work in us through Your Word. 00:03:29.340 --> 00:03:33.120 We pray this, Lord, that You would be glorified in us. 00:03:33.240 --> 00:03:34.580 We pray this in Jesus' name. 00:03:34.760 --> 00:03:34.980 Amen. 00:03:36.580 --> 00:03:43.560 So the first element that we see in this story that is crucial for lives to be actually meaningfully changed 00:03:43.560 --> 00:03:46.659 as the element of grace, grace. 00:03:47.780 --> 00:03:53.719 Over the years, people have come to imagine that there was something special about Mary. 00:03:53.920 --> 00:03:58.840 They've come to think that Mary must have been an exceedingly great woman. 00:03:59.420 --> 00:04:01.640 She must have been wise beyond her years. 00:04:01.640 --> 00:04:08.620 She must have been extra holy in order for God to do this kind of thing through her. 00:04:08.620 --> 00:04:15.620 And so traditions have arisen around Mary, many of which have arisen over the last couple of centuries, 00:04:15.780 --> 00:04:22.160 that Mary was, for example, sinless from birth, the idea of the Immaculate Conception, 00:04:22.300 --> 00:04:30.480 or that she must have remained a perpetual virgin for the rest of her life after giving birth to Jesus. 00:04:30.620 --> 00:04:33.000 There are these traditions, and they all support this idea, 00:04:33.000 --> 00:04:41.920 that there must have been something that set Mary apart from the rabble in order for God to be able to use her in the way that He did. 00:04:42.060 --> 00:04:47.480 But if we look at what Scripture actually tells us, Mary was profoundly ordinary. 00:04:49.079 --> 00:04:54.519 We see a girl living at home with her parents in Nazareth of Galilee, a kind of nowhere town. 00:04:55.579 --> 00:04:58.459 She's a teenager, probably around 14 or 15 years old. 00:04:59.300 --> 00:05:02.160 Most likely, she has no formal education of any kind. 00:05:02.160 --> 00:05:08.580 And the thing that stands out in the Scripture is that nothing stands out about Mary. 00:05:09.500 --> 00:05:11.580 She's a normal human being, flaws and all. 00:05:12.640 --> 00:05:17.240 And it raises this question for us as we try to grapple with this, and it has for people over the centuries, 00:05:17.820 --> 00:05:20.100 why does God choose to use her? 00:05:21.700 --> 00:05:23.860 And the angel simply says this, 00:05:24.700 --> 00:05:27.200 you have found favor with God. 00:05:27.940 --> 00:05:30.340 You have found favor with God. 00:05:30.339 --> 00:05:37.599 God has chosen to bestow His grace and favor upon you. 00:05:37.679 --> 00:05:42.219 This is what we might refer to as God's preemptive grace. 00:05:43.259 --> 00:05:50.159 God preemptively choosing to pour grace into someone's life before they even ask for it. 00:05:50.679 --> 00:05:52.579 God's preemptive grace. 00:05:52.579 --> 00:06:08.719 See, all other major world religions say that it's up to us, more or less, to earn the favor of our deity through devotion and obedience and dedication and long-suffering and sacrifice. 00:06:08.720 --> 00:06:18.500 Whatever your code asks of you, it is only by performing that up to standard that you then earn the grace and the favor of your God. 00:06:19.480 --> 00:06:21.560 But Christianity says the exact opposite. 00:06:21.680 --> 00:06:23.700 It turns that all the way around. 00:06:23.699 --> 00:06:28.920 It says that our hope isn't based on our ability to earn the favor of God. 00:06:30.039 --> 00:06:39.800 It's not based on our ability to stand out from the masses and show that we are somehow worth or worthy of blessing. 00:06:39.800 --> 00:06:45.579 It says that our hope is based entirely on God's desire to bless us even though we don't deserve it. 00:06:47.139 --> 00:06:49.360 And that's extremely important. 00:06:49.600 --> 00:06:55.180 And this is the first thing that we need to see when it comes to true change in a human life. 00:06:55.400 --> 00:06:59.680 If God chose to use Mary because she was extraordinary in some way, 00:07:01.139 --> 00:07:03.639 then this is just an interesting story. 00:07:04.580 --> 00:07:05.639 And good for her. 00:07:05.639 --> 00:07:13.719 But the fact that God chose to use Mary despite the fact that she was an ordinary sinful human being, 00:07:14.639 --> 00:07:18.000 that means that God can do the same kind of thing in our lives. 00:07:18.740 --> 00:07:22.019 That means that God can use people like us. 00:07:23.159 --> 00:07:27.860 That means that God can do extraordinary things through ordinary people. 00:07:27.860 --> 00:07:38.259 Now, this is not to minimize how amazing it was that Mary might be able to be called the Theotokos, the God-bearer. 00:07:39.139 --> 00:07:40.860 It is a great and singular honor. 00:07:42.060 --> 00:07:49.680 But it also says that God can do amazing and extraordinary things through ordinary people like us. 00:07:49.680 --> 00:07:53.079 And so the road to transformation begins with grace. 00:07:53.160 --> 00:08:02.860 It begins with the recognition that we worship a God who looks at a world full of people who ignore Him and who reject Him. 00:08:03.439 --> 00:08:07.720 And He chooses to love them and to pour grace into their lives before they even ask for it. 00:08:09.120 --> 00:08:10.259 That's where it starts. 00:08:10.259 --> 00:08:17.439 The next thing that we see in this story, the next piece of this transformation puzzle, 00:08:17.920 --> 00:08:24.120 is that Mary not only encounters the grace of God, but then she comes face to face with something that she cannot explain. 00:08:25.519 --> 00:08:27.500 So the next element is encounter. 00:08:28.980 --> 00:08:34.399 The angel Gabriel appears to her and he announces that Jesus, the long-awaited Savior of the world, 00:08:34.460 --> 00:08:38.559 is going to enter the world through her as a newborn. 00:08:38.559 --> 00:08:42.179 And Mary, it says, is greatly troubled by this. 00:08:42.319 --> 00:08:46.439 She can't possibly understand how such a thing could be possible. 00:08:46.699 --> 00:08:49.439 It's way beyond her ability to understand. 00:08:50.000 --> 00:08:51.619 But that's the whole point. 00:08:52.779 --> 00:08:58.500 She's willing to accept that there are things in the world that go beyond what she can understand. 00:08:59.379 --> 00:09:01.419 In other words, Mary is truly open-minded. 00:09:02.399 --> 00:09:06.139 She's open to the possibility that there are things beyond her understanding, 00:09:06.139 --> 00:09:12.539 beyond her five senses, that are very real and very important. 00:09:13.899 --> 00:09:18.059 And, you know, there are some people who are closed off to that possibility. 00:09:18.279 --> 00:09:21.879 They sort of live life with a perspective that is closed. 00:09:22.899 --> 00:09:24.740 Closed to the possibility of the transcendent. 00:09:24.899 --> 00:09:26.580 Closed to the possibility of the supernatural. 00:09:26.819 --> 00:09:28.319 Closed to the possibility of the divine. 00:09:28.320 --> 00:09:32.960 And so any suggestion of that is written off as mere superstition. 00:09:34.080 --> 00:09:37.700 But then there are also people who are open to the transcendent. 00:09:38.080 --> 00:09:44.840 And many of these people are open because they've had some experience that doesn't line up with what they thought possible. 00:09:44.960 --> 00:09:46.260 Something that they can't explain. 00:09:46.260 --> 00:09:54.060 Some encounter that forces them to recognize that there are things beyond what we can see and hear and taste and touch. 00:09:55.120 --> 00:09:56.680 These people are open-minded. 00:09:56.679 --> 00:09:59.959 They're open to the supernatural and thus the divine. 00:10:01.439 --> 00:10:05.039 You know, you may be familiar with a very famous letter in 1897. 00:10:07.039 --> 00:10:11.679 A little girl named Virginia O'Hanlon wrote into the New York Sun. 00:10:13.079 --> 00:10:15.839 And she asked, is there a Santa Claus? 00:10:17.679 --> 00:10:18.379 Tell me. 00:10:18.579 --> 00:10:18.979 All right. 00:10:19.339 --> 00:10:21.639 Once and for all, I want to know, is there a Santa Claus? 00:10:21.759 --> 00:10:23.779 Her father encouraged her to do it. 00:10:23.779 --> 00:10:28.439 And a man named Francis Church responded to her letter. 00:10:28.679 --> 00:10:30.879 And his response has become famous. 00:10:31.720 --> 00:10:35.299 And there's a passage near the end of the letter that I just want to read. 00:10:36.379 --> 00:10:39.319 So Church writes this in response to Virginia's question. 00:10:39.320 --> 00:10:40.860 He says, 00:10:40.860 --> 00:10:45.260 You may tear apart the baby's rattle and see what makes the noise inside. 00:10:46.260 --> 00:10:56.980 But there is a veil covering the unseen world which not the strongest man, nor even the united strength of all the strongest men that ever lived, could tear apart. 00:10:56.980 --> 00:11:08.120 Only faith, fancy, poetry, love, romance can push aside that curtain and view and picture the supernal beauty and glory beyond. 00:11:08.940 --> 00:11:10.200 Is it all real? 00:11:11.200 --> 00:11:16.519 Ah, Virginia, in all this world, there is nothing else real and abiding. 00:11:16.519 --> 00:11:23.120 It's very clear that he is talking about much more than Santa. 00:11:24.059 --> 00:11:32.699 That he's talking about the importance of being open to supernatural realities, to transcendent realities. 00:11:33.579 --> 00:11:36.199 He's saying there is an unseen world. 00:11:36.360 --> 00:11:44.059 There are wonderful things that exist beyond what we can know with our five senses, the greatest of which is God himself. 00:11:44.059 --> 00:11:53.899 He's saying, in fact, the things that are most real are things that exist beyond what we can see in this material existence. 00:11:55.739 --> 00:12:03.699 So our lives are full of these moments that hint at or point at realities beyond all of this. 00:12:04.379 --> 00:12:06.239 Some of us have had these experiences. 00:12:06.500 --> 00:12:10.579 You know, there's a man named Bede Griffiths who's an English Benedictine monk. 00:12:10.580 --> 00:12:17.680 He was walking outside one day as a university student, and he had an experience that turned his life toward God. 00:12:17.780 --> 00:12:24.780 He says this, everything then grew still as the sunset faded and the veil of dusk began to cover the earth. 00:12:25.940 --> 00:12:28.940 He says, I remember now the feeling of awe which came over me. 00:12:29.180 --> 00:12:30.960 I felt inclined to kneel on the ground. 00:12:31.720 --> 00:12:37.860 I hardly dared to look at the face of the sky because it seemed as though it was but a veil before the face of God. 00:12:37.860 --> 00:12:46.360 He's just walking along one day, and all of a sudden he becomes keenly aware that he is in the presence of something vastly greater than himself. 00:12:47.440 --> 00:13:00.820 The composer, Leonard Bernstein, was not religious at all, but he once said that when he hears Beethoven's Fifth, it leads him to believe that, as he says, there is something right in the world. 00:13:00.820 --> 00:13:04.440 There is something that follows its own laws consistently. 00:13:04.600 --> 00:13:08.180 There is something that checks throughout, something that will never let us down. 00:13:09.680 --> 00:13:16.840 He's saying, this music points me to something beyond all of this, something ultimate. 00:13:18.300 --> 00:13:24.120 Bob Dylan once said that art can lead you to God, and then he said, I think that's the point of everything. 00:13:24.120 --> 00:13:27.399 And I think he's exactly right. 00:13:28.159 --> 00:13:36.019 You know, the mere fact that there is something rather than nothing points to the existence of God. 00:13:36.600 --> 00:13:44.759 You know, in other words, you're free to dismiss the whole idea of the virgin birth of Jesus, but you still have to explain the virgin birth of the galaxy. 00:13:44.759 --> 00:13:51.319 God is everywhere, and he's calling to us. 00:13:51.799 --> 00:13:56.360 And the real question that we need to ask is not, is God speaking to me? 00:13:56.419 --> 00:13:57.299 It's, am I listening? 00:13:58.399 --> 00:13:59.840 Are we paying attention? 00:14:01.159 --> 00:14:07.360 You know, when we're walking along in the afternoon and that moment begins to set in, are we receptive to it? 00:14:07.360 --> 00:14:16.279 So when it comes to the possibility of transformation, the first point is that transformation begins with God's grace. 00:14:16.399 --> 00:14:25.039 The assumption in the Bible is that God loves you, he is for you, and his grace is at work in your life. 00:14:25.860 --> 00:14:29.639 And his goal is to awaken you and bring you to himself. 00:14:30.500 --> 00:14:32.560 And then the second element is encounter. 00:14:32.559 --> 00:14:38.459 There are opportunities all around us to encounter God in ways that are often very unexpected. 00:14:39.899 --> 00:14:42.919 But the third and final part of this story is crucial. 00:14:43.059 --> 00:14:46.859 The third piece, there's grace, there's encounter, but finally there is surrender. 00:14:48.199 --> 00:14:48.679 Surrender. 00:14:49.759 --> 00:14:52.839 The question is not whether we will encounter God. 00:14:53.139 --> 00:14:56.759 The real question is, how will we respond when we do? 00:14:57.739 --> 00:14:59.979 Because sooner or later, we will all encounter God. 00:14:59.980 --> 00:15:04.740 Mary probably had a plan for her life. 00:15:06.340 --> 00:15:12.940 Mary probably had a sense of how she thought things were going to play out, and chances are she was very attached to that plan. 00:15:14.680 --> 00:15:19.000 And maybe she had the timeline all worked out of when everything was going to happen. 00:15:20.279 --> 00:15:22.960 But then God derails her plans. 00:15:22.960 --> 00:15:29.840 Through an unplanned pregnancy, God calls Mary to go in a very unexpected direction. 00:15:30.040 --> 00:15:35.220 And she took all of the plans that she had meticulously laid out, and she just threw them in the trash. 00:15:35.720 --> 00:15:39.620 Because her life was going to go in a very different direction. 00:15:39.620 --> 00:15:48.460 And what Mary has to decide here is whether she will continue living life on her terms according to her plan, 00:15:48.840 --> 00:15:54.659 or surrender herself to live on God's terms, which can be quite terrifying. 00:15:54.659 --> 00:16:04.600 Even though she's fearful, and even though she is full of questions, and even though she knows she's dealing with things she cannot possibly comprehend, 00:16:05.559 --> 00:16:07.719 Mary responds by saying this, 00:16:08.500 --> 00:16:10.620 Behold, I am the servant of the Lord. 00:16:10.860 --> 00:16:13.199 Let it be to me according to your word. 00:16:13.740 --> 00:16:17.799 And her response, friends, has become the paradigm for the entire Christian life. 00:16:17.799 --> 00:16:22.639 If you want to summarize the Christian life in a sentence, it is this, 00:16:23.599 --> 00:16:25.479 Let it be to me according to your word. 00:16:26.699 --> 00:16:28.019 It's total surrender. 00:16:28.159 --> 00:16:31.099 It's saying to God, I will follow you no matter where it leads. 00:16:31.240 --> 00:16:32.199 I will follow you. 00:16:33.979 --> 00:16:39.639 And you know, this is very important for us because our lives rarely go according to plan. 00:16:40.519 --> 00:16:42.399 They rarely go according to plan. 00:16:42.399 --> 00:16:50.279 Life is absolutely filled with interruptions and detours, small and large. 00:16:50.379 --> 00:16:53.720 Every day is filled with little interruptions and detours. 00:16:53.860 --> 00:16:55.759 And they always seem to come at the worst time. 00:16:57.759 --> 00:16:59.340 They always come at the worst time, right? 00:16:59.620 --> 00:17:04.019 The morning of the most important meeting of the year, there's standstill traffic. 00:17:05.379 --> 00:17:09.319 The very first day of the vacation that you've been looking forward to all year, 00:17:09.440 --> 00:17:11.139 and you get a stomach virus. 00:17:11.140 --> 00:17:11.860 Right? 00:17:13.180 --> 00:17:18.700 When you have absolutely no more money to spend, you are maxed out on major appliance breaks. 00:17:19.900 --> 00:17:20.300 Right? 00:17:20.360 --> 00:17:21.440 That's always when it happens. 00:17:22.900 --> 00:17:26.160 And then there are the massive, there are the life-altering detours. 00:17:26.980 --> 00:17:27.120 Right? 00:17:27.200 --> 00:17:29.900 Just as you settle into your career and think, 00:17:30.140 --> 00:17:32.620 This is what I want to do for the rest of my life, you lose your job. 00:17:35.100 --> 00:17:38.360 Just as you start trying to get pregnant, you find out you can't. 00:17:38.359 --> 00:17:44.259 Just as you're planning for retirement, you get a cancer diagnosis. 00:17:46.819 --> 00:17:50.240 Now, I know that some people are really struggling this Christmas. 00:17:50.240 --> 00:17:54.400 And we are dealing with things that are totally outside of our control. 00:17:55.480 --> 00:17:59.980 And it makes Christmas not the fun, joyful celebration that it seems to be for other people. 00:18:00.039 --> 00:18:03.440 It makes it a hard slog because of the things that we're facing. 00:18:03.440 --> 00:18:13.279 But even though these things seem random and unexpected to us, they are not that way to God. 00:18:14.660 --> 00:18:16.559 God never drops the ball. 00:18:18.160 --> 00:18:20.059 God never does anything by accident. 00:18:20.059 --> 00:18:21.059 God never does anything by accident. 00:18:21.059 --> 00:18:22.059 God never does anything by accident. 00:18:22.059 --> 00:18:34.000 And God has the ability to use these experiences to do His work in our lives in ways that we cannot possibly understand or comprehend. 00:18:35.879 --> 00:18:41.419 One of my favorite writers who has suffered a lot in her own life, one of my favorite quotes from her, she says, 00:18:41.420 --> 00:18:45.259 God sometimes uses what He hates to accomplish what He loves. 00:18:47.160 --> 00:18:48.940 And I think that's very, very, very true. 00:18:49.060 --> 00:18:50.320 And I've seen it in my own life. 00:18:52.180 --> 00:18:58.900 So, with every interruption, with every detour, every time our plans are thwarted, we actually have a choice. 00:18:59.000 --> 00:19:00.160 There's an opportunity there. 00:19:00.160 --> 00:19:08.720 Do we continue trying to be our own little God of our own little life and living according to our own little plan? 00:19:10.019 --> 00:19:12.580 Or do we follow Mary's example? 00:19:13.880 --> 00:19:22.680 Are we willing to surrender control to the true God, to be lifted out of our little short-sighted plan, 00:19:23.320 --> 00:19:28.300 and to allow God to fit us into His grand design? 00:19:28.299 --> 00:19:33.099 And are we willing to do that and then find out where that road leads? 00:19:34.980 --> 00:19:35.379 Surrender. 00:19:36.859 --> 00:19:37.139 Right? 00:19:37.200 --> 00:19:44.159 So, this Christmas, we really do have the opportunity to be changed and to grow and to be transformed, 00:19:44.960 --> 00:19:50.319 to become more the kind of people that we're called to be, the kind of people that we long to be. 00:19:52.559 --> 00:19:56.019 First, friends, please recognize you have found favor with God. 00:19:56.019 --> 00:19:59.039 God delights in you. 00:19:59.480 --> 00:20:00.579 God loves you. 00:20:01.079 --> 00:20:02.240 God is for you. 00:20:02.579 --> 00:20:04.859 And God's grace is already at work in your life. 00:20:07.240 --> 00:20:09.420 Second, we need an encounter with God. 00:20:10.639 --> 00:20:11.700 We need to pray. 00:20:11.879 --> 00:20:14.940 We need to ask God to make Himself known to us. 00:20:15.019 --> 00:20:15.759 We need to listen. 00:20:15.759 --> 00:20:24.420 We need to bring all of ourselves, all of our sin, all of our brokenness, bring that into God's presence and cry out for His mercy. 00:20:25.379 --> 00:20:28.039 And then finally, we need to be willing to surrender to God. 00:20:28.900 --> 00:20:33.379 And listen, if that last part seems just too difficult because of what you're facing, 00:20:33.720 --> 00:20:39.980 if you're facing something where you say, it's impossible to trust God in the face of this, 00:20:39.980 --> 00:20:43.059 right, that's why we have Christmas. 00:20:44.180 --> 00:20:45.799 That's why we have Christmas. 00:20:46.900 --> 00:20:52.480 Because Christmas says that God loves you so much that He was willing to surrender everything 00:20:52.480 --> 00:21:00.539 to enter our world as a helpless child in order to give us life and set us free and restore this world. 00:21:00.539 --> 00:21:06.700 And there is no one more worthy of our trust than Him. 00:21:07.440 --> 00:21:08.159 Let's pray. 00:21:11.839 --> 00:21:13.680 Lord, may this be so. 00:21:15.339 --> 00:21:19.379 May it be in our lives according to Your Word. 00:21:20.680 --> 00:21:22.500 May we who long to know You, 00:21:23.059 --> 00:21:26.779 may we who long to be the people we were created to be, 00:21:26.779 --> 00:21:32.639 may we who long to survive and overcome the challenges that we currently face, 00:21:33.599 --> 00:21:38.160 may we find our rest and find our hope and our peace and our joy in You. 00:21:39.480 --> 00:21:42.539 The God who became flesh, who dwelt among us, 00:21:43.339 --> 00:21:48.220 the God who in every way became like us so that one day we might in every way become like Him. 00:21:49.019 --> 00:21:53.319 Lord, we pray that You would bless us this morning and bless us as we go into Christmas. 00:21:53.319 --> 00:21:59.299 And we pray that we would emerge through Your grace and through an encounter with You 00:21:59.299 --> 00:22:02.759 and by surrendering that we would emerge transformed. 00:22:03.879 --> 00:22:05.980 Lord, that we would bring You glory. 00:22:06.119 --> 00:22:07.399 We pray this in Your Son's holy name. 00:22:07.559 --> 00:22:07.759 Amen.