Advent Week 3: Wednesday

Did You Know? Mary was a young girl, probably 12 or 13, engaged to a carpenter named Joseph. Mary and Joseph lived in a small town, Nazareth, which is never mentioned in the Old Testament. They were an ordinary couple in an average town, until the angels’ visits.

Many assume those who are blessed by angelic visits will enjoy wealth and good health. Mary’s blessing, however, is pregnancy out of wedlock, which nearly ends her engagement, except that an angel visits Joseph as well. This blessing is unconventional to say the least—but it’s God’s way of sending unconditional love to humanity. Mary and Joseph’s angelic visitors remind us that God shows God’s love and care to us in sometimes surprising and unconventional ways.

While Mary and Joseph may have been an ordinary and powerless couple in Nazareth, Caesar Augustus was the most powerful person in the world. When Emperor Augustus decided that everyone must travel to their hometowns to be registered, that’s what happened. It didn’t matter if this required a journey of over 60 miles on foot. And it didn’t matter if you were pregnant. So, Joseph and Mary journeyed to Bethlehem.

When they arrived, it was time for Mary to give birth. However, many other people had come to Bethlehem also, so there was no room for Mary and Joseph in the guest room. And so, Jesus was born in the room where animals are kept, and laid in a manger on a bed of hay. God’s son began life humbly, in stark contrast to the power of Emperor Augustus. As we celebrate Jesus’ birth, we want to honor Jesus as a king.

(deepbluekids.com)

Family Application: Ask each other I wonder questions.  I wonder what it would have been like to be Mary and to be expecting a child when she was so young.  I wonder what it would have been like to have been pregnant and traveling far from home.  I wonder what they saw on their travels.

An example of a gift/
Family Craft Project  Since our theme for Advent is Jesus and Coffee, have the family make a card for the teachers in their lives and then take a cup of coffee and the card to them.  Parents—take one to your small group leaders or your boss.