Good Tuesday, dear friends. I'm sorry for the lateness of this email and posting coming to you but Time Warner Cable and I have parted ways. Even my OLD evalve@ix.netcom.com email address that I've had for almost ten years is no more. Customer Service and that done efficiently and personably is not a trait for which TW is known, at least not by me. I'll share a new email with you soon. For now, please use ev@fumcsm.org. The website is still up http://theuniversityoftheway.blogspot.com.
We continue looking at the life and ministry of John the Baptist and today we look at the spiritual awesomeness of his birth and birth announcement.
Let's begin our time with prayer.
"Gracious God of awesome births and amazing lives, be with us today as we seek Your face even in the midst of that which tries to overwhelm. Let us know that even in our lives You have been at work in awesome and amazing ways. Let that show in the way we treat others. We pray in Christ Jesus' name. Amen.
Here is our study guide for today:
Tuesday: Even Mary, the mother of Jesus showed some reluctance to believe when she was visited by the angel Gabriel. As proof of what God can do, the angel sends her to visit her kinswoman, Elizabeth. Let’s read that story in Luke 1:39-80. This includes the birth of John the Baptist. Highlight in your Bible the things associated with John’s role as God’s messenger. How do those roles speak to you?
Here is the suggested text: (The Message version)
39 Mary didn't waste a minute. She got up and traveled to a town in Judah in the hill country, 40 straight to Zachariah's house, and greeted Elizabeth. 41 When Elizabeth heard Mary's greeting, the baby in her womb leaped. She was filled with the Holy Spirit, 42 and sang out exuberantly, You're so blessed among women, and the babe in your womb, also blessed! 43 And why am I so blessed that the mother of my Lord visits me? 44 The moment the sound of your greeting entered my ears, The babe in my womb skipped like a lamb for sheer joy. 45 Blessed woman, who believed what God said, believed every word would come true! 46 And Mary said, I'm bursting with God-news; 47 I'm dancing the song of my Savior God. 48 God took one good look at me, and look what happened - I'm the most fortunate woman on earth! What God has done for me will never be forgotten, 49 the God whose very name is holy, set apart from all others. 50 His mercy flows in wave after wave on those who are in awe before him. 51 He bared his arm and showed his strength, scattered the bluffing braggarts. 52 He knocked tyrants off their high horses, pulled victims out of the mud. 53 The starving poor sat down to a banquet; the callous rich were left out in the cold. 54 He embraced his chosen child, Israel; he remembered and piled on the mercies, piled them high. 55 It's exactly what he promised, beginning with Abraham and right up to now. 56 Mary stayed with Elizabeth for three months and then went back to her own home.
57 When Elizabeth was full-term in her pregnancy, she bore a son. 58 Her neighbors and relatives, seeing that God had overwhelmed her with mercy, celebrated with her. 59 On the eighth day, they came to circumcise the child and were calling him Zachariah after his father. 60 But his mother intervened: "No. He is to be called John." 61 "But," they said, "no one in your family is named that." 62 They used sign language to ask Zachariah what he wanted him named. 63 Asking for a tablet, Zachariah wrote, "His name is to be John." That took everyone by surprise. 64 Surprise followed surprise - Zachariah's mouth was now open, his tongue loose, and he was talking, praising God! 65 A deep, reverential fear settled over the neighborhood, and in all that Judean hill country people talked about nothing else. 66 Everyone who heard about it took it to heart, wondering, "What will become of this child? Clearly, God has his hand in this."
67 Then Zachariah was filled with the Holy Spirit and prophesied, 68 Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel; he came and set his people free. 69 He set the power of salvation in the center of our lives, and in the very house of David his servant, 70 Just as he promised long ago through the preaching of his holy prophets: 71 Deliverance from our enemies and every hateful hand; 72 Mercy to our fathers, as he remembers to do what he said he'd do, 73 What he swore to our father Abraham - 74 a clean rescue from the enemy camp, So we can worship him without a care in the world, 75 made holy before him as long as we live. 76 And you, my child, "Prophet of the Highest," will go ahead of the Master to prepare his ways, 77 Present the offer of salvation to his people, the forgiveness of their sins. 78 Through the heartfelt mercies of our God, God's Sunrise will break in upon us, 79 Shining on those in the darkness, those sitting in the shadow of death, Then showing us the way, one foot at a time, down the path of peace. 80 The child grew up, healthy and spirited. He lived out in the desert until the day he made his prophetic debut in Israel.
We cannot blame Mary for her doubts. The word frightening seems like an appropriate word for this young woman who has been chosen to carry God's anointed. If you or I had been here we would have sought confirmation and comfort in our relatives. And since the angel shared that Elizabeth, the woman believed to be barren, is now with child, off to visit Elizabeth we would go.
What I want us to center on today is the role that John will play. What words jump out at us as we read and re-read the above passage? How could we see those things in our lives in our responsibility to share God's good news?
PRAYER: God of neverending love, speak to us anew in the reading of your word. Let us be the people we need to be to indeed share in proclaiming the message of Christ. We pray in Jesus' name. Amen.
Have a blessed day!
e.v.
