Thinking about Mary:

Something To Think About

December 7-9 the Covington Bible Church will present theLive Nativity.  If I say so myself, I think it is a rather amazing presentation for a church of our size.  It is our Christmas gift to our community.  We hope you will accept it by coming.   The core of the Live Nativity experience is taking a tour of scenes portraying the birth, life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ.  Each tour is accompanied by a guide--an actor portraying a Biblical character who tells the story from their perspective--people like Nicodemus, MaryMagdelene, the Apostle Peter, or the little girl Jesus raised from the dead. A couple of our scenes include Mary.  I have often referred to Mary as the most misunderstood person of Christmas.  The Biblical record--found primarily in the Gospel of Luke--combined with what we know of the culture of First Century Israel, paints the picture of a simple Jewish woman, young enough that we could call her a girl without any insult.   For millennia Theologians have argued about the meaning of the virgin birth, but there can be little doubt as to what it meant to this young Jewish woman.  Everything we see about Mary indicates that she was a woman of virtue and honor, the very kind of woman who would have found the insults and ugly looks, that must have come her way, painful.  When I was in high school, I knew young women about the age Mary would have been when we first meet her.  These girls were hard and course.  They couldn't be insulted.  Mary was the opposite.   Joseph must have had her tender heart in mind when, after hearing of her pregnancy, he decided not "to disgrace her, [but] planned to send her away secretly."  (Matthew 1:19)   Yet knowing the consequences when the angel Gabriel told Mary she would be the mother of the Messiah, she responded:   "Behold, the bondslave of the Lord; may it be done to me according to your word."  (Luke 1:38)  From 6:00 - 8:00 nightly The wondrous story of Christmas begins with a young woman who was submissive to her Lord.  It is that kind of willing obedience that the Lord desires from us.  It is part of the message you will see, hear, and experience at the Live Nativity this weekend.  Please join us.   It's STTA.   Find lot's of information about how God stepped into our world to meet needs we cannot meet on our own, here.