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Day Ten – Incarnation

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Welcome to your daily Bible 2020 reflection. Over this series we’ll be taking time to read, speak, pray and share God’s word.

The best way to access the daily readings is through the Bible 2020 app. Open it now for today’s reading, or download it via Apple or Google App stores.

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Luke 2:4-7

So Joseph also went up from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to Bethlehem the town of David, because he belonged to the house and line of David. He went there to register with Mary, who was pledged to be married to him and was expecting a child. While they were there, the time came for the baby to be born, and she gave birth to her firstborn, a son. She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger, because there was no guest room available for them. (NIVUK)

Do the details of our lives matter?

The gospel accounts are full of details about the incarnation, of God becoming human. Real places – Nazareth, Galilee, Judea, Bethlehem. Real people – David, Joseph, Mary, a son. Real expectation – they were pledged to be married, they were expecting a child. Real situations – a census forcing a man and his pregnant wife to travel and register in his home town, a town with no guest room for this tired couple, a birth that takes place away from home, away from comfort. Real activity – a mother wrapping her newborn in cloths and placing him down to rest in a cattle trough. 

God comes to a particular family, in a particular place, in particular circumstances. He comes in human form: a real birth, to real parents, needing the warmth and comfort of a mother’s touch. 

Incarnation is that big theological word that means God came among us as a human being. Jesus was fully God and fully human, living a real human life. Or, as one translator puts it, “The Word became flesh and blood, and moved into the neighbourhood” (John 1:14, The Message)

God’s activity in our world and in our lives is not abstract: God comes to us in the details of our lives still – the particular places we find ourselves in, with the people we are with, in the circumstances we face, in the day to day activities which make up our lives. And like that first Christmas, God’s coming to us in Jesus transforms our humanity, because our lives are no longer empty shells but rather full of the presence, power and purpose of God. 

Today, we might think the details of our lives are insignificant and unpromising. But what makes our lives full of significance and promise is the presence of God, come to us through Jesus. 

PRAYER

Our loving heavenly Father, thank you for the details of our lives – the people, the places, and the things that surround us. Thank you that you are with us and at work in the details – on all the circumstances and situations we find ourselves in today. And thank you that our ordinary, everyday lives are full of meaning and purpose, for you are with us through Jesus. Help us today we pray to know your presence and power in our lives and help us to trust that you are working out your purposes in and through our lives. Amen

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Incarnation

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