joy
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When I was a kid I never realized how stressful the Christmas season could become. When you’re eight or 10 or 11 years old, Christmas is all about presents and Christmas trees and lights and sugar cookies. There are road trips to see grandparents, singing “Silent Night” by candlelight at church, and endless teasing from
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The Christmas Story we proclaim typically begins at the manger but it does not end until long after the cross. It is the Gospel Story, the good news that watchmen looked for in the Old Testament. It is the light that would shine in a darkened world, the peace that that would quell the storm…
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Sometimes we tend to think of Jesus as some stoic, hovering spirit-being — a man who never smiled (after all, smiling is a sin, right?) and who never broke stride. But Hebrews 2 makes it clear that Jesus was just like us in His humanity when it says, “he had to be made like his…
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But Isaiah 7:14 prophesied that a virgin — which could also be translated “an innocent young maiden” — would be with child and that child would be “God with us,” which is “Immanuel.” A young virgin would become pregnant without intimately knowing a man. Even Mary knew how miraculous and unconventional this was. It was…
J.C. Newton 