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Surely he took up our infirmities and carried our sorrows, yet we considered him stricken by God, smitten by him, and afflicted Isa 53:4 |
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| Archived Manna: | |
Dear
Friend,
If you do not already have a habit of gathering daily manna the first thing in the morning (we can look at the example given to us in Exodus 16 and find the pattern for make it a habit. Establish your life and your schedule to allow you the necessary time to do your daily collection first thing every morning to give you the strength to make it through the day. And remember that today’s manna will not be sufficient for tomorrow; tomorrow’s manna must be collected tomorrow morning. Monday, December 16, 2024
Today's Passage : Today's Passage :Christ’s Birth Announced to Mary Bible Verse:Luke 1:26-38 (NKJV) "Now in the sixth month [of Elizabeth’s pregnancy] the angel Gabriel was sent by God to a city of Galilee named Nazareth, to a virgin betrothed to a man named Joseph, of the house of David. The virgin’s name was Mary. And having come in, the angel said to her, “Rejoice, for you are highly favored. The Lord is with you; blessed are you among women!” But when she saw him, she was troubled at his saying, and considered what manner of greeting this was. Then the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bring forth a Son, and shall call His name Jesus. He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Highest; and the Lord God will give Him the throne of His father David. And He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of His kingdom there will be no end.” Then Mary said to the angel, “How can this be, since I have never known a man?” The Annunciation (detail) Oswald Tanner Detail from Oswald Tanner's Annunciation. And the angel answered her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Highest will overshadow you; therefore, also, that Holy One who is to be born will be called the Son of God. Now indeed, Elizabeth your relative has also conceived a son in her old age; and this is now the sixth month for her who was called barren. For with God nothing will be impossible.” Then Mary said, “Behold the maidservant of the Lord! Let it be to me according to your word.” And the angel departed from her." Message:
The passage today is termed “The Annunciation” and is celebrated as a feast day in many churches. The celebration takes place around the spring equinox (in Orthodox churches, it is always March 25 and is extremely important). The Gospels, however, place it directly before accounts of the birth of Christ, and so it is also, in terms of narrative structure, part of Advent.
As with Zechariah, the angel Gabriel acts as God’s messenger. The Catholic/Orthodox churches and Protestant churches differ in the degree of importance placed on the veneration of the Virgin Mary. Orthodox churches know her as Theotokos, Greek for “the bearer of God.” They place more emphasis on Christ’s conception, as opposed to His birth, being the moment at which the salvation of humanity begins.
Annunciation Pontormo detail
How a person worships is a very personal matter. Some Christians place great emphasis on the Annunciation as the moment when the Good News was first told; some place great emphasis on Christmas; and at the opposite extreme, the Pilgrims did not even celebrate Christmas. Reacting to the debauchery of the holiday in Great Britain, in 1659 the Puritans of Boston formally banned this “great dishonor of God and offense of others”!
And yet their core belief of this fundamental point is identical: God came to save humanity from sin in the person of Christ, who was born as a male baby named Jesus, to a betrothed virgin named Mary, “to the end that all who believe in Him should not perish, but have eternal life.”
Let us join together during the Christmas season in celebrating the unity of all Christians, setting aside differences to emphasize the common beliefs of all who confess Christ to be their Savior.
Meditation : Prayer : Most High, Glorious God, enlighten the darkness of my mind. Give me a right faith, a firm hope and a perfect charity, so that I may always and in all things act according to Your Holy Will.,........Amen |
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