LISTEN

"Two Unbelievable Stories"

Pastor Laura Guy

December 4, 2005

Here's an instant replay of what happened in worship:

Fusion 112 led us in singing some favorite Christmas carols, and they also sang some beautiful arrangements of special Christmas songs. Listen here to Prepare Ye the Way, Little Drummer Boy, Mary Did You Know?, and Breath of Heaven.
We heard the story of Jesus' conception from Mary's point of view (Luke 1:26-38) and Joseph's point of view (Matthew 1:18-25).
We began our series on Narnia by looking at Lucy, the youngest of the four children, and hearing how she insisted she had been to another land on the other side of the wardrobe. Her brothers and sister, of course, found her story to be unbelievable, and they eventually went and spoke to the professor about her strange behavior. Instead of agreeing with them that their sister must be lying or crazy, he suggested that, since they had always found Lucy to be truthful in the past, perhaps they should consider that she was being truthful now - no matter how unbelievable her story was.
We saw how Mary also had an unbelievable story - God was the father of her baby. The people in her village didn't buy that, and even Joseph thought she was lying or crazy at first.
We thought about what we do when we're faced with unbelievable stories. The professor's advice is to consider whether the source is reliable and trustworthy. Since we only know Mary through Scripture, we can only say that she is always portrayed as a trustworthy person. But what about the Scriptures where we find her story? Are they reliable? Can we trust them, even if they aren't always historically accurate and in complete agreement?
We found that, for many of us, the answer is yes. The overarching message of the Bible is of God's love and constant attempts to connect with us. The Bible speaks truth to us when we are discouraged, lonely, sorrowful, ashamed and many other times when we need to hear from God.
We asked ourselves if, even if our rational minds don't believe Mary's story, if it would be possible for us to give ourselves over to the wonder of it, even just a little bit this Christmas. Can we use our hearts as well as our heads and step into the mystery of God just a little?
During Act(s) II, we watched some clips from the upcoming Narnia movie, and we looked at the life of author C.S. Lewis.