Author: Zlatko Sebesta

Mary, did you know?

The Christmas story is not complete without reading about, remembering, portraying (often by children in plays) or simply marveling at the way God brought his Son into the world through a young woman from Nazareth named Mary. In some church traditions this has captured the imagination so much that there is more than simply respect, but some form of worship of Mary as the mother of Jesus, ascribing to her a kind-of mediatory role to have access to Jesus. Although in the church tradition that we represent we avoid doing so, it is worth sparing a moment to remember Mary’s role in God’s provision of salvation for sinners.

Despite the fact that many suggestions, traditions and stories of legendary value arose around Mary, we don’t know anything beyond what the Bible mentions about her. But let’s think about what we do know.

She was young, born and raised in a peasant’s family – not the kind of family of special standing in the 1^st Century society. She lived in a male-dominated society – not many women in that world would make it into prominence or history books. She was a simple believer in God, willing to receive a message from God, committing to something she had no idea what she was letting herself in for. Her dreams of a “normal” life of getting engaged, marrying her future husband, living in her village, and raising a “normal” family … all of these were rudely interrupted by God, maybe even shattered by what she heard and (initially) experienced.

Yet, with absolute blind faith in the God whom she served from childhood, she put her trust and her future into His hands by simply saying “I am the servantof the Lord; let it be to me according to your word” (Luke 1:38).

The Christmas story requires more than remembering or retelling the birth of Jesus. It demands our adoration, worship and obedience to the One who was willing to be born as a human to identify with us, and to pay the penalty for our sins in order to offer us forgiveness. Mary sets an example of someone who was willing to allow God to interrupt her normal life in order to receive life as only God can give it – life to the full, abundant, joyful, meaningful, eternal.

If God chose Mary to be the mother of His Son born as a human, then God can choose us for any role He plans for us to have. And if Mary could say “yes” to God, then surely we can also commit to be available to serve the Almighty God who gave his only Son to bring us forgiveness. Let us therefore not only celebrate Christmas with trees, lights and gifts, but with obedience and worship!

Connections!

As people created in the image of God we crave fellowship, contact, conversation, staying updated on news from family and friends – the main reason why social media such as Facebook have become so popular and virtually a part of our everyday existence. In short, we all like to stay connected.

For any person who believes in God and who, through Jesus Christ, has a personal relationship with God, it is important to stay connected to God. We often refer to this as our relationship with God. It mainly happens through Bible reading, study of Scripture, prayer, listening to the Word proclaimed, asking God for guidance, depending on the Holy Spirit to guide us in all that we do. We refer to this as our vertical relationship.

But we also have a major need and obligation to stay connected horizontally. In other words, God created us with a need to relate to other human beings around us, such as our family members, friends, colleagues and fellow Christians. For those of us who are followers of Christ this happens primarily when we are part of a local church where we support one another, pray for each other, and encourage each other to remain connected with God. The key word in the previous sentence is “another”. It is amazing to note how many times the New Testament refers to the “one another” aspect of our faith! (See an interesting article on this aspect at http://www.smallgroupchurches.com/the-59-one-anothers-of-the-bible/)

I sometimes refer to our horizontal relationships as our “connections”. I have even used the term to refer to our children’s friends and (now) spouses! I don’t know whether they were always impressed with my reference, but these are the kind of relationships that keep us connected with our social world, our family and friends. In the past while we’ve had several visits in Bratislava from people we’ve known or worked with in the past, and it was good to catch up with some our past connections! It reminded me how important it is to build bridges while I can, to live in community, to give attention to these connections of mine. We have that opportunity here in Bratislava. Whether we are here for a short while or for a longer term, let us build relationships, connect with each other, let us make sure we are well-connected with others in our church. These connections may stand us in good stead in the future!