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40: Christmas Reflection Day 1 - Wonder
232 Plays3 years ago
How many times have you let Christmas come and go without reflecting on what actually happened that first Christmas long ago? It’s a story of wonder AND it's a story that causes us to wonder. Each day of the week before Christmas, these 5 minute daily reflections from Laura Fleetwood will transport you to the time of Jesus’ birth and help you reflect on the miracle that happened in your midst.
There is duality in the word wonder. Don’t miss the importance of each meaning throughout the story of Christmas.
Scripture: Luke 1:1-4
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Transcript
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00:00:00
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The following podcast is a Jill Devine Media production. Christianity has become known for judgy people, strange words, ancient stories, confusing rules, and a members-only mindset. This is why I stayed away from the church for so long, but it's not supposed to be that way. I'm Jill Devine, a former radio personality with three tattoos, a love for a good tequila, and who's never read the entire Bible.
00:00:24
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Yet here I am hosting a podcast about faith. The Normal Goes Along Way podcast is your home for real conversations with real people using real language about how faith and real life intersect. Welcome to the conversation.
00:00:41
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It's the most wonderful time of the year, but wonder actually has two meanings. When it comes to how we typically use wonderful to describe Christmas, wonder means awe or to marvel and surprise at something that's usually beautiful or very meaningful.
00:01:00
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But there's another meaning for the word wonder, isn't there? To wonder means to question or to ponder, to be curious about something.
Exploration of Jesus' Birth Through Luke's Narrative
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And both of those meanings have relevance when it comes to the story of Christmas.
00:01:18
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So for the next seven days, we are going to release these five minute audio reflections about the birth of Jesus. And we will use the story as written by Luke in chapters one and two of his letter to Theophilus. And Luke shares the story and he introduces it by saying this.
00:01:42
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many have undertaken to draw up an account of the things that have been fulfilled among us, just as they were handed down to us by those who were from the first eyewitnesses and servants of the word. With this in mind, since I myself have carefully investigated everything from the beginning, I too decided to write an orderly account for you, Most Excellent Theophilus, so that you may know the certainty of the things you have been taught.
00:02:12
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So do you see it there? The wonder, the awe? Many people have tried to write down the story of the birth and the life, the death, the resurrection of Jesus. But let's just take the birth part for these reflections. Many had people had done this and yet there were still questions and yet people like Luke
00:02:36
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still felt the need to investigate for themselves. Of course they did. I mean, the things that we are going to talk about over the next seven days that occurred as Jesus came into the world were extraordinary. They were like nothing that had ever happened before or has ever happened since. So can you imagine the awe, the wonder,
00:02:59
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the surprise, the questioning, the curiosity, the desire to have some proof that all of this had happened. Right there, before we even get into the story, we see those two definitions of wonder. It's so amazing. And yet, I wonder, could it have really happened?
00:03:21
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And so here's Luke and he decides he's going to embrace both feelings of wonder and he is going to write it down but he's going to be curious by asking eyewitness accounts and diving deep into what actually happened so that people like Theophilus and like you and me
Reflecting on the Christmas Story Today
00:03:41
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would have the opportunity to read the words, to reflect on the story, and to experience our own wonder and awe and our own wonder and questions and curiosity. So I give you permission this Christmas season to experience both of these forms of wonder. Let yourself be immersed in the awe of the story.
00:04:08
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but also let yourself question what was it really like to have been part of it? And what does it mean for my life today? I look forward to sharing with you again in tomorrow's reflection. Until then, be still.