In many ways the nativity story is a story about readiness. After 400 years of silence between the end of the Old Testament and the beginning of the New, why was Jesus born now? It must have been because the time was right, and the world was ready to receive him.
Mary was certainly ready – we’ve already seen the speed of her response in Luke 1:26-38. She asked one question (“How will this be?”), but then was ready to surrender her body and her life.
Have you ever noticed that the Bible doesn’t actually tell us that the Magi ‘followed’ the star to Jerusalem? Look closely at Matthew 2:1-2:
Now after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king, behold, wise men from the east came to Jerusalem, saying, “Where is he who has been born king of the Jews? For we saw his star when it rose [some versions: in the east] and have come to worship him.”
At the start of our Advent reflections this year, we join Mary as she is given the most terrifying news an unmarried Middle-Eastern girl could have heard (Luke 1:26-38). She was to have a child, and it seems she understood this meant ‘now’, not once she and Joseph were married.
But that wasn’t all. Decades of sweet nativity plays with adorable six-year-olds mumbling their way through the angel’s lines can rob them of their power in our minds.
At Stewardship, we always consider Advent to be the perfect time to think about generosity. There’s nothing more generous than God sending his son into the world for us.
Everyone knows Christmas time as the season of giving, but what does that really mean for Christians?
One of the things I love about generosity is that it’s always available to us. The worst kind of day can happen, you can stub your toe, work can be rubbish, the dog can vomit on the rug – and you can still walk out the door and practice generosity. The door never closes on generosity, and the chance to make someone else’s life better is always there. It’s always an option.
“When an organisation has effective personal support coaching in place their staff are much more successful in building and maintaining their support teams”, says Myles Wilson. And he should know, having worked with a wide range of mission agencies and Christian organisations over three decades and seen the difference effective one-to-one coaching can make.
From November 2018, Stewardship’s EAP community will take an important part in shaping the future of the Stewardship Giving Account. Our early adopters will be the first to trial the new-look Stewardship Giving Account and provide feedback about their experience.
Reverse tithing. Generous even in poverty. Christians love a juxtaposition. We love to illustrate a point using polar opposites. Maybe that’s because it’s all over the Bible. That’s why you can read the phrase reverse tithing without even batting an eyelid, because at first it seems illustrative. Except reverse tithing isn’t just an illustration, it’s a real way to tithe. Or at least it is for Pastor Rick Warren of Saddleback Church and his wife.
When I was at school in the 1970s, the word “slavery” meant the TV series “Roots.” We were all glued to it, open-mouthed at the successive generations of enslaved people who made up writer Alex Haley’s family. Today, in 2018, modern slavery is everywhere, its toxic fingers reaching into every country and community. People are still forced to work against their will by cruel masters.
There’s a trope much-favoured by the Hollywood blockbuster of the person hanging on to the cliff edge whose only hope is the tight grip of the person on solid ground, promising them they won’t let go. Not exactly a day-to-day occurrence (at least not in my neck of the woods) but - unlikely as it may seem - it does have something to say about the role of a supporter.
blogs by the Stewardship team and selected guest writers.
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