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Advent Week 4: The Bethlehem Way, Day 1

Why did God choose obscurity as part of the Bethlehem way? Do you ever lament that your life is somewhat obscure? How do you assess these feelings?

by David Joynt on December 19, 2016


OBSCURITY
LUKE 2:1-5

At the time of Jesus' birth, the center of the world's attention was not Bethlehem! When God decided to enter human life to achieve his saving purpose, he chose Bethlehem. Emperor Augustus commanded the political and military heights of world history in Rome, while Quirinius governed the local scene in Syria. The center of Jewish life was Jerusalem. Jesus' birth was in an obscure village, in an unimportant region, in the back stable of an insignificant inn. Jesus’ birth, life, death, and resurrection were the most monumental events in the entire human story, but they began in unnoticed obscurity. God can do amazing things from hidden beginnings. Often what the world watches is trivial and temporary in the long run. 

Why did God choose obscurity as part of the Bethlehem way?

Do you ever lament that your life is somewhat obscure? How do you assess these feelings?


FAMILY TIME: Would you like to be famous? Do you dream about it? What would be hard and what would be exciting about it? 

Tags: advent, bethlehem

About the Author
David Joynt

Dave Joynt began his service as a pastor at Valley Presbyterian Church in Paradise Valley, Arizona in September 2014. This meant a move away from the Northeast, where he has a long history, growing up in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania and then serving congregations in Delaware and New Jersey for a total of 23 years.

Dave was nurtured in a great church in Bethlehem where his parents, Anne and Carey, served as elders. He graduated in classics from Lehigh University where his Father taught, and then from Oxford, where he met his wife Julia. Ordained in 1988, he completed a Ph.D. from Princeton Theological Seminary in 1993.

He and Julia have a son, Tristan, and a daughter, Madeleine.

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