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Advent Week 4: The Bethlehem Way, Day 2

Has humility exercised a power in your life? Do one simple and humble act today, in Jesus' name.

by David Joynt on December 20, 2016


HUMILITY

LUKE 2:1-5 
PHILIPPIANS 2:5-8

The best single word to describe the humility of Bethlehem for God is kenosis, which means self-emptying. The Creator goes through the messy process of birth. The Sustainer and Provider experiences the small world of the womb and is breast fed, supported by a carpenter's labor. The King becomes a subject under arbitrary and imperfect authorities. The Guide of history puts aside powers and prerogatives to be a working-class Jewish child at the far edge of an empire. But humility has some very special powers. It opens the secret chambers of our hearts in wonder. It communicates love's depth in its risk and cost. It displays grace in its unnecessary action. 

Has humility exercised a power in your life?
Do one simple and humble act today, in Jesus' name.


FAMILY TIME: Do you know anyone who is humble? How can you tell? 

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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