9am, Saturday 18th October 2014 - my conversation with the Lord 

Me: Lord, You are dazzling; You are radiant, brilliant, pure. Lord, why don't you shine your light on all the darkness in the world and eradicate it?

Jesus: I could, Sarah, but then I would have done all the work without you! I want to partner with you, my Bride. I want you to be involved with all that I do! Are you willing?

Me: Yes Lord, I am!

Jesus: Sure?

Me: Yes. I am tentative and I'm so sorry for that, but even though my "all" is small, it's yours.

Jesus: It's Ok, I can work with your willingness. Let's start with the darkness in your heart.

Me: Really Lord?

Jesus: Yes – I love you, I delight in you, I want you to be with me. There are areas in your heart that you have not allowed me to shine on. Can I show you?

Me: Yes, Lord, but can you please remember that you are kind and gentle and tender, and that I can trust you to not overwhelm me?

Jesus: Yes my beloved, you can. I am trust worthy and I will not show you anymore than you can cope with at this time. My presence is with you.

These familiar words were written by Charles Wesley in 1739, and to me, they encapsulate in a small way some of the glory of the incarnate God-man. It focuses in on the attributes of who Yeshua is, and what he came to do – it takes our vision beyond the birth of a baby.

"In the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a city of Galilee named Nazareth, to a virgin betrothed to a man whose name was Yosef, of the house of David. And the virgin's name was Miriam." (Luke 1:26-27)

Today I want to look at just two of the events in Miriam's life – the visit by Gabri'el, and Miriam's response to what she was told; and the birth of Yeshua.

Genealogies – don't you just love them! When Matthew sat down to write his gospel, he understood how important it was to grab the reader's attention with the first few paragraphs. So what did he do? He chose to use the first 17 verses to trace the ancestry of Yeshua back to Abraham, 41 generations in all! But then Luke goes and does the same thing in Chapter 3 of his gospel! What's the big deal with genealogies I hear you say? They are important for many reasons, but for our purposes today they help us understand a couple of things central to our story.