Not a Silent Night, Mary Looks Back to Bethlehem

This year for Advent, we’re going to do something a bit unusual. Instead of exploring the events that led up to that glorious night when Jesus was born, we’re going to start decades after He was born.

We’re going to prepare our hearts for Christmas by looking at Jesus’ life through Mary’s eyes, not starting at the beginning, but rather at the end. Then each week, we’ll work our way backwards looking at key events of Jesus’ live (through Mary’s eyes) until finally we arrive at the night when Jesus was born, on Christmas Eve – the series is called “A Not So Silent Night – Mary Looks Back to Bethlehem.”

We’ll put ourselves in Mary’s shoes, so we can see her perspective of Jesus. Other than Joseph, no one was closer to Jesus than Mary. No one shaped his life more than she did. No one knew him better, nor loved him more. And no other human being paid a greater price than she did for his birth, life, and death.

We think from songs like Silent Night, that Mary’s life was this glorious and beautiful life. But when we really look at Jesus’ life and Mary’s part in it, I’m not so sure her life was so heavenly and perfect. Instead, I believe it was challenging, painful, and at times filled with sorrow. Yet despite this, Mary “magnifies the Lord” and “rejoices in God,” as she tells us in her song in the book of Luke.

Throughout the series, we’ll discover the gifts Mary received at each stage of Jesus’ life:

• The hope of resurrection
• The salvation gift of the cross
• A new way to live that Jesus taught in his ministry
• The ever-present gift of God’s grace.