A Baby!

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(Said in a tone of shock and confusion - see the New Zealant children’s play on the First Christmas)

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Text2me: Today we celebrate God's amazing plan to  enter our space and time as a baby and through that baby, named Jesus , to make possible our welcome into God's family.  Praying this day is full of joy as you celebrate with your family.    Much love from John and Mary. XX

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Text back: Bless you both. What a lovely gift, going against the grain of this world's way of powerful muscling in, or quiet sneaking in, to take over & control, to "make" things better. When he makes, he creates and gives choice and power to others... He is not trying to coerce, but to woo, to win allegiance - because of (not a fluke, or "one off", but a constant and steadfast, partnership)   seeking glory, honour, and immortality!) [Rom 2:7]

Love to you two too.

 https://appallinglife.blogspot.com/2024/12/mary-christmas.html 

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Well, what a way we have of sneaking round,

of trying to “on board” as pirates do,

to “make” things as we’d say, both “safe and sound”,

that’s part of painting pictures to the crew

of other ships, to lull them into sleep, 

to trick them to allow us to get close,

so we can get to take control of sheep,

and have both wool and mutton as our dose

of payment for our conquest of defense-

es, that weren’t smart enough to keep us out.

It happens at each level, and each fence,

the closing in - a predator’s about!

But his way still does use the wisdom of

the snake, the dragon, serpent, “worm”, or whore,

but not the motivation, goal, methods

of such, but harmlessness of herbivore*.

The weak and powerless, the common folk,

not thinking of their hidden pow’r that hurts,

but pow’r to heal and laugh, and have a joke,

not at expense of others. Love still spurts

its blood around the place if cut or whipped,

or nailed in place, so its will can’t be done.

I see the fate of scales that have been tipped

and will not act to “make” another one.

Unless it is to make a whole new world,

and make it newly, from the ground up too,

Where no-one enters without love, none hurled,

just born as babies*, then toddlers ensue*.

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*            “Humans are blessed by God to rule over all the creatures, but they allow the serpent to rule over them, and this problem starts to enslave and consume them (Gen 1-3); Noah sends out (and receives back) a dove, as a messenger of shalom peace and world-renewal (Gen 8:6-12); Jesus demonstrates growing in Wisdom (Luke 2:40-52); Jesus tells his talmidim (disciples) whom he treated as his children (whom he was sending out to represent his leadership style & method of ruling God's world by loving example) to be as wise as serpents, but as innocent as doves (Matthew 10:16-20); Jesus says he will give his disciples wisdom beyond their adversaries (Luke 21:15); Jesus’ apostle (Ambassador) Paul, a takes the same approach with respect to the wisdom needed and offered in following Jesus (Eph 5:15; Col 3:16; 1Cor 1:21-30; 14:20); and James reiterates this approach (James 1:5; 3:17); Jesus tells  Nicodemus that the entrance to the reign of God was being “born from above” (John 3:1-16); & Jesus tells his disciples that children, far from being powerless irrelevancies and wastes of time, were models of the way to enter God’s reign and retain it (to start again from the bottom of the pile, our entrance to God’s world, learning from YHWH how to be a ruler and judge, a baby god. (Matthew 19:14; Luke 18:16-18).

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