Zephaniah 3:17 The LORD your God is with you, he is mighty to save. He will take great delight in you, he will quiet you with his love, he will rejoice over you with singing."

1. According to the Advent Conspiracy, "The best gifts celebrate a _______________."

2. In the incarnation, God isn't merely celebrating a relationship with us, He is ______________ that which was destroyed by our __________.

3. When Christ comes to us in the incarnation to restore our relationship, he comes ______________ ____________.

Scripture Readings
Zephaniah 3:14-20
Philippians 4:4-7
Luke 7:18-28

Take It With You!

Throughout the Advent Season, consider the following meditations to aid you in your celebration of the Christ child.

The incarnation is what we celebrate when we gather for worship. It's what we celebrate at the communion table. It's the very good news we proclaim to a world that has forgotten what very good news sounds like. God was here in flesh and blood as the fulfillment of a promise - and that gives us real hope. In the strong words of theologian Tom Wright, "Jesus exploded into the life of ancient Israel - the life of the whole world, in fact - not as a teacher of timeless truths, nor as a great moral example, but as the one through whose life, death, and resurrection God's rescue operation was put into effect, and the cosmos turned its great corner at last." Apart from the incarnation, we would never fully know the depths to which we are loved or the lengths to which God can be trusted. That's what we celebrate each Christmas.
-The Advent Conspiracy, p. 69