We are in a series called, “The Night that Changed Everything.”  We’re looking at the significance of Christmas, a night that changed much more than most of us imagine.  We’ll see its impact on five segments of society:

  1. The Night That Changed the Religious
  2. The Night That Changed the Powerful
  3. The Night That Changed the Poor
  4. The Night That Changed You
  5. The Night That Changed the Wise

This is our final week, when we look at how Jesus’ birth changed the wise.  As you might have guessed, we’ll look at the story of the Magi or wise men who visited Jesus. They are unexpected worshippers of Jesus.  We already explored how the shepherds were unusual, but at least they were local.  The Magi travelled a long way, and they were highly educated astrologers.

They are the last people you’d expect to be worshipping a baby, but here they are.  They are important for us to consider, because even today there are those who say they are too smart to believe in Jesus, or any religion.  We’ll explore that this week.

Question: Describe a wise person.  How do you recognize one?

Reminder: We are reading the Bible in sync as one community – so check out today’s reading here.

Reminder: The best way to grow spiritually this year is to join our Christianity 101 in the Cafe Course in Pickering starting January 22nd. Register for you and a friend today!

Read the Bible in Sync Today

Ryan Sim - October 17, 2013

Thursday - Act On It - Friends to Family

In this series on being great neighbours, that ends this week, we’ve looked at 6 shifts: Stranger -> Neighbour -> Acquaintance -> Partner -> Friend -> Family We’ve encouraged you to learn neighbours’ names, stories, work together, become friends, and now your challenge is to find people of peace in your life. Start sharing Redeem the Commute with them. Perhaps you could do the Marriage course with your spouse and some other couples. Or you could do the parenting courses with other parents. Then take Christianity 101 together, and then the daily challenges. Make a habit of eating together whenever you can, and talking about things that matter. This is our vision, to be a network of small groups who are being the church. We don’t want to be a church you go to, but a church on the go. We don’t want you to just go to church, but to be the church every day. We’ll be the church when we are scattered around the GTA at work, and scattered around our various neighbourhoods, but also when we gather for community events. We started this with our outdoor movie night, and next we have a trivia night. After that, we’ll have a Christmas event. We want it to be welcoming for local residents and families, generous for those in need, and introduces the story of the original Christmas party. We’re about to start planning, so let Ryan know if you would like to help! In the next series, Becoming Like Family, we’ll look at what it means for you, and perhaps your own immediate family to be part of God’s family, called the church. See you there! Challenge: Ask your person of peace for help with the party you’re planning. Then invite them to follow challenges, or another course, with you.

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