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    Not a Silent Night Youth Study Book: Mary Looks Back to Bethlehem
    Not a Silent Night Youth Study Book: Mary Looks Back to Bethlehem
    Not a Silent Night Youth Study Book: Mary Looks Back to Bethlehem
    Ebook76 pages49 minutes

    Not a Silent Night Youth Study Book: Mary Looks Back to Bethlehem

    By Adam Hamilton

    ()

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    About this ebook

    This five-session study for Advent highlights the experiences of Mary,
    Jesus’ mother, by looking at key moments from Jesus’ life and ministry
    from her perspective. Readings from Scripture; devotional essays; art
    for reflection; craft suggestions and recipes; and dramatic monologues
    imagining Mary's thoughts and feelings all give youth the opportunity
    for prayerful contemplation in the midst of the busy holiday season.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherAbingdon Press
    Release dateOct 6, 2015
    ISBN9781501815706
    Not a Silent Night Youth Study Book: Mary Looks Back to Bethlehem
    Author

    Adam Hamilton

    Adam Hamilton is the founding pastor of the United Methodist Church of the Resurrection in Kansas City. Started in 1990 with four people, the church has grown to become the largest United Methodist Church in the United States with over 18,000 members. The church is well known for connecting with agnostics, skeptics, and spiritual seekers. In 2012, it was recognized as the most influential mainline church in America, and Hamilton was asked by the White House to deliver the sermon at the Obama inaugural prayer service. Hamilton, whose theological training includes an undergraduate degree from Oral Roberts University and a graduate degree from Southern Methodist University where he was honored for his work in social ethics, is the author of nineteen books. He has been married to his wife, LaVon, for thirty-one years and has two adult daughters.

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      Book preview

      Not a Silent Night Youth Study Book - Adam Hamilton

      INTRODUCTION: THE STORY THROUGH MARY’S EYES

      How Did She Feel?

      One of my favorite Christmas albums is an old one released by the British singer-songwriter Roger Whittaker in 1978. My favorite track is a song called Momma Mary. In it, the singer goes through the biblical Christmas story, and at several points—the angel Gabriel’s visit to Mary in verse one, the arrival in Bethlehem in verse two, the coming of the shepherds and wise men in verse three—he asks Mary, How did you feel? How did you feel?

      I’m not claiming Momma Mary is the world’s best Christmas song. It wouldn’t burn up any charts today. (I don’t think it did back in 1978, either.) But I like it because it appeals to my love of stories. If I were writing a version of the Christmas story, one of my main interests would be how Mary felt and what Mary thought about all that was going on. That’s because, like you, I’m used to modern storytelling. I like TV shows, movies, and novels that feature well-developed, psychologically interesting characters.

      Biblical authors didn’t share that priority. Their priority was proclaiming God’s mighty acts for God’s people and for the world. They focused on communicating God’s urgent messages, not on crafting great literature.

      Is there great literature in the Bible? Without a doubt! It didn’t become the most influential book in Western civilization just because the church said it was important. And there are plenty of interesting human characters in Scripture, too. But their characterization is often subtle, just under the surface. Often you have to tease it out by reading between the lines, or by unpacking the nuances of the Greek or Hebrew words that the authors chose to use. Since characterization, as we’re used to it, isn’t front and center, we sometimes forget that the people in the Bible weren’t two-dimensional cardboard cutouts or even fancy, but flat figures, in stained glass.

      So when I first heard Momma Mary, I heard an invitation to treat the Christmas story as a story, and its characters as characters. What would it feel like to learn that you had been chosen to be the mother of God’s son? Or to find no room in Bethlehem after a long and exhausting journey? Or to have strangers ranging from humble shepherds to exotic sages bowing down before your baby? How would all that feel?

      Contemplating Christmas with Mary

      As it turns out, Momma Mary is one biblical person whose feelings and thoughts we occasionally do get to glimpse directly, especially in Luke’s Gospel. She is, at various points, confused (1:29), joyful (1:47), amazed (2:18, 33), and worried (2:48).

      But above all, Mary is contemplative. Mary committed these things to memory, Luke tells us toward the end of his Christmas story, and considered them carefully (2:19). A bit later, we read that Mary cherished every word her young son spoke in her heart (2:51). Mary is doing more than simply being thoughtful. New Testament scholar Beverly Roberts Gaventa writes, "Mary is one who reflects on events. . . . Mary does not wait passively for someone else to explain things to her; she takes an active part by thinking, reflecting, considering matters. Dr. Gaventa explains that Mary is not writing in the family scrapbook," but is, in effect, acting as the first Christian theologian.¹

      In modern American culture, the month leading up to Christmas isn’t generally treated as time for thoughtful contemplation! Holiday decorating, shopping, and partying all occupy people’s attention. Bright, blinking lights and loud, holly-jolly songs fill up the silences we could be using to ponder the season’s significance. Our culture has decided that December is not a month for deep thought.

      On the Christian calendar, in contrast, the four weeks before Christmas are set aside for contemplation. In the season of Advent, the church gives us the opportunity to reflect on Jesus’ coming (the Latin word adventus means coming): his coming two thousand years ago as a baby, his promised coming in the future as ruler of God’s new creation, and his coming through the Holy Spirit into our lives today. Until we think about all three dimensions of Jesus’ coming, we can’t begin to grasp all that he means for us and for our world.

      Even as we take part in the fun and festivities of our culture’s Christmas celebrations, it’s important to take some time to follow Mary’s lead and commit God’s deeds to memory, consider them carefully, and cherish the words of Jesus in our hearts.

      About This Book

      This book is designed to help you create your own contemplative experience during Advent. It is based on and intended to complement Adam Hamilton’s book Not a Silent Night: Mary Looks Back

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