Good evening Church, hope you are doing well this week.
 
As you know the current health order has been extended over Christmas. Church gatherings have been cancelled indefinitely. We will be continuing to meet online for this season. I am grieved by this order which disregards the importance of gathering to worship and call on the name of God. Our authorities have not listened to the voice of many churches that have urged them to reconsider this ban on gatherings during this important time of year. We must continue to pray for one another and our leaders in this time and hold fast to our faith in Him.
 
Please know that we are here for you if you need any assistance during this time. Please don’t hesitate to give me a call or email. I am praying for all of you that His grace will supply all your needs in Christ this unusual Christmas season. 
 
Here is a reflection from this week’s sermon.
 
It’s easy to live life focusing only on ourselves, our desires and our needs. I believe our culture has become more self-obsessed than ever. We constantly look out for ‘number one’. When we go down this path, slowly but surely we begin to use everything and everyone around us to advance our own happiness and agenda. We only do things that can provide direct benefit for us. We want to make sure we are comfortable and that we will be recognized. This is the spirit of our age. If we don’t fight it, we will be swept up in it.
 
This is why the opening lines of the song of Mary are so countercultural and so powerful.  Mary has received this amazing blessing of being the mother of the Lord Jesus who is the Savior of mankind, and yet her heart is not filled with her own greatness but with the Greatness of the Lord. She declares, “My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior,” (Luke 1:47). This is no token prayer or perfunctory acknowledgement; this rejoicing in God comes from the deepest places within her soul and spirit. This is so beautiful, because in giving glory to God with all that she is, she is doing what God made her for. Mary, like all of us, was made to glorify her Maker who is worthy of all glory. 
 
Though we were made to give glory to our God and Father, it does not come naturally to us. No one woke up this morning naturally enraptured with God and His glory. As humans, we naturally wake up enraptured with ourselves. So how can anybody arrive at this place where they are so enraptured with God’s glory and His holiness? How did it happen to Mary? I think the simple answer of how Mary came to this place is by being overwhelmed by all that God has done for her. ‘I am blessed,’ she says, ‘because the One who is mighty has done great things for me. Holy is His name. God has been mindful of my humble state,’ Mary says. She is aware of her own unworthiness of this blessing and the amazing grace she has received. Mary is enraptured with God because she has come to see how awesome and powerful God is. She goes on to declare that He is the one who brings down those who exalt themselves and gives grace to the humble and that He is a faithful God who will never forget His people.  
 
Has your heart, like Mary’s, been captured by the glory and greatness of our God? Are there ways that we have embraced the spirit of self-exaltation of our age? May God give us strength to follow in the footsteps of Mary and live lives that show that we magnify the Lord and rejoice in God our Savior. 
 
I want to leave you with these lines from a Keith Green song,
Make my life a prayer to You
I want to do what You want me to
No empty words and no white lies
No token prayers, no compromise.
 
God bless you this week!
 
In Christ
 
Taylor Ewert
Pastor, Friendship Baptist Church
taylorewert@friendship-bc.com
604.970.8506