questions
- Read Matthew 1:18-25. What is your initial reaction to this text and/or to the sermon?
- Our news and media are frequently filled with fearmongering intended to divide us and make us distrustful of others. Take a moment to honestly analyze if there are any headlines or new stories you have recently absorbed that have made you more fearful of a particular person or people group. Notice the power that fear holds. What impulses or actions does it motivate?
- Though Mary has said “yes” to carrying the Christ child, the very real danger of being pregnant out of wedlock is not erased. She needs Joseph to take her hand, to help protect her and her unborn child from danger. In what ways are you and your various communities called to be in solidarity with people who are vulnerable?
- Imagine if Joseph had quietly dismissed Mary as planned. Would the child in Mary’s womb have survived? If Joseph had said no, would God have found a different way to protect Mary and Jesus? Would the incarnation of God have happened if God’s people had not said yes?