Village Presbyterian Church

True joy is not the same as circumstantial happiness; it is a courageous, defiant recognition that our lives are defined not by what the world does to us but by what God has done for us, and that discovery always erupts into song.

Mary's initial question about the logistics of the virgin birth gives way to trusting surrender once she grasps that she is favored, graced, and loved by God; the how and why of the incarnation matter less than the fact that God's love could not stay away from the world and claims us the same way.

Fear and hope are not opposites but live close together; God meets us honestly in our fears and can transform those very fears into hope, as seen in Elijah's flight from Jezebel and God's gentle response to him.