We’re excited your family is joining us in talking about the Bible. We’re Chase, Ashley, Will, and Charlotte.
We enjoy talking about the Bible and the world in which the Bible stories actually happened. We hope our conversations can help inspire conversations in your family. We wanted to create a podcast that the whole family could enjoy and learn from. Too often, kid's content is dumbed down. We think kids are capable of far more than sometimes our Bible conversations reflect. So we’ve aimed high with our conversations. There will certainly be plenty of new words and ideas that might not be familiar to kids, but that’s how you learn. Questions are what always start great conversations.
When not talking about the Bible, you’ll find us sailing, reading, and taking care of all our animals (horses, chickens, cats, and dogs).
We’re excited your family is joining us in talking about the Bible. We’re Chase, Ashley, Will, and Charlotte.
We enjoy talking about the Bible and the world in which the Bible stories actually happened. We hope our conversations can help inspire conversations in your family. We wanted to create a podcast that the whole family could enjoy and learn from. Too often, kid's content is dumbed down. We think kids are capable of far more than sometimes our Bible conversations reflect. So we’ve aimed high with our conversations. There will certainly be plenty of new words and ideas that might not be familiar to kids, but that’s how you learn. Questions are what always start great conversations.
When not talking about the Bible, you’ll find us sailing, reading, and taking care of all our animals (horses, chickens, cats, and dogs).
You're listening to episode 208 of the Pastor Writer podcast conversations on reading, writing and Christian life. I'm your host, chase Rep, local. I've got a personal update for you in today's episode. Every once in a while, I like to step away from the interviews and give you a little update on what's been going on in my life, and I've got an announcement. My family's been working on a new podcast. Maybe you've noticed, over the last few weeks I've been putting these episodes out about every other week, and I'm excited to be able to share what we've been working on with you. I hope it's a blessing to your family as well, and so I'll give you a little update. And then what I thought I'd do is just bring over one of our recent episodes from this new podcast so you can give a listen to it as well too. I've always been grateful for the way that the Pastor Writer community has supported the other work that I've been doing my writing or some of the other podcasts work and so I was excited to be able to give you this update and share the let's Talk Bible for Kids and Parents podcast that we've recently launched. Well, let me start with giving a little update on my writing For the last two to three years I've been working on book number two and taken that through the proposal stage and actually have been working on my second draft of the book, and it's been going really well.
Speaker 1:I'm excited about the topic, excited about the book, and we're very much in the process of pitching that and having conversations with publishers, which can be a long and slow process. So if you would be willing to, I would really appreciate your prayers for that project. The book that I've been working on is on the topic of Jesus's hard words, on the topic of offense, both our cultural sensitivity to fence, but also how, in scripture, offense is often a tool of revelation, a hard word used to help expose things that we haven't been paying attention to in our life, and I think it's a word that we as individual disciples need, it's a word that we as a church need, it's really a word that our culture needs, and so I'm passionate about the project and just looking to find the right publishing partners. So if you would just join me in praying that those right connections would come along. I'm also nearing the completion of my work on a doctorate of ministry, so I've had some guests on before. I have the program director as well For the last three years been participating in the sacred art of writing program, a doctorate of ministry program at Western Theological Seminary with Wynne Collier, who of course, did the great biography on Eugene Peterson.
Speaker 1:It's been great to get to know writers in that program, to get to work within it as well too, and so hopefully there'll be some work. I've been actually working on a novel in that program We'll see if that ever makes the light of day when it comes to publishing, but it's been a great exercise in my writing and also my faith, and so I'm grateful for that. But been busy with that project as well, and then, of course, all the other stuff pastoring, as well as the podcast and some of my work and so it's been a busy season, but a really fulfilling one and a good one. What I have for you today, though, is a new project for the first time, a project I've actually been working on with my family.
Speaker 1:One of the things that we often do is we often talk about scripture. It's part of growing up in a house with a dad who's a pastor and also passionate about biblical history and biblical background, context and the land of the Bible, but my kids are also pretty perceptive and smart and they often ask great questions about scripture. They go to a classical Christian school and so they come home having discussions about what they've been learning there, about ancient history, about the Bible, and one of the things we've found is that, while there's a lot of kids curriculum and resources out there, too often the conversations we're having with kids can feel like either one they're just about life lessons and application there's not a lot of Bible or Bible background to them or two sometimes that content can kind of get dumbed down. I've always recognized this in youth groups, but I see it also in kids ministries, where they're at school learning advanced topics. I mean, even my kids are learning what I would consider as pretty advanced math and science. They're thinking hard and using their brains, challenging themselves at school, and then too often we feel the need, when it comes to the Bible, to oversimplify it, to edit it, to keep it basic and simple. So we wanted to have some conversations that would really the phrase we've been using is raise the bar on our expectations for kids. My wife and I talk about this a lot and it really impacts the way we think about the children in our church as well.
Speaker 1:One of the ideas of classical Christian education is that there's an early phase of education in which the goal is to teach the material. Children have an amazing seal for memorization and learning in those early days, and so these three stages of classical education focus first on learning content memorization, taking content and learning stories, memorizing those facts and details. Then in the second stage, they're working on logic how do we think about those things that we've learned? And then in the third stage of classical, they're Christian education. They're working on rhetoric. They articulate those things through writing and through speaking.
Speaker 1:And so the way we've always thought about what we want for our kids in these early stages of life is we just want them to have as much exposure to the biblical stories as possible. I'm even okay if they don't walk away knowing exactly what the story meant or taking some life lesson or application. I just want as much of that world of the Bible into them as possible. I was recently rereading Harold Sinkbull's the Care of Souls, which I have an interview with him coming up, and there was a line that really struck me in the early part of the book where he says that we think a lot about the pastoral task being the contextualizing of Scripture for the world and the people in our congregation, that it's our job to make the Bible fit in their world and he instead suggests that it's the pastor, the preacher's task to textualize the people into the story of Scripture. I love that idea of textualizing people and I think it's what we wanted to do for our kids too. We wanted to sort of move their identity and world into the Scriptures, into the world of the Bible. Instead of just trying to make the Bible fit their interests or the world that they're in, how do we just immerse them in these biblical stories, the language of them, the details of them, the characters of them? And even if they're not fully understanding the meaning of those passages, there's certainly a stage of life coming where those stories being there, will begin to grow, will begin to form, as that logic stage then comes and meaning begins to come out of those texts.
Speaker 1:So the first reason we wanted to do a Kids and Family podcast was just again to aim that bar high and just give our kids as much Bible as possible. So the podcast we've launched is called let's Talk Bible for Kids and Parents. You can find it at Let'sTalkBiblekids and we do that. We aim high. We're learning some Greek and Hebrew words. Every week there's a word of the week. We have a friend phone in a question. We're talking about history and the background of the Bible. There are certainly new words, probably not just for the kids listening, but also the parents listening, because we just wanted to challenge kids to think more deeply about the Bible.
Speaker 1:The other reason we thought the podcast would be helpful is, as you I'm certainly know, I've been doing more and more work around the topic of manhood and really having a lot of opportunities to talk to fathers in particular. One of the things I wanted the Five Masculine Instincts book to be was a book that would give language for men to have better conversations, and certainly one of those relationships I wanted to help was that father-son relationship. One of the things that strikes you pretty quickly if you delve into children's resources is it often tends to be led by moms, which mom has been incorporated in our podcast and I'm grateful for. But so many of the dads I know struggle and are trying to find ways to enter into deeper conversations with their children, and I get it. They don't feel equipped, they don't feel like they know the Bible well enough to be able to answer their children's questions, and so the other thing we thought the podcast could be is a way of just giving male fatherhood examples and conversations with children, trying to help dads find ways into those conversations, because, as you certainly know the statistics, the disengagement of fathers is just becoming more and more a challenge, and so we hoped that it would sort of model what it looks like for a dad to be in conversation with his kids, which is something I obviously care deeply about. So what I thought I'd do is I would just bring you one of those episodes. Perhaps you've got young kids, maybe you've got grandkids, or maybe you're a pastor and you've got kids in your congregation, families in your congregation that could benefit from it.
Speaker 1:The podcast is working its way through the Gospel of Luke, so there are currently five episodes out that take us into Luke chapter two. So I'm actually going to be giving you the Christmas story, the opening of Luke, chapter two, in this episode, and you can hear a little bit about the segments, a little bit about how we're approaching these conversations, and my prayer is it would just be a blessing for you and your family, or the families you know, as always, I appreciate your input, your feedback. You've always been so great to leave comments and send me emails, and so I'd love to get your feedback on this as well, too. Anything you think we could improve or that it would be helpful. We're always happy to hear that insight, and I'll be excited to let my kids know that you're listening.
Speaker 1:It's been fun to watch their reaction, as so many people have started subscribing and listening to the podcast. It's been great for them, too. We printed up little cards with a QR code for them to give out to some of their friends, and they've been pushing those at school and church, and so it's been fun to be able to include my whole family in a project that we've been working on, instead of just my voice, so that's a blessing for me. I hope it's encouragement for you, and thanks for indulging me this moment to be able to share a little bit of what my family's been working on. I hope you enjoy it. You're listening to the let's Talk Bible Podcast, a Bible study podcast for kids and parents. We're your hosts, will, charlotte and Chase.
Speaker 2:But we call them.
Speaker 1:Dad, dad'll work too. Each week we're talking about the world of the Bible, along with interesting facts, history and words to help you better understand what you read. The Bible doesn't have to be confusing. It actually makes a lot of sense. Sometimes you just need to talk it through. We hope our conversations help your family. Have some better conversations too.
Speaker 2:Conversations are always good.
Speaker 1:We hope it helps us all know Jesus better and learn to follow him with all of our heart soul mind and strength. Let's talk Bible. I've got a question for you guys to start off today's episode. Do you have a favorite holiday?
Speaker 2:Christmas? Yeah, definitely Christmas.
Speaker 1:I think Christmas is on everybody's shortlist for favorite holidays. Well, it is not Christmas. It is September when we're recording this conversation, but our passage today is the Christmas story, so we could kind of think of today's conversation as a conversation about Christmas. What do you love about Christmas?
Speaker 2:I love the toys Decorating the tree while you're gone.
Speaker 1:We have a little debate in our family about when Christmas officially begins. I say the day after Thanksgiving. My family says any day when the temperature falls below 60 degrees, which really means from about September on. And yes, as Will said, they sometimes decorate the Christmas tree while I'm gone, so I can't protest and say wait until after Thanksgiving. You guys are already thinking about Christmas, aren't you?
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:Well, today we've got a passage of scripture that is all about Jesus' birth, which is all about the story of Christmas. So let's get Mom in here and let's read our Christmas passage for the week.
Speaker 3:Luke, chapter 2. To the city of David, called Bethlehem because he was of the house and family line of David, he went to be registered with Mary, who was promised a marriage to him and who was expecting a child. While they were there, the time came for her to deliver her child and she gave birth to her firstborn son and wrapped him in swaddling cloth and laid him in a manger, because there was no place for them in the inn. Now there were shepherds nearby living out in the field keeping guard over their flock. At night, an angel of the Lord appeared to them and the glory of the Lord shone around them and they were absolutely terrified. But the angel said to them do not be afraid, listen carefully, for I proclaim to you good news that brings great joy to all the people. Today, your Savior is born in the city of David. He is Christ, the Lord. When you will be assigned for you, you will find a baby wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger. Suddenly, a vast heavenly army appeared with the angel praising God and saying Glory to God in the highest and, on earth, peace among people with whom he is pleased. When the angel left them and went back to heaven.
Speaker 3:The shepherds said to one another let us go over to Bethlehem and see this thing that has taken place, that the Lord has made known to us. They hurried off and located Mary and Joseph and found the baby lying in a manger. When they saw him they related what they had been told about this child, and all who heard it were astonished at what the shepherds said. But Mary treasured up all these words, pondering in her heart what they might mean. So the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen. Everything was just as they had been told. At the end of eight days, when he was circumcised, he was named Jesus, the name given by the angel before he was conceived in the womb.
Speaker 1:Thanks, mom. Great job reading our passage of scripture today. Was there anything that stood out in that story to you?
Speaker 2:That the first people who met Jesus were the shepherds. I like reading about when the baby was born.
Speaker 1:This is maybe one of the most familiar passages of scripture in all of the Bible. We all know that every year people gather to set up nativity sets to remember this scene. Many people have a tradition at Christmas of gathering together as a family and reading this very passage of scripture we just read. But there's a lot of things about this passage you might not have known. So we think it's a great passage to discuss and I think I also caught another important person, place or thing Will hit the button and let's get into it.
Speaker 2:It's an important person, place or thing. We've uncovered a person, place or thing that's important for you to learn more about. Today we're talking about an important place. That place is Bethlehem.
Speaker 1:What do you guys know about Bethlehem?
Speaker 2:It's where Jesus was born. That's all I know.
Speaker 1:You're exactly right. It is the place that Mary and Joseph traveled from Nazareth. But we know a little bit more about Bethlehem than just the fact Jesus was born there. Bethlehem comes from the Hebrew words bet lehem, which means which. That's a fun word to say. Can you say lehem?
Speaker 2:Lehem.
Speaker 1:That's right. You've got to get that kind of spit in the back of your throat. Bet lehem, it literally means house of bread. If you think about that story of Ruth, do you remember Ruth and Naomi? And they were struggling to survive. Ruth went out to pick grain from growing at the edges of the fields. That happened in Bethlehem. We know Bethlehem was a place where there were obviously shepherds and sheep, but also where they were growing wheat and perhaps producing bread. For the larger city of Jerusalem, bethlehem was not a big city. In fact it was a pretty small town and out of the way town.
Speaker 1:And it also shows up in another important passage. All the way back in Genesis, jacob and his wife Rachel were passing through Bethlehem when Rachel went into labor with the birth of their son, benjamin. But it was while she was giving birth to Benjamin that Rachel had complications and died. It's remembered as one of the sad points of the biblical story of Genesis, and Genesis tells us that a marker was set up in Bethlehem to remember Rachel. You can actually go to Bethlehem today and there's still a historical place where Rachel was said to be buried. So for Mary and Joseph going to Bethlehem, they might have remembered it as that place where Naomi had sought help and that place where Rachel had passed away in childbirth. But there's a prophecy in the Old Testament from the prophet Micah that also talks about Bethlehem. Do you know what it says?
Speaker 2:From Bethlehem a new king would come.
Speaker 1:You got it. There's a great prophecy that says from Bethlehem, the little town of Bethlehem, would come a new king, and that king would rule over all of Israel for eternity. So Bethlehem is a place central to the story of the Bible, central to the story of Jesus because his parents went there, but it's also an important place because it carries a promise that from Bethlehem would come the Messiah who would rule and save the world. That's why we think Bethlehem is an important person, place or thing that you should know. Well, let's get into the story itself. How does the story begin? Do you remember the first event that happens?
Speaker 2:Everyone had to travel to the hometown to be counted.
Speaker 1:That's correct. The story opens with a man named Caesar Augustus. This was actually the Caesar Octavian. An Octavian had been given the name by the Roman Senate, augustus, which means Caesar, the Majestic. He had unified all of the power in Rome and become a great emperor, and one of the things that he did was set out to count and register, which usually meant so that he could charge more in taxes all of the people of the Roman Empire. And so it was. At some point during that time, each person would go back to their hometown, register and then be counted so that they could pay their fair share of Roman taxes. And so it is.
Speaker 1:Mary and Joseph left Nazareth and probably what was happening was Joseph had decided to travel to Bethlehem, where his family was from, and he figured that would be a great place for them to stay for a while while Mary gave birth to their son, because they would have the help of his family there in Bethlehem. So they arrived in Bethlehem and settled, and Luke tells us that the time came for Jesus to be born. What does Luke tell us about the scene? What happened as Mary and Joseph were preparing to receive Jesus into the world?
Speaker 2:There was no rooms left.
Speaker 1:That's exactly right. Now most translations will say something like there was no room in the inn, and that's kind of what we think of the story. Right, they were going from house to house looking for a place to stay. But really most Bibles will have a little footnote that that word in can also be translated guest room. Probably what Luke's describing was that in Joseph's family's house where they were staying, there was either not a guest room or there was no room for them in a small guest room, and so as Mary was preparing to give birth to Jesus, they moved Mary into the larger room where more people could help in the process. Now we have to talk a little bit about houses in Bethlehem in the first century. Where do you think people lived in the first century in Bethlehem?
Speaker 2:I bet they didn't have mansions. I heard they lived in caves.
Speaker 1:It is true that in the first century, a lot of people if they were available lived in caves. If you go to Bethlehem today, there's a great church called the Church of Nativity that's supposed to mark the site where Jesus was born, and if you go along the side of the church and look underneath it, they've excavated and you can actually see the original caves where people lived during the time of Jesus. Now, caves were a great place to live because, if you've ever been in a cave, they stay cool and they're also easy to protect. There's usually just one entrance, and so people would furnish the caves, they would carve out extra living spaces, and do you know what else they did with their caves? They brought their animals in to live with them.
Speaker 1:In the first century world, your animals might be the most valuable possession you have, maybe like owning a nice car today. So you didn't want to leave them out wandering in the field overnight where predators might attack them or someone might steal them. So the family would bring them into the cave with them. They would rope them in and they would spend the night in the cave and probably provide some extra warmth for the family, and that way the family could keep an eye on them. What Luke's describing is when Mary was about to give birth to Jesus. They moved her down from the smaller guest room to the larger area where they normally kept the animals, so that more of Joseph's family could be there to help out Charlotte. When Jesus was born, what did Mary and Joseph first do?
Speaker 2:They wrapped it, it swaddled it off and they put it in a hay trough where the animals ate out of.
Speaker 1:Sometimes we call that hay trough, as you called it, a manger. That's the word that's often used, that Luke uses as well too. Now, a manger, as you said, charlotte, was usually something that the animals ate out of, but in the first century world, wood, as we sometimes imagine them in our nativity sets right A little manger or a little trough made of wood. Wood was pretty hard to come by, and so normally these troughs were carved out of stone. They were a stone trough that the animals would eat out of, and so, to protect Jesus, he was wrapped in cloth and he was laying in this stone trough where he could easily sleep.
Speaker 1:Do you know what really surprises me about the story of Jesus' birth? How normal it is. In fact, will and Charlotte, when both of you were born, we kind of did the same thing we washed you, we swaddled you in cloth Will always liked to be swaddled when he was a baby wrapped down tight, and then we placed you in a crib or a place to sleep. What's so striking is that Jesus' birth was just about like all of our birth. This is part of what makes Jesus' story so remarkable. Jesus took on humanity. We use a word to talk about that. Do you know what word we use to talk about Jesus taking on humanity becoming human?
Speaker 2:The incarnation.
Speaker 1:The word we use is incarnation that Jesus became one of us and he became so much like us. Imagine this the God who created the whole universe, who spoke and by a single word, all of the galaxies and stars, all of the life of Earth was created that he came down and took on not just human form but came into the world just like each of you were born as a child. What that means is that Jesus knows completely what it is to be human. He knows what it is to be born to be taken care of by a family. I bet he even knew what it was to have to do chores around the house. He knew what it was to have to follow the rules of his parents. Jesus knew what it was to be a child and to grow up and to live just as you do. That's one of the reasons we can follow Jesus because he lived a life that we can live. We can follow him because he became human like us.
Speaker 1:The word that we talked about before, that promise given to Mary Emmanuel that Jesus would be God with us even in birth Isn't that a pretty remarkable story?
Speaker 2:That is I like it.
Speaker 1:Now we got a question from one of our friends at church this week. It's actually about this exact scene, so let's get to our question with a friend and talk a little bit more about what Jesus' parents did. It's time for our question from a friend segment where one of our friends asks their question about the passage of scripture we're studying Will. Who do we have a question from today?
Speaker 2:Today's question comes from Opal, who is age eight.
Speaker 1:Alright, let's hear it.
Speaker 2:Hi, I'm Opal. I was wondering what is swaddling clothes.
Speaker 1:That's a great question, opal. You're right to point out. We talked a little bit about Jesus being placed in a manger, but the other thing it tells us is that Jesus was wrapped in swaddling cloth. To be wrapped in swaddling cloth means that Jesus was wrapped like we do babies today, that he was wrapped in clothing. Now that may seem like a small and unimportant detail, but I actually think there's something important going on.
Speaker 1:There's a passage from the prophet Ezekiel that talks about this idea of swaddling cloth. I want to read just a bit of it to you Now. The image that Ezekiel had and probably even Mary and Joseph and anyone who knew the Old Testament verses would have understood was the image that this child Ezekiel was talking about hadn't been loved or welcomed properly into the world. So when Luke includes the fact that Jesus was wrapped in swaddling cloth, it's a way of saying that Jesus was loved. The image you should have of Jesus coming into the world that Luke gives us is one in which Jesus is surrounded by family that love him, probably Joseph's family, grandparents, maybe aunts and uncles, and certainly his parents, mary and Joseph who love him and prepare for him and wrap him and rock him to sleep that first night as he's entered the world. But Luke has also done something else with this detail about swaddling cloth. Do you remember what we said? Mangers were usually made out of Stun.
Speaker 1:Jesus was wrapped in cloth and placed in a stone manger. Now, if you go all the way to the end of Luke's Gospel, where we read about Jesus being crucified and dying and buried, luke records that as Jesus's body was being removed from the cross, he was wrapped in cloth and placed in a stone tomb. This is just before Jesus is resurrected to life. So Luke gives us kind of bookends. You know how we put bookends to hold books together one on one side and one on the other.
Speaker 1:That these bookends in Luke's Gospel is Jesus being born into the world wrapped in cloth and placed in a stone manger and Jesus dying being wrapped in cloth and placed in a stone tomb. But Jesus will be resurrected to life. So what we get in the story of Jesus is just how much he is like us. He is born into the world like all of us and he dies like all of us. But Jesus becomes the human who is raised by the power of God so that we have the hope of resurrection as well, luke gives all of this to us in that simple detail that Jesus was wrapped in swaddling cloth. I'm glad you caught that great question, opal. How about we now get to our word of the day?
Speaker 2:Sounds good to me.
Speaker 1:Each week, we're learning a new word from the original languages of the Bible. You might not know it, but the Bible was originally written in Hebrew and Greek.
Speaker 2:And a little airman.
Speaker 1:And a little airman. That's right. Also, Each week, we'll teach you an important word from these original languages so you can better understand the important themes of the Bible. So let's learn our word of the week. Alright, I've got a Greek word for you today. We've been talking about Greek and Hebrew words, but there's a great Greek word from our passage. Do you remember what the angels say when they show up to the shepherds to announce Jesus' birth?
Speaker 2:Glory to God in the highest.
Speaker 1:They say glory to God in the highest. I want to teach you the Greek word for glory. Can you say doxa?
Speaker 2:Baxa Doxa.
Speaker 1:Doxa means glory. In fact, some of you may have heard the word doxology. Have you ever heard the song, the hymn doxology? Praise God, from whom all blessings flow. Praise Him all creatures here below. When we talk about a doxology, we talk about a prayer or a song of praise to God, because God should be glorified. The idea of glory in the Old Testament and New Testament has the idea of weightiness or significance, or importance. So when the angels show up and say glory to God in the highest, they're saying God's glory, his significance, is the most important thing. You could know that this story, this good news that God has come into the world, is the most significant story that you could ever hear. So it says that the sky was filled with angels who began to worship, glorifying God. Let's say the word again Doxa.
Speaker 2:Doxa, doxa.
Speaker 1:Yeah, perhaps you can practice saying the word at home too, doxa. All right, I think we're ready for our final reflection on our time of prayer.
Speaker 2:Wait a minute, I have a joke.
Speaker 1:I think we need a joke segment for this podcast, don't you?
Speaker 2:Absolutely.
Speaker 1:Charlotte's got a joke for us today. I hope it's a good one. Let's hear it.
Speaker 2:If Mary had the baby Jesus and if Jesus was the Lamb of God, does that mean Mary had a little lamb? That's a good one.
Speaker 1:Nice joke, charlotte. That's a good one. We'll try to work in a new joke every once in a while, if we can find one that goes with our scripture, and that certainly went with our story today. Let's talk about what we've learned today. What are some things you learned from Luke, chapter two?
Speaker 2:That Jesus was swaddled because his parents loved him. Jesus was probably born in the cave. Jesus was born just like we are. Oh, and I learned the word incarnation.
Speaker 1:Those are great lessons. I think the big lesson to take away is that Jesus came into the world like us, and part of the reason we can trust Jesus and follow him is because he has been born into the world and lived a human life just like us. But he set an example for us. He revealed God to us. That's the great part of this story. The Jesus is both like us, but as the angels proclaim it. This is good news for all people, not just for the shepherds, but for all of us all throughout time and history, that God has come into the world, that he's revealed himself and made himself known in human flesh, just like us, born into the world as a baby. It may not be Christmas here at our house, but it's a great Christmas story and beyond that, it's a great story about God and how he makes himself known to humanity.
Speaker 1:I think it's time for us to respond in prayer. Would you pray with us? Heavenly Father, we thank you that you came into the world, that you are Emmanuel, God with us and that you were born just like we are. You came and took on flesh and revealed yourself to us so that we could follow you and you understand what it is to be human, even what it is to be a child, a kid. So we trust you and we follow you and we're grateful and we praise with all of the shepherds and the heavenly hosts, because your glory deserves praise. So we pray you would fill our hearts with that same attitude of worship that filled the shepherds, that filled Mary and Joseph as they welcomed Jesus into the world. Jesus, it's in your name. We pray Amen.
Speaker 2:Amen and Amen.
Speaker 1:We have this little tradition in our house of offering a blessing before the kids go to school. Each day. In the book of Numbers, aaron is given a blessing in which he puts God's name over his people, and we would like to offer you that blessing, as we do each morning as well, too. The Lord bless you and keep you. The Lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you. The Lord lift his countenance to you and give you peace.
Speaker 2:And let's just be the anchor of the night.
Speaker 1:Thanks for listening to the let's Talk Bible podcast. You can find notes for today's show by going to letstalkbiblekids. There you'll find this week's scripture, family discussion questions and the Word of the Week. You can also send us a message, maybe a question you have about the Bible. Parents, there's also a sermon for each of our episodes to help you dig deeper into the week's passage. We hope our conversations inspire your family for some conversations of your own. Thanks for listening.