As Matthew traces Jesus’ family tree back through the lines of David and Abraham, he mostly follows the formula of who fathered who. “This guy was the father of that guy, and that guy was the father of this other guy, etc.” But four times he pauses to include mothers in the family portrait and they are interesting choices.

Tamar (cf. Genesis 38).
Rahab (Joshua 2 & 6.).
Ruth (Ruth 1-4).
Uriah’s wife, Bathsheba (2 Samuel 11-12).

These are also telling us something about what kind of story God has written and continues to write.

This Sunday, Rob Lister will be taking us back to Matthew 1:1-17 to consider these four women Jesus was not ashamed to call sisters and Kenny Clark will be leading our sung worship. Would you pray for them as they prepare? You might want to go back and read about each of those women this week in preparation for Sunday.

We will return together in the evening at 6pm to celebrate the Lord’s Supper together. Cole Jones will be giving our communion meditation and three families will be dedicating children. Join us!

See you Sunday, Grace. Come hungry!

Sing We the Song of Emmanuel

Sing we the song of Emmanuel
This the Christ who was long foretold
Lo, in the shadows of Bethlehem
Promise of dawn now our eyes behold