We see broken people becoming whole, through the love of Christ.To build a community in which to belong, grow and serve. To love our neighbours by helping them overcome spiritual and physical needs. To contribute to Spirit-filled transformation in the city of Guelph.
21-08-2022
I want you to imagine that your teenage daughter came to you and told you she was pregnant! Imagine how you would feel! The shock. The fear. The confusion.
The Donaldsons went through that experience many years ago. Dave and Diane, our missionaries in Kenya, became grandparents much earlier than they ever expected. Their daughter, Laurel, was a good girl. She went to church, attended youth group, got good grades. But she made one big mistake. It cost her almost all of her friends at school and at church. Her parents were shocked and dismayed. They wrote a book about their family’s experience. Laurel chose to keep her daughter and, with her parents’ help, went to university and raised her beautiful daughter Hannah. Today, 15 years later, Laurel is happily married and has 2 little girls. Today, they are very happy, but it was a long road to get there.
In our culture, teenage pregnancy is still scandalous. Although much of the stigma around it is fading, it is still shocking and troublesome. In more conservative cultures, though, it is more scandalous and risky. The more conservative the culture, the more outrage the young mother faces. She faces more shame and is ostracized more quickly and thoroughly the more conservative her culture.
Although teenage pregnancy is not usually a Christmas topic, it really probably should be. First century Palestine was very conservative. First century Galilee, and the small town of Nazareth were very conservative. Being an unwed mother in that town would have been very risky indeed! The Old Testament laws meant that a young woman caught in such a situation could face stoning or execution!
Categories | Sermon Audio
Filetype: MP3 - Size: 39.95MB - Duration: 43:38 m (128 kbps 48000 Hz)