What does First B Jackson teach about nativity story?

At First Baptist Jackson, the nativity story is taught as the fulfillment of something God had been announcing for a very long time. When Pastor Greg McDaniel led the Christmas Eve cantata service, he walked through how the census, the journey to Bethlehem, the manger, the shepherds, and the angel's announcement were not accidents but the arrival of Emmanuel, God with us, a God who did not stay at a distance but stepped into human history. The darkness of the world and the single light over Bethlehem were held together as more than sentiment: one light, one cold night, and everything changed.

The Christmas Eve candlelight service built on the same foundation, reading the prophecies of Isaiah and Micah before the birth accounts in Matthew and Luke to make the point that Jesus's arrival was not a surprise. The wise men from the East were noted as an early sign of how wide God's reach is: pagan men who did not know God, yet God was drawing them toward Jesus in a language they could understand. The gifts they brought were connected to God's provision for the holy family's escape to Egypt, and that impulse of giving toward those in need was carried forward as a living practice in the congregation.

Pastor Steve, preaching the Sunday before Christmas 2011, was direct about what the season has become in American culture versus what it actually is. The angel's announcement to the terrified shepherds, that a Savior had been born for them, is what Christmas is pointing to, not the packaging or the bargain. The nativity, in all three of these services, is treated not as a sentimental yearly tradition but as the event that makes sense of everything else the church believes about Jesus.

Taught from Luke 2:1-20 · Matthew 2:1-12 · Isaiah 9:2 · John 3:16 · Matthew 1:18-25