Latest / Eurasia Region Podcast / S1-E39 | Everyday Eurasia | Tanja Baum

Transcript

S1-E39 | Everyday Eurasia | Tanja Baum · Eurasia Region Podcast

• 0:11
  Welcome to the special Advent series of the Everyday Eurasia
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  podcast, Inspiring Fate for every day.
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  In the coming weeks, they'll be journeying together toward
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  Christmas, A season of anticipation, reflection, and
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  light. In the darker days.
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  During this special season of Advent, we will journey through
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  the Advent themes of hope, peace, joy, and love.
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  But today it's Christmas, the day that we celebrate that God
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  came with us. Emmanuel got with us.
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  On behalf of the podcast team, we wish you a blessed and Merry
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  Christmas. On this Christmas Day, we will
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  join Tonya Baum. He's living in Germany near
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  Frankfurt together with her husband Martin and family.
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  For the last two years she served as a pastor in the Church
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  of the Nazarene in North Frankfurt.
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  He's also helping the Germany District, European Nazarene
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  College and the Eurasia Region with finances and data
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  protection. She will share with us about the
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  Team Christmas Love. Let us listen to a passage from
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  the Christmas story in Luke verses 9 to 14.
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  The shepherds are sitting in the field watching their sheep, and
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  then the following happens. An Angel of the Lord appeared to
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  them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were
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  terrified. But the Angel said to them, Do
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  not be afraid, I bring you good news that will cause great joy
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  for all the people to day in the town of David, a Saviour has
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  been born to you. He is the Messiah, the Lord.
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  This will be assigned to you. You will find a baby wrapped in
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  clothes and lying in a Manger. Suddenly a great company of the
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  heavenly host appeared with the Angel praising God and saying,
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  Glory to God in the highest heaven and on earth.
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  Peace to those on whom His favour rests.
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  I like to imagine such scenes. The shepherds, their eyes wide
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  open, cannot believe what it's happening, with the sky brightly
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  lit and countless angels in festive robes singing and
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  praising God. What light, what sound, what a
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  multitude of angels there must have been.
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  Unbelievable. The completely overwhelmed
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  shepherds set off immediately, and they find the place the
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  Angel described. There's no bright light.
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  The night is dark and quiet. Candlelight illuminates the dark
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  stable. There are no crowds of people.
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  It is quiet. There are only Joseph, Mary and
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  the child. What a harsh contrast to what
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  the shepherds had just experienced in the field.
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  Perhaps still overexcited, they enter the stable and find their
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  Savior and Messiah as a little baby lying in a Manger.
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  I am convinced God could have sent His Son, the Redeemer, the
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  Saviour and the King of this world into this world in a
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  completely different way, and I will leave it to your
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  imagination to picture what that might have looked like.
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  But he choose a different path. The Redeemer, Savior, and King
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  of this world was born into this world as a human child because
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  that was God's will. The Son of God was not to enter
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  this world powerful and mighty, but small, tender, vulnerable,
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  and discreet. With the arrival of the Redeemer
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  in this world, God did not want to demonstrate His power, but
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  rather to show that He makes Himself very small in order to
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  be close to us. This facet of God's love shows
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  us its tenderness. The tender love of God comes
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  along very small and fragile. It meets us where we are.
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  We don't have to prove anything to it, we don't have to impress
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  it, and we can be completely ourselves in order to find it.
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  The tender love of God fills us with joy like the smile of a
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  baby. It is inviting like the
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  outstretched hands of a baby. It is pure and non judgmental
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  like a newborn child. The tender love of God
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  represents a love that is a gift from God.
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  It does not impose itself on us. It does not demand or force
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  itself upon us. Each person must can decide for
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  themselves whether to accept this love which is revealed to
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  us in such a tender way with the birth of Jesus as a baby.
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  A baby smile always causes a physical reaction in me.
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  I immediately have to smile too. I can't help it.
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  Do you know what I mean? It is very similar with what the
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  tender love of God triggers in US.
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  It does not make us tremble with fear or feel pressured into
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  anything. It makes us smile and fills us
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  with feelings of joy, gratitude and acceptance.
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  This tender love of God is meant for you.
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  Let the tender love of God put a smile on your face today.
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  Let us pray, Lord, You do not need to come to us with power
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  and force, small and fragile, like a little baby, You come to
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  us, touching our lives and our hearts.
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  Thank you for Your tender love, which invites us to you again
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  and again and gives us joy and makes us smile.
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  Amin. Thank you for listening to the
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  Everyday Eurasia podcast, Inspiring Fate for everyday.
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  For more Everyday Stories, subscribe on this podcast
• 7:00
  channel, follow our socials, Facebook and Instagram, or our
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  newsletter Snapshots. For our newsletter and further
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  information about the Eurasia region, visit our website,
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  eurasiaregion.org.