on what we've heard this morning, not come in on each passage. I don't have that time. I know that. But on one particular aspect of the story, it is the point at which the light of Christmas comes into Mary's life. So I think Christmas is, it's a time of spiritual searching for a lot of people. It's one of those windows we get where sometimes even the most cynical of us will admit for a moment that maybe there is a light out there that I need. And Mary has exactly that kind of experience. An angel comes to her and tells her the story of Christmas and how it's going to change her life. What I particularly want you to see is that Mary doubts. Mary has a hard time taking in the light of Christmas. The angel Gabriel comes to her and he says this. He says that you're going to experience miraculous conception. And not only that, it's not just how this is going to happen because she's just a young girl. She's not married and there's just all sorts of issues that raises for her as someone in a traditional culture who's not married. How is it I'm going to have a child now? It raises all kinds of questions. But it's also the who because he says this child, you know, she's a poor girl and he says your child's going to be the king. Not just any king though, he actually pulls out all kinds of the sort of heavy ammo from the Bible she knows, the first testament of the scriptures and says, oh, he's the promised king, the one that was told to King David, the one who's going to be an eternal king. That was promised to David. You're going to have a king and his reign will never end. Which means not only that he has, if it's going to be a great royal guy, but not only that, he's going to be the king of the world. He's going to be the lord of the universe, the second Samuel that prophesies he's going to be the son of God. So she has to take in all of a sudden this message that the child she doesn't know how is possible to even have the child. But secondly, who is that this child is someone who has an unprecedented relationship with the God and an unprecedented claim for her allegiance and frankly the allegiance of the world. Mary helps us so much if you're questing because the first thing you see about her is she faces her doubts honestly. And if you're even thinking about spiritual things for the first time this Christmas season, I want you to look at Mary and know that the Bible actually encourages you to down away. Face your doubts. That's what she does. She faces her doubts seriously, honestly, and sincerely. When the angel tells us these things, we read in Luke 1 Mary says, how's that possible? I'm a virgin. I'm not with a man. I'm not even married. How's this possible? And the angel goes on to give her the information that makes it credible for her, what she needs to take it in. He gives her the credible information. And she believes, now what's ironic about this is the angel is having a busy day. He's already been to visit somebody else. We didn't read that story. But there's also the story paralleling the birth of Jesus of John the Baptist or John the baptizer who's going to be a prophet figure telling everyone about Jesus as his ministry begins. And when the angel goes there, he goes to see John the Baptist father, Zechariah. And when he goes to see his father, Zechariah is a very old man. His wife is very old. And he says, now listen, you and your wife are going to have a baby, a special baby, and Zechariah doubts too. He says, how can I be sure of this? I'm really old. You know, it's a sort of another problem going with the childbirth. I'm really old. And this time the angel says, excuse me, my name is Gabriel. I just came from heaven. And because you doubted my word, you're not going to be able to open your mouth and speak. I feel the baby's born and then you'll see. Now what's going on there? Is this sort of the biblical narrative of an angel with a mood swing disorder, treating people really, just depends on what mood he's in when you catch him. I think there's actually something sophisticated going on that you find in the Bible that you don't find many places anywhere else, certainly not in our culture. And that is a sophisticated, a sophisticated, a nuanced approach to doubt. Zechariah is someone who says, listen, I just am not buying this. This can't be bought. And the angel says, you know what? There's no excuse for that. Mary is someone on the other hand who says, I just don't see it. Show me more. You see it's a sincere doubt. And there are two different approaches to the issue. You see in our culture, you tend to find people who are either religious types. And some of you may have grown up in churches like this where doubt is just a terrible word. You know, if you doubt there's something wrong with you. If you have hard questions, you know, shut up. There's something wrong with you. Religious people are intimidated by doubt. And there may be some of you here today who consider yourself Christian people. You're not spiritually flourishing. You're not going deep spiritually because you have deep, unresolved questions in your mind. You're afraid to even think about. Mary is a profound example for you. She is utterly unafraid to go deep. Ask the hard questions. Find out. I want truth. At the same time, in our culture, you have cynics. Synics are people who basically have figured out that you just can't know. And they realize that in this culture, frankly, these are the people who are respected as intellectually serious or emotionally or intellectually mature people. So if you want tenure at the philosophy department, if you want to make sure your articles in Atlantic Monthly are celebrated, you know that you can't know. You're a doubt or you're skeptic about anything that has sort of a claim of ultimate allegiance other than yourself. Again, the Bible has a very nuanced approach. And what I think you need to hear is to realize that that's not honest doubt. It's not sincere doubt. It's actually, listen to this, it's actually a kind of warped faith because your faith has been placed in the idea of the sort of pseudo-certainty that you just can't know. You just can't know. And of course, that's a leap not based on evidence. How you can't say you can't know that you can't know. That's the sort of absurd kind of faith. And the Bible is frankly dismissive of that kind of doubt. It's disingenuous. You can't know that there's not a light. And what Mary shows us is that when you open your heart to the idea that there just might be a light, it requires humility. And it requires certain amount of courage. Humility? Because you have to admit, I don't know, maybe there is a light. Maybe my cynicism is, maybe it's a coping mechanism. Maybe there is a light I need to see. You have to humble yourself. And that's what Mary does. Mary says, just show me how. How's it possible? And then she accepts the consequences, which is the second thing I want you to see. Mary not only is an example for us by somebody who says, face your doubts, but she's willing to face the light as it comes. She doesn't pretend it doesn't exist. And she doesn't run away from it. She faces it. You know what? The angel gives her more information. He says, all right, I'll tell you how it's going to happen. It's going to work this way. And he finally ends up with this sort of theological jewel. And he says, and by the way, in case you haven't figured it out, nothing's impossible with God. And Mary is able to believe. But it's only by facing her doubts that she can kind of know if that you see doubt, it can either be a coping mechanism, it can be a smoke screen, it can be a form of despair. Or it can actually be the only pathway to a flourishing spiritual life. Now it actually becomes the necessary way to say, how you know, and you find the light, and then like Mary, you can not only see it, you can dance in it. Mary sees the light. You may have different things you need to see. You may need different kinds of information. But what you see here is God willing to give you what you need to see it. You know, it's a very correct. It's not just humble. It doesn't only refresh her courage. Mary lived in a traditional culture where to have a child out of wedlock, to conceive a child out of wedlock was a capital crime. She could have been stoned and she most certainly would be for the rest of her life someone who was scorned who had a story, you know, about an angel. Notice that because she's courageous, she's willing to welcome the consequences of the light into her life. Let me tell you a story. This week you may have heard the death of a prominent intellectual in this country, Manny and Robert Bartley. It was the editorial page editor of the Wall Street Journal for a number of years. When a Pulitzer Prize for his work there and was just awarded the presidential medal of freedom, he died this past week. I had the privilege of meeting this man a few years ago when I was speaking at a church in Brooklyn, New York. I gave a talk on basically about how you can know, how you can investigate the claims of Jesus to be authentic or to be true. It came to me after the talk to thank me and I was surprised. I knew who he was and I said, wow, I didn't realize you were a Christian. And he said, oh, I'm not. I just go to church here with my wife. And I said, I see. Sounds like an impressive woman. And here's this man. He's a very celebrated intellectual figure. And he said to me, no, what I appreciate about what he said today is this. He said, there are a number of very pressing issues that I'm committed to working through. And one of them I think is quite serious is the claims of Jesus whether or not any of this is true or not. I really am planning on doing some serious investigation. And I just had a very simple response to him. We didn't go any further into the topic. I just said, Mr. Bartley, if you're just open to the idea that it might be true, why isn't it at the top of your list? If you're even open to the idea that this might be true, shouldn't it be at the top of your list? And he said, I suppose it should be. I gave him some resources and I said, look, here's some things to read. Here's some ways to get started to search. What I want you to do is to be honest about your doubt, but at least admit what he did. That if you don't know, be like Mary, try to find out. Let me say one last thing and it's this. Notice that Mary doesn't get there quickly. She needs a process. She faces her doubts. She faces the light. But if you read chapter 1 after the angel leaves, she's still a troubled person. She's still having trouble taking it in. It is not until Mary goes and visits her relatives who believes Elizabeth. When she finally goes there, that the penny starts to drop for her. She needs the help, she needs the help of community to process the truth. And when that happens, Mary starts dancing in the light. She moves through the doubt. My invitation to you is find if you're willing to face your doubts. If you're willing to be humble and bold, courageous and face the light, find a place that will help you do that. Find a good church. Find another church. Find a place. You know what a good church is? A place where people are not afraid of doubts or not afraid of questions. Are not afraid of even skepticism, but a community of people who together have gathered to say, we believe there's a light. We want to help each other find it. Mary needed help. Maybe you do too. Be humble. This Christmas, be humble. Be courageous. Let's pray. Now Lord, as we come to the conclusion of our time together, I want to pray for each person here that they would have a deeper experience like Mary of this real light and the claims of that light upon their life. May this be a time where we become courageous and face those hard questions. Bless each one to that end we pray. In Jesus' name, Amen. We're going to receive an offering now. As the doctors come, this is an act of worship for those who are part of our congregation. If you are a guest today, please feel no compulsion to give. Let's worship in the offering.