this is a presentation in title only the story of christmas the rest of it it's been written by marge stewart and we're really really happy to be able to present it to you this morning as a reflection on the christmas events marge thanks for writing it you did it awesome job long years before the birth of a baby in a manger in bethlehem a young widow named in a moved into the widow's corridors of the temple in jerusalem so many of my eighty four years i live within the temple walls of weather stone in the midst of money changers playing king coing of beating wings lambs lead te years before our prophets had told us that god's house is a house of prayer yet dad leaders have allowed the courts to become a market place they say it's to help the people who come to worship you ask me why i live here seven years married and my husband  am i had only my god to turn to i came to the temple to live with him instead of the peace i sought i listened to the cries of my people in man in red capes and golden helmets crowd called through the gaps and other the swinging their swords and thrusting their spears shrieks of fear melded  just god who discharges mercy and our prophets had told us your higher judge i cried out allowing our conquerors to walk over us i do not understand in my confusion do you not feel the suffering of your people your chosen ones i asked my question dirt ears to hear golden trumpet echo off the walls around us a priest named zacharias to come out of the holy of holies where he had been burning incense before the lord when he finally appeared his face was drained of all colors and he was trembling he tried to speak and the people could see his lips moving but no sound came back arise waved his arms and motion for something to write on when a scribe brought him a tablet he wrote that he had been visited by an angel meanwhile his wife elizabeth was waiting for him at their home in a nearby village childless elizabeth the husband and i live with out a child's laughter and the sound of running feet while sheltered us from wind and sun yet my hair grew white my breasts remain flat like an unwed girls women in the village stared when i walked past them to the well i heard their whisper i saw that this day in their could i praise the giver of life how could i rejoice through my he while i waited out the week my husband spit at the temple burning incense before our sovereign god when he was six months alone in her pregnancy when the angel gabriel was again sent to israel with a message this time to a young girl in nazareth whose name was mary who was th stranger standing before me uttering words clothed in a dorothy you are highly favored he said the lord has chosen you i tremble a peasant girl who herded sheep and goats on the hillsides of nazareth fairly ready to become a woman who was i of humble birth to be so favored like grapes in a wine press my heart was crushed by fear the juice of my life bored out on the land mary he spoke my name you will give birth to a son the son of the most high god unable to stand in his holy presence i fell to the ground my fear crescendoed how could an unwed woman give birth to a baby i a virgin pledged to joseph would he reject me walk away feeling betrayed what i wear a shroud of shame be an outcast cover my family in brambles of disclaimers nothing is impossible with god the stranger's voice echoed from the chambers of a turn his words settled deep in my heart i could only bow my head slowly i felt in a measurable peace and looking up into his eyes i  i am the servant of the most high god the angel had told mary that elisabeth her cousin was going to have a son in your old age soon after being to learn mary got ready and soon as the sound of your reading reached my ears the baby in my room leaped last it is she who has believed with the lord has said to her will be accomplished as a live that elizabeth spoke i felt a song of worship form within me the words just blow it out my soul glorifies the lord and my spirit rejoices in god my savior for he has been mindful of the humble state of his servant from now on all generations will call me blasted for the mighty one has done great things for me holy is his name his mercy extends to those who fear him from generation to generation he has performed mighty deeds with his arm he is scattered those who are proud in their in has brought down rulers from their rooms but has lifted up the humble he has filled the hungry with good things but he has sent the rich away and he has helped his servant israel remembering to be merciful to abraham and his descendants forever even mary stayed with elizabeth for three months before returning home nine months passed in the time for the baby to be born again but caesar was calling for a census of the jewish people they were told to return to their ancestral homes for mar joseph that meant a seventy five mile journey to bethlehem obedience to obedient to caesar's decrees we travelled from nazareth to come to bethlehem it was hard riding the back of a donkey up and down at each step stopping and starting again as men and women joined our journey to the town of david i only wanted to lie down and sleep but the baby was shifting in my room tonight i thought tonight it's time the night dark and a black curtain dropped across the sky we needed a room to to be away from the cold air a place where joseph and i could be alone but the ins were full joseph led me to a place where sheep and goats butted for the night was this where the son of the most high was to be born i wondered here among the animals of the fields only a bed of straw to lay the baby  in men with shepherds staffs and hand enter the stable breathless vowing their heads they asked is this the favor handles that we would find in a manger wiping away tears of exhaustion joseph choked a quiet ye messiah savior they told how an angel hovered over them glory to god in the highest peace to men of good will be angel had said to them a light had appeared to us the ship the shepherds whispered a month later in keeping with the law of moses mary and joseph brought the baby jesus to the temple to be dead at the same time and was walking through the outer court on a winter day and like any other day and night streamed into the temple covering like a canopy a small group standing in center court age simian with a young couple a small baby in the mother's arms reaching out to them the prophets spoke to the future of child and mothe knew this was our messiah i prayed for many days and nights a big nestled in the breast of a peasant woman i who wait to do the trials of life