It's never a good idea to read Bible texts as though we are the centrepoint of the text! When we do, we miss the beauty and scope of who God is and what he's doing in the world. This is especially true of passages like Ephesians 1: 3-14. This is the kind of passage that's meant to lift our heads, open our eyes and thrill our hearts with just how awesome God is.

Ephesians 1: 3-14 shows what happens when we get excited about the truth of what God has done through Jesus! It's one long sentence in the Greek, and it's got so much in it that we're looking at it from three different angles over the next three weeks!This week... how does the Triune God bring about his plan of salvation?

We can tell a lot about who lives in a house by what the house is like. Paul tell us in Ephesians that the church is God's house - a dwelling made up of people, all different, yet unified in him. And the cement that holds it all together? His love!Big question: what can the world tell about God by looking at us as his house?This Sunday, we're kicking off our new series in Ephesians. Let's pray that over the months ahead we grasp the big vision of what God is doing, and who we are in the light of it!

So we are people with good news, and a mission to live out and share that good news. But how? How do we tell people about Jesus in a way that meets them where they're at? This Sunday, we're learning how Jesus himself shares his own good news. Who better to learn from than Jesus?

Last Sunday, we kicked off the new year with a reminder of the good news we get to share and the call to be people with "beautiful feet". This week, we dig into the mission Jesus invites us join. We don't have to dream - he's building his church, and we get to be part of it!

At the start of a new year, it's always good to refocus. As a church, who are we? What are we all about?

Today - what is the gospel? Why is it good news?

There is nothing ordinary about the Advent story. A young girl in a backwater town is met by an angel, told she will bear a child though she's a virgin, and that this child is the long-promised Messiah! Then he lederly - but also miraculously pregnant - cousin confirms it all. And Mary? She breaks into song... but not the gentle lullaby you'd expect. It's a declaration that god is about to flip the world upside down - power, pride, privilege, all shaken loose by the arrival of her son.

It feels like all too quickly, Advent is upon us again. Today is the first of three pivotal moments in the Advent story - all involving Mary - that all reveal something fresh and surprising about what God is bringing into the world.