Our gospel reading begins with obscure, historic references that don't mean much to us. We have to do a lot of work to figure out each name or place, and in doing that work, may miss the promise of God's movement declared. The same can happen to folks we meet who may not know the stories of Jesus or our local church. What matters dearly to us may mean nothing to people we encounter and worse, we run the risk of using stories to keep people out. What are the stories you can tell that could point straight to Christ? What stories do our neighbors tell that speak of God's presence? #sermon #Advent #storyoflife #welcomejesus