A little bird born in a barnyard was picked on and bullied by the other ducklings. He felt ugly and sad. One day he was passing by the lake and saw his reflection. He wasn't a duck, he was a beautiful swan! Once he learned his true identity, he was overjoyed and transformed.

In the above photo from Thursday Dec. 13, 2018, Hayarpi Tamrazyan, a 21-year-old Armenian asylum seeker, right, gets a hug from spokesperson Florine Kuethe inside the Bethel chapel in The Hague, Netherlands. A non-stop service started in October by a Dutch protestant church to protect a family of Armenian asylum seekers from deportation is ending after the government announced changes to its immigration policy.

For the past weeks, we have been learning about the role of the church, which is to help people to come closer to God, the light of life out of darkness. Peter said that believers of God were a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, and a people belonging to God. Today I will be exploring the theme of a holy nation.

​Imagine discovering you are not who you thought you are. This is happening to thousands of people around the world as they try to investigate their ancestry using DNA kits. For some this is a bit of fun, identifying ethnicities from their family tree. But for others the results are a shock as they discover the father they have grown up with is not their biological father. This is devastating for many people. The identity they had taken for granted and grown up with is torn apart and they are left weeping, uncertain of who they really are and with important questions they can’t find an answer to. You can hear some of these stories on the BBC Podcast, DNA, Me and the Family Tree.

If we had a top ten list of Old Testament stories, the story of Elijah and the prophets of Baal would probably be near the top of the list.

There is great drama in Elijah’s story with ringside seats to watch Yahweh vs Baal. There are very few prayers asked and answered in such an immediate and dramatic way as those of Elijah.