I sang in a concert last night for a CD I did with some folks from a church. All the proceeds from the CD go towards a shower trailer for some of the homeless people who live in the city near the church. It was a lot of fun! We ended the set with some Christmas songs and before we sang I made the comment that most of the Christmas carols are songs of joy and celebration yet we still sing them like we’re going to a funeral… and then we sang much more jazzed up and joyful renditions of some of the traditional songs. I think some people were a little shocked, but most had smiles on their faces. Anyway, I don’t understand why so many Christmas songs are so slow and minor and melancholy. They’re about joy and celebration and angelic hosts singing “Halleluja!” And I don’t think the angels were crying as they sang, either. Have you ever thought about the words of the songs? Was it really a silent night? It probably was in the fields, until the angels started singing. It probably was in the inn’s barn, until Mary went into labor. And it probably was almost everywhere, except where the Christ child was born. Can you imagine the entire earth holding its breath as young Mary pushed and cried to bring this incredible gift into the world? And can you imagine the awe and then the mighty roaring cheer that arose from the ranks of the angels and the rocks on the ground when Yeshua screamed his way into our existence? To see the Word made flesh and God become Man, how shockingly wonderful! Hark! The herald angels sing! Why do melancholy as the song rings? They’re singing gloria! Joy to the world! The Lord is come! Shout it from the rooftops! Dance in the aisles! This isn’t a day for sorrow and sadness. It’s a day to sing joy! Our savior has come! He is here! The darkness cringes into its corners and slinks away to lick its wounds, knowing that its time has come. JOY! Luke 2:13 And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying, “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men!”
Luke 1:46-55 Mary responded, “Oh, how my soul praises the Lord. How my spirit rejoices in God my Savior! For he took notice of his lowly servant girl, and from now on all generations will call me blessed. For the Mighty One is holy, and he has done great things for me. He shows mercy from generation to generation to all who fear him. His mighty arm has done tremendous things! He has scattered the proud and haughty ones. He has brought down princes from their thrones and exalted the humble. He has filled the hungry with good things and sent the rich away with empty hands. He has helped his servant Israel and remembered to be merciful. For he made this promise to our ancestors, to Abraham and his children forever.” This is Mary’s song, the Magnificat. She sung it a few days after the angel told her she would have a baby. My pastor spoke on this song yesterday at church and I wanted to write down some of what he said because it kind of stuck out to me. Magnificat 1. Magnification – to magnify something is to make it bigger. Mary is making God bigger. She is about to have to tell her fiance that she’s pregnant (and no, no one’s the father), she’s facing possible stoning for adultery (because people might have a hard time believing it was all God’s fault), and, if she’s anything like me, she’s probably pretty overwhelmed with the implications of everything. But instead of dwelling on the past and on the possible, dangerous, implications of the future, Mary magnifies God. She focuses on Him and His faithfulness to past generation. So now, instead of being terrified of the prospects of the future, she’s praising God for His mercy and ability to work it all out. And that’s what I should do, too. There are plenty of situations where I don’t know what to do, I feel overwhelmed, or everything seems to be falling apart. Instead of making my problem bigger and bigger (magnifying it), I need to remember to focus on God and what HE can do (magnifying Him). Instead of focusing on the storm, focus on the One who is bigger than the storm and who can calm the storm with a whisper. Milestones 2. Mary (and Israel in general) looked back to milestones in the past where God had shown His faithfulness in difficult situations. It’s easy to leave breadcrumb trails of where we’ve seen God working, but if we leave breadcrumbs the birds (satan) will come and eat them, and then were is our trail? Instead of bread, leave milestones, boulders, rocks, or a written record that keeps track of all the times when God made appearances in the past. That way, when we’re facing a tough situation, we can look back at that record or those stones and be reminded that God was faithful then and He’ll be faithful now. Don’t let Satan swallow those memories because if he can get you to forget God’s faithfulness in the past, he can really make a mess of things in your present and future. Lifesong 3. Each person has a lifesong that God has created them to sing. To be honest, I’m not sure I know what mine is. I kind of feel like the words of the song are muffled and hidden, that the melody of the music is lost in the jumble that is my daily life. Even in the quietness of 5am, I don’t really hear it. I know I am created for a purpose, and since I’m still here, God has need of me. But that song is elusive. There have been times in my life when the song has been trumpeting out its melody and it’s seemed easy to follow, but then life happens and I’m not sure if I was hearing the melody or following someone else’s song. Anyhow, there is a song, Mary had a song, Zechariah had a song, so many people in the Bible had a song. I’m sure it’ll come out one of these days.
Matthew 1:18 Now this is how Jesus the Messiah was born. His mother, Mary, was engaged to be married to Joseph. But while she was still a virgin, she became pregnant by the Holy Spirit. I finally made it to the New Testament! YEAH!!!! I’ve been working my way through the prophets for what seems like forever (because I couldn’t remember if I’d ever read them all, and I wanted to read them all). And now, just in time for Christmas… we have Matthew! Whew! I think verses like this mean a lot more to me now that I have children of my own. It’s crazy enough being pregnant when you know how you got that way and who the father is and all. I can only imagine what it must be like being pregnant with God! I wonder if she got morning sickness or heartburn or he kicked her a lot… But then again, he was a baby complete with poopy diapers and runny noses and grubby little hands and cheeks. I can’t imagine a child who was perfect though… I mean, Jesus never sinned (not even as a baby or as a child). At least she didn’t have to worry about disciplining Jesus… I’ll bet it was quite a change when baby number 2 came along and he was quite different! Did the others get jealous that their older brother was God incarnate? (I can hear it now…. “Why can’t you just be a good boy like your brother, Jesus?!”) But I digress… If I had been Mary this would have been a very conflicting time. I would have been simultaneously terrified (of getting stoned to death for adultery – although if I were carrying God, I suppose it would be easier for me to believe that He’d protect me from something like that) and completely awed (I’m pregnant with GOD for goodness sake!). Can you imagine trying to explain this to your parents?! I wonder if she had to explain it to Joseph or if the angel did the trick. Mary really had to trust him because I think he found out about her being pregnant before the angel came to him. This is one of those moments that is legendary, and we often just skim over on our way to the “more important” aspects of the story – the angels, the shepherds, the wise men and crazy King Herod. But I like to think about how Mary was just a girl (probably around the age of the girls that I teach), and her life changed overnight. She had emotions just like me and fears and hopes and dreams, too. She was engaged to a good man and was probably really excited about getting married. But I can only imagine what things must have been like, what her thoughts must have been, to be that close to God, so intimately connected with Him, for those months that she was pregnant. I wonder if it was like that time when God was so close to me so long ago (if so, how did she function… that small taste was overwhelming). How amazing and incredible is that?!