virtual advent week 2: the way back to praise
- Filed under: Christian season, reflections, relevintage
- Date: Dec 10,2006
Today marks the second of four consecutive Sundays we are observing Advent on relevintage.com.
What did the first Christmas look like through the eyes of Jesus’ mother, Mary? We look at that today…
Scripture Reading
And Mary said,
I’m bursting with God-news; I’m dancing the song of my Savior God. God took one good look at me, and look what happened—I’m the most fortunate woman on earth! What God has done for me will never be forgotten, the God whose very name is holy, set apart from all others.
Luke 1:46-49 (MSG)
The Way Back to Praise
[adaptation of Dec. 10 reading from Calvin Miller’s The Christ of Christmas]Mary, no doubt, had been struggling with her heavy assignment. She must bear the Son of God. Yet she could not tell her story and receive any satisfaction.
No one would believe she could have a child without a human father. She lived alone, glad to serve God, but desperate for even one other person to believe her. How often her monster-sized doubts must have frightened her. How could she do ALL of the will of God?
But let Mary teach you the way to delight. When the burdens of life are too much for you, when your tears know no encouragement, do not see this as a suffering that has come only to you. Give yourself to the art of praise!
Mary learned that there is really only one way to deal with uncertainty, one sure way to forget your grief: exalt the Lord!
We cannot focus on His greatness and our disbelief at the same time. Whatever Mary’s emotional state was as she began her praise, it must surely have reached an exalted mood by the time she finished it.
So it is with praise. This Christmas, let it sweep the gloom from your heart and replace it with the pleasure that comes from adoration.
For further reading on Mary, check out these books:
1. The Real Mary by Scot McKnight
2. Mary for Evangelicals: Toward an Understanding of the Mother of Our Lord by Tim Perry.
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