Many songs we sing at Christmas are reminders that Christmastime is supposed to be happy. Songs like "It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year," "Have a Holly Jolly Christmas," "Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire," "Jingle Bells," and "Walking in a Winter Wonderland" all communicate that Christmas time is to be a joyous, trouble-free season.
But let me ask you honestly: Is that what you are experiencing this season? Probably not. For some of you, personal problems are keeping you from experiencing the joy of the season. For others, you feel like one crisis after another has run you over. With such an avalanche of problems it is hard to have a holly-jolly Christmas.
Some of you are so busy and working so hard that there is no time for sitting around a fire roasting chestnuts. Or, maybe there is not anything really wrong, but for some reason you are just not enjoying Christmas. It is not providing the emotional lift that you expected. In fact, it is almost depressing. The world does not look like a winter wonderland. It just looks like winter.
Disillusionment at Christmas is not an unusual thing. We get so hyped up with expectations about what Christmas is supposed to be that often the real thing doesn't measure up, and we are disappointed.
This year once more we will sing carols declaring a silent and holy night in Bethlehem. Those living in Bethlehem are of course under military siege and for a considerable time the town has been surrounded by a three-metre-high fence of razor wire. The land of the birth of our Saviour will not echo to angelic songs this Christmas, but rather the continuing sounds of violence. Jesus came to bring peace and reconciliation yet the Christians and Muslims and Jews who share that land seem so filled with hatred and bitterness that they are willing to live in communities torn apart by murder and claim God’s blessing in so doing.
What is it about religious faith that causes so many people to hate each other? In America recently Christians were furious with President George Bush after he said that Christians and Muslims worshipped the same God. When he declared that Islam was as a religion of peace, Christian leaders were so inflamed that they could barely contain their hatred. When religious leaders behave like this, is it any wonder that we find it so difficult to bring about peace on earth?
So, in the midst of the increasing separation, division, hatred and anger, we need even more this year to hear the song of Mary, the message of the Magnificat. In the midst of a very unfortunate pregnancy for Mary, she was able to express her faith that God was working with people who would trust him. Mary was not overwhelmed by the difficulties which surrounded her, rather she felt able to face the future with confidence and excitement. This was not blind optimism, just a conviction that since God was active in the world, despair could not overcome hope. No more than darkness, no matter how intense is able to extinguish the flame of a single candle.
Hope is the one thing in which we Christians are rich and that hope shows its real integrity when the darkness seems to be at its worst. We can all have hope and optimism when things are going well, but real hope is what keeps us singing carols when we know just how bad the world really is. Mary sang out her song of joy, not because she thought that God was going to stop bad things from happening, indeed the coming months would see the birth of her son bring about the deaths of other innocent children. Mary sang because she knew that God was love and that God loved so much that his promises would triumph and could be believed. It was because of this love of God, in spite of human sin, that there was a future and faith and trust in God would be rewarded.
The song which Mary sang is modelled on the song of Hannah (1 Sam 2:1-10), which followed the birth of her son, Samuel. Both songs begin by exalting God and both also speak of reversing the ways of this world. The bows of the mighty are broken and the weak find strength. God raises up the poor and provides them with places of honour. Mary celebrates the blessings that she has received from "God my Saviour." A Saviour is important to us only if we think we need saving. Perhaps this year we need to pray for those religious people who think that they are obedient to God but whose hearts have strayed far away from God’s peace.
Mary celebrated the fact that God could be trusted, even when human events seemed so dreadful. This was because God would actually reverse human roles. The proud would be scattered, the powerful would be taken down a peg or two, and the lowly would be lifted up. This is not good news to those who speak words of hate and create division. However it is good news for those who feel weak and powerless to affirm the importance and value of all humankind, Arab, Jew and Gentile. The birth of Jesus affirms this essential human dignity. All people are made in the very image of God and God is incarnate in our image. Poor people struggling with few choices, children growing up in drug filled estates, single parents struggling to get by, prisoners, refugees, the frail elderly--all are human beings with dignity. All people are blessed in the sight of God.
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