Mary's Song Of Praise Series

Mary’s Song

#ctunes

Good morning MGCC… – ‘The King Is Among…’

AND – if you think about it, this is what Christmas is really about. THAT – the King is among us.

THAT - as John wrote…

The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us.

– John 1:14

AND – as Matthew wrote

Look! The virgin will conceive a child! She will give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel, which means ‘God is with us. – Matthew 1:23

Prayer

QUESTION – who here like’s Christmas music?

IF – you do when do you start listening to it?

BUT HEY - it’s that time of year, where we will be hearing a lot of Christmas music whether we want to or not.

AND LISTEN - it’s not just in church or in Christian bookstores, no, it’s everywhere… In every restaurant and every store…

I MEAN – you just can’t get away from it.

IN FACT – this past Tuesday we were at Sams and I was talking to Doris who was checking us out about Christmas music and she said that she was pretty much done with Christmas music, since they have been playing it since September…

SO - there are all kinds of Christmas music out there…

THIS WEEK - I went on youtube and searched ‘Top Ten Christmas Songs’ and I found this short video…

NOW – you may or may not agree with this list…

BUT – perhaps one of your favorites is on there…

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SrZrk_0EFog

I don’t know if it works this way for you, but for me a lot of those songs can bring back some pretty strong memories from growing up.

Candle light services with my mom and dad, my mom loved Silent Night...

Singing jingle bells and Rudolph the red nose reindeer in the car as a family…

AND - those songs also bring back the memory of when I was probably 10 or 11 and a bunch of the kids in our neighborhood decided to go Christmas Caroling.

YOU SEE…

IT - was then, that I found out that was lacking in the singing department…

YEAH – I believe it was by the third house when one of the older girls (I can’t remember her name) looked at me and said, “Wow, Steve you can’t sing at all, you’re terrible – so monotone.”

Heartbreaking…

SO - Christmas music brings back Christmas memories.

AND LISTEN - Music has always been a part of the Christmas Story. IN FACT – I think we could say it this way… that songs may be our best response to the mystery of Christmas.

AND AGAIN – they have been a part of the Christmas Story - not just in recent years, but even in that first Christmas…

UNDERSTAND - if you read through Scripture, you find that oftentimes when someone is sharing the good news of Jesus coming to earth—or they’re hearing the good news of Jesus—that there is a song that is sung.

WHICH IS WHY - for the month of December we are doing a series of conversations that I am calling cTunes.

A SERIES - where we will be looking at the 4 original tunes of Christmas.

ON…

12/11 – Zechariah’s Song Of Thanksgiving

12/18 – Simeon’s Son Of Joy

12/25 – The Angel’s Son Of Salvation

AND THIS MORNING… Mary’s Song Of Praise

YOU KNOW – this week as I was working on this conversation and reflecting on this season of the year, I started to wonder… WHAT IF – some aliens in a (galaxy far-far away), picked up our radio signals in the month of December and heard all of our Christmas music.

I WONDER – what they would conclude that Christmas is all about. IS IT - about

• Snow

• Sleigh bells

• Reindeer

• Elves

• Snowmen

• Mama kissing some guy named Santa under the mistletoe

• Chestnuts roasting on an open fire

• Jack frost nipping at your nose

• OR a head on collision between a grandma and reindeer

AND UNDERSTAND – as these aliens listen to the songs, if any particular person rose to the top and seemed to be the main character in this celebration, it would probably be a jolly guy in a red suit named Santa Claus or Saint Nick…

YES…

I THINK – that for the most part… they would be have clueless as to the real meaning of Christmas…

NOW – please don’t misunderstand me… I am not saying those songs are wrong or that we should not sing them or enjoy them… BUT NEVERTHELESS – they are not the real, the deeper meaning of Christmas.

IN FACT – if the real Saint Nick was around today, and He saw how little attention Christ was actually getting during this time of year…