Singing For Joy

And in the same way, Mary’s praise of God indicates that she also knew to whom the glory for this special event should be given. The glory should be given to God. All things are possible with God even when our human minds and reason have a difficult time accepting it. But God is more than our minds and reason. God can and does work through the erected order, but he is not limited as seen in the virgin birth. God chooses at times to work outside the natural laws, outside human reason and understanding and in those events we truly see his almighty power.

Not only did God reveal his power with Mary, but in the place of his Son’s birth God showed us his humility. For who would have guessed that God being born into this world would break into our history in such a backwater town as Bethlehem in a humble place as a stable. But with God all things are possible so we sing. God does not need what we consider grand and glorious. God can use the simple, the common to show us his glory. So it is fitting, I think, that Jesus the Son of God was born in such a small town in a tiny country. Born in such a unlikely place as a stable. It shows us the true nature of this God we worship.

We sing songs at the impending Christmas event because of the gift of hope which the baby in the manger brings to our lives. There is a hopefulness about life because of Christ. No matter what the circumstances in which we find ourselves, there can be hope because of Christ. Hope that says somehow we will be delivered, rescued, or given the courage and strength to endure any circumstance in which we might find ourselves.

When we realize that alone without Christ we are only loosing life, then there is hope because we turn our lives over to Christ to redeem and save. By ourselves as human beings hope does not spring eternal in our nature. We are a race of people given to despair. We are prone to give up on life, to quit, to find the easiest, painless solution to our problems. We are a generation of people who have gotten used to looking for the quick fix, the instant solution. When it doesn’t come, we give up, we throw up our arms in despair and complain about the unfairness of life.

There is a movie about the ultimate despair in life entitled "They Shoot Horses Don’t They". I saw it in college and again just recently on TV. The movie is about an actress who has a fallen career on the big screen during the 20’s. She enters a dance marathon hoping to win the jackpot and to use the money to launch a new movie career. As the marathon draws closer to the end, she realizes that she and her partner have a good chance of winning. During one of the rest breaks, the promoter calls them into the office, and explains to them that the winner has to pay for the expenses of the dance out of the $750.00 prize money.

She sees life is not worth fighting any longer, because when she thought she was winning, she was loosing. There was no hope for her she thought, only this brokenness. She feels broken, used, washed up. She gives up on life. The final scene of the movie shows her going round and round as if on a merry-go-round. She steps off and goes outside with her boy friend, hands him a gun and asks him to shoot her.