Tell out, my soul, the greatness of the Lord
to children’s children
and forever more!
These are the closing lines to Timothy Dudley-Smith’s
working of the Magnificat. The Magnificat is the adopted name of a song
recorded in the Bible (Luke 1:46-56), sung by Mary as she learned she would, as
a virgin, bear the one who would be called Jesus, the Son of God. The contrast
between the proclamations about Jesus – “He shall be great, and shall be called
Son of the Highest: and the Lord God shall give unto him the throne of his
father David” – and the lowly station of Mary is astonishing. For Mary was a
young girl without children in a social, cultural and spiritual backwater,
about as far from fame as one could get. Yet God, in his wisdom, chose her to
be the bearer of the Lord Jesus. Incredible as it seems, the hope of all humans
took up home in a virgin’s womb. It tells of the wider wonder of the
incarnation – that the Son of God would take on flesh and live upon the Earth.
Great is the Lord indeed that such things are so!
Christmas is a great season for story telling. Family
stories, funny stories, heart warming stories. The films and the sitcoms go to
town, and the tap of festive entertainment never runs dry. This reflects that
there is an old, deep and true Christmas story to be told ‘to children’s
children and forever more’. Let us make it our goal this Advent season to tell
of that first Noel, the hope that it brings still today and the greatness of
the Lord in effecting such wonders.
"Tell out, my soul" - words by Timothy Dudley-Smith, after Luke 1:46-56.
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