A Musical Advent, Day Eight
Dec. 8th, 2011 10:33 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
vr_trakowskiBreath of Heaven, Point of Grace, Winter Wonderland
I first heard this song years ago and was compelled to seek it out. It speaks to me deeply, Mary's voice in a rawly honest plea that is so often forgotten in interpretations of her life.
It's Max Lucado who points out that "at this point in history, the human being who best understands who God is and what he is doing is a teenage girl in a smelly stable." Which is a perfect example of His tendency to use those other people see as insignificant and/or worthless, but that's a whole dissertation by itself.
What gets me about this song is that Mary is frightened. Not serene with peace, not passive. She's bearing God within her, and it's quite naturally terrifying. But she also isn't regretting her acceptance of God's plan for her. Even though she's afraid, she's going on. Is there a better example of faith?
The whole thing must have taken tremendous courage. First she got an angel--and as has been noted, usually the first thing an angel says in the Bible is "Don't be afraid," which means they must have been pretty imposing. Then she got a pregnancy that she probably couldn't begin to explain to her betrothed. And nothing in the angel's message stated that she was going to have help raising the child. From her POV it probably looked like it was going to ruin her life entirely, and yet she went ahead and said "yes".
How much courage did that require?
We don't know whether she was apprehensive or frightened or even had a moment or two of doubt, or if her faith just carried her through it all; I imagine having an angel show up is a good sign that one isn't crazy (and there's the whole thing with Elizabeth too), especially in a culture that didn't have as much doubt of the supernatural as we do. But it seems likely that this kid--because by our standards she pretty much was--had to face some dark times before she gave birth. She gets a lot of credit for what she did, but not a lot for how she did it.
I love this song because it makes her human, not an icon or a story. And that's a good thing to remember.
I first heard this song years ago and was compelled to seek it out. It speaks to me deeply, Mary's voice in a rawly honest plea that is so often forgotten in interpretations of her life.
It's Max Lucado who points out that "at this point in history, the human being who best understands who God is and what he is doing is a teenage girl in a smelly stable." Which is a perfect example of His tendency to use those other people see as insignificant and/or worthless, but that's a whole dissertation by itself.
What gets me about this song is that Mary is frightened. Not serene with peace, not passive. She's bearing God within her, and it's quite naturally terrifying. But she also isn't regretting her acceptance of God's plan for her. Even though she's afraid, she's going on. Is there a better example of faith?
The whole thing must have taken tremendous courage. First she got an angel--and as has been noted, usually the first thing an angel says in the Bible is "Don't be afraid," which means they must have been pretty imposing. Then she got a pregnancy that she probably couldn't begin to explain to her betrothed. And nothing in the angel's message stated that she was going to have help raising the child. From her POV it probably looked like it was going to ruin her life entirely, and yet she went ahead and said "yes".
How much courage did that require?
We don't know whether she was apprehensive or frightened or even had a moment or two of doubt, or if her faith just carried her through it all; I imagine having an angel show up is a good sign that one isn't crazy (and there's the whole thing with Elizabeth too), especially in a culture that didn't have as much doubt of the supernatural as we do. But it seems likely that this kid--because by our standards she pretty much was--had to face some dark times before she gave birth. She gets a lot of credit for what she did, but not a lot for how she did it.
I love this song because it makes her human, not an icon or a story. And that's a good thing to remember.