Jesus's Mum & Dad

These words from Mary & Joseph are courtesy of "Hay & Stardust" from Wild Goose Publications.


Mary
Your eyes are open now.
Those eyes will open the eyes of others.
You study my face
and, just for the moment,
though you came for the world,
you are mine and mine alone.
I made you and you made me
and we gaze at each other
in equal wonderment.






Joseph
Here I stand
holding the tiny, warm weight
of God in my hands,
Such a tiny weight
to lift the huge weight
of the world.
Here I stand,
The proud father? Not me.
I have been utterly humbled
by your arrival.
You're not my offspring,
not part of me,
and yet, at the same time,
already inextricably part of my life.


In the coming days I will be thinking of Mary & Joseph and their journey. A journey that took them to that cave/stable/shed, a journey that had to be made. They had not chosen their path, rather they had been chosen. Chosen to be the earthly parents of our Saviour. I know what it is like to be a parent. The joys, the worries, the happiness, the frustrations, the wonder of a new life, the responsibility for that new life. This I can share with Mary & Joseph. I love being a parent. I love my children. They are a delight. They are a challenge. But I love them, just as they are. Just as God loves me. Just as God accepts me. He sent his Son for me, for you, for the world. To be our light in the darkness. My prayer this Christmas is that amongst all the glitter and baubles that all can glimpse a picture in their hearts of Mary & Joseph and their child. And that a light will be ignited in their lives. A light that will not go out.

What came into existence was Life,
and the Life was Light to live by.
The Life-Light blazed out of the darkness;
the darkness couldn't put it out.
John 1:4-5 The Message

Haunting Melody

Have you ever been haunted by a song or melody?

Last Friday my supervisor introduced me to a beautiful song called "Mary did you know?" I had never heard it before - but it instantly won me over. I have posted a version of it below so you can hear it for yourself (incase you have not heard it before either). My supervisor suggested we used at the close of our Christmas Assembly this coming Friday and I agreed.

On Sunday I was playing with the band at a joint concert with a local choral group and guess what they sang?

Then today at our lunchtime service our auxiliary minister used the words during her talk.

This song is haunting me! But in a good way. I like to think about the people in the Bible and to try and understand who they were, how they felt, what their hopes might be. Mary was a young girl - her life took a scary turn when she finds herself pregnant. This song offers the suggestion that she knew just how special this unborn child would be come.

I hope you enjoy it as much I do.