December 6th 

Luke 1:50: ‘His mercy extends to those who fear him, from generation to generation.’
 
Who has the power to make your Christmas either very good or difficult?  An aging parent or grown child whose tune you still dance to?  A boss who could open doors or slam their shut?  A friend you hope you can still count on?  The gatekeeper of a social group you long to be part of?  Who do you not just value, respect or admire, but fear?
 
We might think that we shouldn’t fear God.  The apostles call us God’s children.  Jesus called his disciples friends.  Isaiah described God as a shepherd carrying his lambs in his arms.  Through the Psalms God invites us to pour out our hearts to him.  What place has fear amongst intimacy, love and honesty?  Yet we must not forget that God is also king – the Mighty One and creator.  He is far above and beyond us.  He holds our lives and world in the palm of his hand.  There is no place for complacency, overfamiliarity or irreverence with God.  Even as he invites us into his tender embrace, we must treat him as holy.
 
But wonderfully as we come to him fearing him, we learn that he is merciful not furious.  Here begins one of the key themes of Mary’s song: God’s mercy is for whoever fears him.  Pray that you and your loved ones might fear the Lord so that you and they might better know and enjoy his mercy. 

December 5th 

Luke 1:48-49: ‘From now on all generations will call me blessed, for the Mighty One has done great things for me – holy is his name.’
 
Elon Musk topped the Forbes list of billionaires this year.  Maria Corina Machado won the Nobel Peace Prize.  Time magazine’s person of the year looks like it will go to Pope Leo XIV or Donald Trump.  David Beckham finally got a knighthood.  These are some of the people our generation call blessed.
 
But there’s another person our generation calls blessed: Mary.  Whatever people may think of Jesus, Paul or ‘the God of the Old Testament’, it is rare to hear Mary criticised.  Around the nation children act out her story in nativity plays and sing lullabies inspired by her like ‘Silent Night’.  Across the globe people admire artwork of her in revered galleries and dance to songs about her by Boney M, Rogers and Judd and even the Beatles.  What Mary prophesied here has come true.  Throughout history she has been known as blessed.
 
But look what Mary does with this knowledge that she is blessed.  She turns it to God!  She sings not about herself and her good fortune, but about his identity, actions and holiness.  She praises her powerful God.  Though people will call her blessed, Mary knows that she is only a signpost.  Pray that as we reflect on her extraordinary story and example that she might point us to the one who is so holy that ‘Holy’ might as well be his first name.

December 4th 

Luke 1:48: ‘for he has been mindful of the humble state of his servant'
 
Maybe you’re not particularly looking forward to Christmas?  Perhaps Christmas makes more pronounced how you feel about yourself the rest of the year – insignificant, overlooked and lowly.  You don’t have much in earthly terms to celebrate or many people to celebrate with.  Christmas is a painful reminder of your ‘humble state’ in the world’s eyes.
 
Mary here says why she praises God.  She isn’t commending herself for being humble in character (that would be ironic!).  Instead, she’s acknowledging that she’s humble in circumstances.  She’s not well-born, well-educated, well-off or well-known.  Her CV was short.  Her dowry was small.  Her social media followers would have been few.  Yet God has looked upon her.  He has noticed her.  He has spotted a woman who others would not have seen or would have kept hidden away.  Just like he did with kicked out Hagar, unfavoured first wife Leah, ‘cursed’ widow Naomi and her foreign widow daughter-in-law Ruth and childless Hannah, God spotted Mary.  In fact, he bestowed upon her the most extraordinary blessing.  She is the one woman in all human history who carried his son.
 
If you ever feel insignificant, overlooked and lowly, know that God sees you.  He notices you.  He is mindful of you, not despite but in your humble condition, just as he was for Mary.  Like Mary, feel your worth in his eyes and then don’t look inside but look up and praise him.

December 3rd 

Luke 1:47: ‘and my spirit rejoices in God my Saviour’
 
Whether it’s the sparkling opening notes of Dean Martin, Bing Crosby, Mariah Carey or Wham, the aroma of cinnamon and cloves as the mulled wine brews or the mince pies bake, or the first sight of lights going up in our neighbours’ windows, there are certain things at this time of year that hit our senses and fill us with joy.  Our hearts can’t help but leap as we soak them up.  Even the most Scrooge-like among us rejoice.
 
Where the action of v46 feels deliberate – Mary chose to make God’s name great; the action in this parallel verse feels more impulsive – Mary’s spirit rejoices in God.  You get the sense that in this moment she couldn’t have done anything but rejoice.  Her spirit was overcome and overwhelmed by her Lord.  Her soul was caught up in ecstasy and delight in God her saviour. 
 
What Mary understood of how this child inside her would become her saviour we do not know.  But thanks to the rest of the Bible, we do know what it means that he is our saviour.  What a great cause for joy we have even on cold, dark December mornings, weary with colds and coughs, and with so much still to do in the days and weeks ahead of us.  Pray that God might flood your heart today with circumstance-defying joy in Jesus your saviour. 

December 2nd 

Luke 1:46: ‘My soul glorifies the Lord’
 
How was last Christmas for you?  Maybe you nailed the dinner?  Maybe you bought the perfect presents?  Maybe you got the right balance between seeing different parts of the family and getting some rest?  Maybe you deserve a pat on the back?  …Or maybe last year didn’t quite work, but you’ve got ideas for how to do it better this year?
 
While Mary’s opening words feel almost too obvious to comment upon, if you’re anything like me, the words that spill out of our hearts are far more often: “My soul glorifies myself”.  We congratulate ourselves for all that we have achieved this season.
 
Mary begins her song by making great the Lord.  (The Greek word translated ‘glorify’ means make great, praise or extol).  Mary ruminates not on how godly and faithful or how blessed and fortunate she is, but on how great God is.  With all of her psyche – with all that is within her – Mary lifts up his name.  She gives him pride of place and number one position, putting him on a pedestal.  Mary takes her hat off to the Lord.  She hands it to him.  Let’s pray that we might make the Lord’s name great this Christmas, and not just in the words we read, say and sing, but with all of our souls and psyches.  He is worthy!

Luke 1:46: And Mary said…

 

We all know what it’s like to switch off when someone’s talking to us.  Whether it’s a “when I was young” monologue from a family member, an all-too-familiar anecdote from a colleague or neighbour, or yet another reminder from our boss of our organisation’s ‘values’, we all know what it’s like to shift into daydream mode when someone is speaking to us. 
 
Luke interrupts his story to tell us what Mary said as she processed all that she had heard from Elizabeth and the angel.  While many of us treasure her words, perhaps some of us are tempted to switch off?  We know the gist.  Can’t we skip ahead to the next  bit of the story in v56?
 
Tim Chester writes in his new devotional book on these songs that Luke uses them to “catch us up” on the Bible story so far.  Where Matthew and Mark both use Old Testament quotations, Matthew adds a family tree and John pens a wonderful, dense theological poem, Luke records Mary and Zechariah’s songs to show us how the events of Luke 1 and 2 fit into God’s big story.  Luke uses songs because he “wants to make our hearts sing,” Chester writes.  Luke wants us to pick up the tunes and join in.  So don’t skip these songs this advent. Treasure them and pray that they might be your song as you count down to Christmas.