Mary’s Song of Praise: The Magnificat
He has looked with favor on the low status of his servant.
Look! From now on, everyone will consider me highly favored
49 because the mighty one has done great things for me.
Holy is his name.
50 He shows mercy to everyone,
from one generation to the next,
who honors him as God.
51 He has shown strength with his arm.
He has scattered those with arrogant thoughts and proud inclinations.
52 He has pulled the powerful down from their thrones
and lifted up the lowly.
53 He has filled the hungry with good things
and sent the rich away empty-handed.
KING ARTAXUS NEAR DEATH GRAIN SHIPS DOCK,

ROME RIOTS END

NINE PIRATE SHIPS SUNK BY SIXTH FLEET

ATHENS STUDENTS CLASH WITH POLICE

OLYMPIC WRESTLER STILL IN COMA

REPORT ANGELS SIGHTED IN JUDEA

If there were a newspaper in the Roman Empire some 2,000 years ago, these would be potential headlines (The Teacher’s Commentary).

Actually – their lives looked a lot like ours do today.
There were wars.
Injustice.
Poverty.
Death.
Disease.
People still struggled to live, make ends meet, and often times they kept on living long after they had lost all sense of purpose or meaning in their lives.

This morning on the radio I heard the story of a man in China who was shopping with his fiancé in the mall. They’d been shopping for about five hours. At the end of the trip she wanted to go to one more store before they went home. He said no. She persisted and according to the news, she told him he was “ruining her Christmas.”

He dropped all the bags, climbed up on the railing, and jumped (in the mall) to his death.

That is such a tragedy. Clearly there were many, many more things going on in that young man’s mind than he just didn’t want to go to another shoe store.

A couple of things that we can take away from that story . . .
First, we NEVER know where someone is in their journey. Often times I tell folks, “If you could pick the roof up off the top of most homes and look inside, what you expect to see is RARELY what you see in actuality.”

Secondly, that is all the more reason why we need to try, regardless of our circumstances, to find a reason to praise God even when things seem bleak and without hope.

In the birth of Jesus, God acted decisively to bring new life to all people and also a transformation to the world. It happened in an insignificant town to an unsuspecting teenager. This birth changed the Roman empire, and ultimately the world today!

This birth offers us a newness and a life transformed.

That is something we can celebrate.

What is it, in your life, that you can celebrate today?

Grace and Peace,
Andrea

Celebrating??? Birthday Cake

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