Advent 2015 December 21

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The Voice is a show I have maybe watched twice, and I am not sure why even that.  However, a student at a local Christian university won the competition and he does have a fabulous voice.  He sang the song made famous by Kathy Mattea and written by Mark Lowry, who is mostly known for being comedic and working with the Gaithers (and it is a problem for me that I could not think of that group’s name and had to google it).

I am glad that Christmas songs are still being written.  Some of them are not so memorable but some are.  I like the quirkiness of “A strange way to save the world.”  (Below) I do not like “The Little Drummer Boy” as it has absolutely no tie-in scripturally and it’s just annoying (but I imagine fun to sing).  I have a friend who has physiological reactions when she hears "Go Tell It on the Mountain."  Nothing lifts the spirits like "Joy to the World," though, and you can use it for first or second advent celebration.

That new ones are being written every year is testament to human ingenuity but also the depth of the mystery in the story.   We can examine every human element and then make some imaginative connections, but we come back to the fact that it is miracle mixed with material.  And isn’t that the way it is every day of our lives?

I'm sure he must have been surprised
At where this road had taken him
Cause never in a million lives
Would he have dreamed of Bethlehem

And standing at the manger
He saw with his own eyes
The message from the angel
Come to life, and Joseph said

Why me, I'm just a simple man of trade
Why Him, with all the rulers of the world
Why here, inside this stable filled with hay
Why her, she's just an ordinary girl
Now I'm not one to second guess
What angels have to say
But, this is such a strange way to save the world

To think of how it could have been
If Jesus had come as He deserved
There would have been no Bethlehem
No lowly shepherds at His birth

But, Joseph knew the reason
Love had to reach so far
And as he held the Savior in his arms
He must have thought

Why me, I'm just a simple man of trade
Why Him, with all the rulers of the world
Why here, inside this stable filled with hay
Why her, she's just an ordinary girl
Now I'm not one to second guess
What angels have to say
But, this is such a strange way to save the world