“. . . My soul glorifies the Lord and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior . . .” Luke 1:46b-47
What brings you joy? That must have been the unspoken question that the soulful songstress Anita Baker was responding to in her romantic ballad, “You Bring Me Joy.” However, Anita’s lyrical reply to this interrogative sentence doesn’t give us a laundry list of things that cause her to experience joy’s sudden flutter of bliss in her heart. Rather, in this love song Anita makes only one declarative statement---her boyfriend brings her joy.
While Anita uses her distinct low contralto vocals to name her guy as the source of her joy, Mary invariably lifts up her voice in a hymn of praise that names her God as the one who sparks joy way down in the city of her soul. That’s why shortly after the angel told Mary that God had chosen her to be the mother of the Messiah, she burst into song, singing, “My soul glorifies the Lord and my spirit
rejoices in God my Savior” (Luke 1:46b-47). Mary’s hallowed bliss is connected to her relationship with God and the revelation that the Christ Child she would deliver would soon deliver her and the suffering, sinning world around her.
This third week of Advent, connect your joy to the coming of Jesus Christ as you partake in the cooking, shopping, giving, celebrations, and songs of the season. That joy that flooded the heart of Mary still has the power to overwhelm our hearts today.
Prayer: Dear God may the revelation of the coming Christ -Child who would be born to deliver this world from sin, spark joy way down in the city of my soul, this Advent season.
Rejoice greatly in God our Savior who has done great things for us!
written by Minister Valerie Ellis