{"id":1590,"date":"2006-12-03T02:30:27","date_gmt":"2006-12-03T02:30:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/jesuscreed\/2006\/12\/christmas-is-about-god.html"},"modified":"2006-12-03T02:30:27","modified_gmt":"2006-12-03T02:30:27","slug":"christmas-is-about-god","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/jesuscreed\/2006\/12\/christmas-is-about-god.html","title":{"rendered":"Christmas is about God"},"content":{"rendered":"

The first Christmas was a Magnificat kind of Christmas. It wasn’t a Dickens kind of Christmas, and it wasn’t a Midwestern kind of Christmas, and it wasn’t a Tennessee kind of Christmas. It was a Mary kind of Magnificat kind of Christmas that turns our kinds of Christmases on their head. This is our first in four Advent reflections about a Magnificat kind of Christmas.
\nMary was poor. Mary was oppressed. And Mary was yearning, with the rest of the poor in Galilee and Israel, for the Day God Would Come Back and Liberate Israel.
\nMary’s kind of Christmas was a Christmas about God — about God returning to Act for Israel.
\nSo, if we simply read the Magnificat we will see that Mary’s understanding of Christmas, which she believed was now at work like Deep Magic in the Land of Israel through the birth of her son, was the kind of Christmas when God was at work. Read these words and mark (which I have) in your Bible the words that speak of what God is doing at Christmas.
\nAnd Mary said:
\n\u201cMy soul glorifies the Lord<\/em>
\nand my spirit rejoices in God my Savior<\/em>,
\nfor he<\/em> has been mindful
\nof the humble state of his servant.
\nFrom now on all generations will call me blessed,
\nfor the Mighty One has done great things for me\u2014
\nholy is his name<\/em>.
\nHis mercy extends <\/em>to those who fear him,
\nfrom generation to generation.
\nHe has performed mighty deeds with his arm;
\nhe has scattered those who are proud in their inmost thoughts<\/em>.
\nHe has brought down rulers<\/em> from their thrones
\nbut has lifted up the humble<\/em>.
\nHe has filled the hungry<\/em> with good things
\nbut has sent the rich away empty<\/em>.
\nHe has helped <\/em>his servant Israel,
\nremembering to be merciful
\nto Abraham and his descendants forever,
\njust as he promised<\/em> our ancestors.\u201d
\nThe God of Christmas, the God at work in the Magnificat kind of Christmas, is a Saving, liberating, mighty merciful God who is faithful to his promises. And this God sides with justice and peace for all — not just the rich, but for the poor too. That’s a Magnificat Christmas. The kind where the poor get the present they’ve longed for from the God who brings it: justice.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The first Christmas was a Magnificat kind of Christmas. It wasn’t a Dickens kind of Christmas, and it wasn’t a Midwestern kind of Christmas, and it wasn’t a Tennessee kind of Christmas. It was a Mary kind of Magnificat kind of Christmas that turns our kinds of Christmases on their head. This is our first…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":298,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31,35],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1590","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-advent","category-mary"],"yoast_head":"\nChristmas is about God - Jesus Creed<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/jesuscreed\/2006\/12\/christmas-is-about-god.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Christmas is about God - Jesus Creed\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The first Christmas was a Magnificat kind of Christmas. 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