Mary Had A Baby, Yes Lawd!!
The first time I heard excerpts of Handel’s Messiah I was a little girl from the hood attending the private Trinity Temple Elementary School in Newark, NJ. Usually during worship or chapel, Sister Jackson (I believe that was her name) would tear that Hammond organ up adding flava to the experience. So when I heard the bass sing “And I will sha-a-a-aa-aa-ke the heavens and the earth, the sea, the dry land”, my little heart was completely shocked and drawn to this “new music”. The pieces were woven in between other Christmas Negro Spirituals like Sweet Little Jesus Boy and Mary Had a Baby and I could hardly wait for the next year’s program to roll around.
Imagine my surprise when we took our son to hear The Messiah and he was confused!! He had grown up listening to Mervyn Warren’s Handel’s Messiah: A Soulful Celebration and thought that was they way it was to be sung. He learned to appreciate Handel’s Original Version, actually performing classical music like that as he joined the Oakwood University Aeolians during his college career.
This year, as we approach the Christmas Holiday, and many celebrate the birth of the Savior, for others it can be horrible for so many reasons. Loss, sickness, financial challenges, unemployment, relationship challenges, national insecurity, historical trauma, religious trauma can all cloud one’s ability to look past the commercialization of the holidays to the true reason for the season.
I’ve been singing the words of The Messiah over and over again as I deal with my own challenges, even posting some on my Facebook. For some reason, maybe age or the times we are living in, they are hitting different. I was especially drawn to this passage:
“Surely He hath borne our griefs and carried our sorrows”. Isaiah 53:4
So, I decided to take a look at what the concordance had to say about that passage. Years ago, one of my favorite students, Loreal McInnis Moise, turned me on to the Blue Letter Bible and I’ve been hooked ever since. It makes understanding scripture easier because interpretive resources are literally at your finger tips. As I read the passage, I clicked on the concordance and discovered this:
“The word griefs (holi) in this passage means - sickness, disease, malady, anxiety, calamity, affliction. The word sorrow (makobe) means pain - physical and mental.”
And, now I’m singing this song from the depths of my soul!! That Sweet Little Jesus Boy who was born in a manger literally has ALREADY borne my sickness and disease and malady and anxiety and calamity and affliction and my PAIN. He’s already done it and He will strengthen me as I walk through it. I can’t always explain it but knowing that He did it for me is calming to my soul!! And, when I think of all that He endured while on this earth from his conception outside of marriage and being a fugitive with his family in a foreign country to save His life to enduring the rejection of those leaders who knew the prophecies of his arrival and being betrayed by one of His boys to the actual death on the cross I KNOW He gets it. And, I am so thankful.
This may not be your experience. And, I will neither judge, question nor pretend to imagine the weight of the challenges you or those you love may be facing. But this I know - nothing beats knowing someone fully understands and can relate to what you’ve been through. And, that’s who Jesus has been to me. In my worst days of deepest anguish, His presence has been a comfort to me. I’m so thankful for Mary’s Little Baby. It hasn’t always been easy or pleasant and sometimes I needed professional help to work through the specifics, but He always brings new life, new hope and joy!!
This holiday, tell Mary’s Baby how you’re feeling about everything. He loves to hear what’s on our hearts. Ask Him to show Himself to you!! And lean into the Comfort that ONLY He can bring.
This Holiday, I wish you health and peace and comfort and relief from pain.
This Holiday I wish you the JOY of the Lord, which is your strength.
This Holiday I wish you a chance to hope again, for I Know that My Redeemer Liveth!!
Lift Up Your Heads!! Rejoice Greatly!! Glory to God!! Merry Christmas!! It’s First Thursday Yawl!!
I’m Still Shoutin’ Ova Here
Donna
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