Marvellous!

Language has changed greatly since those days - but even then you couldn’t always depend on it. So in Psalm 88.13 in the King James Version, "But unto thee have I cried, O LORD; and in the morning shall my prayer prevent thee," those of us brought in the old way of learning things came up with a jolt, but soon figured that "prevent" comes from the Latin pre meaning "before" and venio "I come." That could mean to "hinder" or "stop" or simply to "come before" in some other sense. These days we never use the word in any other meaning than "hinder" or "stop." So we can face some real traps with no equipment to get ourselves out of the corner.

Some words have lost any such precise meaning. "Awful" no longer "inspires awe." The "terrible" is at least usually unpleasant, but then, if something is "terribly" nice, it is merely "very" nice. In fact, it is "awfully good" of you to notice.

Perhaps this is why they tell us that the English language is one of the hardest languages in the world to learn - it’s such a mix-up of unpredictable meanings! Today we are reflecting on the "marvellous" - which has, at least, retained the sense of marvel and astonishment.

Psalm 98 begins, "Sing to the Lord a new song, for he has done marvellous things; his right hand and his holy arm have worked salvation for him. The Lord has made his salvation known and revealed his righteousness to the nations. He has remembered his love and his faithfulness to the house of Israel; all the ends of the earth have seen the salvation of our God" (vv. 1-3).

We recall Mary’s song of praise - usually called the Magnificat from the first word in the Latin translation.

"My soul glorifies the Lord
and my spirit rejoices in God my Saviour,
for he has been mindful
of the humble state of his servant.
From now on all generations
will call me blessed,
for the Mighty One has done great things for me -
holy is his name.
His mercy extends to those who fear him,
from generation to generation.
He has performed mighty deeds with his arm;
he has scattered those who are proud in their inmost thoughts.
He has brought down rulers from their thrones
but has lifted up the humble.
He has filled the hungry with good things
but has sent the rich away empty.
He has helped his servant Israel,
remembering to be merciful
to Abraham and his descendants forever,
even as he said to our fathers" (Lk 1.46-55).

God has done marvellous things. It is right that we become all excited, that we want to sing and shout and celebrate! God has done something, not just for us, but for the whole world. We would like the whole world to celebrate with us.

But we live in a world of antagonism and violence. Bethlehem, so close to Jerusalem, has become a hiding-place for terrorists. In the largely-Christian Nazareth it is proposed to build a mosque which will exceed the Church of the Annunciation in size and magnificence.

It is so sad and yet - you cannot upstage or negate the marvellous work of God in sending his Son Jesus Christ. Let’s celebrate!

Prayer: Dear Lord, we have lost our sense of awe and wonder and even our marvelling is so trivialised. We are coming again to Christmas, but don’t want our celebration to be habitual and trite - lacking real sense of what you have done, avoiding real response to you in day-to-day living. Dear Lord, you have done marvellous things - and all our achievements are so synthetic and paltry. Our "togetherness" is proving to be our brokenness. We come to you laying it all before you - all our brokenness - that in the Christ who came, we may be whole. In Jesus’ name, Amen.

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