The Sound Of ChristmasSample

Overshadow Me (Mary's Song)

Lyrics by David Binion, Mary Alessi and Amie Dockery

I am overwhelmed

I can hardly take it in

I can hear Your still small voice

Whisper in the wind

Whisper in the wind

I am so afraid

Can this really be

But according to Your word

Be it unto me

Be it unto me

Overshadow me

In the shelter of Your wings

Holy Spirit cover me

Overshadow me

Overshadow me

Any way you look at it, Mary demonstrates the most beautiful act of surrender in Luke 1:26-38. Without considering the repercussion, her immediate response was a question. How can this be? It wasn’t a posture of doubt, but of innocent wonder. When Gabriel explained, Mary hardly understood what all of this meant. Did she even consider what this would do to her reputation? Would her parents believe her? Joseph didn’t even believe her until he was visited by an angel in his sleep. Mary. Pregnant? By the Holy Spirit? Again, Joseph surrenders.

The invitation to surrender is interesting. Surrender your will. Surrender your life’s plans. Why? Because the plan He has for you is much better than the plan you could ever make for yourself. At first it seems God is asking you to give up everything you love to follow Him. The reality is this: once you discover life spent with Him, you understand that in laying down everything else, you get to pursue the One who loves you most.

Read the words to Mary’s song as she discovers the beauty of surrender in Luke 1:46-55 (MSG):

“And Mary said, I’m bursting with God-news; I’m dancing the song of my Savior God. God took

one good look at me and look what happened—I’m the most fortunate woman on earth! What God has done for me will never be forgotten, the God whose very name is holy, set apart from all others. His mercy flows in wave after wave on those who are in awe before him. He bared his arm and showed his strength, scattered the bluffing braggarts. He knocked tyrants off their high horses, pulled victims out of the mud. The starving poor sat down to a banquet; the callous rich were left out in the cold. He embraced his chosen child, Israel; he remembered and piled on the mercies, piled them high. It’s exactly what he promised, beginning with Abraham and right up to now.”

The Sound of Christmas. Don’t be distracted by the jingling of the bells. Don’t misdirect your affection to the decor of the holiday or the make-believe stories that we tell our children. I love every part of the seasonal celebration! But always remember what this is really about. When the trees have been boxed up, and the lights have been removed from the rooftops, the Sound of Christmas is really about the Sound of Surrender. The virgin and her fiancé surrendered to the divine direction of the Heavenly Messenger. But even before that, the Son of God surrendered to the will of The Father, and the Word became flesh. Immanuel, God with Us. Join the Sound of Christmas in worship of Jesus, Our Savior, this Christmas season.