'It fascinated me to think on what had to be a rollercoaster of emotions for him. Surely, he grappled with Mary’s pregnancy and her faithfulness, to then trusting God and getting his head round the fact that she was giving birth to God incarnate.

'This time, we wanted to tell the other side of the story by exploring Mary’s journey. After her angelic visit, Mary visits Elizabeth and they celebrate God’s goodness together. After that, there’s this great prayer in Luke 1, which is an overflow of Mary’s heart. It’s so poetic, with flavours of God’s justice from Hannah’s prayer in 1 Samuel, and possibly a nod to David’s wonderment at God from Psalm 8? Mary’s words are a celebration of the ever-faithful God throughout the ages and Mary declares these words with a knowingness that she was going to give birth to the greatest gift.

'But this humble teenager’s journey was far from straightforward. The journey to Bethlehem, the birth in what would probably be our equivalent to a garage (not the converted kind). Then there’s the escape to Egypt, just to evade Herod’s death grip on Jesus. I’m sure it must have been traumatic, yet somehow Mary remained obedient to God throughout it all.

'It made me wonder… these words that Mary riffed off during her pregnancy in Luke 1, was it a one-time deal or did she speak them at other moments too? Like at Jesus’ birth? Or her escape from Herod? Could she have pondered those words in her heart as they landed safely in Egypt? And as Mary reflected on her journey – did she continue to speak them out? Or further still, sing them?

This Christmas – Dai stays in character as Joseph, but takes a back seat as his wife Cath Woolridge takes on the role of Mary. This year there’s not just spoken word, there’s a song too. This is the Christmas journey in a 21st century setting. Mary’s magnificat words, spoken and sung.

Mary's Song

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