The Magnificat: A Song of Strength for These Times

 

There is something seriously unfair about having Advent 4 and Christmas Eve on the same day. Beginning with the crunch it places on those of us preaching and leading services, not to mention the laity who help us to create a worshipful  and prayerful atmosphere. And, again, I spent this week dealing with a head cold. The only upside of it is that I didn't drive to Valdosta on Wednesday, but instead stayed home and locked myself in our home office for two days to get my sermons finished for Sunday. Hallelujah! 

Hopefully, these words reflecting on Mary's Song the Magnificat will linger in people's heads for the few hours before we celebrate Christmas Eve. Of course, they can always come here to read them if they need a refresher. :-)

See what you think.

Text: Canticle 15 in the Book of Common Prayer

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“My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord, my spirit rejoices in God my Savior.”

It was March 1965.

The campus of Episcopal Theological School in Cambridge, Massachusetts, was gathered for their Evening Prayer service.

There was a young man at the service…one of the second-year students…singing these words that we know as the Magnificat.

He was getting swept up in their meaning.

“He has shown the strength of his arm. He has scattered the proud in their conceit.”

As those words and the music of Mary’s song filled his head and his heart…this young man’s thoughts turned to the announcement he had heard on campus that week.

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. would be leading a march in Selma, Alabama, and would appreciate having seminarians join with him in standing up for the black population.

As this young man sang words about “lifting up the lowly” he knew what was happening:

God was speaking to him….through Mary’s song…and was calling him to respond to Dr. King’s request to go to Alabama.

That young man’s name was Jonathan Myrick Daniels.

Not only did Jon Daniels go to participate in the March; he stayed in Alabama to help with voter registration, tutoring black children, and challenging the segregation of Alabama’s Episcopal Churches.

The march across the Edmund Pettis Bridge challenged him to think about his privilege.

It would have been so easy for him to go to Alabama…take part in the action…and then retreat back a comfortable distance to Massachusetts.

But Daniels felt he needed to stay.

This ended up being a fatal decision.

Later that year…he was shot to death in Hayneville, Alabama, while protecting a black teenage girl from a white man at a package store.

Daniels is one of the many remembered as a martyr of the civil rights movement in Alabama.

Jonathan Daniels is one of my personal Episcopal heroes.

I love him both as a fellow native of New Hampshire… and even more so for how he lived out his faith…even when it cost him his life.

It's not surprising to me that the words of Mary’s song moved him so deeply.

It is a stirring poetic tribute to the power of God and the way God empowers us to accomplish things beyond our imagination.  

The Magnificat is a remix of another power packed song of praise…one which young Mary no doubt knew from her Jewish ancestry.

If we remember our Old Testament stories… Hannah sang God’s praises when she birthed her son Samuel…the last of Israel’s judges.

Hannah also sang of a God who “raises up the poor from the dust….to make them sit with princes.”  

This song is one for any of us who have felt ourselves looked upon with the harshness of judgment…or have felt our knees knocking as we stand before those with more power.

It’s a song to have in our hearts whenever we face any kind of struggle or potentially difficult situation.

Think about Mary’s situation.

A young… teenager…betrothed to a carpenter named Joseph… has just been told that she’s going to become pregnant…and her child will be holy and called ‘Son of God.’

Luke tells us that she was “much perplexed” by this angel and his message.

(Gee: I can’t imagine why?)

I think perplexed might be a bit of an understatement given the circumstances.  

Amazingly…she doesn’t tell Gabriel to get outta dodge with this crazy idea.

Instead…after hearing him out…Mary steps up. She accepts this role.

And then she immediately heads off to see her cousin Elizabeth…maybe to seek the wisdom and comfort of a much older woman.

Perhaps she wanted to find a person who might hear this story and give her some kind of rational explanation for what was happening.

And why wouldn’t a young woman seek the counsel of an older woman?

When Elizabeth sees her…not only does she get excited but her own child in her womb…that rascally John the Baptizer…starts leaping for joy.

Before Mary can even say anything…Elizabeth is like…” Woot! Here comes the mother about to bear the brother to deliver the light of love that comes from above! Woot!”  

It’s this affirmation…this praise and recognition from a trusted member of the older generation that launches Mary into her song.

“My soul magnifies the Lord”

Her soul…her innermost being…is expanding with this hope…this peace…this joy…this love!

This task…becoming the God-bearer…is no small work.

She’s accepted a role of helping to birth a new future for her people.

Her act will help to lead them out of from the tyranny of despair.

She has a purpose…and is praising God for choosing her to rise to this occasion.

Love is on the move…and she is a key part of the movement.

And by the way… so are we!

While we may not be God-bearers in the same way that Mary was…we are still the ones today who bring forth that life…that light… that love of Christ into every place we go and interact with others.

How well we listen to others…and how we respond….makes all the difference in how a person who doesn’t know Christ discovers the God they might’ve heard about but have never experienced.

They might find in us the spirit of Christ meeting them without prejudice or malice or indifference…but instead seeing them as a fellow traveler…seeking a connection to something that gives them a sense of purpose and meaning.

Through us…they might see a soul that is magnifying the light of Love represented in that last candle on the Advent wreath. The candle of Love.

May each of us shine so brightly as we enter into this Christmas season that those whom we meet will feel that presence of God’s love for them…and be glad in it.

In the name of God…F/S/HS.