Sermon for Advent 4C
December 20, 2009
Texts: Micah 5:2-5a; Psalm 80:1-7; Hebrews 10:5-10; Luke 1:39-55
Part of a verse to that beautiful melody that you just heard sung by Libera,
Contains the words
Through all the tumult and the strife
I hear the music ringing;
It finds an echo in my soul—
How can I keep from singing?
Those words bring to mind for me Mary and her song,
Sometimes called the Magnificat,
Which we heard in this morning’s Gospel.
Imagine the setting of this Gospel text,
Which includes Mary’s song,
A song sung out of the tumult of Mary’s heart.
Mary has hurried with haste to her cousin Elizabeth’s house.
Mary, an unmarried pregnant teenager,
Hurrying off to her cousin’s house,
To her cousin, who is quite old, and is quite pregnant.
Luke doesn’t tell us why Mary is going with haste.
We can imagine reasons why.
Perhaps Mary is so excited
That she wants to be with her cousin,
The one person who can understand what she is going through.
Maybe she is scared,
And just wants the comfort of an older relative.
Perhaps she is worried about her own safety,
As a result of her holy but unplanned pregnancy.
Maybe she is going off to hide at her cousin’s house,
Like tens of thousands of pregnant teenagers have done throughout the ages.
After all the angel Gabriel who told her about this pregnancy,
And about how the Holy Spirit would overcome her,
And the power of the Most High would overshadow her,
Didn’t leave her with a T-shirt that said
Don’t worry, this baby’s father is the Holy Spirit.
In any event, Mary hurries off to see Elizabeth.
And upon seeing Mary, Elizabeth, herself, is filled with the Holy Spirit
And she is immediately given the gift of prophecy.
Elizabeth reveals that Mary is blessed
And that Mary will be the mother of her Lord.
Mary, on the other hand,
When she hears Elizabeth’s prophecy
Immediately breaks into song.
The words
“How can I keep from singing,”
Just seem to be written for Mary.
She has hurried to Elizabeth in haste,
Heaven knows what is going through her mind,
We’re not even sure if she has given Elizabeth a hug,
But she breaks out in song.
Mary just can’t keep from singing!
Part of her song
Is predictable,
Given her recent experiences.
She sings of how her soul rejoices in God,
How God has done great things for her.
Despite her lowliness,
God has looked with favor on her.
After receiving the visitation from the angel Gabriel,
Mary “gets it,”
That God has chosen her for something special.
She can rejoice in how God is lifting her up.
But the second part of Mary’s song is much more surprising.
She, too, has been given the gift of prophecy.
With this gift she breaks into a song
That proclaims the Reign of God,
And gives a glimpse of the kingdom.
In words that could be considered subversive,
Mary prophesies a complete reversal of the world order.
The powerful have been brought down from their thrones,
And the lowly have been lifted up.
The hungry have been fed
And the rich have been sent away empty handed.
This Biblical passage is so threatening to the powerful,
That the government of Guatemala banned this prayer,
Because they considered it to be subversive and politically dangerous.
In the words of a song we often sing during evening prayer services,
“The world is about to turn,”
And Mary can glimpse this turning.
If Mary had spoken these words on the streets of Jerusalem,
The Roman authorities would have considered her dangerous
And most likely, she would have been imprisoned or worse.
But in song, standing on her cousin’s stoop,
In the hill country of Judea,
She is able to express her vision
Of God’s coming kingdom.
Mary is so filled with the Holy Spirit
And the goodness of God
That she just can’t stop singing.
“The Mighty One has done great things for me,
And holy is his name”
Now nearly 2010 years later,
Sitting in a small church
In a rural section
Of the most powerful nation on earth,
How do we hear Mary’s song?
Do we hear her joy at God’s actions
Or are we threatened by this prophesied reversal in world order.
Do we hear “his mercy is great for those who fear him”
Or do we wonder what it means for us
That “the rich will be sent away empty.”
This powerful, challenging song
Sung from Mary’s heart
Reminds us of the world that God envisions.
One where resources are shared equitably
And authority is not abused.
The song from Mary’s heart,
The one that she can’t stop from singing,
Is a powerful song that describes the world
That will be ushered in by her son,
The same son sent to save us.
Yet 2010 years later,
We are still hoping for this world.
Resources are not distributed equitably,
And power is still abused.
Grandmothers still have to call the church
To get help buying Christmas presents
For children they have custody of,
Children who are the victims of parental abuse.
There are still working poor,
Living on the edge,
Who call the church,
Just weeks before Christmas,
When they are in danger of being evicted.
The churches are still gathering food
To provide holiday meals,
Where there would be none.
In the midst of this joyful Christmas season,
If our eyes are open,
Scrooge’s ghost of Christmas present
Will be able to reveal more than enough misery,
To convince us of the disparity in resources
Between privileged and poor.
And these are just the things happening in our own neighborhoods
To say nothing of what is going on
In places that we see only on CNN international.
So where is God in all this?
Where is the God,
Whom Mary says brings down the powerful from their thrones
And Micah says feeds his flock and has them live secure?
The story of Mary and Elizabeth reveals something
About the nature of that God to us.
God chose them—
Two weak powerless women
One young and unmarried
And one old and barren
To bear two children
Who challenge the world order.
From the powerless,
The power of change was born.
The theology of the cross
Tells us that we find God
Where we would least expect to find God.
We find the power of God
Where people feel powerless,
Where they are hurting,
Where they are mourning and grieving.
Mary and Elizabeth felt the power of this
And Mary was able to sing about it.
Twenty years ago the people of Leipzig Germany felt this power
And they were also able express it in song,
As they gathered in increasing numbers at St. Nikolai church,
Gatherings that foreshadowed the opening of East Germany.
Pastor Ray Mitchell who serves in Berlin NH
Talks about feeling this power, again expressed in song,
As he walked to Selma Alabama,
In a civil rights march fifty years ago.
So, where is God?
We find God in hospital rooms,
Where someone has just received a devastating diagnosis
We find God in a home where the pantry is bare,
And we find God in those places in earth
Where oppression has stripped away hope.
And what is God doing in those places?
The very things that Mary sings about
And Micah prophesies.
God is lifting up the lowly,
Feeding hungry
Comforting those who mourn,
Healing those who are wounded,
And showing strength with his arm.
God is constantly at work
Righting the wrongs
Of a world still dominated by human self-interest and greed.
On this fourth Sunday in Advent,
When we are ready to begin the walk to Bethlehem,
To the manager
To rejoice at the birth of the baby,
Do you hear Mary’s song?
Do you hear the song
That she can’t stop from singing?
Can you stand with her on Elizabeth’s front porch,
Feel the joy in their kinship,
And sense the words bubbling up from her heart?
Can you hear the Good News in Mary’s song
Expressing a vision of a world
Governed by the her son,
Whose birth we will celebrate this week?
Can you see what Mary sees?
A world where the hungry are all well fed
And the powerful and powerless have equal spots around the table?
In this Advent season,
When we watch and wait and hope,
We watch for the day when Mary’s Song will give way
To the song of the angels will be fulfilled
We hope for the day when the angels will sing
Glory to God in the highest, and there will indeed be peace to all people on earth.
The hope of peace comes in the fulfillment of Mary’s song,
And when that happens, we will be truly be able to sing “Joy to the World,” Joy indeed!
AMEN