“A Song of Praise”
Dec. 11th, 2022
Rev. Rebecca Migliore
Mary says, “My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior…” words that have been put to song so many times that to hear of them as speech seems somewhat odd. Whenever we come to this Sunday of Joy (the pink Sunday), it makes me want to sing, and if I’m preaching, it makes me want to do a sermon in song. So this is my musing of praise for 2022.
It starts with Mary herself. We Protestants have often downplayed Mary, except in the birth narratives—as a way of separating ourselves from our Catholic brothers and sisters and their lifting up of Mary, as Mother, as Queen of Heaven, as Theotokos (meaning mother of God).
We do not have to make her better than any of the rest of us, even as we admire her story. Here is this unmarried (and we think young) woman who, as the story goes, says “Yes” to God’s unbelievable plan, as we hear in the song “The Angel Gabriel from Heaven Came.”
The angel Gabriel from heaven came,
With wings as drifted snow, and eyes as flame:
“All hail to thee, O lowly maiden Mary,
Most highly favored lady,” Gloria!
“For know a blessed mother thou shalt be,
All generations laud and honor thee;
Thy son shall be Emmanuel, by seers foretold,
Most highly favored lady,” Gloria!
Then gentle Mary meekly bowed her head;
“To me be as it pleaseth God,” she said,
“My soul shall laud and magnify God’s holy name.”
“Most highly favored lady.” Gloria!
Yes, Mary is someone we might want to talk about a little more—as an example of how each of us can respond to God’s prompting in our lives. She is the one who says, “Yes.” And she says Yes not because she is faced with a burning bush like Moses (although being face to face with an angel was probably pretty startling); she says Yes not because she is blinded on the road to Damascus (like Paul), but she says Yes because of her faithfulness. She seems aware of the language of her Scriptures, because Mary models her song of praise after the song of praise of Hannah before her. You can imagine these two women joining their voices to the faithful from many generations who have sung words like the words from Psalm 98: (#276)
Sing a new song unto the Lord;
Let your song be sung from mountain’s high.
Sing a new song unto the Lord,
Singing hallelujah!
Shout with gladness! Dance for joy!
O come before the Lord.
And play for God on glad tambourines,
and let your trumpet sound. (Refrain “Sing a new song…”)
Mary herself, from what we know about her, from her words, doesn’t stay too long in the spotlight. Mary’s song of praise, her Magnificat, isn’t all about what SHE is going to do, about how God picked HER (as we can imagine many of us might report on social media). Her song is more about who God is, and what God is doing in our world—turning the world upside down by lifting up the lowly, filling the hungry while bringing down the powerful and sending the rich away empty. (#100, verse 2)
Though I am small, my God, my all,
You work great things in me,
And your mercy will last from the depths of the past
To the end of the age to be.
Your very name puts the proud to shame,
And to those who would for you yearn,
You will show your might, put the strong to flight,
For the world is about to turn.
My heart shall sing of the day you bring.
Let the fires of your justice burn.
Wipe away all tears, for the dawn draws near,
And the world is about to turn.
And maybe this is why the Magnificat has become an anthem for so many. It embodies the vision of God’s world we have been talking about—a world where things are different, a world of spears turned into pruning hooks, a world of lion lying down with lamb, a world of justice, especially for the last and the least, and, even a world of joy. Mary lifts her voice up in joy, just as the baby in her cousin Elizabeth’s womb leaps for joy when Mary (carrying Jesus) comes to visit.
That is what the Joy Sunday is intended to remind us of. That even in the midst of darkness, even in the worst of times, even when we don’t know where we are going or how we are going to get there, being in the presence of God, should bring us Joy—not just as individuals, not just as Christians, but everyone, everywhere. Like the angels’ said, “We come to bring you good news, of great joy…”
The Taize Community created a refrain that is intended to imprint onto our minds just how universal God’s message is. (#635)
Sing, praise, and bless the Lord.
Sing, praise, and bless the Lord.
Peoples! Nations! Alleluia! (repeat) (and again 2x)
Brother Roger, one of Taize’s most famous leaders wrote:
“Joy is often perceived as the result of our own efforts, for instance as the satisfaction found in having done something well…In scriptures, however, joy is present at every new beginning: as the angels sing for the newborn Christ-child on that first Christmas eve…
I am not responsible for creating my own joy (otherwise, my whole life would be torn between the search for satisfaction and the threat of discouragement), but I am responsible for longing for [joy] continually”
(Seeds of Trust – Reflecting on the Bible in Silence and Song. Ateliers et Presse de Taizé, 2005, p. 127).
Yes, we are called to Joy—but because we live in a “not-yet” world, we are called to long for Joy, to know that the world Mary sees as that God realm, is not always what we experience here and now. And in that longing, to know that it is part of God’s call to us, to work as hard as we can, to make steps towards that better place, and to pray with all our heart-- (#470)
There is a longing in our hearts, O Lord,
For you to reveal yourself to us.
There is a longing in our hearts for love
We only find in you, our God.
For justice, for freedom, for mercy:
Hear our prayer.
In sorrow, in grief: be near;
Hear our prayer, O God. (Refrain)
For healing, for wholeness, for new life:
Hear our prayer.
In sickness, in death: be near;
Hear our prayer, O God.
There is a longing in our hearts, O Lord,
For you to reveal yourself to us.
There is a longing in our hearts for love
We only find in you, our God.
This is the pink Sunday, the Sunday in Advent when we lift up the Joy that being in communion with God brings to our lives. We thank Mary, and Hannah before her, for lifting up their voices in praise. And we leave this place knowing that the song of praise is not just for special people—it is for all of us. It is a song that lifts up God’s vision. It is a song that encompasses all of life: the highs, the lows, and everything in between. It is a song that spurs us to action to build our little part of the kin-dom. It is not one song, but many: cascading voices, intricate harmonies, competing rhythms, all lifting up the unique contributions we are asked to bring to our work for God.
So let us stand and sing #749 “Come! Live in the Light!” to express our song of joy in being God’s children, and in being invited into the wonder of life with God.
Come! Live in the light!
Shine with the joy and the love of the Lord!
We are called to be light for the kingdom,
To live in the freedom of the city of God.
We are called to act with justice;
We are called to love tenderly;
We are called to serve one another,
To walk humbly with God.
Come! Open your heart!
Show your mercy to all those in fear!
We are called to be hope the hopeless
So hatred and violence will be no more.
We are called to act with justice;
We are called to love tenderly;
We are called to serve one another,
To walk humbly with God.
Sing! Sing a new song!
Sing of that great day when all will be one!
God will reign, and we’ll walk with each other
As sisters and brother united in love.
We are called to act with justice;
We are called to love tenderly;
We are called to serve one another,
To walk humbly with God.
May it be so, Alleluia, Amen.