the Fourth Sunday of Advent
Scripture Reading for Today:
Micah 5:2-5
2 “But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, though you are small among the clans of Judah, out of you will come for me one who will be ruler over Israel, whose origins are from of old, from ancient times.” 3 Therefore Israel will be abandoned until the time when she who is in labor bears a son, and the rest of his brothers return to join the Israelites. 4 He will stand and shepherd his flock in the strength of the Lord, in the majesty of the name of the Lord his God. And they will live securely, for then his greatness will reach to the ends of the earth. 5 And he will be our peace when the Assyrians invade our land and march through our fortresses.
Luke 1:46-55
46 And Mary said: “My soul glorifies the Lord 47 and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior, 48 for he has been mindful of the humble state of his servant. From now on all generations will call me blessed, 49 for the Mighty One has done great things for me— holy is his name. 50 His mercy extends to those who fear him, from generation to generation. 51 He has performed mighty deeds with his arm; he has scattered those who are proud in their inmost thoughts. 52 He has brought down rulers from their thrones but has lifted up the humble. 53 He has filled the hungry with good things but has sent the rich away empty. 54 He has helped his servant Israel, remembering to be merciful 55 to Abraham and his descendants forever, just as he promised our ancestors.”
Psalm 80:1-7
For the director of music. To the tune of “The Lilies of the Covenant.” Of Asaph. A psalm.1 Hear us, Shepherd of Israel, you who lead Joseph like a flock. You who sit enthroned between the cherubim, shine forth 2 before Ephraim, Benjamin and Manasseh. Awaken your might; come and save us. 3 Restore us, O God; make your face shine on us, that we may be saved. 4 How long, Lord God Almighty, will your anger smolder against the prayers of your people? 5 You have fed them with the bread of tears; you have made them drink tears by the bowlful. 6 You have made us an object of derision to our neighbors, and our enemies mock us. 7 Restore us, God Almighty; make your face shine on us, that we may be saved.
Hebrews 10:5-10
5 Therefore, when Christ came into the world, he said: “Sacrifice and offering you did not desire, but a body you prepared for me; 6 with burnt offerings and sin offerings you were not pleased. 7 Then I said, ‘Here I am—it is written about me in the scroll— I have come to do your will, my God.’” 8 First he said, “Sacrifices and offerings, burnt offerings and sin offerings you did not desire, nor were you pleased with them”—though they were offered in accordance with the law. 9 Then he said, “Here I am, I have come to do your will.” He sets aside the first to establish the second. 10 And by that will, we have been made holy through the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.
Luke 1:39-55
39 At that time Mary got ready and hurried to a town in the hill country of Judea, 40 where she entered Zechariah’s home and greeted Elizabeth. 41 When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the baby leaped in her womb, and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit. 42 In a loud voice she exclaimed: “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the child you will bear! 43 But why am I so favored, that the mother of my Lord should come to me? 44 As soon as the sound of your greeting reached my ears, the baby in my womb leaped for joy. 45 Blessed is she who has believed that the Lord would fulfill his promises to her!” 46 And Mary said: “My soul glorifies the Lord 47 and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior, 48 for he has been mindful of the humble state of his servant. From now on all generations will call me blessed, 49 for the Mighty One has done great things for me— holy is his name. 50 His mercy extends to those who fear him, from generation to generation. 51 He has performed mighty deeds with his arm; he has scattered those who are proud in their inmost thoughts. 52 He has brought down rulers from their thrones but has lifted up the humble. 53 He has filled the hungry with good things but has sent the rich away empty. 54 He has helped his servant Israel, remembering to be merciful 55 to Abraham and his descendants forever, just as he promised our ancestors.”
NIV
Singing Into the Tension
by Randy Hein
For nearly 30 years, Randy has been planting churches and engaging with grassroots initiatives in Victoria, BC. He has also worked at the local street church/food bank, taught as a sessional instructor, and has recently taken on a regional position with Vision Ministries Canada. Randy is passionate about revitalizing communities around restorative justice, the local Victoria arts scene, and has a longsuffering relationship with his beloved Canucks.
“My soul glorifies the Lord
and my spirit rejoices in God my Saviour….
For he has brought down rulers from their thrones
but has lifted up the humble.”
Luke 1:46, 52
“Mary was a total bada**!” she blurted out, and then almost immediately covered her mouth. This spontaneous (and hilarious) outburst happened one Sunday morning while our community was walking through Mary’s Song, the Magnificat (Luke 1:46-53). The woman meant no disrespect to the blessed and sometimes venerated mother of Jesus. In fact, quite the opposite. Like many people who had grown up in the culture of ‘Bible believing’ evangelicalism, she had – rather ironically – never actually read it. At least not the second half.
In this song, she was learning that the ‘good news’ of the kingdom wasn’t going to be good news for everyone. The proud, the privileged, and the powerful were going to be tossed down, while the humble, the poor, and the vulnerable would finally have their day. The first half of the Magnificat has a majestic quality to it, and has been the inspiration for Baroque hymns and contemporary worship tunes: the second half has always sounded a little more like the Communist Manifesto. Yet, in all probability, these words were the ‘lullaby’ that Mary sung to baby Jesus on cold, restless winter nights. Bada**, indeed.
The Magnificat is a dangerous song. It reminds me that when I pray, “Thy kingdom come …”, my privileges are always on notice. Hear it now: one must always be careful of what one prays for. But as I’ve been praying (or singing) my way through the Magnificat this season, here are a few things that have surfaced.
The Magnificat gives my present tension a little perspective.
I don’t want to minimize the challenges I’m experiencing this Advent. I’m a weary pastor who’s trying to navigate a young community through a global pandemic in a time of social and spiritual upheaval. Along with following safety protocols that make church feel cold and antiseptic, I’m dealing with the malaise of a group who only seem motivated when they are deconstructing everything. I’m feeling it in my body. I’m living with stress headaches and occasional restless sleeps.
But …
I’m also well-fed. I’m warm. I’m relatively safe. Did I mention, I’m white, middle class and male? Mary was none of these things. I was born into the winning side of almost every conceivable social power dynamic: a true benefactor of empire. Mary was born into poverty, living under Roman occupation, and immersed in the values of a rather severe religious community. Her social location already made her vulnerable, but – by saying “yes” to the angel Gabriel – she was choosing to be made even more vulnerable.
Her response? Sing. Sing subversive songs of redemption and restorative justice.
I’d say that’s a pretty good reality check for me right now.
The Magnificat gives me courage in my present tension.
It must have been fantastical for Mary to think that the glorious Mystery was growing in her uterus, but it’s also fair to say that the whole situation carried with it the scent of scandal. And as the Bethlehem plot was played out, we see that it came with its share of pain, desperation, and terror.
But it’s not just the nativity narrative. When reading through the rest of the gospels, you see that Mary would live her entire life in the tension of joy and sorrow. Yet, somehow, she remained willing to enter the kingdom narrative, and – though her humanity would sometimes creep to the surface (Matthew 12:47) – she would remain committed to it, full of grace, and in awe of what was unfolding.
This strengthens my resolve. And sometimes I really need that.
In the face of all my gospel-soaked hopes, there remains a world where everything still seems broken. Our social landscape is subject to global bullies, environmental atrocities, systemic violence, and self-interested religion. But I can sing this song in resistance: it reinvigorates my imagination and gives me a vision of a world where wrongs are turned to rights.
The Magnificat gives me direction in my present tension.
At the end of the day, the Magnificat is a worship song.
When we sing Mary’s song, we are not singing our problems away (the song is anything but escapist!) We are declaring that it’s God who is bringing the kingdom. God is leaning toward the lowly, and bringing shalom to the world by entering the muck and mire of humanity through Jesus. On the cross, Jesus will meet violence with forgiveness, rage with peace, and fear with love. It is here that the proud are scattered, rulers are brought down from their thrones, and the rich realize their true poverty.
Most revolutions don’t begin here.
Most revolutions begin with a group of people declaring their independence and asserting their will to bring about some kind of change through the creation of a new world order. Well, we know that Jesus’s early disciples were not capable of that. They were not organized activists waiting to foist themselves on the world. They were a hodgepodge group of messy misfits. They weren’t smart, tough, or terribly well organized. They couldn’t have imagined the breadth of God’s unfolding plan, let alone pulled it off.
The Magnificat tells us that God has taken sole responsibility for making things right, and we’ve already been invited into this reality. Jesus is calling us to commune and participate with his Spirit as ambassadors of this new peaceable kingdom. And we can practice the customs and the habits of this kingdom right now.
Mary’s lullaby has become our anthem! May it give us the resilience to sing through the tension this Advent.
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