This time of year we hear a lot of Christmas Carols; most of us have our favorites.  Some of us are tired of hearing them already.  I love the Christmas music both secular and religious; however, one of the greatest carols ever sung is in our Gospel reading for today: the Magnificat sung by Mary on the occasion of her visit to her cousin Elizabeth.

Many theologians connect today’s Micah reading with Mary and Jesus. The prophet Micah announces the birth of God’s spirit, saying the origin of this Spirit is from the very beginning—often connected with Woman Wisdom, discussed in Proverbs and other Wisdom literature. Micah says that from little unimportant Bethlehem God will be born to “she who is in labor” and that “he shall be the one of peace.” (v.5)  So this Micah passage as well as readings in Isaiah, is thought by many to predict Jesus’ birth.  

Let’s now go to the setting of Mary’s Song. By the time of Jesus birth the Romans had established a two-tiered system of government, consisting of Roman overseers and Jewish leaders who exercised control in the name of Rome. This was the system of power in which first, Caesar, and then the family of Herod the Great grew to prominence. This Herod had been given the title of “King of the Jews” by the Roman senate decades before Christ’s birth.¹ In fact the family was half Jewish. Herod built huge buildings and became very rich out of the taxes paid by the poor as the poor lost their own lands. 

In this same world of powerful Herods, there was the much larger world of peasants and serfs to which Mary belonged.  When the angel Gabriel came to her, Mary was a young teenager, excited about an upcoming marriage to Joseph.  It’s hard to imagine what kind of thoughts and feelings this young girl had at this annunciation that she was going to have a baby and it was going to be called the Son of God.  We know that she said, “Here am I, the servant of the Lord; let it be with me according to your word.” (Lk.1:38)

We are told that Mary set out and went with haste to visit her cousin Elizabeth.  We can imagine many possibilities for her visit.  Maybe this older cousin had always treated this young virgin with respect and interest.  My thinking is that Mary was very excited about the angel and wanted to share it with someone who wouldn’t think she was crazy.  From the beginning of the visit Mary is not just accepting but praising her, never doubting for a moment that she is telling it like it happened.  She calls her blessed as well as the child in her womb.  There is joy all around. God gives both of these pregnant women something that they were lacking: community and connection, helping them to understand themselves more fully as part of something larger than their individual destinies. Elizabeth says, “blessed is she who believed that there would be a fulfillment of what was spoken to her by the Lord.”  With all of this joy, Mary is inspired to sing her song:  “My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior, for he has looked with favor on the lowliness of his servant.”  So far so good—and then Mary’s song gets radical.  Her words are reminiscent of Jesus’ describing the Kingdom of God, the upside down reversal of the world as it was known both then and now. “God is reversing everything: who is in, who is out, who’s up, and who’s down.  Who the winners are, who the losers are.”² God will bring down the rulers from their thrones, scatter the proud and send the rich away empty. These words were seen as so subversive, the Magnificat was actually banned in Guatemala in the 1980’s as it was seen as politically dangerous, inciting oppressed people to riot.

Does any of this sound familiar, “Blessed are the poor, blessed are the meek, blessed are the hungry”?  Maybe Jesus got a lot of his “politics and theology”” from his mother.  Did he learn from her that God has no intention of tolerating the injustice and greed of this world on a permanent basis?  Did Mary teach her son that God gets angry when rich people watch poor people go hungry and do nothing; when the powerful people or nations push around the weak just because they can?³

Is Mary’s dream your dream?  A dream for a world where scarcity and competition, wars and other violence are replaced with a world of generosity, sharing, peace and nonviolence. When we sing our Christmas Carols about Bethlehem, “For Christ is born of Mary, and gathered all above, while mortals sleep the angels keep their watch of wondering love and together proclaim the holy birth and praises sing to God the King, and Peace to men on earth” do we really mean it?  We sing of Peace on earth, and mercy mild, what about all those people killing each other in the wars across the world? If we sing “Joy to the World” and talk about truth and grace that make the nations prove the glories of his righteousness and wonders of his love, are we going to work for justice and peace, so that no one will go hungry and without shelter?

This is the 4th and last Sunday of Advent.  In some ways it seems like we have been waiting a long time.  On other days we may wonder how these weeks have passed so quickly.  We all know people that are filled with the excitement and joy of Christmas.  Yet we also know those that are having a hard time, ones that are grieving, lonely, in pain, depressed, broke, and so forth.  Just as Mary and Elizabeth helped and supported each other through hard times, it is up to us as the church to do the same.  We tell the Christmas story once again and talk of the hope, the joy, the peace, and the love that is Christmas.  Yet the most important part of Christmas is that we spend time with those that are in need, that we give them the gift of Presence as well as whatever material things we are able to give.  For me the most important thing to remember about Christmas is that it is the coming down of God’s love to us here on earth.  This love alone can transform us and that can lead to the transformation of our world. Through Jesus, God came into our world and this miracle continues to be possible again every year, here and now.  Advent is a yearly opportunity for us to focus on the promised coming of God’s kingdom on earth.  As Dietrich Bonhoeffer said, God’s coming is not only a matter of glad tidings but also “frightening news for everyone who has a conscience.”  The love that comes at Christmas is a love that does the things Mary’s Song describes.  The essence of Advent is expectancy and also the readiness for action and new beginnings.   We may not be able to sing a song as beautifully as Mary, although some of you probably could; however, we can lift our voices to God in prayer, thanking God for our blessings and asking for the faith and trust that will allow us to be in the world but not of the world. I pray that each of you will be ready to answer the call of Christmas.  You never know when you may be chosen; so back to the beginning of our Advent cycle, be ready, be aware!  Let me close with a poem by Ann Weems, from Kneeling in Bethlehem:

Mary,                              Nazareth girl:                     What did you know of ethereal beings                              with messages from God?                     What did you know of men                              when you found yourself with child?                     What did you know of babies,                              you barely out of childhood yourself?                     God-chosen girl:                     What did you know of God that brought                                     you to this stable blessed among women?                     Could it be that you had been ready                              Waiting                                  Listening                                        For the footsteps of an angel?                     Could it be there are messages for us                              if we have the faith to listen?

Amen and Amen