A scripture reading that encompasses all four gifts of Advent – hope, peace, love and joy – is the Magnificat, the confident, defiant song of faith sung by Mary. It names God’s agenda of justice and righteousness and how Mary is embracing the role she will play in the long-awaited social upheaval. Luke places this song immediately following the scripture we heard last Sunday, in which Mary receives the earth-shattering news that the Messiah is coming and oh, by the way, you’ll bring him to term, Mary, and raise him with love.
The Magnificat echoes another
song of confident, defiant faith sung centuries earlier by Hannah, the mother
of Samuel. (1 Samuel 2: 1-10) Upon learning of her unexpected pregnancy, Hannah
sang “my heart is filled with joy… The bows of strong soldiers are broken, but the weak
grow strong. 5 The people who once were well fed now
hire themselves out to get food, but the hungry are hungry no more… [the LORD] 8 lifts
the poor from the dust and raises the needy from their misery.” Laid out side-by-side, the song of Hannah and
Mary’s Magnificat have a LOT of similarities.
At this point, a couple of
interpretive notes are in order. When we
encounter something like this, where a poem or song written in one era is
echoed by something similar much later, you can be sure that someone will say,
“there’s nothing original here – Mary’s song just copies Hannah’s song.” And it’s a fair point to make; while many Christians
hear the Magnificat as uniquely Mary’s, our Jewish siblings in faith would hear
in the Magnificat memories of a well-loved scripture in their tradition, for
the Song of Hannah is a canticle used in Jewish worship, and is in our hymnal,
Voices United, as well (VU 878).
But this goes beyond the kind
of “hey, haven’t I heard this song before?” response we have when a new song
seems to be cribbing an old one. (Think,
George Harrison’s “My Sweet Lord” sounding so, so similar to “He’s So Fine” by
the Chiffons.) To me, the fact that Mary’s song so closely resembles Hannah’s
works in its favour: it reminds us that God’s commitment to justice isn’t new,
it isn’t “woke”, it’s ancient. Back in 1850, Unitarian minister Theodore
Parker wrote, “I do not pretend to understand the moral universe; the arc
is a long one…and from what I see I am sure it bends toward justice” and 100
years later, when Martin Luther King Jr repeated it nearly word for word – with
proper attribution, I must note – it wasn’t a case of copying, it was that
something true about God’s relationship with the human condition a long time
ago, remains true.
The other point is that
neither of these songs were likely the words of Hannah or Mary. We have no idea if either of these women
were wordsmiths, any more than we know if King David was actually an author/lyricist,
and Catholic Music Blogger Kate Keefe points out that in their culture it is
unlikely that either woman would have been given the gift of literacy. So again, the question of authorship is a
fair point to make… and at the same time, I’m so glad that both of these ARE
remembered as words from the hearts and mouths of women who had just been given
shocking news by God, for so much social change is transacted by women. I think of Viola Desmond refusing to leave
the ‘white’ section of a Nova Scotia theatre, Rosa Parks refusing to go to the
back of the bus in Alabama, Helen Caldicott speaking up about the dangers of
nuclear proliferation, Greta Thunberg raising her voice for the future of the
effects of climate change on this beloved planet. The songs of change often come to us through the
immovable and visionary actions of women.
So we have this song of
change, Mary’s Magnificat, echoing the Song of Hannah and freshly relevant to the
people of Judah as they were under the occupation of Rome and the collusion of
Herod. We have this ancient song which remains relevant across the ages, and it
moves us. I want to revisit the words of
this song once more, but rather than reading it again, let’s hear it SUNG. This rendition, entitled “Holy is His Name”
was composed by John Michael Talbot, and is sung by a wonderful singer named
Melissa Maricich, now based in New York City but originally from a Seattle
suburb about five hours from here: https://youtu.be/StFAiPzHflY
This is a song of hope, and
peace based in justice, of God’s determined, relevant, powerful love and, on
this fourth Sunday of Advent, a song of Joy.
A lifetime ago, when the United Church of Canada offered a few overseas
summer internships per year as an option in preparing for ministry, Shannon and
I had the great privilege of going to the Philippines for the summer of 1987. We
weren’t there to preach, we were there to listen and learn from Christian
activists and villagers across those islands who were crystal clear about their
situation and God’s promises for their lives and their nation. This was just a couple of years after
Ferdinand Marcos had been overthrown, so there was much relief, but also
unsettledness, and widespread poverty.
Preparing to be in the
Philippines for the summer I readied myself for some very serious times, given
the struggles faced by the people. What I found, however, was JOY. (Just look at this photo, from a Church
conference in Mindanao – from a food aid program on the Island of Negros - from
Joe and Maria, in the Bicol region – from our hosts at Hesed House near
Manila). Nobody was skirting the harsh
realities, they knew how unjust things had become under Marcos and how their
nation was hamstrung by international debt, and were fully engaged in the work
of social change. But the most common
emotional responses we encountered were hope and joy. That remains the case in the global south;
while those of us in the northern hemisphere wonder about the future of Church
life, Jesus is alive and well and actively embraced in Africa, Latin America,
and pockets of Asia. The energy we
experienced across the Philippines is very much alive in southern hemisphere Churches
and cultures where life is understood to be lived hand in hand with the risen
Christ.
To hear Mary’s song – to hear
it as a global song, and to ponder it in our hearts– is to have reawakened in
us holy, determined joy, to re-light a durable candle of joy that will not be
extinguished no matter what kind of mean-spirited leaders are inexplicably
elected in the most powerful nations in the world. We speak of the Good News of Jesus Christ,
and no matter how hopeless things seem as we walk alongside those who are
homeless or hungry, those who are targeted because of the accent of their voice
or the colour of their skin or shape of their faith or the gender identity of
the one they love, the truth of God’s saving, redeeming love endures: hopeful
and just and, well, joyous. Mary sang
her song of deep joy; years later Jesus, sang a joyous song of liberative love;
and we respond with existential joy by living in Jesus’ name for God’s powerful
purposes.
Three years ago, the United
Church of Canada looked to restate our denomination’s call and purpose, and came
up with Deep Spirituality – Bold Discipleship – Daring Justice, qualities that
align well with Mary’s Magnificat. What
strikes me in this new threefold statement is how energetic it is. It’s not theoretical, it’s not passive, these
words have movement to them… they call us, as the congregations of Osoyoos
United and Oliver United, to get into that energetic flow. As we work with one
another and with the communities around us, in the presence of the Holy Spirit,
we will find energy and in that energy there is joy.
And so, on Mary’s Sunday we
hear her song of hope, peace and love, her declaration of God’s purposes for
all who are oppressed, and it lifts us with energizing joy. May her confidence and praise be expressed
by who we are and what we do; may her joy lift our hearts and inspire our
actions. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
References consulted/cited:
Abbott, Shari. “Two Women,
Two Stories.” https://reasonsforhopejesus.com/two-women-two-stories-two-songs-hannah-mary/
Criss, Doug. “She was
Canada’s Rosa Parks.” https://www.cnn.com/2018/03/13/americas/viola-desmond-canadian-currency-trnd/index.html
Keefe, Kate. https://www.musicformass.blog/2020/12/22/hannahs-magnificat-1-samuel-2/
Parker, Theodore. “The arc of
the moral universe” (1850) discussed at https://www.npr.org/2010/09/02/129609461/theodore-parker-and-the-moral-universe
Talbot, John Michael “Holy is
His Name” © 1988, sung by Melissa Maricich: https://youtu.be/StFAiPzHflY
LYRICS
to HOLY IS HIS NAME by John Michael Talbot:
My
soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord
And my spirit exalts in God my savior
For He has looked with mercy on my lowliness
And my name will be forever exalted
For the mighty God has done great things for me
And His mercy will reach from age to age
And
holy, holy, holy is His name
He
has mercy in every generation
He has revealed His power and His glory
He has cast down the mighty in their arrogance
And has lifted up the meek and the lonely
He has come to help His servant Israel
He remembered His promise to our fathers
And
holy, holy, holy is His name.
© Rev Greg Wooley,
Osoyoos-Oliver United Church Pastoral Charge, 2024.
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