As most of you are aware, I find much comfort in music, as my history is rooted in the Music Ministry. Sometimes we may find it harder to sing, and our voices are more a hoarse whisper, but the power of music can help heal us. When I ask a grieving family for their loved one’s favorite scripture, often they cannot name one…but they can name several favorite hymns or other songs. Music speaks to the heart. No one leaves worship humming my sermon, but most of you will leave today humming “O Come, O Come, Emmanuel.”
Which brings me to this week’s gospel reading, in which we are treated to another of the fabulous songs with which Luke adorns his story of the nativity. It is also one of the most famous songs in the Bible: Marty’s Magnificat.
I often wondered why Luke used so many songs in his writings. But over time I’ve learned, in part from Luke and in part from my own experience, that songs are powerful. They move us. Laments express our grief and fear so as to honor these deep and difficult emotions and simultaneously strip them of their power to incapacitate us. Songs of praise and thanksgiving unite us with one another and the One to whom we lift our voices. And canticles of courage and promise not only name our hopes but also contribute to bringing them into being.
Songs are powerful. Music is powerful. Mary sings of God’s mercy, promising that God lifts up the lonely, the downtrodden, and the oppressed, not just of her day, but of our own as well. According to Luke, when May sang, she didn’t just name those promises but also entered into them. Mary recognizes as she sings that she has already been drawn into relationship with the God of Israel, the one who has been siding with the oppressed since the days of Egypt and who has been making and keeping promises since the time of Abraham. She doesn’t assume everything has been accomplished so much as she is now included in God’s history of redemption.
Rev. Dr. Debi Powell-Maxwell
12/22/2024
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