Skip to main content

Introduction to Worship for 12/11/2016

By

Luke 1: 39-56

More than any other female, Mary has indelibly marked Christian and Western history and culture, bearing the Christ child as well as all manner of gifts and baggage about the feminine ideal. For the Christian tradition, the Magnificat (which takes its name from the first word of the Latin text) is the great New Testament praise song of liberation. With elegant power and directness, Mary preaches as the prophet of the poor.

In Luke’s gospel, as Mary arrives, Elizabeth’s unborn child – who will be the prophet John the baptizer – leaps for joy at Mary’s greeting. Mary responds to this blessing by singing the glory of God’s powerful love that has chosen her to carry the Christ child. She sings because God acts with justice and mercy to lift those who are considered lowly and feed those who are hungry. 

The Magnificat is revolutionary, with a long history of being banned by various church or political bodies. As recently as the 1980s, the government of Guatemala forbade public reading of it, as did the government of Argentina in the 1970s. Franciscan Richard Rohr notes the Magnificat is an elegant example of Jesus’ teachings about the obstacles to the coming reign of God. Rohr calls these impediments the “three p’s”: power, prestige, and possessions. Mary sings at seeing how “the proud,” “the powerful,” and “the rich” will be “scattered…brought down…sent away empty.”

Mary sings of joy and justice. Her courage to say “yes” and her belief that God will never abandon the promise to be with us is a profound witness of faith. Mary bears witness to the love of God and God’s transformative vision that exceeds our conceptions of power. What is this deep love and joy birthing in us today? Where are we thirsty for life and justice? Where might we be “a stream in the desert” for others?

Family activity (can be adapted to families of all ages)

  • Do you believe God is working this way in the world? How so? 
  • How would you rewrite these words so you could sing them, or say them to a child in your family, or your neighborhood right now?
  • How might we free Mary’s song and the birth narratives from pre-conceived notions and assumption in order to hear them with radical power and wonder for our time?
  • Where do you see the spirit of Mary alive within you and/or in our midst?
  • In what situations does your heart beat with justice as did Mary’s?

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Introduction to Worship for 4/30/2017

By
Followers of the Way: Renowned Jesus scholar John Dominic Crossan made a profound statement about this week’s gospel reading. “Emmaus never happened,” Crossan wrote. “Emmaus always happens.” What we are invited to grapple with in that statement is the truth that the factual (historical) significance of the resurrection stories is secondary to a more profound truth: the risen Christ is with us. Now. Here. That is what the early church began to learn, and it is what enabled them to move on. Luke 24:13–35 The exact location of Emmaus is not known. Perhaps this uncertainty forms a commentary on the focus scripture. Emmaus may be anywhere. Hearts burning and eyes opening do not take place in only one place, either geographical or spiritual. Emmaus comes into sight wherever a path leads us toward communion with God and whenever we recognize the risen Christ among us. On the day of Jesus’ resurrection, two disciples walk along the road to Emmaus with Jesus, informing this “strange...
1 comment
Read more

Introduction to Worship for 2/26/2017

By
Matthew 17:1-9 And so the Season after the Epiphany closes: on a holy mountain where God may be found. It is a place of sacred mystery, where shining and shadow convey a holy presence. It is a place of community across time, where God’s people of past and present meet. It is a place of silence and witness, where visions are kept quiet and God says of Jesus, “Listen to him.” From here, we go forward into Lent: the 40 days and 6 Sundays that take us through Jesus’ progress toward Jerusalem and the conflict with the government of Palestine that would lead to his crucifixion. We will have special worship stations in the sanctuary, for reflection and prayer; a Tuesday morning prayer group; a book study on “Gifts of the Dark Wood,” a book that reflects on the hard places and what we find there; and in worship, we will tell the stories of Jesus and his encounters with people who were on the margins, that he brought into the center.  So this week, we pause to reflect on the insight tha...
Post a Comment
Read more

Introduction to Worship for 1/22/2017

By
Matthew 4:12-23 This week we are excited to have guest preacher Rick Ufford-Chase with us.  Rick is the co-director of Stony Point Center (with his wife Kitty) and is the PC(USA) Associate for Interfaith Relations, a former moderator of the denomination, and an activist and justice worker, as well as a friend of the congregation. Rick has recently curated and co-written a book called “Faithful Resistance: Gospel Visions in a Time of Empire”, which was the focus of our book study this fall at UPC. The title of his sermon is “Faithful Resistance: Not for the Faint of Heart”. So it’s fair to ask: what are we resisting, and why are we talking about it in church? We are resisting… the culture that is built on consumption and destruction; the vision of the world that puts white Christians at the center; our own tendencies to the call to love, the practices that lead us away from Jesus’ radical vision of God’s reign on earth, a “kingdom of love.” Rick will be with us the whole wee...
Post a Comment
Read more