Mary's Song of Joy - 12/11/05
Isaiah 61:1-4, 8-11 & Luke 1:47-55
Like a number of you in this room, I spent a couple of hours on Tuesday in our local Cathedral where, with a few thousand of my closest friends, I experienced the 14th annual Holiday Brass Concert. It was my 3rd annual pilgrimage to that lovely church, made lovelier by being filled with halcyon harmonies of heavenly horns. The concert is more than just a concert. It's a time of being reminded why the "holidays" are holy days. Of experiencing one of the greatest gifts of God: sacred music played in committed excellence. Given the throngs, clearly I'm not the only one who loves it.
And what makes it work? Without making light of Susan Slaughter's hard work, it really boils down to pursed lips. It's just hot air through cold metal. It's just a bunch of bent brass with air valves; human breath through inert pipes. But of course in the hands of those who know what they're doing, cold horns become instruments of warm passion. In my hands a trumpet is a hunk of bent brass, but in the right hands it's a work of pure joy.
This is God's message to us today through Mary: if a humble servant girl can bear the son of God, you can also be an instrument of God's grace. You can also be taken out of your cases of self-protection and you can be made instruments of hope, peace, joy, and love. You may be bent or straight, shinny or tarnished, you may have fancy valves or just curved pipes - but in the hands of a Master Musician you are a divine instrument. Mary put herself in her Master's hands - you see it in her song.
Don't let the fact that I just came from the choir loft fool you. I don't know much about music. I'm sure our visiting brass group will be impressed to know that I played the cornet for a few years in Jr. High. I was even first chair for a while. At least for a few weeks, until it got to the point where regular rehearsal became important. Then I progressively traveled down the line, until I dropped off at chair 5 (or 6 or 7). Maybe it was the trauma of what happened to me at five, when my piano teacher said to my Mom: "bring him back when he's matured." That statement by itself wasn't bad, but I heard her tone of voice which said: "when he's thirty, and after I've retired."
So, while I'm no musician, I do love to sing. And I can see that this song which Luke records for us, which PJ read for us, and part of which the choir just sang for us, really has 3 verses.
The theme of verse one: God is mindful of me.
Verse two: God is merciful to us.
Verse three: God is making a new kingdom.
This is Mary's song. And it can be ours. It can play in our hearts and transform the resonance of our lives.
To know what made Mary tick - take a look at this song. This was a woman of faithful imagination. She could image God's work when it seemed distant, see God's presence when he seemed absent, and feel God's mindfulness when he seemed careless.
Why has this story of a young virgin with child captured our imaginations for 2,000 years?! Because we can all identify with Mary - things happen to our bodies and in that our lives which are beyond our control. And Christ comes to us and in us in ways that are a mystery to us! Like Mary we all face a world of strange events. Like Mary we need Christ who will point the way.
The main message of this song is that we are here for a purpose beyond ourselves, and can find it in God's direction. Here is how I would re-arrange Mary's song for us:
1) Dare to imagine that God is mindful of you.
This takes faith. It is only faith that allows you to see beyond the pressing facts into the larger realm of truth. It is only faith that will give your eyes the hope to see what is beyond the horizon and love that will point your eyes away from the selfish mirror of egocentricity.
Mary understood what we must all know. The good news includes us, but is not fundamentally about us. It gives us what we need, not what we ask for. It fulfills our destiny, not our desires. In Heb. 11 those who have faith are sometimes blessed with prosperity and sometimes fed to the Lions. In times of prosperity AND in times when you've been thrown to the lions: knowing God has a purpose larger than you brings a joy that makes no sense to a world where the self is the bottom line.
Me telling you God loves you is important. But you listening for regular confirmation in your heart, and praying for the Spirit's illumination, is infinitely more so. God is mindful of his humble servant. That's not just Mary. That's you. God is mindful of your situation - and will lead you to verse 2:
2) Defy the world which says God has no mercy.
Mary lived in a world of political oppression and economic starvation. She was poor, at a time and place when being poor meant a day away from starvation. But her song defies the lyrics of the cynic, and confesses to a hope in a God who would gather the humble, scatter the proud, care for the poor and tax the rich, bring down the elevated, elevate the downcast.
The battle over Evolution and intelligent design has been much in the news lately. Living a life of faith does not mean being afraid of science. We should let it inform our understanding of how the world works. But we should fight pseudo-science. When some philosophers tell us that evolution teaches us to live in a universe of no mercy or grace - in a world where only the fittest survive and where the call for self-sacrificial love makes no sense - let's defy that pseudo-knowledge.
A narrow reading of some facts may lead some to that conclusion. But my faith leads me to defy this dusty, dry, and decimated view. And it leads me to verse three:
3) Delight in God's re-making of the world. "Rejoice in God my savior."
Rejoice in the hope, peace, joy and love of Christ which has made millions live renewed lives.
Will Willimon: "In the humdrum world in which we normally make our way, poor, unmarried moms and their babies face bleak prospects. The December heavens stay dark and silent. Christmas carols arrive via FM radio, not by angels. And God stays safely aloof from the world. But here in church, in December, our otherwise thin imaginations get assaulted, funded, stoked, poetically pushed by much richer fare than is normally offered by the prose of The Morning Herald. Come in here in Advent and we will ... enrich your thought, considerably broaden your settled notion of what can and can't be."
In a world of settled facts virgins don't have babies and the poor don't get fed. But the God who loves us, who has mercy on us, has called us to a life of making a re-imaged world. Christians who formed the first hospitals, Christ-followers who formed the first schools knew this. So should we. "Rational people accept the world as it is, irrational people try to change it. All progress depends on the insane." Let's all be crazy - faith-fully crazy.
I don't suppose that any young woman has ever produced more pages of theological debate, more arguments of an esoteric nature, than Mary. I suppose the runner up would be Joan of Arch, but she's a long way off. Mary is a woman perceived in extremes. She is either worshiped as super-human being or ignored like a bit player in the gospel story.
I probably don't say much worth quoting, but I looked at last year's sermon (on this 3rd Advent Sunday) and this is what I said at the close. "It occurred to me... in a way it has never occurred to me, that there is an explanation as to why Mary is not an indifferent character. Possibly the reason that Roman Catholics have been tempted to worship her, and that Protestants are tempted to ignore her, is that she's a disturbing/convicting person to see - in the flesh, as it were. It's easier to either idealize her as some abstract and far off semi-deity (which we could never emulate), or to ignore her, as a minor biblical character, who we think about once a year." (Dec. 12, 04)
To do otherwise is to be challenged by her example, by the reality that God wants to be enfleshed in our lives, enthroned on our hearts, incarnated in our actions." It is to recognize that Mary is indeed not different than us, and that our faithless lives are so, not because we aren't born holy like her, or born divine like her, but because we don't choose it. Not like she did. Placing her life in the hands of the master of her fate.
On Tuesday I decided that the concert would be a great place to begin thinking about my sermon on Mary. What better place to prepare a sermon on Mary, than in a great Roman Catholic cathedral? And I was inspired. Maybe it was the music. Maybe the mosaics. Maybe the excited and packed crowd. But whatever the cause I heard an internal voice that said: "Mary matters in the same way that our lives matter: she let Christ's coming be the center of her life." May we all sing or play that same song, daring to know God loves us, defying a world that says different, and delighting in joining God's work of bringing heaven to earth - even when it is beyond our wildest imaginations, or smartest brains.
Like a number of you in this room, I spent a couple of hours on Tuesday in our local Cathedral where, with a few thousand of my closest friends, I experienced the 14th annual Holiday Brass Concert. It was my 3rd annual pilgrimage to that lovely church, made lovelier by being filled with halcyon harmonies of heavenly horns. The concert is more than just a concert. It's a time of being reminded why the "holidays" are holy days. Of experiencing one of the greatest gifts of God: sacred music played in committed excellence. Given the throngs, clearly I'm not the only one who loves it.
And what makes it work? Without making light of Susan Slaughter's hard work, it really boils down to pursed lips. It's just hot air through cold metal. It's just a bunch of bent brass with air valves; human breath through inert pipes. But of course in the hands of those who know what they're doing, cold horns become instruments of warm passion. In my hands a trumpet is a hunk of bent brass, but in the right hands it's a work of pure joy.
This is God's message to us today through Mary: if a humble servant girl can bear the son of God, you can also be an instrument of God's grace. You can also be taken out of your cases of self-protection and you can be made instruments of hope, peace, joy, and love. You may be bent or straight, shinny or tarnished, you may have fancy valves or just curved pipes - but in the hands of a Master Musician you are a divine instrument. Mary put herself in her Master's hands - you see it in her song.
Don't let the fact that I just came from the choir loft fool you. I don't know much about music. I'm sure our visiting brass group will be impressed to know that I played the cornet for a few years in Jr. High. I was even first chair for a while. At least for a few weeks, until it got to the point where regular rehearsal became important. Then I progressively traveled down the line, until I dropped off at chair 5 (or 6 or 7). Maybe it was the trauma of what happened to me at five, when my piano teacher said to my Mom: "bring him back when he's matured." That statement by itself wasn't bad, but I heard her tone of voice which said: "when he's thirty, and after I've retired."
So, while I'm no musician, I do love to sing. And I can see that this song which Luke records for us, which PJ read for us, and part of which the choir just sang for us, really has 3 verses.
The theme of verse one: God is mindful of me.
Verse two: God is merciful to us.
Verse three: God is making a new kingdom.
This is Mary's song. And it can be ours. It can play in our hearts and transform the resonance of our lives.
To know what made Mary tick - take a look at this song. This was a woman of faithful imagination. She could image God's work when it seemed distant, see God's presence when he seemed absent, and feel God's mindfulness when he seemed careless.
Why has this story of a young virgin with child captured our imaginations for 2,000 years?! Because we can all identify with Mary - things happen to our bodies and in that our lives which are beyond our control. And Christ comes to us and in us in ways that are a mystery to us! Like Mary we all face a world of strange events. Like Mary we need Christ who will point the way.
The main message of this song is that we are here for a purpose beyond ourselves, and can find it in God's direction. Here is how I would re-arrange Mary's song for us:
1) Dare to imagine that God is mindful of you.
This takes faith. It is only faith that allows you to see beyond the pressing facts into the larger realm of truth. It is only faith that will give your eyes the hope to see what is beyond the horizon and love that will point your eyes away from the selfish mirror of egocentricity.
Mary understood what we must all know. The good news includes us, but is not fundamentally about us. It gives us what we need, not what we ask for. It fulfills our destiny, not our desires. In Heb. 11 those who have faith are sometimes blessed with prosperity and sometimes fed to the Lions. In times of prosperity AND in times when you've been thrown to the lions: knowing God has a purpose larger than you brings a joy that makes no sense to a world where the self is the bottom line.
Me telling you God loves you is important. But you listening for regular confirmation in your heart, and praying for the Spirit's illumination, is infinitely more so. God is mindful of his humble servant. That's not just Mary. That's you. God is mindful of your situation - and will lead you to verse 2:
2) Defy the world which says God has no mercy.
Mary lived in a world of political oppression and economic starvation. She was poor, at a time and place when being poor meant a day away from starvation. But her song defies the lyrics of the cynic, and confesses to a hope in a God who would gather the humble, scatter the proud, care for the poor and tax the rich, bring down the elevated, elevate the downcast.
The battle over Evolution and intelligent design has been much in the news lately. Living a life of faith does not mean being afraid of science. We should let it inform our understanding of how the world works. But we should fight pseudo-science. When some philosophers tell us that evolution teaches us to live in a universe of no mercy or grace - in a world where only the fittest survive and where the call for self-sacrificial love makes no sense - let's defy that pseudo-knowledge.
A narrow reading of some facts may lead some to that conclusion. But my faith leads me to defy this dusty, dry, and decimated view. And it leads me to verse three:
3) Delight in God's re-making of the world. "Rejoice in God my savior."
Rejoice in the hope, peace, joy and love of Christ which has made millions live renewed lives.
Will Willimon: "In the humdrum world in which we normally make our way, poor, unmarried moms and their babies face bleak prospects. The December heavens stay dark and silent. Christmas carols arrive via FM radio, not by angels. And God stays safely aloof from the world. But here in church, in December, our otherwise thin imaginations get assaulted, funded, stoked, poetically pushed by much richer fare than is normally offered by the prose of The Morning Herald. Come in here in Advent and we will ... enrich your thought, considerably broaden your settled notion of what can and can't be."
In a world of settled facts virgins don't have babies and the poor don't get fed. But the God who loves us, who has mercy on us, has called us to a life of making a re-imaged world. Christians who formed the first hospitals, Christ-followers who formed the first schools knew this. So should we. "Rational people accept the world as it is, irrational people try to change it. All progress depends on the insane." Let's all be crazy - faith-fully crazy.
I don't suppose that any young woman has ever produced more pages of theological debate, more arguments of an esoteric nature, than Mary. I suppose the runner up would be Joan of Arch, but she's a long way off. Mary is a woman perceived in extremes. She is either worshiped as super-human being or ignored like a bit player in the gospel story.
I probably don't say much worth quoting, but I looked at last year's sermon (on this 3rd Advent Sunday) and this is what I said at the close. "It occurred to me... in a way it has never occurred to me, that there is an explanation as to why Mary is not an indifferent character. Possibly the reason that Roman Catholics have been tempted to worship her, and that Protestants are tempted to ignore her, is that she's a disturbing/convicting person to see - in the flesh, as it were. It's easier to either idealize her as some abstract and far off semi-deity (which we could never emulate), or to ignore her, as a minor biblical character, who we think about once a year." (Dec. 12, 04)
To do otherwise is to be challenged by her example, by the reality that God wants to be enfleshed in our lives, enthroned on our hearts, incarnated in our actions." It is to recognize that Mary is indeed not different than us, and that our faithless lives are so, not because we aren't born holy like her, or born divine like her, but because we don't choose it. Not like she did. Placing her life in the hands of the master of her fate.
On Tuesday I decided that the concert would be a great place to begin thinking about my sermon on Mary. What better place to prepare a sermon on Mary, than in a great Roman Catholic cathedral? And I was inspired. Maybe it was the music. Maybe the mosaics. Maybe the excited and packed crowd. But whatever the cause I heard an internal voice that said: "Mary matters in the same way that our lives matter: she let Christ's coming be the center of her life." May we all sing or play that same song, daring to know God loves us, defying a world that says different, and delighting in joining God's work of bringing heaven to earth - even when it is beyond our wildest imaginations, or smartest brains.
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