Luke 1:46-56 · Mary’s Song

46 And Mary said: "My soul glorifies the Lord

47 and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior,

48 for he has been mindful of the humble state of his servant. From now on all generations will call me blessed,

49 for the Mighty One has done great things for me-- holy is his name.

50 His mercy extends to those who fear him, from generation to generation.

51 He has performed mighty deeds with his arm; he has scattered those who are proud in their inmost thoughts.

52 He has brought down rulers from their thrones but has lifted up the humble.

53 He has filled the hungry with good things but has sent the rich away empty.

54 He has helped his servant Israel, remembering to be merciful

55 to Abraham and his descendants forever, even as he said to our fathers."

56 Mary stayed with Elizabeth for about three months and then returned home.

Imagination
Luke 1:39-45, 46-55
Sermon
by Will Willimon
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Peter Gomes, Minister of memorial Church at Harvard, recently spoke of the Bible as "A book of the imagination" (The Good Book). Don't think of scripture primarily as rules, as lists of regulations. Think of the Bible as a book meant to speak, to stoke, to fuel the imagination.

From what I see, imagination is in short supply these days. We modem folk tend toward mostly facts and figures. We're more in to statistics than symbols. We keep close to the solid stuff which we call "reality." Of course, when one begins with the assumption that, "real" only refers to that which can be touched and tasted, reality shrinks, our expectations for what can and cannot be done get scaled considerably down.

Neil Postman (Technopoly) sees our preoccupation with computers as evidence of our paucity of imag…

Duke University, Duke Chapel Sermons, by Will Willimon