I have a confession to make: I love Christmas carols. I mean, really LOVE Christmas carols. Can I get a witness?
On the radio….on CDs….in the stores….in the car….they just uplift our spirits in this season, don’t they? There’s something about Christmas Carols that just seem to warm the heart and stir the soul. I know you’re not supposed to listen to them until after Advent, but I admit it before God and all of you: I cheat. I listen to Christmas carols before the 12 days of Christmas.
Now I know how serious an offense this is. For some liturgists it’s almost a chargeable offense. And I also know how some people dismiss carols as the equivalent of Sunday school ditties. One musicologist has argued that "Hymns are about what happens in the Bible, with a devotional point attached. Somebody wrote them. Carols are about pretty much anything at all, except, usually, what happens in the Bible. Nobody wrote them." (Andrew Gant, Christmas Carols: From Village Green to Church Choir [2014], 219.)
But you know what? I still love carols. Whether it’s the bells of Christmas like the ones we hear in worship, or the sound of sleigh bells, or the sweet voices of carolers as they stroll through the streets on Christmas Eve, the sound of carols brings joy to our hearts and lifts our spirits.
Songs lift us up better than self pep-talks! When we’re excited about something, we join together in song, and through song, we’re able to praise God not only individually but collectively with our combined voices! Soon, we’re just one big stream of untapped and uncontained joy that can’t wait to burst out!
Music begins as a wail in the heart, becomes a prayer, then a praise, and always contains elements of all three. Hymns are like prayers on tap. Some are unrefined, raw exclamations! Some are sophisticated theology in poetry form. But they’re also a way to lift up an ailing heart, one that is in sorrow, or one in pain. The Wesley brothers started the “Holy Club” at Oxford in 1726 partly so that students could sing with and to each other.
Christmas may be a time of joy for most of us, but Christmas is also the loneliest time of year for many others. Those who have lost loved ones sometimes dread the holiday that won’t be shared with their treasured one this year. Those without food may retreat in sadness as others join in feasting. Others may simply be lonely. So many are without family, without friends, without joy, and without hope.
And yet, even in that kind of darkness, you can still hear God’s song.
It’s a song of hope, of courage, of faith, and of love. And it’s a song of change…if you dare to embrace it.
There’s a story about a girl who grew up in a very poor family. They didn’t have much to eat. They had suffered a lot of loss. But when Christmas came, they gathered around their fire, and they sang. And they smiled. And they prayed. And they hoped…that someday, things would change. That someday, they would have money, a nice house, a car, plenty of food, and so many other things they could only wish for.
The young girl in the family had a beautiful voice. When she sang, hearts melted. It was almost like hearing God’s voice. As she grew, her voice became more and more beautiful, until one day, she was heard by a musician, who took her under his wing, and made her a star.
The family’s life changed. But with change comes many other new things…..
And the question is….are we ready for the responsibility that comes with God’s gifts of grace?
A song is like a wish, a prayer, a little drop of hope that cheers you when you’re down. It’s a dream that we lift up, one that keeps us going with lifted chin and set jaw. And as long as it stays a dream….we can imagine a different life, but we don’t have to take the responsibility for it.
Sometimes we want dreams to stay dreams.
Yet we need dreams. We are a people who need those songs that bring us hope for a different future. We are a people who sincerely desire a different kind of life, especially for those in difficulty and pain.
Our faith is filled with people who sing those songs, those dreams. Think of those songs we call “spirituals.” They were called spirituals for a reason! They were songs filled with spirit, hopes, and dreams, with faith that God would rescue. In the south, those songs kept a downtrodden people hopeful, and drove them onward to live day after day in the midst of sorrow and pain.
We call them songs of the heart, songs of liberation. And it was just such a song that Mary sang when she found that she was pregnant, not only with any child, but with God’s messiah.
Of course, Mary was in a bit of a pickle. She was an unwed mother in a time when you could get stoned for that! No one would be apt to believe her story about the Holy Spirit’s visitation. Then, as now, it sounded pretty unbelievable. Can you imagine trying to explain why you’re pregnant to your mother or father: “The Holy Spirit visited me. I swear it.”
Or picture it another way. You know how it is when new parents get together. You’re pregnant, and you’re in that time of waiting. You’re choosing names. You’re picking clothes. And you’re imagining that child’s future.
“Oh yes, MY boy is going to be a famous doctor!”
“Well, my daughter is going to be an opera singer!”
“My girl is going to be an engineer just like her papa.”
“My son is going to be a great prophet!”
“Well my son,” said Mary, “is God Himself!”
Imagine the stares. [Make the gesture of cuckoo….]
Uh huh.
Uh, Mary, I think you’ve maybe had just a little too much fig berry wine. Time to take a break. No?
Would it be any different if someone said that today?
[Sign of cuckoo.] Oh yeah… we’d pronounce judgment on that one pretty quickly, no?
Yet Mary had the courage not only to announce her pregnancy to Elizabeth, her relative, but to burst out in a song of liberation! This was the “spiritual” of Mary’s day…the song that lifted people up, and proclaimed that someday soon, something was going to change.
God is our rescuer, she sang! God is fulfilling the divine promise to save!
That’s a song of courage! Not just courage to sing, but courage to follow through with all of the consequences that this change will bring!
What faith! The faith of these women was phenomenal! And the power of Mary’s “spiritual” still resonates with us today.
God is our rescuer. God makes the barren fruitful, gives voice to the voiceless, joy to the downhearted, hope to the hopeless.
What a strange and beautiful lullaby!
And like those Christmas Carols that warm our hearts, or the spirituals that gave hope to a people in chains, that song that Mary sang must have resonated with so many people –people who had given up hope, who had thought God couldn’t hear them, who were resigned to their lives of oppression, who were heavy in heart.
Mary’s song is a song of unconstrained, uncontained joy, a song of a soon to come liberator, who would free us not just from our circumstances but from sin and death itself! Who would lift us into a place that even our hopes and dreams couldn’t imagine. A song that would change everything.
Change everything! Now that’s a concept that takes an awful lot of courage!
That feisty little word that both thrills us and frightens us to the bone.
But back to that little girl who grew up to be a great singer…
She succumbed to drugs. She found fame, but she lost the joy of her soul. She couldn’t handle the change that fame brought her. And her dreams disappeared in the busyness of her life.
When emancipation came to people of the south?
Some dared to step forward into a new future. Others though…didn’t want to go. They feared the changes that would come from freedom, worried about their ability to care for themselves, to take on the responsibility that others before had borne.
Sometimes, we are given great gifts….gifts we long for, gifts we pray for. But when we receive them, we no longer know what to do with them.
The Church is a bit like that. We celebrate advent and the hope of Christmas. We sing our carols and love the hope they represent. We embrace the dream of our Lord and Savior, who lifts us up and relives us from sin, so that we can be a beacon of hope to others.
But wait a minute!
So, if we accept God’s gift of grace….that means, we take on new responsibility, don’t we?
We move from waiting to fulfillment. We move from sin to life. We move from prayer to proclamation!
Have you ever heard this saying…”If you’ve been given a gift….you have the responsibility to use it…..for the glory of God.”
Today, this advent season, we celebrate, we sing, we pray, and we dream. And on Christmas Day, we remember our dream realized!
We the Church and all of us in it have been given the most awesome gift. Our dreams and hopes have been fulfilled.
With that knowledge, we move from the hope of prayer to the responsibility of proclamation.
We move from receiving the joy of the Christ child to sharing that joy with others who are still dreaming of relief.
Mary’s song is a call to all of us, a reminder, that we are called to proclaim Jesus to a world of dreamers.
We are called as the Church to sing God’s song of victory to a world confused and in pain.
We are called as the Church to change …from receiver to giver.
“If you’ve been given a precious gift….you have the responsibility to use it to the glory of God.”
We’ve all been given the gift of the Christ child.
Embrace the change that child will bring to your life.
Embrace the gift of Life offered to you.
Embrace the change Jesus makes in your heart and in your life.
Embrace the ministry and the mission that Jesus entrusts to you.
Sing a song of joy to someone else this season.
You are God’s Song ….God’s Christmas Carol….to someone else in need.
One of the most talked about series in the history of television is George R.R. Martin's "Game of Thrones." Based on a series of book, series 8 will be released before the book it is based on will be published. The series itself is called "A Song of Ice and Fire." That phrase, “A Song of Ice and Fire” is a reference to a prophecy of a character that may bring the story to a close. The references to songs are few in the series. But there is this line, spoken by a very melancholy character: "We're all just songs in the end. If we are lucky." (George R. R. Martin, A Storm of Swords)
You are more than “lucky.” You are chosen. You are appointed and anointed to be a Song. You are the Song. So be a Song of Love and Joy and Peace this Advent season.
*The photo for this sermon is from LifeTeen.com.
Based on the Story Lectionary
Major Text
Mary’s Story (Luke 1:26-56; Matthew 1)
Minor Text
Adam is Hiding (Genesis 3)
Abraham and Isaac (Genesis 22)
Moses and the Burning Bush (Exodus 3)
Songs of Moses and Miriam (Exodus 15)
Prayer Song (Habakkuk 3)
The Song of Deborah (Judges 5)
Hannah’s Song (1 Samuel 2:1-10)
Isaiah Responds to God (6)
Samuel Responds to God (1 Samuel 3)
Psalm 68: Praise to God Who Saves
Psalm 78: Lord’s Covenant
Psalm 89: Covenant of the Anointed
Psalm 98: The Divine Judge
Psalm 103: Lord’s Blessings
Psalm 105: Lord’s Faithfulness
Psalm 111: God’s Wonderful Deeds
Psalm 113: The Lord Lifts Up
Psalm 135: Praise to God
Psalm 136: God’s Steadfast Love
Psalm 145: Greatness of God
God’s Call to Ananias (Acts 9)
Mary’s Story (Luke 1:39-56)
At that time Mary got ready and hurried to a town in the hill country of Judea, where she entered Zechariah’s home and greeted Elizabeth.
When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the baby leaped in her womb, and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit. In a loud voice she exclaimed: “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the child you will bear! But why am I so favored, that the mother of my Lord should come to me? As soon as the sound of your greeting reached my ears, the baby in my womb leaped for joy. Blessed is she who has believed that the Lord would fulfill his promises to her!”
And Mary said: “My soul glorifies the Lord and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior, for he has been mindful of the humble state of his servant. From now on all generations will call me blessed, for the Mighty One has done great things for me—holy is his name. His mercy extends to those who fear him, from generation to generation. He has performed mighty deeds with his arm; he has scattered those who are proud in their inmost thoughts. He has brought down rulers from their thrones but has lifted up the humble. He has filled the hungry with good things but has sent the rich away empty. He has helped his servant Israel, remembering to be merciful to Abraham and his descendants forever just as he promised our ancestors.”
Mary stayed with Elizabeth for about three months and then returned home.
Mary’s Story (Matthew 1:18-25)
This is how the birth of Jesus the Messiah came about: His mother Mary was pledged to be married to Joseph, but before they came together, she was found to be pregnant through the Holy Spirit. Because Joseph her husband was faithful to the law, and yet did not want to expose her to public disgrace, he had in mind to divorce her quietly.
But after he had considered this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, “Joseph son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.”
All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet: “The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel” (which means “God with us”).
When Joseph woke up, he did what the angel of the Lord had commanded him and took Mary home as his wife. But he did not consummate their marriage until she gave birth to a son. And he gave him the name Jesus.
Image Exegesis: The Sacrificial and Joyful Heart is the Faithful Heart
Much in the scriptures is written in song. The scriptures are a book of hope and of testimony to the love and grace of God. Songs as metaphors are embodied joy and faith. They can be prayers either of petition or thanks, of praise or lament. They can be expressions of surprise, or rituals that make holy.
Songs most of all appeal not only to the mind but the heart and the spirit. The songs of scriptures are “spiritual songs.” They are songs of promise. And they radiate the sounds of faith that can uplift others, even as they uplift us.
Songs are also testimonies. And prophecies. They relay a holy history, as in the song of Moses and Miriam. Or they prophesy to a people, as in Isaiah. They express the feelings of the heart, both lows and highs, as in the psalms. And they celebrate God’s victory, as in Psalm 23 or 22.
One of the most compelling songs in scripture is the Song of Mary. Pattered closely to the Song of Hannah, Mary’s song may be a ritual for an early kind of Hanukkah type of celebration, or a song of praise for a coming messiah. It resonates not only the hope of her pregnancy but the hope of a people.
It’s a liberation song, one that would be repeated in Jesus’ mission statement at Nazareth, and in his death on the cross. It’s God’s victory song of fulfillment.
Faith in song.
When encountered by God, it’s not unusual for one to break out in song! Mary’s response first is one of curiosity, then of humility, then of excitement and praise.
The primary metaphors are the womb/pregnancy, her response, –and above all her song.
Mary’s story is inserted into the story of Elizabeth and Zechariah. In fact, Mary’s story is “located” as happening in Elizabeth’s sixth month of pregnancy, after which Mary goes to visit with Elizabeth, where she sings her song of praise and remains with her until John is born. We know therefore, that she must have returned to Nazareth to talk to Joseph when she was already 3 months pregnant. No wonder they high tailed it for Bethlehem! Otherwise, Mary could have been stoned!
Like the story of Elizabeth, the womb metaphor is important in this story. The “pregnancy” of Elizabeth however is compared with the “conception” of Mary by the Holy Spirit. The “naming” is also present in Mary’s story, as it was in Elizabeth’s.
And Mary’s reaction is similar to that of Elizabeth’s. Both Zechariah and Joseph would be more practical in their assessments. But unlike Zechariah, who was muted until the chosen moment of John’s naming, Joseph would have a dream in which he is directed to marry Mary.
In Mary’s story however, her response and her song stand out as unique. Mary’s story, as the “core” of the larger story of Zechariah and Elizabeth demonstrates how God expects us to respond to the Holy Spirit’s blessings. Zechariah’s lesson is one that Mary already knew.
Mary utters the age-old “hineini” in response to God’s blessing upon her. Abraham, Jacob, Joseph, Isaiah, Moses, Samuel….all have uttered this sacred word in response to God’s presence and “call to action.” In all cases in which the word is in answer to God, God’s presence or the presence of the Holy Spirit was made known to that person, God looked for an answer of the “presence” or “attention” of God’s servant, and the “call” also required some kind of responsibility or sacrifice, and especially a humility and vulnerability in the presence of the face of God.
Mary’s reaction is devoid of fear. She is immediately perplexed. But not fearful. And she asks questions about how all of this will happen. But she never balks. She only basks in the glory of God’s presence, after which declaring, “hineini,” …here I am…your servant. Or in our terms –“I’m here….at your service!”
The “pregnant moment” in which Mary has this encounter with the Holy Spirit erupts then in praise and humble feelings of blessing, especially as Mary joins with Elizabeth in celebrating their chosenness.
Mary will need to “hide” from others during the time to come; but she is totally “unhidden” from God. This is the exact opposite of the Genesis story, in which Adam and Eve hide from God. Mary’s willingness to be vulnerable and “available” to God will result in the “I Am” of our saviour’s birth.
Mary’s Song hearkens back to the Song sung by Hannah at her pregnancy with Samuel. As Samuel is given to God as a prophet, so Mary’s Son would be called Son of Man.
The Song is not only one of praise, but one of prophecy. Like Zechariah’s prophecy at the birth of John, Mary’s Song praises not just what God has already done, but what God will soon do!
How many of us spend time praising God for what God has not yet done! And yet, this is the kernel of faith we celebrate in Mary.
Like a pregnancy that looks forward to a birth, Mary’s Song looks forward to the time to come when the birth of the Savior will signal the messianic kingdom come.