“Be filled with the Spirit, addressing one another in psalms, and hymns, and spiritual songs, singing and making melody to the Lord with all your heart, giving thanks for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.” (Ephesians 5:18-20)
Everyone loves Christmas carols! As the seasons of Advent and Christmas approach, and we begin to hear those familiar songs on the radio, in stores, on loudspeakers, in our worship, our hearts leap a little for joy. Let’s face it. Carols instill joy in our hearts, hope, and a sense of wonder. For at least one season of the year, we believe that the world can be beautiful, and despite many things we may be going through, that joy and peace are just around the bend.
Christmas carols bring out the best in us. They make us want to gather with friends, to feast and fellowship, to gift and celebrate. We sing together. We share in joy together. And for one time of year, millions of people come out on Christmas Eve to partake in an almost euphoric experience of candlelight and carol songs.
Carols touch our joy response in a way that other songs just can’t hold a candle to. They are our “heart songs.” Songs with heart.
The word carol comes from the Old French “carole.” Since about 1300, the word was used for a joyful, euphoric song sung in a kind of circle dance. Carols were folk tunes, not “high church cantatas and operas” designed for liturgical rituals. Carols were songs of the people.
In the Reformation, carols became the Christmas theology of the common folk. Carols seemed to protestant preachers a way to bring the joy of Christ’s birth directly to the people in their own language and culture! They were songs of hope for all classes of people, sung in homes, in the streets, in worship, and at gatherings. And they were written in the vernacular of time and culture, the language of the folk. These were joy songs, dance songs, celebration songs, songs for Christian joy! As folk carols were sung often to familiar and catchy jingles and tunes, people embodied a Christmas message of joy, hope, love, and expectation!
Carols are our “heart songs” --songs that touch the heart of humanity with God’s message of immanence, “in the now-ness,” favor, and blessing!
As you know from the famous Scrooge story, whether rich or poor, accomplished professional or laborer, adult or child, elevated or lowly, healthy or infirm, all come together and share one hope and one Savior when we gather around the fire to sing those “Christmas carols!”
Timeless and classless, Christmas carols are our “beatitudes!” They contain promises of blessings and prophetic hope.
But they weren’t the first “joy songs” of Christmas!
The first song of exquisite and ecstatic joy comes from Zechariah’s wife Elizabeth, a relatively unknown figure in scripture, but whose role in the nativity story is peerless and priceless!
The scriptures tell us:
“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!’ … ‘Blessed is she who has believed that the Lord would fulfill his promises to her!’
Now, we can’t be sure that Elizabeth or Mary actually sang, but her emotional reaction to Mary’s visage in her doorway is phenomenal!
The scriptures tell us, she was immediately “filled with the Holy Spirit!” And through the Holy Spirit, Elizabeth was provoked to proclaim a loud, in fact very loud, set of blessings upon Mary!
Don’t we all wish we had an aunt like that!
Here’s Mary, young, unwed mother no doubt fleeing the consternation of her family, wondering what to do about Joseph, trying to make sense of her predicament and what had happened to her, wondering what this all could mean, yet sensing her life was about to change. She flees to her aunt Elizabeth for help! We need to hear that. She didn’t simply think to herself, “I think I’ll just go and visit my Aunt Elizabeth today!” No! The scriptures tell us, Mary fled as fast as she could to her Aunt’s house in the hill country of Judea, probably to help her understand what on earth she should do!
And the first thing Elizabeth says to her is….. “Now, girl, look at the mess you’ve got yourself into!”
Does she say that?
No!! No way!
The very first thing Elizabeth does when Mary appears on her doorstep is to prophesy! The Holy Spirit comes upon her in a big and dynamic way, and Elizabeth quite spontaneously proclaims in a loud and authoritative voice: “You have been blessed! And the child you are carrying has been blessed!”
Whoa! How did she even know she was pregnant! That’s some proclamation!
Elizabeth prophesies about the messianic message of Mary and Jesus long before Anna the prophetess confirms Jesus’ identity in his Naming Ceremony with Simeon in the Temple.
But more than that, Elizabeth helps Mary understand her own “God encounter.” Elizabeth is Mary’s uplifter, discerner, guide, and mentor. And the scriptures tell us, Mary stayed with her for 3 months before she went back to talk to Joseph.
Mary needs Elizabeth’s tutelage, her motherly wisdom, her encouragement. But most of all, she needs Elizabeth to help her define her revelatory experience, her “call” if you will from God to play the most important role of any woman in history. And Elizabeth immediately turns into Mary’s preparer and protector.
Usually, we don’t pay much attention to Elizabeth, but she plays a vital role in Mary’s story. Her words of greeting to Mary are prophetic. They are beatitudes of joy that see in Mary what perhaps even she has not recognized in herself.
It is Elizabeth’s “song” that allows Mary to express her own famous “Magnificat!” Without Elizabeth’s recognition of Mary’s gift and her kind and knowing encouragement, Mary may have had difficulty facing an angry Joseph, and the long road ahead.
We all need that special “aunt” in our lives, that person who sees in us those special qualities, and gifts, and blessings that we cannot see in ourselves, that mentor and friend who looks at us and sees only beautiful, who takes us in, and nurtures us through difficulty and pain, who prophesies for us a hopeful future, who sings us into joy even in the midst of sorrow.
Who is your Elizabeth?
We all have a “calling” in our lives from God. But sometimes it takes someone else who can look at us with different eyes to see what God may be telling us. It’s hard for us to see in ourselves sometimes the extent to which we have been blessed, especially when things feel like they are crumbling and falling apart.
Who is your Elizabeth? And what song is she placing in your heart?
A beatitude is not a statement, but it’s an expression of great and exquisite joy! It’s a declaration of great blessing! Like our carols, the beatitudes of Elizabeth cut through confusion, mixed emotions, wonder, and wandering, and point to a direction that is our “way” of blessing!
Did you ever have something happen in your life, and you are trying hard to make sense of it. And all you can see is your loss, or your predicament? Maybe it’s a broken heart, or a broken dream, or a broken promise, or a change of plan, a wrench thrown in your very orderly life that seemed once to make a lot more sense, but now seems more like a broken platter splattered on the floor of your heart.
And that very wise person in your life, your mother or your friend, your aunt, or your neighbor, looks at you and tells you, this time you think has unhinged you will turn out to be your greatest blessing!
And you look at that person and you think, “what on earth is she thinking!”
No! You grasp onto that hope. You listen to that advice. You put stock in that “prophecy.” Because that is your “song” of hope.
You are blessed within your sorrow. You have been given a new lease on life! You think your life has been confused and uprooted? This event will open the door now to the most beautiful and blessed time of your life.
You’ll see!
Elizabeth instills in Mary a “heart song.” She sings her a “carol” not meant for priests and Temple officials, not even meant only for Mary, but for an entire people. Elizabeth’s song is a Heart Song of the folk and for the folk. It’s a Christmas Carol meant to cheer every heart who hears God’s message that all people will find hope in the seed God has planted in Mary!
And Mary responds with one of the most beautiful affirmations in history, as she takes in Elizabeth’s declaration, and she finds her voice!
Mary’s identity will forever be rooted in her call to be God’s own messenger –tell the people to rejoice! The messiah will be born!
This advent, as you sing carols, as you partake in feasting, as you gather together, as you revel in song and joy, remember that you too are deeply blessed.
For the first songs of Christmas, those sung by Elizabeth and Mary are your songs too! And when you accept God’s call for your life, when you find your voice and proclaim Jesus sovereignty and love from the top of your lungs in every way God is calling you, you too will become God’s heart song.
Christmas is a time when we look at each other, and instead of magnifying our faults, we find in each other a “Magnificat” of God’s grace.
Let us turn to each other now, and in a loud voice, proclaim God’s unexpected blessing bestowed upon all of us today and always: “You are deeply blessed!”
[You can end by singing a carol together as you prepare for a Love Feast.]
Based on the Story Lectionary
Major Text
From Nazareth to Judea: Mary Visits Elizabeth (Luke 1:39-56)
Minor Text
The Lord Blesses Abraham with Children (Genesis 15)
I Will Raise Up a Prophet from Among You (Deuteronomy 18:14-22)
Hannah’s Prayer (1 Samuel 2:1-10)
Psalm 33: We Put Our Hope in You
Psalm 47: God Reigns Over the Nations and He is Greatly Exalted
Psalm 110: Sit At My Right Hand Until I Make Your Enemies a Footstool At Your Feet
Psalm 113: The Lord is Exalted / He Raises the Poor from the Dust
Option: Psalms 135 and 136
The Eighteen Psalms of Solomon
The Heritage of Israel: a Barren Woman Blessed by God (Isaiah 54)
Daniel’s Prayer and Prophecy (9)
Peter Proclaims the Prophecy Fulfilled in Jesus (Acts 3)
Stephen’s Interpretation of the Fulfillment of the Prophecy in Jesus (Acts 7)
Image Exegesis: Repentant Grace –the Greatest Gift in Song / Heart Song
The songs in Luke’s scriptures may be prayers, or blessings, or beatitudes, but for us, they are the “song” of our lives. And each one, like the songs of Hannah, and Miriam, and Isaiah before them, contains an important ingredient that sometimes we tend to leave out –repentance.
These songs remind us of what John Wesley liked to call our “heart religion” –that we cannot praise God only with our heads. Repentance is part of that “heart religion.” For God’s gift is not merely undeserved, but is inspired by our repentance, by the circumcision of our hearts.
When a child disobeys a parent’s direction and smashes a beloved vase, two things can happen:
- The child is punished….case closed, which tells us nothing about the feelings of the child. We have no idea whether the child regrets the act, is angry at the parent for the punishment, or is planning retaliatory measures, or whether the child feels entitled to a different outcome.
- The child is not punished. Let’s say this. The child breaks the beloved vase. The parent comes in a half hour later to the child’s room and says, “Let’s go and get you your favorite ice cream.” In this scenario, we still know nothing about what the child is feeling or thinking. Was the child regretting the act? Was the child feeling entitled to have done the act with no responsibility or repercussion? Or is the child feeling badly about the deed?
You see, we cannot get a sense of the impact of either one of these scenarios without knowing the feelings and thoughts of the child! We need to know the child’s response before the impact of the parent’s reaction can be considered.
So let’s change the story.
Scenario One: Child is told not to run in the house. Child runs in the house and child breaks beloved vase. Child retreats to room and feels no remorse but tries to hide the pieces under the rug. Parent discovers the shattered vase and confronts child. Child gives saucy retort and ignores parent. A few minutes later, parent offers child a trip to get his or her favorite ice cream!
Now, we have a reaction to this story, don’t we?
But you see, unfortunately, this is sometimes the way we view God’s gift of grace. We call God’s salvation gift, simply an “undeserved gift.” But that doesn’t quite cover it, does it? Because surely in scenario one above, the parent’s gift is clearly undeserved. But there’s something missing that makes us feel there is something about this story that is just very, very wrong.
So let’s look at Scenario Two.
Scenario Two: Child is told not to run in the house. In child’s impulsivity, child runs in house and breaks beloved base. Horrified, child retreats to room, but then is overcome by guilt over not having obeyed the non-running rule, empathy for how much his or her parent loved that vase, sadness over having hurt beloved parent, self-searching and grief over having acted impulsively. In sorrow, the child approaches parent, confesses the deed, and expresses sorrow, regret, apologizes, and offers compassion, knowing parent very well may be angry. Parent, seeing child’s sorrow over the deed, consoles child, and repairs relationship by offering child a trip to get his or her favorite ice cream. Surprised, child recognizes this as an undeserved gift.
Now, we also have a reaction to this story, don’t we? What an understanding, loving, forgiving parent we say! A parent more interested in returning love and compassion in response to the child’s clear sorrow and grief over the relational breach.
In scenario one, there is no relational dynamic. In scenario two, it’s all about the relational dynamic. And it’s all about the response of the child.
In both scenarios, the ice cream is undeserved. But only in scenario two are we seeing the makings of a Hallmark Christmas movie! The tug on our heart comes when we recognize in the child a repentant spirit that is recognized by the parent and cleared and forgiven by the gift.
It’s likewise the same with God. That’s why, when we think about God’s salvation gift of Jesus, I think we need a more specific term than simply, “undeserved grace.” Perhaps the better term is “repentant grace.” Repentant grace is respondant grace and relational grace, undeserved, but provoked.
With our tears, God’s heart is moved to redemption or our relationship with our Creator.
God is not in the business of spoiling His children! God is in the business of redeeming His children!
You are not just God’s VIP. But you are God’s beloved with whom God is well pleased. God is interested not just in what you do or don’t do, but in the state of your heart.
You can have committed some terrible sins. And yet, with a contrite heart, God is moved to re-move that sin from your life and that guilt from your spirit in order to restore your relationship with Your God.
You are God’s beloved.
This is the beauty of what we love to call the Magnificat, the Song of Mary, sung in joy and celebration for the gift she is given by God.
Sometimes what doesn’t seem like a gift, turns out to be the best gift indeed! Surely becoming pregnant as a single Jewish woman in the first century when such a state was a capital offense, would not seem like the kind of “gift” one would be thanking God for! And yet, here is young Mary singing her heart out for this unexpected gift of life and promise.
Her response, “I am God’s servant. How am I a lowly maiden worthy of such a gift!”