It’s taken the celebration of Mary and her song to prompt me into blogging again. I’ve often said if I had a tattoo, it’d be the Magnificat. But for now I’ll settle for putting a few words here instead. Here’s what Honington heard this morning:
If we had read that song of Mary in a different place at a different time, we may well have found ourselves in deep trouble.
“The Magnificat was banned being sung or read in India under British rule. In the 1980’s, it was banned in Guatemala. In addition, after the Mothers of the Plaza de Mayo—whose children all disappeared during the Dirty War (1976-1983)—placed the Magnificat’s words on posters throughout the capital plaza, the military junta of Argentina outlawed any public display of Mary’s song.”*
Instead we have tried to tame it. Set it to beautiful choral music (I wonder which is your favourite setting?), recited it in Shakespearean English in our country churches each evensong, picturing Mary – serene and peaceful – singing it out as she met Elizabeth.
But this is not a song to be tamed, or to be sung lightly.
This is a song of the revolution, and Mary is the revolutionary leader calling out the new mission of God and calling us to action.
A powerless girl in a little known village in an outpost of an occupied country speaks out some of the most powerful subversive and political words that have ever been spoken.
This is not a song to be tamed, but God is not be tamed either.
God will not be confined to our churches, or our private devotions. As Mary’s Magnificat burst out of a young girl’s mouth, so God bursts out into our world. From the sound of the heavens declaring his glory to the shepherds on the margins, with the cosmos announcing his birth to foreigners, God continues to challenge the seats of power, to sit alongside the refugees in their camps and the poor and hungry in their homes. To speak up for those without a voice.
The Magnificat disrupts our vision and shouts of a God who turns the world upside down. If you listen carefully, you can still hear it proclaiming the revolution. Interfering with our settled ways, stepping on the toes of the powerful and upsetting those who would keep God safely out of politics. It’s a spontaneous song of joy – at last, God is coming. Hear her now, that teenager with God in her heart and on her lips:
I’m bursting with God-news;
I’m dancing the song of my Saviour God.
the God whose very name is holy, set apart from all others.
His mercy flows in wave after wave
on those who are in awe before him.
He bared his arm and showed his strength,
The proud in mind and heart,
God has sent away in disarray..
He knocked tyrants off their high horses,
pulled victims out of the mud.
The starving poor sat down to a banquet;
the rich, he has dismissed with nothing in their hands.
To Israel, God’s servant,
God has given help,
As promised to our ancestors,
remembering Abraham and his descendants in mercy forever.
*Source: Kairos centre kairoscenter.org
Artwork – benwildflower.com
Musings of a Maverick Priest 