The Improbable Song of Mary

                                                          Mary's Magnificat -- Rev. Tim Ehrhardt 

And Mary said,

“My soul magnifies the Lord,
     and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior,
 for he has looked with favor on the lowly state of his servant.
    Surely from now on all generations will call me blessed,

for the Mighty One has done great things for me,
    and holy is his name;
 indeed, his mercy is for those who fear him
    from generation to generation.
 He has shown strength with his arm;
    he has scattered the proud in the imagination of their hearts.
 He has brought down the powerful from their thrones
    and lifted up the lowly;
 he has filled the hungry with good things
    and sent the rich away empty.
 He has come to the aid of his child Israel,
    in remembrance of his mercy,
 according to the promise he made to our ancestors,
    to Abraham and to his descendants forever.”

Luke 1: 46-56 NRSVue

Miriam, Mary, unwed mom, likely a teenager, has a visit from an angel who tells her that she will give birth to the Messiah. Mary, living under Roman occupation, who delivers her child in a stable and ends up as a displaced person, fleeing persecution, ending up in a foreign land.

Every year I look forward to this passage in the lead-up to Christmas, sometimes as a reading for the last Sunday of Advent. In this turbulent Year of the Lord 2025 which has seen the rise autocrats and despots I need the bracing and comforting words attributed to Mary, perhaps moreso at the end of these 12 months than any other through my three score years and ten, along with another year thrown in for good measure.

 Would these be the expressed thoughts of an illiterate peasant? And who had their non-existent iPhone on record? 

I honestly don't care about the when and how of this song of praise and call to courage as God's people. As a Christ-follower I pray that this Magnificat is true in the midst of so much falsehood and anger and pain. May God's promises be fulfilled.