Magnificat Sermon from Evensong 12-20

Tonight, we encounter God’s embarrassing and threatening “challenge to good order” Pregnancy comes unexpected, and out of order to a young peasant girl named Mary who then runs off to visit her cousin Elizabeth after being made aware of her pregnancy. Elizabeth who has miraculously conceived in her old age, confirmations the miracle of Mary’s pregnancy and proclaims her blessed.

The scene is absurd, the coming of the Messiah who will redeem Israel is anticipated and proclaimed, not by archangels or high priests or emperors or even ordained preachers … Rather it comes from two marginalized pregnant women. Two marginalized, pregnant women carry the future and proclaim the messiah.

Last night I watched the movie Precious. It is a raw look at how the vulnerable are oppressed and can in turn oppress the even more vulnerable and one young woman’s decision to stop the chain of oppression. A very powerful scene in the movie is when Precious is given one more piece of bad news:one more way in which she will be marginalized, she begins to cry and says, “Nobody loves ME.” She teeters on giving up and giving in to her vulnerability. Yet in that moment.. she is able to hear, really hear her teacher say, “Your baby loves you, and I love you.”

Precious helped me to hear that powerful choice that Mary made in her vulnerability… to give praise and be grateful after being affirmed by Elizabeth. Hear again the words of her song:

My soul magnifies the Lord,
and my spirit rejoices in God my Saviour,
for he has looked with favour on the lowliness 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.

Mary’s reaction could have taken many forms and maybe it did. Yet in her vulnerability as a young unmarried peasant woman, who did not know at this moment how her world would react to this pregnancy, chooses to give praise, not only for the reality of her situation; the new life growing within, but in the privilege of being an instrument of God. From her most vulnerable place, she gives praise and becomes a participant in God’s miracle. It is from our vulnerability that we can most easily connect with the compassion of God and from our gratitude that God can most easily make us instruments of God’s love, God’s peace and God’s mercy.

When faced with challenges, I am one who’s first reaction is often to lead with my strength, react with my intellect and persevere in self determination. It is hard not to use my places of privilege, such as being able bodied, educated, middle class and white. And yet it is when I allow myself to be vulnerable; out of my comfort zone; maybe in unfamiliar settings such as standing in this pulpit for the first time tonight, that God can use me.

Tonight as we listen to Mary’s song and we visualize her story, you and I can ask ourselves where God is calling us to be vulnerable to the work of God’s world?

As Mary in her vulnerability, accepts her role in this drama of the incarnation she becomes more than she ever thought possible. The vulnerable becomes powerful and at the same time, …just who God created her to be; bringing to mind the quote from Maryanne Williamson, used by Nelson Mandela in this acceptance speech.

You may have heard it many times, but permit me to remind you:

“Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. We are all meant to shine, as children do. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It's not just in some of us; it's in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.”
Then in her place of power beyond measure, Mary delivers one of the most subversive messages in the Bible. Mary gives voice to a song for the ages, a song that invites us beyond our realistic expectations and our dull imaginations. She announces the larger implications of the upside-down world that God has inaugurated.

Listen to her words again:

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 thoughts 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 helped his servant Israel,
in remembrance of his mercy,
according to the promise he made to our ancestors,
to Abraham and to his descendants for ever.’

The song proclaims the toppling of oppression and human power such as the oppression that grounds Mary’s very own worth in her ability to bear a son and the culture that deemed men as the owners of her procreative power.

I have seen two powerful movies in just over a week. The second was Invictus, the story of Nelson Mandela’s first year in office. He was faced with monumental challenges in bringing together a new government that would not only topple the oppression but would represent all South African’s regardless of race. One of the scenes that struck me was his wisdom in preventing those who had been oppressed for generations from becoming oppressors and retaliating against those who had once oppressed them. The South African rugby team named the Spring Bocks had once been a symbol of apartheid, and oppression. It was beloved by White So. Africans and hated by Black So. Africans as a symbol of oppression with its all white team.

While in prison, Mandela himself had cheered on any competitor of the spring bocks in hope of seeing this symbol of oppression loose. But in office he would not allow the now black leadership of national sports to change the name and take away this team beloved by White So. Africans. Rather he changed the country’s relationship with the team and the team’s relationship with the country. In All Saints fashion, he sent the team on a transformational journey out into the community teaching Rugby to the neighborhood kids, becoming their heroes and learning first hand the atrocities of oppression.

What looked like a foolish waste of time united a country to cheer and support this team which now represented a United So. Africa. The movie is named for the poem Invictus that Mandela used as a meditation, and mantra while in prison which he later shares with the captain of the Spring Bocks.

I could not help but believe that the poem Invictus also fit the life of this abused young woman, Precious. Especially the last two lines:

I am the master of my fate:
I am the captain of my soul.

At age 16, Precious, the mother of two topples the powers that be and becomes the master of her fate and the captain of her soul.
Few of us have ever faced those specific challenges, so what does that

Magnificat say to us on this night:
Begin with Gratitude. Allow your soul to magnify the lord and your spirit to rejoice in the lord. For God has scattered the proud and put down the mighty to make us the masters of our fate and the captains of our soul.In your vulnerability, connect with the heart and compassion of God that each one of us might become instruments of Gods love, peace and mercy. And, While Precious did become the master of her fate, she had hands along the way: A school administrator who went the extra mile to give her the information that eventually was a catalyst to change; A teacher who chose to work in the alternative school and chose to get involved in this young girl’s life; A nurse, who like the teacher used his own resources and went beyond his job description to give her a hand. None of whom had to go far or sacrifice much at all. But, their participation made a difference; their willingness to be instruments of God’s love and mercy and justice toppled the powers that be and created a new world for one young woman and her children.

Be vulnerable to those places in your life where you can make a difference. Amen