My Soul is Magnified by the Lord

Rev. Kristi Denham
Congregational Church of Belmont
December 11, 2011

Today I want to talk about "Joy and Justice." It seems to me that they go together really well, because I always feel the very greatest joy when I am able to do something that truly serves justice. Our reading from the Gospel of Luke this morning seems to express that truth well. It is one of my favorites in all the bible. I did some serious research on it when I was in seminary, studying the exact Greek composition and comparing it to our usual English translations.

The Gospel According to Luke tells a unique story of the birth of Jesus, the Christ. In the gospels of Mark and John there are no birth narratives. The story told in the Gospel According to Matthew is entirely different. In Matthew's version there are no shepherds and no choir of angels, no visit to an inn, no stable and no manger for the baby to sleep in.

In Matthew's version, Joseph and Mary already lived in Bethlehem. Jesus was born at home and had to escape to Egypt after Herod heard of his birth from the Wise Men. And those wise men play no part in Luke's version of the story. Jesus' mother Mary lived in Nazareth with Joseph her betrothed. We have to put these two stories together and ignore the significant inconsistencies to arrive at the version we tell our children each year.

Today we are focusing specifically on Luke's setting for the story. Mary has had a visitation from an angel who tells her she will be the mother of God's son. Why does Luke tell the story in this way? Very few scholars believe that Luke spoke from historical fact. Rather, Luke told his story to explain who Jesus was in much the same way that people in the first century told stories about all their great leaders. Jesus birth story is designed to be heard in specific contrast and comparison to the birth narrative told about Augustus Caesar.

Caesar was born of the gods. His mother was Venus, his father Apollo. He came to bring peace on earth. He did it through power and through the might of his army. Every great monument to Caesar contained the words, "Son of God, Savior, Lord, Prince of Peace." Jesus was also a mighty ruler and son of God who would bring peace on earth. But he would do it through love and through the power of God's Spirit poured out on the people.

Mary's visitation and poem is modeled on a similar story in the First Book of Kings. Hannah, the mother of the prophet Samuel speaks similar poetry of power and righteousness. Luke wanted his listeners to understand that Jesus was also born a mighty prophet and that he stood for justice in an unjust world. Just as Hannah had hoped that her son would guide the people into righteousness, Mary expresses a similar vision. It is a vision of compassion and justice that has universal appeal. It expresses the longing of all oppressed people's hearts.

Jesus came to answer that longing but instead of walking the way of political power and might, he would be crushed by that power and walk the way of the cross. There is a mystery in his journey, and he asks all of us to pick up our cross and follow.

How are we to do that?

Mary gives us an indication of the answer when she says, "My soul is magnified by the Lord." Of course, most of us have heard this passage translated "My soul magnifies the Lord," but God doesn't need magnifying. God is already big enough. And the Greek can be interpreted either way. I think Mary is saying something much more powerful and important here. God magnifies our strength, our courage, our wisdom, our peace and our power, when we allow ourselves to be filled with God's spirit. 

It may be much more familiar and comforting to simply honor Mary and worship Jesus but that was never the intent of the Prince of Peace. He didn't come to change the world by starting a new religion. He came to change the world by teaching humanity the power of the Spirit that lives in each one of us when we allow ourselves to be filled with the life that is our birthright as children of God.

He called people into community to do justice, love kindness and really walk their talk in humility and service to one another and the Most High. When we all realize we have nothing to argue about but a world to nurture, care for, and save from self destruction, we can work together to create the new heaven and the new earth our prophets have foretold. And we are magnificent enough to do the work!

This longing for a better world has been voiced in every culture over thousands of years. And now is a time of great urgency.
I attended a clergy and civic leader's dialogue this week sponsored by the Peninsula Clergy Network that I helped found over ten years ago. We gathered in discussion groups to talk about issues that affect our communities.

In my group we were joined by a retired educator, past president of Canada College and community leader for over fifty years named Tom Mohr. He spoke eloquently of his dismay at what he sees happening in our public schools today. More than half our children are not learning to read and write.

Those in the comfortable middle class seem to be too complacent at the devastation of lives this being left behind has caused. More than half of the children who start classes at community colleges drop out in their first semester, unprepared for the challenges of college work.

He wanted us all to face the very real challenges that our communities face today.  He told us he had visited many of our churches and found them to be full of mostly happy complacent people. (But he hasn't visited our church! ) How can we be complacent when 24 million people in America are under employed or jobless, and 50 million can't see a doctor when they need to, and 47 million currently depend on food subsidies programs to feed their families, and 15 million own more on their mortgages than their properties are worth.

Tom is a quiet man who thinks before he speaks. He reminded me of the Mayan Shaman we visited in Mexico in March, who explained to us the meaning of the end of the Mayan calendar in 2012. He said it ends because our species and our planet have reached an urgent turning point. We must change our world. We are the people we have been waiting for!

And now is the time. But we cannot be overwhelmed by guilt or exhaustion. We must be fueled, as Mary was, by the power of joy, the power of God. We cannot demand that the Spirit fill us, but if we wake up to who we are and whose we are, we can realize we are already filled with that Spirit. We can come together in small groups to pray, to vision, to plan, to act. We are magnificent because God is with us and we can do what needs to be done.

We need more than band-aid solutions. The Occupy demonstrations can express some of the frustration and some of the need. But we need to work together to demand democracy become, once again, the law of the land. We need to work together for justice.

Earlier I mentioned that we must pick up our cross to follow. God doesn't lead us on a path that is an easy straight line. We need to face our demons, our greed, our complacency in order to grow. It is not a matter of having the "right" answer but of having an open and honest heart that allows room for God to work in us and strengthen us for the work ahead.

Luke knew that Jesus stood for a world based in peace rather than military power. He knew that the kingdom of God is within us. Today too many people still expect Jesus to return in a cloud of glory to force change upon the world. Now we must understand that the Spirit poured out on all flesh means we are the heroes and "sheroes" we have been waiting for. Not only, as Pogo said, have "we met the enemy and he is us," but the Spirit of the Christ reborn in us, in all of us, carries the solution to our challenges: "We've met the Christ (the Messiah/the Savior) and s/he is us!"

Our souls are all magnified by God's love and power. This is the joy that lives within us. Not just some of us but all of us. Can you feel it? If not, be patient!
Keep the vision alive:

With Mary …"Our souls are magnified by the Lord and our spirits rejoice in God our Savior, for God has looked with favor on our lowliness ...
(and)… from now on all generations will call us blessed,
for the Mighty One has done great things through us— and holy is God’s name.
God’s mercy is for those who fear God, (for those who are in awe of God's mighty acts of love and justice!) from generation to generation.  God has shown strength with God’s arm; God has scattered the proud in the thoughts of their hearts. God has brought down the powerful from their thrones and has lifted up the lowly.
God has filled the hungry with good things and sent the rich away empty. God has helped God’s servant Israel, in remembrance of God’s mercy, according to the promise God made to our ancestors, to Abraham , to Sarah and to their descendants forever."
We are their descendants. May we finally bring forth this vision in our time! Amen.