A
sermon preached at Kowloon Union Church on Sunday 15 December 2019, the Third Sunday in
Advent, by
Dr. Hope S. Antone. The scripture readings that day were Isaiah 35:3-7; Luke 1:46-55.
“Choose to
be Courageous” is the suggested theme for today, the 3rd
Sunday of Advent. One of the lectionary readings is the Magnificat, generally
known as Mary’s song of praise for God. Magnificat comes from the Latin word
for magnify. As we reflect on this
text today, may we learn some lessons from Mary and her choice to be
courageous. Before I proceed, let me ask you a simple riddle-question: What do
two pregnant women do when they meet together?
Well, as
far as Elizabeth and Mary were concerned, they affirmed, blessed and supported
each other. As we know, Elizabeth was pregnant with her first child in her old
age, after many years of marriage; while Mary was pregnant with her first child
in her young age, before her marriage. In biblical time, both situations were
quite unusual or unexpected. In a patriarchal context where woman was expected
to get married and have children, being barren or getting pregnant outside of
wedlock were caused for shame and humiliation. So the news of the angel Gabriel
about their pregnancies turned upside down not only the lives of these two
women but also the culture and norms of the wider society.
We can say
that the Magnificat was the earliest Advent song or Christmas carol, sung
before Christ Jesus was born. It describes Mary’s own hope and her vision for
her people. I thought and looked for other songs/carols about Mary’s role in
the birth of Christ Jesus and except for different versions of the Magnificat,
I remembered one and found another:
One is
titled “The Miracle of Christmas,” a favorite among Filipinos:
Virgin Mary loves her baby boy
Virgin Mary fills our hearts with joy
It was the miracle of Christmas…
The second
one is “A Baby Changes Everything,” from a Christmas musical by David
T. Clydesdale & Deborah Craig-Claar):
Teenage girl, much too young
Unprepared for what's to come …
A baby changes everything…
Not a ring on her hand
All her dreams and all her plans…
A baby changes everything…
The man she loves she's never touched
How will she keep his trust?
A baby changes everything…
Very few carols speak about Mary and if they
do, they speak of the young, innocent, inexperienced, obedient and submissive
Mary. Unlike these Christmas carols, the Magnificat is a radical protest song. It is similar to
the song of Miriam when the enslaved Israelites claimed their freedom from
Egypt. It is something that the exiled Judeans might have sung in Babylon as
they longed for freedom in their homeland. It is the kind of song that inspires
people to resist oppression. One could say it is similar to “Do You Hear the People Sing” or “Glory to Hong Kong”.
The
Magnificat speaks of a world turned upside down – when an ordinary, young
peasant woman, a nobody to the rich and mighty, becomes the blessed one; when
the lowly and humble are lifted up while the proud and powerful are brought
down; when the poor and hungry are filled with good things, while the rich are
sent away empty handed. Mary knew her Jewish scriptures very well to have this
vivid upside down picture in mind. It is the picture of God’s promise with the
coming of the Messiah. It is a clear reminder that things will not always be
unjust; that God’s preferential option is for the poor, hungry, and powerless.
When people of faith feel hopeless and helpless about injustice; when people of
faith go hungry, downtrodden and discouraged, and find no way to ‘fight the
system’ – they remember God’s promise of turning everything upside down. It is
not for the purpose of social reversal so that the powerful and rich would now
become the lowly and poor. Otherwise the cycle of oppression would continue.
Rather, it speaks of a radical change – a social leveling – so that those who
have been deprived will be given what they need so they too can live decently;
while those who have more than enough will stop amassing more for themselves
but share with those who have less.
You all
know the song, “Give thanks with a grateful heart”. The original version has
only this part which is sung twice: “And now let the weak say ‘I am strong’,
let the poor say ‘I am rich’ because of what the Lord has done for us.” When we
first learned this song here at KUC, Beng Seng felt uncomfortable that
something was missing. He then suggested adding, “And now let the strong say ‘I
will care’, let the rich say ‘I will share’ because of what the Lord has done
for us”, in order to convey that social leveling that we read in the Bible.
Although
some people may still believe that the blessedness of Mary is in her having
been chosen to bear the Christ child, I believe that her blessedness lies in
her choice to be courageous to be an instrument for turning the world and its
norms upside down. As a Jew who was grounded in her scriptures, she knew of
God’s promise of a more just world. But more than having that knowledge, she was
willing to be part of realizing that promise even if it meant turning her own
life upside down. And that takes lots of courage.
Giving
birth to a child is not the only
calling of women. Giving birth to ideas and actions to help transform the world
is an equally great, or even greater, calling – not only for women but for all
people, of all ages. And giving birth to ideas and actions that are
counter-cultural and transformational takes lots of courage.
Consider
Greta Thunberg, a16-year old Swedish environmental
activist whose campaign for immediate
action to address the climate crisis has inspired a global
movement. As part of her campaign to reduce
carbon footprint, she convinced her parents to become vegetarian; and she
traveled by boat to speak at the recent climate conference in Spain. She is
another young woman who is turning the world upside down, despite the
criticisms, risks, and challenges. Some people say that she does not speak
about God in her campaign. But I say that her campaign has everything to do
with the whole creation of God!
Choose to
be courageous! According to some psychologists, courage entails certain
attributes. First is courage includes
feeling fear yet choosing to act. Courage is not the absence of fear, but the triumph over it.
As Nelson Mandela said, “the brave (one) is not (they) who do not feel afraid,
but they who conquer that fear.”
Second, courage
is following your heart/your passion. The word courage is Coeur in French and cor
in Latin, meaning heart. Midori Komatsu says, “Passion is what drives us
crazy, what makes us do extraordinary things, to discover, to challenge
ourselves. Passion is and should always be the heart of courage.”
Third, courage
is standing up for what is right. N.D. Wilson
says,
"Sometimes standing against evil is more important than defeating it. The
greatest heroes stand because it is right to do so, not because they believe
they will walk away with their lives. Such selfless courage is a victory in
itself.”
Fourth,
courage is expanding your horizons by letting go of the familiar. Lord
Chesterfield said, “One cannot
discover new oceans unless they have the courage to lose sight of the
shore.”
Mary’s life
got turned upside down by the news of the angel Gabriel. Then she sang of a
world turned upside down where those who are high and exalted are brought low;
those who are poor and hungry are filled. She sang of a child in her womb who
would go about dislodging, disrupting, disturbing – so that God’s love, justice
and mercy would reign in the world. It took courage to do all that.
This act of
turning the world upside down became a movement for later, one of the charges
against the Christians, the followers of this Christ Jesus, was, “These people
are turning the whole world upside down” (Acts 17:6).
So let us
think of Christmas as a time when God began turning things upside down. May the
Christmas carols that we sing this Christmas reflect God’s vision of turning
things upside down. And may we all become pregnant
with ideas and actions as we participate in that movement of turning the
world upside down so God’s love, justice and mercy would reign. Remember,
choose to be courageous – for the Christ Jesus promised to be with us. Always.
Amen.
# posted by Kowloon Union Church : Sunday, December 15, 2019
