They call Mary’s song/poem/rap the “Magnificat.” For many of us, it hits the ear the way hot chocolate hits the throat on a cold day. But, that’s only if we aren’t paying attention. Did you know Mary’s song/poem/rap was outlawed in more than a few countries? Somebody was paying attention. Somehow in Mary’s exchange with an angel, somehow in her faith life before the angel, Mary figured out that a life with God is about magnifying God. Not using God to magnify you! Mary learned that life with God is using your life and all of its circumstances and situations to increase the celebrity of God. Like, having on the tip of your tongue, that life with God has saved your life. That God’s mercy is what generation after generation have in common with one another. Those are the easy parts of the song/poem/rap to ingest. But then there’s the other part of God that Mary magnifies. Conceit and pride will be toppled. The mighty will become the meek and the meek will be elevated. The hungry finally will feast and those accustomed to feasting will learn what it means to be hungry. If you’re paying attention, you recognize that Mary is magnifying a God who has some clear ideas about equity and justice. The God of her song/poem/rap is a God biased in favor of those who fear God, those who are lowly, those who are hungry, and those who have built their lives on God’s promises. That ought to give the majority of us an uneasy pause. But maybe you’ll go a step further. How do you make sense of Mary’s song/poem/rap? How do you magnify a God who identifies with and delights in sharing the dirty corners of our world more than the marble corridors of power?
For People with Bishop Rob Wright
Bishop Wright is joined by special guest Bishop Andy Doyle of The Episcopal Diocese of Texas.