From ‘Uh-OH’ to ‘Ah-HAh!’: Attitude RUMC December 12, 2010

From ‘Uh-OH’ to ‘Ah-HAh!’: Attitude

RUMC December 12, 2010

Isn’t that beautiful?  The Magnificat is one of the most beautiful songs of the Christian faith - it’s Mary’s Song.  But it is not just beautiful it is powerful.

  William Barclay writes: "There’s a loveliness in the Magnificat but in that loveliness there’s dynamite." 

The former Archbishop of  Cantebury, William Temple, warned pastors about the magnificat. You see, during the last days of the British occupation of India, the police often visited church services because of the Christian community’s support of the Indian Revolution.  He told pastors not to use the Magnificat in worship because "It’s a most revolutionary canticle!"

It seems innocent enough when Krystyn Getty’s sings it. Her angelic voice could calm any troubled soul.  The song just relaxes me and makes me feel warm inside.   But that is not the  whole story.

It happened this way:

The angel visited Mary one day. 

^26-28In the sixth month of Elizabeth's pregnancy, God sent the angel Gabriel to the Galilean village of Nazareth to a virgin engaged to be married to a man descended from David. His name was Joseph, and the virgin's name, Mary. Upon entering, Gabriel greeted her:

   Good morning!
   You're beautiful with God's beauty,
   Beautiful inside and out!
   God be with you.

 ^29-33She was thoroughly shaken, wondering what was behind a greeting like that. But the angel assured her, "Mary, you have nothing to fear. God has a surprise for you: You will become pregnant and give birth to a son and call his name Jesus.

   He will be great,
      be called 'Son of the Highest.'
   The Lord God will give him
      the throne of his father David;
   He will rule Jacob's house forever—
      no end, ever, to his kingdom."

 ³⁴Mary said to the angel, "But how? I've never slept with a man."

 ³⁵The angel answered,

   The Holy Spirit will come upon you,
      the power of the Highest hover over you;
   Therefore, the child you bring to birth
      will be called Holy, Son of God.

 ^36-38"And did you know that Elizabeth conceived a son, old as she is? Everyone called her barren, and here she is six months pregnant! Nothing, you see, is impossible with God."

   And Mary said,

   Yes, I see it all now:
      I'm the Lord's maid, ready to serve.
   Let it be with me
      just as you say.

   Then the angel left her.

This is a miracle story.  Not just because the angel of the almighty God, named Gabriel, appeared; not just because of the annunciation; but because the angel appeared to a previously unknown child, from an anonymous family, that lived in a virtually unknown city, located in a region considered by most people to be utterly insignificant if not backwards.

But wait. . .  if that weren’t enough of a miracle, the divine  messenger brings word to the little girl that she is going to be pregnant, a teenage mother. She knows that this means people will look down upon her.  They will talk, as people do.  They will label her, and call her unkind names. In those few moments with the angel, her reputation and prospects for marriage crumbled.  Without any chance of marriage, she is doomed to a life of gleaning in the fields and begging.  That would be better, however,  than the other option of becoming a prostitute.  Better, . .  but just barely better.

The way I look at it, the big miracle here is that Mary does not run away, tearing her hair out, and screaming!

Isn’t that what most young girls would do?  This is the most frightening, humiliating, life-dream crushing, hope killing news Mary could have received.  It is a huge “Uh-OH”

‘Uh-OH’ I’m going to be pregnant.  ‘Uh-OH’ what will Joseph think. ‘Uh-OH’ what will my parents and the rest of the village think? ‘Uh-OH’ Will it hurt?  ‘Uh-OH’ Will it loose my figure?  ‘Uh-OH’ Will I be a good mom?

The story goes on to say “Mary got ready and hurried to a town in the hill country of Judea.” She went to see Elizabeth

What was she thinking?  Did she get scared?  Was she ashamed?  Did she intend to hide out with the favorite Aunt hoping this spirit would not find her and cause her to be  pregnant?  It doesn’t say, and I don’t know.  While she was there, however, another message came to her. This one from Elizabeth  who was also pregnant with the one we shall come to know as John the Baptist.

As soon as Elizabeth saw Marry, the baby John leapt inside of her.  He probably let out a great big kick.  Elizabeth confirms the Angel’s message by saying “Blessed is she who has believed that what the lord has said to her will be accomplished.”

That is when Mary breaks forth in this song.

The message translation does a beautiful job with the lyrics to her song.

I'm bursting with God-news; 
      I'm dancing the song of my Savior God. 
      God took one good look at me, and look what happened— 
      I'm the most fortunate woman on earth! 
   What God has done for me will never be forgotten, 
      the God whose very name is holy, set apart from all others. 
   His mercy flows in wave after wave 
      on those who are in awe before him.

So far so good.  So far the song is easy and beautiful and lovely. So far the song is a beautiful testimony to Mary’s faith in God and trust in what God is doing.  So far the song is a testimony to the faithful response of a scared little girl, upon finding out that she is about to give birth to God himself.

Mary made the move from “Oh-OH to AH-HA” and faithfully accepted her role in the salvation story.

Now we turn to the radical part.  The middle of the magnificat is so radical that I even read a story about a wealthy suburban church where the pastor would only used the first half of the magnificat because he didn’t want to upset his people.  I’m not afraid so here goes. . . The song goes on. . .

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.

It’s revolutionary because the world’s values are turned upside down.  Our values are turned upside down.  We may even be turned upside down.

Whether we like to admit it or whether feel like it, economically speaking, WE are among the world’s proud, and powerful and rich and the magnificat should make us uncomfortable. 

Whether we like to admit it or whether we feel like it or not, our nation is among the world’s proud, and powerful and rich and the magnificat should make us uncomfortable.

We should be uncomfortable because we are targets.  We are the among those at whom God is taking aim with the upside-down , inside-out, radical act of incarnation.

Understand this. . .  we are targets not because we are comparatively wealthy.  We are not targets because we are comparatively powerful.  We ARE targets because all these things tend to make us proud.  We are targets because all of these things tend to cause us to trust primarily on ourselves and our things rather than God.

Hebrew poetry is famous for its parallelisms.  Saying the same thing different ways.  That is one of the great study tools for Hebrew poetry like the Psalms. 

The first line here is the Key line he has scattered the proud in the thoughts of their hearts. The lines about bringing down the powerful and sending the rich away empty are in my opinion parallel lines.  They illustrate what is meant by the scattering the proud.    Basically the promise is those who put themselves on a pedestal are going to get knocked off.

Hey my pedestal partners!  We better hope our pedestals are not very tall.

In some ways I think our response to the magnificat represents our advent journey.

We enter Advent thinking “this is easy.”

We enter advent thinking “this is beautiful”

We enter advent thinking it is about silver bells, candles in windows, trees and gifts.  We proceed through advent thinking it is about cute little angels, curious shepherds, a romantic story about young love, an adventurous little journey, and the fulfilling of all the old promises.

But if that is all we see in advent we are headed to be knocked off of our pedestals.

If that is all we see in advent we are among the most prideful of the proud and we deserve to be knocked off our pedestals and land hard on our butts.

Advent is also about preparing for a new life, a new world and a new age!

Advent is also about the coming of the perfect almighty God into our sinful world and lives.

Advent is also about the appearing of the God of righteousness among the  unrighteousness of our culture, politics and relationships.

Advent is also about turning everything we think we have under control, upside down and revealing who is really the master of our lives and  the universe.

Advent Is also , like the magnificat, not  just sweet and sentimental.  Advent is about radical change for a world and for people who need to be radically changed.

The advent attitude then should not just be one of eager anticipation for the sweet baby Jesus, all neatly wrapped up in swaddling “bows” for us to ooo and aaaah over.

Our advent attitude should be two pronged: UH-OH and AH-HA.

FIREWORKS video

UH-OH here comes Jesus.  AH-HA  he’s coming.

UH-OH here comes the one who turns the world upside-down.  AH-HA  we need to be turned upside down.

UH-OH here comes the God who is always sticking his nose into my business, AH- ha I guess my business  isn’t really my business anyway.

Our attitude ought to be UH-OH here comes God with his no sinner left behind policy. AH- Ha God isn’t content to leave me in my sin.

Like The magnificat, Advent is a strange blend of UH-OH and AH-HA.

May this be a season of advent be for you as much  UH-OH as AH-HA.

And may it be for you as much AH-HA as UH-OH.