He is our song’, based on Luke 1: 46 - 55
Narrator:
It doesn’t look like a musical. The overture ended not with a soaring
crescendo but rather a quiet, intense melody, slipping softly into a final
chord that feels unfinished & expectant. The lights come up on stage to
reveal an elderly priest, tending to the incense burning in the temple. An
Angel appears and tells the old man that he’s going to be a father. He falls
mute in disbelief. Next, we meet his wife, “well along in years”, reads the
script, yet she is indeed pregnant.
Very soon, the wife has a visitor, a young woman who is also expecting a
child. We recognize the leading female character instantly, and wait
breathlessly for the music to begin. Of course she will sing – that’s Mary,
the mother of our Lord Jesus. This is Act One, scene one, of the greatest
story ever told – the epic & never-ending Christian saga. Sing Mary, tell us
your story.
Mary:
I have so much to tell you! I’ve been asked – no, chosen – to serve God as
the mother of His only Son. The official story describes me as being,
“greatly troubled” when an angel came to tell me.
Well, no kidding! I was freaked out! But the angel was very reassuring &
now, I believe that it’s truly going to happen, that the baby I’m carrying IS
the Christ, the One promised by the prophets of old. It must be true. I went
to visit my cousin Elizabeth; she said that as I came into view, her unborn
child “leaped for joy” in her womb.
It’s not like me to burst into song, & I don’t understand what came over me,
but it just poured out, my song of faith. There wasn’t any other way to
describe what this feels like, or to tell you how it IS for me to serve God
like this. “My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my
Saviour.”
Narrator:
I doubt that Luke set out to write a musical, & it’s curious that Mary should
sing at all. Consider her situation: she gave birth to Jesus in 6 BC, into a
society where women are property – exchangeable, replaceable,
dispensable. Status for women and for men was entirely dependent on
honour. I doubt we can even imagine the shame, for the whole family,
associated with a daughter’s pregnancy before marriage.
Mary:
Oh, Joseph & I are married. Well, according to our customs – & in the eyes
of synagogue priests – he and I are technically married during the
engagement, even though we don’t yet share a home or … (shyly) you
know.
No, the shame is … (like it’s a secret) this is not my husband’s child. How
do I explain this to my family?, to the priests at the temple? They think I’ve
been unfaithful to Joseph, & the penalty for that is … (indicate the baby,
look down, rub belly) … I don’t want to think about it. Of course, I want to
do God’s will, but God sure doesn’t make it easy.
Narrator:
But your song! It’s so joyful! Aren’t you worried? I mean, you’re what …
maybe 14? And carrying a baby that isn’t your husband’s, so by rights, no
one in your family or your friends even has to associate with you anymore.
Aren’t you scared?!
Mary:
Well, I am now! You’re not helping.
Narrator:
Sorry about that.
Mary:
Forgiven. Because I trust God. Sure, God has put me in a very difficult
position but I don’t resent Him for that. I’m feeling humbled & hopeful &
deeply grateful. “God has looked with favour on the lowliness of His
servant.” I am privileged to cuddle the Son of God; I will get to hear His
first words, to watch His first steps & to kiss it all better when He scrapes
His knees. God is fulfilling those ancient prophecies & I get to be a part of
the plan! Listen to my song → the past, the present & the promise of the
future all meet & are held together with this Baby! God is trusting me with
His Child; I can trust Him to give me the courage & the peace that I’m going
to need for whatever comes.
Narrator:
And there it is, the reason she can sing & the key to peace: trust. Belief in
God’s existence is one thing; to trust that God’s got your back, no matter
what, is entirely different. Mary’s song is proof that God is very directly
engaged & intertwined with our lives. He gives meaning to the mundane,
He cries with us in crisis & He delights in our happiness.
So Mary, as the Mother of the Christ, your life must have been blessed with
ease & contentment?
Mary:
NOOO! Being the Mother of Jesus was harder than I can possibly describe:
the fear throughout the pregnancy, the weight of the responsibility to raise
Him, & of course, we know what I had to witness at the end.
Narrator:
Do you wish God had called someone else to be Jesus’ Mom?
Mary:
NOOO! I wouldn’t have given that up for all the gifts of Heaven & earth. The
Baby would be the cause of my sharpest sorrow, but being His Mother
would also bring my greatest joy & my deepest peace.
Narrator:
Thank you for your song, Mary; thank you for the reminder that God’s gifts
don’t always appear in the wrapping we might expect, & they don’t
necessarily make life simple and perfect.
Let’s meet Emily, a healthy 28 year old when she became pregnant with
her first child. Emily, how was the first trimester?
Emily:
Fabulous!
Narrator:
And how did it go after that?
Emily:
Sheer hell. My metabolism came to a full stop, I put on over 60 pounds, I
was bloated up like the ‘Michelin man’ & we had a record-breaking wave of
heat & humidity through the late spring. I wasn’t even at the 6 month mark
yet! Because of this baby, my blood pressure was dangerously high, & then
we had a sudden death in the family. Wham! I'm in the hospital, stressed &
anxious; the pregnancy was suddenly risky so I’m confined to a bed for 2
months.
Narrator:
But you love the summer - that’s your season: tennis, hiking, swimming at
the cottage, out on the boat. And you’re …
Emily:
… stuck inside a hospital room because of this baby. As big as a house,
grossly uncomfortable, bedridden, not allowed to even stand up or go out to
feel the sun on my face, and it’s all because of this baby. I wish I’d never
gotten pregnant. This baby has ruined everything.
Narrator:
Eventually, she was permitted to go home but under strict orders to avoid
the sun, not to overheat, & to stay off her feet. How long did that last?
Emily:
About 2 weeks. There was no way I was going to miss that wedding.
Narrator:
A good friend of the family was getting married but it turned out to be the
hottest day of the summer. Emily was there, loudly complaining all morning
about the baby & how uncomfortable she was → hard Presbyterian pews
were never meant for women ‘great with child’. But what happened then?
Emily:
I heard the promises: “for better or for worse, …. In sickness & in health …
what God has joined, let no one separate.”
This baby was a blessing from God; this baby was His call to parenthood &
the sign of His faith in us; this baby came from love & was the promise of
love for future generations. I’d forgotten the power of those vows, and that
God made promises to us, too.
Narrator:
You’d been holding on to so much resentment because it wasn’t going the
way you wanted it to. But now …
Emily:
.. now I could recommit to my family, & to trusting in God, who is always
somewhere in this mess, making miracles of my life. Mary’s song is my
song too: “My spirit rejoices … For the Mighty One has done great things
for me.”
Narrator:
Emily went through hell to rediscover the beauty of her faith & her
commitment to motherhood. 2,000 years before, God’s unconditional
goodness appeared through a risky baby given to desperately poor parents
at a frightening & unstable time in history.
Emily:
This blessing of Jesus comes with needs – to be loved & trusted – & we
may hold back, a bit fearful of what this Divine Child wants from us in time
& energy, or what we’ll go through to know Him & be close to Him.
Mary:
Yet there is no way to measure what His birth means & the blessings He
secures for us – even if they don’t look the way we expect blessings to
look.
Narrator:
1st or 21st century, Mary’s song is our song: “from generation to generation
God has performed mighty deeds … He has lifted up the humble, He has
filled the hungry, … He remembers to be merciful.”
God still calls us forward, to trust and have no fear. For to us a Child is
born, to us a Son is given; He is our salvation & our song. Amen