It is Saturday morning as I write this. A day of scurrying around and putting things away. Things that should have been put away days ago. But no one seemed to care all that much. Just pile it up, let it sit, no big deal. Except this morning it looks like a big deal. It looks like no one cares. It looks like no one lives here any more. Like something better came up and every dropped - literally dropped - whatever they were doing and headed out. It looks like the Visigoths swooped in and set up camp in our family room and kitchen.
OK, before I get email from the Visigoth Anti-Defamation League, let me quickly say that some of my best friends are Visigoths. No, better yet, some of my teenagers are card carrying Visigoths. Well, if they could keep track of their cards. We stumble across all sorts of stuff that we had lost track of these past few days. It’s that kind of day around here. And now, it is raining too. Great.
So, you might well ask, what brought about this change in perspective. If clutter and disarray was acceptable, almost unnoticeable yesterday, why the concern now? La Donna is coming home this morning. Funny how the world looks different because that advent. It is as though we found our glasses, or rubbed the sleep out of our eyes and were finally able to focus on the rubble and a rising panic puts wings on our feet as we scurry around trying to bring order to the chaos. Even the dogs seems to be arranging their chew toys in some semblance of order. Granted it is an order that only makes sense in a canine perspective, but order is order.
Let me be clear, it isn’t fear that motivates us. Well, not completely. I mean no one wants to hear that “Guys!” of exasperation, the “what were you thinking?” as she salvages what once might have been edible from under the coats that should have been hung up and sorts out the paper for recycling from the receipts to be filed away. That eye rolling enhanced sigh can cause many a stout heart to fail, believe you me!
But is more about the joy of the reunion, more about wanting to provide a bright and shiny welcome. It is also about not adding to her burden by getting the feeling that we are unable to function without her. Because she is coming back as a respite from her own vigil, her own waiting. She has spent these past few weeks with her dad as he navigates his final journey in this life. Not every advent is anticipated with comfort and joy.
Luke 1:46-55 And Mary said, "My soul magnifies the Lord, 47 and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior, 48 for he has looked with favor on the lowliness of his servant. Surely, from now on all generations will call me blessed; 49 for the Mighty One has done great things for me, and holy is his name. 50 His mercy is for those who fear him from generation to generation. 51 He has shown strength with his arm; he has scattered the proud in the thoughts of their hearts. 52 He has brought down the powerful from their thrones, and lifted up the lowly; 53 he has filled the hungry with good things, and sent the rich away empty. 54 He has helped his servant Israel, in remembrance of his mercy, 55 according to the promise he made to our ancestors, to Abraham and to his descendants forever."
Mary didn’t write this song, but it was still soul music for her. It came from the depths of her new experience. Mary was be all accounts very young, a teenager or even preteen. And yet there is a depth here. A surprising prophetic depth that can barely be understood, let alone explained.
A few verses earlier in Luke’s account she is standing with a puzzled look on her face in front of an angel. “How can this be?” she squeaks. It is beyond her, this whole event, this Annunciation, and you can hear the capital A in the description. Certainly Mary could. She knew, somehow, that this was big, bigger than her and for some unexplainable reason including her. “How can this be?”
And now, in the presence of another, a woman too old to be a mother, more suited for the geriatric ward than obstetrics, Mary - too young to be a mother - sings with a wisdom beyond her scant years. Sounding like a prophet of old, she should have slipped in a “thus saith the Lord” somewhere along there, then we wouldn’t have had reason to doubt where she stood. She stands in a line of proclaimers who want us to know that God is about to turn the world upside down. And she does it with a song. A song of praise and hope, a song of confidence and glory, a song of blessing and presence. A song of completion though all is just barely begun.
It is because she now sees differently. The life within her has affected her vision, and she sees what is out of place but she is also able to see how it ought to be - or can be - or will be. And she sees it so clearly it becomes an is. Notice all the past tense verbs in Mary’s song. “He has shown strength... He has scattered ... He has brought down and lifted up ... He has filled the hungry, He has send away the full. He has. Not he will, or He might, or maybe someday something like this just might occur. He has, Mary sings. From her soul. The soul now giving life to God, the soul now housing the savior, about to birth the hope of the world. No wonder she sings soul music.
Soul music, according to one definition is gospel music that has gone to town. The styles, the forms, the passion of gospel music burst out of the church and began to address the world, secular themes and issues and became known as soul music. The gospel at loose in the world. What better description for Mary’s song can we find than that? This isn’t simply a song about spiritual themes and churchy attitudes. This isn’t a song about faith development divorced from interaction in a messy and broken world. This is soul music, echoing the cry of a heart longing for redemption and the hope of a faith resting in the promises of God while working through the body of Christ to bring this hope to reality in the world in which we live.
No doubt there are some music afficionados out there who are thinking to themselves, “I’ve heard some of what is called soul music and it sounds about as far from the gospel as you can get.” And you’d be right. That’s always the danger when you take your faith to work outside of the church, it can get messy, it can get confusing, it can lose its way. It happens at times, that’s part of the risk of living your faith. But it can also get deeper, get stronger, get more real. Listen closely, those themes, that hope is still out there, being sung by those who wouldn’t call themselves churchy types, in fact go out of their way to distance themselves from us. And yet the passions, the hopes still bubble away out there. And maybe our job is to see with new eyes this world in which we live. See it as something worth working in, something worth cleaning up, because someone is coming home.
La Donna got home in the midst of writing this. We managed to clear some of the surfaces before she got here and her homecoming was less painful than it might have been. It looked a little like someone had bothered to prepare the way. We got caught up, choked back some tears, laughed at our feeble efforts to maintain equilibrium in this advent time. And we proclaimed the goodness of God, who has given us this gift of precious time, even while we long for peace and for rest. But do not doubt that it will come, it is here, in God’s own time. The Mighty One has done great things and holy is His name.
Shalom,
Derek
OK, before I get email from the Visigoth Anti-Defamation League, let me quickly say that some of my best friends are Visigoths. No, better yet, some of my teenagers are card carrying Visigoths. Well, if they could keep track of their cards. We stumble across all sorts of stuff that we had lost track of these past few days. It’s that kind of day around here. And now, it is raining too. Great.
So, you might well ask, what brought about this change in perspective. If clutter and disarray was acceptable, almost unnoticeable yesterday, why the concern now? La Donna is coming home this morning. Funny how the world looks different because that advent. It is as though we found our glasses, or rubbed the sleep out of our eyes and were finally able to focus on the rubble and a rising panic puts wings on our feet as we scurry around trying to bring order to the chaos. Even the dogs seems to be arranging their chew toys in some semblance of order. Granted it is an order that only makes sense in a canine perspective, but order is order.
Let me be clear, it isn’t fear that motivates us. Well, not completely. I mean no one wants to hear that “Guys!” of exasperation, the “what were you thinking?” as she salvages what once might have been edible from under the coats that should have been hung up and sorts out the paper for recycling from the receipts to be filed away. That eye rolling enhanced sigh can cause many a stout heart to fail, believe you me!
But is more about the joy of the reunion, more about wanting to provide a bright and shiny welcome. It is also about not adding to her burden by getting the feeling that we are unable to function without her. Because she is coming back as a respite from her own vigil, her own waiting. She has spent these past few weeks with her dad as he navigates his final journey in this life. Not every advent is anticipated with comfort and joy.
Luke 1:46-55 And Mary said, "My soul magnifies the Lord, 47 and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior, 48 for he has looked with favor on the lowliness of his servant. Surely, from now on all generations will call me blessed; 49 for the Mighty One has done great things for me, and holy is his name. 50 His mercy is for those who fear him from generation to generation. 51 He has shown strength with his arm; he has scattered the proud in the thoughts of their hearts. 52 He has brought down the powerful from their thrones, and lifted up the lowly; 53 he has filled the hungry with good things, and sent the rich away empty. 54 He has helped his servant Israel, in remembrance of his mercy, 55 according to the promise he made to our ancestors, to Abraham and to his descendants forever."
Mary didn’t write this song, but it was still soul music for her. It came from the depths of her new experience. Mary was be all accounts very young, a teenager or even preteen. And yet there is a depth here. A surprising prophetic depth that can barely be understood, let alone explained.
A few verses earlier in Luke’s account she is standing with a puzzled look on her face in front of an angel. “How can this be?” she squeaks. It is beyond her, this whole event, this Annunciation, and you can hear the capital A in the description. Certainly Mary could. She knew, somehow, that this was big, bigger than her and for some unexplainable reason including her. “How can this be?”
And now, in the presence of another, a woman too old to be a mother, more suited for the geriatric ward than obstetrics, Mary - too young to be a mother - sings with a wisdom beyond her scant years. Sounding like a prophet of old, she should have slipped in a “thus saith the Lord” somewhere along there, then we wouldn’t have had reason to doubt where she stood. She stands in a line of proclaimers who want us to know that God is about to turn the world upside down. And she does it with a song. A song of praise and hope, a song of confidence and glory, a song of blessing and presence. A song of completion though all is just barely begun.
It is because she now sees differently. The life within her has affected her vision, and she sees what is out of place but she is also able to see how it ought to be - or can be - or will be. And she sees it so clearly it becomes an is. Notice all the past tense verbs in Mary’s song. “He has shown strength... He has scattered ... He has brought down and lifted up ... He has filled the hungry, He has send away the full. He has. Not he will, or He might, or maybe someday something like this just might occur. He has, Mary sings. From her soul. The soul now giving life to God, the soul now housing the savior, about to birth the hope of the world. No wonder she sings soul music.
Soul music, according to one definition is gospel music that has gone to town. The styles, the forms, the passion of gospel music burst out of the church and began to address the world, secular themes and issues and became known as soul music. The gospel at loose in the world. What better description for Mary’s song can we find than that? This isn’t simply a song about spiritual themes and churchy attitudes. This isn’t a song about faith development divorced from interaction in a messy and broken world. This is soul music, echoing the cry of a heart longing for redemption and the hope of a faith resting in the promises of God while working through the body of Christ to bring this hope to reality in the world in which we live.
No doubt there are some music afficionados out there who are thinking to themselves, “I’ve heard some of what is called soul music and it sounds about as far from the gospel as you can get.” And you’d be right. That’s always the danger when you take your faith to work outside of the church, it can get messy, it can get confusing, it can lose its way. It happens at times, that’s part of the risk of living your faith. But it can also get deeper, get stronger, get more real. Listen closely, those themes, that hope is still out there, being sung by those who wouldn’t call themselves churchy types, in fact go out of their way to distance themselves from us. And yet the passions, the hopes still bubble away out there. And maybe our job is to see with new eyes this world in which we live. See it as something worth working in, something worth cleaning up, because someone is coming home.
La Donna got home in the midst of writing this. We managed to clear some of the surfaces before she got here and her homecoming was less painful than it might have been. It looked a little like someone had bothered to prepare the way. We got caught up, choked back some tears, laughed at our feeble efforts to maintain equilibrium in this advent time. And we proclaimed the goodness of God, who has given us this gift of precious time, even while we long for peace and for rest. But do not doubt that it will come, it is here, in God’s own time. The Mighty One has done great things and holy is His name.
Shalom,
Derek
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