Unlocking the Magnificat

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IN this season of advent we pray for all awaiting relief from ill-health. We pray for those locked-down, and locked-in to poverty, anxiety, abuse, addiction or hurt of any kind. And we pray the Magnificat with Mary the mother of Jesus, praying for reconciliation both within our hearts and for justice, peace and reconciliation in the world.

One of the first lessons I learned in becoming a mediator was that if I wanted to help birth peace in the world I first had to embrace that journey within myself. This is a daily task. The more I can hone the art of confession and forgiveness, regularly reviewing and renewing my own inner journey, the more I am able to recognise and reach out to the ‘other.’ The more humbly we acknowledge our own part in the brokenness around us, the more we may join forces with others to transform the world. This inner-outer dance is a core element in the work of reconciliation.

Mary’s words as she begins her journey to motherhood offer us a pattern for this task.

Verses 46-49 of this magnificent song of justice locate us firmly in Mary’s own heart. This canticle begins with a deeply personal reflection by a young woman clear about her experience of God. Mary speaks of ‘my soul’ and ‘my spirit’ magnifying and rejoicing. She acknowledges her own journey of being uplifted by a God who believes in the ‘little people’ and the courage she takes from this knowledge (48).

The pivotal text, verse 50, invites revolution. Here we are radically turned around. The doorway to mercy, this blessing, this transformation of a personal soul to become part of the salvation story is unlocked not by dint of greatness, power or privilege. This pathway to salvation is open to ‘those who fear him from generation to generation.’ And so our attention turns outwards.

The text is clear. The transformation of the world will come through justice modelled on God’s great actions. No passive reflections here, but seven action-focussed radical callings clearly pointing the way to a more peaceful and just world order: 1) show strength 2) scatter the proud 3) bring down the powerful 4) lift up the lowly 5) fill the hungry 6) send the rich away and 7) help the servant Israel.

We are left in no doubt either how we are to behave: humbly and with gratitude; or how we are to act: with strength and power in favour of the poor, as we join with Mary in ushering in a new world order.

In the tradition of the Religious Society of Friends we tend to play down religious festivals and ceremonies not because we are party-poopers, but because in fact each season is advent, each day is Christmas Day, each meal is a celebration of the sacrament (and each person is holy, ordained by God).

As we journey through advent we hold before God all who are separated from one another across the globe not only by a virus but by all that tears us and our planet apart. We pray for humility and strength to turn the world upside down in favour of all locked-in and locked-down.

And we pray for the courage and the compulsion to remember that justice is not just for Christmas.

Amen. ¤

Ruth Harvey is a Church of Scotland minister and Leader of the Iona Community.