Our Worship
As we worship today, notice how Mary’s soul overflows with poetic adoration of God. This passage of scripture is often referred to as “Mary’s song.” It’s as if everyday language cannot capture the full depth of love she feels for God, so she turns to lyrical prose. Consider worshipping God today in a more poetic way, allow the Spirit to guide your heartfelt worship, perhaps even considering writing a poem in response.
Luke 1:46-47 Common English Bible (CEB)
46 Mary said,
With all my heart I glorify the Lord!
47 In the depths of who I am I rejoice in God my savior.
Our Longings
- When you consider your deepest longing you have identified these last two weeks, if this longing is fulfilled, how will it bring God’s Kingdom?
- What are the things you do that block or deny this longing from being fulfilled?
We’ll keep these two questions in mind as we journey through this third week. Return to them often and listen for God’s voice.
Scripture
Luke 1:46-55 Common English Bible (CEB)
Mary praises God
46 Mary said,
With all my heart I glorify the Lord!
47 In the depths of who I am I rejoice in God my savior.
48 He has looked with favor on the low status of his servant.
Look! From now on, everyone will consider me highly favored
49 because the mighty one has done great things for me.
Holy is his name.
50 He shows mercy to everyone,
from one generation to the next,
who honors him as God.
51 He has shown strength with his arm.
He has scattered those with arrogant thoughts and proud inclinations.
52 He has pulled the powerful down from their thrones
and lifted up the lowly.
53 He has filled the hungry with good things
and sent the rich away empty-handed.
54 He has come to the aid of his servant Israel,
remembering his mercy,
55 just as he promised to our ancestors,
to Abraham and to Abraham’s descendants forever.
Our Meditation
A Liberator is coming
As we considered yesterday, usually it’s the most afflicted, oppressed, and beaten down who notice God’s arrival first.
Today, as we meditate on Mary’s song, let’s not miss the powerful societal undercurrents she is singing about.
It’s easy to miss because of the poetic language of Mary’s overflowing heart, but Mary is speaking of a coming Liberator. She’s talking in stark revolutionary language.
In Mary’s day, anyone who heard this would instantly know what she was talking about. The Roman Empire elevated the rich to elite status. They were the powerful. They were the most favored.
And here we hear Mary saying she will be considered the most favored. Her “mighty one” – not the Roman Emperor – has done great things for her! This is subversive and dangerous language.
Mary is talking of a great coming King who will absolutely flip societal structure upside down:
Where the oppressed were previously scattered, now the arrogant shall be.
Where once the powerful ruled from on high, now the lowly shall rule.
Where the rich once enjoyed the finest food, now the hungry will dine like kings.
Today, we live in a society where this oppression is still happening. There are those who are starving, walled off from food by the opulence around them. There are those who are scattered and homeless, while most of us live in homes with entire rooms we haven’t visited in months. There are those who rule for their own self-interest, while ignoring the voiceless. Not much has changed.
God notices
But how do we sing such a joyous song when we find ourselves without much reason to sing?
What if this Christmas season brings more pain than cheer?
What if you’ve just lost someone you loved deeply? What if you can’t break free from your years-long addiction? What if Christmas means being around people who have deeply wounded you, forcing you to wrap a fake smile on your face thinner than the shiny paper on the presents under the tree?
This third week of Advent carries with it a theme of joy and celebration, but what do we do if we find ourselves barren of joy this Christmas season?
I have good news for you and for me: God notices.
Suffering and pain thin the space between our world full of oppressive systems and darkness.
There comes a point in our suffering when we look at this world and realize there really is no hope in it, there is nothing this world can offer that will take away our pain. Sometimes, the pain we feel just is – and we know there is nothing we, or the world, or anyone in the world, can do about it.
So we finally take our eyes off this world and heaven bursts through.
The space between our life and heaven is thinned by our suffering and God notices – God has always noticed – but we finally notice His presence and we find Him noticing us.
“He has looked with favor on me,” Mary says.
God comes to us
When God comes to us, He comes as a babe in a manger. He humbles himself to the very helplessness of a baby, dependent on others for life.
Finding joy in our pain
Frank Hart writes, “Those in power write the history, those who suffer write the songs.”
I don’t want this Advent devotional to sink into mushy sentimentalism because it’s really hard to experience joy in our suffering – like, really really hard. And anyone who says it isn?t probably writes for Hallmark for their day job.
But Mary found this joy. In one of the most oppressive eras, while unexpectedly and probably at first unwelcomingly finding herself pregnant and fearing for her life, she found joy.
We find joy relationally
The enemy conspires to bring about our destruction at his own peril, for it is through the very destruction of all we thought would bring us joy that we begin to see there is no hope in the things of this world.
So we suffer and we find ourselves joyless.
Then God notices us and we notice Him coming.
He comes with mercy and grace and love.
Notice how Mary says that it was “in the depths of who I am I rejoice in God my savior.”
Joy is relational. God comes relationally. He comes as a Liberator, true, and He will liberate us. He will take care of our external circumstances. But joy does not spring from external places.
God comes to us as Life, entering through our depths and making His home there, where our wounds live and are covered with black shame. It’s in that forgotten place where God comes as light.
God knows our joy comes from remembering who we once were, who we are in Him, who He created us to be.
We’ve forgotten ourselves.
Joy comes to remind us: I am here, in the last place you looked, and I’m so glad you looked. Welcome home. I’ve always been here and I’m never leaving.
Never is a long time. Longer than what’s going on around us.
- Where do you need joy today?
- How does thinking of joy in terms of your relationship with God help?
- How is He inviting you to respond?
Intercession
God always comes to those who suffer. He wants us to move toward those who suffer in love. How might you do that today with one person?
A Closing Prayer
Lord God,
There are times when I look around me and feel that all hope is lost. Lord, help me to look for you.
Amen.
- This evening, continue again to worship through Psalm 80:3 as a personal prayer. Return to this often over this Advent season.
- As you begin your day tomorrow, re-read this passage of scripture and ask God to bring the awareness of His presence to you throughout your day.
Scriptures from Our Advent Series
Texts for First Advent Week: Isaiah 64:1-9; 1 Corinthians 1:3-9; Mark 13:24-37; Psalm 80:1-7, 16-18
Texts for Second Advent Week: Isaiah 40:1-11; 2 Peter 3:8-15a; Psalm 85:1-2, 8-13; Mark 1:1-8
Texts for Third Advent Week: Isaiah 61:1-4, 8-11; Psalm 126; Luke 1:46b-55; 1 Thessalonians 5:16-24; John 1:6-8, 19-28
