Word & Worship for 20 December -- the Fourth Sunday of Advent

 

Oration for the Fourth Sunday of Pentecost

Stir up your power, Lord Christ, and come. With your abundant grace and might, free us from the sin that would obstruct your mercy, that willingly we may bear your redeeming love to all the world, for you live and reign with the Father and the Holy Spirit, one God now and forever.  Amen.

The Prayers of the Church:

·         For continued progress on vaccines and therapeutics for the virus…

·      For our bishops, Susan and Michael and the local deans, Let us pray…		·
·      For the congregation of St. Peter’s Evangelical Lutheran Church in Brodhagen and their pastor, Pr. Laura Sauder, let us pray…	·

·         For all the needs and prayers we hold in our hearts…

     (a time of silent prayer)… let us pray…

First Reading: 2 Samuel 7:1-11

7 Now when the king was settled in his house, and the Lord had given him rest from all his enemies around him, ² the king said to the prophet Nathan, “See now, I am living in a house of cedar, but the ark of God stays in a tent.” ³ Nathan said to the king, “Go, do all that you have in mind; for the Lord is with you.”

⁴ But that same night the word of the Lord came to Nathan: ⁵ Go and tell my servant David: Thus says the Lord: Are you the one to build me a house to live in? ⁶ I have not lived in a house since the day I brought up the people of Israel from Egypt to this day, but I have been moving about in a tent and a tabernacle.  ⁷ Wherever I have moved about among all the people of Israel, did I ever speak a word with any of the tribal leaders of Israel, whom I commanded to shepherd my people Israel, saying, “Why have you not built me a house of cedar?” ⁸ Now therefore thus you shall say to my servant David: Thus says the Lord of hosts: I took you from the pasture, from following the sheep to be prince over my people Israel; ⁹ and I have been with you wherever you went, and have cut off all your enemies from before you; and I will make for you a great name, like the name of the great ones of the earth. ¹⁰ And I will appoint a place for my people Israel and will plant them, so that they may live in their own place, and be disturbed no more; and evildoers shall afflict them no more, as formerly, ¹¹ from the time that I appointed judges over my people Israel; and I will give you rest from all your enemies. Moreover the Lord declares to you that the Lord will make you a house.

 

Responsorial: Luke 1:46b-55

“My soul magnifies the Lord,
     and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior,
for he has looked with favor on the lowliness of his servant.
    Surely, from now on all generations will call me blessed;
for the Mighty One has done great things for me,
    and holy is his name.
His mercy is for those who fear him
    from generation to generation.
He has shown strength with his arm;
    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.
He has helped his servant Israel,
    in remembrance of his mercy,
according to the promise he made to our ancestors,
    to Abraham and to his descendants forever.”

 

Second Reading: Romans 16:25-27

²⁵ Now to God who is able to strengthen you according to my gospel and the proclamation of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery that was kept secret for long ages ²⁶ but is now disclosed, and through the prophetic writings is made known to all the Gentiles, according to the command of the eternal God, to bring about the obedience of faith— ²⁷ to the only wise God, through Jesus Christ, to whom be the glory forever! Amen.

Gospel Verse:

Alleluia.

   What no eye has seen, nor ear heard,
    nor the human heart conceived,

    what God has prepared for those who love him” Alleluia..

Reading: Luke 1:26-38

²⁶ In the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent by God to a town in Galilee called Nazareth, ²⁷ to a virgin engaged to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David. The virgin’s name was Mary. ²⁸ And he came to her and said, “Greetings, favored one! The Lord is with you.” ²⁹ But she was much perplexed by his words and pondered what sort of greeting this might be. ³⁰ The angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. ³¹ And now, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you will name him Jesus. ³² He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Most High, and the Lord God will give to him the throne of his ancestor David. ³³ He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end.” ³⁴ Mary said to the angel, “How can this be, since I am a virgin?” ³⁵ The angel said to her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be holy; he will be called Son of God. ³⁶ And now, your relative Elizabeth in her old age has also conceived a son; and this is the sixth month for her who was said to be barren. ³⁷ For nothing will be impossible with God.” ³⁸ Then Mary said, “Here am I, the servant of the Lord; let it be with me according to your word.” Then the angel departed from her.

he has filled the hungry with good things, and sent the rich away empty.

·         The opening hymn of praise – which is really the responsorial for today – is called the Magnificat or Mary’s Canticle, a poem which Luke places in the mouth of Mary, the mother of Jesus when she meets her cousin, Elizabeth, the mother of John the Baptizer.

·         Both Elizabeth and the child in her womb recognized that Mary was carrying the Messiah and Elizabeth praises her as “Blessed are you among women.” Mary responds with this beautiful hymn of praise.

·         Yet it is more than a hymn of praise; it is prophecy. Prophecy is not predicting the future; it is proclaiming the will of God in the present. Mary gives praise to God for what God has done for her and for what God is doing for the world. Actually what God is doing for the entire created order. The One she carries within her is the One who will change everything and eventually bring the new creation. (Hint: that’s why Jesus rose on the first day of the week, the eighth day of creation, as we know from the Genesis story.)

·         Yes, Mary is grateful for what God has done for her: he has looked with favor on the lowliness of his servant.
Surely, from now on all generations will call me blessed; for the Mighty One has done great things for me

·         She goes on, offering praise to God: and holy is his name. As Mary goes further, the tone changes a bit. The canticle tells of how God in Jesus will reverse so much and turn things entirely on their head. No doubt some people will have problems with what is really being said.

·         It sounds political and it might be since it takes the present status quo to task as un-godly. Anything that challenges the way things are is presumed to be political. However, there is a difference between political and partisan. To be partisan often means being part of the power of rulers or of those who would be the rulers.

·         Mary’s canticle of praise includes prophecy of what is to come through the life and preaching of the One she bears.

·         That One will be opposed and eventually killed because of what he taught.

·         To this day, some people have problems with what he taught. Now as then, the powerful often wish to retain power, even at the expense of others.

·         The so-called rich wish to maintain their riches, often through the toil and perspiration of others.

·         Those on the thrones wish to remain on the thrones, often at the cost of someone else’s blood, sweat, and tears.

·         The “proud” don’t wish to be questioned and surely don’t wish to be scattered.

·         In the years in which this was written, the powerful, rich, proud, and enthroned often got their positions and maintained them through oppression and injustice and even say it as the will of God. The ideas of what these words mean have changed a number of times over the years. Still, there are those who see themselves in the same way as the “proud” and “rich” of the past.

·         What this canticle speaks of is a cosmic reversal in all things. Power and riches will have new meanings. The lowly will be lifted up while those enthroned – even if only on a throne in their own mind – will be toppled.

·         This is not a mere change in regime or a replacement of one dynasty with another; the world has seen plenty of that. What is spoken of is a full change as promised from the earliest time and as Mary stated according to the promise he made to our ancestors, to Abraham and to his descendants forever. All this will be done because of God’s promise and for God’s own reasons.

·         Even though the canticle speaks in rather universal terms, it is possible to apply all this to the self, for we set up our own little kingdoms under King Self and that tyrant will be toppled and laid low while a more just rule will be brought in and applied.

·         The Kingdom coming will be the Kingdom of God, the rule promised even to our earliest ancestors in faith and ushered in with the presence of Emmanuel, God-with-us. That alone is an even greater thing since the Kingdom includes not only the rule of God, but the presence of God. As always, it is a matter of grace and the power of God.

·         Someday Mary’s canticle will be ours, and we’ll all say My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior, for he has looked with favor on the lowliness of his servant.