Sat, Jun 13, 2009
The Magnificat
Luke 1:46ff – “The Magnificat”
This is one of the church’s oldest hymns, saturated in the Old Testament (kin to Hannah’s song 1 Sam. 2:1-10); it shows the revolutionary nature of the Jesus’s work to come. In it, three revolutions of God are revealed.
1. “He scatters the proud in the plans of their hearts.” Christianity is the death of the prideful heart. Why? Because when revealed the reality of Christ, a person loses all thought that he is something to behold, and realizes that God’s grace, for no apparent worth of his own, was given to him, and matters of pride are left scattered. Christianity is a moral revolution.
2. “He brings down the mighty and exalts the humble.” Christianity erases the world’s labels and nulls social ranks. “Call no man worthless for whom Christ died,” are the words that we all must speak. There is no common man, but all are uncommon. There is no social status that cannot fail. Christianity is a social revolution.
3. “He has filled the hungry…the rich he has sent away empty handed.” We are not out to amass as much wealth as we can, but as one Tiftonite told me, “God gives to me so I can give to others.” A Christian society happens when no one person will have at the expense to those who have little, but where we work together to help the helpless, as God has helped us when we were helpless. Christianity is an economic revolution.
There is beauty in the Magnificat, but in its beauty is extreme power. Christianity has done more to cause a revolution in the world than any other single idea. Over 200 years ago our country was founded on these revolutionary ideals, and we have spent the entire time we have been a country trying to figure out how to apply the principles spoken by the young Mary. Slaves have been freed; women have been given places of influence; and countries liberated; but each day we must continue the revolution in our hearts.
May we, Father, learn how to apply the revolutionary ideals you gave to the Blessed Virgin Mary. This Christmas, we will begin our own moral, social, and economic revolutions. We will realize our position comes from you, and begin to help those whose need is greater than our own. AMEN.
Vann Thornton
This is one of the church’s oldest hymns, saturated in the Old Testament (kin to Hannah’s song 1 Sam. 2:1-10); it shows the revolutionary nature of the Jesus’s work to come. In it, three revolutions of God are revealed.
1. “He scatters the proud in the plans of their hearts.” Christianity is the death of the prideful heart. Why? Because when revealed the reality of Christ, a person loses all thought that he is something to behold, and realizes that God’s grace, for no apparent worth of his own, was given to him, and matters of pride are left scattered. Christianity is a moral revolution.
2. “He brings down the mighty and exalts the humble.” Christianity erases the world’s labels and nulls social ranks. “Call no man worthless for whom Christ died,” are the words that we all must speak. There is no common man, but all are uncommon. There is no social status that cannot fail. Christianity is a social revolution.
3. “He has filled the hungry…the rich he has sent away empty handed.” We are not out to amass as much wealth as we can, but as one Tiftonite told me, “God gives to me so I can give to others.” A Christian society happens when no one person will have at the expense to those who have little, but where we work together to help the helpless, as God has helped us when we were helpless. Christianity is an economic revolution.
There is beauty in the Magnificat, but in its beauty is extreme power. Christianity has done more to cause a revolution in the world than any other single idea. Over 200 years ago our country was founded on these revolutionary ideals, and we have spent the entire time we have been a country trying to figure out how to apply the principles spoken by the young Mary. Slaves have been freed; women have been given places of influence; and countries liberated; but each day we must continue the revolution in our hearts.
May we, Father, learn how to apply the revolutionary ideals you gave to the Blessed Virgin Mary. This Christmas, we will begin our own moral, social, and economic revolutions. We will realize our position comes from you, and begin to help those whose need is greater than our own. AMEN.
Vann Thornton
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