I left St. Thomas' Episcopal Church in New Haven with a soaring spirit. The Lessons & Carols service -- quintessentially Anglican worship interweaving Scripture and music -- had just concluded. Particularly memorable had been a haunting setting by Roderick Williams of one of the seven Greater Antiphons of Advent: "O Adonai, et Dux domus Israel" ("O Adonai, and leader of the house of Israel"). This stunning piece has a dark edginess that beautifully captures what waiting for God can be like. Dissonances rise and clash above powerful choral continuities; impressions of order are challenged by free-form melodic descants; a tenor solo seeks valiantly to unfold the narrative of Israel's redemption against the backdrop of luminous but subtly disturbing musical chaos.
O Adonai, and leader of the house of Israel, who appeared to Moses in the flame of the burning bush and to him gave the Law: Come to redeem us with outstretched arm.
As I drove away, I passed the turn that would have taken me to the other church in my life. St. Andrew's, where I currently serve as a deacon, is just a few blocks away from St. Thomas', but it's in an entirely different world. The well-resourced St. Thomas' is located in a lovely neighborhood with million-dollar houses along the broad, tree-lined streets. St. Andrew's is in the troubled Newhallville area of New Haven. Across from the church is an overgrown vacant lot with trash and used drug paraphernalia caught up at the bottom of a chain-link fence. The neighborhood is plagued by crime; several shootings have taken place within a few blocks of the church in the past three months. With a tiny congregation and no endowment, St. Andrew's struggles to stay open. It hasn't helped that in recent months, the church has experienced two break-ins, an off-site robbery of its Sunday offering, and the home invasion of an elderly parishioner.
Naming Brokenness
What does it mean to wait for God in a broken world? What does it mean to wait in a time in which God's promise of redemption is met by the despair of the poor, the greed of those who exploit others, and the rage of those who commit violence? What does Advent mean for the real world?
Mary had some thoughts on that.
Her Magnificat is a powerful poem that holds together the grittiness of life on the margins and the resilient hope of those who trust in God. Mary found herself pregnant and not yet married in an ancient culture in which coercive control of female sexuality was a primary measure of masculine honor. Mary faced an uncertain future at best and devastating retribution from her community at worst. Indeed, the Gospel of Matthew is careful to note that Joseph planned to dismiss her quietly rather than expose her to public humiliation (Matt 1:18-19): the latter scenario could theoretically have included stoning for adultery, according to Jewish law. So I don't envision Mary as the radiant woman peacefully composing the Magnificat in Marie Ellenrieder's 1833 painting, but as a girl who sings defiantly to her God through her tears, fists clenched against an unknown future. Mary's courageous song of praise is a radical resource for those seeking to honor the holy amid the suffering and conflicts of real life.
WATCH "Occupied" Real Estate:
The Magnificat and Memory
Mary's hymn was influenced by the Song of Hannah, a triumphant paean to God dating centuries earlier. Hannah, a godly woman unable to conceive a child, finally becomes pregnant with Samuel, who will be celebrated in Israelite tradition as a mighty judge. She dedicates her boy to the Lord, singing of God's power to overthrow the arrogant enemies of the lowly. Luke's Magnificat draws on the Song of Hannah, inviting us to our own sources of memory to understand how God has transformed situations of risk and oppression. Gather with family to remember the stories of resilience that your grandparents told. Read David Levering Lewis' magnificent two-volume biography of W. E. B. Du Bois to remember the uncompromising passion of the early civil rights movement. Check the blogosphere to stay mindful of the prophetic witness of Aung San Suu Kyi in the ongoing political conflict in Myanmar. Remember.
The Magnificat and Justice
Mary's song promises that God brings about wondrous reversals in the world: showing favor to the uncredentialed and ignored ("the lowly"); rendering ineffectual the machinations of the arrogant ("scattering the proud in the thoughts of their hearts"); bringing down those who exploit positions of power; lifting up the poor. Reflect on the Occupy Real Estate movement organizing in East New York as you hear the Magnificat sung by this Judean woman who had to shelter in a stable on the night she gave birth. Consider the transformative potential of micro-lending and other empowerment practices supported by Five Talents and other NGOs dedicated to ending poverty. For women who strive to bring new Magnificats to voice: consider the feminist writing retreats sponsored by the Resource Center for Women & Ministry in the South. Build your own capacity to sing for justice.
Last week, my spiritual director recommended a book that he deems a contender for this year's Pulitzer Prize for non-fiction: Steven Pinker's The Better Angels of Our Nature: Why Violence Has Declined. Pinker argues that we have gradually become less violent, less bent on destruction of the Other, than we have been in centuries past. I'd very much like to believe it. One Amazon reviewer has called the book, hilariously, a "juggernaut of guarded optimism." I love that mixed metaphor -- it's a pitch-perfect descriptor of the overcompensatory yet spiritually tentative ethos of North American secular culture. Mary has a word to speak not only to our faith communities but to secular culture as well: remember traditions of transformation, acknowledge the brokenness of the present moment, and dare to hope for a future in which justice reigns.
O Adonai, and leader of the house of Israel, who appeared to Moses in the flame of the burning bush and to him gave the Law: Come to redeem us with outstretched arm.
Editor's Note: ON Scripture is a series of Christian scripture commentaries produced in collaboration with Odyssey Networks. Each week pastors from around the country will approach the lectionary text of the week through the lens of current events, providing a religious voice that is both pastoral and prophetic.
― Christopher Hitchens
Semper fi
people kill people
Semper fi
If there is any meaning that we can equate with today's events, I would not choose the occupy movement, taking over houses and squatting in parks. I would equate this song with those who are at the front lines of the defense of the unborn. When she claims that our society has become less violent the writer fails to recognize the violence that has increased in society today to unprecedented levels - abortion. The violence against the child in the womb, the very reason for Mary's rejoicing: the child that is recognized by Elizabeth and her unborn son, John.
That God isn't a Republican?
Waiting for God in a broken world means sitting on your butt in a pew praying for things to get better without actually taking any actions to make those things better.
Why don't we stop waiting for something that is never going to happen and work for a better world and safer society for ourselves, before it's too late?
Some people may not have the strength or the means to take action. What can they do?
If prayers are all one can give, then prayers are all that can be expected. Would it be better if they didn't pray?
I was mostly referring to those who are capable but who choose to do nothing in favor of waiting around for god to do it instead.
We need to require people we elect to governmental offices to quit their jobs as Democrats and Republicans and work for We The People. They are suppose to Represent US, not a political agenda. We need some We The People Bills to appear in Congress, not Democratic or Republican bills. Both parties are the Party of NO, if the Bill is not solely their own. The people in Congress are not seeking solutions but control. Neither really cares about the poor.
In the government 95% of the money is used for the government-appointed workers.
Make money donated to these organizations a tax credit. People have a choice where their money is spent and are assured that the money will not be wasted.
More is done for the poor by churches than the government. Why not allow everyone the same opportunity to donate their money and time to the poor?
It means that the Lord needs to quit stalling and do something for once. There are plenty of amputees still waiting for their limbs to be restored.
But more importantly it means that we as a society should shun these silly superstitions and hopes of divine intervention. As it has been, none is forthcoming. We can only solve these problems on our own.
To replace the object of worship with another will do nothing better.
So while it may help you stay deluded that I am advocating self-worship, it won't solve the problems we face.
For that we need to work towards solving the problem. If your Lord wants to join, he is welcome to. The problem is that non-existent entities cannot do any such thing.
Rick Perry tried this already. When Texas was afflicted with drought he got everyone worshiping this Lord fellow. The drought got worse. So he split and started running for President.
Learn from his mistakes, he was a fellow Christian of yours.
No "devil" got us into this mess; no "god" is going to get us out of it. And it would be best if everyone figured that out already.
We need to get off our asses, put our money where our mouths are and do things to to improve the situation.
Proof?
James Madison
"The belief in God All Powerful wise and good, is so essential to the moral order of the World and to the happiness of man, that arguments which enforce it cannot be drawn from too many sources nor adapted with too much solicitude to the different characters and capacities to be impressed with it." A.D Wainwright Madison & Witherspoon (Princeton University Library 1961) pg. 125.
We need to forget all of this religious, superstitious crap amd move on to SCIENCE.
Are we to move back into the Dark Ages or are we to embrace SCIENCE?
(Applies to both "evolution" and "science")
They oppose stem cell research and science-based regulation.
Helping or not helping people is not science that is selfish or not selfishness.
there is a quote out there that goes something like this. god created the universe and man and the devil organized god's words into organized religion and said this is really good. :-)
if the evangels have their way most of humanity will belong to the devil. except them of course.
Just like the Dark Ages, when the Roman Empire took over christianity and the Arab Empire took over christianity so that the pawns would fight each other so that the politicians and governments got richer, so the Democratic and Republican political parties are leading the naive into slavery. Screw We The People.
Wasn't the position of women in that ancient culture dictated by the very same god? It was the god of the bible who commanded the "devastating retribution" that Mary would have received. It seems disingenuous to claim that such treatment was due to the barbaric practices of a primitive society when such practices are commanded in the holy book that you follow today. Maybe you should read the whole bible, and not just the parts you like.
Trying to claim that these practices only occurred in ancient times also seems ridiculous. How many women in our modern world have suffered under the weight of the same moral viewpoints? After watching the "pro-life" movement, I am convinced that their motivation comes from a desire to punish women for having sex. Forcing a woman to undergo an unwanted pregnancy is the modern equivalent of a public stoning.
Also, look at the Magdalene houses in Ireland and similar institutions throughout the world where women were punished for getting pregnant or for being raped. All of this was based on the same world view held by people in the ancient culture to which you refer, and all of it was justified by the commandments put forth in your holy book.
Everyone reads the Bible (and any other document) with the idea of what is in it for me. We have done the same thing with our responsiblities in the Bill of Rights (I want MY rights, Now). We do the same with traffic safety (I had the right of way, sorry he is dead). It doesn't mattter whether one is a believer or not, they quickly use the Bible to forward their zealous Belief in their Political agenda.