Monday 20 December 2021

Psalm 89:1-4, 19-26

Background

So Mary bursts into song. And what a song – Christian people have been singing the Magnificat (Mary's hymn of praise) ever since! Mary recognised that God had turned her world, indeed the whole world, upside-down and she rejoiced in that.

Maybe, as a faithful and observant Jew, Mary knew the song of another woman whose world became utterly changed: this was Hannah who desperately wanted a baby. She promised that, when her long-awaited son arrived, she would give him to God and she did. She too burst into song – a very similar song. You can read it at 1 Samuel 2:1-10. Each woman has been made special and those who are special in their own eyes will be humbled. Heaven has come to earth!

The point in Mary’s song is that God has redressed the balance of the world: the hungry are fed and those who already have plenty are not given any more; those who are powerless are given a position and those who are all-powerful are challenged. Hannah and Mary each receive a vision of how the world might be when righteousness prevails, when all are treated as equal in the sight of God. This vision continues to inspire God’s faithful people in a world where there seems to be too much power in the wrong hands; where affluent countries waste food that might feed starving people; where abuse of God’s creation is causing untold devastation for those who have fewest resources; where vaccines are not available to the vulnerable. Things need to be turned round…

To Ponder: 

•  In the words of the hymn "Jesus bids us shine" we are each called to do our bit in our own location:  "You in your small corner and I in mine." Are there things you and your friends might do to make the world a fairer place?
• What strikes you as unjust right where you live? What might you do about it?

Prayer

 Loving God, give me the grace and will to keep your suffering people in my heart and  in my prayers – and to do what I can to turn things round. Amen.