"ON SAYING YES"

 “ON SAYING YES”

In Luke’s Gospel, Mary is a young woman engaged to be married in Nazareth, when she has a vision from God.  She sees the angel Gabriel, who comes to her with a message from God.  “Ave, Maria,” as the Latin puts it.  Gabriel tells her that God wants her to allow herself to be the vessel for the conception and birth of the Messiah, whom she will name “Jesus,’ meaning “God saves.”  This request places Mary in a precarious position – pregnant before marriage by someone other than her betrothed, she will be shunned and perhaps even stoned to death.  It is the first of several steps where God chooses to come among us, not as a glorious king or president, but rather as one conceived in scandal, born on the streets, hunted down to be killed by government soldiers, a refugee whose family seeks political asylum in Egypt.  

Mary says “yes,” that she will be a “handmaiden of the Lord,” as the King James Version of the Bible puts it.  Yes, that same “handmaiden” of “The Handmaid’s Tale.” She is anxious and frightened, but she finds comfort in her cousin Elizabeth, who is also miraculously pregnant.  The community of women gives her courage and power, and she shares her song of vision and justice, called “Mary’s Magnificat” in Luke 1:46-55.  It is not a song of “sweet, little Jesus boy,” but rather a radical vision of what God intends in the birth of this baby:  “God has brought down the powerful from their thrones and lifted up the lowly;  God has filled the hungry with good things and sent the rich away empty.”  In the birth and life and ministry of this baby, God intends to affirm a much different vision of what life on earth should look like.

I was thinking of this story last weekend when Caroline and I joined Andrew and Amy Marti at the Spelman/Morehouse Christmas Concert.    When Caroline and I were pastors at Oakhurst, we were privileged to be part of church group who attended the annual Spelman-Morehouse Christmas Concert on the first weekend in December.  It would be held twice in King Chapel on Morehouse campus and once in Sisters Chapel at Spelman.  It was always crowded, and it was always a moving experience.  The power of the voices, the arrangements, and the sheer joy of being in Black space to welcome the season – these drew us many times to this annual concert, including this year.

. I have many favorite songs from these concerts, but one song stands out:  “We Are Christmas.” It was co-written by the Spelman Glee Club Director, Kevin Johnson, and by student Sarah Stephens Benibo. Here is the link to Ms. Stephens Benibo as a soloist on the song with  the Spelman Choir (with handbells that year in 2006).  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kj33F8ZBQCM

      The idea for the song comes from Sweet Honey in the Rock’s song “We Are,” and it is based on Mary’s experience in the Christmas story, as well as her vision (“The Magnificat.”). At first the music lulls us into thinking that we have another “Sweet little Jesus boy” song, but the lyrics lead us into something quite different – it is up to us to bring this story to life in our day and in our time.  It tells us that we, too, are asked to say “yes” to God’s coming to us in our lives, both in the birth of this baby named Jesus, and in the continuing revelations of God to us in our lives.  As we dread these coming years of a second Trump presidency, let us remember Mary and her courage and her determination.  We will need all of that to find our way to live as children of the God whom we meet in this Christmas story.