That We All May Be One

As we enter this weekend on which we will celebrate not only the Fourth Sunday of the Advent season, but begin our celebration of the Twelve Days of Christmas, my attention is drawn to the song Luke tells us Mary sang at the Annunciation of her role in all this. We sing it every day in Evensong. It is called the Magnificat as our hearts join hers in “magnifying” the Lord.

This plucky Jewish teenager not only praises God for choosing her for such privilege, but joins her fore-mother Hannah in reminding us all that “Yahweh raises up the poor from the dust (and) lifts the needy from the ash heap.” (I Samuel 2:4)

Mary puts it this way, “He has cast down the mighty from their thrones, and has lifted up the lowly. He has filled the hungry with good things, and the rich he has sent away empty.” (Luke 1:52-53).  Such is the justice of God to be embodied in the life, death, and resurrection of Mary’s son.

In these days, President Donald Trump has announced a “big, beautiful tax cut for Christmas.” And yet there are many who fear that, unlike Mary’s gift to us, our government has just passed a tax bill which may “cast down the lowly, and lift up the mighty on their thrones,” taxation which may –in the long run — “fill the rich with good things, and send the hungry away empty.”

We do not yet know the ramifications of all this, but as we prepare to commemorate the birth of Jesus, let us rededicate ourselves — in the New Year — to standing with those who may be most negatively affected by the new tax laws. And, just as importantly, to shine the very Light of Christ on those who will unfairly reap the benefits — those who in fact need no tax relief but who should be paying even more in thanksgiving for the bounty they have received (often through no merit of their own) and to ensure the well-being of those less fortunate than themselves.

For remember, Mary also sang of the One who “has mercy on those who fear him in every generation” but who has also “shown the strength of his arm (and) and has scattered the proud in their conceit.”

May it be so.

Merry Christmas!

This entry was posted on December 23, 2017 at 8:47 pm and is filed under Blogroll, Church Life, Ecumenical, Emergent Church, Interfaith, Justice and Peace, Politics, Politics, Religion, Scripture, The Episcopal Church, Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.