Luke 1:39-55
“Realize Joy”
This week we celebrate joy with Gaudete Sunday and continue our season of anticipation, Advent. We will hear how John the Baptist sent his students to Jesus, asking, “Are you the one who is to come, or are we to wait for another?” It’s an inquiry made more than three decades after John’s and Jesus’ mothers, Mary and Elizabeth, came together in wonderment, understanding the unborn Jesus is the one who is to come.
Our primary scripture this week is from that meeting of Mary and Elizabeth. We will read the Song of Mary, the Magnificat. It’s the oldest song of the Christian tradition. Mary sings her song to Elizabeth. She counts the wonder of Jesus still in her womb and the role she is playing as his mother. “My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior,” sings Mary. While we won’t hear a choral arrangement this Sunday, our entire world echoes with her song 2000 years later. What joy!
