Proclamation of Joy
This week we light the candle of Joy, and our focus will be on the person of Mary. Although we read the nativity story last week, this week we will back track a bit and read the Magnificant, or Mary’s hymn of praise to God in Luke 1. When Mary visits her cousin Elizabeth, her calling to bear the Messiah is confirmed. Filled with the Holy Spirit, the child in Elizabeth’s womb leaps for joy at the sound of Mary’s voice – the mother of our Lord. Mary’s response to God’s promise fulfilled is a praise-infused song that challenges our modern day understanding of joy.
Elizabeth goes on to say about Mary: “blessed is she who believed…”. In the Greek, “blessed” is the word makarios, which can also be translated “happy”. Our culture has hijacked this word to mean something like a good feeling based on certain circumstances. So the feeling of worldly joy or happiness is not lasting because the object of it changes. It is set on something temporal. Mary’s song uncovers for us biblical happiness – a joy that is set on an unchanging Source.
Everything about the Magnificant is counter cultural to what our modern day world would esteem as happiness. Mary says it is the humble who are magnified and the self-sufficient are scattered. It is the hungry that are filled and the rich are sent away empty. How can the hungry and humble be joyful? Because their eyes are set on the only One who can satisfy.
The Christmas season is rightly filled with many moments that spark a feeling of joy: delicious feasts with delectable foods, shimmering lights that push back the darkness of night, lovely presents wrapped in mystery and anticipation, cheery songs constantly on repeat, and extra time in the presence of our loved ones. All of these are beautiful things, and it is good and right to enjoy them and even to be happy in them. But Mary’s song helps us remember that it is not in the things themselves which we find our joy, but in the Giver of these good things. This means we can also have real joy even when our circumstances don’t seem to align.
May we be like Mary and consider the presence of God with us as the Source of our happiness and proclaim our praise to a world that needs this true and lasting Joy.
Advent Wreath Guide – Week Three
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Spend a few moments looking at both paintings separately, then look at both paintings together. Notice the colors, the lines, the shapes. Look at the background. Of what time in history does each painting remind you? Think of the biblical account of the angel coming to Mary. What does each artist capture about the scene and how Mary must have felt? How is Tanner’s focus different from Botticelli’s?
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To bless our feathered friends, wrap a length of string around the top stem of a pine cone. Fill the opening of the pine cone with peanut butter then roll the whole pine cone in bird seed. Hang outside from a tree branch. Remove and refill as needed. Get to know the non-migratory birds in your yard and, in return, they will bring your family year round joy!
