Evensong

Campbell Dye December 13, 2021 0 0

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Luke 1: 50 (NRSVA)

50 His mercy is for those who fear him
    from generation to generation.

In our second day of looking at Mary’s great song of praise, The Magnificat, we focus on a single verse.

In our village churches, we still have Evensong services in the Anglican tradition. We have recently started singing The Magnificat again during these services, but even during the worst of COVID, it was still said on each occasion. It’s a very practical reminder of God’s love and mercy flowing irresistibly down through the years.

One of our churches was built well before the Norman conquest – for over 1,000 years people have been singing of God’s grace in that building, using these words of Mary’s.

I don’t think the word “fear” which Mary uses means that we are to be frightened of God. I think it really means that his mercy extends to those who know Him and have Him in the right place in their hearts.   

Mary anchors her song of praise in history. There was a long and cherished Jewish tradition of which Mary saw herself an inheritor yet, in her words, there is a real connection with the future as well as the past. She is setting us up for the pivotal point of history, the life of Jesus.

It is through Jesus that God’s rescue plan comes to fruition – for his mercy to be available to all people, in all places, in all times.

In a single verse, Mary encapsulates God’s message to humanity across the ages – He wants to know us, for there to be love between us and Him and he yearns to be merciful to us. While we are up to our elbows in wrapping paper this month, let’s never ignore the gift God has given to us, our ancestors and our children.

PRAYER:

Loving Father, help me at this time to remember your mercy, given to me freely through Jesus. Help me to share that good news with the generations around me.  AMEN