[Dialogue] Advent readings

[Ellie Stock]

Hi folks,

For those related to the Christian tradition and any who might be following lectionary passages for this Advent season:

One passage for this Sunday is Luke 1:46-55, known as Mary's Song or the Magnificat.  The two readings below were used at a peace and justice church Advent Vesper Service/Concert, the theme for the whole service of readings and music being Mary's Song, which also included Bach's "Magnificat" with choir and orchestra.  It was both beautiful and powerful service.  Mary's Song in Luke echo the prophet Isaiah's proclamation of of justice and were echoed by Jesus in the words that inaugurated his ministry (also in Luke)

Ellie Stock

The Reading (inspired by Luke 1:46-55) from In the Land of the Living, by Kenneth L. Sehested)

My soul magnifies you, O Lord, and
my spirit rejoices in your Saving Presence.

Everything in me comes alive
when you look my direction.

No longer will I languish among
then unnamed, the unknown, the unworthy.

Hereafter, for generations, when my
name is spoken, all will know it echoes
the wonder of your Mercy.

Your power is sufficient to baffle the
aims of the arrogan.  Imperial might
trembles at the sound of your approach;
but the prison yards and the sweatshops
and the slaughterhouses erupt in jubilation!

With your arrival, the bailout bounty will flow
to the hourly wage-earners; the stock-optioned
executives will apply for food stamps.

In the land of lies and deceit, in the seaon
of bankrupt promises and boardroom corruption,
the lair of every heir to privilege
and every power will be confounded
by the herald of your Promise.

Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee;
blessed art thou among women,
and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus.


The Reading (in response to Luke: 47-55:  Advent Prayers for Public Worship, Brian Wren)

God, how can a baby change the world
even before it is born?
The proud seem quite secure,
the seats of power look unshaken.
The hungry are unfed,
and the rich take plenty away.
So how can a baby change the world?

And yet, when it stirs in the womb,
it changes somebody's world,
and when a child is born,
our lives are changed forever.

Who knows, at birth, what a child will become?
Did Mary sing her song when her son left home,
when he sat on a hillside, hung on a cross,
and shattered the tomb?

Then how can a baby not change the world?
Who knows what a child will become?

For when, in a home or a nation,
new life surges, strong as the incoming tide,
it changes the shape of the shoreline
so that even the castles of power
are like sand.

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