December 19: Mary's Song
♫ Music:
And Mary said: My soul exalts the Lord, and my spirit has rejoiced in God my Savior. For He has had regard for the humble state of His bondslave; for behold, from this time on all generations will count me blessed. For the Mighty One has done great things for me; and holy is His name. And His mercy is upon generation after generation toward those who fear Him. He has done mighty deeds with His arm; He has scattered those who were proud in the thoughts of their heart. He has brought down rulers from their thrones, and has exalted those who were humble. He has filled the hungry with good things; and sent away the rich empty-handed. He has given help to Israel His servant, in remembrance of His mercy, as He spoke to our fathers, to Abraham and his descendants forever.”
Luke 1:46-55
MARY'S SONG
The message of the Magnificat, that God is upending the world’s bias toward the rich and powerful, would have resonated deeply with the artist who painted this image of Mary and the angel announcing that she would give birth to the Messiah. Henry Ossawa Tanner was an African-American artist born in 1859. His mother had been born a slave but had escaped via the Underground Railroad. Although Tanner was a successful graduate from the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, racist attitudes in Philadelphia at that time forced him to emigrate to Paris.
Mary’s song reminds us of God’s purposes. Ever since Babel, God has scattered the proud in the thoughts of their hearts.. Ever since the Pharoah of Egypt, Og of the Amorites, and Nebuchadnezzar of the Babylonians, God has brought down the powerful from their thrones. Ever since God had the youngest son of Jesse anointed king, or used a slave girl from Israel to tell Commander Naaman how to be healed of leprosy, God has lifted up the lowly. Mary knows this about God because she is steeped in Scripture. Her song echoes the songs of David and Hannah. Saturated in the Words of the prophets and psalmists, no wonder she can carry the Living Word.
But while Mary—and Tanner—can identify with the lowly, what about me? My birth, citizenship, and education make me one of the privileged. According to globalrichlist.com, my family is in the top 5% of people in the world. What does He has filled the hungry with good things but has sent the rich away empty say to me? Jesus encounters two rich people whose movements exemplify the choices I have. Zacchaeus in Luke 18 hurries down toward Jesus. The young rich man of Matthew 17 who asks about eternal life goes away empty-handed. May I open my hands to be filled with what God will give me, not what I can grasp.
Mary’s song begins with, My soul magnifies the Lord. “Magnifies” can be translated “praises” or “glorifies,” but I love the image of a magnifying glass focusing in and enabling us to see in detail who God is and what he has done. The small print I might overlook becomes big enough to read even from a distance. We may think we know who deserves God’s favor, but when we zoom in on God’s purposes, we see that we were mistaken. Ninevah repents, Rahab and Ruth are ancestors of Jesus, the first shall be the last and the last shall be the first.
Mary starts out her song with something very personal: My spirit rejoices in God my Savior, for he has looked with favor on the lowliness of his servant. Surely, from now on all generations will call me blessed; for the Mighty One has done great things for me, and holy is his name. What God has done is something that touches her as an individual with joy, that favors her, and that blesses her. He is mighty and she is lowly, but he has done great things for her. She ends her song with the big picture: He has helped his servant Israel, in remembrance of his mercy, according to the promise he made to our ancestors, to Abraham and to his descendants forever. She now declares God’s goodness on a larger scale, to her community and nation. In fact the descendants of Abraham turn out to be all believers (Galatians 3:6-9) so these promises are to all the nations of the earth.
Tanner’s painting shows us that God shows up when the bed is unmade and the clothes are rumpled—a given moment in a particular woman’s life. Mary’s song tells us that God is always showing up, from generation to generation.
Kitty Purgason, Professor of TESOL
LORD, may my response to your appearance, and presence, be to magnify you and rejoice! Amen
The Annunciation
Henry Ossawa Tanner
Philadelphia Museum of Art
About the Art and Artist:
Henry Ossawa Tanner (1859 –1937) was one of the first great African-American artists. He was certainly the first to gain international acclaim. The son of a minister in the African Methodist Episcopal Church, Tanner enrolled at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts in Philadelphia in 1879. He was the only black student and became a favorite of the painter Thomas Eakins, who taught at the academy. He moved to Paris in 1891 and decided to stay there, being readily accepted in French artistic circles. His painting entitled Daniel in the Lions Den was accepted into the 1896 Salon. In 1897 Philadelphia department store magnate, Rodman Wanamaker paid his way to the Holy Land because Wanamaker was so impressed by Tanner’s biblical imagery. Tanner painted The Annunciation soon after returning to Paris from that trip. Since Tanner specialized in religious subjects, he wanted to experience the people, culture, architecture, and light of the Holy Land. Influenced by what he saw, Tanner created an unconventional image of the moment when the angel Gabriel announces to Mary that she will bear the Son of God. Mary is shown as an adolescent dressed in rumpled Middle Eastern peasant clothing, without a halo or other holy attributes. Gabriel appears only as a shaft of light. Tanner entered this painting in the 1898 Paris Salon exhibition. It was purchased for the Philadelphia Museum of Art in 1899.
About the Composer
John Michael Talbot is a major figure in the Christian music scene. His songs were the first by a Catholic artist to cross well-defined boundaries and gain acceptance by Protestant listeners. Due to his expansive popularity, he was the recipient of several prestigious awards. He has won the Dove Award for Worship Album of the Year, Light Eternal with producer and longtime friend, Phil Perkins and he became one of only nine artists to receive the President's Merit Award from the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences. In 1988 he was named the No.1 Christian Artist by Billboard magazine. Today, John Michael Talbot is one of the most active monk/ministers traveling over nine months per year throughout the world inspiring and renewing the faith of Christians of all denominations through sacred music, teaching and motivational speaking.
Website: http://www.johnmichaeltalbot.com/
About the Performer
Born into a musical family Canadian, Steve Bell has been performing and touring since he was eight years old. As Steve’s father was a prison chaplain, it was federal prisoners in Drumheller Penitentiary who taught the young boy to play guitar at an early age. Mr. Bell has created 16 albums including two specifically Christmas albums. He has toured worldwide throughout Canada, the United States, Thailand, India, the Philippines, Poland, Bulgaria, and throughout the Caribbean. Steve Bell here gives us a beautiful interpretation of Talbot’s classic setting of The Magnificat, one that bears repeated playing.
Websites: http://stevebell.com/
The Magnificat (Holy is His Name) Lyrics:
My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord
And my spirit exalts in God my Saviour
For He has looked with mercy on my lowliness
And so my name will be forever exalted
For the mighty God has done great things for me
And His mercy will reach from age to age
And holy, holy, holy is His name