In preparation for this Advent season with the focus on the Magnificat, I looked at 13 translations of the Song of Mary from different Bibles. All but one use the past tense in celebrating God’s liberation:
You have shown strength with your arm
You have scattered the proud
You have deposed the mighty
You have raised the lowly
You have filled the hungry
You have sent the rich away empty
This is not a song celebrating some future pie in the sky pipe dream. This song expresses complete confidence in the power of God to transform reality here and now. It’s already happened. There is such hope and confidence that the writer celebrates God’s dream as a done deal.
Just like the very real flesh and blood child that Mary will bear, this song celebrates the flesh and blood reality of God’s will, already done: On Earth as it is in Heaven.
Prayer: This Advent season may we learn to trust in the power of Divine Love. May we embody what God has already done in the flesh and blood reality of Jesus. Amen.
This devotion was prepared by Rev. Kim P. Wells, pastor of Lakewood United Church of Christ in St. Petersburg, FL.
Lakewood United Church of Christ 