the angel came & said its name
but she could not keep from trembling A sermon on the Mary & her hymn : In the Church we have an odd way of doing things. Of speaking. And of keeping time, too… For instance, it is now the fourth week, in-a-row we’ve begun worship with the hymn, “O Come, O Come Emmanuel .” …Are you sick of it yet? …Has Emmanuel come ? …Has anything changed, for that matter??? …Social scientists call it “ cognitive dissonance .” “Cognitive dissonance,” that terrible gap between what we say and reality . The gap between what we say and reality… Nowhere is that gap more dramatically on display today than in our Gospel, the so-called, “Magnificat.” The hymn Mary sings as she visits her auntie, Elizabeth. Mary’s song, celebrating God’s mighty act of deliverance . Mary’s song celebrating God’s mighty act as if it has already happened! While all the while, Mary is still pregnant and unwed. Still a refugee. Still a peasant , in an occupied cou...