“This Changes Everything”

Luke 1:46-55

46 And Mary said,

“My soul magnifies the Lord,

47     and my spirit rejoices in God

my Savior,

48 for he has looked with favor on the lowliness of his

servant.

    Surely, from now on all generations will call me blessed;

49 for the Mighty One has done great things for me,

    and holy is his name.

50 His mercy is for those who fear him

    from generation to generation.

51 He has shown strength with his arm;

    he has scattered the proud in the thoughts of their

hearts.

52 He has brought down the powerful from their thrones,

    and lifted up the lowly;

53 he has filled the hungry with good things,

    and sent the rich away empty.

54 He has helped his servant Israel,

    in remembrance of his mercy,

55 according to the promise he made to our ancestors,

    to Abraham and to his descendants forever.”

This is the Word of the Lord

Thanks be to God.

One of my favorite tv shows

is The Office. I am currently on about my 400th watch of the series.

I shared this last week in our Sunday morning class, and some people in the

class quickly questioned my tastes in entertainment. I don’t care. I love it.

The show centers around

Michael Scott, regional manager of Dunder Mifflin in Scranton, Pennsylvania. In

the fourth season, his new boss Ryan Howard comes in for a presentation. In it

he shares plans to massively overhaul the way the company works. A new website,

where most of the sales will take place. Blackberries for every employee. Much

more of the company being online.

It doesn’t sink in for

Michael. After the meeting, he talks with Ryan in his office. He says to his

new boss,

“I

just want to make sure that vis-a-vis me in the office, everything is business

as usual.”

“Well,

it’s business but not as usual,” Ryan responds.

“Yeah,

no, I understand. We’re making great strides and you’re updating. – But

business as usual, no?”

“No.

We threw out the playbook, We are start from scratch. We’re implementing a

brand new system.”

“Good,

so we’re on the same page.”

“No.

We’re not.”

Michael ends it with a

frustrated face, just wanting everything to be the same way it always has been.

Throughout the scene, he never gets that things are changing. That this meeting

was not just for show, it was to lead them in a whole new direction. He feels

much more comfortable with “business as usual” than anything that shakes things

up, that leads in a new direction.

I am reminded of this scene

because that is often how we as followers of Christ act. We celebrate this

Advent and Christmas season – we hear the words of Isaiah and John, Elizabeth

and Mary, we sing songs of praise and joy, we light candles, we wrap presents,

we bake cookies, we share meals with family and friends. And I love all those

things.

But then we go straight back

to business as usual. We view the world and ourselves as if the incarnation of

Christ has made no major changes.

And that is why I love this

song of Mary, mother of Jesus. It is a song of joy. It is a song of praise. But

it is also a song about our world being flipped upside down. The lowly are

lifted up. The proud are scattered. Servants are favored above kings. The

hungry are filled, and the rich are brought low. Everything is about to

change 

One of the most beloved songs

of this season is “Mary, Did You Know?” It is a song that connects the birth of

Jesus to all he will do here on earth with us and for us. It is a beautiful

song. But it is an interesting title, because Mary knows the message of the

incarnation so much better than we do. While we are tempted to hold on to

business as usual, to a world still ruled by the mighty, the wealthy, the