Singing Ahead of Time
October 23, 2010
Excerpt from Luke 1:46–47
"And Mary said, 'My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior.'"
Reflection by Anthony B. Robinson
As a liturgically correct sort of guy, I am puzzled by today's reading. It's the Magnificat. After hearing from Gabriel that she would be the mother of Jesus, Mary lets go with this song of ecstatic praise.
But what's it doing here, now? We sing this in December, right? Or maybe late November. But today is October 23. It's not Advent. It's not Christmas. It's just plain old October 23. It's not even a Sunday. It is, for heaven's sake, a Saturday: errands, soccer, raking leaves, fixing a leak at the sink. It's too soon for the Magnificat. It's too early to sing.
Somewhere in the writings of Anne Morrow Lindbergh, she tells a story of visiting a garden in Japan. Her guide was explaining the symbolic significance of various trees, including bamboo, pine and the plum tree. The bamboo stands, said the guide, for long life, the pine for prosperity and the plum for courage. Lindbergh said that she could understand the bamboo and pine readily enough. "But why does the plum signify courage?" "Because," said her guide, "the plum puts forth its flowers while there is still snow on the ground."
The plum, like Mary, sings ahead of time. Faith sings ahead of time. Faith sings on Saturday.
Prayer
When we want things to stick to the plan and when we want you, God, to stick to the schedule, surprise us. Set us singing on the wrong day. Set us singing ahead of time. Amen.
