Time for Reflection
Good morning. Our leader for time for reflection is Rev Alexander G Horsburgh, the Church of Scotland chaplain to the University of Stirling.
Rev Alexander G Horsburgh (Church of Scotland Chaplain to the University of Stirling):
We read in the gospel of Luke, verses 46 to 55:
"And Mary said,
‘My soul magnifies the Lord,
and my spirit rejoices in God my Saviour,
for he has looked with favour 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.
His mercy is for those who fear him
from generation to generation.
He has shown strength with his arm;
he has scattered the proud in the thoughts of their hearts.
He has brought down the powerful from their thrones,
and lifted up the lowly;
he has filled the hungry with good things,
and sent the rich away empty.
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 for ever."
The song that Mary sang in response to the knowledge that she was pregnant with the Christ is a song of revolution, a manifesto for radical change; however, the words come from the mouth of one of the least powerful—a young, single mother, a woman in a society which listened only to men. The very identity of the singer challenges the social order of her day, and the song in her heart and on her lips challenges and disturbs in equal measure. However, the song also cheers, offering a message of hope to the lowly, who will be lifted, and to the hungry, who will be filled with good things. It is a song of restoration, of the restoration of the world to the way God wills it to be.
In Luke's gospel, the song of Mary acts as a mission statement, informing the reader that the Christ to be born of this powerless mother has an agenda that challenges the status quo through its bias for the poor, the outcast and the marginalised. Christmas, which is so often a time of comfort and cosy inward-looking celebration, is actually the time when our minds should most firmly be on those at the fringes—the very young, the very old and those with no support or no resources. It is a time to listen to the uncomfortable messages and heed the warnings; to adopt Mary's manifesto and make it our agenda. Can we, as a Parliament, as a Church, as a nation, do that?
Mary's song of trust in God at the time of her pregnancy reminds us that the world is always pregnant with the love of God. It is through our actions that that love is born.
I will end with a prayer.
Father of all,
bless us all this Christmas time.
Be merciful to us and enlist us
in your work of justice and of service to those in need,
so that, so far as we are able,
none of our sisters or brothers may be left outside,
but all may be included.
In the name of Christ,
who was born in weakness
yet who reigns in strength,
we pray.
Amen.