Luke 1:46-55
“My soul doth magnify the Lord. And my spirit hath rejoiced in God my Saviour. For he hath regarded the lowliness of his handmaiden. For behold, from henceforth, all generations shall call me blessed”The Book of Common Prayer
The Gospel of Luke tells us that Mary sang this song of praise upon the occasion of her visitation to her cousin Elizabeth. Mary is pregnant with Jesus, and Elizabeth is pregnant with John the Baptist. Elizabeth praises Mary for her faith, and Mary responds with what is now known as the Magnificat.
I have always loved music. Some of my earliest memories involve singing nursery rhymes. What little French I know I learned from singing Frere Jacques as a preschooler. As an adolescent, I sang along to all the pop songs on the radio. I listened for hours to my collection of records from the British Invasion years. If you play the opening chord to A Hard Day’s Night, I immediately know the melody and words that follow. I sometimes feel like I have cluttered my memory banks with too much pop music. Like an earworm, the words and chords of silly love songs are imprinted in my mind. Later in life, I developed a better taste in music and learned to appreciate Jazz, Blues, and even a little bit of classical music, but those simple tunes from my youth still make me want to break into song whenever I hear them.
Musical favorites tap into deep memories. As my mother slid into the fog of dementia in her final months, I connected with her by singing old hymns and choruses. She knew the words and melody, though she remembered little else. Her eyes lit up when we sang those familiar songs.
My Bible calls this passage from Luke, “Mary’s Song.” Theologians tell us that the writer inserted this hymn in this passage, and the early Christians probably knew it well. So, we have a record of one of the earliest known Christian hymns. We don’t know the melody from the early church, but this passage has been put to music and sung in church for centuries. Rachmaninoff, Bach, Vivaldi, Rutter, and countless other composers have written music to these words.
As you read this passage, think of Mary, the mother of Jesus, bursting into praise and worship as she responds to her cousin’s blessing. Think of the first-century church, gathering in homes and small places, singing together this familiar hymn that became part of Luke’s story of Jesus’s birth. Think of Christians through the ages singing of Mary and her hymn of praise. Think how, through all the years of our lives, sacred music is still is a form of praise and prayer, a way to connect with God and with each other.
~ Jack Wallace