"Quarantine Songs" A sermon for the 3rd Sunday of Advent: Sunday 13 December 2020
13 December 2020
Lutheran Church of the Redeemer, Jerusalem
The Rev. Carrie Ballenger
"Quarantine Songs"
“Let’s pray
together” I said to Marge, who lay in her hospital bed propped up by many
pillows. “How about the Lord’s Prayer? Do you remember how it goes?”
“Yes of
course” said Marge. She sat up a bit in her bed, clasping her frail 90-year-old
hands together in prayer, and began:
“I pledge
allegiance to the flag of the United States of America.”
I could
hardly control my face, so I just bowed my head to look at my own folded hands
as Marge continued:
“And to the
republic, for which she stands, one nation, under God. And give us today our
daily bread. Forgive us our sins.”
I nodded
heartily in approval, thinking we were going the right direction. But then:
“What a
friend we have in Jesus!”
There was a long
pause. Was she done? I wondered.
Then,
suddenly: “Joy to the world, the Lord is come! Let earth receive her King! For
thine is the kingdom, the power, and the glory, forever and ever. Amen.”
I looked up,
and Marge had rested her head back on her pillow. I sat on the bed next to her
and offered her communion wine and a wafer. Soon after, she fell asleep, and I
slipped out of her room and onto the rest of my day.
I remember
that as I got into my car, headed to my next pastoral visit, I thought to
myself: “Wow. Just wow.” I mean, that prayer was a hot mess!
But most of
all I was moved that Marge, at the end of her life, alone in a nursing home,
away from her family and friends, and struggling to remember even my name, was
SINGING. Marge was praising God. She was lifting her voice to the Lord. As a
much younger person than Marge, I wondered: How could that be? How is it that
she was still singing praises to God when she was so lonely, so old, and so
sick? My thoughts turned to Psalm 137, in which the psalmist says: How can we
sing the songs of the Lord in a foreign land?
As I read
Mary’s song this week—the song we call the Magnificat—I had a similar thought.
It occurred to me that Mary…had tested positive. She was positively going to be
the mother of the Savior of the world! Her life had changed dramatically
because of a momentary interaction. Nothing would ever be the same, and she
didn’t know how it would end. How familiar that story feels today!
How do we,
in 2020, sing the songs of the Lord in this foreign land of COVID and
quarantine, in this new world of Christmas without family and without parties,
of remote school and remote church and remote work? How do we sing songs of
praise as we await vaccines and governmental change and a return to something resembling
normal? How do we praise God when we’ve lost so many people we love, and so
much of the life we love?
In the early
days of the pandemic, I remember seeing a video posted by a music teacher in
the US. In this video, she announced she had written a song expressing her joy
and love of teaching remotely. She picked up a ukulele, played a few gentle
chords, and then looked directly at the camera and just screamed at the top of
her lungs! I laughed out loud, as did many others. This teacher’s silly video
went viral because it so perfectly echoed the “song” many of us have had in our
hearts the last 10 months, the lyrics of which are mostly: “Why? What next?” And “When will it be over?”
Holy
Scripture tells us that after the angel Gabriel visited Mary and told her she
was positive, Mary went to visit Elizabeth. And there, in the home of her
cousin and friend, Mary sang a song.
“Magnificat
anima mea Dominum—my soul magnifies the Lord” she sang.
Her song
echoes the song of Hannah from 1 Samuel: “My heart exults in the Lord, my
strength is exalted in my God.”
Her song
echoes the psalmists and the and the prophets of old.
Her song
proclaims, in a powerful way, the goodness, strength, and mercy of a loving
God: in the past, in the own present, and in the future. In spite of her
challenging and unexpected circumstances, Mary sings praises to the one who
was, who is, and who is to come. Like my church member Marge, Mary found her
voice and used it to praise God. Today, 2,000 years later, in the midst of our
own challenging and unexpected season, we can find great strength and courage
in Mary’s song of praise and promise. Amen!
But even so,
I notice that when Mary arrived at Elizabeth’s home, it was Elizabeth who sang
first. The Scriptures say Elizabeth gave a “loud cry” and the baby in her womb
danced when she saw Mary. I imagine Elizabeth jumping up from her chair on the
porch of her home, dancing and singing with joy. Blessed are you! She sang. God
is so good! She sang. I can see the two of them, these two women literally
embodying miracles that probably didn’t feel like miracles at the time,
embracing one another, giving each other strength.
In that
moment, Elizabeth’s song gave birth to Mary’s song.
Which makes
me think:
Often, we
need others to sing with us, and sometimes even for us. We need others to sing
praises to God when we can’t quite do it on our own.
In my
experience, funerals are an excellent example of this. Families choose hymns
very carefully for these events, and then most of the time they themselves
cannot sing them. But when we cannot, the community sings. When we gather to
lay loved ones to rest, our people raise their voices, singing hymns of praise
and comfort and promise, reminding us of God’s goodness and mercy.
And this is
the beauty of a faith community. Community gives us a foundation to stand
on—and often something to push against—but it is always a place to come home
to.
Sometimes
that community is a church. Sometimes it is a group of friends.
Sometimes it
is one friend.
And sometimes,
it is Mary and Elizabeth, embracing each other on the front porch, dancing for
joy.
As Jesus
said, “For where two or three are gathered together in my name, I am there
among them” (Matthew 18:20)
Our
ancestors in the faith have often spoken of the blessing of community.
Our brother
Henri Nouwen writes that the story of the Visitation of Mary and Elizabeth
teaches him the meaning of friendship and community. “How can I ever let God’s
grace fully work in my life unless I live in a community of people who can
affirm it, deepen it, and strengthen it?”
Our sister
Dorothy Day wrote: “We have all known the long loneliness and we have learned
that the only solution is love and that love comes with community.”
And our
sister Audre Lorde said: “Without community, there is no liberation.” Amen!
In other
words: we need each other.
We need each
other, because there are many days when songs of praise don’t just leap from
our lips. There are days, especially these days, when we may not feel like
praising God or thanking God or singing “Joy to the World” at the top of our
lungs, not matter what time of year it is.
But as
several sisters in the faith have taught me over the years, there are two times
when we are to praise God: When we feel like it, and when we don’t.
Or, as the
Apostle Paul said it: “Rejoice always: Again I say: rejoice!”
Even when
you’re waiting. Even when you’re doubtful. Even when you’re afraid. Even when
it seems things will never be the same again. Even then: Rejoice. Give thanks
to God! O come, let us adore him! Joy to the world, the Lord is come! Let earth
receive her king!
And on those
days when the songs aren’t on your lips: dear friends, call on your people.
Call them up. Tell them you need a holy Visitation—by Zoom. By text. By phone.
Maybe write a letter with good old pen and paper! We need each other!
And, above
all: Call on the Lord.
Call on God,
who knows we cannot do it alone.
Who knows we
need each other.
Who sent us
Jesus, our brother, to walk with us. To live like us. To love like us.
To suffer
with us and for us.
This God
does not watch us, detached, from on high,
But has come
close.
This God sits
on the edge of our bed,
Offers us
bread and wine,
Embraces us
on the porch,
Sings
with us…and sometimes for us.
For this
reason, we sing together this Advent:
Our souls
magnify the Lord!
God has done
great things for us!
And through Christ, born in Bethlehem, crucified and risen in Jerusalem, God will be with us tomorrow, and the next day, and to the end of the age.
Thanks be to
God…Amen.
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