It's so easy to get distracted. After all, there are so many things to worry about. There are all of those daily chores that just have to get done. There are family members or friends needing our attention. There are people that we don't even know asking for our help. There are bills to be paid and shopping to be done. There are dates to be remembered, and of course, there's painting and renovating to be done! In fact, most of the time, there are just way too many things to think about. It's so easy to get distracted! Surely it must have been so for Mary, too!

Really, her mind could have gone in I don't know how many different directions! How will Joseph feel about the baby? How will we afford to have a baby? How will anybody ever believe that he's the Son of God? What colour will we paint the nursery? I've got to go shopping for baby clothes! Why would an angel appear to me and God actually let me live? How did Elizabeth manage to get pregnant when she's so old? Will people accept the baby as our child? I've got to find some pre-natal classes! Don't you think that she must have been distracted, too? Yet, none of that is recorded in the Scriptures. Instead, what we have is a record of Mary's faith - a record that is also meant to help us in the midst of our distractions.

It is no accident that the words of today's gospel have been used for centuries in the church as part of Evening Prayer. These words call us, in the midst of our busy, distracted lives, to share in Mary's attitude of faith and to focus on the way things really are. In fact, I can't think of any better way, towards the end of a busy day, to focus on God's presence and remind ourselves of our faith.

If any of you have never tried using Morning Prayer or Evening Prayer as services in your home, I highly recommend it. Both services are found in our hymnal, and are intended to be used daily. If you can, sing them! Sing them often enough that the songs are right there in your memory. And if you really, really don't want to sing - speak them.

One thing that I tried for a while was to sing either Morning Prayer or Evening Prayer every day. Which one I used simply depended on when I had some time during the day, and for readings I used the Psalms and Lessons that are also listed in the hymnal for daily prayer. After doing this for a while, I reached the point where both services were memorized. I can sing the Magnificat, or any other part of the service at any time and in any place. Now, what also started to happen was that I knew the services too well and they started to become rote. So then I switched to some other daily readings that I've been using since then. But maybe at some point I'll go back to using Morning and Evening Prayer, or even Holden Evening Prayer, for a while.

The point is that we have these resources at hand for daily worship if we are open to using them. It doesn't matter if you are by yourself or with a whole bunch of people. Worship doesn't need to be confined just to the church building. And while you're at it, you can throw in some of your favourite hymns and sing those, too!

Now, I mention all of this at least partially because the Magnificat (which is the Latin name for Mary's song from today's gospel) is part of Evening Prayer. Let's imagine for a moment what a difference it would make in our attitudes if we were either singing or saying these words on a regular basis. What difference would it make if we were able to make Mary's words our words?!

These words can only be spoken from the perspective of faith! When we speak or sing these words, Mary's attitude becomes our attitude. Can we truly believe these things and rejoice and magnify the Lord? To learn this attitude truly would be a blessing!

So let's look at what Mary is saying: Can we say that God has looked with favour on our lowliness? If we believe the Scriptures, we can! All of us are sinners who fall short of the glory of God (Rom. 3:23), and yet while we were still sinners Christ died for us (Rom. 5:8). We did nothing to deserve a Saviour, and yet Jesus came and lived and died for our salvation. God has indeed looked upon us with grace and mercy and has offered us eternal life!

So, can we say that the Mighty One has done great things for us? Once again, if we believe the Scriptures, we surely can! Our God has created us in his own image (Gen. 1:27), redeemed us with the blood of Christ (Rev. 5:9), and made us holy by the power of the Holy Spirit (Rom. 15:16; 1 Cor. 6:11). Our God has adopted us as his own children through our Baptism into Christ and has given us an inheritance of eternal life. Our God has reconciled us to himself through the loving sacrifice of Jesus Christ (Rom. 5:10). Through Jesus, we are offered forgiveness, hope, resurrection, and the power of the Spirit. Surely these qualify as great things!?

But - will all generations call us blessed? Actually, in a way, they will. We may not be named a saint or anything like that, but we can certainly be remembered as part of the saints. Remember, the saints are all those who have been made holy through their baptism into Christ and their faith in him. As Martin Luther was fond of pointing out, we are, of course, also sinners, but do not doubt that God has made us saints! And so all of us who continue to belong to Jesus Christ will be counted among the blessed dead - the saints - by all generations on the day of Jesus Christ. The same things are true for us as were spoken by Mary. The only question is if we are going to share her attitude of rejoicing and praising the Lord in response to those things.

Of course, the other question is if we can see the same "great reversal" as Mary can (Lk. 1:50-55). She sings about the powerful being brought down and the lowly being lifted up. She sings about the hungry being satisfied and the rich being sent away empty. She sings about the mercy of God which is for those who fear him in every generation. This "great reversal," of course, is not how things are in the world now, but is how things "really" are (Sundays & Seasons). This is how God really works. This is what will happen in the end. This is how God will bless those who put their trust in him rather than in any human strength or pride or riches.

The basic reminder that is there for us in this song of Mary is that things are not as they seem. It might look like the rich and powerful have everything going for them, but it will count for nothing if they are not "rich toward God" (Lk. 12:21). It might look like it's hopeless for many of the poor and downtrodden people of this world, but God delights in lifting up the lowly. It might look like God is slow to fulfill his promises, but God delights in showing mercy (2 Pet. 3:9)! It might look like God hasn't been doing much lately, and yet God's Spirit is always at work, breathing new life into a creation that groans for redemption (Rom. 8:22-23).

It is so easy to get distracted, and yet today's gospel helps us to focus on what God has done for us and to learn from Mary's attitude and her faith. May we, too, be filled with the Holy Spirit, so that, realizing Jesus' love for us, we might be set free to respond with Mary in rejoicing, and praising, and magnifying our God. Amen.

Mary, Mother of Our Lord Luke 1:46-55 August 15, 2004 St. Luke's Zion Lutheran Church Pastor Lynne Hutchison

? 2004 Lynn Hutchison All Rights Reserved