Luke's Songs -Your Song

Kate Thoresen December 28, 2008

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Isaiah 61:10-11
Luke 2: 22-40

Introduction

It has been said that the Gospel of Luke is the loveliest book ever written. ⁵ It gives a vivid picture of a world in which there are angel messengers who proclaim glad tidings to a people in despair. Heaven and earth seem to meet in the stories surrounding Jesus, the new born son of God, who was born of the young woman Mary.

In some ways, the Gospel of Luke is a musical about Jesus; words of songs are recorded, especially in the infant narratives of Jesus. Mary praises God in her Magnificat. Luke shows us heavenly beings praise God in song. And in our lectionary readings today, we read about Simeon and Anna who were moved to song and praise of what they sensed that God was doing in this baby, Jesus the Christ.

Stories about Jesus presented at the Temple and Simeon and Anna see the child and praise God for sending the promised Messiah.

Luke's Songs

Luke provides us with a tender picture of the glory of God becoming Incarnate as a human being. A spiritual awakening is happening throughout the heavens and the earth. Young and old are singing their hearts out to God. A young woman sings that her soul magnifies the Lord, for God has done great things for her. Angels sing, "Glory to God in the highest and peace and good will to all on earth..." Simple shepherds respond. And in our readings today, we see that it is never too late - and we are never too young as in Mary's case - and never too old as Simeon and Anna - to tune into this song of the ages and to participate in its transcending message. Like Simeon and Anna show, we can let God's Spirit intersect with our spirits so that God's plan of Eternal Love can shine through our own individual lives.

Luke gives us pictures of heaven and nature and human beings caught up in a universal harmony of God's glory. All are connected. All are part of a great inter-related luminous web ² that shines through time and space. It is a holistic view of Life in its fullest. God is acting not only in nature, but also in human history and lives.

Luke's Gospel shows us what it's like for regular human beings to catch a sense of God's glory, of God's magnificent presence that has always been manifest in Creation and now manifested through God's promised One, the Messiah, Emmanuel, God with us. It can boggle the mind to consider that God's glory can now been seen in the face of a human being, Jesus Christ. Luke shows Jesus as the incarnate instrument of God's song of glory and goodwill toward all.

What is that song like? How do we hear it in our own daily lives?

First of all, we hear in this song about a Love so beyond most of us - and yet is around us. The "wonders of His Love" ³ is a Love that is unselfish, willing to sacrifice oneself, a love that serves not self but the greater good.

It is also a song of thanks and praise to God - always pointing to God as the Source of all - the Father in heaven who provides for the daily bread on earth.

This is a song of forgiveness and deliverance from the sins of this world, a song of freedom and of that peace that passes understanding. It is a song that "casts out our sins and enters in - and can be born in us today." ⁴ This song sees temptations for what they are and faces them with the faith that God's own kingdom and glory and power shall never end.

And this is a song of connectedness to all others as sons and daughters of God - and as brothers and sisters of Christ.

It is a song of the ages begun when God brought the world into being. It is the song that all will be singing in the new world to come. Our faith tells us that by the power of Christ's resurrection, we too will be born into a new life and will forever be singing this song of praise in heaven. This song of eternal glory is also meant to be sung here and now, and we can be part of God's greater song of salvation as we journey through this life. We are meant to be instruments of God's song of Eternal Love.

So how are we instruments of this song? How does this become your own song?

• Every time you have reached out in compassion for someone less fortunate, you have let that song sing through you.
• When you are willing to forget what you have done for other people and remember what they have done for you, that song of gratitude is flowing.
• When you stop calculating what the world and everyone owes to you, but think what you owe to the world, you are singing that song;
• When you try to look past superficial appearances and to see the person within, you are singing that song;
• When you are seeking to sow a few seeds of happiness and working for the good-will for all, you are incarnating that song through your actions.

I believe there is that golden chord within each of us, and this golden chord, this soul, needs to speak and sing and find expression.

Our Song Together as Congregation and Parish Associate

I have had the privilege of hearing you sing some your songs already. Last fall Dick Henderson and I led a series called Awakening to God's Presence. Some of you shared snippets of beautiful songs that made our souls sing:

• In the rain falling on the roof of a barn where one's daughter was being married, and knowing that even though plans had to change because of the weather, that all was well and you were receiving a sense of showers of God's blessings.
• It came when one was sitting besides a quiet pond and the words of a favorite hymn start playing, "He walks with me, and he talks with me, and He tells me I am his own."
• It can come while driving to work and the radio is turned off and one experiences a Presence within the confines of the sanctuary of a car.
• It can happen on a golden morning when sitting in a boat, fishing with a son, and all seems harmonious in the magic of that moment.

When we turn to pay attention, we can hear bits and pieces of this gospel song of Luke gently playing throughout our everyday lives. I sense that this is part of God's call to us in our new relationship as your parish associate - that together we will share more and more where we are hearing that song that tells of "the wonders of God's love."

Then just two weeks ago, on December 14, I got to hear this entire congregation sing out in an incredible way. Some of you said that you had tears in your eyes as you were moved by the music of that glorious cantata. The music pointed to Jesus Christ, God Incarnate, the Lamb of God. God's love came to life once again through the singing of the choir, the narration of Dick Henderson, the music played by the orchestra and the conducting of Ray Shuster.

There was an energizing presence here among us. I watched the choir members give of themselves. I saw young men in the congregation sit forward to drink in the magic of that special moment. And I stopped to listen then to the whole congregation sing together as Ray led us in our final song, which ended with the glorious vision of a new heaven and a new Earth in which we all be singing around the throne of God, "lost in wonder, love and praise."

It seemed that we were experiencing what a community of faith is all about - each person lifting his or her voice in a universal song that connected us with God, with one another, and with people throughout the ages who have sung similar songs.

I feel blessed to begin this new relationship with you as we enter into this new year - and new spiritual journey. As your parish associate I'll be listening to your many expressions of your souls' songs. I'll be collaborating with you as you seek to pay attention to God's Presence in your lives and ways you seek to honor that. I'll be praying together with you as you continue to incarnate that song that expresses God's plan of salvation for all people - how you are instruments of God's peace and good will in social outreach and mission.

Your Song is Needed More than Ever

Now, more than ever, the world around us desperately needs to hear and experience this greater vision of an Eternal Love that will never let us go. There are people who are hungry, hurting, alone, and frightened. What has seemed secure is now falling away. What we thought we could count on is no longer reliable. Our future is uncertain in terms of our material and economic stability. Yet we need to sing a song of comfort to those who are experiencing loss, a song of peace that can soothe anxieties, a song of hope that breaths a new perspective beyond a spiral of despair. Never has your song been needed more every day.

It's been said that a spiritual renewal is often accompanied by an outburst of song. ⁵

So let's stand together, ready to move into this new future together, ready for our own spiritual renewal, and we affirm our faith by singing together the Christmas carol, "Angels We Have Heard on High." Let our songs mingle with Luke's songs as we lift our hearts and voices in singing, "Gloria in Excelsis Deo. Glory to God in the highest."

Alleluia and Amen.

1. William Barclay, The Daily Study Bible Series, Revised Edition: The Gospel of Luke, (Philadelphia: The Westminster Press, 1975). p.1

2. Phrase from Barbara Brown Taylor's book, The Luminous Web: Essays on Science and Religion. (Cambridge, MA: Cowley Publications, 2000)

3. Phrase from Christmas carol, Joy to the World

4. Phrase from Christmas carol, O Little Town of Bethlehem

5. Kenneth W. Osbeck, 101 Hymn Stories.(Grand Rapids, MI: Kregel Publications, 1982), p.38

©Kate Thoresen 2008