Monday, December 22, 2025

 

Collegium Recordings


Some time ago I was in a local restaurant and happened to read the message on our server’s T-shirt: It is impossible to lead a positive life with a negative mind set. 
 
As I have been thinking about the readings for today this message has come back to me. All of them are filled with joy, gratitude, praise and wonder.
 
I rarely make a resolution at the New Year but in January 2025 I resolved to try and adopt an attitude of gratitude. Like so much else in our walk with Christ, just the attempt is honoured and rewarded. Slowly I have been aware in a shift in my general attitude. The world looks brighter, even if the news media is full of doom and gloom, wars and rumours of wars. After a lifetime of seeing the glass as half empty I now, occasionally, see half-full glasses.
 
Today’s readings are filled with a multitude of joyous proclamations, a chorus of praise, wonder and thanksgiving.  There are no half-full glasses here. They are all brim-full, running over and spilling outward in a flood of shared blessing! 
 
Samuel 1 tells the story of Hannah, her despair of being barren, her trust in God and her outpouring of joy when God sends her Samuel. Her gratitude is so great that she dedicates Samuel back to God and he becomes a great prophet. Her song of praise foreshadows that of Mary in the Luke passage.
 
Both the Isaiah passage and Psalm 113 are hymns of trust and praise. Isaiah 12: Behold, God is my salvation: I will trust and not be afraid; for the Lord God is my strength and my song.  Psalm 113: From the rising of the sun to its setting / the name of the Lord is to be praised! … Praise the name of the Lord!
 
In Luke we read the wonderful words of the Magnificat. This hymn of praise and thanksgiving pours forth from Mary as she greets her cousin Elizabeth, mother of John the Baptist. Elizabeth has just sung her own song of praise on greeting Mary. 
 
These two songs plus the song of Hannah express similar sentiments.  All give praise, speak of righting injustices such as humbling the proud, feeding the hungry and raising the poor from the dust.
 
Our three women, Hannah, Elizabeth and Mary accepted their circumstances with faith and belief in the goodness of God. Each of them could have wallowed in self-pity or fear because their circumstances were each considered shameful such as being barren or pregnant out of wedlock. But each chose to wait in hope and for each the hope was brought to fulfilment in joy.
 
This Advent may we too wait in hope and expectation of goodness. There are times when hope is hard to maintain. But, I want to try and approach each day with, My soul doth magnify the Lord / And my Spirit rejoices in God my Savior!

The music, The Magnificat by John Rutter got me through cancer treatment. I find it so joyful and after treatment I would put on my headset and go walking in the park singing along.  I’m sure passers by thought I was demented! But, I’m still here 23 years later, so something must have worked…

Allison Adams
 
 
Magnificat  John Rutter


 

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