Mary’s Song is Our Song

One of the many blessings of studying music seriously is being exposed to some of the greatest works ever known to man. One of the blessings of being an adult is understanding things we didn’t fully understand when we were children, youth, or even young adults.

When my husband and I were first married, we sang in the choir of Independent Presbyterian Church in Birmingham, Alabama. IPC was and is a beautiful stone church with a gothic design.

The choir was one of the best in the city of Birmingham. We were privileged and blessed to have been a part of that choir for the first eleven years of our marriage.

Under the direction of Choirmaster and Organist, Joseph W. Schreiber, we sang some of the most beautiful music ever written to the glory of and for the worship of God. Our days there are among the best and happiest of our lives.

THE MAGNIFICAT

Numbered among my favorite musical offerings is the setting of Mary’s Magnificat by Orlando Gibbons. It is from Luke 1:46-55. These are Mary’s words of praise to God as she hears her cousin, Elizabeth, mother of John the Baptist, tell her that the baby within her womb leapt upon Mary’s greeting her.

Can you imagine? Mary, a young, unmarried virgin having only recently been told she would bear the Son of God, and Elizabeth, long after her bearing days, being with child at the same time? They must have both been awestruck.

Even as I write this, I have tears in my eyes. Mary, so young and yet her song of praise holds some of the most poignant, worshipful words in the Bible. She was humbled by the promise within her. She knew she would give birth to the Savior of the World.

I don’t know about you, but I know I wouldn’t have been able to utter a word, let alone these beautiful words of praise to the Living God. Later in Luke 2:19, after the magi have visited the Christchild, we’re told that Mary treasured or stored all that she had experienced since the visitation of Gabriel, within her heart. Over the years, I’m sure she thought about each of those things as Jesus grew into adulthood.

LIKE ALL OTHER MOTHERS

Imagine watching the Son of God go from tiny babe to teen, to full adulthood. She would have had the same thoughts and emotions of all mothers, yet she knew her Son was different. He was the child of the Most High God. The weight of responsibility on her must have been enormous.

To watch Him in the Temple teaching at so young an age, with wisdom beyond that of all the scribes and Pharisees. To see Him scorned, doubted, spit upon, scourged, nailed to the cross, wounded, given vinegar on his parched and bleeding lips. To hear Him tell her that John would now be her son who would care for her in His earthly absence. To hear Him utter His last words, It is finished. To see the Roman soldiers throwing dice for his robes. To see Him carried into the tomb.

Without her faith in the words of the prophets, without knowing the things that Jesus surely told her in His time with her—likely, she would not have endured.

EVERYTHING CHANGED

But that third day changed everything.

For Mary, for Jesus’ disciples, for all the believers, for all the unbelievers from that time to this very day.

Because Christ died for us.

Because He rose from the dead.

Because He ascended to Heaven and sits at the right hand of God the Father Almighty.

Because Jesus is exactly who He said He is.

The Son of the Living God.

Yeshua Hamashiach.

We can have eternal life.

I have no doubt that Mary sang the Magnificat again, on the day Jesus rose. And again on the day He ascended to His heavenly Father.

AN INVITATION TO SING

Mary's Song is Our Song @DDuPreeWilliams #faith #music #themagnificat Share on X

Will you sing this today? Make up your own melody. Just sing from the depths of your heart and soul. Mary’s song is our song. This is who Jesus is to each and everyone who believes.

Do you believe? If you don’t know, please contact me. I will tell you how you can know and love Jesus so that you, too, can sing this song of praise with all the saints.

Blessings, y’all.

 

The photo with the title of this post is of Independent Presbyterian Church. Taken by me in 2012.

 

There is no video this week. This is the setting that has stayed in my heart for over 40 years. It may not be YOUR kind of music, but this is what we would sing on Sunday mornings in worship during Advent, or even on Christmas Eve as the entire Christmas story was told. As an aside, when I was expecting our first son, the IPC choir went to England and Scotland. We sang at King’s College, Cambridge. That was an experience we’ll never forget. I hope this lovely setting of Mary’s song of praise blesses you this Advent as you prepare your hearts to receive the Christchild.