Singing is good for the Soul
There is a saying, “Singing is good for the soul.” Well, it’s true. Health experts agree and here are the most common reasons why:
1. It’s a mood-enhancer: Singing releases endorphins and makes you feel uplifted.
2. It improves your breathing: Singing gives the lungs a workout and aids circulation.
3. It’s a stress-reliever: Singing allows the flow of blood and oxygen, lessening anxiety.
4. Singing keeps you young: Singing exercises the vocal cords and helps your voice sound younger.
5. Singing builds confidence: Singing alone or in groups builds self-esteem.
Magnificat
It is no wonder then, that much of the ‘Good News’ of the Bible is expressed in song! Mary’s song, known as the Magnificat, is akin to a song in the first Book of Samuel. In this book, Hannah, the mother of Samuel, has a song attributed to her (1 Samuel 2). Hannah’s song was well-known among the poor in the time of Jesus. It carried the promise of God overturning the status quo. It spoke of putting down the mighty and establishing the lowly. Mary’s song might well have been an adaptation of Hannah’s song:
“My soul magnifies the Lord, 47and my spirit rejoices in God my Saviour, 48for he has looked with favour on the lowliness of his servant. Surely, from now on all generations will call me blessed; 49for the Mighty One has done great things for me, and holy is his name. 50His mercy is for those who fear him from generation to generation. 51He has shown strength with his arm; he has scattered the proud in the thoughts of their hearts. 52He has brought down the powerful from their thrones, and lifted up the lowly; 53he has filled the hungry with good things, and sent the rich away empty. 54He has helped his servant Israel, in remembrance of his mercy, 55according to the promise he made to our ancestors, to Abraham and to his descendants forever.” (Luke 1:46-55)
So powerful and provocative are the words that during the days of the British Empire the Magnificat was once banned. It was during a time of unrest when the British governed India. When the evangelical Anglican missionary Henry Martyn went to Calcutta as chaplain to the East India Company in 1805, he was shocked. He discovered that the British authorities had banned the recitation of the Magnificat at Evensong. It was taken out of the worship for fear that the local inhabitants would take its message seriously. It stayed that way until the last day of British rule in 1947. On that day, Mahatma Gandhi, requested that the Magnificat be read in all places where the British flag was being lowered.
Mary is a key player in the Christmas story. She plays the lead role in every Nativity. But I think she’d be disappointed at the way she’s often portrayed. Mary is often shown following Joseph on the search for a room in Bethlehem. Silent, letting life happen to her. That’s not the woman she is portrayed as, in the gospels. Luke’s is the most vivid. It reveals not a gentle Mary meek and mild. Instead, it shows Mary with a joyful revolutionary song on her lips. She is running along the road to Judea. She is very young and she has an excitement in her heart that she cannot contain. Implying we need to let her come running into our lives, the way she ran into the home of her older cousin Elizabeth.
“Tell out my soul!”, she sings jubilantly. In Advent, we are invited to let Mary stir us with that song. When we do this we give Mary back her true voice. Taking her place among the prophets of Advent. For it is a prophetic voice that we are listening to. One that still challenges those of us who live in the affluent countries of the world. Mary’s song isn’t just a series of lovely quotations. It’s a song that defines the meaning of Christmas. That expresses the joy of a mother over her expected son, but also talks of the purpose of his birth. Beyond the celebrations a new meaning to all our lives is given, if we are ready to receive it.
Begotten in Us
We like to look back at Christmas – and there’s nothing wrong with that – but new life also looks forward. We need hope for the future – hope that delivers. Part of that delivery is the desire to make this world a better place for new life – for future generations. We should decide that Hannah’s Song – Mary’s Song – needs to be our song too. Singing that is indeed, good for the soul. Perhaps a reflection by the 14th-century Christian Mystic, Meister Eckhart brings us most eloquently to this point:
“According to ancient Christian writers, God waits for Mary’s yes; creation waits; Adam and Eve wait, the dead in the underworld wait; the angels wait; and so do we. With Mary’s yes, hope is enlivened and history is changed. There is an unimaginable future for all people, a future that comes from God. We are all meant to be mothers of God. What good is it to me if this eternal birth of the divine Son takes place unceasingly but does not take place within me? And, what good is it to me if Mary is full of grace, if I am not also full of grace? What good is it to me for the Creator to give birth to his Son if I do not also give birth to him in my time? Then is the fullness of time measured: When the Son of God is begotten in us.”
Every mother knows that birth, spiritual or physical is never a passive act. “Mary’s yes”, was no weak and feeble answer, but a clarion call for all who yearn for God’s Kingdom. And like a crying baby, we ignore its cry at our own cost. Mary told us plainly in her song, the Magnificat. Do the words turn our world upside down too much for us to hear them, I wonder? It certainly encourages us to look at the world through Mary’s eyes, so that we may find courage to say “no” as well as “yes”. That “no” that love sometimes has to say, as every parent knows. No to greed, to poverty, to oppression, to violence. No to exploitation, to selfishness, to contamination of the earth… Add what you like to this alternative Christmas list. Unless we say “no” to some things, how can we find the room to say “yes” to what God brings? That’s the question.
Like Mary, in our response lies our redemption.
