ADVENT 2024
CENTENARY UNITED METHODIST CHURCH
Privilege Reframed, Power Redefined He hath put down the mighty from their seat and hath exalted the humble and meek. He hath filled the hungry with good things, and the rich he hath sent empty away. e revisit these words from Mary's Magnificat (Luke 1:46-55) each year during Advent. As I pen this reflection on the day between All Saints' Sunday and Election Day, I ponder them through an acute sense of dis-ease and instability. While All Saints' Sunday worship and the Chancel Choir's offering of Bob Chilcott's Requiem invited us to engage deeply with grief and loss, the turmoil of American politics reminds us of just how powerless we often feel.
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In a world filled with conditions frequently beyond our control, Mary's words are a reminder that God is always on the side of the downtrodden, the weak, the grieving, the disenfranchised. Yes, grief, loss, turmoil, discontent, and corruption are inescapable. But, against all logic, our greatest spiritual strength and empowerment is cultivated in the crucible of these realities, refined only when we acknowledge the human limitations that we are quick to protest, cover up, or ignore. People of faith are called to conspire with God to bring heaven to earth, to work for peace, and to fight for justice. Mary's counter-cultural insight is that our place of privilege and power, the place from which our most effective action springs, is often one of helplessness and brokenness. Over and over, the biblical narrative makes clear that God is on the side of the least and the lost, routinely transforming that position of perceived unworthiness into a place of honor. What a thrill of hope! The pages of this issue highlight Music & Arts’ Advent offerings that will call us into hope, for it is in this hope that a weary world rejoices. It is from this position that we are exalted and filled with good things. It is in this pattern that a baby from humble beginnings, born in a manger, saves the world. It is from this point of unlikely privilege and power that we are given the Christ-child who comes to make all things new.
- Jonathan Emmons, Director of Music Ministries