This sermon was delivered on December 19, 2021 at the weekly service at The Kensington in Galesburg, IL.
Today we’re going to talk about what I consider the original Christmas hymn and a modern interpretation of that hymn. In the verse from Luke we just heard, Mary has visited Elizabeth. When they meet for the first time, the child in Elizabeth’s belly leaps with joy, and Mary shares what has become known as the Magnificat or the canticle of Mary. It is considered one of the eight most ancient Christian hymns and perhaps even the earliest of hymns devoted to Mary.
In 1978 Miriam Therese Winter turned these words into a poem and set it to a hymn melody and the hymn “My Soul Gives Glory to My God” was born. Let’s listen:
Today is the final Sunday of advent and the day we celebrate Love. It’s no coincidence that this is also the day we celebrate Mary- because her love helped bring Jesus into the world. I’m often baffled by how little credit Mary is actually given by modern songwriters.
Luke 1 lets us know that Mary knew exactly what she was getting into, and she knew exactly what her child would become. She understood the assignment. Just because the rest of the world took a while to figure it out, doesn’t mean that Mary didn’t know or understand. Holly Scheer argues that “Mary Did you know” is the most biblically illiterate of the Christmas songs, because the Bible clearly tells us that Mary did in fact know.
She knew. She was told by the Angel in Luke 1 30-35, and she confirms it again when she sings the Magnificat a few verses later. The Magnificat reveals that Mary understood her “calling to be a fulfillment of ancestral promises” and she draws on Genesis and the psalms to declare God’s love and mercy.
Her song also foreshadows the Jesus we are going to meet in the rest of Luke- a Jesus who wants to overthrow the powerful, take care of the poor, and care for the entirety of God’s people.
But Mary is also a revolutionary herself. When we recognize the fear Mary must have felt as a betrothed pregnant teenager during a military occupation, we can begin to understand the depths of her faith. It’s once she’s safe with Elizabeth that she can remember and celebrate Gabriel’s earlier “God is with you” message. God is with her and has the power to reverse any sense of shame she might feel, and instead Mary can celebrate with hope and joy.
Mary’s canticle is a powerful anti-establishment, pro-woman, anti-poverty song of liberation. And she sings it herself- she tells her OWN story in this moment, and while we receive the words via Luke’s gospel, we’re told that the words are Mary’s. This is the closest thing we get to a first hand account of her experience.
Miriam Therese Winter recognized the beauty of the Magnificat and its power and transformed it from the biblical language into a hymn that could be sung by the average church goer. Born as Gloria Winter, later entered the Medical Mission Sisters in Philadelphia. Upon taking her vows, she took the name Miriam Therese. She earned a BA in music, a Master’s in religious Education and a PH.D from Princeton.
She is still active in her community and still writes music. She is a professor of liturgy, worship, spirituality, and feminist studies at Hartford Seminary where she founded the Women’s Leadership Institute. She considers herself a feminist and believes in workign toward the liberation of women, as she feels that the liberation of women is essential to the liberation of all people. She has marched for civil rights, women’s rights, and LGBQT+ rights.
She first published this hymn in 1979 and said the following about it: “Often through the centuries the Magnificat has been considered a dangerous hymn because it sings of overturning the status quo, promising food for the hungry, power for the powerless and a reversal of economic fortunes,” Dr. Winter notes. “It is a song of hope for times of disparity and for any situation in which we feel personally or systemically overwhelmed. It is just the song for a time such as this.”
The most controversial part of this hymn is her intentional use of “her” when discussing God. “My God has done great things for me: yes holy is her name.” Winter intentionally wrote it with a feminine pronoun to be sung at student-led vespers services. She knows it causes some people discomfort, but brings joy to others and has said on the matter, “I suspect God smiles on this. I know I do.”
For me, Miriam Therese Winter’s version of the hymn simplifies the Magnificat in a way. It seems like the words of Mary become more accessible when translated this way. This canticle is a love song that Mary sings to God- praising God for all that has come to pass but also for all that will happen in the days to come.
It serves as a powerful reminder that God’s promises will be remembered and that God’s love will do the work of casting the mighty from their thrones and feeding the hungry. God’s love is the source of God’s mercy, and both versions of the Magnificat remind us of that powerful love.
So yes, Mary did in fact know. Jennifer Henry has reimagined the words to the song, and here are my favorite lines from her version:
Did you know that your holy cry
would be subversive word,
that the tyrants would be trembling
when they know your truth is heard?
Mary did you know,
that your lullaby
would stir your own Child’s passion?
Mary did you know,
that your song inspires
the work of liberation?
Now maybe Mary didn’t know these things, but I’m glad that there are those out there seeking to revive and honor Mary’s voice and recognize her power.
Amen.
1 Holly Scheer, “Why ‘Mary Did You Know’ Is The Most Biblically Illiterate Christmas Tune,” The Federalist, December 21, 2016, https://thefederalist.com/2016/12/21/mary-know-biblically-illiterate-christmas-tune/.
2 Christoph W Stenschke, “Psalms and the Psalms in Luke’s Infancy Narrative,” Baptistic Theologies 1, no. 2 (2009): 63.
3 Goss, “Luke,” in The Queer Bible Commentary, ed. Deryn Guest, 2. impr (London: SCM Press, 2007), location 14710.
4 Goss, location 14710.G
5 “Miriam Therese Winter,” CT Women’s Hall of Fame, accessed December 17, 2021, https://www.cwhf.org/inductees/miriam-therese-winter.miriam
6 “Miriam Therese Winter.”Miria
7 C. Michael Hawn, “History of Hymns: ‘My Soul Gives Glory to My God,’” Discipleship Ministries, accessed December 17, 2021, https://www.umcdiscipleship.org/resources/history-of-hymns-my-soul-gives-glory-to-my-god.
8 Hawn.
9 Jennifer Henry, “Mary, Did You Know…,” Holy Trinity TO (blog), December 5, 2017, https://holytrinity.to/2017/12/mary-did-you-know/.