There’s a word we are hearing a lot lately: revolution. As people envision new possibilities for our common life, some of us feel more insecure than ever while others are filled with hope. In the gospels, we find the theme of the grand reversal. God lifts up the poor and sends the rich away empty. How do we hear this message in our lives today? Read the song of Mary in Luke 1:46-55. This song is often referred to as the magnificat, meaning “magnify” or “praise”. Mary praises God in response to the news that she will bear Christ to the world, the promised savior to the nations. In Christ, God broke expectations about power and force, choosing weakness and forgiveness.

Canticle of the Turning: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0hPDrkqZGWE

My soul cries out with a joyful shout
that the God of my heart is great,
And my spirit sings of the wondrous things
that you bring to the ones who wait.
You fixed your sight on your servant’s plight,
and my weakness you did not spurn,
So from east to west shall my name be blest.
Could the world be about to turn?

My heart shall sing of the day you bring.
Let the fires of your justice burn.
Wipe away all tears, for the dawn draws near,
and the world is about to turn!

Though I am small, my God, my all,
you work great things in me,
And your mercy will last from the depths of the past
to the end of the age to be.
Your very name puts the proud to shame,
and to those who would for you yearn,
You will show your might, put the strong to flight,
for the world is about to turn.

From the halls of power to the fortress tower,
not a stone will be left on stone.
Let the king beware for your justice tears
ev’ry tyrant from his throne.
The hungry poor shall weep no more,
for the food they can never earn;
There are tables spread, ev’ry mouth be fed,
for the world is about to turn.

Though the nations rage from age to age,
we remember who holds us fast:
God’s mercy must deliver us
from the conqueror’s crushing grasp.
This saving word that our forebears heard
is the promise which holds us bound,
‘Til the spear and rod can be crushed by God,
who is turning the world around.