Singing Practice

Fourth Sunday of Advent. Fr David Rocks invites us to wait with joyful hope.

Where are you coming from? I can feel a song coming on …

The Gospel proclaimed today stops short of a response to Elizabeth’s sentiments. The next bit we know well – the Magnificat – the song of God’s greatness. That is left out for today – a reminder to complete our singing practice!

Elizabeth is with child in old age, her young cousin Mary also, but young, and a virgin. The new life that is in their bodies is the turning point of human history: God-with-us. This changes everything, but is most certainly not the ‘end’ of the story, nor it’s completion. Let’s have a think about why we should do our singing practice, why we’re not ready to sing …

‘Where are you coming from?’ I have phrased that question quite deliberately. I started with ‘where do you come from?’ Reading that again, I felt it doesn’t really feel like it’s in the Advent spirit. Advent is a time of expectation, but expectation always begs qualification. I want to know what to expect and what is expected from me. What does God expect from me? God expects me to sing! Maybe I’m not ready?

What do you say when you meet somebody for the first time. I’m sure you don’t sing to them, or ask them to sing! Perhaps you will ask them, ‘Where do you come from?’ This is a useful question – it helps us to measure them, assess them, manage them. Then we have a chance to understand them: is that when we have a chance to love them? Think of the story so far – when Zechariah struggled to cope with the message, it was only faith that brought him understanding and love. For Mary, belief was instant, the result of extraordinary grace. This bloomed in extraordinary faith. She is then the perfect example of human reciprocation of God’s love for us. I feel a song coming on …

But I’ve not done all my singing practice yet. That’s what Micah is getting at in our first reading. Where is he coming from? Bethlehem, it seems. That’s the place that’s important for him right now, his contrast to Jerusalem: Bethlehem is close to Jerusalem, but indeed its inferior. Micah has prophesied: where will the great ruler come from? Bethlehem is the place in which he will be born, but his ‘origins are from of old, from ancient times’ (Micah 5:2).

So where does Jesus come from? Nazareth – can anything good come from that place? Bethlehem – the least of the cities of Judah? Jerusalem – the city over which he wept? Maybe I can understand where Jesus comes from, but does that help me to love him and share him with others? Maybe it is better if I ask where he is coming from?

Where is he coming from? He is coming from the Father, and bringing forth the Holy Spirit. That’s why I can feel a song coming on. This is a time for rejoicing and celebrating, but the ethos of Advent invites us to take a break, and practice our singing. So hold that note.

Our Advent journey has encouraged us to embrace the coming of God in Christ: ‘Marshall your troops now, city of troops, for a siege is laid against us’ (Micah 5:1). A siege is indeed in place, there is much in our lives to diminish us: greed, depression, illness, sloth, oppression, conflict, etc. There is a major challenge for us: can we welcome the Christ into our own simple Bethlehem, so that he can triumph in the metropolis of Jerusalem? Can we allow the Christ to ask us ‘where we are coming from’, rather than ‘where we have come from’. Have you the courage for that? To finish your Advent by daring to let go of the idea that God will judge us on the worst version of ourselves?

Mary and Elizabeth bore witness to this in the Gospel we have proclaimed today, but we’re not ready for the song yet – or maybe we are, or maybe we should be. What about trying to wait in joyful hope? I think I can feel a song coming on…

Readings: Micah 5:1-4 | Hebrews 10:5-10 | Luke 1:39-45

Image: detail from a fresco of the Visitation by Giotto di Bondone (1267-1337), photographed by Frans Vandewalle (CC BY-NC 2.0)