The Silenced Have Words to Speak Amen

‘He has shown strength with his arm; he has scattered the proud in the thoughts of their hearts. He has brought down the powerful from their thrones, and lifted up the lowly.’ Mary, the mother of Jesus, Luke 1:51-52

Amen. So be it. Let it be thus. Certainty. Certainty in the truthfulness of what was said. Amen. I don’t know about you, but I long to say ‘amen’, so be it, with absolute certainty. Absolute certainty that God will indeed do this. That in Jesus God has indeed done this. This longing has been a part of my song for as long as I can remember. The hoped-for Messiah has come to bring good news to the poor, to proclaim freedom for the prisoners, recovery of sight to the blind, to set the oppressed free, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor. Amen. For he will deliver the needy who cry out, the afflicted who have no one to help. He will take pity on the weak and the needy and save the needy from death. He will rescue them from oppression and violence, for precious is their blood in his sight. Amen. I say “Amen. God, let it be this way,” yet it is prayed without absolute certainty. Really, if I’m honest, it is often prayed more as something in between, “God, wouldn’t it be nice” and “PLEASE God! We’re begging you!” Emmanuel, God with us. Amen. As a Western middle-class male (and white nonetheless) I ponder the reality that Mary, the mother of Jesus, as a poor young Jewish female under Roman rule, was powerless. Voiceless. Yet her voice is sung out in Scripture—the longest passage spoken by a woman 3

in the New Testament. And her voice is full of certain. Oppressed. Afflicted. Powerless. Voiceless. Yet hopeful. God choosing her was not a contingency plan for when the real Salvation Project of Israel failed. She was chosen. She accepted her chosen-ness. And the whole world has been blessed because of her, for through her God brought Emmanuel, God with us, into the world. Her voice is sung out in all the world. And in her voice, all the voiceless of the world are given a voice. And in her Son, all the uncertain are given hope, joy, peace, and love. Amen.

(a prayer from Padraig O’ Tuama’s Daily Prayer with the Corrymeela Community)

God of Mary, Son of Mary:

Neither birth nor death diminished you.

Neither power nor pain destroyed you.

Neither plenty nor little distracted you.

So lift up our arms in strength so that we may lay down our arms and our armies, our fears and our prejudices.

Because, with Mary, we know that the silenced have words to speak

Amen.