1 He touched the ones that others would despise, he lifted up the poor to help them rise, he stemmed the hypocrites within their pride and drew the little children to his side.
2 He stopped the ones who'd stone a woman dead, then offered care, forgiving her instead. He called his friend once buried in a cave, he promised love would live beyond the grave.
3 He poured himself in love to all the earth, a sacrifice of grace affirmed our worth, and now this simple sacrifice is all we need to make to follow at God's call.
Matthew 10: 40-42 speaks of how we should welcome people. This hymn questions whether the church mirrors this example, and for ‘church’ you can think of a congregation, a parish, a circuit – buildings or people - or even a denomination…
Magnificat challenges the status quo in a topsy–turvy, upturned world
A topsy–turvy, upturned world, where values are distorted, the first is last and last is first with everything contorted. The rich are begging at the door while ones they were despising are given charge of Godly wealth, in stature they are rising.
Magnificat has come to stay, the proud have been extinguished; the humble poor are lifted high, their poverty relinquished. The reign of God has come to pass rebutting our world’s choices, each one that we would count as last within this time rejoices.
And will we ever find a place with pride and wealth rejected, or will hypocrisy deny our need to be accepted? The choice is ours, the crisis dawns, the time to make decisions, to stand with God or walk alone within this world’s divisions.
I am grateful to Daniel Damon, a well known hymn writer, jazz musician and composer from the USA who has offered a new perspective on this text, so fitting, sadly, for our contemporary world:
hymnsandbooks 