On Monday I went again to the St. Louis County Jail to share in a Bible study with the women there. Fourteen of us sat on plastic chairs in the program room. We started by sharing our first names, how the weather was in our soul (most were cloudy or stormy) and then a family Christmas tradition or memory. There were stories of lutefisk, of rolling dice for presents, of tracking Santa’s journey on the radio and of large family gatherings. There was also the shared grief of not spending this Christmas with their children and family.
After the intro, we read the Christmas stories from Matthew and Luke. The women took turns reading as the Bible was passed around. It was Mary’s story that seemed to touch the women the most. One woman revealed that she had had her first child when she was only 13, about the same age Mary may have been. Most of the women knew something deep inside about Mary’s “lowly state”.
And yet God chooses Mary to be the one to carry the Good News in her very being. God always seems to choose the ones least likely. And when Mary learns of her pregnancy she sings. She sings a song from long past. She sings out with Hannah’s song. Hannah sang of God’s justice and joy when she, who was thought to be barren, gave birth to an unexpected child, Samuel. Hannah’s song begins, “My heart rejoices in the Lord” and continues, “God raises the poor from the dust and lifts the needy from the ash heap”
Our daughter was born in the middle of December in the midst of a snow storm. I remember looking out at the swirl of flakes in the wind as the contractions moved through my body. The Hannah of scripture and I were both geriatric pregnancies. We both would rejoice. In part, we named our baby girl Hannah because of Hannah’s powerful song.
These songs are important because women typically silenced have something to say and sing about. Mary and other women are often silenced in scripture. In Matthew, Mary is mute, not a word leaves her lips. For his part, the Apostle Paul thinks it is worth remarking that God’s son was born of a woman, but he never mentions her name. But Luke remembers her name and her story. Mary will not keep quiet. She has something to say about this miracle child. She sings out the astonishing news. It is a song bursting forth from unexpected lips.
Mary’s song is not just a solo about her own destiny, but a freedom song for all those made poor. She sings a song for all who in their lowliness still believe that God will make a way for them. Mary, this woman whose very name means rebellion, sings out of a God who will fill the hungry with good things and will scatter the proud of heart. She sings a freedom song that echoes down from past generations, “He has shown strength with his arm;
he has scattered the proud in the imaginations of their hearts.
He has brought down the powerful from their thrones,
and lifted up the lowly;
he has filled the hungry with good things”
The women heard their stories in Mary’s story. And in the sharing of their truths they lifted one another up, up from their lowliness. One woman spoke powerfully about how her past of being trafficked would never define who she was now. She was so much more, and her witness gave other women the courage to also speak about their pasts and how they were moving forward with their lives.
We closed our time with prayer in our circle. They offered up powerful prayers for one another. They called out prayers for court dates, prayers for children, prayers for partners and prayers for peace. And then we sang together. We sang “Silent Night” by heart. The words “all is calm, all is bright” never sounded more beautiful to me. Truly their souls magnified the Lord.
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