The Magnificence of a Young Woman’s Heart
This sermon invites us to reflect on the faith of Mary, whose simple yet profound “yes” to God’s invitation reverberates throughout history. Her Magnificat, a song of personal joy and communal salvation, celebrates a God who overturns systems of oppression. In Mary’s story, we are reminded that even the smallest acts of faith and participation in God’s work can magnify hope, bring transformation, and echo the revolutionary love of God’s kingdom.
The Glimpses of Grace podcast is a ministry of Grace Episcopal Church in Gainesville, Georgia. We are passionate about supporting the spiritual growth of souls, and we hope these sermons and conversations meet you where you are and enrich your soul as we all continue to make meaning in the world today.
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Transcript
“My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior.”
In the rolling hills of Judea, amid terraced farms and winding trails,
in the magnificence of a young woman’s heart,
a moment transpired.
It was not a moment of grand fanfare or thunderous proclamation.
It was a quiet, humble encounter—
one between a young woman, Mary, and a heavenly messenger,
one in which the salvation of the young woman’s people would
begin to take form.
When Mary says “yes” to God’s invitation,
she does more than offer words. She offers her very self.
Her consent is not passive. It is active.
It is a bold and beautiful participation in divine activity—
a participation that reaches out far beyond the confines of her own life
and into the life of her world, her community.
A young woman, betrothed but not yet married,
is visited by the angel Gabriel.
The angel speaks of God’s favor and a task impossible to comprehend.
Yet, with a multitude of questions floating around her mind, her fear,
and the tension of uncertainty, she offers a simple but profound answer:
“Here am I, the servant of the Lord; let it be with me according to your word.”
Mary’s yes is not proud or powerful.
It’s quiet, courageous… a step into the unknown,
an offering of herself fully to something greater than the self.
It’s a whispered “let it be” that turns fear into faith
and doubt into devotion.
Mary’s yes begins in her body, but it reaches far beyond her location.
Her body nourishes the Savior who will bring justice to the oppressed,
lift up the lowly, and fill the hungry with good things.
She carries not just the promise of God’s salvation for her own soul,
but for her entire people.
Mary is a young woman, true, but she is also a representative for her community—God’s people, longing for deliverance, yearning for the promise
of God’s kingdom.
Mary’s yes echoes the very heart of God’s covenant with God’s people.
God’s action is never individualistic. God’s action is always communal.
Mary becomes a bridge between the divine and the human,
between the promises of God and the reality of the lives of Mary’s community.
God has not forgotten God’s people.
God is present in the ordinary and the extraordinary.
Mary rushes to her cousin, Elizabeth. They greet one another—the unborn John
leaps for joy in Elizabeth’s womb, Elizabeth bestows honor on her guest,
and Mary undoubtedly feels the weight settling in her soul.
Yet, she sings.
She sings a song of praise, a song that is deeply rooted in scripture
and echoes back to Hannah’s song of thanks for the birth of her son, Samuel.
Yet it’s utterly new—a song of personal joy, yet a song of communal salvation.
“He has looked with favor on the lowliness of his servant.
Surely, from now on all generations will call me blessed…
He has brought down the powerful from their thrones, and lifted the lowly;
He has filled the hungry with good things, and sent the rich away empty.”
Mary’s song is a radical declaration that the very nature of God’s salvation
is one of overturning earthly structures of power.
It is a declaration that those with little will be raised up,
that the humble will be exalted,
that those who need or want will be satiated.
Mary, a young, marginalized woman from Nazareth, embodies this hope.
She’s the first to experience this revolution, in her body,
she bears the first fruit of God’s kingdom on earth.
Mary’s yes demonstrates her personal faith, but it’s also an act of resistance
to the oppressive systems of the world.
She participates in the salvation of her community—
not just in the sense of carrying the Christ child,
but in living out the values of the Kingdom of God: justice, mercy, peace.
Mary’s story is our story. Advent requires action.
Mary sings of God’s history with God’s people and their covenantal relationship.
“To remember mercy” points back even further to the very nature of God.
The God Mary praises is the covenant-making God,
the God who re-members and embraces us in relationship. God acts.
God’s people have always found favor with God, especially in the wilderness.
And in the margins, God transforms history…
by seeing and looking with favor upon a humble and willing servant.
Mary was disoriented and rejected as an unwed mother. But Mary acts.
Frightened, Mary travels into the hill country and arrives at Elizabeth’s door.
Elizabeth welcomes her, greets her, honors her, and encourages her.
Elizabeth acts.
This Advent season, we wait in anticipation and hope,
maybe even sorrow or fear.
For in our humanity we move forward in our lives with burdens,
and we have no way of knowing what is to come.
But God remembers his promises.
Mary’s interaction with Elizabeth reminds us to consider our
own openness to the ways in which God chooses to act in our world.
What is God doing through the most unlikely of people?
Where is God at work through our neighbors that we neglect to see?
What would happen if the messengers of God’s new possibilities
showed up on our doorstep? Would we act? Would we sing?
Mary’s yes to God’s will is a profound act of participation in God’s work.
Are we prepared to do the same?
Even a small yes can be part of God’s great story…
bringing hope where there is despair, light where there is darkness,
love where there is hate.
May our souls too magnify the Lord,
and may our spirits rejoice in God our Savior. Amen.