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| image courtesy Alejandro Heredia |
Pulling the sheets from the crib
All the disguises
Wandering stars, what she did.
All the king's horns
All the kings men
Saddled and worn...
Raise the dead.
Holy, an infant
He came to raise up the dead"
Sometimes a song is Advent down to its bones... even if I can't figure out why. This was the case for last year's Mogwai song I featured on A.M.P., as well as for today's "All the King's Horns." Certainly, a Sufjan Stevens song seems like a safe bet, given its' presence on his 2003 "Songs for Christmas" album, but when I really listen to the lyrics... I'm not sure what I'm listening to. Is this a hopeful song? An omen? Is it even mostly about Christmas at all?
If I could rename this song, it would be called "It All Falls Down." What I hear are portents of things to come, the unrest of nations and the victims of violence brought back to life. I hear the heavens rearranging themselves, and the turning upside-down of all things. I hear "shapeless surprises" in all forms. I hear not just Christmas, that historical event, but Advent.
Basically, I hear this:
“My soul glorifies the Lord
and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior,
for he has been mindful
of the humble state of his servant.
From now on all generations will call me blessed,
for the Mighty One has done great things for me—
holy is his name.
His mercy extends to those who fear him,
from generation to generation.
He has performed mighty deeds with his arm;
he has scattered those who are proud in their inmost thoughts.
He has brought down rulers from their thrones
but has lifted up the humble.
He has filled the hungry with good things
but has sent the rich away empty."
- Luke 1: 46b-53
In Mary's words, Advent and Christmas truly embrace. Some have noted that her words are in the past tense, suggesting that even before Christ's birth, Mary was intimately aware that something was already moving, things were already upending... Humpty Dumpty had already been toppled, and not even all the kings horses, and all the king's men...
It All Falls Down. This could sound like a sentence of doom, but when we are confronted with powers and principalities of this world that seem all too solid, when we are faced with injustice and violence, poverty and brokeness seemingly without end -- it might be a word of profoundest comfort to remember that all of it, all of it, will one day come tumbling down through the astonishing grace of God-in-Christ.
I choose to believe that this is a song about hope. The difficult, messy kind that isn't totally harmonious. Not all the lyrics of a hope like this seem to make sense, but taken as a whole...what you get is a baby that topples rulers, born in the midst of unrest and portents of his own future death. A baby born to a fierce and faithful mother who said one tremendous yes that helped change everything from that day forward (it's what she did). A Christ who continues revealing this revolution started over 2,000 years ago even now. Even in me. Even in you.
What you get is Advent.
Today may you shine with a messy, illogical hope that moves mountains and topples principalities. May you co-create with God in Christ for the upending of all things. May you trust that you, too, are being re-created this Advent toward the renewal of all things.
Shine on.
-- Anna
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