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*Click on each bible passage to expand the text. Luke 1:46b-55 Mary’s Song 46. And Mary said: “My soul glorifies the Lord 47. and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior, 48. for he has been mindful of the humble state of his servant. From now on all generations will call me blessed, 49. for the Mighty One has done great things for me — holy is his name.

50. His mercy extends to those who fear him, from generation to generation.

51. He has performed mighty deeds with his arm; he has scattered those who are proud in their inmost thoughts.

52. He has brought down rulers from their thrones but has lifted up the humble.

53. He has filled the hungry with good things but has sent the rich away empty.

54. He has helped his servant Israel, remembering to be merciful 55. to Abraham and his descendants forever, even as he said to our fathers.” 1 Samuel 2:1-10 1. Then Hannah prayed and said: “My heart rejoices in the Lord; in the Lord my horn is lifted high. My mouth boasts over my enemies, for I delight in your deliverance.

2. “There is no one holy like the Lord; there is no one besides you; there is no Rock like our God.

3. “Do not keep talking so proudly or let your mouth speak such arrogance, for the Lord is a God who knows, and by him deeds are weighed.

4. “The bows of the warriors are broken, but those who stumbled are armed with strength.

5. Those who were full hire themselves out for food, but those who were hungry hunger no more. She who was barren has borne seven children, but she who has had many sons pines away.

6. “The Lord brings death and makes alive; he brings down to the grave and raises up.

7. The Lord sends poverty and wealth; he humbles and he exalts.

8. He raises the poor from the dust and lifts the needy from the ash heap; he seats them with princes and has them inherit a throne of honor. “For the foundations of the earth are the Lord’s; upon them he has set the world.

9. He will guard the feet of his saints, but the wicked will be silenced in darkness. “It is not by strength that one prevails;

10. those who oppose the Lord will be shattered. He will thunder against them from heaven; the Lord will judge the ends of the earth. “He will give strength to his king and exalt the horn of his anointed.” Mark 11:1-11 The Triumphal Entry 1. As they approached Jerusalem and came to Bethphage and Bethany at the Mount of Olives, Jesus sent two of his disciples, 2. saying to them, “Go to the village ahead of you, and just as you enter it, you will find a colt tied there, which no one has ever ridden. Untie it and bring it here. 3. If anyone asks you, ‘Why are you doing this?’ tell him, ‘The Lord needs it and will send it back here shortly.’”4. They went and found a colt outside in the street, tied at a doorway. As they untied it, 5. some people standing there asked, “What are you doing, untying that colt?” 6. They answered as Jesus had told them to, and the people let them go. 7. When they brought the colt to Jesus and threw their cloaks over it, he sat on it. 8. Many people spread their cloaks on the road, while others spread branches they had cut in the fields. 9. Those who went ahead and those who followed shouted, “Hosanna!” “Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!” 10. “Blessed is the coming kingdom of our father David!” “Hosanna in the highest!” 11. Jesus entered Jerusalem and went to the temple. He looked around at everything, but since it was already late, he went out to Bethany with the Twelve.

“My soul glorifies the Lord and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior.” – Luke 1:46-47

“The Lord brings death and makes alive; he brings down to the grave and raises up. – 1 Samuel2 :6

“Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! Blessed is the coming kingdom of our father David! Hosanna in the highest!” – Mark 11:9-10

“Save us NOW!”

Hósanna!

… in the highest.

What is today a cry of triumph was once a desperate cry for salvation, for help.

Hósanna! Save us NOW!

Hósanna, LORD, we pray, save us now!

hósanna/ὡσαννά (Aramaic and Hebrew, originally a cry for help), hosanna!, a cry of happiness.

This was the sentiment of tragically barren Hannah in 1 Samuel 1, who was tormented by the fruitfulness of her sister-wife Peninnah’s womb. She cried for the intercession of The Lord.

This was the cry of the people of Jerusalem during the scene of Yeshua’s Triumphal entry: Lord, save us! Save us NOW!

Save us from under this tyranny of the Romans! Save us from under the oppression of poverty. Save us from this darkness all about Israel!

And on this, The Eve of the Winter Solstice, the shortest day of the year, it should be our spiritual cry, too. As the sun slips past us too quickly, we should allow our souls to express that secret hidden thought, that primitive gnawing fear:

LORD SAVE US NOW! The light is fading, eternal night approaches, and I am afraid!

The Winter Solstice & the Need for Salvation

Since time immemorial, this was a pretty scary time of year; filled with foreboding and fear. The sun, the source of all life and warmth, seems to be losing an epic battle in the heavens. It spends less and less time in the sky every day, as if somehow the night is winning the upper-hand in some titanic cosmic struggle.

The ancients recognized this annual pattern and began to model some of humanity’s earliest spiritual concepts from their observations of the Solstices. The fading sun became a symbol of our inevitable death. And humanity was forced to come to terms with this simple fact: everything dies, even (apparently) the sun.

The days before the Winter Solstice were days of deep sorrow and foreboding, the ritualized form of which has been lost to us today. This “spiritual forgetting” is a great tragedy, I think, because the celebration that is to come (in just a few days) is all the more triumphant when prefaced by this ritualized period of the contemplation our own mortality.

In homage to our ancient (non-Christian) brothers and sisters, I would like to propose a humble mediation for tomorrow, the Winter Solstice, the shortest day of the year:

The Winter Lament The sun is fading. Light is dying. All hope is lost.

Life is so short. We come forth like a flower only to be cut down.

Once we are gone, we fade into the shadows to be remembered no longer.

Is there no hope for me, Lord? Mankind gives the last breath and is no more, forever. This is not fair, Lord! For there is hope for a tree, if its leaves should fall, that it will someday sprout again, that it’s tender branch shall not cease! But there is no hope for mankind. We only fade into darkness, like the Winter Sun. The sun is fading. Light is dying. All hope is lost.

Sad, no? Hopeless, dark and foreboding? Good. It should be. It is healthy for us to contemplate things that aren’t comfortable this time of year, to couch despair and hopelessness with… triumph?

Rebirth, Renewal, and Hope

For in just a few days we enter into the most jubilant celebration in Christendom, which happens to correlate directly with the even more ancient jubilation of the “Pagans” (non-Christians). Why was there such hope and jubilation for a people who never knew Christ? Because in a few days, it will be clear that the sun is winning again, that light is returning to power!

For the ancients who watched the progressive sinking of the sun in the winter sky, it would quickly become clear within days following the Solstice that something had changed: the light was no longer fading earlier and earlier in the day, and the arc of the sun across the sky was no longer closer and closer to the horizon.

The sun was winning. Light was reborn. Hope was renewed!

This is the origin of the pre-Christ celebration we call Christmas, the meaning of the date, and the universal hope that all humanity receives this time of year, every year: light has returned to the world.

Light has returned from darkness.

Hope has returned from fear.

The sun’s resurrection holds a tantalizing promise for us all!

Hósanna!

Hósanna in the highest!