Readings for the Day:
Sermon:
Original Manuscript:
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Elisabeth Cruciger, who we celebrate today, was hymn-writer back in Luther’s time. Because we are in full communion with the Evangelical Lutheran Church of America and she has deep roots in the Lutheran Church, we have added her to our Lesser Feasts and Fasts for the Church just this past year.
As Cruciger was a hymnographer, it is appropriate that we read the Magnificat, the Song of Mary, as Gospel reading today. Now while Mary’s Song was new, and Spirit inspired, it also has it’s roots in something much older: the Song of Hannah. Hannah’s Song was what she sang in joy for finally giving birth to a baby boy, the Prophet Samuel, the one who would anoint the first kings of Israel, including King David. If we look at the words for these songs, they are very similar, though the spirit behind each is slightly different. Mary’s pregnancy was not expected and would have put her in great danger. Yet she sings with the same joy as Hannah for being a key part of God’s work of Salvation in this world.
Mary’s Song is new, yet has it’s roots in what has come before. Cruciger, as a follower of Martin Luther’s Reformation, would have been similar. She was writing new hymns, yet as a reformer they would have been rooted in what had come before in the words of Scripture. Her words and music have been recognized and appreciated in the church for centuries in both Lutheran and Anglican circles.
One of the frequent refrains in the Psalms is “Sing to the Lord a new song.” Cruciger did so, just as Mary did before her. These songs may have been rooted in what had come before, the roots of our Faith, yet they were new in their time, though we have enjoyed them throughout the centuries. We must ask ourselves now, ‘What new song are we going to sing?’ We must always root everything we do in our Faith, in the Love of God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Yet we must find new ways to praise our Lord that can reach all in this time and place, as well as to the future beyond.