Christmas (Proper III) / Navidad (III) + 12.25.17

-
(https://dailytheology.org/2014/12/31/
the-seventh-day-of-christmas-sing-a-new-song/)
M. Campbell-Langdell
All Santos, Oxnard
(Isaías 52:7–10; Salmo 98; Hebreos 1:1–4, (5–12); Juan 1:1–14)
¡Canten al Señor cántico Nuevo! Sing to the Lord a new song!
De todas mis memorias de las misas de Navidad en mi niñez, siempre recuerdo cantar. Cantar el largo “glo-o-o-oria” de “Ángeles cantando están.” Singing the long “glo-o-o-oria” of “Angels we have heard on high” and so many other wonderful songs. Los villancicos de Navidad son buenísimo y aquí he aprendido muchos más, como “Burrito de Belén” y “Peces en el Rio” y “En el taller de Nazaret.” Tantas canciones bonitas. There are so many wonderful, heartwarming songs at Christmas, and I do not know about you, but I am always ready to sing anew these old songs of Christmas. The old songs made new each year in joy. Cada año las canciones me parecen nuevas, nuevas en gozo.
In the past, God spoke to us through the prophets. And now, God has come to us in a completely new way, in the form of a son. Dios, quien nos hablaba antes tras los profetas, ahora nos ha visitado con un hijo. In something as lovely, confusing and grand as in the form of a human-divine relationship. We love God, we wrestle with God, and we know that God will never abandon us. Amamos a Dios y luchamos con Dios, y sabemos que Dios nunca nos abandonara.
And that is good reason to sing a new song today! ¡Esta es la razón para cantar una canción nuevo hoy día!
In the context of Psalm 98, the psalmist gives thanks for a military victory. En el contexto del salmo, el salmista celebra una victoria militar. No estamos seguros por cual se celebra. We don’t know which particular victory is celebrated, but we do know that we give thanks for the many events in history in which God has saved us. Celebremos tras la historia todos los momentos en que Dios nos ha salvado.[1]
This new song, shir chadesh in Hebrew, is also referred to in Isaiah 42 when God restores Judean exiles to their home. En Isaías capítulo 42 escuchamos también de esta nueva canción en el regreso de los exilios de Judea a casa, una obra de Dios.[2]
And we also hear of this new song in Psalm 40:
I waited and waited for the Lord,
     he inclined and heard my cry.
He lifted me out of the desolate pit,
     out of the miry swamp.[3] (vs. 1-2a)
Salmo 40 continua así:
Afirmó mis pies sobre una roca;
dio firmeza a mis pisadas.
3 (4) Hizo brotar de mis labios un nuevo canto,
un canto de alabanza a nuestro Dios (DHH). (vs. 2b-3)
Un nuevo canto, porque la fosa mortal representa el más extremo peligro. We sing a new song because we have been saved from the deep pit. That is to say, the most “extreme danger.”[4] What is this danger? Yes, it is sin. Sometimes it is physical salvation. Este puede expresar la salvación de pecado, o un rescate físico por Dios. But mostly it is a reminder that we are not alone in this world. That we accomplish nothing alone but also that God does not abandon us. Es un recuerdo que no estamos solos en este mundo. Que no hacemos nada a solas y tampoco nos abandona Dios.
In all salvation history, we have many reasons to sing a new song. Tenemos tantas razones para cantar un cantico nuevo.
The other day I saw a funny hymn book, called a Hyrr book. It is written for women’s rights and is admittedly a bit blue at times. But it had a funny version of Good King Wenceslas, and the first verse goes thus:
“Good Queen Wenceslaus looked out
On the feast of Stephen
Then she thought, “Now, hang about
Why’s this feast called ‘Stephen’?”
Surely there were other Saints
They could name it after?
Lucy, Laura, Abigail?
Mary, for that matter?”[5]
Esta canción obviamente es un poco chistoso porque es sobre como siempre cantemos de hombres en muchos del los villancicos de Navidad, pero en realidad se trata de como las canciones de Navidad tienen que estar más inclusivos de las mujeres.
Sometimes Christmas songs are silly but with a message, like this one, and sometimes they are solemn and grand. A veces las canciones navideñas son muy solemnes y a veces son cómicas pero siempre son importantes para cantar en esta época. But it is important to keep singing them this season as we remember that God has acted and continues to act to outshine the negative effects of sin and death in our world. Cantemos para recordarnos que Dios nos ha salvado. Dios continua de traer nueva salvación y luz a nuestro mundo. Ha brillado una luz en las tinieblas. Y las tinieblas no han podido apagarla. Nothing can shut out that light.
May we find a new song to sing this Christmas and into the coming year, facing what may come with God, reborn, in our hearts. Que cantemos un cantico nuevo esta Navidad y en el año entrante, sabiendo que Dios estará con nosotros, pase lo que pase, renovado y renacido en nuestros corazones. Amen.


[1] Rolf Jacobson, “Commentary on Psalm 98,” for December 25, 2017, found at: https://www.workingpreacher.org/preaching.aspx?commentary_id=3509.
[2] Ibid.
[3] Ibid, translation by Rolf Jacobson.
[4] Ibid.
[5] Tom Houser, Christopher Keatinge, Augustine Cerf and Laura Nunneley, Hyrr Book (Refuge, 2017): https://drive.google.com/file/d/1vus6CYSP8rsdcL5h1UxzxXK4dmdwpQDS/view. 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Faith or Fear? Advent 1C

-
Melissa Campbell-Langdell All Santos, Oxnard Year C + Advent 1 (Jeremiah 33:14–16; Ps. 25:1–9; 1 Thess. 3:9–13; Luke 21:25–36) So… what are you going to do when you stand before the man with the holes in his hands? Now that may seem like a strange question to ask this first Sunday in December.  Surely, Pastor Melissa, we’re gearing up for jollity, not getting ready to meet our maker? But in a sense we are, always, all the time, waiting for Jesus, and I think that’s what Advent is really all about.  Reminding us that we are always waiting not just for the Christ Child to come and be born in our midst, but that we are also waiting for that awesome, if slightly scary Second Coming of Christ. And it is true that this passage talks about distress and the roaring of the waves.  And many looked at the devastation caused by Hurricane Sandy, that iconic image of the ocean-side theme park, including a Ferris Wheel, in the waves, and many said, this is something w...
Read more

Proper 20 (B) + A community of power + 9.23.18

-
Image
M. Campbell-Langdell All Saints, Oxnard (Proverbs 31:10–31; Ps. 1; James 3:13–4:3, 7–8ª; St. Mark 9:30–37) Take a moment and think of the most powerful positive woman figure you know – in your life or in your favorite movie, show or book. Who is the woman who has most inspired you? Keep that image of that woman in mind as we look at this passage from Proverbs Chapter 31. Now here we see the verse “A capable wife who can find?” And all the feminists amongst us will be relieved to hear that a better translation from the Hebrew would be: “a woman of power” instead of a “capable wife.” [1] That changes things, doesn’t it? Then when we hear about this ideal ancient Hebrew woman’s exploits – her buying of lands, her trading prowess, her physical strength, even her domestic abilities such as weaving, and perhaps especially her kindness to the poor, we see strength and power in all of these. Of course, looking at this passage, this is not one woman but a concept of the most...
Read more

Proper21BAcceptingourownwounds29sept24

-
  Accepting our own and other’s wounds Mark 9: 38-50   St Michael’s, Isla Vista / All Saints Oxnard The Rev. Alene Campbell-Langdell; MCL additions   May I just start this morning by acknowledging that our Gospel reading is complex.   The images are startling (horrifying?) and the metaphors come almost too quickly to catch.   What is clear is that something serious is going on between Jesus and his disciples, and Jesus is using every means possible, including some pretty harsh language, to try to course correct.   To even begin to understand this passage, we need to back up to last week’s reading from Mark.   In that reading, the disciples are arguing with each other about who is the greatest and best disciple.   In response, Jesus gets a little kid, some commentators say “toddler,” and holds this child in his arms during the rest of the conversation.    The other part of the scene to keep in mind is that Jesus has just told...
Read more