Reflection

Reflection by Pr. Craig Mueller on the Sixth Sunday in Advent + Sunday, December 14, 2025

Winter, cold, dark. Advent, Christmas. There’s something about this time of year that is deeply connected to singing and to choral music  One of the highlights of my college years was the annual Christmas in Christ Chapel. I sang in the choir and played a large herald trumpet for the final hymn, “O come, all ye faithful.”

There are so many concerts to take in this time of year, so much music to enjoy. And we are privileged to have this service led by our talented choir – to stir our spirits and connect us more deeply to the beauty of this season.

At the center of our service today is the Song of Mary, the Magnificat. Mary sings of God’s greatness. Mary sings of God overturning the rich and mighty. Mary sings of God raising up the lowly. Filling the hungry with good things.

We sing of the One who has come, the One to come, the One who comes, the Christ. The one who opens our eyes. The One who restores us to health. The One who brings good news.

With Mother Theresa, we sing, we pray, that we would spread divine fragrance wherever we go. That the words we sing become the way we live.

In dark times, we sing. “Even at the grave we make our song,” words we sing at funerals and on All Saints Day.

A German playwright, wrote about making art even in the face of what is foreboding. At the beginning of World War II he wrote: “In the dark times, will there also be singing? Yes, there will be singing, about the dark times.”.

Enslaved people sang to establish solidarity. We sing to create community. We sing to get us through the hard times.

And God sings with us. One hymn text imagines God as the Singer, and Jesus as the Song that echoes in creation and deep within our hearts.

For the gift of song, praise be!