Rev. Linda Manson - Closing Worship - Region 3 Quality of Call Event - January 2026

Beloved of God, I invite you now to listen to

the Holy Gospel according to Luke, the first

chapter. Glory to you, O Lord. And Mary said,

My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices

in God my Savior. For he has looked with favor

on the lowly state of his servant. Surely from

now on all generations will call me blessed.

For the mighty one has done great things for

me, and holy is his name. Indeed, his mercy is

for those who fear him from generation to generation.

He has shown strength with his arm. He has scattered

the proud in the imagination of their hearts.

He has brought down the powerful from their thrones

and lifted up the lowly. He has filled the hungry

with good things. and sent the rich away empty.

He has come to the aid of his child Israel in

remembrance of his mercy, according to the promise

he made to our ancestors, to Abraham and to his

descendants forever. This, beloved, is the gospel

of the Lord. Praise to you, O Christ. You may

be seated. So first, grace to you and peace from

God who calls unlikely people. Christ who unsettles

unjust systems and the Holy Spirit who keeps

singing through truth, through our human voices.

Amen. Beloved friends, what do we hear about

Mary in this text? Well, we have heard about

her obedience, her faith, her humility, and her

willingness to say yes. And all of that really

does matter. But today, as we end this Quality

of Call Summit, I want to linger with Mary, not

just as a symbol of quiet submission, but with

Mary, Mary who I see as the prophet. Mary is

a truth teller. Mary is the one who sings out

loud about God's disruptive justice. Because

Luke does not place Mary's song in a sanctuary.

It's on a doorstep. And Mary does not sing the

Magnificat from a position of safety or a position

of authority. She sings from a position of vulnerability.

She is young. She is poor. She is pregnant. She

is living under imperial rule. And she is unsure

whether the systems around her will protect her

or punish her. And yet, and yet, she sings anyway.

My soul magnifies the Lord and my spirit rejoices

in God my Savior. Now before Mary names any injustices,

before she imagines the mighty falling, the Mighty

Falling, the MIGHTY FALLING, and the lowly lifted,

she claims joy. Not just shallow optimism, but

joy. Not denial. but JOY. Joy that's rooted in

trust that God is present and God is active.

Beloved, God is present and God is active here,

right now. So for all of us who have gathered

here over these past couple days, these things

from Mary really do matter. Because we lead in

a church that is shaped by fatigue, anxiety,

institutional change, and deep questions about

sustainability. Many of our colleagues and our

siblings in Christ carry more responsibility

than they get support. Many feel scrutinized

more than they are trusted. And many have learned

the hard way that joy, Joy can feel risky. But

what Mary reminds us of is that joy is not a

reward for everything working out. Joy is the

decision to believe that God is still at work

in the midst of all of these complicated realities.

So I ask you today, beloved, what would it mean

for our systems, of call, if joy, JOY, not endurance,

but joy is the baseline expectation. So Mary

continues, God has looked with favor on the lowliness

of this servant. Mary imagines God, at least

in my own holy imagination, she imagines God's

gaze not as judgment, but as delight. I think

that this matters deeply for us as leaders. Because

many leaders, especially women, our non -binary,

siblings, leaders of color. We experience the

church's gaze as conditional. We experience the

church's gaze as evaluative or maybe even suspicious.

Mary insists, though, that God's favor rests

within her loneliness, not despite her loneliness.

So for those of us who are going to continue

to shape these systems of call that we live with,

that raises some hard questions. Do our systems

communicate trust or constant assessment? Do

our leaders feel seen as whole people? Or risks

that need to be managed? Do we treat difference

as a gift? Or as a complication? You see, beloved,

quality of call begins with the conviction that

leaders are already worthy of dignity. But here's

where Mary's song sharpens. God has brought down

the powerful from their thrones and lifted up

the lowly. God has filled the hungry with good

things and sent the rich away empty. Now these

are verses that history has tried to silence,

even in the church. And these are verses that

have been banned in many places. And these are

verses that truly unsettle leadership. Because

Mary names what systems rarely do on their own.

Power, beloved, is not neutral. And hierarchy

is only holy by default. And God, I believe,

is not invested in preserving unjust arrangements.

For church leaders, this is not abstract theology.

This is theology that asks us to examine who

is consistently overworked in our systems? Who

is consistently undercompensated in our systems?

Who is encouraged to stay and who is quietly

pushed aside? Whose leadership is trusted instinctively

and whose leadership seems to always be in question?

Beloved Mary's song refuses to separate spirituality

from structure. Quality of call is not just about

care for leaders. It's about whether our systems

reflect the character of God that we so boldly

proclaim. You see, beloved, Mary imagines a reordered

world, right? where the hungry are fed with good

things, where power is not hoarded, and where

dignity is restored. Now this is not naive hope.

This is what I like to call disciplined imagination.

And it's precisely the kind of imagination that

we as leaders are called to cultivate. Because

to love the child Mary is carrying within her

womb is to love the Christ who will later overturn

tables, confront religious authority, and proclaim

good news to the poor. Beloved, the Magnificat

does not invite the church to be polite. It invites

the church to be faithful. So what does this

song ask of us? today, in the here and the now.

I believe it asks for us to believe that systems

can change. We can do that work. I believe it

asks us to listen to the voices from the margins

of leadership. I believe it asks us to measure

success not by survival, but by flourishing.

And lastly, I believe that it asks us to trust

that God's justice is not a threat to the church.

It truly is the salvation of the church. Beloved,

the Magnificat is not a solo. It's a song that's

communal. And we as leaders decide every day

whether the church will sing it LOUDLY or not

at all. So I invite you as I close, because Mary

ends her song by trusting that God will be faithful

to God's promises. Not because the world is ready,

but because God is ready. So I leave you with

these questions, and these are not accusations.

They are simply invitations. What would it look

like for our systems of call to magnify the Lord?

Where might joy become an act of resistance?

Whose voices need to be trusted more fully? And

what kind of church are we willing to become

so that EVERYONE can flourish, not just those

on the inside? Beloved, Mary did not wait for

permission to sing. So may we have the courage

to listen and the faith to join Mary's song.

Amen, and God bless you all.