“My soul doth magnify the Lord.”
A highlight of 2024 for me was a trip to Nevada to see U2 in the Sphere. Perhaps these words mean nothing to you, but the Sphere is a massive new entertainment venue in Las Vegas and U2 is a band I’ve been a big fan of since they first came on the scene in the early 1980s. The venue was mind-blowing; the music awe-inspiring; the crowd, the lights, the whole evening was incredible. What I find most elevating about U2 live in concert is how the Christian theology embedded within the lyrics of their most passionate songs combines with the soaring sound of the music itself to create a transcendent experience. It can become a little like an emotional church service, and it’s meant to be.
During the Vegas concert, U2 played Mysterious Ways, a song about the Holy Spirit. They played Until the End of the World, a take on Jesus and Judas at the Last Supper and in the Garden of Gethsemane. Near the end, they launched into Where the Streets Have No Name, a song that expresses a yearning to bring heaven down to earth, then Beautiful Day which evokes the glory of the Genesis creation narrative. The whole show was magnificent—a description that brings to mind another U2 song which, while they didn’t play it in the Sphere, is one my favorites especially this time of year. One of their most overtly Biblically-rooted songs, U2’s 2009 song, Magnificent, addresses God in a way that echoes the song of Mary found in the first chapter of Luke on the occasion of her visit to her cousin, Elizabeth, who like Mary is also with child. In what the Catholic Church calls, The Magnificat, Mary sings, “My soul doth magnify the Lord!”
Similarly, U2’s Magnificent goes like this.:
I was born, I was born to sing for you. I didn't have a choice but to lift you up and sing whatever song you wanted me to. I give you back my voice, from the womb my first cry--it was a joyful noise…
While it’s not a Christmas song, take a listen to it this holiday season. “The basic chord progression,” U2’s lead guitarist, Dave “The Edge” Evans said, “has a euphoric power…it’s inherently joyful.”
Though our experience during Advent is at its core based upon the theology we embrace in the lyrical words, “God so loved the world that He gave His only Son…,” don’t shy away from the pure emotion of the season—the feeling of joy, of exhilaration, and the thrill of the euphoric whenever and wherever it might wash over you in the days ahead. It might be in the music. Or in a moment of silence. It might be a scent, a taste, a gift you receive, or in a family reunion just ahead—but whatever it is, may it lift you up. And in that moment, may your soul magnify the Lord.
