Luke 1:39-56 (NIV)

³⁹ At that time Mary got ready and hurried to a town in the hill country of Judea, ⁴⁰ where she entered Zechariah’s home and greeted Elizabeth. ⁴¹ When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the baby leaped in her womb, and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit. ⁴² In a loud voice she exclaimed: “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the child you will bear! ⁴³ But why am I so favored, that the mother of my Lord should come to me? ⁴⁴ As soon as the sound of your greeting reached my ears, the baby in my womb leaped for joy. ⁴⁵ Blessed is she who has believed that the Lord would fulfill his promises to her!”

⁴⁶ And Mary said:

“My soul glorifies the Lord
⁴⁷ and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior,
⁴⁸ for he has been mindful
of the humble state of his servant.
From now on all generations will call me blessed,
⁴⁹ for the Mighty One has done great things for me—
holy is his name.
⁵⁰ His mercy extends to those who fear him,
from generation to generation.
⁵¹ He has performed mighty deeds with his arm;
he has scattered those who are proud in their inmost thoughts.
⁵² He has brought down rulers from their thrones
but has lifted up the humble.
⁵³ He has filled the hungry with good things
but has sent the rich away empty.
⁵⁴ He has helped his servant Israel,
remembering to be merciful
⁵⁵ to Abraham and his descendants forever,
just as he promised our ancestors.”

⁵⁶ Mary stayed with Elizabeth for about three months and then returned home.

Reflection

“O Holy Night” . . . “Joy to the World” . . . “O Come All Ye Faithful”. . .  These classic carols have been around for ages, but there is a song that comes straight from God’s word.  It is the song of Mary.  It pours out praises and worship onto the One who blesses and gives.  As Mary was affirmed by Elizabeth about all that was to come, Mary sang a song that went beyond just her own joy but proclaimed truths that would bless many to come.  Revealing His strength and power, the Mighty One reverses the places of honor by bringing down the rich and powerful and raising up the poor, broken and humble.  His kind mercy extends to those who fear and trust Him.  He fills the hungry with good things.  He chooses the lowly to fulfill all of His promises to His people, His church.

Response

The Mighty One has done great things for us.  He has come near to us.  May our souls glorify the Lord and may our spirits rejoice in God our Savior.  He has been mindful and loving towards us and blessed us beyond our understanding.  He has given us His Son.  Let’s lift up praises and thank Him for the great things He has done.

A transgender anti-discrimination bill went before the Maryland General Assembly in the 2011 session, passing in the House of Delegates, but ultimately did not pass. In the 2012 session, which starts in January, advocates are hoping to take legislation through the last hurdle it needs for passage.

Jodi Kelber-Kaye, interim associate director of the Honors College, said transgender anti-discrimination legislation has come up at the state level for many years.

“The problem has consistently been how we define transgender for the purposes of providing protections,” she said. “The concern for me as a gender researcher, on top of someone who’s politically supportive of this stuff, is the need for a space safe for women.”

The story, “Laurel delegate’s fight for transgender anti-discrimination legislation to continue in 2012 session” was published on ExploreHowardCounty.com and appeared on the Baltimore Sun website on December 7.

UMBC Political Science Professor Roy Meyers joined Yale’s David Mayhew and other scholars this week in providing PolitiFact with insight into Newt Gingrich, as the site explored David Axelrod’s claim that Gingrich is the “the godfather of gridlock.” The site offers evidence for Gingrich’s reputation as both a bare-knuckled fighter and a deal-maker, suggesting “Gingrich has been more of a prince of partisanship than a godfather of gridlock.”

Meyers also disputed the godfather characterization in his comments to PolitiFact, arguing that Gingrich is far from consistently quiet and disciplined, as the persona suggests. Meyers alternatively argued that Gingrich is the father of a different practice, using a technique Paul Krugman has called “doublethink” — believing in what he’s saying “even when he knows what he’s saying isn’t true” — to gain and retain party control through persuasive rhetoric.

UMBC Chair of Public Policy Donald Norris was quoted Tuesday in an Associate Press article on the conviction of Paul Schurick, political aide to former Maryland Gov. Robert Ehrlich. The article notes that Schurick was convicted of “conspiring to use Election Day robocalls in what prosecutors cast as an effort to suppress black voter turnout during the 2010 gubernatorial election.”

Norris commented that the robocall message was a clearly a misrepresentation of facts intended to discourage voter turnout. “This was free speech in the same sense that lying is free speech and lying is not permitted,” he said. “What they were perpetrating was a fraud.” The AP story was picked up by the Huffington Post, ABC News, Washington Post and several other news organizations.

Update: Norris discussed the ruling and its implications in greater detail on WJZ/CBS Baltimore on December 7 (see video).

Work by Steve Bradley, Visual Arts, will be featured in Radio Arts Space FM, an international radio art and sound art exhibition at the Škuc Gallery in Ljubjana, Slovenia, from December 7 to 16. The exhibition, which features audio works by 42 artists from 22 countries, is available as an audio stream at at the website radioCona.