Extraordinary Women: Mary, Virgin

What can anyone say about Mary, Virgin? We don’t really know that much about her from the Bible. Most of the stories come from legends and traditions handed down over the centuries. She was a woman of great courage and faith.

A short summary of her life notes, “Mary the mother of Jesus has been an object of veneration in the church since the apostolic age. She has been a favorite subject in art, music, and literature. Her humility and obedience to the message of God at the time of the Incarnation have made her an example for all ages of Christians…Early in church history she was honored and esteemed. Irenaeus called her the New Eve, Athanasius taught her perpetual virginity, and the Council of Ephesus in 431 declared her Theotokos, Mother of God, because of the hypostatic union of divinity and humanity in the one person Jesus Christ…Mary the Virgin is commemorated in the Episcopal calendar of the church year on Aug. 15.”  

The hymn of praise, the Magnificat, which she sang when she met her cousin Elizabeth has been used for centuries to inspire musically. It can also be used as a prayer and reminder that God is greater than earthly appearances.

And Mary said, ‘My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior, for he has looked with favor on the lowliness 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. 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 thoughts 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 helped his servant Israel, in remembrance of his mercy, according to the promise he made to our ancestors, to Abraham and to his descendants for ever.’ (Luke 1:46-55)

Today I’d like to share a little story used recently at a women’s event. The meeting of Mary and Elizabeth as seen by one of Elizabeth’s servants can be a reminder that we are always being watched, whether we know it or not. 
(For the first time on this blog, I've produced a video!) 

What does Mary symbolize to you in your faith journey?
Do you ever think about how your actions are seen by casual observers?

Lord's Prayer: Amen

Here we are at the end of the Lord’s Prayer. The final word in this, and nearly every other prayer is ‘Amen’. It simply means “Let it be”. We ask God that all that we have mentioned in the prayer be accomplished. Just as Mary of Nazareth said to Gabriel “Let it be according to your word” (Luke 1:38), we offer our petitions to God asking that they be done.

Recently I saw a special on the Beatles. Many will remember their song Let it Be. Although they always insisted that the ‘Mother Mary’ was not the Virgin, many hearers still hear her words in the lyrics. Whether the group meant to refer to Mary of Nazareth, or not, the words are a fitting end to our study of the Lord’s Prayer. They summarize the requests made in the prayer, and offer them up ‘Let it be’.

In light of a world where people are still at odds with each other, just as they were in the 1960’s, we might indeed echo “And when the broken-hearted people/Living in the world agree/There will be an answer/Let it be”.

Enter the Presence: Read Mary’s encounter with Gabriel in Luke 1. Put yourself in her sandals and say “Let it be according to your word”.

Are there things in your life where God is calling you to step out in faith like Mary? Can you open your hands and heart to say, “Let it be”?

Stand In Awe: It can be hard to say ‘Amen’ to some things that God asks of us. Consider the lives of some of those chosen by God, who didn’t have an easy time. Almost anyone in the Bible will fit that description. There is a saying that "God doesn’t call the qualified, God qualifies those he calls". Read through the list in this image and remember that God empowers each of us to do what we are called to do. Are you willing to ‘let it be’?

Involve your Heart: Read through the words of the Beatle’s song.  

When I find myself in times of trouble/Mother Mary comes to me/Speaking words of wisdom/Let it be

And in my hour of darkness/She is standing right in front of me/Speaking words of wisdom/Let it be

And when the broken-hearted people/Living in the world agree/There will be an answer/Let it be

For though they may be parted there is/Still a chance that they will see/There will be an answer/Let it be

And when the night is cloudy/There is still a light that shines on me/Shine until tomorrow/Let it be

I wake up to the sound of music/Mother Mary comes to me/Speaking words of wisdom/Let it be
Let it be, let it be, let it be, let it be/Whisper words of wisdom/Let it be/

Do a ZenTangle of the word ‘Amen’. Include things you are called to do.

Write a song or poem expressing your love for God and new understanding of the Lord’s Prayer*

*From Thy Kingdom Come

Saying Yes to God with Joseph

Today’s the Third Sunday of Advent. It doesn’t seem possible that we are more than half way through Advent. On the Third Sunday many people light the pink candle in their Advent wreath in honor of Rose Sunday. It is also called Gaudete Sunday from the Latin word for Rejoice used at the beginning of the service.


The Third Sunday reminds us that we are moving closer to the joyful birth we are anticipating. It is a good day to look at a central, yet often forgotten figure in the Nativity story. Joseph of Nazareth is an important and integral part of the whole saga. Without his acceptance of God’s call, the story would have been very different.

His story is found in Matthew 1:18-25. Joseph and Mary are betrothed, which by Jewish law was the same as being married, except the couple did not live together. If either party died, the remaining partner would be considered a widow or widower with the rights of a surviving spouse. Likewise, if the man or woman was unfaithful, the punishment was the same as if they were living as man and wife. This could mean stoning for adultery.

Joseph is confronted with a choice when Mary tells him she is pregnant. “Her husband Joseph, being a righteous man and unwilling to expose her to public disgrace, planned to dismiss her quietly,” says  scripture. In my book Mary, My Love, Joseph struggles mightily with the decision* before being reassured by the “angel of the Lord [who] appeared to him in a dream and said, ‘Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife, for the child conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will bear a son, and you are to name him Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.’”

Joseph wakes up and “he took her as his wife, but had no marital relations with her until she had borne a son; and he named him Jesus.” Matthew says that the prophecy from Isaiah 7:13-14 was fulfilled: “Look, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall name him Emmanuel’, which means, ‘God is with us.’”

It took faith for Joseph to accept Mary’s announcement and take her as his wife. He would have to bear the snickers of the neighbors and the knowing glances from his friends. Even though he had the assurance of the angel and his love of Mary, he also learned to lean on God who promised (Hebrews 13:5):

Never will I leave you, That’s something I’ll never do

Forever remember that it’s true…

And when you fear, the scars and tears

Remember what I have sworn

I’ll be with you through the storm… (Michael Card, Never Will I Leave You)

Joseph’s life was turned upside down by Mary’s pregnancy. Everything he carefully planned as husband was changed when God called him to be father of Emmanuel. Zechariah had God carefully ‘boxed’ and found it initially impossible to believe God could act in his life. Mary believed that nothing was impossible with God. Joseph’s compassion and love won over his doubt and fear so that he could respond with faith and take Mary as his wife.

Michael Card has a Christmas song that explores Joseph’s thoughts after Jesus’ birth. Even holding the baby, he wonders "how could it be?"

Joseph's Song

How could it be this baby in my arms

Sleeping now, so peacefully

The Son of God, the angel said

How could it be...

Father show me where I fit into this plan of yours

How can a man be father to the Son of God...

How could it be

Joseph asks "How could it be?" When things don’t go as I plan, I tend to rant and rave. After a while I calm down and then I can see that there are opportunities in the new direction of my life. Usually, it is only in looking back that I recognize how much better God’s plan was than mine. Joseph, too sought to find "where I fit into this plan of yours, How can a man be father to the Son of God."

What sorts of scars and fears did you identify and put in your Advent box last week? Did you hear the voice of your inner 'censor'? A spiritual director once told me that the first step to healing is to identify and become aware of the scars.

This week, identify some of the plans or dreams that you had to let go of. Think how the end result was different than you thought it would be, and where God was in the process. Can you, with Michael Card, know that God’s word is true that says, “Never will I leave you…Forever remember that it’s true, never will I leave you”? Sometimes it takes the passing of time for me to see the good that came out of a vanished dream or plan.

Next week as we draw near to Bethlehem, we’ll look at how the Shepherds, the first visitors to the Newborn, responded to God’s call.

*Excerpt from Mary My Love by Cynthia Davis (see the Books tab above or my website for more info)

…Blindly I headed for the hills beyond Nazareth. If anyone greeted me, I did not hear. Mary’s words repeated their terrible litany in my head.


“Bear a son…God chose...no man…I do not lie.”


Faster and faster I walked, until I was running up the mountainside. The same grove of trees that saw my decision to wed Mary received me. Like a mad man I smashed my hands against one trunk and then another until my rage was spent. In despair I fell to my knees.


“God, why do you mock me? I believed you gave me Mary’s love. Now she admits that she carries a child which is not mine!” Renewed anger set me to pacing. Suspicion fueled the fire. “Joachim was eager to accept my offer. Did he know that his daughter was no virgin, even then? Was I the dupe all along?”


I heard the animal growl that came from my throat. If the man had been near I would have choked an answer from him. My head began to pound from my emotions and unanswerable questions. Sinking down with my back against a tree, I buried my face in my hands.


“God, the girl blasphemed to cover her lie. How can you not strike her down?”


A memory of her radiant face gave me pause. The innocence and beauty of her announcement came back to me. I dared not believe it true.


“God, is Mary a victim of some hoax? God, did you steal my bride?”


Throughout the day I alternately paced and sat, prayed and cursed, raged and wept. The evening shadows started to darken the grove when a horrifying thought occurred to me. I crashed to my knees, gripping a sapling for support.


“I do not accept Mary and her child, she will be stoned!”


The pain that grabbed me by the heart radiated throughout my body until I could almost feel stones striking me. I slid to the ground in agony. My father’s recital of what happened to his mother flashed into my mind. Groaning, I covered my head. With my eyes closed I saw the rarely used pit outside of Nazareth. Only once had I seen anyone stoned there. A man convicted of blasphemy had been dragged to the place. Every man in town had taken turns throwing rocks until the body was an unrecognizable bloody pulp.


“No!”


I sprang up, eyes wide with the remembered horror. I could not condemn any woman to such a death. Sanity slipped me a lifeline.


“There is another option,” I whispered. “I can send her away until the child is born. No one need know.”


I tried to ignore the insistent voice that hissed ‘you would always remember’. The shadows grew as I resumed my pacing. My pride shied away from naming the child as mine. True, the gossip could be stared down. Many men sampled the marriage bed during the betrothal. No one would condemn me. I would be the only one to know the infant was not of my seed.


“God…”


Worn out from the day’s passion, I sank to my knees. The Name of the Most High was all I could say. Over and over I repeated the word…

Saying Yes to God with Mary

This week we’ll look at someone’s whose response to God’s call was different from Zechariah’s. The record of this meeting is in Luke 1:26-38. Six months after his visit to Zechariah, the angel Gabriel visits another resident of Israel: “a virgin engaged to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David. The virgin’s name was Mary.” She is, understandably “perplexed”.
 

 Gabriel announces astonishing news to this teenage girl. “You will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you will name him Jesus.He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Most High, and the Lord God will give to him the throne of his ancestor David.He will reign over the house of Jacob for ever, and of his kingdom there will be no end.”

This is the fulfillment of Messiah prophesied by many prophets including Jeremiah (23:5-6) “The days are surely coming, says the LORD, when I will raise up for David a righteous Branch, and he shall reign as king and deal wisely, and shall execute justice and righteousness in the land. In his days Judah will be saved and Israel will live in safety. And this is the name by which he will be called: ‘The LORD is our righteousness.’”

Mary is astonished and wonders, “How can this be, since I am a virgin?” Unlike Zechariah she doesn’t argue and accepts Gabriel’s explanation. He tells her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be holy; he will be called Son of God.”

Perhaps in Gabriel’s answer Mary hears an echo of Isaiah’s words, “A shoot shall come out from the stock of Jesse, and a branch shall grow out of his roots. The spirit of the LORD shall rest on him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and the fear of the LORD.” (Isaiah 11:1-2)

A young girl in Nazareth when confronted with the astonishing and life changing news, responds “Here am I, the servant of the Lord; let it be with me according to your word.” Zechariah argued that logically he and his wife were too old. Mary could have refused to believe and complained that she didn’t want to be shamed by an unexpected pregnancy. Instead, Mary was able to ‘Say Yes’ because she didn’t stop to contemplate the ramifications and practicalities of Gabriel’s announcement.

We can miss seeing and hearing God by being too mature. An open, child-like heart that trusts that “nothing is impossible with God” easily accepts God’s call. How often do we try to second guess God and map out the way forward when we would be better off just stepping out in faith like Mary? Mary lived her simple faith because she knew what Michael Card meant in his song By Faith. Card recites some of the deeds of our spiritual ancestors from Hebrews 11 and than sings,

Faith understands and offers

It assures and calms our fears

It can shut the mouths of lions

And make sense of scars and tears

We persevere in hope

And with conscience clean and clear

We walk this fallen wilderness

With Salvation’s Pioneers…

Looking to God for guidance and enfolding ourselves in the “Faith that understands and offers…and makes sense of scars and tears” means we can say ‘Yes’ like our spiritual ancestors listed by Paul in Hebrews Chapter 11 (and by Card in his song). Paul reminds the Hebrew Christians, “we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses…lay aside every weight and the sin that clings so closely…looking to Jesus the pioneer and perfecter of our faith” (Hebrews 12:1-2).

It is when we look to Jesus “pioneer and perfecter of our faith,” we can be like Mary in our response to God’s call on our life even if it means facing lions or fire. We become, as Card sings, “sure of what we hope for, seeing what is yet unseen…new life where none had been” we find “hope for the comfortless [by] the faith that [we] possess.”

Did you start an Advent Box? I was a little surprised by some of the things that came to mind when thinking about God and my response to God last week. The exercise did get me thinking about some of the messages I consciously or subconsciously give myself about God.

This week, if you are doing the box, add some things that keep you from “looking to Jesus.” Put in some of the fears, scars, and tears, things which prevent you from seeing the cloud of witnesses so you can, as Card says,

“fix your eyes on the Champion….

Understanding that He cheers you on…

So hold on and do not grow weary of the faith that you profess…”

If you need a time of quiet meditation as you prepare to think about what to put in the box, listen to Michael Card’s rendition of the song Immanuel.
Next week we will see what Joseph's response was when God asked him to 'say Yes' to the incredible events unfolding. See you then.

God in our Routine Images

Our lives are filled with images. TV, billboards, magazines, internet, books, and street signage are just a few of the things we see every day. Many times we don’t even think about them. You know the hexagonal sign means stop so you don’t really LOOK at it. That billboard on that corner advertises a law office and has for years, so we don’t see it, really. We pass the same house day after day, but when we suddenly notice it’s a different color, we wonder “How long has it been like that?” It’s easy to get so lost in the same routine that we don’t really pay attention to what we see.

The third verse of Keble’s hymn suggests that if we pay attention, we may find God present everywhere:
If on our daily course our mind
be set to hallow all we find,
new treasures still, of countless price,
God will provide for sacrifice.

When our mind is willing to “hallow all we find,” each and every thing we see can become an icon showing us God.

Madeline L’Engle explains, “an icon is a symbol, rather than a sign…[it] contains within it some quality of what it represents…an icon of the Annunciation…contains, for us, some of Mary’s acceptance and obedience, and so affects our own ability to accept, to obey.” An icon is a representation of a piece of the Holy, something that opens our hearts and souls to see a bit more of God.

A traditional icon is a piece of wood painted with a holy image, but there are icons of God all around us, if we are just open to them. Stories, music, ‘secular’ art, a sunset can each be an icon. “There is nothing so secular that it cannot be sacred,” says L’Engle, “and that is one of the deepest messages of the Incarnation.”

Both L’Engle and Barbara Brown Taylor infer that the Incarnation is in fact the most holy of all icons. God in flesh is a very real symbol of the Divine, who loves our human-ness. Brown remarks, “I came late to the understanding that God loved all of me—not just my spirit but also my flesh…[and] God loved all bodies everywhere.”

Brown suggests taking on a “daily practice of incarnation—of being in the body with full confidence that God speaks the language of the flesh.” Jesus was God become Man, so he does know our fleshly needs. In the Middle Ages, Hildegard of Bingen named humanity as an icon—a symbol of divine work and love. She wrote, “God be praised in his handiwork: humankind. And so, humankind full of all creative possibilities, is God’s work. Humankind alone, is called to assist God, humankind is called to co-create.”

L’Engle notes that we are co-creators with God and with one another. Authors, artists, and musicians create, but as she notes, “The reader, viewer, listener, usually grossly underestimates his importance. If a reader cannot create a book along with the writer, the book will never come to life.”

Are there icons around you—symbols of the Holy One—that you haven’t paused long enough recently to notice? What if, for just one day, we tried to be aware of each thing we pass on our daily journey? We might just encounter God with “new treasures still, of countless price” as Keble says.

Next week, we will explore further what it means to be awake and aware of God in our routines.

* Quotations from Walking on Water, L’Engle and An Altar in the World, Barbara Brown Taylor, unless otherwise noted.