"Mary, Mary, Not Contrary"
A sermon preached by the Rev. Christopher E. Yopp at Edgemont Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) based on Luke 1:47-55.
No anthology of nursery rhymes is complete, without:
“Mary, Mary, quite contrary
How does your garden grow?
With silver bells and cockle shells
And pretty maids all in a row.”
I am always amazed at the origin behind such nursery rhymes, many of which are disturbing and grueling. We learn them as children, never fully understanding their meaning. Their rhythmic words make them easy for us to grasp and learn. But while Mary, Mary was quite contrary, in our Gospel Lesson this morning we learn of another Mary who wasn’t so contrary.
To this Mary the ancient church offers its own nursery rhyme, or perhaps I should say prayer:
“Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with you.
Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb Jesus.
Holy Mary, mother of God, pray for us sinners
Now and at the hour of our death. Amen.”
On this Third Sunday of Advent, also known as "The Sunday of Joy" or from its Latin word Gaudete, the church encourages us to focus on Mary’s song or, as it is better known, the Magnificat, which is a Latin word coming from Mary’s words in verse 46; “My soul magnifies the Lord!” Certainly, through these words one can feel the joy and the excitement, the wonder and the anticipation, along with the fear and uncertainty that Mary must have felt when she received this news.
I am always amazed at how Mary is perceived. Many of these perceptions overlook Mary’s dilemma. Mary has so much to teach us about real faith and hope. When we see her so beautifully portrayed in Christmas pageants, or on Christmas cards or in Nativity scenes, she looks so serene and so lovely, as if the whole matter appears to be so simple and easy for her to bear. But think realistically about her lot for a moment. Consider, for just a moment, what Mary must went through. It must have been incredibly difficult; the gossip, the pointing fingers, the accusations, the raised eyebrows, the questions and criticism. Not to mention the family pressures, the crude jokes, the cruel laughter, the poverty, the heavy taxes and, don’t forget, thar long hard journey mandated at a time when an expectant mother should have been bedridden. And then, there was the birth in that cavern or stable in Bethlehem, with no doctor or no midwife, no medicine or no anesthetic - only a profound faith and hope in a God who promised through her would come the Messiah! Mary was just a teenager, probably no older than 13 or 14 years old. But what a strong woman indeed! What a courageous and faithful woman! Indeed, she is called “blessed“. No wonder our Catholic brothers and sisters pray: “Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with you; blessed are you among women and blessed is the fruit of your womb, Jesus.”
Presbyterian author, Kathleen Norris makes the cynical observation that Protestants have a limited attention span for Mary, the mother of Jesus. She says; “We unpack her from the box at Christmastime, and then tuck her away with all of the other decorations once the holidays are over.”
One reason we Protestants hold Mary at arm's length is because we associate her with our own vague discomfort about the role of saints in Christian spirituality. As Protestants we remember that Luther and Calvin criticized the Roman church of the 16th century for compromising, in their understandings of Mary, on the basic Christian conviction that Jesus Christ is the one Mediator between God and humanity. Not wanting to make the same mistake, however, we inadvertently make another: we move Mary to the sidelines.
Now, while I am sure among some groups Mary maybe worshiped, just as in some sects angels are worshiped. But Roman Catholicism doesn’t teach or demand the worship of Mary as part of their faith practice. Rather, according to the Catechism, Mary is a model for the Christian believer, and a symbol of the church in its relationship to God.
Consistent with this belief, Christmas sermons often lift Mary up as one of the “great cloud of witnesses” who respond faithfully to what God calls them to do. But these messages are incomplete. Certainly Mary is one among many people of faith the Scripture bears witness to and we celebrate. But she is also the only one who is identified as the Theotokos, which is a Greek word ascribed to Mary by the Church, which literally means “God-bearer.” And it is in this distinctive vocation that she serves as a model for the church in relationship to God. She reveals what it means for us to, in turn, bear God to the world.
We most not forget Mary’s example of faith. P. T. Forsythe, decades ago in his book on creative theology said that; "faith is not something that we process. [Rather] faith possesses us." And in many ways that is true. That’s why we remember Mary. Her song declares the grace of God that came to her, that embraced and possessed her. Now, true, she had to respond to that grace and embody it, which she does as expressed in her song. But Mary encourages us to say "yes" to God, to respond to God, to embody God.
Peter Gomes writes; "Mary’s song declares that God’s work gets done when ordinary people hear God’s voice and obey. She sang; 'God has regarded the low estate of God's handmaiden. For behold, from henceforth, all generations will call me blessed for God has done mighty things for me.' Let us not dare pack up Mary once the celebration of Advent and Christmas is over.
I think it is interesting that in the preceding story of Zechariah and Elizabeth, Luke tells of that couple’s religious virtue, but we have none of that here. Nothing is said of Mary’s faith or character. Nor do we find an explanation as to why God might have chosen her. And that is, of course, the point; God chooses because God chooses. Mary is not chosen because she deserves favor, just as none of us deserve God’s favor or blessing but rather, Mary is favored because she was chosen. Raymond Brown says that Mary’s response qualifies her as Jesus’ first disciples. I like that!
A lady who had a small house on the seashore of Ireland at the turn of the century was quite wealthy but also quite frugal. The people were surprised, then, when she decided to be among the first to have electricity in her home. Several weeks after the installation, a meter reader appeared at her door. He asked if her electricity was working well, and she assured him it was. “I’m wondering if you can explain something to me,” he said. “Your meter shows scarcely any usage. Are you using your power?” “Certainly,” she answered. “Each evening when the sun sets, I turn on my lights just long enough to light my candles; then I turn them off.” She tapped into power but did not us it.
True faith is not about words or laws or even liturgies, it's about revelation. God revealing God's self to us and it's about us responding to God. And so, God’s Spirit has come to us and proclaimed that we too are favored, blessed of God; for we are God’s chosen people, we are God’s saints. For you and I possess and embody the very Spirit of God. Therefore, may we proclaim, along with Mary when the angel announced to her that in her womb was the very Son of God; "Here am I, the servant of the Lord; let it be with me according to your word." That is the kind of response God is looking for and that is the kind of response that we should have when we realize that we embody the very Spirit of Christ and we must become the incarnations of Christ. May we become textbooks’ - God-bearers, revealing to the world God’s hope, peace, joy and love found in this one we embody.
Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb Jesus.
Holy Mary, mother of God, pray for us sinners
Now and at the hour of our death. Amen.”
On this Third Sunday of Advent, also known as "The Sunday of Joy" or from its Latin word Gaudete, the church encourages us to focus on Mary’s song or, as it is better known, the Magnificat, which is a Latin word coming from Mary’s words in verse 46; “My soul magnifies the Lord!” Certainly, through these words one can feel the joy and the excitement, the wonder and the anticipation, along with the fear and uncertainty that Mary must have felt when she received this news.
I am always amazed at how Mary is perceived. Many of these perceptions overlook Mary’s dilemma. Mary has so much to teach us about real faith and hope. When we see her so beautifully portrayed in Christmas pageants, or on Christmas cards or in Nativity scenes, she looks so serene and so lovely, as if the whole matter appears to be so simple and easy for her to bear. But think realistically about her lot for a moment. Consider, for just a moment, what Mary must went through. It must have been incredibly difficult; the gossip, the pointing fingers, the accusations, the raised eyebrows, the questions and criticism. Not to mention the family pressures, the crude jokes, the cruel laughter, the poverty, the heavy taxes and, don’t forget, thar long hard journey mandated at a time when an expectant mother should have been bedridden. And then, there was the birth in that cavern or stable in Bethlehem, with no doctor or no midwife, no medicine or no anesthetic - only a profound faith and hope in a God who promised through her would come the Messiah! Mary was just a teenager, probably no older than 13 or 14 years old. But what a strong woman indeed! What a courageous and faithful woman! Indeed, she is called “blessed“. No wonder our Catholic brothers and sisters pray: “Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with you; blessed are you among women and blessed is the fruit of your womb, Jesus.”
Presbyterian author, Kathleen Norris makes the cynical observation that Protestants have a limited attention span for Mary, the mother of Jesus. She says; “We unpack her from the box at Christmastime, and then tuck her away with all of the other decorations once the holidays are over.”
One reason we Protestants hold Mary at arm's length is because we associate her with our own vague discomfort about the role of saints in Christian spirituality. As Protestants we remember that Luther and Calvin criticized the Roman church of the 16th century for compromising, in their understandings of Mary, on the basic Christian conviction that Jesus Christ is the one Mediator between God and humanity. Not wanting to make the same mistake, however, we inadvertently make another: we move Mary to the sidelines.
Now, while I am sure among some groups Mary maybe worshiped, just as in some sects angels are worshiped. But Roman Catholicism doesn’t teach or demand the worship of Mary as part of their faith practice. Rather, according to the Catechism, Mary is a model for the Christian believer, and a symbol of the church in its relationship to God.
Consistent with this belief, Christmas sermons often lift Mary up as one of the “great cloud of witnesses” who respond faithfully to what God calls them to do. But these messages are incomplete. Certainly Mary is one among many people of faith the Scripture bears witness to and we celebrate. But she is also the only one who is identified as the Theotokos, which is a Greek word ascribed to Mary by the Church, which literally means “God-bearer.” And it is in this distinctive vocation that she serves as a model for the church in relationship to God. She reveals what it means for us to, in turn, bear God to the world.
We most not forget Mary’s example of faith. P. T. Forsythe, decades ago in his book on creative theology said that; "faith is not something that we process. [Rather] faith possesses us." And in many ways that is true. That’s why we remember Mary. Her song declares the grace of God that came to her, that embraced and possessed her. Now, true, she had to respond to that grace and embody it, which she does as expressed in her song. But Mary encourages us to say "yes" to God, to respond to God, to embody God.
Peter Gomes writes; "Mary’s song declares that God’s work gets done when ordinary people hear God’s voice and obey. She sang; 'God has regarded the low estate of God's handmaiden. For behold, from henceforth, all generations will call me blessed for God has done mighty things for me.' Let us not dare pack up Mary once the celebration of Advent and Christmas is over.
I think it is interesting that in the preceding story of Zechariah and Elizabeth, Luke tells of that couple’s religious virtue, but we have none of that here. Nothing is said of Mary’s faith or character. Nor do we find an explanation as to why God might have chosen her. And that is, of course, the point; God chooses because God chooses. Mary is not chosen because she deserves favor, just as none of us deserve God’s favor or blessing but rather, Mary is favored because she was chosen. Raymond Brown says that Mary’s response qualifies her as Jesus’ first disciples. I like that!
A lady who had a small house on the seashore of Ireland at the turn of the century was quite wealthy but also quite frugal. The people were surprised, then, when she decided to be among the first to have electricity in her home. Several weeks after the installation, a meter reader appeared at her door. He asked if her electricity was working well, and she assured him it was. “I’m wondering if you can explain something to me,” he said. “Your meter shows scarcely any usage. Are you using your power?” “Certainly,” she answered. “Each evening when the sun sets, I turn on my lights just long enough to light my candles; then I turn them off.” She tapped into power but did not us it.
True faith is not about words or laws or even liturgies, it's about revelation. God revealing God's self to us and it's about us responding to God. And so, God’s Spirit has come to us and proclaimed that we too are favored, blessed of God; for we are God’s chosen people, we are God’s saints. For you and I possess and embody the very Spirit of God. Therefore, may we proclaim, along with Mary when the angel announced to her that in her womb was the very Son of God; "Here am I, the servant of the Lord; let it be with me according to your word." That is the kind of response God is looking for and that is the kind of response that we should have when we realize that we embody the very Spirit of Christ and we must become the incarnations of Christ. May we become textbooks’ - God-bearers, revealing to the world God’s hope, peace, joy and love found in this one we embody.
posted by Pastor Christopher @ 11:30 AM
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