Vulnerable and Strong: A Love Song to God
Mary, vulnerable and strong, shows us exactly what it takes to receive and and give birth to God’s blessing on earth.
When you hear the words, Mary, Mother of God, what image comes to mind? For the first part of my life my image of Mary, Mother of God was the tall, slender, blond girl in my Sunday School class wrapped like a holy present in a pale blue sheet. She was the chosen one. I was a donkey. Fortunately I didn’t have to spend too many therapy hours on Mary. After all in my big white Presbyterian church Mary made only a brief cameo appearance once a year. I suppose the rest of the year Mary was safely wrapped in tissue paper and tucked away in the church closet.
In my world that’s where Mary remained until a couple decades later. It was Monday, a blue Monday, on the heels of a not good weekend on the heels of a not good month. I was driving to my office in downtown Santa Fe (not yet a priest) when something inside me stirred. Instead of pulling into my office parking garage I kept driving to the Episcopal church. I didn’t have a plan. I wasn’t even thinking about what I was doing.
Seven o’clock in the morning streams of light out of the east poured through the three narrow stained glass windows of the chapel. I sat at the feet of Julian of Norwich and her grey cat. The light of her window danced on my hands as I prayed that all would be well… all manner of things would be well. I must have been there twenty minutes before a group began to gather.
When I stood up to evacuate their space a stately woman wearing an enormous hat approached me and said, “Please stay and pray with us. Every Monday morning we pray the rosary and some of us remain for twenty minutes of contemplative prayer.” As she was speaking she placed a string of shiny black and silver beads in my hand, and a piece of paper with all the words I would need to say the rosary. Usually i would duck out of situations such as this. But I was intrigued. “You pray the rosary? Isn’t that a Roman Catholic practice?” “Yes. Other traditions also pray using beads, Buddhist, Native American, Muslim, Episcopalian. There is something about handling the beads and repeating the prayers over and over that helps us stay present to God.”
Curious, I sat back down. As I fumbled through the words, “Hail Mary full of grace, the Lord is with you, blessed are you among women and blessed is the fruit of your womb….. “I wondered what would be the consequence of praying something a.) I didn’t understand and b.) I was fairly certain I did not believe? Despite my mental protestations, there was something about the droning rhythm of the prayers that drew me to a quiet place. So much so that I was almost startled when we completed the prayers and the ten or twelve people present began to sing “The Magnificat,” Mary’s song. Their voices were simple, some beautiful, some not so much, but the words pierced my heart.
“My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my saviour.” Yes, yes, that is what I want. I want my soul to magnify the Lord and I want my spirit to rejoice in God… or anything else for that matter! If God “looked with favor on his lowly servant” Mary, might God also look with favor on me? Probably not. When I was honest with myself I fell into the category of the proud and the conceited. I was way too full of myself for there to be room for God. That is a story for another time. What about Mary?
Who is this Mary chanting a love canticle to God? Who is this Mary singing a subversive verse for social justice? I believe this is not the twelve year old blond Mary, wrapped in tissue and stored in a closet. This Mary is not fragile or ineffectual, neither is she submissive or impotent. No, this Mary is competent and vulnerable, courageous and fruitful… without being arrogant or narcissistic.
When the angel addresses Mary as “Favored one,” and affirms, “The Lord is with you.” (Luke 1.28) Mary pauses and ponders the angel’s words. Her quiet acceptance of the angel’s blessing suggests that Mary has a sense of worthiness. When the angel proclaims that even though she is unmarried Mary will become pregnant and give birth to a son who will assume the throne of King David and his kingdom will reign forever,” Mary stands her ground and engages the angel asking, “How can this be?”(Luke 1.38) When the angel explains that she would give birth to the Son of God,” Mary’s response is both strong and vulnerable, “Here I am… let it be with me according to your word.”
Mary, vulnerable and strong, shows us exactly what it takes to receive and and give birth to God’s blessing on earth.
Perhaps it is best not to speculate as to the reason most Protestant churches wrap Mary in tissue and put her in the closet except for her annual cameo appearance in the children’s Christmas pageant. Perhaps it is best to simply remove the tissue paper and reimagine Mary as a sound and sane woman of extraordinary strength. A woman who is strong enough to be vulnerable, vulnerable enough to allow her heart to be pierced by the promise of God, and her life radically transformed. Perhaps it is time to reimagine Mary as a woman fully conscious of the need to “scatter the proud, cast down the mighty, and fill the hungry with good things.” Perhaps it is time for us to emulate Mary, ordinary humans giving our lives to bring to life the promise God made to “our fathers, to Abraham and his children forever, ” the promise that God’s mercy is meant for all people..
Vulnerable and strong, strong and vulnerable, Mary is a paragon of how to be in relationship with God, of how to show up in our lives and incarnate God’s mercy for all people. There is no question. Mary models the way of being vulnerable and strong, human and divine, virgin and mother.
It is time to put our faith in God with us, join Mary singing a love song to God and give birth to God’s blessing of goodness and mercy for all people.
The Song of Mary Magnificat
Luke 1:46–55
My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord,
my spirit rejoices in God my Savior; *
for he has looked with favor on his lowly servant.
From this day all generations will call me blessed: *
the Almighty has done great things for me, and holy is his Name.
He has mercy on those who fear him *
in every generation.
He has shown the strength of his arm, *
he has scattered the proud in their conceit.
He has cast down the mighty from their thrones, *
and has lifted up the lowly.
He has filled the hungry with good things, *
and the rich he has sent away empty.
He has come to the help of his servant Israel, *
for he has remembered his promise of mercy,
The promise he made to our fathers, *
to Abraham and his children for ever.
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Thank you! Blessings for a Holy Advent.
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