Seeker

An older woman is full of joy as she greets her younger cousin. They are both pregnant and may both the subject of malicious gossip.  Elizabeth is too old to be pregnant. She has been married to Zechariah a long time and no babies have come from their marriage. Women deemed 'barren' were scorned - hard enough in itself. or was the problem with the husband? If Zechariah had failed to impregnant her after so many years, did the village gossips of Ein Karem wonder if Elizabeth's much belated pregnancy was by a younger man? Elizabeth's young cousin Mary is scarcely old enough to be pregnant. Have Mary's parents sent her far away to the hill country of Judea on the pretext of helping old Elizabeth, but really to shield her from disgrace in Nazareth before her condition began to show? Mary is pregnant and the father is not her fiance Joseph. Who would believe her story of being visited by an angel and conceiving a child by the Holy Spirit of God? ...

Christmas is only a pregnancy length away. I suppose that is why the church chose 25 March to celebrate the unexpected message that Jesus' mother Mary received from the Angel Gabriel. We mostly hear the story read at Christmas. It is also the gospel reading today, the Feast of the Annunciation to the Blessed Virgin Mary. Here's the story from Luke's gospel: "In the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent by God to a town in Galilee called Nazareth, to a virgin engaged to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David. The virgin’s name was Mary. And he came to her and said, ‘Greetings, favoured one! The Lord is with you.’ But she was much perplexed by his words and pondered what sort of greeting this might be. The angel said to her, ‘Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favour with God. And now, 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 wil...

Should Christians obey Mary, mother of Jesus?  I ask that today because it is the festival of The Blessed Virgin Mary. Some Christians may raise hands in horror at the idea of obeying Mary. Many years ago I was stopped in my tracks by something I read about Mary. I think it was in a book by John Gunstone, an Anglo-Catholic priest in the Church of England. When asked about his attitude to the Blessed Virgin Mary, he replied, "I obey her" . I found this shocking, until I understood what he meant. This was a reference to the only instruction Mary gave that is recorded in the gospels. She was at a wedding in Cana with her son Jesus when the wine ran out - a social disaster (See John 2: 1 - 11) . Mary instructed the servants, "Do whatever he (Jesus) tells you." And they did. Water became wine as the first John's gospel's signs revealing Jesus' glory. What Jesus told the servants to do at that wedding was simple - fill up water jars, draw som...

Today 2 5 March used to be known as Lady Day in England. It was also New Year's Day until 1752 - a point that historians and genealogists need to bear in mind when considering year dates. The 'Lady' after whom the day was named is Mary, mother of Jesus. Today is a Feast Day in Anglican, Roman Catholic and other church calendars - the Annunciation of our Lord to the Blessed Virgin Mary. It celebrates the announcement to Mary by the angel Gabriel that she would bear a son conceived by the power of the Holy Spirit. You can read the story in Luke 1: 26 - 38 . For obvious reasons this feast is calendared 9 months before the celebration of Jesus' birth at Christmas. Last Sunday I was travelling on the London Underground and heard an announcement that was completely incomprehensible. Had we understood it we might not have tried to change to the Jubilee Line at a station where that was temporarily impossible. Perhaps we should have taken more care to ponder what it meant a...

15th August in the Church of England calendar is the Festival of The Blessed Virgin Mary. For Roman Catholics it is the Feast of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, celebrating a dogma that I won't attempt to explain because I neither understand nor believe in it. You can read the  official definition here.   I think there is no Biblical basis for this and (as I wrote last year)  assumes too much . It has inspired some magnificent art though.  I grew up in a Reformed (Presbyterian) tradition and Mary mother of Jesus only ever seemed to get a look in at Christmas as far as I can remember. I've moved from that position of ignoring the significance of Mary most of the year to finding more and more reason to honour her as 'theotokos' (God-bearer), the greatest of the saints. I want to celebrate the whole of her life but much more the priceless treasure of the first-fruit of her womb. She is truly 'Blessed'. Almighty God,   who looked upon th...

This stunning stained glass window is in Klarysew parish church, near Warsaw in Poland. It represents the announcement by the Angel Gabriel to a young girl called Mary that she would become the mother of Jesus. This story is told in Luke 1: 26 - 38.   What used to be called 'Lady Day' is normally 25 March. This year that date was in Holy Week so the celebration of 'The Annunciation of our Lord to the Blessed Virgin Mary' is transferred to today 8 April. In the stained glass window, I love the way that Mary is bathed in light yet at the same time looks ordinary. I'm not sure if the expression on her face is meant to be one of awe or fear, confusion or shock. I'm sure Mary probably felt all of those things. She did say 'yes' but not before asking 'how can this be?' Mary was probably only about 13-15 years old, but already engaged to be married to the carpenter Joseph. What went through her head as her expectations turned upside-down? "P...

I can understand why Mary the mother of Jesus has such a special place in the devotions of many Christians. I'm happy to refer to her as Saint Mary or the Blessed Virgin Mary. Today, 15 August, the festival of 'The Blessed Virgin Mary' for Anglicans, it seems right to thank God for Mary and meditate on her life. Where I have immense difficulty, is in understanding some of what is taught about her by, for example, the Roman Catholic church. For Roman Catholics, today is the 'Feast of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary'. As far as I can make, out the dogma relating to this is that "...the Immaculate Virgin, preserved free from all guilt of original sin, on the completion of her earthly sojourn, was taken up body and soul into heavenly glory, and exalted by the Lord as Queen of the universe..."    (2nd Vatican Council, Dogmatic Constitution Lumen Gentium Chapter VIII 59) Well, I'm sorry, but I think that is assuming too much. What do...