The Way of Mary: Bold!

 Good Monday morning, dear Advent pilgrims who walk The Way of Mary. Today is the Feast of the Immaculate Conception, which is a feast day created by the Roman Catholic Church to occur exactly nine months before the feast of the Nativity of Mary on 8 September.

Those guys in long white dresses may be celibate but they are clever enough fellows to know how long a pregnancy lasts, even if the whole thing was made up in the 7th Century.

In the Church of England, which has its own share of clever fellows, the "Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary" may be observed as a Lesser Festival on 8 December without the religious designation as "sinless", "most pure" or "immaculate".

Good old Anglican Via Media.

You will no doubt find men and women in The Episcopal Church who will make note of the Conception of Mary today, which may also include this prayer from the Sarum Mass:

"O God, mercifully hear the supplication of thy servants who are assembled together on the Conception of the Virgin Mother of God, may at her intercession be delivered by Thee from dangers which beset us."

I remembered that prayer last night, once the nausea subsided after learning that Old King Donald returned to the international stage with an invited appearance at the Grand Re-opening of Notre Dame in Paris.

The word that has arisen for me today, as I've contemplated the life of Mary, is this: "Bold."

As in, not "meek and mild".

When you consider what that young woman was asked to go through her whole, entire life, she was 'bold' right from the first "Yes" when she could not have known what she was about to set in motion.

So, of course, the men in long white dresses had to steal her thunder. Can't have the Mother of Jesus seem powerful in her own right.

A new movie has been made about her, aptly titled, "Mary". It's available now on Netflix, just in time for the devoted to watch on this Feast Day. I'm planning to check it out this afternoon. I mean, it is my Sabbath Day.

“You may think you know my story,” Mary reportedly tells viewers at the start of the film. “Trust me, you don’t.” The movie then goes on to tell the story of Mary as seen through her own eyes.

Except, of course, the dialogue was written and the movie was produced by Hollywood director D.J. Caruso. A man. Who is also Roman Catholic.

"Devoted to his faith" we are told, and inspired by Caruso by the late David O’Connell, auxiliary bishop of LA, who was his spiritual leader (Tragically, O'Connell was shot to death in 2023 by the husband of his housekeeper.)

RNS reports, "Alongside familiar scenes from the Christmas story — the annunciation, the manger birth, the visit of the wise men — the film offers a more harrowing look at the dangerous reality Mary and Joseph faced as Herod’s forces pursued them to kill the infant Jesus."

My expectations are not very high. Although, I must say that I do like this image of Mary from the film which depicts her on the run from King Herod's soldiers after Jesus' birth. She appears to be holding her infant, hiding him under her dress, tucked close to her breast.

I hadn't thought about that particular part of the nativity story. My impression from Matthew's reporting is that they snuck out of Bethlehem in the middle of the night as they escaped to Egypt. Which totally could have happened. If, in fact, they even "escaped to Egypt" at all or if Matthew added that flourish to connect the story of Jesus with the story of Moses.

I think whatever we can do to take Mary off her pedestal and place her here among the people, giving her as much of her own voice as our religious imaginations will allow, is a good thing.

Mary clearly earned a place of distinction in religious history by her bold "Yes" to the Incarnation, but I don't think that was her point. In the Magnificat, "All generations shall call me blessed," is not an acknowledgment of the status of a rock star, but the recognition of the profound honor and awesome responsibility of her role as Theotokos, the bearer of the Incarnation of God.

Even so, I think the point is that Mary was human. I'll bet she was human enough to have cussed a little when she burned the pita bread and maybe even had a bad hair day or two. I'll bet she was even bossy more times than anyone wanted to remember, so they didn't.

I don't need to have her conception to have been "immaculate," free from sin or other messy elements of the human enterprise.

Being a follower of Jesus is not for sissies. Why would we think that being his mother wouldn't require at least a modicum of being bold?

We're going to need to remember that boldness - especially after January 20th.

I'll leave you with this marvelous poem from Kaitlin Hardy Shetler and other Marian heresies to consider.

I hope something good happens to you today.

Bom dia.

i like my nativities
with a side of heresy
with midwives and mothers
and empty mangers
and full arms
I like wise women
over wise men
attending to bloody people
born and crucified
showing up in places
church leaders won't go
i like heralding feminist agendas
and trouble
and god's good news
which is kind of repetitive
since they're all the same thing
proper churches
want proper nativities
because women's bodies
are shameful
whether bearing christ
or just bare
and instead of silent nights
i like loud protests
because
be silent
is not a phrase about joy
but about control
so give me a christmas
without white supremacy
and bright sexism
where the story of a baby
becomes a story of a woman
and my nativity looks like
god's
and not like
man's. ~ Kaitlin Hardy Shetler