Living Clay
Jeremiah 14: 1-11
September 5, 2010
In the fall of 2005,
I was in a transition—transitioning my ordination status from PCUSA to UCC, and working half-time at a new church start that paid me for ¼ time. I didn’t know where life would lead, but I really loved what I was doing with the congregation. So, I had to find another source of income.
So, I went back to school!
The first question I asked myself was what could I do that would be flexible, enjoyable, and I could be good at?
I thought to myself, “I enjoy being with people, and counseling. That would be a very practical professional degree.”
However, I kept thinking,
“hmmm, but I also love being in a pottery studio…”
Although I had only dabbled in working with clay, the times that I did, I became lost and content in it.
So, I enrolled in a degree program in to become a professional potter, learning the trade of production pottery. (Which I might add was the least practical of the two choices—for a myriad of reasons).
It wasn’t easy.
The first semester was challenging—and the sixty page syllabus was daunting. I was to learn all the properties of clay, the physics and calculations of glaze recipes, plus make 60 cylinders, 52 mugs with pulled handles, in matching sets of 4, 20 lidded forms (as in casseroles), o thirty bowls—with different pounds of clay from 1-5, where some would nest, as in mixing bowls, and twenty plates….all on a potter’s wheel.
Mind you, at that point, I wasn’t even very good at centering, which is taking the ball of clay, and holding it on the wheel, with pressure that would show the lump completely balanced in its distribution. If the beginning lump is not balanced, it is very difficult to open and begin pulling up walls that are even and strong. Suffice it to say, I had to try many times over to produce my quota of pots. As overwhelming as this was, it was also entrancing and exhilarating.
As the wheel spun and I churned out pots, I learned about the nature of clay.
Clay is a living substance. It isn’t a passive lump of wet dirt. Throwing involves respect, it involves a certain posture on the part of the potter, to be balanced within and sitting in the correct balanced position, as well as getting used to the nature of each clay body, whether it is high fire stoneware (lots of functional pottery is made from this, as it lasts long and is strong), low fire terra cotta (think garden pots and tiles) and the holy grail of Porcelain. Porcelain, although the strongest of clay (there is a reason your toilet is made from porcelain), can be worked almost paper thin—but it is difficult to manage. A completely skilled potter may feel like a beginner when working with porcelain.
Making pottery, whether functional or decorative, is a co-creative process between the potter and the clay. Even when you get to know the clay body inside and out, when you can throw a bowl or plate in your sleep, in each instance of creation, something new emerges; a certain nuance comes up, around the shape, the clay, and even yourself. There is nothing boring in throwing a million mugs, either. Each time a potter sits down with a lump of clay, she never really knows how it will unfold into being exactly, in spite of her intention.
So, this metaphor of God being a potter in Jeremiah makes complete sense to me.
You see, the passage is all about change, and choice, and being alive.
Listen to verse 6 again.
6Can I not do with you, O house of Israel, just as this potter has done? says the LORD. Just like the clay in the potter’s hand, so are you in my hand, O house of Israel.
This verse is gorgeous, isn’t it? God is trying to help Israel, God’s chosen people, to understand that they are not finished. They are like clay in the hand of the potter, yet to be realized into being, yet to be fully created with the intentions that God has for them. They are yet to become. However, there is a hint, in the following verses, that the clay is not passive in the hands of the potter, and neither is Israel passive in the hands of God.
7At one moment I may declare concerning a nation or a kingdom, that I will pluck up and break down and destroy it, 8but if that nation, concerning which I have spoken, turns from its evil, I will change my mind about the disaster that I intended to bring on it. 9And at another moment I may declare concerning a nation or a kingdom that I will build and plant it, 10but if it does evil in my sight, not listening to my voice, then I will change my mind about the good that I had intended to do to it.
On first take, we might think these words frame God as a capricious deity. They describe a Divine one that will destroy if a people do not listen to God. I don’t think this is the message. In fact, I think the prophecy is, as most prophecy is, about the nature of the hearers of the prophecy, rather than only about the divine nature of God. The message here is that God’s intentions for a people can change according to how a people will respond to the intentions of God.
Will Israel respond to the purpose that God intends for them—to truly be the chosen people of God, that will trust God, and keep the covenant? Will Israel choose, rather, to ignore that intention, and turn from God, and to other gods or cultures surrounding them?
Isn’t it beautiful to think that God is free to respond to human decision, and has the capability of changing the divine mind, instead of making a decree and holding it so. Human decisions matter to God. There is a relationship here, God is saying. You are clay, you are living clay, and you can respond to my shaping, or not. I can choose to throw you away—but I won’t. I will simply reshape you, as the potter does in the potter’s house. Note—the potter in this passage doesn’t discard the clay, never to be used again. No. The potter responds to the clay, is ever present.
In other words, God responds to us. God’s good intention for us is life, and wholeness. If we choose something other, God will respond—perhaps re-shaping us into different beings.
This passage has so much to say to us, today, as a smaller congregation in the 21st century—as well as for each of us personally.
As a congregation faced with budget issues, growth issues, we might get scared a little bit. The future might seem a little uncertain as we move into the processes of ensuring the vitality of Eliot in the future. What we give, plus revenue from building rentals and the endowment, do not cover our costs. This is a reality. However, this is another reality—God has not stopped calling us to be the good news in this neighborhood. We are called to touch a need in the community, and not simply be Eliot, for ourselves, as we always have been. Because we aren’t, we are different, and the world in which we are a church is different—even from 20 years ago.
I heard an interesting analogy this week—the difference being a bib church or an apron church. A bib church says “feed me”. An apron church is one that serves others. Which do we want to be?
Our decision matters to God. This is why it is important for us to commit to the difficult and arduous task of truly thinking through what Eliot’s direction, as God’s community, is to go. Did you know that 88% of congregations are bib congregations?
But it is hard—it is hard to be an apron church. We are Christians in a post-Christian culture. Most people don’t go to church. We live in a time where specificity about belief in God is not important—what people are looking for are to be fed, to find hope, to find a trusting community, and to make a difference in the world—in spite of being busier than ever. More so, many people are suspect of Christianity, if they know anything about it. And sometimes, Christians have an insider language that is difficult for a newcomer to interpret—especially when that newcomer really has never participated in a congregation before.
An apron church is ready for change, for growth, for commitment to the gospel and need in the community in which it lives, and beyond. An apron church calls forth relationships that are real and deep and vulnerable. An apron church has a purpose and a love, especially for those who have been disenfranchised and forgotten.
How we move into ensuring that our beloved community is vital in the future will require hard work, and discernment. Discernment requires listening to our hearts, and to the good news of the gospel. The decisions we make will matter to God. God’s intention for us is life--to fully be who we are called to be—a church that serves widely—nurturing ourselves and serving the world. We are indeed living clay. Are we willing to be re-shaped by God to live into God’s intentions? Because whatever our future is, it will require reshaping. This we know is true.
Similarly, this is true for each of us, in our relationships to the Divine. We may not believe as our parents did, or as we ourselves did long ago. We might have questions, doubts, even fears. We change. We grow. We take two steps forward, and one step back.
But God’s intent is for each of us to be a vessel, balanced and open to being the Light of the world. It’s scary—because our decision to live into God’s intentions for us makes us vulnerable. It requires giving over, being willing to be shaped into what God sees us…with all of who we are. Like clay, we are alive. We are in relationship with the potter….as the potter shapes us, we can speak to the potter, to become a beautiful, functional, gorgeous vessel of the divine.
What about it?
Shall we be living clay together?
Amen.
Sunday, September 19, 2010
Saturday, September 18, 2010
Balance
Isaiah 58:9-14
9Then you shall call, and the Lord will answer; you shall cry for help, and he will say, Here I am. If you remove the yoke from among you, the pointing of the finger, the speaking of evil, 10if you offer your food to the hungry and satisfy the needs of the afflicted, then your light shall rise in the darkness and your gloom be like the noonday. 11The Lord will guide you continually, and satisfy your needs in parched places, and make your bones strong; and you shall be like a watered garden, like a spring of water, whose waters never fail. 12Your ancient ruins shall be rebuilt; you shall raise up the foundations of many generations; you shall be called the repairer of the breach, the restorer of streets to live in.
Luke 13:10-17
10Now he was teaching in one of the synagogues on the sabbath. 11And just then there appeared a woman with a spirit that had crippled her for eighteen years. She was bent over and was quite unable to stand up straight. 12When Jesus saw her, he called her over and said, “Woman, you are set free from your ailment.” 13When he laid his hands on her, immediately she stood up straight and began praising God. 14But the leader of the synagogue, indignant because Jesus had cured on the sabbath, kept saying to the crowd, “There are six days on which work ought to be done; come on those days and be cured, and not on the sabbath day.” 15But the Lord answered him and said, “You hypocrites! Does not each of you on the sabbath untie his ox or his donkey from the manger, and lead it away to give it water? 16And ought not this woman, a daughter of Abraham whom Satan bound for eighteen long years, be set free from this bondage on the sabbath day?” 17When he said this, all his opponents were put to shame; and the entire crowd was rejoicing at all the wonderful things that he was doing.
Balance
August 23, 2010
Eliot Church of Newton
Earlier in the summer, I did something to hurt my lower back. I am not sure what—I simply laid down for a Sunday nap, and when I woke up I could hardly move. There was excruciating pain like I have never experienced. Hobbling around the house just made me wince, and so, I made an appointment to see my doctor, first thing on Monday morning. The consult with my doctor revealed that I probably had a smooshed disc (huh?). She gave me some pain pills, and a sheet of exercises to do, and to call her if the pain didn’t subside.
The exercises actually helped, and I realized they were yoga poses. So when a former colleague of Liz’ opened a new yoga studio right here in Newton, a couple of weeks ago, I decided to sign up.
Now. Let me say this. I am not exactly built for yoga.
Suffice it to say that I am clearly the beginner in the class.
And, my teacher really likes to work on balance. You know—standing on one leg, stretching the other out “into the wall” and bending it towards you waist so you can grab your toes and stand perfectly still for what feels like hours, without falling.
The first class I cracked myself up, falling every time she said lift one leg….soon, not only was I the beginner, but quickly paving the way to becoming the class clown. I thought I might get better with more classes, but it seems that sense of balance, is well,…unbalanced. I spoke to my teacher after class…and she said that she likes to work on balance, perhaps to a fault. As a metaphor for life…it’s important to pay attention to. I have some work to do, it seems.
This concept of balance something hidden in our texts today.
It is the Sabbath. Jesus is teaching in the synagogue, and as he is speaking, out of the corner of his eye, he sees a woman. Bent over. The word translates not just “bent” or “bent over,” but a better translation would be “bent together” or “bent within." This is a woman who "is bent in on herself" (Jana Childers, http://www.csec.org/csec/sermon/childers_4816.htm). She has done nothing to cause her illness, and can do nothing to help herself, except, for perhaps, put herself in the path of Jesus(Jan Richardson, Painted Prayerbook, 8.20.2010).
Jesus is moved by this woman, and so calls her over, and heals her by laying hands on her. He lays hands on her. Immediately the synagogue leader is irritated with Jesus, chastises the crowd, saying there are six days to be cured—show up on those days. Not the Sabbath. The Sabbath has rules. It has balance.
Don’t you want to say, “whaaaaaaaat???”
This guy is so clueless!
But really, can you blame him?
Here is Jesus, a total renegade,
A guest teacher in HIS synagogue, and Jesus is NOT
FOLLOWING. THE. RULES.
I don’t think the synagogue leader was a bad person, he just was tightly bound to the letter of the rule of Sabbath.
Which gave permission for some actions, and not for others.
It would be like a guest preacher, walking into Eliot, and instead of following the order of worship, she just chucks the bulletin, and asks you,
What is it that you are needing today?
What can I give you? How about if we decide to have a Quaker meeting?
It would upset our equilibrium, don’t you think?
It’s interesting, too, that in the text, the synagogue leader doesn’t chastise Jesus the rule-breaker, he chastises the gathered community, over and over “You people know better. There are six days to be healed. Come on those days. Not on the Sabbath.”
It is clear his balance is toppled. He can’t fuss at Jesus, but he will fuss at those he leads.
But, for Jesus, there is always the moment—for whatever it brings. He is so balanced, within, and without, that he can read the world and match it with what he knows is true.
Balance.
In the zone.
Harmony.
Balance, in winemaking means the degree which all the attributes of a wine are in harmony, with none either too prominent or deficient.
Everything working together.
Balance.
You see, Jesus got that the Sabbath was essential,
a time out for God, for rest and reflection…
But that when someone walks in your vision and is completely out of balance,
Twisted inward,
In pain, in acceptance of that pain,
Then “Jesus has to challenge those present to consider what sabbath really means: that in its fullness, the laws regarding sabbath are designed not just for rest but for release from all that keeps us in bondage” (Richardson).
Rest, and freedom…for all.
So, I have been considering balance—not just physically so I can stand on one foot, but spiritually. Here is an example.
What do you do when you walk down the street, and encounter someone who is asking for money? Perhaps someone who is homeless, or injured, or whatever?
My personal rule is that I don’t give money. I don’t want to support someone’s crack habit, or addiction to alcohol—or get ripped off.
Frequently, here, at Eliot, a man comes,
Looking for a gift card to Stop and Shop, or Whole Foods,
which we keep in the office.
At a Newton Clergy Association meeting, we realized that this same person was hitting all of us up. Regularly. So, we have worked on a plan to manage people like him, so that they don’t suck up all our resources, so that when a true emergency arises, we will have the means to help. It’s not a bad plan. It has balance.
Yesterday, early in the morning, I happened to be in Davis Square in Somerville, to grab my early morning venti iced coffee, unsweetened, and light ice.
I walked by a man, obviously homeless, who asked me for help. I said no. He asked me to buy him a coffee, cuz his cup was empty. I said no. I didn’t trust him, I knew he was playing me, and I was irritated because he was challenging my rule. No money given on the street. Not healthy.
But you know, I was out of balance. I wasn’t seeing the whole picture.
There are rules. And then there is compassion, that defies all rules. Wholeness, freedom.
I stood in line for my coffee with my $5 dollar bill. I should get him a coffee. That would be my best choice, to control how my offering would be used.
But who am I to judge how someone spends a few dollars?
Certainly $3 for an iced coffee is worthy of judgement.
My equilibrium was challenged…and I knew I had to break my own rule in this instance, to listen to what I felt on the inside, meeting the need on the outside. I was working on standing on one leg in my heart.
I took my $2 in change, and went back outside, and handed it over,
Knowing that he might pocket whatever I gave him not for coffee, not for food, but for drugs or alcohol.
I handed him the change.
Because, it really it’s just a couple of bucks.
He is a human being with a story, with a life, perhaps bent in and hurting.
But I couldn’t heal him.
But I can offer a bit of relief, and compassion.
(caveat here: this doesn’t mean I will always hand over the money when someone asks….)
You see, balance is about breaking the rules when compassion and love demand something different.
Jesus calls us…
To seeing the world,
To seeing others,
Differently.
Jesus calls us…
To see ourselves differently.
We have so, so much power, with what little we have.
It is integral that we learn,
How to balance,
How to have the equilibrium with in,
To stand on one foot if we need to,
To break really well informed rules and standards and morals,
For the sake of helping another being
In the name of compassion and love and wholeness.
Balance.
Where do you need balance today?
Amen.
9Then you shall call, and the Lord will answer; you shall cry for help, and he will say, Here I am. If you remove the yoke from among you, the pointing of the finger, the speaking of evil, 10if you offer your food to the hungry and satisfy the needs of the afflicted, then your light shall rise in the darkness and your gloom be like the noonday. 11The Lord will guide you continually, and satisfy your needs in parched places, and make your bones strong; and you shall be like a watered garden, like a spring of water, whose waters never fail. 12Your ancient ruins shall be rebuilt; you shall raise up the foundations of many generations; you shall be called the repairer of the breach, the restorer of streets to live in.
Luke 13:10-17
10Now he was teaching in one of the synagogues on the sabbath. 11And just then there appeared a woman with a spirit that had crippled her for eighteen years. She was bent over and was quite unable to stand up straight. 12When Jesus saw her, he called her over and said, “Woman, you are set free from your ailment.” 13When he laid his hands on her, immediately she stood up straight and began praising God. 14But the leader of the synagogue, indignant because Jesus had cured on the sabbath, kept saying to the crowd, “There are six days on which work ought to be done; come on those days and be cured, and not on the sabbath day.” 15But the Lord answered him and said, “You hypocrites! Does not each of you on the sabbath untie his ox or his donkey from the manger, and lead it away to give it water? 16And ought not this woman, a daughter of Abraham whom Satan bound for eighteen long years, be set free from this bondage on the sabbath day?” 17When he said this, all his opponents were put to shame; and the entire crowd was rejoicing at all the wonderful things that he was doing.
Balance
August 23, 2010
Eliot Church of Newton
Earlier in the summer, I did something to hurt my lower back. I am not sure what—I simply laid down for a Sunday nap, and when I woke up I could hardly move. There was excruciating pain like I have never experienced. Hobbling around the house just made me wince, and so, I made an appointment to see my doctor, first thing on Monday morning. The consult with my doctor revealed that I probably had a smooshed disc (huh?). She gave me some pain pills, and a sheet of exercises to do, and to call her if the pain didn’t subside.
The exercises actually helped, and I realized they were yoga poses. So when a former colleague of Liz’ opened a new yoga studio right here in Newton, a couple of weeks ago, I decided to sign up.
Now. Let me say this. I am not exactly built for yoga.
Suffice it to say that I am clearly the beginner in the class.
And, my teacher really likes to work on balance. You know—standing on one leg, stretching the other out “into the wall” and bending it towards you waist so you can grab your toes and stand perfectly still for what feels like hours, without falling.
The first class I cracked myself up, falling every time she said lift one leg….soon, not only was I the beginner, but quickly paving the way to becoming the class clown. I thought I might get better with more classes, but it seems that sense of balance, is well,…unbalanced. I spoke to my teacher after class…and she said that she likes to work on balance, perhaps to a fault. As a metaphor for life…it’s important to pay attention to. I have some work to do, it seems.
This concept of balance something hidden in our texts today.
It is the Sabbath. Jesus is teaching in the synagogue, and as he is speaking, out of the corner of his eye, he sees a woman. Bent over. The word translates not just “bent” or “bent over,” but a better translation would be “bent together” or “bent within." This is a woman who "is bent in on herself" (Jana Childers, http://www.csec.org/csec/sermon/childers_4816.htm). She has done nothing to cause her illness, and can do nothing to help herself, except, for perhaps, put herself in the path of Jesus(Jan Richardson, Painted Prayerbook, 8.20.2010).
Jesus is moved by this woman, and so calls her over, and heals her by laying hands on her. He lays hands on her. Immediately the synagogue leader is irritated with Jesus, chastises the crowd, saying there are six days to be cured—show up on those days. Not the Sabbath. The Sabbath has rules. It has balance.
Don’t you want to say, “whaaaaaaaat???”
This guy is so clueless!
But really, can you blame him?
Here is Jesus, a total renegade,
A guest teacher in HIS synagogue, and Jesus is NOT
FOLLOWING. THE. RULES.
I don’t think the synagogue leader was a bad person, he just was tightly bound to the letter of the rule of Sabbath.
Which gave permission for some actions, and not for others.
It would be like a guest preacher, walking into Eliot, and instead of following the order of worship, she just chucks the bulletin, and asks you,
What is it that you are needing today?
What can I give you? How about if we decide to have a Quaker meeting?
It would upset our equilibrium, don’t you think?
It’s interesting, too, that in the text, the synagogue leader doesn’t chastise Jesus the rule-breaker, he chastises the gathered community, over and over “You people know better. There are six days to be healed. Come on those days. Not on the Sabbath.”
It is clear his balance is toppled. He can’t fuss at Jesus, but he will fuss at those he leads.
But, for Jesus, there is always the moment—for whatever it brings. He is so balanced, within, and without, that he can read the world and match it with what he knows is true.
Balance.
In the zone.
Harmony.
Balance, in winemaking means the degree which all the attributes of a wine are in harmony, with none either too prominent or deficient.
Everything working together.
Balance.
You see, Jesus got that the Sabbath was essential,
a time out for God, for rest and reflection…
But that when someone walks in your vision and is completely out of balance,
Twisted inward,
In pain, in acceptance of that pain,
Then “Jesus has to challenge those present to consider what sabbath really means: that in its fullness, the laws regarding sabbath are designed not just for rest but for release from all that keeps us in bondage” (Richardson).
Rest, and freedom…for all.
So, I have been considering balance—not just physically so I can stand on one foot, but spiritually. Here is an example.
What do you do when you walk down the street, and encounter someone who is asking for money? Perhaps someone who is homeless, or injured, or whatever?
My personal rule is that I don’t give money. I don’t want to support someone’s crack habit, or addiction to alcohol—or get ripped off.
Frequently, here, at Eliot, a man comes,
Looking for a gift card to Stop and Shop, or Whole Foods,
which we keep in the office.
At a Newton Clergy Association meeting, we realized that this same person was hitting all of us up. Regularly. So, we have worked on a plan to manage people like him, so that they don’t suck up all our resources, so that when a true emergency arises, we will have the means to help. It’s not a bad plan. It has balance.
Yesterday, early in the morning, I happened to be in Davis Square in Somerville, to grab my early morning venti iced coffee, unsweetened, and light ice.
I walked by a man, obviously homeless, who asked me for help. I said no. He asked me to buy him a coffee, cuz his cup was empty. I said no. I didn’t trust him, I knew he was playing me, and I was irritated because he was challenging my rule. No money given on the street. Not healthy.
But you know, I was out of balance. I wasn’t seeing the whole picture.
There are rules. And then there is compassion, that defies all rules. Wholeness, freedom.
I stood in line for my coffee with my $5 dollar bill. I should get him a coffee. That would be my best choice, to control how my offering would be used.
But who am I to judge how someone spends a few dollars?
Certainly $3 for an iced coffee is worthy of judgement.
My equilibrium was challenged…and I knew I had to break my own rule in this instance, to listen to what I felt on the inside, meeting the need on the outside. I was working on standing on one leg in my heart.
I took my $2 in change, and went back outside, and handed it over,
Knowing that he might pocket whatever I gave him not for coffee, not for food, but for drugs or alcohol.
I handed him the change.
Because, it really it’s just a couple of bucks.
He is a human being with a story, with a life, perhaps bent in and hurting.
But I couldn’t heal him.
But I can offer a bit of relief, and compassion.
(caveat here: this doesn’t mean I will always hand over the money when someone asks….)
You see, balance is about breaking the rules when compassion and love demand something different.
Jesus calls us…
To seeing the world,
To seeing others,
Differently.
Jesus calls us…
To see ourselves differently.
We have so, so much power, with what little we have.
It is integral that we learn,
How to balance,
How to have the equilibrium with in,
To stand on one foot if we need to,
To break really well informed rules and standards and morals,
For the sake of helping another being
In the name of compassion and love and wholeness.
Balance.
Where do you need balance today?
Amen.
God-Bearer
There were two lectionary choices for today (the lectionary being a three y ear cycle of scripture readings from the OT, P, G, and E to be used in worship.) The first, the regular reading for ordinary time, and the other for, “ The Assumption of the Virgin Mary into Heaven.” I thought to myself, why go with ordinary when one can go with the Queen of Heaven? And so, our text today is the Magnificat, Mary’s response to her aunt Elizabeth when Elizabeth declares her blessed among women, and blessed be the fruit of her womb.
Luke 1:46-53
And Mary said,
'My soul magnifies the Lord,
and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior,
for God has looked with favor on the lowliness of God's servant.
Surely, from now on all generations will call me blessed;
for the Mighty One has done great things for me,
and holy is God's name.
God's mercy is for those who fear God
from generation to generation.
God has shown strength with God's arm;
and has scattered the proud in the thoughts of their hearts.
God has brought down the powerful from their thrones,
and lifted up the lowly;
God has filled the hungry with good things,
and sent the rich away empty.'"
God-Bearer
Rev. Karla Miller August 18, 2010 Eliot Church of Newton
Recently, I have had a surge of protestant clergy friends tell me how much they secretly adore Mary, the Mother of God, which has piqued my interest, as well. As a child, I was always a little jealous that my Catholic friends could pray to her, but Pastor Melheim told us confirmation kids we couldn’t have ANY thing to do with saints let alone praying to tham. “Lutherans use the DIRECT hotline to God”, he would rant.
Back in the days when Christianity was still being—orthodox-ied, there were some arguments about how to deal with Mary, stemming from how they were understanding Jesus. In 431, The Coucil of Ephesus decreed that since Jesus was both fully God and fully human, Mary must be understood as “Theotokos” , meaningly literally God-birther, affirming the fullness of the incarnation of God. Some just wanted to call her Christotokos, bearer of Christ, but the Council refuted that.
Theotokos—God bearer.
Isn’t that beautiful? Giving birth to God?
But what kind of birth was it? Throughout the ages of western Christendom, Mary, the mother of God has been a model of piety, of humble submissiveness to Divine Plan, an “obedient, desexualized, merciful mother and beautiful virgin that is projected into heaven as the eternal feminine.’ The perfect woman. What we sister believers should strive for.
I don’t like this model of Mary, and I don’t think it is true to her story
Look at the story of the annunciation in Luke 1. Mary is “much perplexed” (read: troubled, seriously concerned) about the angel Gabriel’s news that she will bear a child that reign in a kingdom with no end, she asks one fairly direct question —“ how can this be, since I am a virgin”….implying, that she and her betrothed, Joseph, are not, well…you know, sexually active. (IF you buy the fact that the Greek word used here actually meant “virgin” as we know it, rather than “Young woman” which was the word in Isaiah 7:14, which this whole prophecy of Gabriel’s is from). Gabriel adroitly assures her that the power of the most HIGH (that’s God) will overshadow her and the Holy Spirit will come upon her and protect her…..which is empowering, but doesn’t answer the most question at hand. However, Mary doesn’t press the point. The assurance of God is enough. She responds “Here am I the servant of the Lord—let it be to me according to your word.”
A “model believer”, indeed. But there is more to this story, I feel certain.
But notice one thing. Does Gabriel promise divine seed to implant in her womb? No! His promises of the Holy overshadowing and protecting Mary is a “figurative way of speaking about the child’s special relation to God, and NOT implying the absence of human paternity” Might I add here that the infancy narratives of Matthew and Luke were oral traditions—possibly women’s stories that circulated long before the writers redacted them into their gospels. Some scholars posit that both Luke and Matthew inherited illegitimacy traditions about Jesus’ paternity within those narratives, which have been muted and silenced in the texts we have today?
And I have the sense that Mary’s story is mystery and miracle….
And I have to say, the idea of a virgin birth, immaculate conception sanitizes her story, because the miracle has no real purpose but for the ancient church fathers to subordinate women, to deny the creative process, and to prove that Jesus was divine.
The story is dehumanized.
Which totally defeats the main point of Christianity---
The divine becoming one with us, beoming human?
I want you to notice something with me. Look at the text in Luke one. Do you notice the literal space in between the story of the annunciation, and the story of the magnificat?
This space actually occurs in the earliest manuscripts of Luke.
Before the space, the annunciation. After the space, the magnificat.
What has happened? We don’t know the story of conception. We are not privy to what happens to Mary, in `between the visit from Gabriel, and the visit to Aunt Elizabeth. What has happened?
She is 12 or 13 or 14 years old.
She has become pregnant.
Who has done this to her?
Magic?
Did she have a lover, Joseph?
Did someone do wrong to her?
We don’t know.
All we know is that she is running to her aunt, and maybe remembering, vaguely….this visit…this promise.. of overshadowing…of empowerment…of the divine….
Being pregnant out of wedlock typically would mean stoning, or death,
But clinging to that shred of divine visitation…
She is greeted with blessing from her cousin…
And…
Oh.
Maybe…
However this child was conceived…there is a sense that the birth will be blessed…
And that the mother of this child will be blessed…because…she remembers the promise of protection and Mary is empowered…
Mary decided to go for it. She decided to risk it.
This is the model believer.
Defying cultural expectations and norms.
Daring the law to punish her.
She puts it all out there.
Because the fact is….
The story is stronger---and more miraculous—
Without a virgin birth…
It’s a story against the odds,
It’s the song she sings defiantly that ….
The lowly will be raised up,
That the so called dominant powers will be brought down off their thrones,
That the hungry will be fed…that the proud and mighty will be scattered…
Mary’s song…
From the very breath in her lungs
Is one of hope against hope…
Against all the odds….
And when we hear her agonizing screams in the travailing of birth,
her panting breath and the clutching at the arms of Joseph and the crying out in undescribable pain….and sweat…
We know….
This Mary is no quiet, submissive one.
She is gritty and hopeful…
She is…as Elisabeth Shussler Fiorenza writes…
“The young pregnant woman, living in occupied territory and struggling against victimization and for survival and dignity”
It is she who offers the possibilities for a different understanding of Jesus and the divine…
And this is in part,
What Mary of Nazareth offers to us today….
In the most shadowy of times, she offers hope against hope….
And in spite of fear of death and domination and discrimination and disempowerment,
angels whisper in our ears to tell us,
Each of us…
That we participate in the bringing forth of God in a broken world, from our broken lives…
“What you bear will be special and blessed,
What you bring forth will be touched by the divine, and will be a light to the world…what is conceived within will be blessed in its birth…”
The mystic Meister Eckhart wrote, “We are all mothers of God, for God is needing to be born in the world every day”
We, like Mary, must participate with God in the redemption of the world….
We must give birth to the life we are living now,
in these days….
And …if we get that what we bring forth is the very presence of the divine…
If you felt that what ever you gave birth to was God…if you knew that you were the mother of God today….
How holy would our days be…
Then how holy would our work be…
How holy would your family be…
Oh, how holy might our worlds be…
If we truly believed
That we could bear God in this world.
What about you?
Are you a God-bearer?
How?
Amen.
Luke 1:46-53
And Mary said,
'My soul magnifies the Lord,
and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior,
for God has looked with favor on the lowliness of God's servant.
Surely, from now on all generations will call me blessed;
for the Mighty One has done great things for me,
and holy is God's name.
God's mercy is for those who fear God
from generation to generation.
God has shown strength with God's arm;
and has scattered the proud in the thoughts of their hearts.
God has brought down the powerful from their thrones,
and lifted up the lowly;
God has filled the hungry with good things,
and sent the rich away empty.'"
God-Bearer
Rev. Karla Miller August 18, 2010 Eliot Church of Newton
Recently, I have had a surge of protestant clergy friends tell me how much they secretly adore Mary, the Mother of God, which has piqued my interest, as well. As a child, I was always a little jealous that my Catholic friends could pray to her, but Pastor Melheim told us confirmation kids we couldn’t have ANY thing to do with saints let alone praying to tham. “Lutherans use the DIRECT hotline to God”, he would rant.
Back in the days when Christianity was still being—orthodox-ied, there were some arguments about how to deal with Mary, stemming from how they were understanding Jesus. In 431, The Coucil of Ephesus decreed that since Jesus was both fully God and fully human, Mary must be understood as “Theotokos” , meaningly literally God-birther, affirming the fullness of the incarnation of God. Some just wanted to call her Christotokos, bearer of Christ, but the Council refuted that.
Theotokos—God bearer.
Isn’t that beautiful? Giving birth to God?
But what kind of birth was it? Throughout the ages of western Christendom, Mary, the mother of God has been a model of piety, of humble submissiveness to Divine Plan, an “obedient, desexualized, merciful mother and beautiful virgin that is projected into heaven as the eternal feminine.’ The perfect woman. What we sister believers should strive for.
I don’t like this model of Mary, and I don’t think it is true to her story
Look at the story of the annunciation in Luke 1. Mary is “much perplexed” (read: troubled, seriously concerned) about the angel Gabriel’s news that she will bear a child that reign in a kingdom with no end, she asks one fairly direct question —“ how can this be, since I am a virgin”….implying, that she and her betrothed, Joseph, are not, well…you know, sexually active. (IF you buy the fact that the Greek word used here actually meant “virgin” as we know it, rather than “Young woman” which was the word in Isaiah 7:14, which this whole prophecy of Gabriel’s is from). Gabriel adroitly assures her that the power of the most HIGH (that’s God) will overshadow her and the Holy Spirit will come upon her and protect her…..which is empowering, but doesn’t answer the most question at hand. However, Mary doesn’t press the point. The assurance of God is enough. She responds “Here am I the servant of the Lord—let it be to me according to your word.”
A “model believer”, indeed. But there is more to this story, I feel certain.
But notice one thing. Does Gabriel promise divine seed to implant in her womb? No! His promises of the Holy overshadowing and protecting Mary is a “figurative way of speaking about the child’s special relation to God, and NOT implying the absence of human paternity” Might I add here that the infancy narratives of Matthew and Luke were oral traditions—possibly women’s stories that circulated long before the writers redacted them into their gospels. Some scholars posit that both Luke and Matthew inherited illegitimacy traditions about Jesus’ paternity within those narratives, which have been muted and silenced in the texts we have today?
And I have the sense that Mary’s story is mystery and miracle….
And I have to say, the idea of a virgin birth, immaculate conception sanitizes her story, because the miracle has no real purpose but for the ancient church fathers to subordinate women, to deny the creative process, and to prove that Jesus was divine.
The story is dehumanized.
Which totally defeats the main point of Christianity---
The divine becoming one with us, beoming human?
I want you to notice something with me. Look at the text in Luke one. Do you notice the literal space in between the story of the annunciation, and the story of the magnificat?
This space actually occurs in the earliest manuscripts of Luke.
Before the space, the annunciation. After the space, the magnificat.
What has happened? We don’t know the story of conception. We are not privy to what happens to Mary, in `between the visit from Gabriel, and the visit to Aunt Elizabeth. What has happened?
She is 12 or 13 or 14 years old.
She has become pregnant.
Who has done this to her?
Magic?
Did she have a lover, Joseph?
Did someone do wrong to her?
We don’t know.
All we know is that she is running to her aunt, and maybe remembering, vaguely….this visit…this promise.. of overshadowing…of empowerment…of the divine….
Being pregnant out of wedlock typically would mean stoning, or death,
But clinging to that shred of divine visitation…
She is greeted with blessing from her cousin…
And…
Oh.
Maybe…
However this child was conceived…there is a sense that the birth will be blessed…
And that the mother of this child will be blessed…because…she remembers the promise of protection and Mary is empowered…
Mary decided to go for it. She decided to risk it.
This is the model believer.
Defying cultural expectations and norms.
Daring the law to punish her.
She puts it all out there.
Because the fact is….
The story is stronger---and more miraculous—
Without a virgin birth…
It’s a story against the odds,
It’s the song she sings defiantly that ….
The lowly will be raised up,
That the so called dominant powers will be brought down off their thrones,
That the hungry will be fed…that the proud and mighty will be scattered…
Mary’s song…
From the very breath in her lungs
Is one of hope against hope…
Against all the odds….
And when we hear her agonizing screams in the travailing of birth,
her panting breath and the clutching at the arms of Joseph and the crying out in undescribable pain….and sweat…
We know….
This Mary is no quiet, submissive one.
She is gritty and hopeful…
She is…as Elisabeth Shussler Fiorenza writes…
“The young pregnant woman, living in occupied territory and struggling against victimization and for survival and dignity”
It is she who offers the possibilities for a different understanding of Jesus and the divine…
And this is in part,
What Mary of Nazareth offers to us today….
In the most shadowy of times, she offers hope against hope….
And in spite of fear of death and domination and discrimination and disempowerment,
angels whisper in our ears to tell us,
Each of us…
That we participate in the bringing forth of God in a broken world, from our broken lives…
“What you bear will be special and blessed,
What you bring forth will be touched by the divine, and will be a light to the world…what is conceived within will be blessed in its birth…”
The mystic Meister Eckhart wrote, “We are all mothers of God, for God is needing to be born in the world every day”
We, like Mary, must participate with God in the redemption of the world….
We must give birth to the life we are living now,
in these days….
And …if we get that what we bring forth is the very presence of the divine…
If you felt that what ever you gave birth to was God…if you knew that you were the mother of God today….
How holy would our days be…
Then how holy would our work be…
How holy would your family be…
Oh, how holy might our worlds be…
If we truly believed
That we could bear God in this world.
What about you?
Are you a God-bearer?
How?
Amen.
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