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CONTENT
INTRODUCTION, REFLECTIONS, CONCLUDING THOUGHTS, INVITATION
NOTE: This is a special Advent-Christmas edition, to assist you in preparing your heart and mind for Christmas Day. Also, Mediatrix is the feminine for Mediator. Mary, as you and I, only mediate Grace in and through Christ working within us and for service to others.
INTRODUCTION
Sometime ago a woman from Houston was out in Los Angeles visiting some relatives. While there, she went to an ice cream shop and ordered an ice cream cone. As she was sitting there at the counter, waiting for her cone, she happened to glance to her right. Who should be there, right next to her, but Paul Newman!
She couldn't believe it! He had been her heart throb and dream boat for years. She was crazy about him. And there he was, sitting on the stool right next to her, close enough to touch. But she didn't want to act uncool. She wanted to keep her composure and act as if it didn't matter that much. So she simply paid for her ice cream cone discreetly fanning her face, and went outside. She was so proud of herself: She was disciplined, poised, and cool. But once outside, she realized that she didn't have her ice cream cone. She went back in to get it. She told the clerk that she had paid for it, but didn't get her cone. The clerk said, "Well, lady, I don't understand. I gave you a cone." The woman said, "Yes, but you can see that I don't have it." Paul Newman spoke up, "Lady, you put it in your purse."
*Maxie Dunham. Sermon "God Who Is Mighty Has Done Great Things." 2006.
This writing is for December 24, as we prepare for celebrating the Christ Mass, Christmas. We focus on Mary and her response to the Annunciation and visit to her cousin Elizabeth.
How did Mary respond? Note above, how one woman responded to the perceived greatness of a movie hero. We can contrast the above incident with Mary, in her praise of God.
Mary offers a gentle corrective to the direction of our motives and aspirations, and praise. She puts all earthy greatness in relation to the Father of the Savior. What, after all, is a Paul Newman, a you, or a me, apart from God?
TODAY'S SCRIPTURE
46 Then Mary said,
"My soul praises the Lord;
47 my heart rejoices in God my Savior,
48 because he has shown his concern for his humble servant girl.
From now on, all people will say that I am blessed,
49 because the Powerful One has done great things for me.
His name is holy.
50 God will show his mercy forever and ever
to those who worship and serve him.
51 He has done mighty deeds by his power.
He has scattered the people who are proud
and think great things about themselves.
52 He has brought down rulers from their thrones
and raised up the humble.
53 He has filled the hungry with good things
and sent the rich away with nothing.
54 He has helped his servant, the people of Israel,
remembering to show them mercy
55 as he promised to our ancestors,
to Abraham and to his children forever."
56 Mary stayed with Elizabeth for about three months and then returned home.
*Luke 1.46-56 (NCV)
RELECTIONS
Mary, the mother of Jesus, the Christ, has been given a number of honorific titles in Christianity; among these are, Christotókos (Christ-bearer); Theotókos (God-bearer); Dei Genetrix (Begetter of God); Mediatrix [Mother of all Graces]; ...
To the Scripture for this day.... The poetic piece is a work of art, and exquisite at that. The poem invites into a time beyond time, a place beyond place. We can enter that Reality, into the same praise and faith, now.
Mary exclaims what has come to be called the Magnificat (vv. 46-55). The Magnificat is also called the Canticle of Mary. Magnificat derives from the first line in Latin: Magníficat ánima mea Dóminum - "My soul praises the Lord."
I note one special aspect of this Scripture for us. Note how Mary mirrors the Grace of God acting in and through her, in and through history. Her praise dares not turn our focus to herself, except as one whom Grace has chosen to bless. Her response is to bless Grace, that we might adore Grace, with her.
Praise is an exercise in humbleness. Praise is an outward focus, from the I, me, mine, and ours, to the You - the THOU. In a real sense, almost all our problems arise from a self-focus, a loss of our sense of location in the Universe, as a small - very small - part of a Plan for all creation. Praise re-locates our awareness.
CONCLUDING THOUGHTS
The humbleness of Mary prepared her to be the Mother of Christ, a Mediatrix of Grace. For Christ is Grace entering the world, and often through persons willing to be a fount of Divinity.
Through a Mary-like humbleness, we can be the same. Mary is not simply a person to adore, she is a sign of our potential to bear and share the Grace and Love of God.
One sign of true, spirituality humility, a Mary posture, is to be willing to accept that God can work in ways in and through us that do not fit our preconceived expectations. Indeed, we may be led to praise most like Mary when we, like her, pray, "God, be God in my life. God, may my ideas of you and what you can do, in no way limit what you do in and through me. Amen."
Pastor William Carter said that on his Christmas vacation on his first year in college, he had become an expert on the birds and the bees. Biology was his major, and after a semester in the freshman class, he was certain that he knew more biology than most adults did in his hometown ... including his minister. A few days before Christmas, he stopped in to see him. He received him warmly and asked how he had fared in his first semester. "Okay," he replied, avoiding the subject of his mediocre grades. But then he told his pastor, "I've come home with some questions."
"Really?" the pastor replied. "Like what?"
"Like the virgin birth. I've taken a lot of biology, as you know," which meant one semester in which he received a B-, "and I think this whole business of a virgin birth doesn't make much sense to me. It doesn't fit with what I have learned in biology class."
"What's the problem?" he asked.
"There had to be a father," he announced. "Either it was Joseph or somebody else."
His pastor looked at him with a coy smile and said, "How can you be so sure?"
"Oh, come on," he said. "That's not the way it works. There had to be a father."
His pastor didn't back down. Instead he said something that Carter said he'll never forget: "So - why not God?"
*Story from William G. Carter. Sermon "There Had to Be a Father." In Praying for the Whole World.
INVITATION
Stepping out of your impossibilities into God's Possibilities is not about your past experience or your present capabilities: It's about God's Potentials. Praise is one way to open to God's Possibilities. Humbleness postures you to praise. You can be a Mary, you can be a Mediatrix of Grace.
For you who have not committed yourself to be a follower of Jesus Christ, I encourage you to consider that, today. If you are a Christian who has grown cold in your love of Christ and commitment to His Church, I encourage you to pray a renewal of that priority.
*For responses, write: barukhattah@embarqmail.com .
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*Charitable contributions would be appreciated to assist Brian in continuing his ministry. For contributions, contact Brian at barukhattah@embarqmail.com .
*Brian's book of spiritual love poetry, An Ache for Union: Oneness with God through Love, can be ordered through major booksellers or the Cokesbury on-line store, cokesbury.com .
*Brian K. Wilcox, a United Methodist Pastor, lives in Southwest Florida. He is a vowed member of Greenbough House of Prayer, a contemplative Christian community in South Georgia. He lives a contemplative life and seeks to inspire others to enjoy a more intimate relationship with Christ. Brian advocates for a spiritually-focused, experiential Christianity and renewal of the Church through addressing the deeper spiritual needs and longings of persons.
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