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| Image by Daniel Peckham |
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The Celtic Mary
A GREETING
A marvelous word has stirred my heart.
(Psalm 45:1a)
A READING
Mary rejoiced and left to visit her relative Elizabeth. She knocked at the door. Elizabeth heard her, tossed aside the scarlet thread, ran to the door, and opened it for her. And she blessed her and said, "Who am I that the mother of my Lord should visit me? You see, the baby inside me has jumped for joy and blessed you." But Mary forgot the mysteries which of the heavenly messenger Gabriel had spoken, and she looked up to the sky and said, "Who am I that every generation on earth will congratulate me?" She spent three months with Elizabeth. Day by day her womb kept swelling. And so Mary became frightened, returned home, and hid from the people of Israel. She was just 16 years old when these mysterious things happened to her.
(from the apocryphal Infancy Gospel of James 12:3-9)
- found in The Complete Gospels: Annotated Scholar Version,
ed. by Robert J. Miller
MUSIC
MEDITATIVE VERSES
Then a great sign appeared in heaven: a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet and a crown of twelve stars on her head. She was pregnant, and she cried out because she was in labor, in pain from giving birth.
(Revelation 12:1-2)
A POEM
She did not cry, ‘I cannot. I am not worthy,’
Nor, ‘I have not the strength.’
She did not submit with gritted teeth,
raging, coerced.
Bravest of all humans,
consent illumined her.
The room filled with its light,
the lily glowed in it,
and the iridescent wings.
Consent,
courage unparalleled,
opened her utterly.
- from "Annunciation," by Denise Levertov
found in "A Door in the Hive"
PRAYER FOR THE DAY
On the feast day of Mary the fragrant,
Mother of the Shepherd of the flocks,
I cut me a handful of the new corn,
I dried it gently in the sun,
I rubbed it sharply from the husk
With mine own palms.
I ground it in a quern [mill] on Friday,
I baked it on a fan of sheep-skin,
I toasted it to a fire of rowan [tree branches],
And I shared it round my people.
I went sunways round my dwelling,
In name of the Mary Mother,
Who promised to preserve me,
Who did preserve me,
And who will preserve me,
In peace, in flocks,
In righteousness of heart.
"The Feast Day of Mary,"
Celtic prayer found on sacred-texts.com.
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| "The Annunciation," by Henry Ossawa Tanner (1898) |
"Consent, courage unparalleled, opened her utterly." With these words Denise Levertov concludes her poem, "Annunciation." Her vision is of a Mary who "did not cry, ‘I cannot. I am not worthy.’" This image of a strong, confident Mary stands in contrast to the Mary of the final selection from the Infancy Gospel of James. By contrast, the second-century text spends the rest of its chapters detailing the trials of a pregnant unwed Mary among the surrounding community and the dire predicament experienced by Joseph in having taken her into his care. They both are put through ordeal after ordeal to arrive at the place where the authenticity of their situation is believed. Written just over a hundred years from when these events took place, the early followers of Jesus were already wrestling with what must have happened, alongside stories that were undoubtedly passed down, but which did not necessarily make it into the canonical gospels. Scholars know that the writer of the Infancy Gospel of James had knowledge of both of the Gospels of Matthew and Luke. But they have added the human pieces that those gospels do not explore: including the likely fear that Mary would have had.
Today's music (just published this week) is a track from the soon-to-be-released film, The Testament of Ann Lee, about the founder of the Shaker movement. Ann Lee was a charismatic figure who brought a sub-movement of Quakerism to North America that grew rapidly in its time. The Shakers were subject to tremendous violence in North America from the other Puritan Christian movements of the era and suffered for their beliefs. The song takes its cue from the Revelation passage above, in which the figure of the woman 'clothed in the sun' has been interpreted to be a reference to Mary, the Mother of Jesus. Ann Lee is identifying in the song with the mother of Jesus who faces many challenges before and after Jesus' birth.
Today's painting of the Annunciation is by Henry Ossawa Tanner (1859-1937), the first African-American painter to succeed in the international art world. Tanner's own mother had been enslaved and escaped. The painting shows a Mary both human and otherworldly, resigned and also ready -- inspired by his own mother's resilience. Mary finds her echo in all of our mothers.
We bring this week of reflecting on the Celtic Mary to a close with the Celtic corn harvest prayer above, sung on the Feast Day of Mary that takes place just after the Celtic celebration of Lughnasa, the mid-summer festival on August 1st. Mary is celebrated for having protected the crops and the people farming them from the ravages of weather and other farming foes. The Mary of this prayer has come very far from the Mary of the Infancy Gospel, and the first Mary of Jewish Palestine in the early decades of the first century CE. And she also belongs to all of it.
As we journey through Advent, how will we carry the Celtic Mary with us? Who will she be in our hearts when we arrive at Christmas Eve?
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| Image by Saltish J |
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Scripture passages are taken from the Common English Bible.
The next devotional day will be Monday, December 8th.
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LC† Vigil in Hope is a devotional series of Lutherans Connect, supported by the Eastern Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada and the Centre for Spirituality and Media at Martin Luther University College. To receive the devotions by email, write to lutheransconnect@gmail.com. The devotional pages are written and curated by Deacon Sherry Coman, with support and input from Pastor Steve Hoffard, Catherine Evenden and Henriette Thompson. Join us on Facebook. Lutherans Connect invites you to make a donation to the Ministry by going to this link on the website of the ELCIC Eastern Synod and selecting "Lutherans Connect Devotionals" under "Fund". Devotions are always freely offered, however your donations help support the ongoing work.
Thank you and peace be with you!
