Transcript
Holy Imagination: Mary
February 23, 2025
It was Wednesday morning, December 11, and my calendar said I was completely booked with meetings and special Wednesday night activities during Advent. As I bustled about the house, determined to be productive, answer some emails, start laundry, and pick up shoes that littered the floor, I opened my first zoom of the day. Soon, the voice of Leslie Parks, a minister in Northern Virginia, came on the screen and she began to share with us about a new book she was using called “The Book of Belonging.” It’s a book for kind and contemplative kids, she said. One that illustrates beautifully and imagines the Biblical story in a new way. As she began to read a passage about Mary, I found myself slowing down my to-do’s until I was drawn to a chair where I began to weep. The words permeated my soul that day as I heard a familiar story in a new voice. You know the story of Mary, but for just a moment, I want to invite you to engage your holy imagination and allow me to share Mary’s story with you today, as it’s captured in the book of belonging.
Mary was a collector. Not of stones or feathers or coins but of memories. Lovely moments were uncommon in a life like hers. A poor teenage girl engaged to a poor carpenter from a poor tiny village in the grip of the new Roman power machine. Life was not easy, but Mary seemed to know that there is always beauty for those who are looking. So whenever life gave her an especially lovely moment, she held it gently. She examined it from every angle. Then she wrapped it up carefully and tucked it into the safest folds of her heart to savor later. She had all kinds of lovely moments, stored in her
heart as if in a treasury. Such a heart makes a person kind and courageous. Such a heart keeps a person soft and wise, even when life is hard.
And Mary’s life was about to become especially hard and especially lovely, all at the same time, because on that most ordinary day, an angel appeared to Mary. “Hello, dear friend of God!” the angel exclaimed. As you can imagine, Mary was startled – and a little confused. “Don’t be afraid!” the angel said. Then the angel laughed, a pleasant sort of rumble. “I’m here to announce a great adventure: You’re going to have a baby!”
A baby. A baby. A baby.
The angels’ words echoed in her ears, and all she could do was stare as the magnificent visitor continued to speak. “You will name your baby boy Yeshua: Jesus. He will guide and comfort God’s family of belonging. He will rule like a king except that his kingdom will never end!” Mary lifted her chin. This was an intriguing adventure indeed. Her heart sang out with courage and questions. “But how is this possible? I can’t make a baby on my own!”
The angel went on to reveal a marvelous mystery: The same Spirit of God that danced and delighted to God’s Creation song in the beginning, the same Spirit that turned emptiness into goodness, was going to create a life in Mary’s womb. A Miracle. Heaven was coming to earth. God was becoming a person. The angel laughed again, and the rumble of it seemed to wrap Mary like a hug. “Nothing is impossible with God!” he
whooped. Mary was stunned. In a matter of moments, her entire life had changed. She held the moments gently, turning them over in her heart like crystals catching the light.
“A baby that is God? God as a baby? Will anyone believe me? What will my parents think? What will my fiancé, Joseph, say? God is asking me to do this? Why me?” Oh the bittersweet ache of it all. But Mary, friend of God, had a heart full of trust and treasure. She felt it beating brave and full inside her chest. She took a deep breath. “I trust God,” she finally said. “If God says I can do this, I will.”
It was a momentous mission indeed. Mary is the last woman listed in Jesus Family Tree. She follows in the lineage of scandal, heartache, and yet great courage of the women that came before her: Tamar, Rahab, Ruth, and Bathsheba – strong women that were mistreated and misunderstood. Mary wasn’t so different from each of them…a young teenager, unwed, poor, hormonal and now pregnant – certainly a scandal and rumor that would run rampant throughout the entire countryside. But it was her faith, her courage, her obedience, and her willingness that allowed her story to move from ordinary to extra-ordinary.
If we use our holy imagination just a bit longer, we realize that Mary was perhaps the most important woman in Jesus family. Her position as mother allowed her to treasure some key moments in His life in a way no one else could imagine. She was the first woman to hold him, cry with him, present him, scold him, worry about him,
encourage him, listen to his stories, bandage his knees, champion him, defend him, and ultimately let him go. In time, Mary would both lead him and follow him, teach him and be taught by him. She was present at his earthly beginning and watched his earthly end. This humble young teenager from Galilee without credentials, pedigree, or wealth, was called to become the mother to a tiny baby that was from God, was God, and would be her God.
When I use my holy imagination, there are things that I begin to wonder about Mary. I wonder how she told people she was pregnant. I wonder if her own mother responded the same way as her cousin Elizabeth. I wonder if she looked directly at the angel in disbelief or if she was so overcome by the moment that she turned her head away. I wonder what she felt first – confusion, joy, fear, peace, anxiety. I wonder how long before she decided to talk with Joseph. I wonder if she cried when people in the town talked about her behind her back. I wonder where her mind went when she was baking bread, sweeping the floor, and tending the garden. I wonder if she smiled or giggled when she felt the first flutters in her stomach. I wonder if she was so miserably pregnant that she didn’t care if she was giving birth in a stable as long as she didn’t have to sit on that donkey anymore. I wonder if she fully grasped the importance of the moment, of her actions, of her life?
For everything we wonder, what we know is how Mary responded.
Mary responds with questions of curiosity instead of asking for proof.
Mary’s annunciation from the Angel was actually the second annunciation in the book of Luke. It’s paired against the first with Zechariah, a priest serving in the temple when an angel appeared to him and revealed that he and Elizabeth would have a child in old age. Scripture says they both were terrified and told “Do not be afraid.” They both would have a son, were told what to name him, and that the son would be great. But there were also some key differences. The biggest difference comes in how Zechariah and Mary respond to this divine announcement. Zechariah answers the angel “How will I know that this is so?” He wants proof as if an angel appearing before Him isn’t enough proof of God’s ability and for this doubt he is struck mute. The very person that is supposed to be attuned to hearing from God is the one that is questioning God’s plan. Zechariah begins scared and moves to uncertain and maybe even doubtful. Mary on the other hand asks, “How can this be since I have no husband?” She is looking for clarity, not doubting God but curious and puzzled on what the next steps are to fulfill this promise. While both answers are understandable, Mary displays more faith than the revered and honored priest. She moves from fear and shock to acceptance and a strong, model believer that trusts in the task that God has set before her.
I’m struck by how many times we often respond more like Zechariah than Mary. We live in a society that demands a burden of proof…legal proceedings, tax returns, insurance claims, layers of identity checks, real id’s, etc. In our world, we don’t believe something unless we can see it and prove it’s scientifically true. But Mary’s faith is what sets her apart…she doesn’t want or need proof – she wants to understand what is
required of her so she can be obedient. She has complete trust and confidence in the God she serves without needing to justify, explain away, or validate what He tells her. Mary lives not by what can be explained but by what can be experienced. She stores up the moments, the pieces of life that she can roll around and ponder. She stores up the feelings, the tears, the laughter, the intangible moments, and examines them from different angles – not for validity – but for their worth which only she can assign.
Mary also responds with blind faith.
She didn’t realize it just yet, but her response of blind obedience would only become more challenging. The number of treasures that would soon demand a piece of her heart would quickly grow. Mary stored up the visit of the shepherds from the fields nearby. She held onto the words of wisdom and gifts from the magi in the East. She heard the proclamation of Anna and Simeon and surely worried herself sick when her baby boy was missing for several days, only to be found in the temple. She knew that Jesus was special as she asked him to turn water into wine and watched him defy the religious authorities to heal on the sabbath. She would certainly pray over him and the ragtag group of disciples that followed him around, both proud of her son and perhaps wondering what in the world he we doing. And then, as he was stripped, beaten, and hung on a cross, she stored up moments of anguish, agony, and despair, knowing there was nothing she could physically do to save him from the pain. But when the morning of the resurrection came and the tomb was empty, when Mary finally grasped the meaning of her son’s words and looked upon his resurrected body, the emotions stored
up in her heart would wash over her like never before…perhaps a mix of wonder and awe, but above all – Pure Love.
As Cecil Sherman said, “It is hard to be used of God…She had to accept God’s call to very special service or reject it on the basis of the explanation given. For her to do what she was asked to do took trust, faith, courage, a willingness to risk herself….She had to get past the “How can this be?”…to say, “Let it be with me according to your word.”
Finally, Mary responds by singing.
I love good musicals. I love that you can tell part of the story and move forward through music and song and dance. Classics like Les Mis, Phantom, or The King and I to more Modern upbeat productions like Rent or Hamilton –song helps express the power of the story. PA Media Film Critic Damon Smith says, “From an early age, music triggers emotional responses. Certain lyrics and songs become firmly embedded in the nostalgia-steeped soundtrack of our lives: a ballad that perfectly encapsulates the devastation of a break-up, a barn-storming anthem that incites an exultant rush of blood and fondly recalls a personal triumph. Musicals condense that full spectrum of the human experience – the pleasure and the pain – into perfectly crafted three-minute outbursts through the alchemy of composers and lyricists”.
I imagine that’s what it was like when Mary ran to see her cousin Elizabeth whom the angel said was also expecting. A perfect mixture of both pleasure and pain. Mary’s
cup begins to overflow and out of her heart the words pour forth. Her song is one of praise and wonder. I can imagine the two of them holding hands and arms, grasping to understand the importance of this angels’ visits, and spinning with delirium at the fullness of their souls. For a moment, the world is left outside their door, the doubt, the snickers, the worry, the unexplained, the scary, while the two of them are wrapped up in a song that slowly builds until it echoes from the rafters. I imagine that Mary’s prayer began to bubble up out of her heart until she couldn’t keep from singing.
Scripture reminds us that “out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks.” I wonder what is stored in our hearts today and what voice would emerge were it put to song? What moments and memories do we really treasure? What are you holding onto and turning over and over? If the words we speak are full of hatred, anger, and malice – then perhaps we need to look at what we are storing in our hearts. If our words are full of snappy comebacks, quick dismissals, and passive aggressive answers, then our hearts are being filled with the same. If the words we use tear others down, insult those that are different, and separate “us” from “them”, then our hearts have not been filled with the words of God to love our neighbor or pray for those who persecute us.
I’ve talked a lot today about holy imagination. But I can only imagine what it would be like if we stopped judging others and started believing them….what our churches might look like if we stopped focusing on whose right or wrong and started living like God said to feed the hungry, heal the sick, and care for the poor. Most of the time, Jesus did these very things just by speaking words. They were reflections of what
was stored in His heart…and I like to think the characteristics that were passed down to him from his mother.
We must come to a place where we all store up treasures in our hearts that remind us of the love of the Father, the compassion of Christ, and the power of the Spirit. Where we move from the language of ME to WE to ALL. Mary’s moment in the Biblical Story ushers us into the upside world of God in flesh. This God that lives, dwells, and reigns. This God that loves, leads, and longs for us. Friends, we need to fill ourselves with less 24 hour news cycles and more days of loving our neighbor. Casting away the hurtful rhetoric and instead begin speaking truth with love. Like Mary, filling our hearts with “whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things,” until the very words that pour forth from our lips are prayers of adoration mixed with songs of praise…when we can cry out in our own Magnificat,
My soul glorifies the Lord and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior, for he has been mindful of the humble state of his servant. From now on all generations will call me blessed, for the Mighty One has done great things for me – holy is his name.
