When one of the foremost progressive Protestant preachers of the day cites your academic paper — at length — in a sermon at one of the most-watched annual gatherings of the year, you should be prepared for a sudden influx…
The consent of mothers
We are all called to be mothers of God — for God is always waiting to be born. — Meister Eckart, 13 c. German mystic In the wake of the news that the U.S. Supreme Court has overturned Roe v….
Worldliness and wistfulness on the way to Bethlehem 2021
This Advent season, I determined to follow the lead of the BVM, the Blessed Virgin Mary, in “pondering” the Bethlehem story in my heart. So I went back to Luke’s Gospel in the King James Version where I first heard…
This Christmas, they can try to control the Bible, but they can’t have Jesus
I wanted to be an R.A. They had so much more fun than the G.A.s. For those of you who have no idea what I’m talking about, for many years in Southern Baptist churches, Wednesday night programing for children was…
Mary sings her joyful – and radical – faith. Do we have the courage to join her?
Let us rejoice with Mary that God keeps promises and will ultimately conquer all that tramples the weak and outcast. The Mighty One did great things for her – and will for us.
Justice and joy combined in the words of Mary
Justice and joy are intertwined, not unlike the link between joy and pain. To love is to suffer, as the mystics remind us. Deeply acquainted with the recesses of the human heart, C. S. Lewis wrote: “Joy is distinct not…
There’s something about Mary
Women have had a long, rich, and complex relationship with Mary the mother of Jesus since the beginning of Christianity. As we prepare to celebrate Christmas, this collection of reflections invites us to pause and ponder the young woman at…
Learning from Mary
By Molly T. Marshall Baptists, and Protestants in general, have not known what to do with the Catholic preoccupation with Mary. We just do not get the nuances of the Immaculate Conception (different from the virginal conception of Jesus) and…
Mary’s baby bump: a divine scandal?
Every year preachers try to make the Christmas story anew. How do you tell the same story in a different way? One angle that many try to stay away from is on Mary’s “situation”: an unwed mother who is pregnant. …