Readings for the Feast of St. Mary the Virgin (Evening)
- Psalm 132
- Song of Solomon 2:1 – 7
- Acts 1:6-14
This sermon was preached at Holy Trinity Cathedral in Auckland New Zealand on Sunday August 13, 2023.
It’s a joy and honor for me to be preaching here at Holy Trinity Cathedral and I want to thank Fr. Ivica for his warm welcome and generous hospitality. I bring greetings from Northern California, where I serve as the rector of Christ Episcopal Church Eureka. I have been on sabbatical for the last three months and I appreciate the fact that I’m breaking my preaching fast on this feast day of St. Mary the Virgin. I appreciate this because I feel St. Mary has been especially making her presence known to me throughout my sabbatical travels, whether it be in the form a black shrine of Mary made of lava on the top of Mount Vesuvius in Italy, or the Blue Virgin in the 12th century stained-glass window in Notre Dame cathedral in Chartres France, or the statue of Our Lady of Fifth Avenue at St. Thomas Episcopal Church in Manhattan.
When Mary makes her presence known to me, I often feel invited to reflect on her wisdom as revealed in our Holy Scriptures, especially in the wisdom that is distilled in those three words, which I often associate with Mary thanks to a singer/songwriter who was baptized in the Roman Catholic church, but who grew up singing in the choir of an Anglican church (St. Barnabas Penny Lane) and who met his close friend and musical partner in the parish hall of another Anglican church: St. Peter’s Woolton, in the city of Liverpool in England. We can all thank God for the Anglican Church for providing a meeting-place for and for facilitating the friendship between Paul McCartney and John Lennon who went on to co-create some of the most beloved pop songs of all time, including one that references our “Mother Mary.” I don’t think it’s an inappropriate for us to consider this song as part of the Anglican reception of St. Mary: “When I find myself in times of trouble, Mother Mary comes to me, speaking words of wisdom, let it be. And in my hour of darkness she is standing right in front of me [in her loving, open-armed pose] speaking words of wisdom, let it be.”
Although “Mother Mary” was initially a reference to Paul McCartney’s actual mother Mary who appeared to him in a dream during a difficult time, many listeners have heard this as a reference to the Blessed Virgin Mary, which is perfectly fine with Paul. And what Paul may not have known (at least not consciously) is that St. Mary actually does say the words “Let it be” in the Gospel of Luke. When the Archangel Gabriel appears to Mary and tells her that she has been chosen to give birth to “the Son of the Most High,” Mary first wonders about the mechanics of this possibility since she’s never been with a man. However, after Gabriel invites her to trust the Holy Spirit for whom all things are possible, she gives her consent and says, “Ok, I’m on board; let it be with me according to your word” (Luke 1:38).
Now these words express more than passive acceptance. They express a willingness to co-partner and cooperate and co-create with God. With these words, Mary is saying, “I don’t entirely understand how this will all come together and I know it won’t be easy, but I trust there will be answer and I trust that you are a God of love and justice and so I make myself utterly available to you in your mission of bringing forth love and justice in the world, in lifting up the lowly, in scattering the proud in their conceit, in filling the hungry with good things, and in sending the rich away empty.” Let it be unto me according to your word. These words express the serenity of accepting the things we cannot change as well as the courage to change the things we can, and the courage to be part of the change that God is bringing into the world.
These words must have served Mary well during those intensely awkward conversations with her fiancé Joseph about her pregnancy; and during those many times when her family and friends and strangers likely assumed the worst about her situation. When others snickered and sneered at her because they thought she was a scandalous young woman and when the people of Bethlehem told her there was no room in the inn (probably because they didn’t want to have anything to do with her) and then relegated her to give birth among the animals of the stable, I imagine she continued praying those words, “Let it be.” When loud and smelly shepherds rushed inside her makeshift bedroom to see and perhaps hold her newborn child, insisting they were invited by angels, I imagine her sighing and saying, “Ok, God, let it be (but perhaps in the future, God, you can let me know beforehand when you’re inviting random people over, but let it be.)
Our Gospel reading tonight invites us to imitate the apostles who, after witnessing the Ascension of our Lord, “joined together constantly in prayer…with…Mary the mother of Jesus” (Acts 1:14). Tonight, we are invited to pray with St. Mary, the holiest of all the saints, and allow her to speak to us and to guide us in our prayers, trusting that she is praying for us, now and at the hour of our death. In our hours of darkness, when we’re feeling brokenhearted, when we’re lonely, when we’re afraid and when our loved ones have parted, may we have eyes to see Mother Mary standing right in front of us, whispering her words of wisdom; and may we treasure those words in our hearts. During this Evensong celebration of St. Mary, may we all wake up more fully to the sound of music and to the tender, reassuring presence of Mother Mary, speaking her words of wisdom to each of us now. Let it be.
And I invite you to join me in saying the Hebrew form of “Let it be,” which is “Amen.”
AMEN.
DANIEL DeFOREST LONDON 