Mary's Song - A reflection at Open Table #lgbtqia+ #comeasyouare

by the Revd Laura Ferguson on Sunday 15th August 2021

Reading Luke 1:46-55

I’m from a fairly low church tradition and until about 10 years ago couldn’t have told you what the Magnificat was or meant.

It is I discovered Mary’s Song of Praise and has been used as a canticle or chant throughout church history. It is one of the most well known canticles because of the Virgin Mary’s veneration in High Anglicanism and Roman Catholicism. But even in low church settings, there is an appreciation or respect for Mary.

I love that Mary, a woman is being upheld and celebrated in a predominantly male holy text but I’ve always found what some branches of the church do to Mary, uncomfortable. Her purity and gentleness are often her most notable features, that she was a humble, obedient woman who was a devoted mother and as such an inspiration to all women everywhere. Not only do I find this wholly unrelatable but a quick look at scripture clearly betrays this glossy, feminine image. An image which sounds more like a patriarchal construct than the mother of Jesus we see in the bible.

Aside from some questionable mothering methods such as placing a newborn in a trough, losing her 12 year old son for a few days and then once an adult trying to tone police Jesus when he’s delivering his gospel message - Mary’s very conception of Jesus is far from the heteronormativity that she so often comes to represent.

As no man was involved in the conception, Mary, as Robert E Goss observes, ‘breaks with the patriarchal culture and heterosexual economy of reproduction’ and in doing so brings freedom to women.

So when we come to this passage, I ask myself which Mary am I seeing here? On the face of it, it looks as though it is the holy, innocent Mary we see. She’s riding high off her encounter with an angel and is glowing with praise and joy for God.

But actually that isn’t what’s happening. We don’t quite know the time frame between the angel’s announcement to Mary and her subsequent trip to see her cousin Elizabeth but Luke uses the word ‘haste’ - Mary leaves in haste, presumably she’s in fear, ashamed that she’s unwed and pregnant. A state which could result in a shameful reputation-ruining divorce or at worst death by stoning. Luke's use of the word ‘haste’ suggests that she hasn’t even told Joseph yet.

She has a huge secret growing inside her. It’s soon going to be undeniable and although it could be the best thing to ever happen to her as the angel suggested, how, Mary might have wondered, is it all going to happen - surely the world wasn’t ready for her news to come out. So, when she arrives at Elizabeth’s it’s unlikely that she was still glowing from the angelic encounter and was instead terrified about the reality of her miraculous pregnancy.

When Mary arrives and is greeted by Elizabeth her baby (future John the Baptist) leaps inside her and she’s filled with the Holy Spirit. This we presume is the first time someone external to Mary affirms what is happening to her. And to Mary’s utter relieve and delight, it is not only affirmed but a cause for celebration.

How wonderful for Mary that Elizabeth didn’t look at her with grave concern and say, ‘well you’ve really messed up here. Or, ‘Mary please, it’s one thing to get pregnant outside of wedlock but quite another to fabricate a ludicrous, narcissistic story about God impregnating you with the saviour of that world.’ But no, instead she says,

‘Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb. And why has this happened to me, that the mother of my Lord comes to me?’

What a reaction!

This is why Mary sings.

Because everything that has been true to her, everything that has been secretly happening privately inside her has been seen by another and it is not to be ashamed of - it’s to be celebrated. Mary sings a song which Goss describes as a, ‘song of liberation for the queer community and for all oppressed peoples and for all the queers forced to experience sexual shame.’

Sadly this experience does not happen to all but…

I wonder if for some of you, you can relate to the elation that comes from being seen for who you truly are by people who you love?

I was recently speaking to the partner of a trans woman. She told me that they had dated for a year before her partner transitioned. Their partner had been living as a trans woman behind closed doors but when they eventually told their partner that they wanted to fully transition and that they would totally understand if they didn’t want to go with them on that journey, they were met with the same acceptance and celebration that we see in our passage. The person I was speaking to explained that she was totally supportive and wanted her partner to be fully herself. She had seen and known who she was in secret and affirmed and celebrated her. They then journeyed forward together.

And this moving forward together is also a part of the Mary and Elizabeth story. Elizabeth’s response is not just for that moment but it continues throughout their lives. With Elizabeth’s son living out his calling to be a Jesus’ ally, with all that that brings. As we gather once more in St Bride’s this is something I am mindful of - that Open Table is part of a wider church where there is a call to us all to not only celebrate all that open table is and does but to commit to walking alongside Open Table into the future, whatever that might bring.

This evening we have been lamenting what we have lost but I think we also have cause to celebrate. Celebrate who we are in God’s eyes, who we are to one another and to celebrate all that the future could bring.

I wonder if you can think of someone who needs that acknowledgement at the moment? Maybe someone who yearns to experience loving acceptance. Or perhaps you feel more like the one who would rather run away in haste from who you are. Is there someone trusted that you could speak to?

Finally, I wonder if we could spend a moment reflecting on a time in our life where we have felt truly seen. When we have felt wholly accepted and perhaps when another has celebrated all that we are.

Let’s allow the Holy Spirit to stir in us our own songs of liberating joy.