³⁹In those days Mary set out and went with haste to a Judean town in the hill country, ⁴⁰where she entered the house of Zechariah and greeted Elizabeth. ⁴¹When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the child leaped in her womb. And Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit ⁴²and exclaimed with a loud cry, “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb. ⁴³And why has this happened to me, that the mother of my Lord comes to me? ⁴⁴For as soon as I heard the sound of your greeting, the child in my womb leaped for joy. ⁴⁵And blessed is she who believed that there would be a fulfillment of what was spoken to her by the Lord.” ⁴⁶And Mary said, “My soul magnifies the Lord, ⁴⁷and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior, ⁴⁸for he has looked with favor on the lowliness of his servant. Surely, from now on all generations will call me blessed; ⁴⁹for the Mighty One has done great things for me, and holy is his name. ⁵⁰His mercy is for those who fear him from generation to generation. ⁵¹He has shown strength with his arm; he has scattered the proud in the thoughts of their hearts. ⁵²He has brought down the powerful from their thrones, and lifted up the lowly; ⁵³he has filled the hungry with good things, and sent the rich away empty. ⁵⁴He has helped his servant Israel, in remembrance of his mercy, ⁵⁵according to the promise he made to our ancestors, to Abraham and to his descendants forever.” ⁵⁶And Mary remained with her about three months and then returned to her home.

            Yesterday at church I mentioned that many Lutheran churches were having a Marian Service.  The official name of the church holiday is the “Solemnity of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary” (the assent of Mary into heaven) or more commonly known as “Mary, Mother of our Lord.”  This is a church holiday that is set for August 15, which only falls on a Sunday occasionally.  I believe the last time was 2004.

Yesterday, many Catholics celebrated Mary’s resurrection and ascent into heaven.  However, as a post-reformation protestant congregation, we did not celebrate this.  Had we celebrated Mary at church yesterday, we still would have not celebrated her resurrection and ascension.  Why not?  Because we believe everything about Mary that is biblical.  Therefore this means that we do not believe the following, which we do not find in the Bible:

1.       In her immaculate conception, that is, her miraculous birth from a legendary mother, Anne.

2.      In her assumption, that is, her bodily ascent into heaven (the only one since Jesus’ death and resurrection)

3.      In her participation in the world of salvation, something which the Bible says nothing about.

As Lutherans, we profess that Mary is the mother of Jesus, God made man.  She was chosen by God, answered the call of the angel, was obedient, faithful, and was excellent as a mother.  She is therefore a profound witness to God’s work and a part of the communion of saints.  Mary is indeed someone that we celebrate, but not someone that we worship.  That distinction falls squarely on the shoulders of God.  In his exegetical work for the above text, the Rev. Brian Stoffregen says the following: 

“Why is Mary blessed/praised?

"She is the mother of the Lord." This is what sets Mary apart from all other believers. At the same time, I'm not sure how many of us would be praising/blessing a young teenage, (probably 12-14 years old,) unmarried girl whom we discover is pregnant. It is likely that these words of praise come more from the confessions of the early church than a song from Elizabeth.

"She has come to Elizabeth." Elizabeth's joy at her own pregnancy after so many years of barrenness is overshadowed by the joy at Mary's visit -- or rather that the unborn Lord would honor her with his presence. How wonderful it would be if we had that same attitude concerning the presence of our Lord in our gathering together, and in the Word, and in the Supper: "Blessed be God who has come to us this day." I think that too often we think of worship as our good deed of bringing ourselves to God, when, in fact, it is a time and place where God comes to us.

"She believed that there would be a fulfillment of what was spoken to her by the Lord." The word for "blessed" in v. 45 is makaria, which carries more the idea of being happy because of favorable circumstances. A verbal form of this noun is used in v. 48. As the mother of the Lord, Mary is unique. As one who believes that God's Word will be fulfilled, she is a model of faith for us all.”

For those of you that would like more information on the contrast and comparison of the Catholic and Protestant beliefs of Mary, feel free to check out the book “Mary, in the Plan of God and in the Communion of Saints” by Alain Blancy, Maurice Jourjon, and the Dombes Group.  It has some wonderful information about Mary and how she fits in with our faith.  I have the book if you want to borrow it.

An icon of the Theotokos (translation:  bearer of God, Mother of God):

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/ac/Fedorovskaya.jpg

In our prayers this week:  Ann, Robert, Charles, and Scott.

God’s Peace,