I am certainly missing a few names for this day on the Church Calendar. Select one that pleases you; this blog post is about how my view of Mary evolved over the years.
For those who do not know me, I am a Lutheran pastor (ELCA) who is also licensed in an Episcopal Diocese. Although the term Evangelical Catholic might be unfamiliar to some readers, it best describes me. While I fully embrace the Protestant Reformation, I do not reject everything that happened before the 16th century.
Growing up in the Monongahela Valley south of Pittsburgh, I was not churched. My family considered itself Presbyterian, but I only remember attending a few Easter Sunday services. Anything Roman Catholic was rejected. Orthodox Christians were given some respect. We had a wonderful Jewish doctor. Religion and ethnicity were closely intertwined in that region. There were exceptions, so a person could be a close friend even if they were not "one of our people", however that was defined.
German was my undergraduate major, which I continued in graduate school. As I toured/studied/lived in Germany (West and East), I noticed that Lutheran and Catholic churches looked essentially the same. People explained that the Reformation removed only what was contrary to doctrine. At UC-Berkeley, I took a Luther course and was blown away. When I took a teaching assistantship at UC-Irvine, I officially became a Lutheran (both sides of my family had some Lutherans). My mother joked that my going to California and becoming a Lutheran was not that bad, considering what it could have been!
A few years later, I felt the call to seminary and moved to Christ Seminary-Semeinx in St. Louis. A whole new world opened up to me. Liturgy attracted me, and I considered myself High Church. Mary stopped being part of Catholic folk religion, someone who appeared to children in a quasi-magical way, who was more accessible than her son. I learned that one could honor her and still be a good Lutheran or Protestant.
At Berkeley, I first read Luther's commentary on the Magnificat, Mary's psalm after Gabriel tells her God's plan for her (in Luke's Gospel). Luther calls her the first Christian, because she heard the Gospel and believed. He also refers to her as the Mother of all Christians. The astonishing conclusion still sparks debate among scholars. https://www.theologie.uzh.ch/apps/gpi/luthers-magnificat-english-version/
The "Old Luther" vs. "Later Luther" debate need not concern us here. Regardless of how much the Reformer evolved, he did not repudiate what he had earlier written.
I also learned more about Orthodoxy (which still influences me today). Mary, the Theotokos/Godbearer, is never depicted without her son.
Okay, so tell that to the Ladies' Group at church, as we would say. Theology is all well and good, but how is it lived out?
Consider this about Mary. Gabriel tells her that God wants her to become an unwed teenage mother. Whatever hopes, dreams, and plans she had for her life vanish. She will become a refugee, live in a backwater, and watch her son grow up to become a public figure who, while doing wondrous things, is executed. She witnesses this, but her faith does not waver. In all this, she is a model for us; Luther was right, and he was only repeating what he had learned.
Mary served as a role model for a faith that was strong but not oppressive. Devotion to her was used to tame my genetic pool and others. And there is nothing wrong with that, provided that we acknowledge that she leads us to her son.
I am not going to discuss here issues like the Immaculate Conception, perpetual virginity, whether she had other children, and the like. I do affirm that she remained a virgin and was stepmother to Joseph's children from his first marriage. But these things are not necessary for salvation. The Immaculate Conception is not necessary for salvation, even though Pius IX invoked infallibility for it. Does the Assumption fall into this category? That seems unclear.
Dormition might be a better description. There are some Biblical figures who "vanished": Enoch, Elijah (albeit dramatically). There is no known grave of Mary; surely that would have been a site of pilgrimage.
Mary belongs in our theology and piety without embellishment and certainly not to Jesus' detriment. When I was deployed to Germany some 20 years ago, I served what was essentially an Episcopalian community, with sacramentally-minded Christians from other traditions. One of the civilians donated a lovely small wooden statue of Muttergottes mit Kind (Madonna and Child). I placed it in the rear of her chapel and called it a Lady Chapel. The other chaplains were aghast. But sometimes when I walked past the chapel, there was someone there in prayer.
This image is from a photo I took at Jackalope in Santa Fe, New Mexico:
My books:
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