The Annunciation

The Annunciation April 2011

A Protestant Appreciation of the Virgin Mary

From St Luke Chapter 1 v26: And in the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God unto a city of Galilee, named Nazareth, To a virgin espoused to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David; and the virgin’s name was Mary. And the angel came in unto her, and said, "Hail, thou that art highly favoured, the Lord is with thee: blessed art thou among women".

In the Greek the Angel says Hail! highly favoured but personalising an adjectival phrase does not work well in English so the translators of the King James Bible inserted the words thou that art. The Catholic church uses a much simpler device to give the words that even most Protestants have heard: Hail Mary full of Grace. And hearing them has for them, and me, been a signal to switch off. But that would be a mistake. My enlightenment came when it happened by chance that our next Franciscan Eucharist was to be on March 25th the Feast of the Annunciation. And how refreshing it is to read from the first chapter of Luke's Gospel away from the tinsel bedecked baggage of Christmas. It seemed to me like an opera where a few well chosen words of narrative open the door for several great Arias which have become Church Canticles. Of great interest too was the fact that the Annunciation is one of very few narratives in the Qur'an. I have copied both these texts and made then available here.

Then I discovered that the date of the Annunciation was fixed first (25th March) and Christmas appears, naturally nine months later on December 25th. The dating goes like this: An early Christian tract evokes the tradition that the angel Gabriel appeared to Zechariah in the Holy of Holies when he was serving as high priest on the Day of Atonement,That would place the conception of John the Baptist during the feast of Tabernacles and his birth nine months later at the time of the summer solstice. Since Luke's Gospel states that the Angel Gabriel appeared to the Virgin Mary in the sixth month after John's conception, this would place the conception of Christ at about the time of the spring equinox, i.e. at the time of the Jewish Passover and his birth at the time of the winter solstice. A favourite Jewish date in their calendar is 14 Nisan which in our calendar is March 25th. If you really want to understand the Jewish Calendar here is a good site:
www.jewfaq.org/calendar.htm

Happily for me doubts about the "Virgin Birth" which seem to so trouble other Christians of many backgrounds has never bothered me though, of course, I was saddened by the bad feelings it generated. But there is no consequence, no claim of supernartural in the Birth of Jesus. The miracle happend at conception. So let us rejoice and give thanks for Mary who said yes to the Virgin Conception. The Catholic thinking on this includes the proloque to John's Gospel: Verse 14:

And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us

The verb translated "dwelt" actually refers to "pitching a tent". This tent, like the Tabernacle in the Old Testament is a place for God to dwell in. At the Annunciation Mary becomes that tent and subsequently a symbol of the Church itself.

The ancient Church and especially the Monasteries seem to have grasped this importance and recited what has come to be called the Angelus not just on March 25th but every day and three times a day at 6 am, 12 noon and 6 pm. They even had a special Angelus Bell to summon them to prayer. It includes what everyone knows as the Hail Mary and some protestants might object to the whole idea of asking her or any other saint to pray for us. So as not to exclude anyone: I have changed the text:

V. The Angel of the Lord brought news to Mary,
R. And she conceived by the Holy Spirit.

V. Hail, Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with you. Blessed are you among women,
   and blessed is the fruit of your womb, Jesus.
R. We give thanks for Holy Mary, the Mother of God,

V. Behold the servant of the Lord;
R. Let it be to me according to your word.

V. Hail, Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with you. Blessed are you among women,
   and blessed is the fruit of your womb, Jesus.
R. We give thanks for Holy Mary, the Mother of God

V. And the Word was made human,
R. And lived among us.

V. Hail, Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with you. Blessed are you among women,
   and blessed is the fruit of your womb, Jesus.
R. We give thanks for Holy Mary, the Mother of God.

V. Following her example.
R. we pray that we may be made worthy of the promises of Christ.

Let us pray.

We pray You, Lord, pour Your grace into our hearts that as we have known through the message of an angel, that Your Son, Jesus Christ, became human, so by His Cross and suffering we may be brought to the glory of His rising again, through the same Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen.

May God’s help be with us always, and may the souls of those who died in faith, through the mercy of God rest in peace. Amen.

As a good Methodist I shall let Charles Wesley have the last word:

Let Earth and Heaven combine,
Angels and men agree,
To praise in songs divine
The incarnate Deity,
Our God contracted to a span,
Incomprehensibly made Man.

He laid His glory by,
He wrapped Him in our clay;
Unmarked by human eye,
The latent Godhead lay;
Infant of days He here became,
And bore the mild Immanuel’s Name.

Note: Virgin Conception should not be confused with what is called the Immaculate Conception which refers to the Catholic doctrine that Mary herself was born without original sin.. Here is a link to pursue that http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/07674d.htm. It does not figure in my theology

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