Tomorrow (August 15), the wider church celebrates Mary: the mother of Jesus, Mary. This is always a…delicate matter for us Lutherans. We Lutherans who have a rather stubborn-streak history of wanting to be anything that did not smell of those Roman Catholic, supposedly “siblings in Christ.” One of our go-to critiques would be the whole Mary adoration, praying-to, even worshiping part of their cultic faith tradition (even though our Lutheran adoration, almost worship-level of our cherished Martin Luther; he had a rather high appreciation of Mary, Mother of Our Lord). And yet, we don’t want to go to far in our questioning of Mary, being the mother of Jesus and all: the one who played quite a significant role in bringing the grace and love and hope and mercy and joy to life.
And so I wonder amidst all our avoidance of Catholic-y anything, not to mention when Mary usually does come up in our church calendar, it is during the hustle and bustle of holiday chaos; I wonder if we miss out on a most pivotal ministry opportunity. After all, Mary is supposedly a teenager when the angel Gabriel emerges and completely messes up her life (although with eternal goodness thrown in, to be sure). Is it really possible a teenager can help usher in all the grace and love and hope and mercy and joy to life for the whole world to enjoy for all times and places? Can that really be?
It's not just the Lutherans, but many children of God, have this rather stubborn-streak of not trusting that age bracket of adolescents. We cling to our go-to critiques that all 13–19-year-olds are selfish, glued to their phones, obsessed with cultural trends, anti-institution (including the church), and the worst work ethic in the history of the entire world. There’s no way that a teenager could help usher in anything beneficial.
And so, I wonder if we miss out on a most pivotal ministry opportunity every time August 15 or whatever Sunday of Advent or Christmas Eve or whenever Mary’s precious name pops up for any reason whatsoever. That teenagers, and youth in general, have the ability to impact this world for the better, and not at some point down the road after high school or college/trade school graduation or however many years in the blue-collar workforce or however many decades in church membership activity with committees galore service. Right here, right now: the younger children of God have just as much God in them as any other age bracket.
Unfortunately, we Lutherans, and all faith tradition Christians, are still learning exactly how to bless them with the time and space to maximize their gifts right here, right now. We’re still learning how to apply the preciousness of Mary to their respective God-adored life stories. We’re still struggling with realizing the teenager-ness of Mary: one who struggled immensely with God’s presence in her life, one who wondered what value she could be, if any, to her friends and family and community and the world, one who struggled with all kinds of doubts and questions galore. And yet…a relatively normal teenager from first century Galilee (not all that different from those around us today) helped usher in all the grace and love and hope and mercy and joy to life for the whole world to enjoy.
Maybe most children of God would have preferred God go with someone with a little more life experience, a little more dependability, a little more…like us. Guess not. Maybe the generalizations and stereotypes aren’t always true. Maybe Mary, a teenager, could, and did pull it off. Maybe they still can today. Maybe we need to keep working on blessing them with the time and space to do so…right here, right now. Amen (so let it be)!
In Christ,
Pastor Brad
Image: from the Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York)