Let it be!

Today´s service I carried the virgin Mary (or her statue to be more specific) in our procession to the altar. I must confess I was a bit nervous about the whole affair, being a fiery Lutheran and all. Isn´t it a bit, well, too Catholic for comfort?

Not so at all! As our hard-core-rites-and-incense priest in our little parish said in his sermon, “Our love for mother Mary should be boundless”. Why so? Because if she had failed when God called, there wouldn´t be any Christians, there wouldn´t be any church, there wouldn´t be any parish. We would still be heathens, the Jews would still be (failing) under the yoke of the Law, the love of God would still be like rain falling on barren earth evaporating quickly. God so trusted Mary he put everything on her shoulders (or in her womb to be more specific). It would be easy to imagine her terrified at that responsibility, but not Mary, she simply says her: Let it be!

When I find myself in times of trouble, mother Mary comes to me,
speaking words of wisdom, let it be.
And in my hour of darkness she is standing right in front of me,
speaking words of wisdom, let it be.

Let it be, let it be, let it be, let it be.
Whisper words of wisdom, let it be.

And when the broken hearted people living in the world agree,
there will be an answer, let it be.
For though they may be parted there is still a chance that they will see,
there will be an answer. let it be.

Let it be, let it be, .....

And when the night is cloudy, there is still a light, that shines on me,
shine until tomorrow, let it be.
I wake up to the sound of music, mother Mary comes to me,
speaking words of wisdom, let it be.

Let it be, let it be, .....

That´s the Beatles talking, most likely Paul, hard to imagine John writing this...

Mary is quite gifted with words also, as in the Magnificat we recite on occasions (such as this):

And Mary said:
"My soul glorifies the Lord
and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior,
for he has been mindful
of the humble state of his servant.
From now on all generations will call me blessed,
for the Mighty One has done great things for me—
holy is his name.
His mercy extends to those who fear him,
from generation to generation.
He has performed mighty deeds with his arm;
he has scattered those who are proud in their inmost thoughts.
He has brought down rulers from their thrones
but has lifted up the humble.
He has filled the hungry with good things
but has sent the rich away empty.
He has helped his servant Israel,
remembering to be merciful
Luke 1:46-54

In Swedish we say blissful rather than blessed, which I like better. Mary is happiest among women! But, as Bengt (our liturgy-liking priest) remarked, Mary is also a problem, for many people and for many different reasons. For the feminists, she´s the very image of dualistic “woman-thinking”, the Madonna and the Whore. For the Lutheran faith police, she should be revered with moderation, lest we become Mary-worshippers (fat chance of that happening...). For the materialists, she´s too supernatural with that whole immaculate conception affair. As an aside in this regard it could be mentioned that ancient people weren´t fools, already before I Newton, A Kinsey and K G Hammar (the Swedish arch-bishop, God bless him) it was common wisdom how babies were conceived. Let´s face it, apart from Mary and Joseph, who on earth could believe such a story? The neighbours surely didn´t. Joseph´s family, probably not. The religious establishment in the town temple being kind and understanding? Think again. Yet Mary calls herself happiest of women, and expects generations after her to tell about that joy she felt, when she said to the Lord: May it be to me as you have said. Let it be! Words of wisdom.