Sermon Archive
The Lady Mary
Sermon preached by Frances Burberry at Evensong on 8 September 2002
A friend of mine now in his eighties, occasionally recounts memories of his very early days - as the old tend to do!
He once told me of an experience of these days. It was the Lady Mary Fair, held in Dundee for years in the month of August. An annual treat for him was to go to the Fair once every year with his parents. It was held outside, lit by naphthalene flares, and his great delight - would you believe it! - was at the lace curtain stall, and the unwindings of the layers of blue tissue paper in the bales of curtaining. There were also little stalls, here and there, which did a fair trade in hot peas and vinegar - no doubt a delicacy in the twenties - but these stalls were out of bounds. He wondered, and asked, 'Who was Lady Mary?' But no answers were forthcoming. No-one seemed to know.
It was a long time later that he learned that the Lady Mary was the Blessed Virgin Mary, and 15 August was the patron feast of Dundee, the day of her death, or, as the Scottish Prayer Book calls it, her 'Falling Asleep'. He also likes to recall that, years later, when he was first installed as a Canon of our Cathedral, it was on August 15; and later still, when he was installed as Dean of Edinburgh, it was on 8 September, the day of her birth.
But what of Mary herself?
We understand from centuries of Christian tradition, certainly long before the Crusaders, that she was the child of Joachim and Anne. Joachim, we understand, claimed descent from the Royal line of David: but he had fallen on evil days, and was a shepherd. When his daughter was born he called her Miriam - Mary - Princess - with a kind of defiant pride in his ancestry. And no doubt Mary was not allowed to forget it.
Anne, her mother, well so little is known of her that she is confined to the shadows of wife and mother. But from what we know of Mary her mother must have played an important part of her formative years. Was it perhaps from her mother that Mary learned the psalmist's words:
Instead of thy fathers thou shalt have children.
Your future is what is important, not your father's past. And certainly Mary's own song reflects that:
He hath put down the mighty from their seat:
and hath exalted the humble and meek.
Her father may have been a descendant of David, Mary was, on the other hand, content to be the hand-maid of the Lord, humble and meek. This surely was the influence of her mother. It's interesting that the Church in Jerusalem which marks Mary's birthplace is dedicated to her mother, St Anne, not to Mary herself, nor to her father, St Joachim.
Maybe you're thinking, 'That's all very interesting, but what has it got to do with me?'
The answer is acceptance; accepting ourselves as we are, and not trying, or wishing, or pretending to be what we are not. It was Mary's resolute prayer, not just reluctant resignation:
Behold the hand-maid of the Lord:
be it unto me according to Thy word.
This is acceptance, the key to the whole art of living. Accepting ourselves for what we are; not fancying that we are a cut above the rest, very special, very important, and certainly not living on the glory of family history. But accepting the gifts and the situations which are ours, and so being our true selves.
God made us, He has a place for us, and a plan for us 'in that state of life unto which he has called us', that's how the Prayer Book catechism puts it. Which means putting our hand into the hand of God, living as He wants, not as we might want. Not in mere resignation, but ready in all things to be led by Him.
But having our hand in God's doesn't mean, necessarily, a life without pain, or sorrow, or sacrifice. You remember the first time Mary, with Joseph, brought the eight-day-old Jesus to the Temple; in accordance with the Law. Simeon, as God promised, recognised him as the Messiah. He forecast what his Messiahship would entail; and finally he said to Mary 'A sword shall pierce your own soul also'. And throughout the thirty years of His life, Mary became aware of the pain and trouble that her Son's mission would cost. But, it was on Calvary that Simeon's prophecy was clear and stark. 'Now there stood by the cross of Jesus, His mother'.
At the cross her station keeping
Stood the mournful mother weeping
Close to Jesus at the last
Through her soul of joy bereaved
Bowed with anguish deeply grieved
Now at length the sword hath passed.
This was the extent to which Mary's acceptance of God's will for her had led. As it was for her Son's acceptance of His Father's will. As it may very well be ours. His prayer in Gethsemane is eloquent, 'Not my will, but thine be done.'
This is the lesson, amongst others, which the Lady Mary would teach us. This is the Gospel.
Amen.
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