Amy Orr-Ewing
The way it works is there’s an introduction, which gives a theological, Christological approach. What is this book about, who is Mary. And then there’s an afterword as well, which talks a bit more about her. And then each day of December from the 1st to the 25th. So, journeying through Advent, there’s about three or four pages, about 1000-word devotional, really, through the perspective of Mary looking at who Jesus is, and what the meaning of his coming is. Each day, there’s a scripture, a devotional, and then a reproduction of a piece of Christian art. And the reason for that is that as human beings, we’re more than just minds and brains and ideas. And the idea was to enjoy some beauty and to enjoy some of the riches of the Christian art tradition. And on each day of the theme, to have a piece of artwork to reflect on that. And then a prayer as well. And it’s got lots of different beautiful examples.
One example would be there’s a painting of the Annunciation from the 1300s on a wall in a monastery in Florence. And this painting is very, very simple and it depicts Mary as quite an ordinary teenager. And then he paints himself into the picture watching and observing the Annunciation. So this idea is that there’s a biblical narrative. The stories occurred, they happened in history, but we’re invited to witness afresh as well. So the idea was to help us, to shift us out of that view of the demure woman, eyes down, perpetually mute, stuck in a few weeks of her life with a cherubic baby on her hip. And to actually recenter Mary’s voice, her ideas. So the Magnificat, of course, is that. But also, this very active person.
David Capes
Terrific! I love the art. I love the beauty of it. Day five, December 5th, we didn’t know what to do with it. Because you’re commenting on Scripture. And this is the Scripture she chose for that day. It’s Luke 1:46. “And Mary said.” Three words, three words. That’s it. “And Mary said.” It’s amazing what you do with that chapter. Do you want to take it a little bit further because Magnificat is the longest speech by any woman in the New Testament. And like you said, we’ve muted her.
Amy Orr-Ewing
I was just very struck by those very three simple words. “And Mary said.” How extraordinary. That already makes the New Testament, unlike any equivalent document of the era. To record the direct speech of a teenage female. I mean, it’s extraordinary, just in historical terms. It’s fascinating for anyone who has a daughter or a wife, or an aunt. Women living in our situation today where to be a woman is to experience all sorts, that’s very much contested out there in the world. So extraordinary to have the direct speech of this woman recorded, and then when you think about the context that she was living in.
If we were to think in terms of the sort of Cultural Marxism we were talking about earlier. Layers of oppression intersectionality. You know, the power discourses of the age. You were to think this is a woman who’s living as an oppressed person. under occupation. She lives in an insignificant district of a country that is under occupation of the most powerful empire the world has ever known. She’s living at a time in history where a woman’s voice has no value in a court of law in the Greco Roman world. And if you read the rabbinic literature of the time, a woman’s voice had no value either. So layers and layers and layers of oppression. And the New Testament just nonchalantly says, “and Mary said”. Her voice is worthy of being listened to. We can know about the incarnation because her voice matters to Jesus and to the Holy Spirit.
And we don’t only have her direct speech recorded. Also in Luke’s Gospel we have her eyewitness testimony included. Luke obviously spoke to different eyewitnesses and is careful to make his account. But he includes those details in the birth narrative that must have come from Mary. He’s careful to say Mary treasured these things in her heart and pondered them. So she committed to memory, the details, the interaction with Anna and Simeon. The details of the shepherds and the cloths in the manger. And I just think that is extraordinary. You know, I love evangelism, right? That has real evangelistic potential today where we can say, the Bible values a woman’s voice and centers a woman’s voice in this way. I think it’s extraordinary.
David Capes
It really is a beautiful chapter, well written and well said. I’d like for you to read the prayer at the end of this. This was the prayer that attracted the most attention to me. You record prayers from “The Book of Common Prayer,” from St. Ambrose, and the one today that I’d like for you to read is from St. Patrick. I’ve never seen this prayer before. Maybe others who are here know it. But I’d love to hear you read that.
Amy Orr-Ewing
And on the prayers, here’s the reason I included those. I shared a bit about that season of very deep soul lament. It was a time when someone that I had greatly admired and worked with, a great Christian leader who filled stadiums, turned out to be an abuser. And, you know, it was utterly devastating. And I found it really hard to pray for about six months. And I shared this with an older Christian and he just encouraged me. I’m not sure if it is actually C.S. Lewis, but he said to me, I read C.S. Lewis never prayed off the top of his head. He always prayed the prayers of the church. And this older man in the faith said, you know, when I’ve been through seasons of the soul like that, I’ve needed the prayers of other Christians. And I just found such help in liturgical prayers when I didn’t have any words to pray to God myself. And so, they’re not long. But each day, there’s a short prayer that some other Christian at some other point has written that I found, helpful.
Amy Orr-Ewing
Here’s the prayer from St. Patrick:
I bind myself today:
To the power of God to guide me.
To the might of God to uphold me.
To the wisdom of God to teach me.
The eye of God to watch over me.
The air of God to hear me.
The Word of God to speak to me.
The way of God to lie before me.
The host of God to defend me. Amen.
David Capes
Beautiful prayer. Is this a devotional just for women?
Amy Orr-Ewing
No! I hope that it will be a book that men feel they can buy and enjoy as well. You know, I sometimes say it is about listening to a woman’s voice. But that woman’s voice points us constantly and consistently to her son, Jesus. And it’s a book for men who think that it would be important to listen to women’s voices as well. Which is hopefully all men.
David Capes
Now you’re originally from the Anglican tradition. And your husband is a Reverend Canon. And I know you’ve worked very closely together. Most everybody sitting here today are Protestants. We have, by and large, neglected Mary, as a significant person in the church. And we’ve done so, often because we want to define ourselves over against those who say too much about it. Those who would describe her maybe in worshipful or adorational terms? How do we rediscover that aspect of the Christian faith that is missing when we are choosing to define ourselves against somebody else?
Amy Orr-Ewing
I think the answer is Scripture. Were evangelical, right? So, we love the Bible. We want the Bible to be the center of our faith and practice. And a lot of what we would have concerns about with the Catholic positioning of Mary as someone to pray to, isn’t in scripture. But by studying what is in Scripture, we can correct that. We don’t have to worry about falling into doing something that is wrong if we’re centered in the word. Through the book, we look at all sorts of different angles. For example, Mary as the daughter of Eve, the first messianic promise of the Bible given to a woman, about a woman. Her seed will bruise, the serpent’s head. A woman’s seed? The seed is always the man’s. So this is very extraordinary kind of language. Someone will be born of a woman who will have the power to utterly crush and defeat evil in this world. Genesis 3:15. And then we see that fulfilled in Mary. I think we look at scripture, and that’s what the book is about.
David Capes
And look at your book. And to get your book to as well. It’s a fantastic book entitled Mary’s Voice Advent Reflections to Contemplate the Coming of Christ.
Transcribed by https://otter.ai
