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The Blessed Virgin Mary Mother of God 2023 (’02)

Sunday 1 JAN 2023 (’02) • SOLEMNITY OF MARY MOTHER OF GOD

1 NUM6·22-27

  • Read 6 1-27!A strange relic from the past? Or a clue to some of our obsessions?
  • ‘Yahweh&Moses&Aaron&Sons-of-Israel!’. What is this channel-of-power?
  • Is it arguable that ‘true-blessing’ must ultimately derive from the mother?
  • Can I create an appropriate ‘MaryMotherBlessing’ for contemporary children?
  • Why is ‘Yahweh’ imagined as a ‘ShiningFace’? Again, is this actually ‘TheMother’?
  • Especially, the claim that faces of Brides&Mothers-in-Birth shine-with-light!
  • How is Yahweh ‘UncoveringHisFace’&’BringingPeace’ into my local church?

2 THE PSALM:66 2-3, 5, 6, 8 (Why those ‘scraps’ thrown-away?)

  • A modest&decorous song to ‘God’, TheTempleDivinity, ‘Praise&Blessing’!
  • What about ‘TheCult-of-TheFace’ in modern secular&religious iconography?
  • Especially church leaders&saints&gurus! &market&political&media icons1
  • How is TheShining of God’s or Yahweh’s Face relevant to this festival?
  • Why is ‘God’ generally portrayed Without BrotherSisterDaughterFatherMotherUncle?
  • What is TheGreatBlessing yearned-for in my local church?
  1. GAL4·4-7
    • Read 3:1 – 5.1!The tangled relations of Law&Promise&Redemption!
    • The insistence on ‘Sons’ in this excerpt, how is it affected by the solitary ‘Woman’?
    • Is there a hint that ‘Adoption/Redemption’ is deeply connected with ‘Woman’?
    • In what ways are contemporary women called to the ‘healing of men’?
    • Is ‘biblical revelation’ as a whole, truly capable of valuing ‘woman-as-healer’?
    • &Has TheChurch managed to combine ‘Honour-of-Mary’ & ‘Disvaluation-of-Women’?
    • But are ‘christians’ increasingly prone to ‘enslavement’ by ‘the modern world’?
  2. LK2·16-21
  • In which other biblical stories do ‘angels’ speak to ‘shepherds’? (Say, GEN18)
  • What in the shepherds’ words would have ‘astonished’ people?
  • ‘Treasure&Ponder” Is this a reference to a mother’s-wisdom? Or, for-all?
  • What did the shepherds think or do, about the ‘baby lying in the manger’?
  • ‘Circumcision!’: Read GEN17! Men, sure! but how were women included?
  • How is the naming of children different from naming pets or boats or storms?
  • ‘PraisingGod!’· How is this ‘God’ connected With Mary as ‘Mother-of-God’?

5 The presence&action of the BlessedOne, is it like this?

WE SING THE MOTHER OF ALL
Lady' You set your throne in the pillar of cloud!
Lady' You smile in sun&moon&stars!
Lady' You brighten every soul you touch! 
Lady' You breathe into our eyes at birth! 
Lady! You gladden families, flocks, &fields!
Lady' You shepherd all who stumble or stray! 
Lady' You handsel artist, player, &poet!
Lady! You gather us into the realm at death! 
Lady! Your heart&breasts&womb, the-all!

6. RIDDLE

Mary Mother of God! A 15000year-old dogma, now passe?

A strong declaration of the dignity of all women? A statement

of the importance of woman for Jesus, &a fortiori, for TheChurch?

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