today, the 15th of august, is a feast the recognition of which as church dogma by pius xii karl jung called the most important event in western religion since the reformation.
it is the celebration of mary's entering heaven. the church in the east and in the west have slightly different understandings of the event, but they share it's centrality to understanding the working out of the incarnation of the second person of the trinity, god the son.
some of us of a more protestant mind-set sometimes have troubles with such a feast, thinking it is about worshipping mary, or making her part of or another side of the holy trinity.
kevin bond at st. paul's episcopal parish preached a wonderfully comprehensive and evangelical sermon about the unique role of mary as the theotokos, the bearer of god, yesterday, in which he expressed very clearly the teaching of the orthodox church about the uniqueness of mary: it's about the nature of her son; and in which he also made clear the ways we are called to be like her, bearer's of the good news about her son; and in which he pointedly reminded us of her words at the beginning of his public ministry, recorded in john's account of the wedding at cana: "whatever he says, do."
readings for the feast:
morning prayer: psalms 113, 115; 1 samuel 2:1-1; john 2:1-10
evening prayer: psalm 45; jeremian 31:1-14; john 19:23-27
liturgy: Isaiah 61:10-11; psalm 34; galatians 4:4-7; luke 1:46-55
7 hours ago
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