Many thanks to all those who made Palm Sunday so special at St Mary’s. (I’ve been ill for a fortnight, so it wasn’t down to me!)
Thanks to Stewart Macfarlane for capturing this pic. A reminder that Holy Week starts with joy.
10 responses to “The end of the World”
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Mildly serious question that has never occurred to me before. Why does she still get called the Virgin Mary when Jesus had brothers she presumably had in the normal way?
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Well, there are those who try to make the case that she remained “ever” Virgin and that the reference to Jesus’s brothers is an oblique and more general reference to the men of the extended family – cousins, uncles and so on. I think that’s rather silly myself.
The Blessed Virgin Mary is simply one of the titles afforded her because of the persistent story of Christ’s birth. For myself, I think there is more interesting theological ground to be ploughed by thinking of her as exemplifying a virgin world waiting in longing and expectation for God to come. That kind of thing seems to me to be considerably more potent than birth-story tittle-tattle.
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When I was young I was sure the birth story was ‘just a myth’ – but then as I got deeper into history I got more experienced at evaluating stories. Not, you understand, ‘form-critical’ experienced, but historical experienced. What now strikes me with force is that two very different writers tell very different stories about the birth of Jesus with very different genealogies. However, despite the two birth stories coming from markedly different traditions, both bill Mary as a virgin. In any other context, I would find that more than convincing. So here, too, I let myself be convinced. As a sober historian, and cynic, I find it the most probably explanation. Not the only historically possible one, just the most generally convincing.
Generally, I find historical thought more satisfying than the more circular arguments of form criticism. I am fairly sure I could use form criticism to disprove the fact that David Cameron is currently the PM.
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Thanks – I have no problem with the virgin birth, its been humanly possible for decades now so I reckon God could have arranged it easily enough a couple of thousand years ago.
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Well, actually it is NOT humanly possible – even with IVF. You cannot get a boy baby, humanly speaking, without a father. But then, humanly speaking, bodies do not resurrect, and walk and talk and eat…
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Rosemary, I think you are being a bit technical. Where I come from a virgin is someone who hasn’t had sex.
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The problem is that it is not the ‘having sex’ but the chromosomes in the baby. Or to put it another way – how did Jesus get his X? It is easy enough to get pregnant without ‘having sex’ but harder without ‘having sperm’. Despite that, the evidence is that two unrelated stories believe it was done. And two unrelated stories believe the babe was born in Bethlehem. Very interesting.
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From God?
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Sperm from God? Not I think, stories ‘from God’ except in the general sense that all understanding is divine. No. Stories from history. And the biology? Truly beyond current understanding. But, here you have it – if one understands it ceases to be amazing and people say : ‘Now we understand, that is not a miracle and Jesus is not form God.’ And if we do not understand, people say: ‘We do not understand and so it cannot have happened, and Jesus is not from God.’
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If I didn’t believe God could knock out a few sperm as and when required I would have Sunday mornings free.
Previous Posts
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Sermon upload
This morning’s sermon by the Rev Caroline McKillop has just been uploaded to the sermon page. I’ve uploaded it in two different forms this week. A video version for those who want to see and hear and an audio version that will be more accessible for those using dial up. We are inclusive like that…
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Liturgical sadness
I feel a strange sense of sadness at the news that the Roman Catholic church is revising its English form of the mass. Why sadness? After all, what’s it to do with me? Well, one of the curious things that has brought churches together in the last century is liturgical revision. Although getting the jots…
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What are you listening to?
Oh, thank you for asking. Actually, I’m listening to just about everything, having just joined the iPodded masses and so feeding CDs into the computer all the time to turn them into MP3s so that I can listen to them everywhere. Particular things that I’ve rediscovered that I’ve not listened to for a while are:…
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Are the podcasts working?
I wonder whether there is anyone reading this who has an ipod and an iTunes Store account. I’ve put up two nascent podcasts one for audio and the other for video. I need someone to check out whether they are working. If you can help me test this out before announcing it on the church…
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