Today across many expressions of Christianity, we celebrate the feast day of the Nativity of Mary. Yes, that's Mary, mother of Jesus--according to some of the oldest Christian traditions, today is her birthday. It makes sense; 9 months ago, Christians celebrated the day of her conception.
Growing up as a Lutheran in the deep Southern states of the U.S., I didn't celebrate feast days or know anyone who did. The only time I heard about Mary was in the weeks before Christmas, and usually because we all competed for a starring role in the Christmas pageant, and we all knew that the best starring role was Mary.
Then Christmas was over, and the church of my childhood went back to ignoring women. I don't know that church traditions that celebrated Mary throughout the year have done much better at celebrating women than the churches of my childhood. As I've read about Marymas (an alternate name for this feast day), in some cultures, it seems to have become a harvest festival along the way.
What is a more modern way of celebrating the birth of Mary? We could think about the role we play in the ongoing creation. We could think about God's invitation to us to be part of this creation story. Mary said yes to God's invitation.
Will we say yes?
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