CHRIST THE KING LUTHERAN CHURCH - GLADWIN, MI.
  • Home
    • Pictorial Directory
    • Contact Us
    • Links
  • Worship Procedures
  • Who are We
    • Mission and Vision
    • Staff and Office Hours
    • Church Council
    • History
    • Newsletter
    • Calendar
  • Faith Formation
    • Sunday School
    • Christ the King Youth
    • Camping Ministry
    • Kids Club
    • Confirmation
    • Vacation Bible School
  • Ministries
    • Stephen Ministry
    • Quilting
    • Food Distribution
    • Backpacks for kids
    • Prayer Shawl Ministry
    • Parish Nurse
    • Columbarium
  • Worship
    • Schedule of Worship
    • How we worship
    • Children
  • Special Events
  • Budget / Annual Meeting
  • Blog

The Gospel in Scales

The Retirement of Mary, Mother of Our Lord

11/4/2019

0 Comments

 
Picture
Scripture gives us little information about the retirement of Mary the mother of Jesus. By retirement, I mean her life and work after the resurrection of Christ. In my particular context as pastor at Christ the King Lutheran, retirees are a potent force in the church and larger community. Many of CTK’s members claim to be more active in their retirement than they were before. I agree with them. Retirees get things done. I believe that the same was true for Mary. Our last glimpse of her in scripture is the mention of her in Acts, where she is among the faithful awaiting the coming of the Holy Spirit on Pentecost (Acts 1:14).
Just as Mary mothered Jesus through his terrible twos, contrary adolescence, and into adulthood, she is among those nurturing and tending the young church.
While scripture has little else to say about Mary’s retirement, Christian tradition offers us additional stories about Mary’s adventures following the resurrection. In fact, there is such a rich store of extra-biblical legends about Mary that they sometimes bump against each other. There are multiple sites which all claim to be the location of Mary’s last decades of life, her death, and her bodily assumption into heaven: two in Jerusalem, one in France, and one on a mountain near Ephesus, Turkey. As pilgrims we visited this last location: the House of the Virgin Mary located at the top of Mt. Koressos.
Once again, our Bible has nothing to say regarding Mary’s retirement to Asia Minor now Turkey. What we do have is Jesus’ commendation of Mary into the care of his disciple John from the cross and the visions of at 18th century mystic.
Near the cross of Jesus stood his mother, his mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene. When Jesus saw his mother there, and the disciple whom he loved standing nearby, he said to her, “Woman, here is your son,” and to the disciple, “Here is your mother.” From that time on, this disciple took her into his home. (John 19:25-27).
Picture
Picture
From this passage we learn that in the face of unbelievable loss, John, the beloved disciple, and Mary, the Mother of Jesus, adopted each other. John is believed to have traveled to Ephesus to spread the gospel, naturally taking his adopted mother Mary with him. So some say.
Enter the mystic. Anne Catherine Emmerich, a Roman Catholic nun lived from 1774 to 1824. During her life she experienced a number of visions about the Virgin Mary, which were published after her death. In the late 19th century these visions led to the discovery of a small house on the top of Mt. Koressos. And pilgrims have been pilgriming there ever since.
Whether Mary spent her retirement in Jerusalem, France, or on top of a mountain in Turkey is anyone’s guess. What matters is the tradition of adoption that inspired Anne Katherine Emmerich to dream Mary all the way to Turkey. “Woman, here is your son…here is your mother”.
Even before the Holy Spirit was tearing through Jerusalem setting everyone’s hair on fire, the church has been about creating family in the face of loss. At the foot of the cross, John was there for Mary to cling to as her son hung in agony. Mary was there for John weep with as he watched his friend dying by inches. Jesus saw this sharing of pain and sanctified it from the cross: “Woman, here is your son.”
The House of the Virgin Mary honors this kind of love, the love of people who have been placed, drawn, or even thrown together, and are richer for it. For instance, Mary’s House is a unique holy site in that it is visited and cared for by both Christians and Muslims, since both faiths honor Mary.
Our visit began with a visit to Mary’s House itself. We were given a chance to enter, pray, and light a candle if the Spirit so moved us. From there we gathered for a brief worship service nearby. We read the Annunciation where Mary learns that she will conceive and give birth to the Messiah followed by Jesus’ commendation of Mary into John’s care from the cross. We talked about what it meant to love and care for one another in the face of loss. We sang the Magnificat, and celebrated the Lord’s supper.
Afterwards we went down a series of steps to a sacred spring believed to have healing qualities. Near by, there is a wall where both Christians and Muslims are able to write down prayers on bits of ribbon and tie them to a wall. At Mary’s House, our longings are named together.
Picture
Picture



​I don’t know much about healing springs, but I do trust in God’s claim on me through baptism. So, I dipped my hand in the waters, made the cross on my forehead, and then splashed my parents, who are fellow pilgrims on this trip, for good measure. May their retirement be as rich as Mary’s.
You see as pilgrims, bus-mates, and friends, we, my parents, my roommate, all of us on this trip, are bound to each other, commended to each other as Mary and John were commended to each other. Placed, drawn, and even thrown together we are richer for each other. The care and kindness we offer each other is more than mere courtesy. It is the same kind of love Christ sanctified from the cross and the same love which is honored at Mary’s house: the love of people who have adopted one another in the name of Jesus and in honor of his mother.
Picture
0 Comments



Leave a Reply.

    Picture

    About the Blog

    Journey through the season of Advent with daily updates on the adventures of St. Mark's Lutheran Church in Belliacre, MI as they attempt to cobble together a Christmas Pageant with an unlikely cast of characters.   

    RSS Feed

    Picture

    Authors

    Amelia Corbett
    Amelia is a cool chick, who enjoys board game construction, elephants, and overall tom foolery. She lives in Gladwin with her parents and younger sister Beatrice.  

    Pastor Emily Olsen
    The charmingly weird Pastor Emily is blessed to live in Beaverton, serve the people of Christ the King Lutheran in Gladwin, and stand up paddleboard in just about any body of water she can find.  She has cats not snakes, but wouldn't hesitate to take in a stray python. tarantula, or dinosaur should it show up on her doorstep.  

    Illustrator

    Stephanie Dubbs
    Stephanie is an art educator and a landscape/portrait artist.  Her inspirations come from the amazing people she meets and the gorgeous state of Michigan as well as her home state of Florida.  She and he husband love nature.  They are out in the water during the summer months and on the snow in the winter enjoying the simple pleasures of life.  
    ​

    Archives

    December 2021
    November 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    November 2019
    October 2019
    August 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    August 2017
    May 2017
    February 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016

    Categories

    All

Picture
A church of the
Evangelical Lutheran Church in America


Like us on Facebook.

Christ the King Lutheran Church
600 S. M 18 
Gladwin, Mi. 48624
989-426-1659
Pastor Emily Olsen
pastor.ctkinggladwin@gmail.com


Email ctkinggladwin@gmail.com for correction or to have information included on this web page
  • Home
    • Pictorial Directory
    • Contact Us
    • Links
  • Worship Procedures
  • Who are We
    • Mission and Vision
    • Staff and Office Hours
    • Church Council
    • History
    • Newsletter
    • Calendar
  • Faith Formation
    • Sunday School
    • Christ the King Youth
    • Camping Ministry
    • Kids Club
    • Confirmation
    • Vacation Bible School
  • Ministries
    • Stephen Ministry
    • Quilting
    • Food Distribution
    • Backpacks for kids
    • Prayer Shawl Ministry
    • Parish Nurse
    • Columbarium
  • Worship
    • Schedule of Worship
    • How we worship
    • Children
  • Special Events
  • Budget / Annual Meeting
  • Blog