2 of 2

"His mother kept all these sayings in her heart." And the Christmas story reported (Luke 2:51) that Mary "kept all these things, and pondered them in her heart."

Again, her experiences were unique among those of all human beings, and yet she was an archetype, a pattern for all mortals. She is especially a pattern for hurried, flurried, materialistic Americans who do not know how to ponder on anything, who do not know even faintly how to ponder upon God's actions in their own lives.How often do we even linger through an organ postlude after a Sunday-morning service to "ponder" on God's word that has just been preached to us? How often do we watch a sunset through, and ponder? How often do we ponder His doings while we commute, or shop, or clean floors, or pull weeds in a garden? How often do we "ponder" together, in conversation with other Christians, His ways with us? Mary was, furthermore, one who gave leadership to the Christian community in its communal prayer. Among the scriptural allusions to her, one of the strangely neglected ones is Acts 1:14; in their preparation for Pentecost, the disciples in the upper room "continued with one accord in prayer and supplication, with the women, and Mary the mother of Jesus." Obviously they were not praying to His Father through her; she was a supplicator with them, a part of the "one accord." But one would assume that her presence, named by name, contributed strength and energy, faith and fervor, to the apostolic prayers, and that she was a resource in "supplication" on many other unnamed occasions. Without undue extrapolation from Acts 1:14, one would assume that she knew, as intensely as did any of the others in that prayer fellowship, the yearnings that preceded Pentecost and the vitality that succeeded it.Every Christian community (tiny local church, mission, denomination, fellowship, or organization) needs those who are ready to join "with one accord," on all sorts of occasions, "in prayer and supplication." Within the community, every day brings its opportunities, its pressures, its sorrows, its yearnings; every community needs a Mary—many a Mary—to carry the weight of supplication within, and for, and beyond the community.In her prayer, and in the other ways we have noted, Mary is an inspiration and pattern for us all.

This article originally appeared in the May 12, 1972 issue of Christianity Today.

Elva McAllaster, professor of English at Greenville College (Illinois) from 1956 until her retirement in 1988, died August 12, 1997 at age 74.

Greenville College still has a memorial page for McAllaster.See today's other CT Classic article on Mother's Day, "A Mother's Day Meditation | Billy Graham's mother examines her role as parent."

Copyright © 2004 Christianity Today. Click for reprint information.

first page |  2 of 2

share this page

May (Web-only) 2000, Vol. 44