Guy Clark is one of my favorite artists. He has a wonderful song that really captures a feeling that I get every now and then. It’s called That Old Time Feelin’, and here are the words:

And that old time feelin’ goes sneakin’ down the hall,
Like an old gray cat in winter, keepin’ close to the wall.
And that old time feelin’ comes stumblin’ up the street,
Like an old salesman kickin’ the papers from his feet.

And that old time feelin’ draws circles around the block,
Like old women with no children, holdin’ hands with the clock.
And that old time feelin’ fall on it’s face in the park,
Like and old wino prayin’ he can make it ’till it’s dark.

And that old time feelin’ comes and goes in the rain,
Like an old man with his checkers, dyin’ to find a game.
And that old time feelin’ plays for beer in bars,
Like and old blues-time picker who don’t recall who you are.

And that old time feelin’ limps through the night on a crutch,
Like an old soldier wonderin’ if he’s paid too much.
And that old time feelin’ rocks and spits and cries,
Like and old lover rememberin’ the girl with the clear blue eyes.

I don’t know that these words specifically refer to the way I’m feeling, but the song itself is definitely evocative of the general way I feel on days like today. It is sort of a homesickness. I read The Narnian a few weeks back, and it is the feeling I think C.S. Lewis referred to as Joy. Alan Jacobs describes joy in Lewis’ thought as follows,

“One cannot say it is exactly pleasurable – there is a kind of ache in the sense of unattainability that always accompanies the longing – and yet, as Lewis puts it, the quality of the experience ‘is that of an unsatisfied desire which is itself more desirable than any other satisfaction.’ This is why he calls it Joy: because the word longing fails to convey the desirability of the feeling itself.”

So, for what it’s worth, that’s how I’m feeling this morning. I’m not sure if it’s as desirable as Lewis describes, but it is certainly different than an ordinary day.

My least favorite part of moving is packing. My second least favorite part would be unpacking. Today I’m making the move from Blogger to WordPress based on the advice of a more seasoned blogger. Fortunately, there isn’t much packing or unpacking to do, other than setting up the site a bit!

Although there may be minor changes in the days ahead, I’m pretty much simply going to start blogging over here. I don’t have a ton of posts over at Blogger since I’m still a relative novice, so I won’t be missing much in the archives. I look forward to the switch, and I look forward to hearing from you.

Based on some good advice from The MethoBlog, I’m making the shift from Blogger to WordPress. There are some great things about Blogger, but I’ve been looking at the WordPress platform for some time now. It seems like the trouble with Blogger-beta will be over eventually, but I’m ready for a change. I’m not moving anything from this web address to WordPress. I’m just packing up and leaving.

WordPress here I come! http://catchingmeddlers.wordpress.com/

Sometimes I’m not sure why I started blogging. I’ve wanted to for at least a year, but I’ve just started working on it with any consistency. Writing has always been something I’ve loved. In fact, I can still remember one of my first stories from gradeschool. It was an incredibly predictable western except for the very end when the hero dies by plunging off a cliff. For whatever reason, I’ve also continually been fascinated by plunging off cliffs…and digression.

So, back to the point. Scot McKnight, one of my favorite bloggers, wrote an article that helped clarify my blog-urge. He quotes James Vanoosting who says, “Writing is not pedagogy but an epistemology.” That’s it! I write as a way of knowing. The other thing McKnight describes is that the only way to improve as a writer is simply to write! That’s probably my main motivation here. I can’t start off by writing anything deep, even though I am published (The fascinating titles of these two works are Characterization of exochitinase of cantaloupe fruit tissue & The lymphocyte metalloprotease MDC-L (ADAM 28) is a ligand for the integrin alpha 4 beta 1.). However, I can write regularly with a desire to improve and sharpen my skills. That’s the reason I blog.

Scot McKnight begins this chapter with the following piece of information, “In the 1980s the government of Guatemala banned any public reciting of Mary’s Magnificat because it was deemed politically subversive (p. 15).” The Magnificat is a song about righting injustice and overthrowing power. This is a powerful reminder that the Mary in the creche is incomplete unless we picture Mary as a woman of justice. McKnight compares the Magnificat with members of the African American community signing We Shall Overcome in the 60s and 70s.

How many of us think of Mary as a revolutionary? Maybe some of us. Yet, I would wager a guess that most of the average churchgoers in the United States would not catch this particular emphasis in the birth narratives of Jesus. McKnight even suggests that Mary is much like the disciples in that she has expectations of a earthly Davidic dynasty with Jesus enthroned in Jerusalem (p. 21).

Some folks won’t appreciate this work because it doesn’t go deeply into the composition of the gospel narratives and talk about the editor/authors much, simply attributing everything said to ‘the real Mary’ at face value. Even though I appreciate this sentiment, I think it is interesting and important to read Mary’s voice as Mary’s voice and see where it leads. In this chapter, it leads to justice, peace, and freedom from oppression. How could we disapprove?

In this chapter McKnight focuses on Mary’s response, “may it be.” He examines the socio-cultural factors that would have discouraged Mary from responding to God’s call. Imagine a thirteen (or so) year old girl agreeing to pregnancy outside of marriage. Public shame, mockery, and a ruined reputation were the best she could hope for. McKnight also describes the awareness Mary must have had regarding the way her son-to-be would be treated. Joseph, Mary, and their son would all be subject to horrible social ostracism. McKnight writes, “She must have wondered if there was an easier way (p. 13).”

Immediately, my mind is drawn to Gethsemane. The NRSV gives us the end of Jesus’ grueling prayer session in the garden, “…yet not what I want but what you want.” Should we be surprised that Jesus would respond this way? When his mother was facing the same order of shame for embracing the vocation God offered she said, “…let it be with me according to your word.” “Mary, in faith, began to carry a cross before Jesus was born. Mary began to suffer for the Messiah before the Messiah suffered (p. 13).” I don’t think I’ve ever seen such a powerful display of how the “Christ-bearing” that begin with Mary resulted in the “cross-bearing” modeled by Jesus. Yet it shouldn’t be a surprise. Bearing Christ is never far removed from bearing a cross. May God grant us the spiritual resolve to answer with Mary, “May it be with me according to your word.”

Scot McKnight begins this work by answering the “why” question. He gives nine reasons for writing a book on Mary:

1.) The story of the “real Mary” has never been told.
2.) There is immense value of this story of an ordinary woman with an extraordinary vocation.
3.) Too often Mary has been depicted as “unreal,” a sort of docetic Mary.
4.) Because Jesus matters, his mother should matter too.
5.) The Magnificat is a significant expression of God’s purposes in the Messiah.
6.) Many protestants are more certain of what they do not believe about Mary.
7.) The author believes it is important for evangelicals to recover an appreciation for Mary.
8.) The “Cold War” between Protestants and Roman Catholics is over.
9.) The real Mary always leads us to Jesus.

Most of these reasons are very solid. I haven’t read enough about Mary to agree or disagree with #1 and I’m not sure everyone will agree with #8. In my estimation, it is #2 & 9 that offer the greatest reasons. N.T. Wright has done a lot of great work on Jesus’ response to vocation, and I believe he is right on. However, I’m not sure the average person will accept Jesus’ response to vocation.. Too often, people have a docetic view of Jesus who only “seems” human. However, I think most people are open enough to a real Mary to understand vocation through her story. The Christocentric portrayal of Mary in the gospels is a great reason to study her life. As we struggle to find and live out our vocation, we can only hope to imitate Mary by pointing to Jesus in all that we do.