Misogynistic Mariology?

If you are rich in the spirituality of Benedict of Nursia,  Ignatius Loyola, Julian of Norwich or Yoda, you will regarded as a devout, prayerful soul with a rich heritage of deep engagement with God though the work and examples of these fine human folk (unless it is Yoda, in which case you are a Jedi which is reputedly different).  

If you are enriched by the spirituality of Mary of Nazareth, you will fast discover a plethora, nay a panoply, of suspicion and confusion about your spiritual motives and the place of the human at the heart of it. 

The fact is that your basic Mariology is to many a near-hideous thing that is to be shunned, ridiculed or else cast away as wrong. I have never understood this. 

This emerged in a discussion that I was party to recently. Someone wanted to say some prayers in the context of a genuine and sincere Mariology, which is to say, to pray with Mary to the God who loves them both and to the God who chose the Virgin as the noblest vehicle for His grace. Sharp intakes of breath greeted this initiative  and not for the firs time. I just don't understand why. 

A further discussion in this issue revealed that perhaps the Mariology wasn't the target of the tooth-filtered inhalation  but the perceived misogyny that to many it represents. In the minds of many it seems to be - think Mary, think black-clad priests who say "no" to the ladies. It seems that the teenage refugee single-mother from Palestine has become the unwitting poster-girl for the anti-women lobby, but only in the minds of those who have a distaste for said lobby. Indeed, for some Anglicans, it seems that a reverential reference to Mary is tantamount to a claim of that vilest of offenses - membership of the Roman (ugh) Catholic (arrggh) Church. 

And it is all ridiculous, Poppy-cock.

Those of us who cherish the place of Saint Mary in our spiritual lives do so for many reasons. For me it is about the absolute trust that she displayed in God though her simple but universe-changing "yes". For me, Mary's example of paramount selflessness when, as Simeon said, "a sword shall pierce your own soul too". For me Mary was the one single human chosen by God for the Incarnation. That surely makes her special, as God had so judged. She was flawed, and she was human - but she was an example to many of how to try and live as Christians. She is a conspicuous example of motherhood and affirmative female ministry, a woman who gave without counting the cost, a woman who watched the agony and death of her own son without looking away, a woman who devoted her entire life to one end - God's plan for our salvation.

That is my Mariology. 

There is no voodoo. I haven't turned Mary, in my heart, into a quasi-deity. I pray with Mary and take her example to mould me. I do not pray to Mary as many might think, but simply ask her, presumptuously, to pray for me as, I believe, someone with a unique and special relationship with the Father. When I seek Mary's company in my prayers, it doesn't suddenly morph my theology or my politics. I don't suddenly become a different sort of Christian, or indeed make me want to change my ecclesiology. Indeed, when others seek openly to say some prayers in a Marian spirituality, I simply say 'thank you' that they want to pray at all. 

Blogging, Women and Spirituality

Apart from being sexist, narcissistic, ageist, technophobist, and other such labels that I read last week [none my own, by the way, before you start gusset-spinning], burloguing is a diverse thing. Even in the religious-stroke-Christian-stroke-Anglican sphere, it is a many splendoured thing. (Please allow a moment for the harps, lyres, timbrels and lutes to finish their embellishments). 

Well, it struck me over the Festive Period (needless capitalisation?) that this pastime has its own spirituality. Further, a blog-debate ensued over the course of the last few days that seems to have added to that notion in my tiny mind, at least. 

As a 'stats person', I read numbers. They speak to me, man. So, I know that when I publish a post on a normal given day, that a normal given number of normal given people will read the normal given post. On occasions, I will tread on a toe, spit in an eye, or knee in the balls with my words (often quite unintentionally) and would then see spikes in numbers. During a period of communal vacation (as Christmas is for a lot of people, who take more time off than in normal weeks) there was a distinct lull in visits to this site, and two others under my own jurisdiction. This suggested to me that the reading of blogs takes place more in the workplace, or during 'working hours' - and if I am right in that, it is important. Once the holiday season was ended, numbers returned to former levels. If I am right, why is it that people read blogs at work? What does that say about the implicit spirituality of blogs? If this is the case, and in line with church life as a whole, should blogs be attentive to the working lives of its readers, not just the bit of them that finds expression for an hour on a Sunday? (My standard line on people and work is that we know that Jesus was a carpenter, his trade, even when know little else about him as a human - so trade/work life is important to who we are.) These are questions as yet without answers.

Last week taught me too, that there is a 'sisterhood' in blogging. Since a debate that commented on the (alleged) minority status of female bloggers took place, a plethora of women have spoken on the subject in their blogs (and not men, excluding me, if I count). It clearly resonated. I wonder if a blog post was written about male bloggers, whether a procession of boy-bloggists would champion its cause? I sense not. 

A casual look across followers-lists (which are only partially representative) suggests to me that blogs are read more by women, female bloggers more so. This is perhaps inevitable as we only read what feeds and edifies us, though Dear Reader, I am again wondering why you are here with me now. Nutter! In short, if we didn't focus on just blog-writers, but paired down the people involved at both levels, writing and reading, I believe that the majority would be female. Is blogging therefore an art that has a more female spirituality? Again, a question without an answer. 

I have not yet read a post or article on blog-spirituality. Writers will be quick to tell you why they write, and it is for selfish reasons with tinges of altruism. I have no problem with that. But the art as a whole must have a spiritual dimension. Why did people start reading blogs in the first place? Are followers following because of the momentum of the cyber-age? Do people want spirituality dished up outside of organised religion (though if that is the case, why are the ordained read so much?)

So many questions, all wonderfully deep and all beautifully interesting. This post is a note-pad for thoughts, not a proclamation on the subject. Thoughts, people?