In this poem I explain my feelings of disapointment as to why women’s voices are so often unheard in the story of Christ especially in the so-called reformed tradition and yes that does include the Church of Scotland. Speaking from a personal perspective I can’t help but notice the downplaying of one woman in particular, I refer of course to Christ’s earthly mother Mary. I make this point to show the lack of awareness most people have of her. This to me is deeply concerning as I would have thought that considering the important role she would play in bringing the saviour to earth to live among us as flesh we would know a lot more about her than we do. The truth is however that we actually know very little about her and her personal circumstances or how or why she was chosen to be the mother of Christ. I have to say this is a source of great frustration to me and I attempt to address this issue as I give my take on how I believe Mary felt at giving birth to the messiah and the anxiety she must have had about breaking the news to her fiance. I then go on to ask why nobody asked her about her feelings and why a woman’s story was told by men. After chatting to my fellow fierce woman and friend Katharine MacFarlane I have given this poem the title Mother Of God I hope you enjoy what I think may be a thought provoking read.
Mother Of God
A young girl engaged to be married
you find out you are pregnant
frightened you don’t want your fiancee
to discover this news
you are scared he’ll leave you
due to the shame it will bring him
in the local community
but what about you?
does no-one ask how you feel at this revelation
do they even care
tired you decide to rest
as you do, you wonder what you’ll do next
how do you break this story
to the man you are to marry
without him thinking what men think
you know, that you’ve been up to something
though you know you’ve done nothing
you’ve committed no crime
but your troubled mind is unsure how to cope
till an angel offers you hope
by telling you not to be afraid
this plan was made before the beginning of time
as you were the chosen one
due to your future husband
being a child of David’s line
and you would be known of as mother of God
as you brought his son in to the world
to conquer death and hell
and give us commandments
by which to live our lives
yet you a wife and mother
who gave birth to the king of kings
cannot sing a women’s song
your story was told by men
as women should not speak
unless spoken to or given permission
submission to male authority
was the custom of the day
even for the mother of God.
© Gayle Smith 2018
Skirtingroundmylife 