The Kitchen Sink
An occasional piece of paper
August 15, 2010
Vol. 13 no. 32
Just to prove that we are not living in the Holy Land of the Bible, passages all over the Old and New Testaments keep mentioning vineyards. I have heard rumours that there are vineyards in Saskatchewan, and I know there are a good number in BC and the Niagara Valley in Ontario, but vineyards in Canada are always meant to raise eyebrows.
Jesus is the vine and other Biblical authors use the imagery of the vineyard and its keeper, sometimes positively as a sign of our growth and sweet productiveness, but other times the author points to a vineyard out of control, growing wild, or simply not growing at all. Usually, Israel is the vineyard, and the Church has become the vineyard. Are we still producing the best fruits for the world, or just growing fancier weeds? Biblically, the vineyard is a mixed metaphor. We’ll try to dress the vines today.
Seldom do I attempt to squeeze in another idea, but August 15 is a good time to do so. Even our denominational curriculum refers to this day as the Assumption or Dormition of Mary. Protestants are generally unawares of this mid-summer holy day of obligation, but Catholics, Orthodox, and Anglicans commemorate the bodily taking up of the Virgin Mary into the glory of heaven at the end of her life. No, you didn’t miss that part in the Gospels because it is a non-Biblical tradition that only gained official recognition in 1950. In many countries it is an official holiday, a feast, for it is understood as Mary’s “heavenly birthday.”
Protestants have not been big on Mary, yet she is an integral part of the Gospel. While we grant her centre-stage on Christmas Eve, we then forget about her. There is a reason to think some more about Mary, because without her there would be no Jesus as we know and need him.
Robert Kitchen
Knox-Metropolitan United Church
Regina, Saskatchewan