Thought for the Day, 18 May 2005

The Rev. Joel Edwards

Women were in vogue yesterday.

On Monday, the Kuwait Government passed a law giving women the right to vote. Yesterday, human rights lawyer Cherie Booth backed a study by the World Economic Forum which examined the performance of 58 countries on the gender gap.

Like all good studies it told us what we all suspected. Where countries empower women, the economy is better. If its any consolation Britain came 8th in the league of empowering nations.

The inequalities which made women second-class citizens may have lost their intensity since the Suffragette movement, but in the social ambiguities of our Western cultures and the sweat-shops of the Southern hemisphere the battle goes on. From the bedroom to the boardroom, there's a lot left to do.

But there was another story which really caught my eye.

Yesterday, Anglicans and Catholics published, Mary: Grace and Hope in Christ. The extensive study recognises that despite the huge differences between the two churches there is potential progress in aligning their views on Mary and her right to intercede on our behalf.

As a Christian leader I'm rather sensitive about headlines to do with women. If there's one subject over which the Church has universally and persistently tripped, it has been our inherent ambiguities about women.

These differences make great copy, but does little to promote the Christ we love and serve.

There's no doubting the fact that Protestants - and particularly evangelicals like myself - are eloquently silent about Mary. We have gravely understated her place in the Scriptures. Mary, declared to be 'highly favoured' by God, hardly gets a look-in on the average Protestant Sunday. She is the Cinderella of our sermons.

But as this discussion guides us towards a better portrait of Mary the Mother of Jesus, I hope it will accomplish a number of things for all of us.

First, may we be confronted with the deep prejudices which prevails in the midst of our legitimate discussions about women in the Church - and the wider society.

Secondly, I hope that the aspiration to bring two great movements closer together does nothing to gloss over the very real differences which exists. Truth involves honesty. We have found ways of deepening friendships as we hold our differences in tension. We must not lose this in the interest of an unrealistic sameness.

But finally, let Mary do what she does best. Point all people, men and women, to Jesus, the one who came to "save the people from their sins."