Hymns by Carolyn Winfrey Gillette

Mary Heard the Angel's Message

BEECHER (8.7.8.7 D) ("Love Divine, All Loves Excelling")

Mary heard the angel's message: "Greetings, Mary, favored one!
Do not fear, for God is with you; You will one day bear God's Son."
Filled with questions, filled with wonder, She proclaimed her faith in God:
"May it be as you have spoken; I'm the servant of the Lord!"

When she heard her cousin's greeting, Mary's heart was filled with joy,
So she sang of God's great blessing Promised in her baby boy:
"God has looked on me with favor, So I sing this song of praise.
God has worked, the proud to scatter... Humble, hungry ones to raise."

Mary heard the shepherds' story, Words she treasured with delight.
Then an angel gave the warning: "Flee with Jesus in the night!"
Mary wondered in her anguish, What would be the pain he'd know?
Fleeing then, she held him closely... One day she would let him go.

Mary heard, "Who is my mother? Who is in my family?
All who do my Father's bidding — All these ones belong to me."
Later, on the hill she heard him, "Woman, see your new son there!
You, my friend, behold your mother!" So Christ formed new bonds of care.

When they learned the Lord had risen, Christ's disciples met to pray.
Mary was among the faithful, Bound in love, on Jesus' Way.
God, we see her, Christ's disciple, Loving, learning, serving, too.
Like her, may we hear and answer, "We, your servants, live for you."

Biblical References: Luke 1:26-56, 2:1-20; Matthew 2:13-18, 12:46-50; John 19:25-27; Acts 1:12-14
Tune: John Zundel, 1870 ("Love Divine, All Loves Excelling")
Alternate tune: HYFRYDOL, Rowland Hugh Prichard, 1830 (or 1855?) ("Alleluia, Sing to Jesus")
Text: Copyright © 1999 by Carolyn Winfrey Gillette. All rights reserved.
Copied from Gifts of Love: New Hymns for Today's Worship by Carolyn Winfrey Gillette (Geneva Press, 2000).
Email: bcgillette@comcast.net New Hymns: www.carolynshymns.com/

Hymn Use Permission: Gifts of Love: New Hymns for Today's Worship by Carolyn Winfrey Gillette (Geneva Press, 2000) includes a permission note for those who own this book to use this hymn (along with the 44 other new hymns in the book) in their local church's worship services. People who do not own Gifts of Love are asked to contact Carolyn (bcgillette@comcast.net) for permission to use the hymn and to get a copy of the hymn formatted for worship bulletin use.

Consider buying these books for yourself, your church library and your public library, where they have the potential of touching the lives of people you might never meet.

Books about Women of the Bible

Blessed One: Protestant Perspectives on Mary edited by Beverly Roberts Gaventa and Cynthia L. Rigby
Mary Through the Centuries: Her Place in the History of Culture by Jaroslav Pelikan is a wonderful church historian's thoughtful review of how Mary has been understood at different times and places.
Mary in the New Testament Top Catholic and Protestant biblical scholars jointly look at every biblical passage related to Mary, explaining different interpretations of the passage and the most plausible understanding of it.
Women in the New Testament: A Middle Eastern Cultural View (PDF file) by Kenneth E. Bailey (free online essay)
Women's Service in the Church: The Biblical Basis by N. T. Wright (free online essay)
The Women's Bible Commentary - expanded edition edited by Carol A. Newsom and Sharon H. Ringe
The IVP Women's Bible Commentary by Catherine Clark Kroeger and Mary J. Evans
The Women's Study Bible by Catherine Clark Kroeger and Mary J. Evans
Women in Scripture: A Dictionary of Named and Unnamed Women in the Hebrew Bible, the Apocryphal/Deuterocanonical Books, and the New Testament edited by Carol Meyers, Toni Craven and Ross Shepard Kraemer
When Women Were Priests: Women's Leadership in the Early Church and the Scandal of Their Subordination in the Rise of Christianity by Karen Jo Torjesen
Slavery, Sabbath, War, and Women: Case Issues in Biblical Interpretation by Willard M. Swartley
Women in the Church: A Biblical Theology of Women in Ministry by Stanley J. Grenz and Denise Muir Kjesbo

Books on Advent

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Contact: bcgillette@comcast.net
http://www.carolynshymns.com/mary_heard_the_angels_message.html

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