Thanks to all of you for wrestling with chapter two which deals with Jesus's words to the "good" (really?) thief -- and what that man's story might say about the rest (all the rest) of us. The word "stimulating" seems inadequate to describe the great meeting Monday night. I hope you'll continue the discussion with posts to the blog.

Amy Jonakin has offered to bring a cake (or something) next week. If someone wants to relieve her of that duty (since she did it only a week ago), please say so.

Discussion questions/ideas for Monday, November 19:

The third word from the cross -- "When Jesus saw his mother and the disciple whom he loved standing near, he said to his mother, 'Woman, behold, your son!' Then he said to the disciple, 'Behold, your mother!' And from tht hour the disciple took her to his own home."

1. To what does Neuhaus refer in his use of the phrase "A Strange Glory"?

2. "Did (Mary) know, as she stood there by her dying son, that this was the way of the strange glory by which he would conquer sin and death?" (p. 72). What do you think Mary knew as she stood with John at the foot of the cross?

3. In what sense is the following statement true? "That was her body on the cross, for Jesus, virgin born, had no body other than the body he had received from Mary." (p. 73).

4. Neuhas says of the "docetists" that they, "thinking to honor God ........ denied the ways of God." What does he mean? Of whom is he speaking when he says further, "Such Christians are still with us today."

5. Read these sentences together and if they seem true to you, restate them in your own words: "They could not have been closer, Jesus and Mary, and yet there was a strange distancing." (p. 75). "The love that lets go is never easy. Such love has to be learned." (p. 75, 76).

6. Jesus spoke of his "hour." Of what was he speaking? He says also that Mary had to experience that "hour."
So, according to the author, must we. "In relation to Jesus, there is no way to be part, to have part, except to take part in his 'hour.'" (p. 76). Do you agree? How do we do that?

7. "Some Christians who have an intense devotion to Mary are embarrassed and offended by (the) Gospel passages that suggest a distancing between Jesus and his mother." (p. 78). Neuhaus says they are wrong, that they fail to understand that "in this distancing love is a deepening of discipleship." What does he mean?

8. Neuhaus insists that "Mary cannot be honored enough." But he recognizes that she can be honored wrongly, thereby being not honored at all (in fact, dishonored). What is he talking about? How do you feel about it?

9. In a social commentary, the author says, "In all our promotion of empowerment, fulfillment, self-esteem and self-actualization, we should know what we are doing. We are rejecting the very heart of what it means to be a Christian." (p. 81). "Maybe we have grown so accustomed to living against the grain of our humanity that we have confused ourselves about which way the grain runs." (p. 81). His example of how to do right regarding this subject is Mary. What does he mean?

10. Was Mary helpless as she stood before Jesus on the cross? Was there anything she could/did do to help him there? "Stabat Mater dolorosa" (p. 82).

11. Why is there hope "in the heart of darkness"? (p. 83)

12. Mary was, like all of us, a disciple by grace. And yet, it was her consenting to the announcement that she would bear God's son, that made her and our discipleship possible. Without her consent we couldn't be Christians. It's in this context that Neuhaus and others use the phrase, "the effect us the cause of the cause." They don't mean that be just flowery verbiage, but to mean something profound. What do you think?

13. In what sense does Neuhaus argue that John was Jesus as he stood with Mary at the cross. How could that be true of all of us? (That we are Jesus, the children of Mary).

14. How does the following statement relate to the role of Mary in relation to the church, to us: "For adults to turn and become children, to live again in a world of miracle and play, requires a larger horizon than that provided by the mother. The mother as Thou was but to prepare the way for an encounter with a greater Thou who is able to comprehend the contradictions of one's ever more complex existence." (p. 100).