There is a woman at my church named Mary. I don’t like her very much. She is gruff and bossy. She has hurt the feelings of a lot of people at my church. I have realized recently that I can stand up to her and what’s the worst that will happen? She has a newly made up job and takes every opportunity to tell people what to do, especially the Sunday school teachers and the Christian Education department. I am going to continue to stand up to her every chance I get, for those people who can’t stand up to her themselves. Look out lady!

Last Sunday the bible reading was from Matthew. That lead to a sermon about Mary and Joseph and the point of view of the Gospel writers. My 17 year old Sunday school helper, the Pill, turned to me during the sermon and said, “Was Mary really a Virgin?” I gave it a little thought and said, “Well, no one was really there who could tell us that for sure. That is what we are taught, so I guess maybe it could be. But that is why we have faith, our Christian faith is steeped in this belief. It shouldn’t really matter whether she was a virgin or not.” She seemed satisfied with this answer and let the rest of the service go on.

We have some great conversations in my Sunday school classroom (fourth and fifth grade, 5 girls and 1 boy). They ask all sorts of great questions and have good answers. We’ve talked about women’s roles in Biblical times and what God looks like.  We also have been making crafts and working on being prayerful.

I was sharing all that with my friend, Supermom, since her daughter is in my class.   We were talking about the conversations we have in class and I mentioned the conversation I had with the Pill at church.  She said she thought that was a really good way to put it.

Her daughter, Picky Princess, was sitting near us and said, “Was Mary really a virgin?”  I went over and sat with her and repeated my conversation with the Pill and then explained about how we don’t really know what happened, but that is why we have faith.

She looked at me, all 10 years of her and said, “No, I meant Mary from church.  Is she a virgin?”  Supermom and I cracked up.  All I could say was that she was never married, didn’t have any babies, and was pretty cranky.

I think I am going to h3ll.