Toast: Mary and Haworth

Adam Sheldon’s image of Mary and child using burnt toast, currently displayed at the parish church at Howarth, I found distasteful. I am not some old fogy decrying the use of cooked bread for art; I suspect it is a rather useful and versatile medium with endless possibilities. But why must he have depicted Mary with the infant Christ? So little of the gospel narrative is dedicated to His childhood that it barely warrants a few chapters. His life, His teachings, His death and His resurrection are all of vital importance and worth communicating. Showing Him as a passive infant while His mother takes the glory is one of the chief errors of Rome; the Son is overshadowed by the great Mother goddess. Whether in toast or gold and silver, Mary is not an appropriate focus of our attentions, devotions or fascination. A sinner saved by grace, she is a fellow believer, saved by her Son’s shed blood as are we who now believe. Any piety aimed at her should be thrown to the birds. 

His mother said to the servants, “Whatever He (Jesus) says to you, do it.”

-John 2:5