Practicing Fearlessness Out of Love
“When we enter into communion with one another, serving humbly and in selfless love, we find God is there inside every one of us…”
So proposes Elissa Bjeletich Davis in her book, The Art of Myrrhbearing: Encountering Christ Through Serving Others. In the introduction, she offers the metaphor of myrrhbearing as an image of our relationship with each other and with Christ. “Myrrh becomes the sweet fragrance of the love we offer one another,” she writes, “as we care for each other throughout our march towards death and to the life that lies beyond it.”
As we began the Dormition Fast (new calendar) this past weekend, we revisited Elissa’s chapter on Mary, the Mother of God. If we imagine myrrhbearing as caring for the body of Christ, both metaphorically and literally, then the Theotokos is certainly the model of myrrhbearing for us today. “She is both His myrrhbearer and a myrrhbearer to all of us,” Elissa observes, “for as Christ’s mother she is a mother to His Body, the Church.”
The Gospels offer us many moments to witness the courage of the Mother of God in saying yes – a yes which had its basis in love, and through which life could flow to the world. And although she is unique in this role in our salvation, the Theotokos remained a member of a community of women who courageously chose to follow Christ. As Elissa proceeds through the list of myrrhbearing examples in the New Testament, she reminds us of the acts of love which were the foundation and source of their courage:
“The myrrhbearers didn’t develop this fearlessness all of a sudden. They had been practicing. They had walked away from the comforts of home, and they continually sacrificed their own comfort so that they could better serve Jesus and the disciples. They had been learning to die to themselves through small, daily acts of faithfulness, and so their hearts were able to let go of their assumptions and ideas of who Christ was and who they were. None of it mattered as much as their love for Jesus and their choice to act on that love continually. They knew that their beloved Lord suffered, and their love drew them to Him.”
Today, Elissa reminds us, we are offered the opportunity to be myrrhbearers and care for the Body of Christ in the same way: through daily acts of faithfulness that teach us to practice fearlessness and boldness in our service to Christ. The suffering of others, rather than pushing us away from them, can be an opportunity to participate in communion with the One who suffers alongside us both.
As we continue to journey through the Dormition Fast together, may we walk in the footsteps of the Theotokos the Myrrhbearer, who said yes to God out of the depths of her love for Him. May this love be the root of our love for others, for as Elissa concludes, “When we are generous with our love, ‘scattering’ it to everyone, we will find that we are more able to love God.”
Elissa will be teaching a workshop on writing about the saints on Sunday, September 27th, as part of our Ink & Faith workshop series! We’d love for you to join us!