There's something about having a Marian Icon up in our sanctuary. We can't miss it. We walk through the doors of our sanctuary and we see it immediately, there on the left side of the altar. We click on our web page and there it is, at the top of every page. We open our church brochure or hold our business cards in hand and there it is again. We just can't miss it. Our eyes are drawn to it, perhaps much like brother Martin Luther who kept an icon to the Virgin Mary in his own private study (I had to put that in there just in case you thought it might be scandalously un-Lutheran to have one).
So why do we have one? Why at Nativity? Well, ours is no ordinary one. Not just because it was hand-crafted and painted by the chief iconographer of the Serbian Orthodox Church, procured for us by the Abbess of Holy Theotokos Monastery. Not just because it is a likeness of one of the most beloved icons of iconographic history called, "Our Lady of Vladimir," or "Theotokos of Vladimir." Not just because, according to legend, the original copy is attributed to the hand of St. Luke. Not just because this icon, of all icons, expresses a universal feeling of motherly love for one's child full of deep emotion and devotion. In a word, this icon is special because it is our window through which we see the mystery of the incarnation.
Our icon is called "The Theotokos of Vladimir." "Theotokos," literally "God Bearer," because Mary is the one who brings us the Incarnation – God in the flesh, in the person of Jesus. "Vladimir" because of the name of the city in Russia where it originally was housed.
Our beautiful Marian Icon, which is now a part of our logo and signature identity, captures the very essence of who we are called to be as Nativity Lutheran Church and School. Nativity is the cradle of God's love. It is a home for God's Incarnation. It is the birthplace of God's love. So then, every time we gaze into the wonder and mystery of this icon, we remember our own calling, like Mary, to be a cradle for God's love to the world. So be it! Amen!
Pastor Mark David Luttio
August 15, 2007
The Feast of Mary, Mother of our Lord