Mary (Michael Frost)

Michael Frost writes:
When the angel Gabriel visits her there is nothing submissive or juvenile about Mary. We meet her as a wild, radical, young thing. She openly challenges the angel (“How will this be, since I am a virgin?”), and later she recites a subversive political manifesto in the home of a temple official, revealing she's capable of deep thought and strong conviction. This is Mary: bold, independent, adventuresome. And yet in obedience to the call of God she squats to give birth to Christ alone in a filthy barn among animals. As Nancy Rockwell says, 
“She is determined, not domestic;  free, not foolish;  holy, not helpless;  strong, not submissive. She beckons women everywhere to speak out for God’s justice, which is waiting to be born into this world.”