Mary Do You Know by Mark Lowry
For Mark Lowry, almost every mean solar day is Christmas.
Whenever the storyteller and singer takes the stage for a concert, he always closes the show with the same song—"Mary Did You lot Know?"—no matter what time of yr it is.
"When yous have one hit, you better stop with it," Lowry said in a recent phone interview.
Lowry co-wrote "Mary Did Y'all Know?" with Buddy Greene, a well-respected songwriter and instrumentalist, in 1991, while both were on tour with famed gospel singers Bill and Gloria Gaither. Recorded starting time by Christian singer Michael English, the song has become a mod Christmas staple—covered by some of the biggest names in the business: Dolly Parton, Kenny Rogers and Wynonna Judd, Mary J. Blige, Clay Aiken, Carrie Underwood, and the a cappella vocal group Pentatonix.
The thought for the song dates dorsum to conversations the 63-year-sometime had with his female parent about Jesus and Mary. Near revolved around the question: What was it like to enhance the son of God?
"Literally, what was it similar teaching the Word of God to talk," he said, referring to a title used for Jesus in the Gospel of John. "What was it like to give him a haircut? Did she e'er walk into his room and say, 'clean this mess upward'?"
He added that most of the questions he had did not make their way into the song—only the ones that rhymed made it.
Image: Courtesy photo
Marker Lowry, cowriter of "Mary Did You Know?"
Those conversations besides touched on spiritual topics, like the mystery of the incarnation, said Lowry—the Christian belief that God became human in the person of Jesus. They eventually inspired a series of short monologues Lowry wrote in 1984 for a Christmas concert at Thomas Road Baptist Church in Lynchburg, Virginia, then led past Jerry Falwell. Those monologues were the mucilage that held the show together, serving as a transition from ane Christmas song to another.
They stuck with Lowry, who thought they might piece of work for a song if he could find the right music. Several musicians tried to come up with melodies, but none fit, said Lowry. Then, while on tour with the Gaithers, he showed the lyrics to Greene and asked him to have a become. Greene took them domicile and started working on some music. Lowry recalls that Greene, who could not be reached, had spent a day listening to Christmas carols written in small-scale keys, similar "What Child is This?" and "We Three Kings" before composing the melody for "Mary Did You Know?"
"Information technology was beautiful," he said. "It was haunting, and it made the song work. It didn't have abroad from the message—it elevated the bulletin."
While writing lyrics, Lowry said he imagined himself as an overly enthusiastic affections who showed up at the manger during the Christmas story and was filled with questions. He used the phrase, "Did you lot know" to express that enthusiasm—every bit if the angel was bubbling over with joy for what the nascency of Jesus meant. The questions in the song are the questions Lowry would accept asked if he had been in that location.
But that phrase has gotten Lowry in trouble in recent years—seen as a kind of theological mansplaining.
"Listeners have complained that, yes, Mary knew that she was going to deport the Messiah, the promised salvation of Israel, and that, therefore, the rhetorical question upon which the vocal rests is either redundant or condescending," author Joy Clarkson, host of the "Speaking with Joy" podcast, wrote in a 2018 CT article entitled, "Yes, Mary Knew."
That phrase has as well inspired a series of sarcastic social media posts. "Mary did yous know … that there'due south a boy on his way to souvenir your newborn with a drum solo," tweeted author and pastor Courtney Ellis. "Mary did you know nosotros've been trying to reach you virtually your extended warranty," tweeted Texas attorney Robert Callahan II. In that location's even apparently a satire of the song, entitled "Mary Freaking Knew."
Lowry is pretty expert-natured almost the criticism of the song. He's quick to admit it has shortcomings—which he thinks are more evident to his beau Christians who are more familiar with theology than the boilerplate person who hears the song. The final affair he wanted to do was to insult Mary or anger his fellow believers.
"I never meant for information technology to start a state of war or irritate people," he said. "I definitely didn't want that."
That response fits Lowry's character. He'southward long used humor to help his fellow evangelicals lighten up, preferring laughter to a fight any day.
"Nosotros've portrayed to the globe that we're superhuman beings, and we're not," he told Religion News Service in a 1999 interview. "We're but sinners in need of a savior."
Still, he's grateful for what he chosen the "phenomenon of the song." Lowry, who has never been married, views his songs every bit his children. None of them, he said, has grown and had a life of their own the way "Mary Did You Know?" has. Near of all, he hopes the song will point people to the story of the baby Jesus and what his arrival would hateful.
"I hope the song makes people remember about the baby Jesus," he said. "I promise it sends them running to Luke i to find out what Mary knew."
Source: https://www.christianitytoday.com/news/2021/december/mary-did-you-know-controversy-mark-lowry-lyrics-theology.html
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