The mother of Jesus

The Thursday evening group at church has just finished the series on what the Gospels tell us about Mary. The final evening looked at what we learn about Mary from the Gospel of John. She has an important part in the miracle at Cana(John 2) and is there at the crucifixion. She is not named in John but is referred to as 'the mother of Jesus'. On the two occasions when Jesus speaks to her, he addresses her simply as 'woman'.
But from all that we learned of her we concluded that she was a remarkable woman who responded with faith when given the task of bearing the Messiah.
I read a comment somewhere that as Christians we are called to be like Mary in that we are called to 'carry' Christ into the world.
At a recent seminar Brian Maclaren suggested that we are to be as God's people the 'embodiment of Christ'( a phrase he prefers to the 'body of Christ' when describing the Church.)
Mary bore Jesus into the world and so in our own day we too are called to 'bear Christ' into the world through all that we are as individuals and as the church.