Evangelical Mariology

I've often wondered if we evangelicals have too low a view of the Virgin Mary. I'm sure that our hesitancy to revere and honor her is due to a reaction to what we view as the extreme veneration of her by the Roman Catholic Church. But, like so many other aspects of Catholicism, I wonder if we error too much in the opposite direction. Mary has a unique role in the history salvation by being intimately involved in the Incarnation of our Lord. The early church never formulated an official doctrine regarding Mary, but the third ecumenical council, the Council of Ephesus, declared that Mary is to be called Theotokos, “Mother of God.”
A professor at the seminary made a comment last week that I found helpful. He used a metaphor that placed the Virgin Mary as the first example of the Christian life. “The Virgin Mary is the model of the Christian faith. We are to have Christ formed in us as the Virgin Mary allowed Christ to be formed in her.” She is the first person to have her life radically transformed by the coming of Christ.
Mary’s words in Luke 1:38, “Behold, the bondslave of the Lord; may it be done to me according to your word,” show a total resolution and trust in the will of God. I would hope that someday I could exercise the similar humility and abandonment to God’s will.