For the liturgy and worship music today Debbie played flute and led together with Claire, Matt on piano and me on guitar. The music overall felt full and her contribution was well-received.
Pastor Ray preached about today's Gospel text and how Martha and Mary represented two ways of being attentive to God's presence. Martha's involves doing and Mary's way was to hear God's word.
Martha was doing what she felt responsible to do. It was what she was expected to do as a woman. Mary, on the other hand, saw something else was possible beyond her expected role and responsibilities. Martha eventually became overwhelmed and distracted. What matters is not so much about how what she did to be hospitable compared to what Mary was doing, but that she lost her attentiveness to God's presence and the purpose in, with, and under her activities.
So, this story isn't about how Mary or Martha are responding to God's presence. This is really about Jesus and how much Jesus wants to draw each and all of us into a relationship that lifts us beyond the everyday limitations of this life that we might glimpse, if only for a few moments at a time, the sacred in the mundane, the extraordinary in the ordinary, and the holiness with which each and every moment of this life is imbued.
Today, as I think about church leadership and the Biblical mandate of servant leadership, this Gospel lesson about Martha and Mary has a different meaning. The lifting described above is central to the message here. Martha appeals to Jesus in his authority to dictate what Mary's holiness should look like. His response is a model everyone in the church should take to heart. I think Dietrich Bonhoeffer expressed what Jesus was communicating to Martha well as described by Eric Metaxas in his book Bonhoeffer: Pastor, Martyr, Prophet, Spy.
“A truly evangelical sermon must be like offering a child a fine red apple or offering a thirsty man a cool glass of water and then saying: Do you want it?” At Finkenwalde Bonhoeffer said: “We must be able to speak about our faith so that hands will be stretched out toward us faster than we can fill them. . . . Do not try to make the Bible relevant. Its relevance is axiomatic. . . . Do not defend God’s Word, but testify to it. . . . Trust to the Word. It is a ship loaded to the very limits of its capacity!”
What Jesus desires is for us is simply to proclaim the gospel. He reminds us of all that God has done for the world in and through Christ, and to proclaim once again God's great love for all of us. That is how to be lifted from everyday busy-ness whether this happens through doing or hearing in God's presence.
Preaching isn't about telling us what we should want or do, it's about making us hungry for God's love and kingdom by showing and giving the taste of it. In the end, it is probably when one is arrested by the love of God that one can truly leave behind the ordinary wears, tears, and cares of the day and live in God's grace-filled embrace.
Pastor Ray preached the Gospel today appears to be interlocked and interrelated with the Good Samaritan parable reading from last week. Jesus is not setting up role models for behavior which may even have more impact and is a deeper insight with the parable of the Good Samaritan. This "playing her role" is what Martha is asking Jesus to do with Mary but Jesus expresses concern with Martha's distraction from God's presence in her heart.
We all become attached to how we think things are accomplished in our lives that can easily change true service or tasks we do into distractions. This is the part of us that whispers "This one is acting poorly, this one is acting in a way I should emulate." or "I am not doing enough." It stops us from understanding the constant closeness of the kingdom of God. It makes us think, all we need to do is behave in a different way and we'll have a better life and finally be saved.
And how does Jesus answer Martha? With compassionate understanding “Martha, Martha, you are worried and distracted by many things; there is need of only one thing.Mary has chosen the better part, which will not be taken away from her.” Jesus recognizes here that the way Mary is following lifts her up. Martha can also be lifted up in her own way.
This is a passage that spoke to me today about what constitutes a servant's heart and the mandate of servant leadership. Did Martha start by acting from a servant's heart? Did she have a change of heart and why? As a congregation together doing the work of Christ, how do we speak and act in a faith that offers something that inspires each member to reach their hands out to actively receive the "fine, red apple" of the Gospel and also to receive and become the body of Christ.
I end with what my heart warns me about and what my heart desires for the future of Creator through another Bonhoeffer quote:
“The person who loves their dream of community will destroy community [even if their intentions are ever so earnest], but the person who loves those around them will create community.”.
No comments:
Post a Comment