Blog Archives

MARTHA, MARTHA

7/21/2013

Luke 10:38-42 (The Voice)

Jesus continued from there toward Jerusalem and came to another village. Martha, a resident of that village, welcomed Jesus into her home. Her sister, Mary, went and sat at Jesus’ feet, listening to Him teach. Meanwhile Martha was anxious about all the hospitality arrangements.

Martha (interrupting Jesus): Lord, why don’t You care that my sister is leaving me to do all the work by myself? Tell her to get over here and help me.

Jesus: Oh Martha, Martha, you are so anxious and concerned about a million details, but really, only one thing matters. Mary has chosen that one thing, and I won’t take it away from her.

Last week we talked about our life in Christ in terms of Praxis, that process of contemplation or prayer leading to action, then returning to contemplation, which now includes the recent action and thus leads to further action – and so on and so on. Not works alone, not faith alone, but both – working together to lead us into deeper union with God and furthering the building of the reign of God on earth.

But with this reading today we seem to be right back where we started – with contemplation and action in opposition, rather than complimenting each other. With this reading are we meant to follow Mary’s way of contemplation and quiet absorption with Christ, or Martha’s building up of the kingdom through working for her brothers and sisters? And to further confuse things, in this reading, Jesus appears to be choosing sides. Mary, he tells Martha, has chosen the only thing that matters.

That would seem to be that – faith over works, contemplation over action ..... except ..... his actions here seem, in many ways, very un-like Jesus. Yes, Jesus spends a lot of time in prayer – a lot of time refreshing himself in his father – but he spends a whole lot more time out there doing – calling, healing – for Pete's sake, the man walked all over Israel teaching and preaching, mostly among the poor and powerless – reaching out – inviting people in. Not just sitting around praying.

I suspect that most of us are responsible people – the kind who take care of things when something needs to be done and no one else seems to be stepping up. The kind who recognize that when people are hungry, someone has to prepare the food, and yes, sitting around talking is interesting and good, but the dishes aren’t going to wash themselves. I suspect many of us secretly side with poor old Martha and think she’s getting a raw deal here.

And yes, I recognize that this isn’t just any old meal and that’s Jesus sitting in the front room – but I’ve often imagined this story as if Martha had come in to sit down with the others – and wondered how long they would have gone before someone began complaining about “where’s lunch?”

And this is when I am reminded that in order to even begin to understand the message of the gospels, we need to read all the gospels, and when we do we find that in some stories action is emphasized, and in others – like today’s – it is contemplation – reflection – that is praised. And we are firmly back again on both/and – the need for both prayer and action. It’s pretty much like the old song – you really can’t have one without the other.

In this story – at this moment in the lives of Mary and Martha, sitting with Jesus is the right choice for Mary– and Martha needs to get over it and let her make her own choices. And if Martha is feeling put upon, Martha – and all those like her – need to accept that they are the only ones we see making demands on them. Jesus, so far as we know, didn’t tell Martha to go do the work. Martha took that on herself. We do that a lot – don’t we? Take too much on ourselves – because we can’t manage to say ‘no’ – and then feel angry and ill-used. How many of us spend our lives running in circles when we would be much better off quietly spending more time with God?

I’m beginning to suspect that God and I have been talking about this very issue lately. I didn’t recognize it at first because it hasn’t looked or sounded like “conversation,” but I’m pretty sure now that’s what has been going on. I’ve told you before that some of my own deepest moments with God have been out in nature – away from “the world.” Well, one of those moments has been right in the forefront of my awareness a lot recently – it just keeps popping into my thinking. I’m becoming pretty darn sure that God is reminding me off the wonder of that time – and suggesting maybe I need some more — hmmmm.

When have you felt closest to God? And how long ago did it happen? And have you taken time to go there again? Taken time to just let God tell you – again – how much you are loved? Why not?

0 Comments

"PRAYER"

7/14/2013

0 Comments

Colossians 1:5b-12 | The Message
The Message is as true among you today as when you first heard it. It doesn’t diminish or weaken over time. It’s the same all over the world. The Message bears fruit and gets larger and stronger, just as it has in you. From the very first day you heard and recognized the truth of what God is doing, you’ve been hungry for more. It’s as vigorous in you now as when you learned it from our friend and close associate Epaphras. He is one reliable worker for Christ! I could always depend on him. He’s the one who told us how thoroughly love had been worked into your lives by the Spirit.
Be assured that from the first day we heard of you, we haven’t stopped praying for you, asking God to give you wise minds and spirits attuned to his will, and so acquire a thorough understanding of the ways in which God works. We pray that you’ll live well for the Master, making him proud of you as you work hard in his orchard. As you learn more and more how God works, you will learn how to do your work. We pray that you’ll have the strength to stick it out over the long haul—not the grim strength of gritting your teeth but the glory-strength God gives. It is strength that endures the unendurable and spills over into joy, thanking the Father who makes us strong enough to take part in everything bright and beautiful that he has for us.

Rather than the ‘back-and-forth’ explaining-as-I-go-along thing I’ve been doing lately, I elected today to read the whole reading at once because I want to talk about it as a whole. Our subject is, obviously, prayer. Now, we are Christians, we are church-goers, we know how to pray – right? I don’t want to embarrass anyone, so I’m not asking you to answer out loud, but how much time do you actually spend in prayer? For a couple of you I would guess the answer is “a fair amount,” but for many others of us, it might be, “really not that much.” As far as sit-down-and-pay-attention-to-what-you’re-doing prayer, I’d have to put myself into the ‘not so much’ category. I’m more the talking-all-day-as-I-go-along kind of pray-er. I know I need to do more stop-and-listening than I do.

I think that what first drew me to this scripture was Paul saying that ... from the first day we heard of you, we haven’t stopped praying for you. That’s a lot of praying, folks. That’s not just drive-by praying – that’s stop-and-think-about-it praying. Conscious, mindful, caring praying. And I hope you understand that there is always someone out there praying for you. I learned that when I was going through cancer. Total strangers were praying for me. I didn’t ask them to do so – they just heard I needed prayer and they prayed. There are whole communities of people who spend their lives praying for others. There are people you’ve never heard of praying for this church right now.
Hilary tells a story of when he was a teenager - he and some friends were out being stupid one night and got into a pretty serious car wreck – but NO ONE was injured. The next day he told his mother what had happened and she told him that in the middle of the night she was awakened from a sound sleep and impelled to pray for him. They worked it out that it was at the time of the wreck. Stories like these are actually pretty common. Sometimes I think we only make it through the day because someone, somewhere is praying.

The other phrase that really strikes me is Paul’s prayer that ... as you learn more and more how God works, you will learn how to do your work. You mean it’s not enough to say I’m a believer – I’m actually supposed to be learning and doing as well? And how do we learn what to do? We pray – then we listen.

Hilary and I were discussing this reading and we ended up talking about Praxis. That is a Greek word used most often in educational philosophy – not very common in ordinary conversation – yet it is something we all do to some extent or another. We think about something, we do it, we learn from our action (hopefully) and we think about it some more.

In a discussion of prayer, praxis means that we meditate/contemplate/pray about something and then we are moved in some way, by our meditation, to act. And then after acting, we come back and pray/contemplate/meditate some more – this time including the actions we have just taken. This goes on - back and forth – first one, then the other: prayer leads to action leads to more prayer leads to more action – and we grow and learn as we go. This is pretty much what the New Testament Letter of James means when it talks about faith vs. works – the question of which is of the greater importance. It’s not an either/or, says James - you simply can’t have one without the other – faith leads to works leads to faith leads to works, etc., etc... Action with no prayer beforehand can often go awry. Prayer with no action is simply navel-gazing – not much help to anyone.
What Paul is talking about in this scripture is the marriage of the two and the perfect joy that comes from that marriage – making us strong enough to take part in everything bright and beautiful that God has for us.
I think that we will talk a bit over the next few weeks about prayer/meditation. This journey we are on as a church is way too important to try to do it on our own. We need lots of prayer – and lots of listening – lots of spending time with God – if we are going to successfully transition from what we are to what we one day can be – in God’s will for us.

0 Comments

IT'S NOT WHAT YOU AND I ARE DOING ...

7/7/2013

0 Comments

Galatians 6:1-5, 11-16 (The Message)

Our reading for today, like last week’s, comes from Paul’s letter to the Galatians. Galatia was located in the center of modern-day Turkey, a location Paul visited more than once. It is commonly accepted that new Christian communities were started there by Paul himself – mostly comprised of former pagans – Gentiles – converted to this gospel taught by Paul – a good news based in love and trust, rather than in law. Paul’s letter gives us an excellent view of one of the primary controversies raging in the earliest years of Christianity.

Paul preached the loving, welcoming gospel of Jesus, and gathered believers to this radical gospel, but as soon as he would pass on to a new location, other so-called Christian missionaries would follow along behind him and undercut his teachings – teaching instead that the following of the way of Jesus required a rigid adherence to Mosaic Law. Paul taught Jesus’ message of freedom and these others sought to replace that with their own tyranny of laws. Paul would have nothing to do with such thinking and wrote to correct the “corrections” of these self-appointed teachers.

Live creatively, friends. If someone falls into sin, forgivingly restore him, saving your critical comments for yourself. You might be needing forgiveness before the day’s out. Stoop down and reach out to those who are oppressed. Share their burdens, and so complete Christ’s law. If you think you are too good for that, you are badly deceived.

Make a careful exploration of who you are and the work you have been given, and then sink yourself into that. Don’t be impressed with yourself. Don’t compare yourself with others. Each of you must take responsibility for doing the creative best you can with your own life.....

In other words, do not fall into the error of thinking that you have been called into the life of Christ because of any inherent wonderfulness on your part. We are not here, called as church, called to serve because we are the best of the best – we are here by the grace of the perfection which resides in Jesus alone – called in spite of ourselves.

Keep a realistic eye on yourself, Paul reminds us. Don’t think yourself better than anyone else around you. Be willing to forgive the failings of others because you are almost surely in need of forgiveness, yourself. If you see someone struggling with their weakness, help them lift their burden and put off their chains – don’t add to the weight they carry by making it clear that you see yourself as superior to them. If you think you are, Paul goes on to remind us, you are “badly deceived.”

Now, in these last sentences, I want to emphasize in the bold scrawls of my personal handwriting the immense importance of what I have written to you. These people who are attempting to force the ways of circumcision on you have only one motive: They want an easy way to look good before others, lacking the courage to live by a faith that shares Christ’s suffering and death. All their talk about the law is hot air. They themselves don’t keep the law! And they are highly selective in the laws they do observe. They only want you to be circumcised so they can boast of their success in recruiting you to their side. That is contemptible!

This last paragraph sounds to me like a modern-day description of much of what passes as Christianity today and the battles raging in our Christian culture. So many people, so many churches have so many rules about how a “good person” should look and act. So many little boxes to check-off before a body can be accepted as “one of us.” I wonder if they ever remember that Jesus had only two rules: Love God with your whole heart, mind, and soul, and love your neighbor.

That’s it. Love God with your whole heart, mind, and soul, and love your neighbor. Not a single peep about how you look, who you love, where you live, your level of education or the size of your bank account. Nothing about your legal immigrant status or even whether you are currently drug or alcohol free. Nothing about holding down a steady job or paying your bills. All the things that matter so very much to us when we judge a person – are singularly absent from Jesus’ rules.

Are we kind to one another? That matters to Jesus. Are we feeding the hungry and clothing the naked - whether they are well behaved or not? That matters to Jesus. Are we ready and willing to accept the invitation Jesus holds out to us? To drop all our bulky baggage and leave it and walk right in the door without a backward glance – unencumbered? That matters to Jesus, I’m pretty certain.
This is the invitation – the Good News -- Paul tried to share with the Gentile world but every time he walked away and left a door open behind him, in rushed the Judaizers to slam the door shut before someone they deemed “unworthy” might slip in. Someone who didn’t meet their requirements. After all they knew what Jesus really meant – even if he didn’t ever say it. Jesus must have really meant that everyone was welcome who thought and acted just like them!

Honestly? I suspect Jesus meant just exactly what he said – and, you know? -- he made it pretty clear that he didn’t much like the keepers of the rules – the minders of the check lists. He had some pretty unflattering things to say about them.

My mind is still reeling from as on-going discussion happening on an internet discussion group called “Disciples Exchange.” It’s a site, primarily but not exclusively for Disciples pastors nation-wide. There is a wide diversity of opinion to seen here. That’s to be expected. There is one church pastor who shall remain unnamed – he’s not in our region – who is deeply anti-gay. OK, there’s still lots of people out there who are still stuck in that rut.

He’s one of those who insists that he’s is not being judgmental himself, it’s Jesus who forces him to say and feel as he does. He challenges every judgmental fiber of my being and I really struggle with my reaction to him and his dogmatic statements. And, yes, I am well aware that I am 'judging' him -- as I said, I struggle with this.

One day he almost brought the whole site to a halt by casually announcing that because the “right” people in his congregation are unwilling (he calls it ‘unable’ – again, it’s all Jesus’ fault) to share communion with the ‘wrong’ people, the good people don’t have communion at Sunday service. They share at table during the week at a private service only they know about – so they don’t have to share. This is a Disciples pastor, limiting communion to the people he personally approves of. One of our most valued beliefs is in an open table -- and he manipulates this to his own ends.

You could hear the jaws dropping all over the country and the collective gasps of outrage. Some folks tried to reason with him on this, so he immediately went into “victim” mode and declared everyone was persecuting him. Like the Judaizers of Paul’s day he is absolutely closed to any possibility that he might be wrong and that Jesus just might disagree with him. Never mind listening to what Jesus actually says – he just ‘knows’ he’s right.

For my part, I am going to boast about nothing but the Cross of our Master, Jesus Christ. Because of that Cross, I have been crucified in relation to the world, set free from the stifling atmosphere of pleasing others and fitting into the little patterns that they dictate. Can’t you see the central issue in all this? It is not what you and I do—submit to circumcision, reject circumcision. It is what God is doing, and he is creating something totally new, a free life! All who walk by this standard are the true Israel of God—his chosen people. Peace and mercy on them!

May we – each and every one of us – continually be willing to check our preconceptions to make sure we are actually listening to Jesus and not re-shaping Jesus to fit our idea of right and wrong, good and proper – not using Jesus to merely prop up our own needy, judgmental selves. Let us continually hear Paul remind us that it is not what you and I do – it’s what God is doing – and what God is doing is creating a totally new, free life – one where I am not responsible for deciding who’s in and who’s out. Praise God, and thank you. Amen.

0 Comments

MARTHA, MARTHA

"PRAYER"

IT'S NOT WHAT YOU AND I ARE DOING ...

Rev. Cherie Marckx

Archives