Genesis 18:1-10a (10b-14); Colossians 1:21-29; Luke 10:38-42; Psalm 15
"... there is need of only one thing. Mary has chosen the better part, which will not be taken away from her." Luke 10:42
This short reading from the Gospel according to Luke addresses so many things ... simplicity, discipleship, attentiveness, and even cooking ... but the bottom line is clear ... we are to "be the Mary".
OK, so how might we do that. Maybe first by looking in the mirror and saying "show me the Martha". That could help right? Try it ... go ahead. I know that I would certainly see someone who is frequently "distracted by many thing". Now once I start to recognize the Martha in myself it should be possible to actually get away from those times where I'm "just Martha being Martha" ... yes? Sure ... I can do that. And so can you.
Just now when I actually got up and did look in the mirror I could see out of the corner of my eye some unnecessary complexity that does distract me from following last week's reading where we were told "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength, and with all your mind; and your neighbor as yourself."
I could see the Martha that has crept into the church itself. No, I'm not so much thinking about the Building and Grounds Committee, the Bake Sale coming up in a few weeks or that group outing to the local Triple A baseball park ... I'm thinking about actual ceremonial specifics spelled out in the Book of Common Prayer ... and I'm suddenly seeing the neat little illustrations in A Priest's Handbook by Dennis Michno specifying hand positions for activities such as replacing the chalice ... maybe all this is because I recently read a church service visit that seemed so Martha focused I thought maybe it was written by an American Lit student in the style of Mark Twain as a joke ... it wasn't ... it was apparently written in complete seriousness by a candidate for the priesthood in the Episcopal Church ... hmmmmmm ... maybe I need to read a little George Fox to clear my head ... or maybe I should simply go back to today's reading "be the Mary" and "listen to what he is saying".
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