Luke 10:38-42 (NRSV)
Now as they went on their way, Jesus entered a certain village, where a woman named Martha welcomed him into her home. She had a sister named Mary, who sat at the Lord's feet and listened to what he was saying. But Martha was distracted by her many tasks; so she came to him and asked, 'Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me to do all the work by myself? Tell her then to help me.' But the Lord answered her, '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.'
I have always found this Gospel account to be very Benedictine. Martha and Mary invited Jesus into their home to share in a meal: hospitality. Martha takes on the tasks of preparing the meal: work. Mary has chosen to sit at the feet of Jesus to hear what he was saying: prayer. In the course of the discussion Martha gets upset that Mary is not helping. Jesus attempts to help both Martha and Mary see that what each of them is doing is important. Jesus invites Martha to consider the need to be quiet and listen so to center herself on God. Prayer.
The problem with this Gospel is we have two women being portrayed in a bit of a stereo type. The women work to prepare while the man sits on his rump and talks all the time he is there. Mary is portrayed as sitting their listening and in Martha's defense, she was leaving all the work to Martha. When Jesus tells Martha: "Mary has chosen the better part, which will not be taken from her" Jesus is not telling Martha she is doing wrong. He reminds her that worrying about things all the time and not taking time to listen to God in prayer leads to an imbalance within our spiritual and personal lives.
As activists in society and the Church on behalf of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered people many of us are fatigued from battling with leaders and campaign efforts. Working on justice all the time without taking some time to recharge our interior personal lives with the love of God's grace and love can be a form of spiritual malnutrition.
I posted the image of St. Benedict because he was a great symbol of taking the time out of our day to pray, work, show hospitality and be about the ministry of reconciliation. We will not be successful in our work of justice and equality if we do not center ourselves and our work on God. One of the philosophies of St. Benedict is that when we work, we are at prayer. When we are at prayer, we are doing the work of God. In the Latin: work of God is translated as opus Dei. And NO we are not talking about the reactionary group mentioned in The Davinci Code. We are talking about doing the work of God when we are at prayer. Prayer is God initiative, we just choose to participate in the exchange. Prayer is a two way street of listening and talking or thinking. It is a state of the body as well as the open position of the heart and the soul.
Likewise, when we are at work we are opening up ourselves to participate in God's work of creation and development. God is the God of both creation and evolution. Try telling that to Christine O' Donnell. God not only makes, but inspires development and nurturing as we participate with God as God does God's work through our work. For many of us our work is working towards equality and justice for LGBTQ people. Some are Bishops, Priests, Deacons and lay people. Some are pastoral counselors, others are psychologists and psychiatrists. Others do missionary work of writing, helping out at a local HIV/AIDS center, may be by helping to prepare hot meals. For many of us, maintaining our homes and relationships is as much about working as it is about hospitality and reconciliation.
The point is: "Everything works together for good of those who love God." (Romans 8: 28). In the foot note to the word good it says: "Other ancient authorities read: God makes all things work together for good, or in all things God works all things for good." This means that even our sexual and gender diversity which is part of the perfect nature of each of God's children, is something God uses for good. When we apply our gift of sexual love within the context of loving committed relationships God is doing good through and with us.
What Jesus is telling Martha is that Mary has taken time to balance the scales of life a bit. Sometimes we need to withdraw from rush of a busy world full of problems, bias, arrogance and corruption to find in God peace, acceptance, humility and wholeness. We need to take time to surrender our tears, our anger, our happiness and laughter and just bask in the Son Light of God's amazing love for each of us. God will speak to our hearts and our minds and will help us keep our lives on a course that is both fruitful and meaningful. We will see ourselves through God's eyes as God tells us that we are God's children with whom God is well-pleased. God will want us to know that what ever we have done or not done that has offended God, God has forgiven us. We will hear about how God is so concerned with what hurts us as well as celebrate with us those things that are helping us to be happy.. We may come back knowing we have work to do, or even to find that a new problem has come our way. The important thing to remember is that when we return to our daily activities, God has not stayed back in our prayer chamber. God has walked with us and will go with us through anything and everything and will help us understand God's will through it all. We might not get it the first time, but we do not have to always get it right. In the words of Bishop Gene Robinson in the Special Extras section of For the Bible Tells Me So: "All we have to do is put one foot in front of the other, and God will do the rest."
Almighty and everlasting God, in Christ you have revealed your glory among the nations: Preserve the works of your mercy, that your Church throughout the world may persevere with steadfast faith in the confession of your Name; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen. (Proper 24, Book of Common Prayer, page 235).
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