Right
Here / Right Now
July 21, 2013 9th After Pentecost Luke 10:38-42
PIKE BAY
Well, have you
recovered from Wednesday – my oh my you sure were busy over the last week
preparing and putting on the country dinner and in the midst of the heat and
humidity too. From my perspective it
was a success, plenty of good food, lots of conversation, it seemed like a
gathering of friends and neighbours and plenty of empty plates as the food was
polished off. One of the wonderful
things that happens in this congregation is this meal pulls you all together,
gathering – preparing – setting up –serving all of you working together,
bringing in food, setting up tables – each of you working with your
strengths. And in the midst of the
dinner were you enjoying yourself? Did you take time to sit and eat and visit
with your friends and neighbours? Or did
you find it was just a lot of work, and you could not wait to get home to get
your feet up? Did you take the time to
step back from the hub-bub and think – hey – this is a pretty amazing moment
right now – look at the community gathered – look at God in our midst.
+++and what if Jesus had showed up. (And he bought a ticket at the door from Glen
and Gary), in the midst of the serving –
would you have been able to leave your post and take a breather and sit
at his feet - even though there was more food to put out, and dishes to wash
and coffee to serve – and your shift does not end for another 30 minutes – and do
you think that you might get resentful of those who were sitting down?
Could you sit there
and listen and take in the moment or would the dishes be calling you from the
sink – the dirty plates on the table, would they be begging you to clear them,
and would you be counting pie pieces making sure that there was enough to go
around in case anyone wanted seconds.
How hard would it have been to stay in the moment and be in the right
there – the right then – sitting at Jesus feet?
LION’S HEAD
Did any of you manage
to get over to Pike Bay on Wednesday for the dinner – it is quite the operation
to pull that off – in a congregation where the average age would be in the late
70’s. But they did it and they did a wonderful job – good food, friendly
atmosphere and empty plates at the end of the meal.
Most of us have been
involved in a venture such as the Pike Bay Dinner – Many of you help out at the
fish dinner – anyone who is a Lioness has been part of such an event or the
hospital auxiliary – where a large group of people band together to create an
event where people are served a wonderful meal. It takes a lot of planning, a lot of workers
and often a lot of pies – but the community gather and shares a meal and
conversation happens – and friendships are restored – it is a good thing as
Martha Stewart would say. It is easy
though in the midst of the hub-bub of the cooking and the serving and cleaning
up to get so caught up in the production of the meal one can forget to enjoy
the moment – to take it all in and to appreciate the community gathered – and
to see God in your midst.
When company comes it is an
important thing to get everything ready – it is what hospitality is all about,
and it ensures that your guest feels welcome and valued. In Jesus time this was true as well and it
also was a cultural imperative, being able to host a guest well – besides
preparing the food, there are also rituals of welcome that are required,
rituals around foot washing and table placement, and which hand to use to eat
the food. Martha knows all the different
aspects of hosting a guest in her home – and she knows how much work it is –
because remember – this was two thousand years ago –before dishwashers and dish
soap and before running water,
electricity and central vacuums. – everything is done by hand from the grinding
of the grain, to the milking of the goat to the fermenting of the yogurt. Company is coming and there is much to do – the
story as written by Eugene Peterson: “38-40 As they continued their
travel, Jesus entered a village. A woman by the name of Martha welcomed him and
made him feel quite at home. She had a sister, Mary, who sat before the Master,
hanging on every word he said. But Martha was pulled away by all she had to do
in the kitchen. Later, she stepped in, interrupting them. “Master, don’t you
care that my sister has abandoned the kitchen to me? Tell her to lend me a
hand.”
41-42 The Master said, “Martha,
dear Martha, you’re fussing far too much and getting yourself worked up over
nothing. One thing only is essential, and Mary has chosen it—it’s the main
course, and won’t be taken from her.”
One thing only is
essential - I think this is one of the things that made Jesus special and
unique – his ability to live in the right now, to not worry about the past or
anticipate the future and to know what that one thing was. Over and over again he reminds his disciples
that they should focus on what is happening – then and there and not get caught
up in other things - he tells them – they will not have him for long, so
appreciate the moment – and he sleeps while they all worry about storms, and he
preaches while they worry about food for the crowd – and they worry about the cost
of perfume used on his feet -and they
want to build tents on the mountain for Elijah and Moses – and they worry, and
they worry and they worry that there is
not enough wine for the guests, that the daughter of Jarius has died, that the
woman is a Samaritan, and that that the children will bother Jesus - and they
worry so much about the little inconsequential things they miss the miracle
–the miracle of being in the presence of Jesus, and witnessing the incredible
journey that they are on right now. Martha,
Martha says Jesus this morning –be with me now, be with me here – do not worry
about the unimportant things –right here / right now is where you should be
focused.
Right here/right now
is a tough place to be sometimes, especially when the moment is difficult. My mother’s death was one such moment for me
and my family. We were given a few hours
notice of her impending death and so me and my sisters came home from all over
Ontario– Robyn from Toronto, Judy from Thunder Bay and me from Lion’s
Head. We all arrived about the same time
– joining my son and my father who were already there and then each of us took
turns - going in and spending time with mom.
Still, there were things to do though – food to be bought, meals to
prepare, supplies to gather up and although mom had someone with her at all
times, various task were being performed throughout the day. I had Erica with
me so caring for a four month old baby was a wonderful distraction. Finally though, around about 5 pm we could no
longer avoid the inevitable and all of us together finally gathered in my mom’s
room. For the next 10 minutes we watched
as the breath left my mom’s body. She
waited for us to stop all the busy tasks that we were using to avoid facing her
death. She waited for us all to be
together, in one room, focused on ‘one essential thing’ which in that moment
was that sacred time when my mother passed from this life on to the next. When we finally stopped putzing around the
house doing all the busy work, my mother gifted us with the opportunity to walk
with her to the threshold between her life and death. I will cherish this moment forever. I could
have kept busy with tasks and been in the kitchen, washing some dishes or
cooking potatoes for supper – but if I had, I would have missed a one time
opportunity to be in the sacred space where my family was held by God and we
said goodbye to my mother’s earthly life.
It was a time for my
family to stop and be in the moment, to let go of our busyness and to be - Kay
Heuy writes in her online reflection Weekly Seeds: “We live in a world that seems to
equate busyness with importance or even value; a long to-do list, especially
when it's finally completed, gives us a sense of satisfaction and even
security…at least, until we start on a new list of tasks to be completed. For
many, our days are packed, one after another, with many things, and our minds
are full and overflowing, worried and distracted, like Martha, by many things.
But Henri Nouwen once wrote that our lives, while full, are often unfulfilled.
"Our occupations and preoccupations," he said, "fill our
external and internal lives to the brim. They prevent the Spirit of God from
breathing freely in us and thus renewing our lives." Can you imagine what
life would be like, even for a little while, without all of the things that
keep us busy? Can you imagine time--without any distractions, any to-do
lists--time for our internal lives, hours spent in being with God, abiding with
God, tending our relationship with God, listening to the quiet still voice of
God still speaking to us, deep within our hearts?”
What does that mean for us here and now – how we can take a moment for ‘the better part’
–the King James version of the bible translates it “a needful thing” isn’t that a beautiful phrase – one needful
thing – and such a deep important question.
What is the one needful thing that we need to be doing in this
moment. This is our weekly worship
experience and in this moment we needfully should be relaxed and open to the
movement of the spirit of God in our midst- so we should not be taking a head
count on who is here and who is not here – nor should we be planning our lunch
or pulling together the list of things we need to pick up at Hellyers on our
way home. What we should be doing is
sitting at Jesus feet – that it to say we should be relaxed and open to the
word of God in our midst, we should praying
like we mean it, singing our hymns lustly and open in the times of silence to
the voice of God speaking directly to you.
This is our time apart from the world where we come to be refreshed and
restored and strenghthed to be sent out again into the world with what we need
to love and serve the Lord.
David Lose at working preacher
reminds us: “Martha is doing exactly what was expected
of her -- she is working hard to extend hospitality to her guest.....(Martha)
has forgotten,(though) ..., that ultimately she is valued and loved not because
of what she does, but because of who she is. That is not her intent, of course,
but amid her concern to care for Jesus she forgot to listen to him, the One who
might remind her that she is a beloved child of God.
This
may not seem a fair characterization, and Jesus’ words may still seem
needlessly harsh. So let’s be clear: there is nothing wrong with doing ... the previous story of
the Good Samaritan ended with Jesus telling the lawyer “go and do likewise.” But amid all of
our doing we, also, can get distracted, lured into thinking that we ultimately
will only find our true value and purpose in and through what we do, rather
than in who we are, God’s beloved children.”
We are
God’s beloved children, first – last – and in between. And it is so easy in our day to day routines
for us to lose sight of this fact - ...
Death beds, hospital
rooms, doctors offices, knocks on the door at 3 am, even graveyards have a way
of moving us into the moment where the busyness of our lives comes to a
screeching halt and we are right there / right now – but Jesus reminds Martha
who reminds us- that throughout the day an
ordinary regular day it is always a good time to stop and pause and ask that
question ‘ What is my one needful thing – that is what I have to pay attention
to in this moment?’ and in the midst of
that moment – God gets in –grace happens.
Thanks be to God. Amen.
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