3rd Sunday in Lent
March 15, 2020
Psalm 52; Luke 10:28-32
Busy: Reconnecting with an Unhurried God
Tuning In
One time, at the church where I was the associate pastor
in Chapel Hill, a church member offered me two tickets to an upcoming
Hurricanes hockey game. He knew that my husband was a big fan and we enjoyed
going to games. The game was on Tuesday. I thought for a minute, and said, “We
have an SPRC meeting on Tuesday!” This church member was also on SPRC at the
time. Well, come Tuesday night, guess who was at the meeting (me) and who was
at the hockey game (the church member)? What do you do when you’re offered last
minute tickets to something you’d love to go see, only to look at your calendar
and realize you can’t go? “When the present moment offers up an unexpected
opportunity and you weigh it against your to-do list, how often does obligation
win? That’s what happens to Martha in our scripture today. Jesus is right there
in front of Mary and Martha and yet the pressure seems too great for Martha to
make a different choice – to take advantage of a moment that will never come
again. It’s not that it is bad to work and certainly keeping our work
obligations is important. But if it constantly comes at the cost of missing out
of important being-in-the-present moments, perhaps it is time to reassess, to
“tune in” to the bigger picture. No one, at the end of their life, would say, ‘I
should have spent more time in a meeting.’”[1]
One of the things that Amos said at our Wednesday night
Lenten service last week was to ask “Why do we need to be hounded to come home
when we are weary?” Why do we have to be told to take a break? Why don’t we
more naturally take time to rest on our own, without having to schedule it?
Even with the corona virus, some of us would still be out there if we were
allowed to be. We’d still put ourselves at risk if we weren’t told by our
officials to stay home. Why is that part of human nature? What’s the pull to
keep busy? What’s the attraction in always moving? Are we afraid of what might
happen otherwise? Are there certain thoughts we’re trying to keep at bay?
What’s the fear? If you slow down, you might not get moving again? Even
machines wear down after time if they are constantly used.
Let’s look a little closer at Mary and Martha. Jesus has
just finished telling the story of the Good Samaritan, in answer to the person
who asked him, “Who’s my neighbor?” Now, while Jesus and the disciples are on
their way, Martha opens her house to them. What wonderful and generous
hospitality! Here are 13 men who have been traveling, probably more people with
them, and Martha invites them all in, “Come stop and rest at my house.” Her sister Mary defied cultural norms and sat
down at Jesus’ feet to listen to him. Martha, on the other hand, is distracted
by all the preparations to care for 13 men with no notice. I would imagine it’s
a lot of work. Not many places can accommodate 13 people without any advance
preparation. Yet even if it’s one guest, what do you do when that person comes
over? Regardless of whether you’re done getting ready for them, you sit down
with them. Or stand with them if they’re tired of sitting after a long drive.
You pay attention to them. You listen. Your focus is on them. Even if you’ve
got to finish cooking in the kitchen, you may then invite them to take a stool
or a chair to sit so you can talk while you stir the pot. There is no greater
hospitality than listening to your guest, being present and in the moment with
them. Mary does that. Martha, however, becomes too involved in hospitality, in
it for its own sake rather for the sake of her guests, and she has to have the
moment pointed out to her. A strength abused becomes a weakness, and while
Martha excels in hospitality, she goes too far, and misses out on listening to
Jesus. Whether she misses it altogether or not, we don’t know. We’re not told
how she responds to Jesus.
When Martha realizes that she alone is carrying the
burden of the preparations, she appeals to Jesus, ““Lord, don’t you care that
I’m burning myself out? I’m running myself ragged trying to serve you. Send someone
to help me! In fact, my sister’s not doing anything, make her help me.” Jesus replies, “Martha, Martha, you are worried and upset
about many things, but only one thing is needed. I’m not going to take that one
thing away from those who have chosen it.” Only one thing is needed. What’s
that? Tuning in to Jesus. Being still in the presence of the Lord. Recognizing
that this is a holy moment and I need to pay complete attention to it. I need
to connect to God. Work is not bad. Preparations are not bad. Being ready to
host a large group is definitely a good thing. The trouble is when it takes you
away from time with God.
We
feel pulled by many things, and most of them are good things and our intentions are good, yet if they leave us no
time to sit at the Lord’s feet, to be still in God’s presence, then we feel
anxious and troubled and our service is going to be devoid of love and joy and
we’re going to resent those who aren’t as anxious and busy as we are. Both
listening and doing are vital parts
of the Christian life. However, you can’t serve well without being nourished
first. There’s an example I first heard years ago and then saw illustrated a
couple weeks ago. Imagine yourself as a cup, and listening to God’s Word fills
your cup. The more time you’re tuned in to Jesus, the fuller your cup gets,
until it’s overflowing. (We talked about overflowing cups last week with Psalm
23.) It is healthier to give out of your overflow than to start giving out of
the cup itself. Giving out of the cup itself will drain you and make you tired
and resentful. Giving out of your overflow is joyful and peaceful. The bottom
line is to make sure pay attention to and nourish your spiritual life. Proverbs
4:23 says, “Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from
it.” Make sure you’re not emptying your cup, or your heart, because then you’ll
have nothing left and you’ll burn out. Tune in to Jesus. Sit at his feet. I
added that reading from Psalm 52 for the image at the end: “I am like an olive
tree flourishing in the house of God; I trust in God’s unfailing love for ever
and ever. For what you have done I will always praise you in the presence of
your faithful people. And I will hope in your name, for your name is good.”
How do we be like that olive tree, flourishing in the
house of God? Well, while Martha was busy, Mary chose to be still and tune in
to Jesus. The lesson here is not that it is bad to work, but that we also need
times of connection to God. Tuning in to the holy may mean just taking time to
notice things that are beckoning to dwell with us a while. And so the question
is, what contemplative practices can feed and nourish our active lives and help
us be more in tune to the present moment? Or the flip side, what distractions
and addictions consume our attention and keep us from tuning in? There are
many, many contemplative practices, including prayer, journaling, taking a walk,
walking a labyrinth, sitting quietly, quieting your mind, centering, silence,
lectio divina which is a method in which you read the same scripture passage
multiple times and reflect on it, music, singing, volunteering, witnessing,
listening, yoga, meditation, reading, even petting your dog or cat can quiet
you and help you pay attention to God. It all has to do with focusing your
mind, being calm, being aware, paying attention (not hyper-vigilant, just
calmly observant), and being open to God’s presence and movement in your life. When
is the last time you contemplated God?
One piece of good news from everything closing and mostly
staying home is that you probably have a little more time on your hands now.
You have a choice about how to spend that more time: busy and distracted and
anxious, or sitting at Jesus’ feet, calm, and at peace. One of the posts going
around Facebook is about the idea of treating this time like an extended
Sabbath. Use this extra time to reconnect with God. I thought it was fitting at
the beginning of Lent when we were just starting this series on Busy:
Reconnecting with an Unhurried God, because I was in the middle of an
extra-busy season myself yet I had chosen this series back in August when I
went on that worship planning retreat. God knew I was going to be preaching to
myself just as much as to you. And now, here we are, being forced to slow down,
to be less busy, to stop rushing from activity to activity. In case you’d been
resisting slowing down, now you have to. So use this time wisely.
I
have one more thing to share with you, a contemplative practice that I’ve begun
doing over the past week. It’s called the Sacred Ordinary Days planner that a
colleague told me about a few weeks ago. I was late to the party and so I
ordered the pdf version to download and
print. I was so busy, I had it for two weeks before I started using it. It has
the Daily Office readings, which goes through the Bible in a two year cycle, a calendar,
a short prayer for each day, space to journal, Sunday’s lectionary readings,
and a weekly reflection, called the prayer of examen. The past week that I have
been using this I have found myself calmer. I have found myself reading more
Scripture, because I’m adding those readings to what I was already reading. I
am reflecting more. I’m spending more time tuned in and connected to God. I’m
having to carve out the time to do it, but I’m doing it. And I can tell a
difference. I pray that you may also be more tuned in to God during this season,
reconnect yourself, fill your cup back up to overflowing, and be ready to share
out of the overflow when need arises. Amen.
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