Jesus: The One Thing
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For many in your congregation, the big story this week is certain to be the release this Saturday of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, the final novel in the Harry Potter saga. There is much speculation about Harry's ultimate fate -- and Harrymania is only further stoked by the release of the latest Harry Potter film, now showing in your local theater. But another -- and far more important -- story is the pope's recent statement downgrading the level of the Roman Catholic Church's respect for Protestant churches. In this installment of The Immediate Word, team member Scott Suskovic comments on the dynamic in the Harry Potter books of inclusion vs. exclusion. Noting that certain factions within the wizarding community shun wizards who they view as less pure-blooded than others, Scott wonders if the pope is treating what the Vatican sees as less "pure-blooded" Protestant churches in a similar way. The parallel seems especially apt, since the heart of the argument outlined in the document released by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith appears to be that Protestant churches lack the pure-blooded pedigree of an apostolic succession of ordinations (something that's not true of the Orthodox churches, who the Vatican is according a higher status when it comes to ecumenical dialogue). In this week's Gospel lesson (Luke 10:38-42), Mary focuses on "the one thing" that is needful: devotion to Jesus. Should that not be the only standard by which we judge the faithfulness of churches as well? Viewed from this perspective, perhaps the pope is, like Martha, "distracted by many things." Team member Paul Bresnahan offers additional thoughts, suggesting that if we become bogged down in trying to determine what the hallmarks of a "true" Christian are, we will not only alienate sincere people of faith, but also be diverted from the church's real calling -- ministering to those in physical and spiritual need.
Jesus: The One Thing
by Scott Suskovic
Luke 10:38-42; Colossians 1:15-28
THE WORLD
In a document released on July 10, the Vatican said that Christian denominations outside of the Roman Catholic Church were not full churches. In their view, the Orthodox Church came closest but suffered from a "wound" since they do not recognize the primacy of the pope. Protestants, however, are so profoundly wounded that "it is difficult to see how the title of 'Church' could possibly be attributed to them."
Who is the true Church and who is not?
At the same time, with the recent premiere of the latest movie -- and the eagerly anticipated release on July 21 of the seventh and final book in the series -- the adventures of Harry Potter are commanding the attention not only of the country but the world. While the plot and subplots get complicated, one underlying issue remains constant. At Hogwarts, there are true-blooded wizards and there are "mudbloods," students who do not have pure wizard blood on both sides of the family.
Who is the true Wizard and who is not?
In some churches today, there are certain requirements or characteristics that set a true Christian apart. For some, this means speaking in tongues, tithing, not drinking, not gambling, attending worship, volunteering, etc. What is the litmus test for your church?
Who is the true Christian and who is not?
We are good at drawing lines, aren't we? Scripture and even our history show that our tendency is to draw lines to determine who is in and who is out. And do you know where we each typically draw that line? Right in front of our own toes! Somehow we and those who look like us are just on this side of purity, righteousness, and truth. Amazing!
Scripture reveals a God who is a line-breaker. From the time that Abraham was blessed to be a blessing, to the great commission to go into all the world, our God breaks through the egocentric lines we draw to include those whom the world would deem profoundly wounded.
THE WORD
Luke 10 has been used too often against the altar guild, the church potluck committee, and the table set-up teams to show that the more contemplative members of the church who are devoted to prayer and Bible study are the true Christians. It is one more line we love to draw in the church.
Martha is distracted by many things. She is keeping score on how much she has done and how little her lazy sister has done. She has drawn the line -- and it is right in front of her toes. Those who help with all the work Martha deems important are on the inside. Those who simply sit and listen like Mary are clearly out.
Jesus, however, in his typical fashion of turning our criteria of acceptable and unacceptable people upside-down, removes that line by pointing out the good that Mary is doing. There is a line that should cause each one of us to pay close attention: "There is need of only one thing. Mary has chosen the better part, which will not be taken from her."
What is that one thing? Here is where we need to look beyond the lines we draw and focus on that one thing. What is that one thing that will outlast the meal and dirty dishes? What is that one thing that will survive the bickering between churches? What is that one thing that will determine whether or not that person is in or out?
That one thing has to be the object of Mary's devotion -- Jesus. And ironically enough, the line he drew separating the righteous from the unrighteous was so incredibly high that no one, not one, could pass -- for all have fallen short of the glory of God. He could have done it differently. Jesus could have done what we typically do -- draw that line at his toes, and anyone who falls short will be forever banned. But it is this same Jesus who drew the line so incredibly high who now comes to those profoundly wounded to forgive their sins and include those whom the world has excluded.
CRAFTING THE SERMON
It would be interesting to begin with your own denomination's definition of what defines the Church. Different traditions define those terms differently, but in mine we believe that the church is the gathering of believers where the Gospel is preached and the sacraments are rightly administered. Those traditions that are less sacramental may not agree. Next, bring that even closer to home. In your tradition, what determines whether or not a person is a Christian? What are the requirements in your church to be a member? (In my tradition, this is defined in our constitution regarding contributions and receiving the sacraments.) Whatever your "terms" are, compare them to Luke 10:42, where Jesus tells Martha that there is need of only one thing.
Now, what is that one thing?
Remember the story of Peter walking on water? Jesus coaxed him out of the boat until Peter stepped out in faith and stood on water, looking at Jesus. He did fine until he took his eyes off Jesus and focused on the wind and the waves. When he turned his attention away from Jesus, he then sunk.
When we take our eyes off Jesus, we become "worried and distracted by many things," like Martha. How has your church become distracted? How have you? This week's epistle text says: "He is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, so that he might come to have first place in everything" (Colossians 1:18). First place. Could he be that "one thing" that Mary found?
This is a Savior who delights in shattering the egocentric lines we draw to determine who is in and who is out. This Jesus ate with tax collectors and sinners. He made friends with prostitutes. He reached out to a Roman soldier. He asked that his guards might be forgiven. Why? Colossians gives us the answer again in verses 20-22:
"And through him, God was pleased to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, by making peace through the blood of his cross. And you who were once estranged and hostile in mind, doing evil deeds, he has now reconciled in his fleshly body through death, so as to present you holy and blameless and irreproachable before him."
We are distracted by so many things -- most of which don't amount to a hill of beans when that last trumpet sounds. These texts remind us to stop the distraction of drawing lines and focus on the one who broke the boundary of sin, death, and hell to include even the profoundly wounded like you.
ANOTHER VIEW
The Only True Church?
by Paul Bresnahan
When I was a youngster my best friend told me that he was upset. I asked him why, and he said that I was a nice enough guy and a great friend, but that I was not going to heaven. "Why?" said I. My friend told me I wasn't Catholic, so I couldn't go. Years later, when I worked in a warehouse in Toronto, a co-worker asked me if I was saved. I just don't think in those terms, so I said, "That's God's call, not mine." I think I failed that exam too. In the meantime, I went on to become a priest in the Episcopal Church.
There are all kinds of ideas "out there" about which is the "true church," or which television preacher has the "plain and simple truth" about what the Bible says. In many cases the plain and simple truth plays out a set of inclusion/exclusion exercises based on the speaker's understanding of the "plain and simple truth." For me, too many people I love fall outside the salvation circle in both the former and in the latter pronouncements.
And so Pope Benedict has now entered the dialogue. In the post-Vatican II world, many of us had hoped for more overtures to ecumenicity. Instead, we now find that many of us are with "defect" and cannot even be called "church" in the most proper sense of the word.
The reader may remember that last year, on September 12, 2006 to be exact, the pope said the following in Germany at the University of Regensburg: "Show me just what Muhammad brought that was new and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." The pope was referring to a passage that originally appeared in the Dialogue Held With a Certain Persian, the Worthy Mouterizes, in Anakara of Galatia, written in 1391. It was an expression of the views of the Byzantine emperor Manuel II Paleologus, one of the last Christian rulers before the fall of Constantinople to the Muslim Ottoman empire, on such issues as forced conversion, holy war, and the relationship between faith and reason. You may remember that the response from the Islamic world to the pope's remarks was instant and vigorous. The Vatican was forced to do quite a bit of backpedaling and "clarification."
In addition, after a number of impressive and magnanimous overtures to our sisters and brothers in Judaism, the revival of the Latin mass, with its unfortunate and somewhat intemperate prayer for the conversion of the Jews, has certainly raised more than a few theological eyebrows.
Now we have yet another statement that will cause no end of consternation within the Christian world. Pope Benedict has signed off on a statement observing that the Churches of the Reformation are "defective" since they do not have an episcopacy or a priesthood that arises out of the historic apostolic succession. The concluding paragraph is the most damaging part of the new statement: "These ecclesial Communities which, specifically because of the absence of the sacramental priesthood, have not preserved the genuine and integral substance of the Eucharistic Mystery cannot, according to Catholic doctrine, be called 'Churches' in the proper sense." That should provide plenty of grist for the mill for those charged with the responsibility of cultivating ecumenical relationships around the world. To say that this is a setback from Vatican II would be an understatement indeed.
How then do we respond? Do we get into the game of theological one-upmanship? Is there any sense in which any "one" of us could claim to be the "one," "true," "church"? Rome is running very close to that position, if it hasn't already hit the bull's-eye! To be sure, there are those who claim exclusive right to call themselves the "only" church, or the "true" church. There are certainly those who claim that their understanding of the Bible is the only true interpretation. We seem to be in an age where the need to be "right" trumps the need to be compassionate. And there are now a host of so called "nondenominational" churches, which are just each one yet another denomination of a singular sort... each of which claims a corner on the "Truth" or an issue that makes them "True."
Is this what we really want? Do we want to be an "issue-based" Christianity? If we do, we run the risk of dividing the Body of Christ. If our Christianity is based on our view of a particular issue such as abortion, sexual orientation, the death penalty, the ordination of women, liberation theology, and the like, we run the risk of alienating sincere people of faith. All we manage in "issue-based" Christianity is divisiveness.
There is another way.
Perhaps if we put our faith in Jesus, who is the perfect image of God, we may very well find a much more satisfying road to unity. Our unity must be based in Christ, or we will have no unity at all. Paul makes clear that Jesus is the head of the church in this week's reading from the letter to the Colossians. In sublime language Paul reflects the person of Christ to the church: "Christ Jesus is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation; for in him all things in heaven and on earth were created" (vv. 15-16a) and again, "For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, and through him God was pleased to reconcile to himself all things" (vv. 19-20a).
The ministry of reconciliation then seems somewhat close to the heart of God. It needs to be near to the heart of God's church as well. It makes no sense whatever to me to engage in some kind of denominational competition to see who makes muster when it comes to some kind of competition around orthodoxy, catholicity, apostolicity, biblical absolutism, or any other kind of standard other than the standard of Jesus himself.
How I wish we could get past that. Jesus is not very likely to check our denominational membership cards when it comes time for us to be presented before the great judgment seat of Christ.
Jesus is more likely to inquire how we treated the least of these: the hungry, the oppressed, the imprisoned, the homeless, the outcast. Jesus is likely to want to know whether our hearts were on fire for the poor, the leprous, the lame, the brokenhearted, the widow, the orphan, the refugee from war, plague, and pestilence.
Jesus will want to know if we were listening when he spoke to us. There is a part of me that is like Mary and another that is like Martha. Part of me wants to be like Mary and sit at the foot of Jesus and listen to him. That indeed is the better part. There is another part of me that is very busy in this workaday world. I never have time to sit at the foot of Jesus. I never seem to have time to listen to the voice of God. I don't even seem to have time to listen to my own heart and give myself time to catch up with who I am or who I am becoming.
The story of Mary and Martha is not the story of two women, one of whom gets to endulge in idle chatter about speculative theology while the other gets to do the grunt work at the kitchen sink. No, this story is about us -- each of us, and whether we will listen to Jesus or whether we will excuse ourselves from our greater responsibilities because we are too busy to listen.
If I did listen to Jesus, then I would hear the voices of my brothers and sisters crying out for love and care in a world torn with grief, warfare, and poverty. That is the issue. That is the only issue -- the people of Jesus looking for someone to care. When Jesus spoke, that is what he wanted us to hear.
All the other issues of denominational affiliation, doctrinal correction, biblical understanding, as important as they are, pale in comparison to the urgent call to ministry on behalf of those in need.
It is no wonder so many turn away from the church. While we fuss about "in-house issues" of denominational bias or controversy, the rest of the world turns from one dangerous corner to another. We are a world at war. We are a people set on the edge of terror. And while injustice, poverty, and disparity stare us in the face, we go on mindlessly busy.
We need to listen to Jesus for the sake of the world. The only true church is the church that listens to the voice of Jesus, who is All in All. Jesus is Catholic, Protestant, Evangelical, Liberal, Conservative, Orthodox, and yes, Jewish, Arab, Muslim, Hindu, and Buddhist. Jesus is All in All. And in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell!
ILLUSTRATIONS
This story has made the rounds in several different versions. This version takes place in a tiny, picture-postcard New England village -- a town where, it so happens, the actor Paul Newman is fond of vacationing.
It seems a woman and her family were vacationing in this seaside town. Late one Saturday morning, the woman felt a craving for a double-dip chocolate ice-cream cone, so she stopped by the local café and general store.
As she walked in, she noticed there was only one other customer in the place: a man in jeans and a t-shirt, sitting at the counter having a donut and coffee. The woman idly glanced his way, then she did a double-take. One further look at those baby-blue eyes confirmed it: her fellow customer was none other than Paul Newman!
Newman noticed her presence, and nodded graciously in her direction. Then he went back to his coffee. "He just wants his privacy," the woman thought to herself. So she resolved not to make any sort of fuss -- to simply order her ice cream and pretend there wasn't a famous movie star sitting a few feet away.
That's exactly what she did (although -- as she later told the tale -- her heart was thumping the whole time and her hands felt clammy). Calmly, she watched the clerk scoop out her ice cream and pack it into the cone, never looking once in Newman's direction. Then she handed over the money, accepted the ice-cream cone and the change, and headed out the door without even a sideward glance. As the screen door slammed shut, she congratulated herself on how coolly she'd handled the whole situation -- as though running into a movie star were an everyday occurrence in her life.
When the woman reached her car, she realized something was not right. Something was... missing. In one hand she held her change, but her other hand was empty. "Now where's my double-dip chocolate ice-cream cone?" she asked herself. "Could I have left it in the store?"
Feeling a bit embarrassed, she went back in -- hoping she'd see the cone still in the clerk's hand, or maybe in one of those holders on the counter. But no. She looked to the left, and she looked to the right: no sign of the prodigal ice-cream cone. She was just about to ask the clerk if he remembered handing it to her, when she happened to glance over in Paul Newman's direction. This time, those blue eyes met hers; they sparkled with amusement.
He shot her his trademark pearly-white grin as he said, "You put it in your purse!"
Now there's a woman who was distracted!
***
There is a well-known Zen Buddhist fable about a woman who's seeking the meaning of life. So eager is this woman to find life's meaning that she sells all she has and sets off on a worldwide spiritual quest.
In a distant land, she hears rumors of one who knows the answer: an old man who lives in the mountains. Finally, in a small hut in the Himalayas, she finds him. She knocks on the door of his hut. He opens it and invites her in for tea. "No, thank you," she says. "I haven't come for tea. I'm seeking the meaning of life."
"You must have tea," the teacher says, and motions her to sit down.
All the time the water is boiling the woman talks. The words tumble out of her mouth, rapid-fire. Having sought the wise teacher for so long, she now wants him to know everything about her. She tells him all her worries and doubts and anxieties, all the troubling thoughts that have kept her from sleeping at night. All the while, the teacher sits quietly, making the tea.
When it has reached the proper strength, he begins to pour her a cup; but she's oblivious to what he's doing. He keeps pouring until the cup is full, then he pours some more. The woman looks down. She notices her cup is overflowing, that the tea is running to the edge of the table and dripping onto the floor. "Stop!" she exclaims. "There's no more room!"
"Just so," says the teacher. "You come here wanting something from me, but what am I to do? There is no more room in your cup. Come back when it is empty, and then we will talk."
The woman never did have to return to the master -- for in the simple act of pouring her a cup of tea, he had taught her all she needed to know.
***
Bruce Wilson is an Anglican theologian from Australia. He has a little experiment he likes to try out on groups when he's asked to give a lecture. "First," he says, "I ask people to say what comes immediately to their minds when they are asked to think of someone who is very religious."
Wilson continues: "The answers I receive most often are 'churchy,' 'rigid,' 'pious,' 'otherworldly,' 'judgmental,' 'Bible-basher'...
"The next part of the exercise," he goes on, "is to ask people... the first thing that comes into their minds when they think of someone who could be described as very human." Try it -- what adjectives present themselves when I ask you to think of someone who's deeply human?
Here's what Wilson typically gets: "Once again the answers I receive are always similar. People say 'caring,' 'understanding,' 'warm,' 'kind,' 'forgiving,' 'helpful.' "
Not a very flattering comparison for us church folk, is it? It's like Dana Carvey's old comic character "the Church Lady." What makes the Church Lady so funny is the stereotype she embodies: rigid, judgmental, unforgiving -- even nasty.
In his novel Elmer Gantry, Sinclair Lewis tells how the young evangelist met plenty of this sort of Christian: "solemn and whiskery persons whose only pleasure aside from not doing agreeable things was keeping others from doing them." [Panther, 1927, 1961, p. 319]
Now, here's what's really surprising. Bruce Wilson says he's tried this little two-question quiz on all kinds of groups, both within the church and in completely secular settings. The answers he gets -- comparing those who are "very religious" to those who are "very human" -- are pretty much the same whether his audience is composed of church folk or of those who rarely darken the door of the sanctuary.
The church people, he says -- the ones you'd expect to be comfortable with the label "very religious" -- typically express surprise when we hear this. If anything, we who profess to follow Jesus Christ ought to fit the mold of being deeply human: kindly, caring, understanding. So why do we, just as much as those outside the church, tend to link judgmentalism with being "very religious"?
-- cited by Joseph G. Donders in Risen Life: Healing a Broken World (Orbis, 1990), p. 92
***
As God's creations, we are fashioned uniquely,
Each endowed with individuality of body, mind, and spirit
To worship freely the One who has given us life.
Each of us has abilities; each seeks fulfillment and wholeness.
Each of us has disabilities; each knows isolation and incompleteness.
Seeking shelter from the vulnerability we all share,
Claiming our promised place in God's Household of Faith,
We are transformed by invitation, affirmation, and love.
In grateful response, we...
Worship and serve God, the source of hope and joy;
Celebrate and serve one another, rejoicing in our diversity;
Transform and serve the world, until we become a Community
which reflects God's Oneness and Peace.
Let the House of God be open to all who would enter and worship.
-- "Affirmation" from That All May Worship (National Organization on Disability)
***
This We Believe!
* If there are barriers of attitude, communication, or architecture for anyone, the foundation of the House of God is weakened for all.
* Every person is created by God, each is loved by God, and none should be diminished by another, even by unintentional actions or words.
* God may see "wholeness of spirit" where our imperfect vision may see only "brokenness of body or mind."
* Rather than being a burden, shared need and vulnerability should be recognized as the "glue" of a supportive community.
* Under distracting surface traits, there is the essential person created by God.
* Fortunately, God does not use intelligence or "rate of growth" to measure faith. God knows our abilities and our potential. God longs for us to respond lovingly with all that we are, and to be all that we can be.
* God frequently works through the unexpected! We need to listen, persevere in spite of inconvenience, and remain open to creative solutions and opportunities.
-- That All May Worship
***
When I was growing up, the language of those who were different was demeaning and degrading. Sadly, even though I was often labeled "four eyes" because of wearing glasses, I can remember using words like "dummy," "retard," "gimp," and "moron" in talking about others. When I went to college, a dormmate was blind and another classmate was in a wheelchair, and I began to become more sensitized to the needs and reality of what were then called the "handicapped." I can remember the conversations in seminary about the "correct" language of speaking about such persons -- to talk of people with disabilities rather than disabled people, thus not putting the label before the person. (Of course, when I think back on that education, there was little conversation about how to speak with others, more about how to speak to or about them!)
Then, we adopted a little boy who turned out to have profound developmental delays, to be mentally retarded, to have a host of diagnoses which became the labels which were invisibly tattooed by society on his personhood. Indeed, if someone asked, he could claim his name was "Legion." But being with him 24/7, seeing his pain as he became more and more aware of his different-ness from his peers, longing to magically ease the pain (I felt, if he did not) as his friends progressed mentally and physically while he remained 5 years old no matter what his birthday, my heart breaking as he raged with emotions which came from some deep place within him that he could not understand or control, I began to see the brokenness of all of us reflected in and through his life.
And then, in a way I can still not put into words, I began to learn from Teddy. I began to learn that pain he had (and expressed) was the same pain I have when people reject and hurt me, but I am too "normal" to express. I began to learn that the feelings he had of his life being out of control are the same feelings that a single mother has, or the father who has lost his job, or the grandmother who has lost her husband of 55 years. I began to learn that we all have some deep place within us that we cannot understand or control, but can only reveal to those we really trust and know love us.
And Teddy taught me that no matter how broken we are, there is always someone we can reach out to and help. He taught me that no matter what pain we may feel, there is always someone whom we can make feel better, by our touch, by our smile, by our presence. He taught me that no matter how many times we may be rejected and hurt by those around us, there is always that One who accepts for who we are, because we are all of us, we are each of us, made in God's beloved and loving image.
It was from Teddy that I learned there are no handicapped, there are no persons with disabilities, there are no deaf or dumb or lame or damaged. There are only persons who are differently gifted, as deeply and richly and profoundly as he is. And all they want to do is share their gifts, just like the rest of us do.
-- Thom Shuman
***
Mary was sitting at Jesus' feet, listening to him, because his teachings fulfilled her soul's deepest needs. She wanted to be with him as much as she could.
Blaise Pascal (1623-1662), the French mathematician, physicist, and philosopher of religion, had one of the most brilliant minds ever -- at 16 he wrote a treatise on conic sections and laid the foundation for the calculating machine. Pascal was dissatisfied with life until he found in Jesus the answer to all his deepest needs.
When Pascal died at age 39, they found words in a pendant he wore over his heart: "Joy! Peace! I forget the world and everything but God. I submit myself absolutely to Christ my Redeemer."
-- E. Stanley Jones, The Christ of Every Road (Abingdon, 1930), p. 237;
William H. Gentz, editor, The Dictionary of Bible and Religion (Abingdon, 1986), pp. 778-779
***
Mary, as she sat listening to Jesus, knew the fulfillment of her deepest hopes. Oswald Chambers writes in My Utmost for His Highest:
"Joy means the perfect fulfillment of that for which I was created and regenerated. The joy our Lord had lay in doing what the Father sent Him to do, and He says, 'As My Father hath sent Me, even so am I sending you.' In order to do this we must have companied with Jesus."
As Chambers and Mary found, we all need to spend time at Jesus' feet.
***
Here's a story about another Mary:
Old Mary had been at the country store. She had a long distance to go, and therefore she bought as much as she could carry. Now she had it in a sack on her back and was making her way home with great care.
Along came her neighbor. He had a horse and was driving. "You have a great deal to carry, Mary; get in and I'll give you a ride," said the friendly man.
Mary accepted the invitation, thanked him very much, and climbed into the back seat of the wagon. Her neighbor sat in the seat in front of her and drove. During the course of their conversation the man turned around to see if Mary was sitting comfortably. "But my dear Mary, are you sitting there with the sack on your back?" he inquired.
"Oh," she replied, "it is enough that you are giving me a ride; I can at least carry the sack myself."
Our Mary in this week's text from the gospel of Luke had put down her sack, that is, had put down her burdens, at the feet of the Lord, and Jesus invites us to do the same.
-- O. Hallesby, God's Word for Today (Augsburg, 2000), p. 67
WORSHIP RESOURCES
by Thom M. Shuman
Call to Worship
Leader: God has called us to this place.
What do you see?
People: We see people who model for us God's joyous embrace of all people.
Leader: God has brought us to this place.
What do you hear?
People: We hear God's hope that we are able to see each person
as our sister or brother.
Leader: God has challenged us to open our lives and hearts to others.
What will you do?
People: We will do only one thing: welcome everyone in God's name!
Prayer of the Day (and Our Lord's Prayer)
You would open our eyes to a world which would sell the poor for the price of an SUV,
or trade the needy for a pair of Guccis,
or haul the weak into Judge Judy's court.
So come, God of Justice,
to make us as vocal as Amos.
You watch us as we fill our days with endless work;
as we keep a list of all our worries, never marking one off;
as we get easily distracted by others' inaction.
So come, Creation's Oldest Child,
to make us as still as Mary.
You take notice of how quickly we can overlook
those who hunger for their empty hearts to be filled;
those who long for a family to welcome them;
those who thirst for that relationship which will revive their souls.
So come, Reconciling Love,
to make us as welcoming as Martha.
God in Community, Holy in One,
come to make us your people,
even as we pray as Jesus has taught us,
Our Father . . .
Call to Reconciliation
They are there in the Bible:
men and women who are as weak, as foolish, as prone to sin as we are.
Every page, every story reveals to us our brokenness.
Yet every page, every story tells us of One who longs to make us whole.
Let us confess our sins,
and clear the way for God's reconciling love to work within us.
Please join me as we pray . . .
(Unison) Prayer of Confession
In the mirror we call scripture, Revealing God,
we see ourselves for who we are and are not.
We whine about those who are not doing what we think they should,
and ignore our failings.
We speak words which nibble away at the life in our family and friends.
We step over the poor on our way to get more and more, ignoring their needs.
Forgive us, Reconciling Love.
Sit us down at Jesus' feet, so we may learn the balanced life you intend for us.
Then, and only then, we can set aside our grudges, to offer our gifts to our neighbors;
we can stop licking at our hurts, to bring healing to others;
we can reach out and welcome our sisters and brothers,
even as we have been welcomed into your heart through Jesus Christ,
our Lord and Savior.
(silent prayers may be offered)
Assurance of Pardon
Leader: Christ Jesus comes to reconcile us to God,
so we can be reconciled to one another.
Re-created in God's image, we are made whole.
People: When we are in Christ, everything becomes new.
Our past is just that -- our past!
Leader: Do you really believe this -- that your past is done, and you are a new person?
If so, go out and reflect it in your life.
People: Thanks be to God!
We will go forth and live as reconciled people. Amen.
CHILDREN'S SERMON
Who's number one?
Luke 10:38-42
Good morning! Once as Jesus was traveling around, he visited a family where there were two sisters named Mary and Martha. Of course, when you have guests in your home you usually feed them, so Martha went to the kitchen to fix dinner, but Mary sat down at the feet of Jesus and listened to him. Soon, Martha came out and complained to Jesus that she needed help in the kitchen, and she asked Jesus to tell Mary to come and help. What do you think about that? Was that the right thing to do? (Let them answer. Most will probably feel that it was only fair for Mary to help out.)
Well, it seems reasonable to us that she should have gone out to help, but Jesus didn't ask her to do that. He told Martha not to fret and worry about dinner and other things. He said that it was more important for Mary to sit and listen to him. What do you think he was trying to teach Martha by telling her that? (Let them answer. Some will feel that it was more important to listen to Jesus than to fix dinner.)
He was trying to show Martha that it is more important to listen to God than to do all the chores and duties in the world. He was telling Martha that it was important to get her priorities straight. Do you know what I mean by "priority"? (Let them answer, and explain "priority" to whatever degree necessary.)
Now, what about us? Do all of you feel that God is the highest priority in your life? (Let them answer.) I hope you do feel that God should be the highest priority in your life. Let's pray together.
Prayer: Dear God: Forgive us when we let so many things in this world have a higher priority than You. Please lead us to see that You are always number one in our lives. Amen.
* * * * * * * * * * * * *
The Immediate Word, July 22, 2007, issue.
Copyright 2007 by CSS Publishing Company, Inc., Lima, Ohio.
All rights reserved. Subscribers to The Immediate Word service may print and use this material as it was intended in sermons and in worship and classroom settings only. No additional permission is required from the publisher for such use by subscribers only. Inquiries should be addressed to permissions@csspub.com or to Permissions, CSS Publishing Company, Inc., 517 South Main Street, Lima, Ohio 45804.
Jesus: The One Thing
by Scott Suskovic
Luke 10:38-42; Colossians 1:15-28
THE WORLD
In a document released on July 10, the Vatican said that Christian denominations outside of the Roman Catholic Church were not full churches. In their view, the Orthodox Church came closest but suffered from a "wound" since they do not recognize the primacy of the pope. Protestants, however, are so profoundly wounded that "it is difficult to see how the title of 'Church' could possibly be attributed to them."
Who is the true Church and who is not?
At the same time, with the recent premiere of the latest movie -- and the eagerly anticipated release on July 21 of the seventh and final book in the series -- the adventures of Harry Potter are commanding the attention not only of the country but the world. While the plot and subplots get complicated, one underlying issue remains constant. At Hogwarts, there are true-blooded wizards and there are "mudbloods," students who do not have pure wizard blood on both sides of the family.
Who is the true Wizard and who is not?
In some churches today, there are certain requirements or characteristics that set a true Christian apart. For some, this means speaking in tongues, tithing, not drinking, not gambling, attending worship, volunteering, etc. What is the litmus test for your church?
Who is the true Christian and who is not?
We are good at drawing lines, aren't we? Scripture and even our history show that our tendency is to draw lines to determine who is in and who is out. And do you know where we each typically draw that line? Right in front of our own toes! Somehow we and those who look like us are just on this side of purity, righteousness, and truth. Amazing!
Scripture reveals a God who is a line-breaker. From the time that Abraham was blessed to be a blessing, to the great commission to go into all the world, our God breaks through the egocentric lines we draw to include those whom the world would deem profoundly wounded.
THE WORD
Luke 10 has been used too often against the altar guild, the church potluck committee, and the table set-up teams to show that the more contemplative members of the church who are devoted to prayer and Bible study are the true Christians. It is one more line we love to draw in the church.
Martha is distracted by many things. She is keeping score on how much she has done and how little her lazy sister has done. She has drawn the line -- and it is right in front of her toes. Those who help with all the work Martha deems important are on the inside. Those who simply sit and listen like Mary are clearly out.
Jesus, however, in his typical fashion of turning our criteria of acceptable and unacceptable people upside-down, removes that line by pointing out the good that Mary is doing. There is a line that should cause each one of us to pay close attention: "There is need of only one thing. Mary has chosen the better part, which will not be taken from her."
What is that one thing? Here is where we need to look beyond the lines we draw and focus on that one thing. What is that one thing that will outlast the meal and dirty dishes? What is that one thing that will survive the bickering between churches? What is that one thing that will determine whether or not that person is in or out?
That one thing has to be the object of Mary's devotion -- Jesus. And ironically enough, the line he drew separating the righteous from the unrighteous was so incredibly high that no one, not one, could pass -- for all have fallen short of the glory of God. He could have done it differently. Jesus could have done what we typically do -- draw that line at his toes, and anyone who falls short will be forever banned. But it is this same Jesus who drew the line so incredibly high who now comes to those profoundly wounded to forgive their sins and include those whom the world has excluded.
CRAFTING THE SERMON
It would be interesting to begin with your own denomination's definition of what defines the Church. Different traditions define those terms differently, but in mine we believe that the church is the gathering of believers where the Gospel is preached and the sacraments are rightly administered. Those traditions that are less sacramental may not agree. Next, bring that even closer to home. In your tradition, what determines whether or not a person is a Christian? What are the requirements in your church to be a member? (In my tradition, this is defined in our constitution regarding contributions and receiving the sacraments.) Whatever your "terms" are, compare them to Luke 10:42, where Jesus tells Martha that there is need of only one thing.
Now, what is that one thing?
Remember the story of Peter walking on water? Jesus coaxed him out of the boat until Peter stepped out in faith and stood on water, looking at Jesus. He did fine until he took his eyes off Jesus and focused on the wind and the waves. When he turned his attention away from Jesus, he then sunk.
When we take our eyes off Jesus, we become "worried and distracted by many things," like Martha. How has your church become distracted? How have you? This week's epistle text says: "He is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, so that he might come to have first place in everything" (Colossians 1:18). First place. Could he be that "one thing" that Mary found?
This is a Savior who delights in shattering the egocentric lines we draw to determine who is in and who is out. This Jesus ate with tax collectors and sinners. He made friends with prostitutes. He reached out to a Roman soldier. He asked that his guards might be forgiven. Why? Colossians gives us the answer again in verses 20-22:
"And through him, God was pleased to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, by making peace through the blood of his cross. And you who were once estranged and hostile in mind, doing evil deeds, he has now reconciled in his fleshly body through death, so as to present you holy and blameless and irreproachable before him."
We are distracted by so many things -- most of which don't amount to a hill of beans when that last trumpet sounds. These texts remind us to stop the distraction of drawing lines and focus on the one who broke the boundary of sin, death, and hell to include even the profoundly wounded like you.
ANOTHER VIEW
The Only True Church?
by Paul Bresnahan
When I was a youngster my best friend told me that he was upset. I asked him why, and he said that I was a nice enough guy and a great friend, but that I was not going to heaven. "Why?" said I. My friend told me I wasn't Catholic, so I couldn't go. Years later, when I worked in a warehouse in Toronto, a co-worker asked me if I was saved. I just don't think in those terms, so I said, "That's God's call, not mine." I think I failed that exam too. In the meantime, I went on to become a priest in the Episcopal Church.
There are all kinds of ideas "out there" about which is the "true church," or which television preacher has the "plain and simple truth" about what the Bible says. In many cases the plain and simple truth plays out a set of inclusion/exclusion exercises based on the speaker's understanding of the "plain and simple truth." For me, too many people I love fall outside the salvation circle in both the former and in the latter pronouncements.
And so Pope Benedict has now entered the dialogue. In the post-Vatican II world, many of us had hoped for more overtures to ecumenicity. Instead, we now find that many of us are with "defect" and cannot even be called "church" in the most proper sense of the word.
The reader may remember that last year, on September 12, 2006 to be exact, the pope said the following in Germany at the University of Regensburg: "Show me just what Muhammad brought that was new and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." The pope was referring to a passage that originally appeared in the Dialogue Held With a Certain Persian, the Worthy Mouterizes, in Anakara of Galatia, written in 1391. It was an expression of the views of the Byzantine emperor Manuel II Paleologus, one of the last Christian rulers before the fall of Constantinople to the Muslim Ottoman empire, on such issues as forced conversion, holy war, and the relationship between faith and reason. You may remember that the response from the Islamic world to the pope's remarks was instant and vigorous. The Vatican was forced to do quite a bit of backpedaling and "clarification."
In addition, after a number of impressive and magnanimous overtures to our sisters and brothers in Judaism, the revival of the Latin mass, with its unfortunate and somewhat intemperate prayer for the conversion of the Jews, has certainly raised more than a few theological eyebrows.
Now we have yet another statement that will cause no end of consternation within the Christian world. Pope Benedict has signed off on a statement observing that the Churches of the Reformation are "defective" since they do not have an episcopacy or a priesthood that arises out of the historic apostolic succession. The concluding paragraph is the most damaging part of the new statement: "These ecclesial Communities which, specifically because of the absence of the sacramental priesthood, have not preserved the genuine and integral substance of the Eucharistic Mystery cannot, according to Catholic doctrine, be called 'Churches' in the proper sense." That should provide plenty of grist for the mill for those charged with the responsibility of cultivating ecumenical relationships around the world. To say that this is a setback from Vatican II would be an understatement indeed.
How then do we respond? Do we get into the game of theological one-upmanship? Is there any sense in which any "one" of us could claim to be the "one," "true," "church"? Rome is running very close to that position, if it hasn't already hit the bull's-eye! To be sure, there are those who claim exclusive right to call themselves the "only" church, or the "true" church. There are certainly those who claim that their understanding of the Bible is the only true interpretation. We seem to be in an age where the need to be "right" trumps the need to be compassionate. And there are now a host of so called "nondenominational" churches, which are just each one yet another denomination of a singular sort... each of which claims a corner on the "Truth" or an issue that makes them "True."
Is this what we really want? Do we want to be an "issue-based" Christianity? If we do, we run the risk of dividing the Body of Christ. If our Christianity is based on our view of a particular issue such as abortion, sexual orientation, the death penalty, the ordination of women, liberation theology, and the like, we run the risk of alienating sincere people of faith. All we manage in "issue-based" Christianity is divisiveness.
There is another way.
Perhaps if we put our faith in Jesus, who is the perfect image of God, we may very well find a much more satisfying road to unity. Our unity must be based in Christ, or we will have no unity at all. Paul makes clear that Jesus is the head of the church in this week's reading from the letter to the Colossians. In sublime language Paul reflects the person of Christ to the church: "Christ Jesus is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation; for in him all things in heaven and on earth were created" (vv. 15-16a) and again, "For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, and through him God was pleased to reconcile to himself all things" (vv. 19-20a).
The ministry of reconciliation then seems somewhat close to the heart of God. It needs to be near to the heart of God's church as well. It makes no sense whatever to me to engage in some kind of denominational competition to see who makes muster when it comes to some kind of competition around orthodoxy, catholicity, apostolicity, biblical absolutism, or any other kind of standard other than the standard of Jesus himself.
How I wish we could get past that. Jesus is not very likely to check our denominational membership cards when it comes time for us to be presented before the great judgment seat of Christ.
Jesus is more likely to inquire how we treated the least of these: the hungry, the oppressed, the imprisoned, the homeless, the outcast. Jesus is likely to want to know whether our hearts were on fire for the poor, the leprous, the lame, the brokenhearted, the widow, the orphan, the refugee from war, plague, and pestilence.
Jesus will want to know if we were listening when he spoke to us. There is a part of me that is like Mary and another that is like Martha. Part of me wants to be like Mary and sit at the foot of Jesus and listen to him. That indeed is the better part. There is another part of me that is very busy in this workaday world. I never have time to sit at the foot of Jesus. I never seem to have time to listen to the voice of God. I don't even seem to have time to listen to my own heart and give myself time to catch up with who I am or who I am becoming.
The story of Mary and Martha is not the story of two women, one of whom gets to endulge in idle chatter about speculative theology while the other gets to do the grunt work at the kitchen sink. No, this story is about us -- each of us, and whether we will listen to Jesus or whether we will excuse ourselves from our greater responsibilities because we are too busy to listen.
If I did listen to Jesus, then I would hear the voices of my brothers and sisters crying out for love and care in a world torn with grief, warfare, and poverty. That is the issue. That is the only issue -- the people of Jesus looking for someone to care. When Jesus spoke, that is what he wanted us to hear.
All the other issues of denominational affiliation, doctrinal correction, biblical understanding, as important as they are, pale in comparison to the urgent call to ministry on behalf of those in need.
It is no wonder so many turn away from the church. While we fuss about "in-house issues" of denominational bias or controversy, the rest of the world turns from one dangerous corner to another. We are a world at war. We are a people set on the edge of terror. And while injustice, poverty, and disparity stare us in the face, we go on mindlessly busy.
We need to listen to Jesus for the sake of the world. The only true church is the church that listens to the voice of Jesus, who is All in All. Jesus is Catholic, Protestant, Evangelical, Liberal, Conservative, Orthodox, and yes, Jewish, Arab, Muslim, Hindu, and Buddhist. Jesus is All in All. And in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell!
ILLUSTRATIONS
This story has made the rounds in several different versions. This version takes place in a tiny, picture-postcard New England village -- a town where, it so happens, the actor Paul Newman is fond of vacationing.
It seems a woman and her family were vacationing in this seaside town. Late one Saturday morning, the woman felt a craving for a double-dip chocolate ice-cream cone, so she stopped by the local café and general store.
As she walked in, she noticed there was only one other customer in the place: a man in jeans and a t-shirt, sitting at the counter having a donut and coffee. The woman idly glanced his way, then she did a double-take. One further look at those baby-blue eyes confirmed it: her fellow customer was none other than Paul Newman!
Newman noticed her presence, and nodded graciously in her direction. Then he went back to his coffee. "He just wants his privacy," the woman thought to herself. So she resolved not to make any sort of fuss -- to simply order her ice cream and pretend there wasn't a famous movie star sitting a few feet away.
That's exactly what she did (although -- as she later told the tale -- her heart was thumping the whole time and her hands felt clammy). Calmly, she watched the clerk scoop out her ice cream and pack it into the cone, never looking once in Newman's direction. Then she handed over the money, accepted the ice-cream cone and the change, and headed out the door without even a sideward glance. As the screen door slammed shut, she congratulated herself on how coolly she'd handled the whole situation -- as though running into a movie star were an everyday occurrence in her life.
When the woman reached her car, she realized something was not right. Something was... missing. In one hand she held her change, but her other hand was empty. "Now where's my double-dip chocolate ice-cream cone?" she asked herself. "Could I have left it in the store?"
Feeling a bit embarrassed, she went back in -- hoping she'd see the cone still in the clerk's hand, or maybe in one of those holders on the counter. But no. She looked to the left, and she looked to the right: no sign of the prodigal ice-cream cone. She was just about to ask the clerk if he remembered handing it to her, when she happened to glance over in Paul Newman's direction. This time, those blue eyes met hers; they sparkled with amusement.
He shot her his trademark pearly-white grin as he said, "You put it in your purse!"
Now there's a woman who was distracted!
***
There is a well-known Zen Buddhist fable about a woman who's seeking the meaning of life. So eager is this woman to find life's meaning that she sells all she has and sets off on a worldwide spiritual quest.
In a distant land, she hears rumors of one who knows the answer: an old man who lives in the mountains. Finally, in a small hut in the Himalayas, she finds him. She knocks on the door of his hut. He opens it and invites her in for tea. "No, thank you," she says. "I haven't come for tea. I'm seeking the meaning of life."
"You must have tea," the teacher says, and motions her to sit down.
All the time the water is boiling the woman talks. The words tumble out of her mouth, rapid-fire. Having sought the wise teacher for so long, she now wants him to know everything about her. She tells him all her worries and doubts and anxieties, all the troubling thoughts that have kept her from sleeping at night. All the while, the teacher sits quietly, making the tea.
When it has reached the proper strength, he begins to pour her a cup; but she's oblivious to what he's doing. He keeps pouring until the cup is full, then he pours some more. The woman looks down. She notices her cup is overflowing, that the tea is running to the edge of the table and dripping onto the floor. "Stop!" she exclaims. "There's no more room!"
"Just so," says the teacher. "You come here wanting something from me, but what am I to do? There is no more room in your cup. Come back when it is empty, and then we will talk."
The woman never did have to return to the master -- for in the simple act of pouring her a cup of tea, he had taught her all she needed to know.
***
Bruce Wilson is an Anglican theologian from Australia. He has a little experiment he likes to try out on groups when he's asked to give a lecture. "First," he says, "I ask people to say what comes immediately to their minds when they are asked to think of someone who is very religious."
Wilson continues: "The answers I receive most often are 'churchy,' 'rigid,' 'pious,' 'otherworldly,' 'judgmental,' 'Bible-basher'...
"The next part of the exercise," he goes on, "is to ask people... the first thing that comes into their minds when they think of someone who could be described as very human." Try it -- what adjectives present themselves when I ask you to think of someone who's deeply human?
Here's what Wilson typically gets: "Once again the answers I receive are always similar. People say 'caring,' 'understanding,' 'warm,' 'kind,' 'forgiving,' 'helpful.' "
Not a very flattering comparison for us church folk, is it? It's like Dana Carvey's old comic character "the Church Lady." What makes the Church Lady so funny is the stereotype she embodies: rigid, judgmental, unforgiving -- even nasty.
In his novel Elmer Gantry, Sinclair Lewis tells how the young evangelist met plenty of this sort of Christian: "solemn and whiskery persons whose only pleasure aside from not doing agreeable things was keeping others from doing them." [Panther, 1927, 1961, p. 319]
Now, here's what's really surprising. Bruce Wilson says he's tried this little two-question quiz on all kinds of groups, both within the church and in completely secular settings. The answers he gets -- comparing those who are "very religious" to those who are "very human" -- are pretty much the same whether his audience is composed of church folk or of those who rarely darken the door of the sanctuary.
The church people, he says -- the ones you'd expect to be comfortable with the label "very religious" -- typically express surprise when we hear this. If anything, we who profess to follow Jesus Christ ought to fit the mold of being deeply human: kindly, caring, understanding. So why do we, just as much as those outside the church, tend to link judgmentalism with being "very religious"?
-- cited by Joseph G. Donders in Risen Life: Healing a Broken World (Orbis, 1990), p. 92
***
As God's creations, we are fashioned uniquely,
Each endowed with individuality of body, mind, and spirit
To worship freely the One who has given us life.
Each of us has abilities; each seeks fulfillment and wholeness.
Each of us has disabilities; each knows isolation and incompleteness.
Seeking shelter from the vulnerability we all share,
Claiming our promised place in God's Household of Faith,
We are transformed by invitation, affirmation, and love.
In grateful response, we...
Worship and serve God, the source of hope and joy;
Celebrate and serve one another, rejoicing in our diversity;
Transform and serve the world, until we become a Community
which reflects God's Oneness and Peace.
Let the House of God be open to all who would enter and worship.
-- "Affirmation" from That All May Worship (National Organization on Disability)
***
This We Believe!
* If there are barriers of attitude, communication, or architecture for anyone, the foundation of the House of God is weakened for all.
* Every person is created by God, each is loved by God, and none should be diminished by another, even by unintentional actions or words.
* God may see "wholeness of spirit" where our imperfect vision may see only "brokenness of body or mind."
* Rather than being a burden, shared need and vulnerability should be recognized as the "glue" of a supportive community.
* Under distracting surface traits, there is the essential person created by God.
* Fortunately, God does not use intelligence or "rate of growth" to measure faith. God knows our abilities and our potential. God longs for us to respond lovingly with all that we are, and to be all that we can be.
* God frequently works through the unexpected! We need to listen, persevere in spite of inconvenience, and remain open to creative solutions and opportunities.
-- That All May Worship
***
When I was growing up, the language of those who were different was demeaning and degrading. Sadly, even though I was often labeled "four eyes" because of wearing glasses, I can remember using words like "dummy," "retard," "gimp," and "moron" in talking about others. When I went to college, a dormmate was blind and another classmate was in a wheelchair, and I began to become more sensitized to the needs and reality of what were then called the "handicapped." I can remember the conversations in seminary about the "correct" language of speaking about such persons -- to talk of people with disabilities rather than disabled people, thus not putting the label before the person. (Of course, when I think back on that education, there was little conversation about how to speak with others, more about how to speak to or about them!)
Then, we adopted a little boy who turned out to have profound developmental delays, to be mentally retarded, to have a host of diagnoses which became the labels which were invisibly tattooed by society on his personhood. Indeed, if someone asked, he could claim his name was "Legion." But being with him 24/7, seeing his pain as he became more and more aware of his different-ness from his peers, longing to magically ease the pain (I felt, if he did not) as his friends progressed mentally and physically while he remained 5 years old no matter what his birthday, my heart breaking as he raged with emotions which came from some deep place within him that he could not understand or control, I began to see the brokenness of all of us reflected in and through his life.
And then, in a way I can still not put into words, I began to learn from Teddy. I began to learn that pain he had (and expressed) was the same pain I have when people reject and hurt me, but I am too "normal" to express. I began to learn that the feelings he had of his life being out of control are the same feelings that a single mother has, or the father who has lost his job, or the grandmother who has lost her husband of 55 years. I began to learn that we all have some deep place within us that we cannot understand or control, but can only reveal to those we really trust and know love us.
And Teddy taught me that no matter how broken we are, there is always someone we can reach out to and help. He taught me that no matter what pain we may feel, there is always someone whom we can make feel better, by our touch, by our smile, by our presence. He taught me that no matter how many times we may be rejected and hurt by those around us, there is always that One who accepts for who we are, because we are all of us, we are each of us, made in God's beloved and loving image.
It was from Teddy that I learned there are no handicapped, there are no persons with disabilities, there are no deaf or dumb or lame or damaged. There are only persons who are differently gifted, as deeply and richly and profoundly as he is. And all they want to do is share their gifts, just like the rest of us do.
-- Thom Shuman
***
Mary was sitting at Jesus' feet, listening to him, because his teachings fulfilled her soul's deepest needs. She wanted to be with him as much as she could.
Blaise Pascal (1623-1662), the French mathematician, physicist, and philosopher of religion, had one of the most brilliant minds ever -- at 16 he wrote a treatise on conic sections and laid the foundation for the calculating machine. Pascal was dissatisfied with life until he found in Jesus the answer to all his deepest needs.
When Pascal died at age 39, they found words in a pendant he wore over his heart: "Joy! Peace! I forget the world and everything but God. I submit myself absolutely to Christ my Redeemer."
-- E. Stanley Jones, The Christ of Every Road (Abingdon, 1930), p. 237;
William H. Gentz, editor, The Dictionary of Bible and Religion (Abingdon, 1986), pp. 778-779
***
Mary, as she sat listening to Jesus, knew the fulfillment of her deepest hopes. Oswald Chambers writes in My Utmost for His Highest:
"Joy means the perfect fulfillment of that for which I was created and regenerated. The joy our Lord had lay in doing what the Father sent Him to do, and He says, 'As My Father hath sent Me, even so am I sending you.' In order to do this we must have companied with Jesus."
As Chambers and Mary found, we all need to spend time at Jesus' feet.
***
Here's a story about another Mary:
Old Mary had been at the country store. She had a long distance to go, and therefore she bought as much as she could carry. Now she had it in a sack on her back and was making her way home with great care.
Along came her neighbor. He had a horse and was driving. "You have a great deal to carry, Mary; get in and I'll give you a ride," said the friendly man.
Mary accepted the invitation, thanked him very much, and climbed into the back seat of the wagon. Her neighbor sat in the seat in front of her and drove. During the course of their conversation the man turned around to see if Mary was sitting comfortably. "But my dear Mary, are you sitting there with the sack on your back?" he inquired.
"Oh," she replied, "it is enough that you are giving me a ride; I can at least carry the sack myself."
Our Mary in this week's text from the gospel of Luke had put down her sack, that is, had put down her burdens, at the feet of the Lord, and Jesus invites us to do the same.
-- O. Hallesby, God's Word for Today (Augsburg, 2000), p. 67
WORSHIP RESOURCES
by Thom M. Shuman
Call to Worship
Leader: God has called us to this place.
What do you see?
People: We see people who model for us God's joyous embrace of all people.
Leader: God has brought us to this place.
What do you hear?
People: We hear God's hope that we are able to see each person
as our sister or brother.
Leader: God has challenged us to open our lives and hearts to others.
What will you do?
People: We will do only one thing: welcome everyone in God's name!
Prayer of the Day (and Our Lord's Prayer)
You would open our eyes to a world which would sell the poor for the price of an SUV,
or trade the needy for a pair of Guccis,
or haul the weak into Judge Judy's court.
So come, God of Justice,
to make us as vocal as Amos.
You watch us as we fill our days with endless work;
as we keep a list of all our worries, never marking one off;
as we get easily distracted by others' inaction.
So come, Creation's Oldest Child,
to make us as still as Mary.
You take notice of how quickly we can overlook
those who hunger for their empty hearts to be filled;
those who long for a family to welcome them;
those who thirst for that relationship which will revive their souls.
So come, Reconciling Love,
to make us as welcoming as Martha.
God in Community, Holy in One,
come to make us your people,
even as we pray as Jesus has taught us,
Our Father . . .
Call to Reconciliation
They are there in the Bible:
men and women who are as weak, as foolish, as prone to sin as we are.
Every page, every story reveals to us our brokenness.
Yet every page, every story tells us of One who longs to make us whole.
Let us confess our sins,
and clear the way for God's reconciling love to work within us.
Please join me as we pray . . .
(Unison) Prayer of Confession
In the mirror we call scripture, Revealing God,
we see ourselves for who we are and are not.
We whine about those who are not doing what we think they should,
and ignore our failings.
We speak words which nibble away at the life in our family and friends.
We step over the poor on our way to get more and more, ignoring their needs.
Forgive us, Reconciling Love.
Sit us down at Jesus' feet, so we may learn the balanced life you intend for us.
Then, and only then, we can set aside our grudges, to offer our gifts to our neighbors;
we can stop licking at our hurts, to bring healing to others;
we can reach out and welcome our sisters and brothers,
even as we have been welcomed into your heart through Jesus Christ,
our Lord and Savior.
(silent prayers may be offered)
Assurance of Pardon
Leader: Christ Jesus comes to reconcile us to God,
so we can be reconciled to one another.
Re-created in God's image, we are made whole.
People: When we are in Christ, everything becomes new.
Our past is just that -- our past!
Leader: Do you really believe this -- that your past is done, and you are a new person?
If so, go out and reflect it in your life.
People: Thanks be to God!
We will go forth and live as reconciled people. Amen.
CHILDREN'S SERMON
Who's number one?
Luke 10:38-42
Good morning! Once as Jesus was traveling around, he visited a family where there were two sisters named Mary and Martha. Of course, when you have guests in your home you usually feed them, so Martha went to the kitchen to fix dinner, but Mary sat down at the feet of Jesus and listened to him. Soon, Martha came out and complained to Jesus that she needed help in the kitchen, and she asked Jesus to tell Mary to come and help. What do you think about that? Was that the right thing to do? (Let them answer. Most will probably feel that it was only fair for Mary to help out.)
Well, it seems reasonable to us that she should have gone out to help, but Jesus didn't ask her to do that. He told Martha not to fret and worry about dinner and other things. He said that it was more important for Mary to sit and listen to him. What do you think he was trying to teach Martha by telling her that? (Let them answer. Some will feel that it was more important to listen to Jesus than to fix dinner.)
He was trying to show Martha that it is more important to listen to God than to do all the chores and duties in the world. He was telling Martha that it was important to get her priorities straight. Do you know what I mean by "priority"? (Let them answer, and explain "priority" to whatever degree necessary.)
Now, what about us? Do all of you feel that God is the highest priority in your life? (Let them answer.) I hope you do feel that God should be the highest priority in your life. Let's pray together.
Prayer: Dear God: Forgive us when we let so many things in this world have a higher priority than You. Please lead us to see that You are always number one in our lives. Amen.
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The Immediate Word, July 22, 2007, issue.
Copyright 2007 by CSS Publishing Company, Inc., Lima, Ohio.
All rights reserved. Subscribers to The Immediate Word service may print and use this material as it was intended in sermons and in worship and classroom settings only. No additional permission is required from the publisher for such use by subscribers only. Inquiries should be addressed to permissions@csspub.com or to Permissions, CSS Publishing Company, Inc., 517 South Main Street, Lima, Ohio 45804.
