Listen up!

July 17, 2016   Pentecost 9                           Luke 10:38-42

It feels like lots of things are unsettled these days.  Perhaps most obvious are the violence and shootings: mass shootings, police shooting, police being shot.  There are terrorist acts throughout the world.  We don’t hear about most of these because the violence closer to home consumes all of the news.  Then there’s the elections coming up.  I’ve never heard so much anger, fear, discontent and disappointment in an election season.  No one seems to really like any of the presidential candidates, and we’ll have to see how the races for the House and Senate shape up as time goes by.

I spent last week with colleagues at confirmation camp, all of us mulling over what to do about all of this.  How do you respond?  You can’t ignore it, but what’s the point of bringing it up –especially in worship- if all you’re going to do is talk about it?  I think we’ve all been part of discussions where we grumble and complain about things.  We “solve the world’s problems” but don’t ever do anything about it.

Perhaps we could ignore it all, bury our heads in the sand and hope it goes away.  After all, that normally works.  As Americans living in the suburbs of western New York when was the last time something really earth shattering happened to us?  It’s been a long time.  We’re known for having major snow falls in the winter, but we have an infrastructure that clears the snow away within hours of a big storm.  Life is back to normal fast.

We are privileged.  Maybe we feel guilty about that.  Maybe we should sell all that we have and give the money to the poor.  Maybe we should move to some third world place and devote ourselves to helping out first hand.

I see our gospel reading with Martha and Mary giving us some useful advice.  You probably know the story well.  On his journey toward Jerusalem Jesus is invited into the home of Martha and Mary.  Martha is busy being a good hostess.  She’s making sure the place is clean and tidy.  She’s making sure the party snacks are out, and that they don’t run out.  She’s cooking an elaborate dinner to honor Jesus as a great guest.  There’s a million and one things that could go wrong.  She’s anxious.  It’s all coming together okay but it’s only because she’s able to stay one step ahead.

Meanwhile her sister Mary is sitting at Jesus feet listening.  Apparently she could care less about hospitality.  She could care less about creating the right appearances for their honored guests.  She doesn’t care what impression Jesus takes away with him from their house. 

I shouldn’t judge us, but I suspect that if most of us were forced to choose who we connect with most, Martha or Mary, we’d choose Martha.  We know the value of hard work and discipline.  We know how to make good decisions.  We are responsible.  We are dependable.  And we reap the rewards of our hard work.  We do live in safe communities.  We enjoy stability.  We earn wages for our hard work and from our disciplined investments.

Isn’t this the Protestant work ethic?  Get a good well rounded education, work hard, contribute to society to make the world a better place.  Then you earn a decent living and you try to set an example for others, for this is how God wants us to live.  Right?

So why doesn’t Jesus praise Martha and tell Mary to get her lazy bones to work and be constructive?  Should we quit all our responsible productive things and just lay about doing nothing?  After all, of what value is Mary when she’s sitting at Jesus’ feet listening?  It has all the value of the world.

Martha is bound by social expectations and righteous appearances.  Mary is embracing a once in a lifetime opportunity – to sit at the feet of Jesus – God incarnate – and be taught first hand like a beloved disciple.  Mary’s action of sitting at the feet of Jesus is the act of a disciple listening to his or her master.

There is no such thing as a one-size-fits-all answer.  Sometimes the right answer today is the wrong answer tomorrow.  While one plus one always equals two, most things in the world aren’t so simple.  Timing plays a big part.  Indeed there is plenty of time for hard work and discipline.  But there is also a time for listening.  Mary was listening.  The time for hard work would come later.  Martha wasn’t listening.  She was working hard.  And when the time for hard work came later, would she know how to work?  No.  She wouldn’t.  Because she hadn’t listened she would keep doing the same hard work over and over again, whether it was relevant or not.

When I apply Martha and Mary to our lives and our society’s situation today I think we really do need to take the role of Mary.  That does not mean we become lazy and do nothing.  But it does mean that we need to prioritize our lives so that we give ourselves time to listen; really listen, not just a quick surface listening.

I think many people pray to God about things.  Then they wait a few seconds or a few minutes, or maybe a few days for a reply; but they hear nothing.  Then they give up.  They either pray about something else, or something else becomes more important.  Prayer can become one fruitless frustration after another.  Sometimes I think the lives of “successful” Americans are just like Martha’s – so busy about the seemingly important tasks of life that they don’t really take time to listen.  They don’t really realize that yesterday’s answers don’t fit today’s problems.  And because they don’t listen they keep trying to fix today’s problems with yesterday’s solutions.  When it doesn’t work they try harder, and harder, and harder.  Eventually they burn out.

I believe everyone is capable of working hard – even to great exhausting – without burning out, as long as there is the satisfaction of having a significant impact for their work.  But if there is no significant impact burn out comes quickly.  Martha was heading for burnout if she was going to be a disciple of Jesus.  In Christ something new was happening.  It was time to listen and listen well because old assumptions were about to become irrelevant.

Yes, it is a time for listening, for God is active and God is also doing something new.  But unlike a prayer that expects a quick answer and then gets frustrated when it isn’t there, this listening can take a long time – or perhaps it has to become a way of life.

It is a time to listen to create new models for being in the world and for being the church.  I can’t speak with authority on how our society should make shifts.  I’ll leave that to the social scientists and local politicians.  I can speak with some substance on shifts the church should make.

Like Martha our understandings of things like worship, Sunday school, Bible studies, committee structures and the whole deal are based on models handed to us from generations past; just like Martha’s understanding of how to be a good hostess to an honored religious guest.  It is tempting and very easy to keep doing those things harder and harder because they were the answers yesterday.  But what if God is doing a new thing?

Ultimately the future is secure.  The future is God’s and we are being unavoidably dragged towards it.  There is nothing to fear in it, because it is sure to be good.  Yet we do fear what might come.  We have to listen.  Like Mary we need to set aside what we think we know and always listen and be open to what we hear.

We need to be honest with ourselves.  Current ways of doing worship are not widely effective or appealing.  That’s not just us that’s virtually all churches.  I’m not talking about changes to things like music style or the order of the liturgy.  Those are surface tweaks.  I mean deeper things.

Similarly I’ve watched our Sunday school program flourish with new ideas and fresh energy.  But I’ve also watched teachers struggle.  Attendance drops.  People burn out.  We need to listen to what the Spirit is calling us to.  Personally I think the whole way many people understand their faith and the way they express it in church is based on the past.  That is not necessarily bad, but ultimately we need to be at the feet of our Lord and listen, rather than being in the kitchen without our Lord and working ever harder on old ways.  Ultimately someone does have to cook.  Ultimately someone does have to clean.  Someone needs to see to the tasks of hospitality and welcoming.  But those tasks must be done with listening.  That is the only way they will ever stay effective.

Let us listen every day to our Lord.  For ages we could rely on the past to keep us effective in the future.  But as Jesus said, “No one who puts a hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom of heaven,” so it is with the work of the kingdom today.  We look forward to God’s future.  Let that guide us.  Listen for it all the time, and then respond to it as God inspires us.  Ultimately God’s will is going to be accomplished.  Let us be able to rejoice in participating in it, rather than missing it because we could not, or would not, hear.