Martha and Mary - hospitality and the better portion

Scripture: Amos 8:1-12 and Psalm 52  •  Genesis 18:1-10a and Psalm 15  •  Colossians 1:15-28  • Luke 10:38-42

This week we learn about God's hospitality from the Genesis account of Abraham's hospitality to the three men and the blessed news of a child to be born, to the story of Mary and Martha's hospitality to Jesus. While Martha diligently worked to make Jesus comfortable, Jesus tells her Mary has chosen the "better part." What did Jesus mean?

In "Sir, please do not go beyond your servant," John W. Martens says that Paul, in his letter to the Colossians,  tells us that the greatest gift of hospitality any of us can offer is to invite all to participate in the welcoming of Jesus as his servants, in order "to make the Word of God fully known, the mystery that has been hidden throughout the ages and generation, but has now been revealed to his saints."

In "Watching Til the Ego Yields," Peter Woods challenges us to go beyond artificial and superficial hospitality, and helps us get beyond our egos, in order to invite the Christ into our lives, like Mary, so that we might share his gift of eternal life, love and forgiveness with

others.

In "Living with Martha," The Rev. Stephanie Frey turns the tables on us , so to speak, as Jesus often does, and helps us see past our own agendas, even when we think we are "doing the Lord's work." We are called to realize that Jesus, not us, is the host. What is the significance of that?

Read Debie Thomas' "Only One Thing," as she wrestles with the text and values in Martha's hospitality work, and Martha sitting at Jesus feet, listening. She says "I wonder if we can hear Jesus’s words to Martha, not as a criticism, but as an invitation.  Not as a rebuke, but as a soothing balm.  Jesus knows that we ache to be whole.  Jesus knows that we place brutal and devastating expectations on ourselves.  Jesus knows that our resentments, like Martha’s, are often borne of envy. Martha longed to sit where Mary sat. She longed to take delight in Jesus’s words.  She longed to surrender her heavy burden and allow Jesus to host her.  Maybe we long for these good things, too.”

Jesus is visiting his dear friends, but he is the Host of God's hospitality for all of us.

Who is our neighbor? Why it matters

Scripture: Amos 7:7-17 and Psalm 82  •  Deuteronomy 30:9-14 and Psalm 25:1-10  •  Colossians 1:1-14  •  Luke 10:25-37

This week Jesus gives us the parable of the good Samaritan.  What is a good Samaritan? What is involved in being a good Samaritan? See The Rev. David Lose's "Who is our neighbor?" for an interesting insight into what Jesus says, not only about our neighbors, but also about caregivers - about all of us.

In "Meeting the Good Samaritan," The Rev. Dr. Thomas Long also tells us there's something deeper going on here than the moral of helping those in need. He says something has to happen to us to be good Samaritans. What does he mean? Why do we have "Good Samaritan laws? As in most parables, Jesus teaches us to examine ourselves. What will we find?

Debie Thomas in "Afflicting the Comfortable," asks, “Is that all there is?” To be good, kind, compassionate, like the good Samaritan? Considering the bitter hatred the Jews of Jesus' audience had for Samaritans, she suspects Jesus is telling us there is much more to learn - more importantly, to live out, as we heed his parable. She asks, “What if we were the helpless victim in the story?” Would it matter who our rescuer is? What implications does this have in our bitterly divided society, country and world?

Do we over complicate our life choices?

Scripture: 2 Kings 5:1-14 and Psalm 30  •  Isaiah 66:10-14 and Psalm 66:1-9  •  Galatians 6:(1-6), 7-16 Luke 10:1-11, 16-20

I don't know about you, but a lot of times I tend to make things harder than they need to be. At first, I was put off by the topic of Debie Thomas' article , "Choosing What is Easy," but as I read how she interwove the story of the military leader Naaman's healing and Jesus sending out the seventy carrying no purse or sandals, speaking peace one on one, I get the point. Why do we over complicate, over think things? As in the healing of Naaman, what do we need to do for healing? What is the task, as we are sent out as followers of Christ to those we meet in our everyday lives? What do we need to do to accomplish the task?

I love the way The Rev. Jazzy Bostock uses the story of the healing of Naaman, luring us into the story through the eyes of the many characters in the story, and through them, inviting us into various prayers through the characters. Read her "Healing of Naaman"for prayers which lead to healing, and what needs healing. What do you pray for? What should we pray for?

Jesus, as advertised?

Scripture:

2 Kings 2:1-2, 6-14 and Psalm 77:1-2, 11-20  • 

1 Kings 19:15-16, 19-21 and Psalm 16  • 

Galatians 5:1, 13-25  • 

Luke 9:51-62

What kind of Jesus, gospel and faith are Christians showing the world? Is the Jesus the world sees through Christians, the Jesus of the gospels? In "Truth in Advertising," Debie Thomas breaks down this week's gospel account of Jesus setting his face toward Jerusalem, and the cross, treachery, and suffering which awaits him, and his response to those who encounter him.

She says Jesus is not much of a salesman, as he answers the disciples and would be followers. Why, or why not? What are we "selling" the world? What is Jesus "selling?" In his book of the same title, Bonhoeffer writes about the cost of discipleship. At one point he says Christ calls us to "come and die." What does he mean?

In "Freedom," appropriate for this weekend before the 4th of July, David W. Peters discusses the freedom in that great freedom Epistle of Paul to the Galatians. What are we free to do, or not do? What is freedom in Christ? In what we do and say, are we acting in the freedom Jesus offers us, or in our own self interests? Are they exclusive of each other? How can we align them if they are at odds.

Read the Rev. Joseph Pagano's "The Way."

What is your name? Your story? Why it matters.

Scripture:

1 Kings 19:1-4, (5-7), 8-15a and Psalm 42 and 43  • 

Isaiah 65:1-9 and Psalm 22:19-28  • 

Galatians 3:23-29  • 

Luke 8:26-39

This week's gospel has Jesus visiting the village of the Gerasenes where a man the villagers called Legion lives in the tombs, shackled and driven by demons. He was a creature of terror to himself and others, yet they bound him and kept him in their midst.

Enter Jesus. Legion approaches Jesus, and unlike the villagers, recognizes who Jesus is, really is. And he shouted at the top of his voice, What have you to do with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God?" And then Jesus asked, "What is your name?" Why is that important? What does the name "Legion" signify? 

Who are we, really? What demons keep us from being what God calls us to be? What forces seek power over us -  to take us over, bind us, take away our true names, and separate us from God and each other? What, who, can save or redeem us from that which steals our joy, our purpose and worth, and bring us out of our tombs, and that which binds us? How is this accomplished? Read Debie Thomas' "Legion."

Read Dan Clendenin's "God’s Gentle Whisper ."

Your story, our story, our names are important, worth saving, worth sharing, that others might be saved, too, and for God's peace. The same peace and presence Elijah, in his deep despair, found, as he fled in terror from Ahab, Jezebel, and the prophets of Baal, who sought to kill him.

Trinity Sunday, the Nature of God and Pentecost Sunday

Scripture: Proverbs 8:1-4, 22-31, Psalm 8, Romans 5:1-5; John 16:12-15

Ever since I was a little boy I remember singing "Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord God Almighty, God in Three Persons, Blessed Trinity," and several variations later.

What does it mean, "God in three persons?" How can there be one God in three persons? Does it matter? 

Jesus introduces the frightened, bewildered disciples to the Holy Spirit - the Counselor, the Advocate - the παράκλητος (paracletos) -  which is Greek for "to call to be alongside us," by saying , "I still have many things to tell you, but you cannot bear them now." What did he mean, and why did he say that? 

There have been many treatises, sermons, analogies, and explanations about the nature of the Trinity. Read what Debie Thomas has to say in "The Trinity: So What?"  And Michael Fitzpatrick's "God in 3-D"

For a wonderful homily on Pentecost read The Rev. Canon Frank Logue's "It's 9:00 Somewhere. It's 9:00 Somewhere.

"The Answer, my friend, is blowing in the Wind," Pentecost

Scripture: Acts 2:1-21 or Genesis 11:1-9  •  Psalm 104:24-34, 35b  •  Romans 8:14-17 or  Acts 2:1-21  •  John 14:8-17, (25-27)

The Lectionary this week contrasts the experience of the Tower of Babel and the Pentecost. Both involve people speaking different languages. In one case they became confused and disperses. In the other case "simple Galileans" were heard to speak and communicate with others in different languages. Why confusion on the one hand, and communication on the other?

Pentecost is sometimes called the birthday of the church, and we celebrate the gift of the Holy Spirit to the church. What is Pentecost? What does it mean?  In "What Does it Mean? Pentecost Homily" Christopher Burkett tells us, among other things, that it is a time when one can hear in the language of a broken heart, the spirit of eternal love - a time when we hear the whisper of God in our own hearts.

In "Nothing but' Misses the Point," The Rev. Canon Frank S. Logue tells us that reductionists who define the world as "nothing but" physical explanations or empiricism miss the point. At the same time it can't be reduced to mere emotionalism or hysteria. What is it then?

In "Messy Church" Jo Bailey Wells tells us that in some sense God prefers a little of the chaos of Pentecost to the strict order and central administration with which the Tower of Babel was built. What does she mean, and why?

In "Astounding, Day of Pentecost," The Rev. Joseph S. Pagano discusses the experience of the Holy Spirit, and what it means in trying to explain it.