Many Things

Many Things

Luke 10:38-42

Series Slide

Good morning and welcome to worship today!  I had a great week last week preaching at Pleasant Grove and The Current, and I have heard great things about Terry’s sermon.  I am so thankful that we have so many who can step in and share God’s Word.  Next week, you will not want to miss as Dustin brings the Word while Renee and I take a week off and travel.

The following Sunday, Aug 9 is Back to School Bash.

Who likes home made ice cream? Who likes to sing the old hymns out of the Cokesbury?

Aug. 9, 2:00 - Ice Cream and Hymn Sing social… As part of our 175th Anniversary Celebration...

That’s enough about the weeks ahead. I want to take a moment and remember this past week!

And what a great week it was!  I know Emily shared a little about it, but I thought I’d show you what happened!

VBS Video

I am so proud of all the work you did as a church serving the children.  This VBS had the most kids we have seen since COVID. 

You guys did such a great job! You loved the kids well, they learned about Jesus, and they had fun.

One other thing about VBS.  This was one of the best organized VBS programs I have ever seen!  When you see Emily, thank her and let her know that she did a great job!

OK, enough about last week… and the weeks ahead… let’s talk about today.  We are in week 42 of our window’s series… OK, maybe not, but we could do a years’ worth of sermons and never finish preaching on all the windows.  Actually, I believe this is the 10thsermon on the windows and the structure of the sanctuary.  Together, we have learned about the Epworth League and the window in the choir loft, we have talked about Jesus being the way the Truth, and the Life from the window at the back. We have learned about the dove window, restored in memory of an amazing man gone way too soon, Max Stites.  We’ve learned about the Hannah window, the Anchor windows, Jesus at the Door, Jesus inviting us to Come to Him, and a couple of weeks ago, we looked at the Elijah and Raven window… and with all that, we are just scratching the surface.  This week, we are considering the Mary & Martha window.

 Sermon Slide

As you know, I like to try and dig into the history of who the windows are given in memory or in honor of… I don’t always get this information in, but I try… this window has no dates listed, only that it was given in honor of Charles Wesley Jester.  If those names sound familiar, they should… Charles Wesley is the great Methodist Hymn writer of the 18thCentury and the brother of John Wesley; together they started the entire Methodist Movement.

And Jester, we all know Gov. Beuford H. Jester.  Well, Charles was his uncle. Charles was the son of Diadema McKinney Jester and the grandson of Rev. Hampton McKinney, the founder of the Methodist movement in this area.  While Charles ended his career as the President of Corsicana National Bank, he started his career with his brother George, laying the bricks of the Navarro County Courthouse, making .50 per day.

The window, a beautiful painted and stained-glass window painstakingly restored in memory of Roberta Beaton by Stanton Glass, shows Mary sitting at Jesus’ feet while Martha is slaving away in the kitchen… and that is the story we are going to get into today.  In the window, Jesus is clothed in blue, symbolic of heaven, constancy, faithfulness, wisdom, and charity. Mary and Martha are clothed in white, symbolizing their purity, while Mary has on the blue cape, kneeling at Jesus feet… choosing the good part. 

We’ll get into all that in a moment, but first, let’s start with prayer.

<Prayer>

He was coming to town… I know, it’s not like he was the President or anything, but I was to be on a platform, opening a 4th of July lunch and celebration, with sitting congressman Thomas Chester Edwards… you might know him as Chet Edwards. 

I was a young pastor, then serving as a Campus Minister and Associate Pastor when a friend of the family asked if I would say a prayer before the meal at his 4th of July celebration.  I said sure, not thinking much about it for a few weeks, then I found out that I was going to be sitting on the platform with a US Congressman.  I realized then that I had to up my game!  I studied, I planned, I wrote out my prayer, something I didn’t usually do… it was a great prayer.  It was one of those prayers that could be published in a book of prayers.  OK, I’m exaggerating a little bit, but it was a good prayer.

July 4th rolled around and I was seated on the platform next to Congressman Edwards.  My time came; I rose and I stepped up to the mic, invited people to remove their caps, and bow in prayer.  I read my beautiful prayer and wrapped it up with an “Amen.”  The people on the platform and the first couple of rows said “Amen”, but then, from way in the back, I heard, “Wait, wait… the microphone wasn’t working, you’ve got to say the prayer again.”  It was our family friend Will sprinting through the crowd.

They got the microphone fixed, and I invited everyone to bow again…. Now I’m in a pickle… There I was with Congressman Edwards behind me… and a row or two of people who had just heard my amazing prepared prayer in front of me… and I couldn’t just read the same prayer again; they would know I pre-prepared it. 

Have you ever had a moment where your mind was absolutely blank… not a single word was coming to mind… then there was a gentle breeze… and a bee buzzed me… and then I heard the birds in the trees… and I opened my mouth and out came, “Dear God, thank you for the birds and the bees…” and I have no idea what I said after that.

I sat down and Chet leaned over, put his hand on my knee and said, “Birds and Bees, huh.” And we had a good chuckle.

Needless to say, I was worried about many things that day, but only one thing was needed, to thank God for the day, our nation, and the food we had been graciously served.

I think Martha gets a bad rap… don’t you?  I mean, come on, just like I was simply trying to offer a nice prayer for the people gathered, Martha was just trying to fix Jesus a nice meal.  If you were going to be giving a prayer in front of a Congressman, whose name was being discussed as a potential presidential or vice-presidential candidate… you might want to up your game.

If a famous person you respected were coming to your home, you might want to put out a nice dinner.  Right?

From Martha’s perspective, Jesus has come to her home, and she is taking care of him… and his entourage. Keep in mind, it wouldn’t have been just Mary at his feet, like we see in this image; it would have been Mary, and some of the Disciples, and some of the people in the community, and Lazarus… and who knows who else.  It would have been a house full of people.

Martha is busy seasoning the lamb to be cooked… she’s kneading the bread to bake… she’s smashing the chickpeas into hummus… she’s boiling the lentil soup, and gathering up the wine glasses… she is busy, busy, busy!

And then, she looks over, wiping sweat from her brow, and sees Mary just sitting there doing nothing.  You know, I can’t blame her for being a little upset.  So, she comes up to Jesus and tells him what to do.

I’m not sure it’s a good idea to tell Jesus what to do, unless you are his mother; she got away with it… but not Martha, right?

But I have to pause there and ask, how many of our prayers are really just us telling Jesus what to do?

Dear Jesus, I need a new car…

Dear Jesus, let me win the lottery, not all of it, just the $4,000,000 you get for almost winning it…

Dear Jesus, heal Fred…

Dear Jesus, make her love me…

Dear Jesus, answer my prayer this way.

Don’t get me wrong, we are told to come to God with the desires of our hearts… We are told to bring our needs and our wants to the Lord… but sometimes I think we are more like Martha – coming to Jesus before we do like Mary, and sit and listen… being still to know that he is God… aligning our heart with His, so that our desires align with God’s desires…

But, as I said, I can’t blame Martha; I’m a lot like her.  I want to make sure the stuff is done. I want to make sure all the details are taken care of, and I forget to back up and take Mary’s perspective.

What was that perspective?  Mary wasn’t worried about all the details.  She wasn’t concerned about a big fancy meal. 

Mary thought:

“I have Jesus in the room with me… none of that other stuff matters… Jesus is talking, and I want to be still and listen to every word… I want to absorb every syllable… I need to hear this… and know this… and experience this… and let him change me.”

She was probably shocked that Martha even came and said anything… why would anyone NOT want to sit at Jesus’ feet and listen to every word…

But here we are today, we have Jesus’ words for us… We have God’s love letter to us… Most of us have multiple copies in our home… We have apps on our phone where we can read nearly every translation ever printed…

And if you don’t have a copy of the Bible, let me know; we have some we can give you, and we have a QR code you can scan to be able to have a Gideon Bible App on your phone today.

We have God’s word available to us every single day, but how many of us take time to “Be Still and Know our God”?

You see, I don’t think Jesus was belittling Martha or even fussing at her when he says:

Luke 10:41-42

“Martha, Martha… you are worried and upset about many things, but few things are needed—or indeed only one. Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her.” 

Saying her name like that, “Martha, Martha…”  That’s like saying, “Oh, my dear child, don’t you know, I am here, I am with you… I don’t need a big meal.  Bring us some hummus and flatbread… or just boil some lentils with a few herbs… that's all we need.”

Sermon Slide

We take all this time and effort so often to do stuff that doesn’t matter… when what really matters is simply sitting at Jesus feet, and doing what he says.

In a nutshell, Jesus tells us to love God and love others! 

It’s not complicated.  That’s probably part of the problem for us… We try to make it complicated. We think anything worthwhile can’t be free; we have to earn it… We have to work for it… We have to do more and more and more.

Yet, as we sit at Jesus’ feet… as we read his word and let it flow into us, it changes us… it makes us new… and we become like him without even knowing we are changing.  As we spend time with the Lord, our perspective begins to change.  We begin to see people as He sees them. As we love God, we begin to love others the way He loves them.

And so, today… this week… your challenge is this.  Take time to stop, sit, and just be with Jesus.

Take in a sunset or a sunrise…

Sit on the back porch with a cup of Coffee and God’s word, reading and listening.

Don’t fret about the many things, focus on the one thing… Take time to be with your Lord.