Martha and Mary

It has been over two weeks since the Martha and Mary lesson:

(Luke 10:38-42 "As Jesus and his disciples went on their way, Jesus entered a certain village, where a woman named Martha welcomed him into her home. She had a sister named Mary, who sat at the Lord's feet and listened to what he was saying. But Martha was distracted by her many tasks; so she came to him and asked, "Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me to do all the work by myself? Tell her then to help me." But the Lord answered her, "Martha, Martha, you are worried and distracted by many things; there is need of only one thing. Mary has chosen the better part, which will not be taken away from her."


I am still sitting with it. It has always disturbed me because I have always identified with Martha and the lesson is that Martha is wrong. I really don't like being wrong. This time around I got a one on one lesson from Lois+, our priest, telling me that being with Jesus is the only important thing that we can do. Hmmm... new thought.



Okay. I can deal with a new thought. So I try a different approach. One of the Bible Study approaches is to be IN the story. BE a character in the story. So I am Mary. I am sitting at the feet of Jesus. Jesus is sitting on a chair? a couch? a something, and I am sitting on the floor at his feet. He is talking/teaching to the others who are sitting around -- on chairs, on couches, on something. I am sitting on the floor at his feet.


Martha has just poked her head around the corner from the kitchen to see where I am and why I am not helping. She isn't mad. She is listening to Jesus. She wants to be a good hostess, but she also wants to hear the Good News that Jesus is telling us. She is trying to be the good hostess and the good disciple. Jesus is asking an awful lot of her. I am sitting on the floor at Jesus feet.


I am sitting on the floor at Jesus feet. I am leaning against his legs. I am "touching" him. He is talking to all the others -- the ones sitting on chairs and couches. He does not even acknowledge me -- I am sitting at his feet, on the floor. I am like the invisible person. He doesn't even know that I am there. I feel outside, not part of the group, not important. I am hurting because I want to learn and understand these new teachings but they are directed at others, not me. I am NOT part of this "in" group. I am alone. I should better be with my sister, being the good hostess.

There is no learned lesson here. I will continue to struggle with the story. Maybe the next time around I will be in a better place of understanding.

LOGO REFLECTIONS

Sunday's sermon was the "vanity" sermon. "...all is vanity and a chasing after wind." (Ecclesiastes 1:14) which was translated for us as the toil and effort we expend for tomorrow is hopeless. Appreciating the present, we were told is all that really counts.

Well, I have a few thoughts on this. AND, I may have received the lesson differently than it was intended. First, I know that the only time that I can touch God is now. Not yesterday, not tomorrow, just now, in this very moment. Having accepted that, I have learned that it behooves me to pay attention to the past -- like births, and weddings. If I don't remember these past events I am not likely to acknowledge them in the "now" in which they occur; because for this to happen there needs to be planning for that future "now." I know that I have allowed myself to be too much in the now for that planning for the future and I have disappointed any number of people by missing the anniversaries of wonderful events. I am trying to be better but there are still major lapses. My sister, Jacquie, is wonderful remebering important events and remembering them in sufficient time so that we, the recipients of her adcknowledgements, feel loved.

Yesterday was a good lesson for me in this appreciate the now scenario. I spent a good bit of the day working on the church logo. This has been a long and arduous project. Mostly because I am working in unfamiliar territory and each step is a new learning process. I began with a photo of the Pentacost altar frontal. John Sutton took the photo and e-mailed it to me. I brought it into Photoshop. I think this was in June -- the past. Since then I have taken out the flames, turned it black and white, printed, hand outlined, re-photoed, retooled, tweaked. It has been a long process. Yesterday I got it the best that it has been and transported it into a mock Service Bulletin, and the Welcome Leaflet we have been formulating. All of this "now" activity, being enjoyed and appreciated, and still in contemplation of the future. Is this "..vanity and a chasing after wind?" I hope not. I hope I got the balance.

On the left is the altar frontal on the right is the current version of the logo. Refinements are in the offing, I'm sure.