In the scriptures we hear all about anxiety. Abraham has anxiety that his wife may never bear a son, and that he might not be a worthy servant to the man who are his company. Paul is trying to ease the anxiety of Colossians about their ability to build the kingdom. Paul really is trying to emphasize that our work and knowing and fulfilling God's word is enough.
It's all times together with the anxiety of poor Martha. Martha is so worried that her sister Mary isn't doing enough to serve Jesus and his apostles. But what uses does as tells her that Mary is serving a purpose, she's learning from the master. If this isn't relatable point, I don't know what more could be?
I think most of us are like Martha, we busy ourselves with the thing to try and make the required or assumed benchmarks. We want to be seen as good people, good servants, and good workers. We are so Martha! However, Jesus points to marry and that she's taking her time to learn directly from Jesus. How many of us are doing that these days?
See, Mary is taking the time to know Jesus. How many of us are taking the time to know Jesus? We busy ourselves with our day-to-day life, we go to work, we come home, we scroll social media for an hour or two, or three or four, and then we find ourselves utterly exhausted and go to bed. In that mix we don't typically take time to be with Jesus. We don't take time to be in the presence of the Holy Spirit. We lack the time to have a real relationship with God.
And if there's one thing we're probably not thinking about it's going to church to nurture that relationship. See this is where Mary has the right idea. She's going to church. She's learning from the master teacher. She has an insight about what it might mean to be a human in building God's Kingdom.
While works of service are absolutely important and critical to our development of faith, we also need to acknowledge that we need Retreat. We also need to acknowledge that we need Koinonia that means Fellowship.
So I have an idea! What if the first thing you did in the morning was give gratitude to God for all your blessings. Just pick three things, any three things from your shoes to your spouse or your kids or your job. And then what if it lunchtime you had a simple thought of bless this food and what if it dinner time as a family or by yourself you said thank you for this food. And what if on Sunday you woke up just a little earlier I went to go sit in the Pew and learn from the master teacher through the scriptures.
My theory is this: if we acknowledge God several times a day we will feel a desire to be part of his wider Community. Will feel a desire to receive the sacraments. At least, that's how I feel the more often I'm in touch with my casual prayer life.
Let's give it a try, and see how we feel come next weekend.
Peace,
-Matt