March 16, 2025  Lent 2 

Lighting of the Christ Candle 

Welcome and Announcements 

Come as you are.
If you have deep faith or your faith has run dry,
Come as you are.
If you know every scripture or none at all,
Come as you are.
if you have calloused hands and live your faith through good works,
Come as you are
if you kneel at God’s feet, with a million hungry questions,
come as you are.
This is God’s house. All are welcome here.  

Hymn:  202 We lay our hurting world at your feet

Prayer of Approach 

Loving God, we come seeking you, and yet we hesitate, because sometimes we don’t know how to love you or how to serve you.  

As we worship you today, reveal yourself to us.  Reveal yourself when our anxiety hovers close, when fear clings to our bones, when our stress rises like the tide, see us.  

Speak to us.  

Call us by name.  

When we leave here to serve in your name, see us.  See us.  Then reveal yourself to us  in the kitchen, in the classroom, in the hospital waiting room.  

Speak to us in the quiet, in the crowd, in the inky black of night.  

Call us beloved. Call us by name. Call us your child. Reveal yourself so that our lives will be both worship and service. . Amen.  

 

Call to Confession 

The story of Mary and Martha is often painted as a story where one does right and one does wrong.  

We know that life is often more complicated than that.  

We know that faith is embodied through being present and taking action—and everything in between.  

Knowing this, like Mary and Martha, let us draw near to God. Let us be honest about our lives, our hopes, and our mistakes. For even in our messy middle, God meets us with grace. Let us pray:  

 

Prayer of Confession:
God of Grace, We long to do the “right” thing.  We long to make the “right” choice.  We long to stand on the “right” side of the dividing line.
In our earnestness, we sometimes miss the sacred right in front of us. In our earnestness, we sometimes miss opportunities to show love.
Show us how to hold our heart’s desire for perfection loosely.  Show us how to lead with grace and love, over anything else.  For even more than our desire to be right, we desire to be close to you. Show us the way.  Amen.  

 

Assurance of Pardon 

Faithful friends, God knows your heart.  

When you mean well and lose your way, God knows.  

When you try to do the right thing and miss the point, God knows.  

When you long to be close to God, and doubt your worth, God knows.  

You are seen. You are loved. You are forgiven. You have been sent to serve.  

This is the good news of the gospel! 

Nothing can separate you from God’s love. Thanks be to God! Amen.  

 

Passing the Peace
Hymn:  194 Let us to the Lord our God

Scripture:

Responsive Psalm 27 p 864
Luke 10:  38-42 p 1613 

Sermon:  Between faith and works 

There is a congregation named Saints Martha and Mary.  It was named this because the leaders recognized that they would need both Marys and Marthas to build the church.  Both those who study and pray, and those who do the labour. 

 

However, I don’t think that it is as simple as that.  What the church really needs is those who study at the feet of Jesus, and then, renewed in strength and faith, go forth in his name. 

 

It is hard to see this truth from this account at Lazarus’ house.  Those of us who preach on this passage haven’t helped matters either by taking Mary’s side over Martha’s side, like Jesus appears to do. 

Let’s face it, if all of you only read Scripture and prayed and never did any of the work needed to sustain the congregation, we would not be a viable congregation in any way.  

 

On the other side, if all you did was work and labour and never attend to your spiritual life, we would not be a viable congregation in any way.  

 

We need people who encompass devotional activities AND who go forth in the name of Jesus to labour.  To do that we need to actually occupy the messy middle. 

We started talking about the messy middle last week as we joined Jesus and the disciples as he set his face to travel to Jerusalem to suffer and die.   

The disciples entered a Samaritan town, to prepare for Jesus. Rejected by the people of Samaria as they entered, the disciples leapt to redeem the honour of Jesus by wanting to smite the Samaritans with power coming down from heaven.   

Jesus, who was come down from heaven, reminded them the journey to Jerusalem was the important task at this point in time.  There he would suffer and die for all of God’s people—Greek, Jew, Samaritan, Gentile.   

The account of Mary and Martha happens as a part of this journey, and comes directly after the parable of the Good Samaritan that Jesus told on the way to the home of Lazarus, Mary and Martha.  

We can see in this parable, the actions of those who desired to remain spiritually clean on the journey to Jerusalem and the actions of the one who stopped to help.   

Neither of these stories is about judging one side or the other.  They are about knowing what is important in the Kingdom and being available and willing to do what is needed at the time. 

Before we look a little deeper at Mary and Martha, it is important to note that the parable of the good Samaritan points out that the journey to Jerusalem is filled with danger.   

Because the journey is dangerous,  

we need the help of the others who are on the journey,  

others with whom  we share the burden,  

AND we need the teaching of Jesus, who offers his wisdom, encouragement and the imperative that we listen to him.   

 

Last week we started the journey with the theme of hospitality.  We will see that theme come up again in the journey and it will ultimately end with the inhospitality of arrest and crucifixion.   

We will also consider the ways in which, although we offer hospitality to Jesus, it is also Jesus who offers hospitality to us. 

 

We see these themes in the parables that reflect on both hosts and guests.   

The wedding that runs out of wine.  Jesus provides the wine.   

The banquet to which the guests were too busy to come.  Jesus invites guests from the highways and the by-ways.  

We see in Jesus as host a welcome for both family and friends and for those who are complete unknowns.   

As we look at both sides of this particular messy middle we are opened to being both surprised and provoked to consider a different point of view. 

Jesus arrives at the home of Lazarus.  The welcoming hospitality begins.  

It seems like all the work of hospitality has fallen on Martha. 

Water to haul from the well.   

Dusty feet to be washed.   

A meal to be prepared.   

Martha runs around distracted by the many things that need to be done to provide hospitality to Jesus and the disciples. 

 

Mary meanwhile sits at the feet of Jesus, welcoming him, and listening to him as he speaks about the journey to Jerusalem.  She is providing the other side of hospitality, spending time with the guest.   

 

So we can see how both of these sides of hospitality are necessary.   

If hospitality is only what Martha provides, the guest will sit alone and ignored.  On the other hand, if hospitality is only what Mary provides the guest will be thirsty, dirty and hungry. 

But it could get worse! 

After Tabitha met Koen she started spending half the year in 3 month blocks in Belgium with him and his parents.  It seemed that one of those trips always fell on Christmas.   

Living away from home, we were used to being just the two of us for Christmas.  I saw her absence as the opportunity to go and help serve Christmas dinner at the Bakery where there was a free Christmas Dinner provided for those who could not afford the dinner. 

However, there were well-meaning people who insisted that I could not spend Christmas alone, and bowing to pressure I accepted an invitation from one family.  When I arrived the mother of the house was in the bedroom crying because their son got drunk and couldn’t or wouldn’t come.  I found myself in the kitchen cooking dinner and then doing dishes.  It was tense, stressful and difficult.  In that case neither the hospitality of working to care for me, nor the hospitality of spending time with me was offered.    

I would have much rather been doing dishes at the Bakery, where everyone was working together in a common cause, and then came together when all was done, tired and content with a job well done to enjoy each others company and eat the leftovers.   It is what I did in subsequent years.   

So hospitality is a multifaceted thing.  It takes a good host, and a good guest for it to come together as a Kingdom event.   

You remember last week we talked about how the disciples were distracted by the lack of welcome in Samaria.  We also talked about those who were distracted by the comfort of home, a father to bury, and a family to take leave of.   

Here we also find Martha distracted by the work of providing everything Jesus and the disciples needed.    And likely she is tired and really needs the help she asks Jesus to make Mary provide.  But Jesus appears to rebuke Martha instead.   

Are we surprised?   

Angry?  

Or even Confused?   

What is really going on here? 

It is not about the work of providing hospitality that is the problem.  It is that it distracts us from the gracious attention to the guest which is also a part of hospitality. 

If we think of it in those terms, perhaps we can shift our perspective and see it as an invitation.  We know that Jesus as a host can take 5 fish and 2 loaves and make a feast.  Martha does not need to work on an elaborate meal.   

Here Jesus invites her to relax and enjoy his company, and learn from him instead of wearing herself out.  He is inviting her to stop and listen for his words of grace.  He is inviting her to know that she is valued and loved not just for what she does, but merely because she is a child of God. 

This lesson applies to all of us in congregations as well.  We can get distracted with all of the to do lists.  Teach Bible study or Sunday School.  Go to the Board or Session meeting.   Clean the carpets.  Do the dishes at the potlucks.   

Even work in the church that we enjoy can begin to feel like a burden.  Then if we look around and start to perceive that we are doing all that alone, we can become angry or resentful.  When that happens our service can be devoid of love and joy.  

 

  And that is a sign of an unbalanced life.   

 

In those instances, we forget that our chief end is to love God and to enjoy him forever.  Enjoy him by worshipping and praying and enjoy him through our service.   

At Presbytery this week we were invited to consider what it meant to be witness through a life of Word and Deed.  At one point there was a discussion on what it meant to enjoy God forever by remembering that we are a “sent” people.  We are sent into the world.  We are sent to do the works of grace and justice.  Those works are the way we “enjoy” God into the world. 

But we can’t be “sent” without the word first coming to us from God.  That means that for us to fulfill our purpose, we need to immerse ourselves in God’s word.   

Regarding the story of Martha and Mary, the commentator Johnson writes, “both listening and doing, receiving God’s word and serving others, are vital to the Christian life.”  She adds, “trying to serve without being nourished is like expecting fruit to grow from an uprooted tree.”  (Commentary Luke 10: 38-40) 

Another sign of an unbalanced life is all devotion and no service.   James speaks very clearly about that truth, saying, “My brothers and sisters, if people say they have faith, but do nothing, their faith is worth nothing. Can faith like that save them? 15 A brother or sister in Christ might need clothes or food. 16 If you say to that person, “God be with you! I hope you stay warm and get plenty to eat,” but you do not give what that person needs, your words are worth nothing. 17 In the same way, faith by itself—that does nothing—is dead.”  James 2:  14-17  NIV 

So what happens with Mary and Martha in the end? 

We don’t know.  Just like last week we don’t know if the people on the road came back to walk with Jesus after seeing home, burying Dad, and seeing family for a last time. 

We don’t know.  

We inhabit that spot where we don’t know the end of the story.   

Do Mary and Martha learn the lesson of balanced hospitality?   

Are they reconciled to one another?   

Did Martha stop getting distracted and give her attention to Jesus?   

Did Mary help Martha prepare the meal? 

Did they find the messy middle where they could be both devoted learners and devoted servants? 

Why don’t we have an answer to this dilemma?   

We need to consider the whole of what Jesus says.  He explores all these questions on this journey to Jerusalem.  As we join him we are challenged to see into the words he uses, the examples he gives, and seek the balance of what a follower is meant to be.   

That will not be easy. 

 

The commentator Salmon writes that sometimes we need to have our expectations challenged in order to fully hear the Gospel.   

When the gospel story does not give us clear answers, we can become anxious.  Is it better to be Martha?  Is it better to be Mary?   

 

The answer to both questions is yes.  They both believed that they were honouring Jesus by how they extended hospitality.  Yes, they were both right; but they were also both wrong.  Honouring Jesus was not an either/or in this instance.   

Honouring Jesus involves both listening to him and going forth to serve him. 

 

As we continue on this journey to Jerusalem, Jesus will keep surprising us with his grace and how expansive it is.  He will surprise us with how expansive his love is.  He welcomes and loves the Samaritan and the Jew, the Greek and the stranger. 

He wants us all to know that we are the well loved child of God.    He welcomes the gifts of hospitality from Mary and Martha.  Then he teaches them to offer all the gifts of hospitality. 

And then he teaches that as we listen and learn, we will have an expanded faith and then go forth to deeds of expansive and extravagant love in his name.   

When given a choice of being Mary or Martha, choose the middle and be Marthy.  Some days we will sit at the feet of Jesus, and other days we will serve his world and his people.  And we will find that in both devotion and service we will glorify God and enjoy God forever.   

Amen.  

 

Affirmation of Faith 

We believe in a Christ who teaches, sees, affirms, and celebrates all of who we are. We believe in a Christ who invites us to use our gifts for good and celebrates every step we take in that direction. We believe in a Christ who understands our anxieties and is gentle with our concerns. And we believe in a Christ who looks at us with undiluted love.  

The world will try to rank, rate, and declare winners, but we know love has no limit. So with God’s help, may we nurture our faith and do good work. Amen. 

 

Hymn:  198 I hunger and I thirst

Offering and Doxology 830

Offertory Prayer
Faithful God, you have kept your promises to us.
Our lives give witness to your abundant blessings.
Strengthen our commitment to live as true disciples of Jesus Christ.
This day we bring you the offerings of our devotion to you.  We give these gifts grace with the hope that all who receive from it will be filled with your presence, to sustained in your love, guided by your mercy and empowered by your Spirit.  Take these gifts as signs of our promise to give ourselves completely into your care and to trust your love without reservation. Amen. 

 

Gathering Prayer Requests
Prayer of Thanksgiving and Intercession 

O God, we praise you that you are holy.  Your holiness touches us as we walk with you day by day.  Your spirit fills us with strength.  Your calling gives us purpose. 

O holy One, we thank you that we stand in a long line of believers who have been faithful through the ages. You have been leading your people and have always set before them hope for today and hope for a better tomorrow. We pray that you would bless us in our time as we seek to be as faithful as our forebears. May we too know the faith which is filled with hope in things not seen. 

Trusting in that hope, we bring you our joys and our concerns. Hear us as we pray:   

JOYS 

 

 

 

 

 

CONCERNS 

Prime Minister Carney and the new cabinet, as they take on the challenge of tariffs and international relationships.  Help them to know the direction you are revealing, as they seek to serve Canada. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

WORLD 

People of the states recovering from devastating storm, and those who grieve for friends and family who died in the storm. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Lord, we have laid before you so many concerns and issues that demand our attention. Our lives are burdened; our spirits are tired. Guide our lives and our steps as we walk this Lenten journey, that our inward thought may turn first to you and that our outward deeds may reflect your grace and your glory into the world.. Help us to discern what you would have us do, that others may be healed not in our strength, but in yours.  

As we inhabit this messy middle between faithful devotion and faithful service, be our guide and our strength. 

• Give to us the faith that sees a distant goal and is willing to work to achieve it.
• Give to us a faith which has a vision of a new world where peace and love characterize the transactions of people and of nations and where war is no more.
• Give to us a faith which is able to endure those moments of personal disquiet and to trust that you are with us.
• Give to us a faith which sees the welfare of humankind as our business because it is the focus of your enduring love for your people.
• Give to us a faith which sees beyond the years to an eternal city.

 

God, give us faith to walk with you through the ebb and flow and the victories and the defeats of life and to achieve victory and mastery of life. 

 

In Jesus’ name, we pray, saying together, . Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name, thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.  Give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil for thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory, for ever.  Amen 

 

Hymn:   638 Take time to be holy

Benediction  

As you leave this place, may you find God in every messy middle. 

May you know that you are called to both faith and service. May you trust that you are made in the image of God, and therefore, you contain the fullness of God who empowers your faith and service.  

So may you move through this world with an open heart, with a curious mind, and with the confidence that you do not go alone. God is with you in the mountains, in the valleys, and everywhere in between.  

Believe that good news, and go in peace.  

Blessing Song:  646  Lead me Jesus I will follow

Lead me Jesus I will follow,
down the dusty pathway
all along the sea 

Teach me Jesus to be loving
your disciple I will be x2 

Cc Ted Creen 1982 

3-Fold Amen