"Keeping The Main Thing The Main
Thing?" Sermon Delivered By Reverend Richard E. Stetler
– July 21, 2013 Centenary United
Psalm 18:25-34; Luke 10:38-42 The Mary and Martha
story is as familiar to us as was the Parable of the Good Samaritan last
week. The story has many
classical elements to it from sibling rivalry to the sisters having very
different personalities and needs.
Pastors through the years have
squeezed from this story
every theme imaginable. One of the dominant
themes for people sitting in the pews through the years has been that
Mary was the popular winner
in this famous comparison.
Very few people have developed much sympathy for Martha because Jesus
said to her, “Martha, Martha!
You are always worrying and appear troubled by so many things.
Only one of them is necessary.
Mary has chosen the right
thing and it should not be taken away from her.”
(Luke 10:41f) We have all known
people that can easily become distracted from completing a project
simply by putting it off until the next day. After all, something better
had come along. There are others that stay with a task, constantly
making small improvements, until the result is as perfect as is humanly
possible. Martha may have been a
tad compulsive about serving a perfect lunch for the Master.
That is an admirable quality. Once I was visiting
a woman in one of my past churches who was
old school when it came to
her approach to life. After
asking me if I would like some tea, she disappeared into her kitchen to
prepare it. She was gone
for a period of time, giving me the opportunity to look at her array of
paintings, one-of-a-kind ceramic figurines, hand-painted hurricane lamps
and a fascinating number of other
collectibles. When she returned,
she had put on a tiny apron.
She was carrying a tray filled with a creamer, a matching sugar
bowl, two small sterling silver spoons, two cups and saucers, a dish
containing a variety of cookies and sweet breads and two linen napkins.
Knowing she was like this, I teasingly said, “Oh Mitzie, for me all you
needed to do was give me a tea bag and some hot water in a Styrofoam
cup.” She looked at me
rather sternly and said, “Rev. Stetler, Styrofoam has never entered my
home! Please sit down.”
Her remark
transitioned into a conversation of how a number of her values have not
generated much interest with the younger generations.
She was taught a specific way to serve tea and I doubt that she
would have slept well that night had she served it to me any other way.
Clearly Mitzie carried herself with a style and dignity that had their
origin in another day. Now contrast this
style with that of another woman I visited one afternoon about 4:00. She
had been home from the hospital about three weeks having brought into
our world a baby girl. My energy
levels during late afternoon visits are often cause for a cup of coffee
so I asked for one. There were several
clues that she provided that told me that I would not be getting a good
cup of coffee. Clue number
one: She said, “My husband and I don’t drink coffee.”
Clue number two: “I
think we have a jar of instant coffee in the kitchen.”
The final clue came when she said, “Here, Dick, take this knife
and see if you can chip as many crystals as you need into your cup.
The stuff seems to be stuck together at the bottom of the jar.” From the dust on
the jar it was obvious that it had been on that top shelf for years.
Just then, the baby cried and she dashed upstairs to retrieve
her. When she returned she
had completely forgotten about the coffee and so had I.
While she was gone, I did get a
surge of energy just thinking about having to drink that coffee made
from the contents of that jar.
Fortunately, the new arrival took center stage.
What we have here
are two very delightful women that both loved God and yet they had very
different styles and values.
When we read or hear the story of Mary and Martha, we may have
felt that Jesus was not as sensitive to Martha as he could have been. Notice what Jesus said. He was not being critical of Martha. He was reminding her of what she was doing to herself. Martha was responding to her choice to prepare lunch with worries and concerns. Mary had chosen something else to do with her time and Jesus was protecting her right to do something that brought her joy. What is the lesson
from this story that we can take home with us today? Jesus said,
"Martha, Martha! You are worried and troubled over so many things, but
just one is needed." What did
Jesus mean when he said, "just one is needed?"
Most of us experience this one thing when we encounter people that make us glow. Yet, we seldom define exactly what it is that we are responding to when we really enjoy being around them. They help us feel more alive by somehow helping us to share in their enthusiasm for life. For example, these
are people that are very comfortable in their own skin. They hold the
same level of personal confidence if they are wearing an expensive suit,
a well-appointed evening gown or wearing torn, paint-spattered blue
jeans with dirty tennis shoes that are 15 years old.
Very little appears to bother
them. What we most enjoy is how
we feel when we are around them.
Again, what is it that we are experiencing? One of the members
in my former church went to hear Stephen Covey deliver a talk.
As he was describing his experience, he told me one of Stephen’s
memorable quotes. Once he
told it to me, Covey’s quote became imbedded in my mind. “The main thing
is to keep the main thing the main thing.” That quote gets it for me.
The main thing of
Jesus' mission was to teach his listeners how to perceive everything and
everyone through the eyes of love just as he was able to do.
(John 15:5) This is how Jesus
could eat with prostitutes,
outcasts and other sinners
and be at peace. He made no
judgments of them. Everyone
felt comfortable around Jesus except those who had invested their energy
into their religious practices. This ability is the
main thing that places all our priorities in perspective.
This is the main thing that allows us in every situation to savor
the kernels of wheat and with
a breath of kindness blow the
chaff away. Keeping the main
thing the main thing, however, is not always the easiest thing to do. My first experience
as a pastor was being my father’s Associate Minister for twelve years.
During those years I had the responsibilities for the youth and
young adults when another
opportunity came my way.
The Trustees of the church asked me if I would like to earn an
additional $200 a month by assisting our custodians who were both in
their 80s. Among my new duties
was to straighten up and secure the church building every evening.
On Sunday evenings, our church had given space to a very large chapter of Alcoholics Anonymous. Because many of the men and women were cross-addicted to tobacco and alcohol, a special vote was taken by the Administrative Board to allow smoking in our fellowship hall only on Sunday nights. Cleaning on Sunday nights was a constant struggle for me and this is when I became a pure-blooded Martha. I had to wait until
everyone left the building before I could begin my cleaning. Sometimes
people would visit for over an hour before leaving. The fellowship hall
where they met was always filled with a blue haze from their smoking.
Some of us may remember those days when people smoked in public
buildings forcing us to breathe secondhand smoke.
Numerous times intoxicated members had spilled their coffee on
the floor, coffee that had set up
like concrete because of the quadruple sugars and double cream that
most of them used. Chairs had to
be wiped clean and put away. Never in my life
have I ever wrestled with my identity as I did during those years.
My mind was filled with attitudes that made things worse and my
increased resentment of getting home well after midnight did not help.
The only positive thing I could
say is that when I left the building, it was as though no one had been
there. It was clean. As I look back on
those years, the education I
received from doing those chores was more important than my entire
seminary training. I had to
deal with me, not my faith, and not what I had learned about the nature
of God. I had to deal with
me! For the longest time, I
could not get my attitudes off the stage and out of my way.
One night I went
upstairs close to midnight and knelt at the altar in the sanctuary.
I asked God what was going on with my head and emotions.
It was almost as though God said, “I’m glad you asked. I’ve been
waiting to hear from you, Dick. Instead
of thinking “poor me” try changing how you think and feel.
What did your Trustees ask you to do?”
The light
of understanding came on with
the answer – gratitude.
My thoughts were the
problem, not the tasks.
I realized that I was doing this extra work so that our husband and wife
custodial team did not have to work those late hours.
Also, I was playing a small role in the lives of men and women
who were breaking the hearts of everyone they know because of what their
addiction to alcohol was doing to them.
I exchanged my resentment for gratitude and I have never looked
back. I began keeping the main
thing the main thing. During one of our
Ecumenical Teas, a table of women asked me, “Why are you doing all this
running around? Our pastor
would never dream of doing what you are doing.”
I said, “Thank you.
I do this because I am really grateful to our women of our church for
what they have done to make today happen.” That was only half the story,
however. The other half is
that, many years before in my first church, I conquered
a demon that was like a
cancer that had taken up residence in my mind. The episode of Mary and Martha would have communicated a very different message had Martha already conquered the same demon. Had she done that, she would have thought to herself, “I am so grateful that Mary has this time to be with the Master. She looks as though she has a thing for Jesus. Look at the joy on her face! She really loves him.”
When we infuse every task and relationship with
gratitude, no task will ever be a burden.
None of them will become unimportant or appear
inconvenient. We
have to remember that the main thing is to keep the main thing the main
thing. When we
remember that, we rise above
potential thoughts and feelings that could easily prevent our contagious
enthusiasm for life from showing up.
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