Martha at the Beach

The Rev. Margaret Watson

Genesis 18:1-10a | Psalm 15 | Colossians 1:21-29 | Luke 10:38-42

 

Many of you upon greeting me this morning said, "My you turned brown." Thankfully, my mother gave me the genes that turn this brown because I was red yesterday and that happened through my SPF30. I got smart the next day and used the waterproof baby stuff that is SPF120 or something. I hurt! My lips feel like sausages. Oh, but it was so much fun!! There had been about fifty of us camped out on the beach. All from St. Margaret's. There were at least twenty of us who were under the age sixteen. It was wonderful and incredible! And me being a childless mother with all of those little ones coming up and grabbing my leg or hand; it felt good. The water felt good! And the sand, oh Lord, you give up after the first fifteen minutes and let it go where it wants to go, even in the pancakes and syrup. The whole time we were camping, I was working on this sermon. I kept trying to figure out what Abraham and Sarah, Paul, Mary and Martha have to do with this beach and this community of people NOW. So, I was watching carefully. I thought of Abraham going out to prepare a goat for the visitors, while at the beach the men were sitting there going, "uhg, uhg,"(grunting) preparing the barbeque. And I thought of Sarah, ninety years old behind the tent going, "hee, hee," (giggling) "They say I am going to have a baby." Then watching those women at the beach going, "thank you God, my children are teenagers," While they watched the young mothers change diapers. Then I thought of the Gospel story of Martha and Mary. Where would we have been without Martha at that beach? Have you ever tried, I know most of you have, tried to cook pancakes for more then fifty people? Have you done it recently? But then have you tried to fix lunch, snack and dinner on top of it? And did you try to do it at the beach? If it hadn't been for the "Martha's" who took all the food in zip-lock bags with labels, and a schedule in military time, at 7:55 we do this with the barbeque, at 8:00 we should be by this point, first person up be sure to plug in the coffee pot! It was organized. Now there were those "Martha's" who took the children's clothes in zip-lock bags and labeled them Friday after breakfast, Friday after lunch, Friday after shower and so on. A little over the top, yes, but let me tell you those kids were in good shape. Thank God for all "Martha's."

So I was sitting there at the beach with this funny community looking around and thinking, "What is this gospel about?" With Martha obviously the more organized, more conscious of the two because having fifty people show up at your house for dinner, well you don't do that by yourself. And her sister was just sitting there gazing off. Of course she went to Jesus and said, "Make her help me." Of course she did. What did Jesus say, "Martha get over it. Mary has the better part." OUCH! I certainly don't get it. I know we would have been lost at the beach without the "Martha's."

So what is up with this story? Certainly this world would indeed fall apart without "Martha." Historically the church has interpreted this story as "Martha" being those who physically labor for the well being of the world and therefore as the church, and those "Mary's" who lead a contemplative life. Surely a life of prayer is the better part. It occurred to me this weekend that those monastics, God bless them too, those monastics would not have had a monastery if it were not for the "Martha's" of the world who counted the stones and laid those stones and put the building together. What do we do with this story of work? Which is the better part?

I had a hard time with it. Then it slowly occurred to me amidst the communion service we had at 4:00 on Saturday. It was a baptismal service with a lot of extra stuff. Oh, and by the way we used the Pacific Ocean as the Holy Water. I hear tell that an Episcopalian blessing on the ocean is good for about thirty-six hours so if you make it there soon it will still be Holy Water. (laughter) For this baptism everybody dropped what they were doing, clothes, food, boogie boards, sand castles and focused on one thing for an hour. I thought, "Ah, ha, this is it." We can all leave our "Martha" lives just as long as we do not forget the "Mary" now and then. Then it occurred to me on the ride home coming down the hill among the smoke of a forest fire, a dense fog of destruction, it wasn't being a "Martha" then or a "Mary" now. It wasn't a division of my world, a division of the Godly part and the worldly part. It occurred to me out of the smoky fog that it was in being both "Martha" and "Mary" at the same time. The desert Mothers and Fathers, our ancestors in faith had matured to the spiritual place of being able to find, know and receive our Lord even in the most common and mundane work. This is the story.

It was not that Martha was to put down what she was doing. No, nothing could have happened without Martha. It was that Martha was to do a better part to find our Lord in the work she was doing. It wasn't that Sarah was supposed to be glad to find all that behind her, but to receive with that same joy all that was to come. I know that kind of spiritual maturity takes skill, discipline and practice. I know I am not there yet. I am certainly much more a "Martha" than I am a "Mary." But it is with joy that I now think, "Ah, ha! Yes," even in those mundane "Martha tasks" at which I know I will find myself sometime this week, I will find my Lord and Savior.

It is my hope and prayer that each of you, sometime, even in the most difficult place or circumstance, you will go, "Ah, ha!" and see that what you are doing at that very moment you are doing in the presence of our Lord. That is quite a task. That is quite a mountain to climb. But it is there before us and it is our spiritual inheritance. So this week, and weeks to come, when you find yourself being "Martha" look for the presence of our Lord because he is close.

Amen.