Stay

Colossians 2:6-7; Luke 10:38-42

October 4, 2015 (World Communion) • Mount Pleasant UMC

We have a 7-year-old lovable mutt named Hershey who is spoiled rotten. We got her when she was six weeks old, so she has been part of our family most of her life, and she is most definitely Cathy’s dog. In fact, she puts up with me all week, but when Cathy comes home on Thursday nights, she gets really excited. She knows nothing about a calendar, but she does know when it’s Thursday and she starts hanging out around the garage door, waiting for Cathy to come home.

When she was about 3 months old, Rachel and I took her to obedience training. It was a mixed success, though because I took her to the class, she does tend to pay more attention to commands I give than the ones Cathy gives. She knows Cathy is the “soft touch!” Anyway, one of the hardest things for her to do, still, is responding to the command, “Stay!” The way they taught us to train her in obedience class was to get Hershey to sit in one place, walk a few paces away and put down a favorite treat. Then, when she starts to get up to come get it, you say, “Stay!” It works some of the time, but not all of the time. It all depends on how badly she wants the treat that day!

But then I think, who am I to point out Hershey’s failure to “stay”? I have trouble with that command ourselves. We live in a world of constant motion. We don’t “stay” put very long or very often. We change locations, we change occupations, we change families—always in motion, never staying anywhere very long. Our lives are often like this: we see what looks like a treat, something that looks better than what we have right now, and we go running after it. We have trouble with the command, “Stay!”

And so, as we come to the third simple rule, we might wonder how we’re ever going to accomplish it. As I reminded you a couple of weeks ago, John Wesley, the founder of Methodism, had “three simple rules” that were to guide those of us who call ourselves Christians in the Methodist tradition. Two of the rules we’ve already talked about: “Do no harm” and “Do good.” It’s not enough just to refrain from harm; Jesus calls us to be actively involved in the world doing good, seeking to make the world a better place. As Pastor Rick rightly reminded us last week, we don’t do those good things to earn our salvation or a place in heaven. We do those good things as a response to Jesus, in thanksgiving for his love. So then, today, we come to the third and final “simple rule,” which is this: “Stay in love with God.”

We see those three words lived out in a story from the Gospels that takes place in a simple home. The setting is the town of Bethany, just over the top of the Mount of Olives outside of Jerusalem (cf. Wright, Luke for Everyone, pg. 130). In this town, Jesus and his disciples come and stay at the home of a woman named Martha. Martha, we’re told, willingly opens her home to Jesus. Though, really, what else could she do? Middle Eastern hospitality dictated that you take care of whatever stranger or person in need might show up on your doorstep. Jesus is not a stranger; he was a friend of this family. But nevertheless, hospitality dictates that you prepare a meal for those who are traveling and come to your door (cf. Card, Luke: The Gospel of Amazement, pg. 140). That’s a tradition that goes all the way back to the Old Testament, to at least the time when Abraham entertained three strangers who came to his tent (cf. Genesis 18). You take care of those who come to your house.

So Jesus and the twelve disciples show up at Martha’s house. They probably didn’t email ahead or send a Facebook notice. They just show up, knowing they will be taken care of. Now, picture the story from Martha’s viewpoint. Here she is, expecting to prepare dinner for the three people when suddenly three becomes sixteen. Dinner for sixteen! Can you imagine the chaos that would ensue if that happened at your home? Well, we probably would load everyone up and head for a restaurant, but Martha didn’t have that option. Instead, she heads into the kitchen and begins doing what she knows as her duty while Jesus and the disciples get comfortable in the living room. Well, Jesus, the disciples, and Mary.

Now, before we go too far into the story, we need to know something about men’s and women’s roles and spaces in the first century. It was very different than it is today, because Middle Eastern homes in those days had very distinct spaces. There were parts of the home that were for the men and other parts that were for the women. This is still true in some places of the world today, even in some places in the Middle East. The public room, or what we might call the “living room,” was where the men would meet; the kitchen and other places generally unseen by outsiders were reserved for the women. There were only two places, generally, where men and women were allowed to mix. One was outside, where little children would play. And the other was the married bedroom, where husbands and wives shared space. Other than that, whether we like it or not, men and women, in that culture, had distinct roles and even separate spaces (Wright 130).

Now, what does all of that have to do with this story? Well, notice where Mary is. When Martha comes storming out of the kitchen, wondering where her sister is and why she’s having to prepare food for sixteen by herself, she finds Mary sitting in the common area with the disciples. The tension in this chapter may not have as much to do with Martha being left alone in the kitchen as it does with the fact that Mary is crossing boundaries. She is doing what was only allowed for men to do. And Jesus was letting her do it! Mary is assuming the role of a disciple; Luke says she is sitting at Jesus’ feet and listening to what he had to say (10:39). She is a learner, and in that world the only reason you would take the role of a disciple to a rabbi or teacher is if you planned to become a rabbi yourself (Wright 130-131; Green, NICNT: The Gospel of Luke, pg. 434)—and there were no women rabbis in those days. This is scandalous! Mary is broadcasting her devotion to Jesus, so when Martha says, “Tell her to help me!” (10:40), she is basically saying, “This is not right. Mary should not be in here. Make her come back to her proper role, Jesus.”

So, the question is, then, what does Jesus do? Does he agree with the culture’s definitions of men and women? Or does he break down the boundaries? Does he challenge the status quo and accept Mary’s devotion? You know the answer. He says to Martha, “You are worried and upset about many things, but few things are needed—or indeed only one. Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her” (10:41-42). Often, when we read this passage, we assume Jesus is saying that what Mary has chosen is better because she’s spending time with him. We assume somehow Jesus is saying that what Martha is doing is not as valuable. But I don’t think that’s what he’s saying at all. What Martha is doing is needed and important. You know as well as I do that we can’t spend all of our time at the feet of Jesus, as much as we might want to. There comes a time where we need to be involved in very practical things: feeding those who are hungry (like Martha was attempting to do), caring for those in need, helping those who are hurting and so on. We can’t stay here in worship every moment of every day. Food has to be prepared, buildings have to be cleaned, children have to be cared for. I don’t believe it’s Martha’s practical work that Jesus is criticizing, because in other places he, in fact, calls us to practical ministry. Doing good, as Pastor Rick talked about last week. Mary’s way is not “better” because of what she is doing, but because of how she’s doing it.

The clue is right there in Luke’s narrative. Luke tells us Martha was “distracted by all the preparations that had to be made” (10:40). What Jesus is criticizing are not Martha’s actions but the spirit in which she set about those actions. She is distracted, and more than that, she seems to have forgotten the one for whom she is making the preparations. As she’s banging pots around in the kitchen, probably muttering (or not so much) under her breath about Mary and her irresponsibility, she’s getting madder and madder and she has forgotten why she is doing what she is doing. She has forgotten the purpose of her work: to serve Jesus. Mary’s part is “better” because, despite crossing normal boundaries, she is focused completely on Jesus. It is her devotion to Jesus that will not be taken from her, while Martha desperately needs her distractedness taken away from her.

Staying in love with God requires us first and foremost to remember who it is that has saved us, who we worship, who is the object of our love, our devotion. We have so many things that distract us today. Ironically, as I was working on this message, I went over to my browser to search something and there I saw a Facebook post which made me think of something else and that led me to another web page and before long I had completely forgotten what I went to search for in the first place! Today, we can carry the internet around in our pockets and that has made us both less patient (we generally can’t wait more than a few seconds without checking our phones) and more distracted. So much to look at, so little time (or so it seems). There are times I find myself just flipping through apps without any particular purpose. We get distracted in other places, too—like driving. distraction.gov, a website aimed at ending distracted driving, lists several things that interfere with our focus these days. I won’t ask you to raise your hands, but have you ever done any or many of these while driving? Texting, using a cell phone or smartphone, eating and drinking, talking to passengers, grooming, reading, using a navigation system, watching a video or adjusting the radio, CD player, or MP3 player. Technology, with its many options has contributed to making us a distracted people.

Have you ever gone to the grocery store with the intention of just buying one or two things and then you see all these options, and they’re all on sale! You went in for one or two things and then come out with a whole cart full? No, that’s never happened to me, either! Or you’re in a conversation and your mind begins to drift to other things when suddenly you realize they’ve asked you a question and you have no idea what it is. And then, there are more serious distractions, such as that other person who seems to be so interested in you, who seems to “look better,” or who seems to think you are so great. Some distractions lead to disasters.

Relationships, and marriage in particular, take a lot of work. It may be easy to “fall in love,” but it’s a lot of work to stay there. Feelings come and go, but thankfully love is deeper than our feelings. To stay in love we have to “choose to love” by living it out. I wonder if that isn’t part of why Paul often uses marriage as a metaphor of our relationship to Jesus Christ. Staying in love with God is hard work. It doesn’t just happen; we have to work at it. As it is in marriage, so it is in our Christian life. Do no harm. Do good. And stay in love with God, even when it’s hard.

So how can we “stay”? What can we do to stay in love with God, to remove the distractions as Mary did and focus on the Lord Jesus? Through the centuries, a variety of practices developed that have come to be known as “spiritual disciplines.” Now, we don’t tend to like the word “discipline;” it sounds like we’re being punished. But this is the other meaning of discipline: doing something that will help make you stronger. It takes discipline, for instance, to study, to stay the course of learning something new. It takes discipline to walk away from that donut I know I shouldn’t be eating. It takes discipline to stick to an exercise routine. I have a friend who runs “Iron Man” triathlons, and he trains constantly. An “Iron Man,” by the way, consists of a 2.4 mile swim, followed by a 112-mile bicycle ride, followed by a 26.2-mile marathon. All in one day! Just reading that makes me tired! To train for those events takes strict discipline. I asked him about that and he said his training regimen looks like this: “I typically [do] four swims, five rides, and five runs a week with one high intensity bike workout, one high intensity run workout, one long bike, and one long run each week.” Now, there are, undoubtedly, days he doesn’t want to train, but the discipline forces him out on the road, day in and day out. If he’s going to keep at these triathlons, he has to train. He has to be disciplined. Just recently, he qualified to compete in next year’s World Championship in Kona, Hawaii. He is who I think of when I hear Paul say, “Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training” (1 Corinthians 9:25). And Paul, of course, isn’t talking just about athletic events. He’s comparing that to disciplining ourselves spiritually, because it also takes discipline to stay in love with God.

So what are these disciplines? Well, John Wesley suggested six things we can do to stay in love with God, but I don’t think he meant for that to be an exhaustive list. Rather, it’s a suggestive list; there are other things you could add as well. The first discipline on Wesley’s list is taking part in the public worship of God. So, you’re here this morning, congratulations, you get credit for that one! Today, more than ever it seems, coming to worship is a discipline. There are so many other things that grab for our attention. Gone are the days when nothing else happens on Sundays; there are sports and family events and social events and all sorts of things clambering for our time. Besides, sometimes it’s just nice to sleep in on Sunday morning! And, some say, it doesn’t do me any good anyway. That’s why attending worship is a discipline. The “benefits” for us accumulate over time, just like with exercise. You don’t generally notice the benefits of exercise after, say, just one run or one workout. Over time benefits you never thought about begin happening. It’s the same with worship. As we give ourselves over to the discipline of worship, we’ll find ourselves strengthened by community, encouraged by the music and the prayers, as well as reminded that life is about more than just “me, myself and I.” Worship points us beyond ourselves; this time on Sunday morning reminds us who we belong to. Of course, I am preaching to the choir here. You know that, or you wouldn’t be here. The question for us here, though, is what priority worship has in our lives. Do we come expecting Jesus to show up, or are we just putting in our time? Worship helps us stay in love with God.

So does what Wesley calls “the ministry of the word.” By that he means hearing Scripture read and proclaimed. Now, it’s sort of hard to stand up here and tell you why you should listen to the word proclaimed when I’m the one doing the proclaiming week after week! Seems a bit self-serving! I can only tell you what preaching does for me. When I’m driving during the week, I’m usually either listening to podcasts about Apple and Mac news, or I’m listening to sermons from other pastors. Their preaching influences mine, but I also listen for my own encouragement and growth. Sometimes the sermons I hear help me understand a passage, or look at it a little differently, or hear a word from the Lord that I needed. The Word proclaimed reminds me of the love God has for me, which calls out my own love for God. I hope my preaching does the same for you. My church history professor, Dr. Ken Kinghorn, once told us that he had never failed to get something out of a sermon, but he had quite a few close calls! I worry less about whether you “get something out of it” than whether it helps you come to love God more. The Word proclaimed helps us stay in love with God.

The third discipline is what Wesley called “the supper of the Lord,” what we usually refer to as holy communion. This is a practice that Jesus himself, of course, told us to do. He said to do it in “remembrance” of him (cf. Luke 22:19), and the church has traditionally understood that in three ways. We remember what Jesus has done for us, how he sacrificed himself on the cross to save us from our sins. We give thanks for what he has done (which is why some traditions call it the “eucharist,” a Greek word that means “thanksgiving”). And we celebrate at the table with Jesus. We spend time with him. We “commune” with him. We remember, we celebrate, and we give thanks. The bread and the cup are meant to help us draw closer to Jesus, to love him more. Today is World Communion Sunday, the day when brothers and sisters around the world join together at the table of the Lord, and together we will experience, in just a few moments, how the Supper of the Lord, communion, the Eucharist help us stay in love with God.

Fourth on Wesley’s list is family and private prayer. Wesley could have just listed prayer; I think we probably can guess that prayer helps connect us to God. It’s just like any other relationship—you can’t really love someone you never talk to. And prayer is just talking to God, so we understand that prayer will help us love God more. But when we think of prayer we usually think of “private prayer,” the conversation I have by myself with God, and prayers that maybe no one else ever hears. But Wesley included family prayer as well. To tell you the truth, this is something we’ve struggled with and never done very well with in our family. Many families find that today’s fast pace makes it hard to find time to gather as a family and pray. And yet, those who have been successful at this discipline tell me how it brings them together as a family and helps them, together, grow their love for God. Especially if you’ve got young children at home, I cannot encourage you enough to carve out time that is sacred to pray together, to let your kids hear you pray as their father or mother, to let them say their stumbling prayers as they get older. Family and private prayer both help us stay in love with God.

The fifth discipline on Wesley’s list is what he calls “searching the Scriptures.” We simply call it “Bible study,” and that is meant to be both personal and in a group. In a church our size, we need small groups to really get to know each other and be able to focus on and study the Scriptures. I have to tell you, after now having visited all of the LifeGroups that are currently active here at Mount Pleasant, I am so impressed with the intimate communities you have created in those groups. LifeGroups give people a chance to do life together, while studying the Bible together and encouraging each other to live out what you study. LifeGroups are all about learning what is in this book and applying it to your life, taking the concepts we might discuss here on Sunday morning and putting them into effect in your life. LifeGroups are about fellowship, growing together, getting to know each other and being there for each other when life gets tough. A few weeks ago, I went to pray with a member of our congregation who was having surgery, and when I got there, just before the surgery, she said her LifeGroup had already been there to pray with her. That’s part of what it’s all about. When you study Scripture together, when you share life together, you learn to care for one another, to be Jesus to one another.

It’s fantastic that there are already so many people involved in LifeGroups. But my personal goal is that 100% of the congregation is connected to a small group somewhere, so we’re not there yet. So here’s my question to you, personally: what small group are you connected to? What small group is helping you study the Bible and apply it to your life? It might be an “official” LifeGroup or it might be some other group. But if your answer is “none,” I have another challenge for you: join a LifeGroup. Today, there is information in the back of the worship space about the existing LifeGroups that are open for new members. There is also the opportunity, if none of those days or times fit your schedule, for you to start a new one. Form a new group and invite others to join you. Pastor Rick, Joyce Krock or Jenny Kocher would love to help you do that because searching the Scriptures helps us stay in love with God.

And then the final discipline on Wesley’s list is one we really don’t like all that much: it’s fasting or abstinence. It’s doing away with things, often for a temporary time, that get in the way of our walk with God. When we think of fasting, we generally think of food, but fasting can be going without anything that takes up time we would be better off giving to God. And the whole point of fasting is not to just “regain” some time in our schedule. The point is to use whatever time we might use eating or surfing the internet or watching TV or whatever it is—use that time to pray or read the Bible or serve someone else or do something that helps you stay in love with God. It’s doing without so that we can gain more than we might imagine.

There are, of course, more things we could add to the list. But the point is this: our distractions are often just excuses for staying away from God. What discipline can help us rediscover or grow our love for God. That’s what we need to do. My triathlete friend put it this way: “I am a firm believer that like anything else in life, with endurance sports, it’s not about one single workout that leads to a great race, but rather the day-in and day-out commitment to the sport to make yourself better.” The point is to do whatever it takes to stay in love with the one who loves us more than we can ever understand. Stay in love with God.

Three simple rules: Do no harm. Do good. Stay in love with God. The rules are simple, but not easy. And yet, following these three simple rules leads to freedom we can’t quite comprehend, freedom to live the way Jesus calls us to live. As Paul put it when he wrote to the Colossians: “So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live your lives in him, rooted and built up in him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness” (2:6-7). That’s my prayer for each and every one of us this morning as we live by these three simple rules

With those “rules” in our hearts and minds, let us then practice one of the disciplines for staying in love with God as we come to the table to celebrate holy communion. Join me in prayer as we prepare our hearts for the bread and the cup.