St Clement Church
Fifth Sunday after Trinity Community Service
Good morning
A warm welcome to all sharing this service whether you are with us at St Clement or at home.
I hope that we may all start this new week with a time of quiet and reflection before being swept up again in the busyness of everyday life.
My love to you all
Liz
Lord God, we thank you for this day and for the opportunity to gather in your name. We ask that you would be with us as we worship, and that your presence would fill this place. Open our hearts to your word, and help us to understand your will for our lives. May our worship be a reflection of your glory, and may we leave here changed by your grace. In Jesus’ name. Amen
We say together:
Father God, we gather here today under your care and protection. Thank you for your loving kindness that never fails us. We thank you for those sharing this time with us, that you would guide our thoughts and actions to bring you glory. Strengthen us and fill us with your peace. May we love and serve each other as Jesus has shown us. Fill us with the Holy Spirit to do your work on earth. Amen
Hymn: 238 New every morning is the love
Our Prayer of Penitence:
Lord God, we have sinned against you; we have done evil in your sight. We are sorry and repent. Have mercy on us according to your love. Wash away our wrongdoing and cleanse us from our sin. Renew a right spirit within us and restore us to the joy of your salvation, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen
The Collect for the Fifth Sunday after Trinity
Almighty and everlasting God, by whose Spirit the whole body of the Church is governed and sanctified: hear our prayer which we offer for all your faithful people, that in their vocation and ministry they may serve you in holiness and truth to the glory of your name; through our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, who is alive and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen
Readings:
Genesis 18. 1 – 10a Colossians 1. 15 - 28
Hymn: 339 Be thou my vision
Gospel: Luke 10. 38 - 42 (Hear the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ according to Luke. Response: ‘Glory to you O Lord.’)
Now as Jesus and his disciples went on their way, he entered a certain village, where a woman named Martha welcomed him into her house. She had a sister named Mary, who sat at the Lord’s feet and listened to what he was saying. But Martha was distracted by her many tasks; so she came to Jesus and asked, ‘Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me to do all the work by myself? Tell her then to help me.’ But the Lord answered her, ‘Martha, Martha, you are worried and distracted by many things; there is need of only one thing. Mary has chosen the better part, which will not be taken away from her,’
(This is the Gospel of our Lord. Praise to you, O Christ)
Reflection
I have read or heard today’s gospel reading so many times in my life. Strangely, just recently, I said to a friend, ‘I am too much a Martha and not enough of a Mary.’ But, when I said that, what was I really saying? What was I meaning? Yet again, being presented with a reading that I ‘have to think about’ – to write this - not just read it or hear it, I suddenly realised that there was so much more to this passage than I had realised. It wasn’t saying what I had thought!
‘Martha, Martha, you are worried and distracted by many things.’
Given everything that is happening in Cornwall, in the United Kingdom and the world, not to mention whatever is going on in our personal lives, those words from Jesus in today’s gospel, just might be the gospel understatement of the year.
Many things are leaving Martha feeling troubled, anxious, and disturbed. She’s being pulled in different directions. Her life is in pieces, divided into parts. It’s as if there are a thousand different things in her heart and on her mind and she’s not able to give time, energy, and attention to the “one thing” needed. Maybe she doesn’t even know what that “one thing” is.
I wonder how many of us feel like Martha, “worried and distracted by many things.” I do, and I wouldn’t be surprised if you do too. Chances are most of us are living a Martha kind of life. It’s often what happens when we feel overwhelmed and the plumb line of our life is swinging wildly.
What are the many things about which you are worried and distracted today? What’s dividing your life into parts and pulling you in different directions and what are those doing to you and your relationships?
I was thinking the other day how there are so many more distractions when driving nowadays than there were when I learnt to drive. In fact, every driver is now a distracted driver. It’s not only about driving cars, it’s also a metaphor about how we are living. We’re driving through life with distractions. It’s not just dangerous, it’s exhausting.
Martha is a distracted driver, and that’s not a criticism of her. When Jesus says to her, “Martha, Martha, you are worried and distracted by many things,” I don’t think he’s making an accusation, he’s making an observation. He’s making a diagnosis not a judgement.
When he says, “Mary has chosen the better part” I don’t think he’s opposing Mary, who sits at his feet and listens, to Martha who is busy with many tasks. I don’t think he is saying that Mary is right and Martha is wrong, or that it’s better to sit at his feet and listen than it is to prepare the house and the table to welcome a guest.
Look at the life of Jesus. He lives on a Mary-Martha spectrum as we all do. Sometimes Jesus went off by himself to be alone, silent, and still; to sit, pray and listen; to be present with his Father. Other times, Jesus was active, on the move, in the midst of people, busy teaching, healing, feeding 5000. One is not better or more important than the other. We need both.
Jesus isn’t making a value judgement on the things that are distracting Martha. He’s recognising what those distractions are doing to her. Think about distraction as dis-traction, the loss of traction. When we’re distracted by many things we lose traction and our wheels are spinning. We’re not getting anywhere.
In what ways have you lost traction in your life today? How will you get it back? Being more focused, paying better attention, rearranging our schedule, cutting down the to-do list, getting some help, self-medicating, avoiding, or complaining are our usual remedies. So it is, for Martha.
Martha thinks that if Mary would just help, get up and do some of the work, everything would be better. She sees her distractions as her circumstances. We often do too. But Jesus doesn’t address the circumstances, he addresses Martha. The distractions are not about what is happening around her but about what is happening within her. Her many tasks have divided her into many parts.
What if the opposite of, and antidote to, distraction isn’t focus, working harder, or paying more attention, but traction? Traction is what lets us move forward and get somewhere. Maybe that is what Jesus is talking about when he says, “There is need of only one thing.” Maybe he’s talking about traction. What if we gain traction when we choose “the better part.”
Choosing “the better part” doesn’t mean the other parts are inferior or wrong. It simply means that at this time, in this place, and under these circumstances, there is a better part to be chosen. What if Martha could have chosen hospitality with the same wholeheartedness with which Mary chose sitting and listening? That just might have been the “one thing” for her, the “better part.”
We don’t all have to choose the same “one thing.” What if there is a “better part” for you and a “better part” for me, just like there is for Mary and Martha? What if in wholeheartedly choosing the “one thing” our lives are enlarged and together we begin responding to the needs of one another and the world?
I suspect that wholehearted presence is a key to choosing “the better part.” When we’re wholehearted, the divided parts of our lives reunite. Choosing “the better part” is not, however, a one-time choice. It’s a choice made in a particular set of circumstances. So, we must hold our choice lightly so that when the context changes or other circumstances present themselves, we can choose the next “better part.” Otherwise, we just continue living as distracted drivers. When you look at all the many tasks and distractions in your life today what is the “one thing” for you, the “better part?”
What would it take to be a little more wholeheartedly present? What would give you some ‘traction’ these days?
So, when I said ‘I’m too much a Martha and not enough of a Mary,’ I was right, but not in the way I thought I meant it!
Amen
Let us declare our faith in God
We declare in God the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named.
We believe in God the Son, who lives in our hearts through faith, and fills us with his love. We believe in God the Holy Spirit, who strengthens us with the power from on high. We believe in one God; Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Amen
Hymn: 431 O thou who camest from above
Our Intercessions by Helen Dunbar
In the power of the Spirit and in union with Christ let us pray to the Father.
We pray for the worldwide Church, for all Christian people working towards making this world a better place; showing love and kindness to all they come into contact with; meeting to worship and praise you and enjoy fellowship with each other. Lord, we ask that your blessing of peace and love may be known to all people everywhere. Help us to bear abundant fruit from the seeds of potential that you have planted within us.
Lord in your mercy; hear our prayer
Dear Lord, your Son Jesus Christ enjoyed rest and refreshment in the home of his friends. May we, like Martha, serve Christ faithfully, and like Mary, feed on his word and grow in love and grace.
Lord in your mercy; hear our prayer
We pray for all clergy and in our own parish and we ask God’s blessing on our own hard working Revd Diane, Ken and her family. We also give thanks for the work and commitment of our Reader Liz, our PCC and our congregation.
Lord in your mercy; hear our prayer
Help us all to be mindful that we are all created equal in your sight and accept our deep regret that despite this there is so much inequality to be found in our world.
Lord in our mercy; hear our prayer
We pray for all children in our community. We pray that God’s steadfast love may be known to them by the way in which we live and the way in which we serve them. We pray that this summer may be a time of refreshment and enjoyment when they might know the love of friends and family.
Lord in your mercy; hear our prayer
Bless King Charles and Queen Camilla and all members of the royal family.
Dear Lord, we pray for all people we know who are ill, anxious or bereaved; for those who are lonely or living alone and for all those who are weary and carrying heavy burdens due to the economic effects of the rising cost of living.
Lord in your mercy; hear our prayer
Dear Lord, we pray for our own communities and all of our neighbours. We give thanks for our family and friends, raising before you those we know with particular needs. May your peace and love surround them bringing its comfort and strength and we think of, Ken and Diane, Brian, May, Susan, Tony, Jan, Lynda, Dot, Maureen, Pam and David, Sandra, Roger, Michael and Patricia, Rob and Alison, Stella, Jeremy, Anita and Stephen, Callum and Elaine, Sue and Martin, Margaret and John, Paul, Lawson, Barbara, Simone, and Dinah.
We remember the recently departed and we pray for John Paul who passed away on Monday. We also think of his grieving wife Carrie. Our thoughts and prayers go to all those whose anniversary falls at this time and we remember Gwendoline Colwill and Norman Spargo.
Rejoicing in the fellowship of St Andrew, St Allen and St Clement and all the saints.
Rejoicing in the fellowship of St Clement, St Allen, and St Andrew.
Merciful Father, accept these prayers for the sake of your Son, our Saviour, Jesus Christ. Amen
We say 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 trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation; but deliver us from evil.
For thine is the kingdom, the power, and the glory, for ever and ever. Amen
Be the Best by Douglas Malloch
If you can’t be a pine on the top of a hill,
Be a scrub in the valley but be
The best little scrub by the side of the rill;
Be a bush if you can’t be a tree.
If you can’t be a bush be a bit of the grass,
And some highway happier make;
If you can’t be a Muskie then just be a bass
But the liveliest bass in the lake!
We can’t all be captains, we’ve got to be crew,
There’s something for all of us here,
There’s big work to do, and there’s lesser to do,
And the task you must do is the near.
If you can’t be a highway then just be a trail,
If you can’t be the sun be a star;
It isn’t by size that you win or you fail
Be the best whatever you are!
The Peace
Jesus said: ‘Love one another. As I have loved you, so you are to love one another.’
The peace of the Lord be always with you.
Hymn: 457 The King of love my shepherd is
The Blessing
As we take our worship, praise and prayer from this place and into our daily lives, may our lives be sustained through the love of our Heavenly Father. May we feel the presence of our Saviour walking beside us, and know the power of the Spirit in both our actions and our words. Amen