First Reading: Genesis 18:1-14
1The Lord appeared to {Abraham} by the oaks of Mamre, as he sat at the door of his tent in the heat of the day. 2He lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold, three men were standing in front of him. When he saw them, he ran from the tent door to meet them and bowed himself to the earth 3and said, “O Lord, if I have found favor in your sight, do not pass by your servant. 4Let a little water be brought, and wash your feet, and rest yourselves under the tree, 5while I bring a morsel of bread, that you may refresh yourselves, and after that you may pass on — since you have come to your servant.” So they said, “Do as you have said.” 6And Abraham went quickly into the tent to Sarah and said, “Quick! Three seahs of fine flour! Knead it, and make cakes.” 7And Abraham ran to the herd and took a calf, tender and good, and gave it to a young man, who prepared it quickly. 8Then he took curds and milk and the calf that he had prepared, and set it before them. And he stood by them under the tree while they ate. 9They said to him, “Where is Sarah your wife?” And he said, “She is in the tent.” 10aThe Lord said, “I will surely return to you about this time next year, and Sarah your wife shall have a son.” 10bAnd Sarah was listening at the tent door behind him. 11Now Abraham and Sarah were old, advanced in years. The way of women had ceased to be with Sarah. 12So Sarah laughed to herself, saying, “After I am worn out, and my lord is old, shall I have pleasure?” 13The Lord said to Abraham, “Why did Sarah laugh and say, ‘Shall I indeed bear a child, now that I am old?’ 14Is anything too hard for the Lord? At the appointed time I will return to you, about this time next year, and Sarah shall have a son.”
Psalm 27:1-14
1The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom then shall I fear? the Lord is the strength of my life; of whom then shall I be afraid? 2When evildoers came upon me to eat up my flesh, it was they, my foes and my adversaries, who stumbled and fell. 3Though an army should encamp against me, yet my heart shall not be afraid; 4And though war should rise up against me, yet will I put my trust in him. 5One thing have I asked of the Lord; one thing I seek; that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life; 6To behold the fair beauty of the Lord and to seek him in his temple. 7For in the day of trouble he shall keep me safe in his shelter; he shall hide me in the secrecy of his dwelling and set me high upon a rock. 8Even now he lifts up my head above my enemies round about me. 9Therefore I will offer in his dwelling an oblation with sounds of great gladness; I will sing and make music to the Lord. 10Hearken to my voice, O Lord, when I call; have mercy on me and answer me. 11You speak in my heart and say, “Seek my face.” Your face, Lord, will I seek. 12Hide not your face from me, nor turn away your servant in displeasure. 13You have been my helper; cast me not away; do not forsake me, O God of my salvation. 14Though my father and my mother forsake me, the Lord will sustain me.
Second Reading: Colossians 1:21-29
21You, who once were alienated and hostile in mind, doing evil deeds, 22he has now reconciled in his body of flesh by his death, in order to present you holy and blameless and above reproach before him, 23if indeed you continue in the faith, stable and steadfast, not shifting from the hope of the gospel that you heard, which has been proclaimed in all creation under heaven, and of which I, Paul, became a minister. 24Now I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake, and in my flesh I am filling up what is lacking in Christ’s afflictions for the sake of his body, that is, the church, 25of which I became a minister according to the stewardship from God that was given to me for you, to make the word of God fully known, 26the mystery hidden for ages and generations but now revealed to his saints. 27To them God chose to make known how great among the Gentiles are the riches of the glory of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory. 28Him we proclaim, warning everyone and teaching everyone with all wisdom, that we may present everyone mature in Christ. 29For this I toil, struggling with all his energy that he powerfully works within me.
Gospel: Luke 10:38-42
38Now as they went on their way, Jesus entered a village. And a woman named Martha welcomed him into her house. 39And she had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord’s feet and listened to his teaching. 40But Martha was distracted with much serving. And she went up to him and said, “Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me to serve alone? Tell her then to help me.” 41But the Lord answered her, “Martha, Martha, you are anxious and troubled about many things, 42but one thing is necessary. Mary has chosen the good portion, which will not be taken away from her.”
Priorities
Priorities, we all set them. For me, I have an Outlook calendar that I synchronize with Terry’s calendar, so I don’t miss anything important. At the beginning of each week, I look at the “big picture” and develop a plan for the week. Then as each day progresses, I adjust my schedule, as needed, to accommodate any last-minute changes. Since I also serve as a Dean, I try to build in time for the needs of other pastors and churches and make adjustments as needed. Some have said that I plan too much, that I should just let things come as they may. But as I constantly remind our younger pastors, you must plan ahead, because you never know when you’ll need to be with a family at the death of a loved one, and that takes priority. If you haven’t planned, you’ll be in trouble at the end of the week. The truth is we all live hectic lives.
My father-in-law used to joke that he was busier after he retired than he was working a full-time job! But I don’t have to tell you any of this, you’re all shaking your head in agreement. I was talking with Pr. Ryan of Holy Trinity, Gastonia on Monday about priorities and he shared with me that he grew up on a farm. He was telling me about one Christmas morning when the feed-wagon broke down. He said they went out early to feed the cattle when the breakdown occurred. He said, that became the priority, not breakfast, not opening presents. They had to unload the wagon, take it into the barn and get the belt system working again. The priority was getting the animals fed before anything else. That wagon became his priority.
Now setting priorities in many cases is easy. We all know how to look at the things we need to do and determine what needs to happen first and how some things must be done before we can accomplish the next thing on the list. I mentioned talking with Pr. Ryan a moment ago, our conversation took place as we were headed to Burnsville, NC on Monday to meet with the Disaster Response folks working to rebuild houses in Yancy County. Ryan invited me to go along as he was getting an introduction to the projects being worked on, so he can manage a large Mission team coming in this week from Iowa.
As we traveled from project site to project site, Ken and Ryan talked about the stage of each house and what would need to be accomplished in order for each house to come to completion. At one location we marveled at how some of these homes were prefabricated and then assembled on site. The organization that focuses on new construction works with a fabricator to prebuild the exterior, or structure, of the house and then it’s brought in in pieces and then assembled like a big puzzle on site. As you can imagine, this must be done in a specific way so that the house goes together correctly.
For example, you can’t have the roof sections come in before the floor is in place. You can’t install the HVAC system before the upper deck is installed. You cannot install the sheetrock on the walls before the electrical and plumbing are roughed in. There must be a plan, the plan must be followed, and priorities must be set. And when you think about it, the same is true in many aspects of our lives. We must plan, we must establish and set priorities, and we must follow our plans in order to accomplish what’s important.
Setting priorities in our lives applies to all aspects of life. On a basic level, there are three aspects of life that we need to attend to; if any of these three are neglected, the impact can be substantial. The first area we must attend to is our mental or intellectual needs. We’ve all heard the phrase feed the mind. This in many ways is truer than we think. Over our lifetime, we never seem to stop learning. From a young age we learn to talk, walk, and read. Later, we go to school and then after high school we either go on to college or learn a trade. But the learning doesn’t stop there.
In our technologically advanced society, we’re constantly having to learn new technologies, everything from Smart TVs, to our Cell phones, to computers. Software, firmware, and hardware are constantly getting more and more sophisticated so we’re continually having to learn new operations. Even our cars are becoming more advanced. With Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, to GPS, to self-parking and driving, to advanced information systems, we’re constantly having to adjust the way to do things in our vehicles. But feeding our mind is a good thing.
How many have seen the commercials on TV and the ads on our smart devices that talk about the benefits of playing their game? Everything from Sudoku, to crossword puzzles, to Mojang, to word matching games like Connections, all seem to claim that you can ward off dementia, and even Alzheimer’s, just by playing 30 minutes a day. The idea they’re forwarding is that to keep sharp mentally and intellectually, you must feed the mind, you must keep stimulating the brain. Next, we must exercise the body.
Who can argue that more and more we live a sedentary lifestyle? Doctors universally, it seems, are constantly telling their patients that for optimal health, adults should aim for at least 150 minutes of moderate-intensity aerobic activity per week, which breaks down to about 30 minutes a day. As a pastor I sit behind a computer for hours at a time, I go to meetings where I sit for extended periods, and even meet at restaurants. A few minutes ago, I mentioned that I went to visit Burnsville to see what was going on, on the Disaster Response front. Well, that involved sitting in a vehicle riding around for hours. Yes, I get up and move around, but I must set time aside in my schedule if I want to achieve even the minimum amount of exercise recommended.
In this country with all the conveniences we have, it’s oftentimes hard for us to get good exercise unless you have a garden or live on a farm. Sure, there are plenty of jobs that require physical labor, but how many of us can say we get the exercise we need to stay in good health without setting aside time and making fitness a priority? Medical experts seem to agree, if we want to keep intellectually and physically fit, we must take time each day to feed our minds and exercise our bodies. You know where I’m going next don’t you?
Just as prioritizing our mental and physical needs are important, so it is with our spiritual wellbeing. Even when I was in the military, they recognized that if a person wanted to be sharp, to be ready to meet the demands of military service, all three of these areas had to be fed, body, mind, and soul. If the military recognized this, isn’t it something we need to pay attention to as well? In our gospel reading for today, we have one of the most recognizable stories of our lectionary calendar, that of Mary and Martha.
Now before we get into our Gospel reading, I want us to look at our Old Testament reading for a moment. I think the contrast between these two reading helps to make a good point about priorities. In our First lesson we have Abraham in the wanning years of his life. He’s now 99 years old; God, almost a quarter century before, had made a promise to him, if you will serve me, I will bless all nations through you. For the previous 24 years, Abraham and Sarah had left home and family behind to travel to a new land and now God comes to Abraham to begin to fulfill that promise. Abraham had made it a priority to order his life in preparation for what was to come.
Now one of the things I find interesting is that as the three strangers appeared, Abraham recognized that it was God who had come to visit. In verse 2 and 3 we read, “[Abraham] lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold, three men were standing in front of him. When he saw them, he ran from the tent door to meet them and bowed himself to the earth and said, ‘O Lord, if I have found favor in your sight, do not pass by your servant’” (Genesis 18).
Of course, we know from reading the entire Abraham story that Abraham had developed a relationship with God and kept the promise he had made 25 years earlier. He had made it a priority in his life to follow God’s commands. Now he was going to not only witness a miracle, but he was going to be part of that miracle. Our devotion to God must be a priority in our life and we must take the time to feed our spiritual life as well as our mental and physical aspects. The second part of this story that we need to consider is what Abraham did for his visitors. Abraham made haste in making sure that his guests were cared for.
Like all of us do, we assess any particular situation, and we set priorities. Here Abraham determined that what was most needed was to serve his visitors. Abraham first made sure they had water to wash and a place to rest. Next, he brought them food for their journey, then he stood by to ensure they had anything else they might need, and possibly for some dinner conversation. Sometimes what’s most needed is the basics, the feeding of the body and mind with some time for fellowship. This is where Martha missed the mark in assessing the situation.
We all know the story of Martha and Mary well. Jesus has come for a visit and Martha and Mary set different priorities. For Martha, it was an attempt to feed the body. Mary’s priority was to feed the soul. It wasn’t a matter of Martha doing something wrong. Yes, Jesus and His disciple would need to be feed. Martha simply got her priorities misplaced. The bottom line in these stories is that there is a time and place for taking care of all our daily needs, body, mind and spirit. Mary’s priorities at the time were properly ordered. Martha was distracted and got things out of order. All this you’ve heard before. We need to ensure we take care of all aspects of our needs, and we need to learn to do this properly and at the proper time. What’s important is that we also need to recognize that in order to do this, we need discipline.
Let’s face it, for most of us, feeding the body is the easiest part of taking care of ourselves. With an abundance of quick foods either at restaurants or in our grocery stores, it’s relatively easy to feed ourselves physically. But to take care of our intellectual and spiritual needs requires more time and discipline. In many cases we must deliberately set time aside to feed these aspects of ourselves. St. Paul recognized this struggle when he wrote to the Corinthians about obedience to the law and the freedoms we enjoy as Christians.
In the closing verses of chapter 9 of Paul’s first letter to the Christians in Corinth, under the heading of our need for self-discipline, the Apostle wrote, “Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize. Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last, but we do it to get a crown that will last forever. Therefore, I do not run like someone running aimlessly; I do not fight like a boxer beating the air. No, I strike a blow to my body and make it my slave so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified for the prize (vss. 24-27).
St. Paul recognized that feeding the mind and spirit involves discipline, it requires that we prioritize these needs in the same way we feed our bodies. Is this easy? No. Will satan do everything he can to keep us from setting aside time for prayer, Bible Study, and gathering together in worship? Yes! This is why I took the time last Sunday to talk about distractions. Satan is the master distractor because he knows that if he can keep us from setting aside time to feed our soul, not only will our spirit be starved, but our relationship with God will suffer.
St. Paul was right to point out that we are in a spiritual battle when he said, “Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. Therefore, put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests (Ephesians 6:10-18).
Just as we cannot neglect our need to feed the body, neither can we neglect our need to feed the mind and soul. The consequence of depriving any aspect of our needs is that part of us suffers. St. Peter is correct when he warns us, “Be alert and of sober mind. Your enemy, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. (1 Peter 5:8). To do this takes discipline. But the result is not only a healthy body and mind, but a healthy spirit as well.
Amen