Much Ado About Nothin'

Preached at All Saints Chapel, Dinwiddie, Virginia -18 July 2010

Proper 11C - Saint Luke 10:38-42

"Now as they went on their way, Jesus entered a certain village, where a woman named Martha welcomed him into her home. 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 him 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.""

In the Name of the Father, and of the Son,

And of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Isn’t it amazing, how we can manage to get ourselves all worked up over the smallest things in life, turning the most insignificant issues into the most gigantic problems? As human beings, we have become very adept at turning the tiny, little mole hills of life into giant, un-scalable mountains, which frustrate, inhibit our progress, discourage our spirits, and rob us of the joys of life. And despite all our technology and wireless devices, it’s getting worse instead of better. We are becoming slaves to the urgent… and we have become convinced that EVERYTHING is urgent.

We rush around in our daily life, hurrying from one place to another, one thing to another, trying to get everything done, fussing about all that we have to do, and in the process, we build ourselves us for great frustration, disappointment, stress, and fatigue… all which leads to emotional, spiritual and physical illness. People are tired, exhausted, depressed, discouraged, stressed out, and more – all because we make much ado about nothing.

I know that Christmas is still some 5 months away, but just think for a moment about the way in which many of us shop for Christmas. For several weeks prior to the big day, we prepare for Christ’s birthday. With list in hand of gifts ideas, we rush from store to store, picking and choosing our expressions of love…or at least our expressions of obligations… lest we forget to get something for so and so… all the while complaining about the crowds, the parking, the lack of time, the lack of money, and the ineptitude of the store clerk.

We then take all our packages of Christmas joy, and race to checkout line…only to find that 2,319 other people all had the same idea at the same time; and are all now being helped by the only 2 check out clerks on the entire East Coast... and one of them is trying to get a price check on a pair of socks… while the other one is waiting for a check to process.

So we stand there in line, listening to Christmas Carols over an annoying and obsolete PA system, fuming, frustrated, tired, irritated, and watching the time go by….wondering if we’ll get out of the store in time for Christmas….next year! Sound familiar?

Or how about this… you get up a little late on a Monday morning, and rush to get showered, dressed, breakfasted, and into the car so you can get to work or school or the mall on time. And just as you pull out onto the street, you find yourself stuck a school bus that stops every 100 feet to pick up kids; or worse… you’re stuck behind a little black PT Cruiser that is being driven by none other than that renowned speed-demon of Central Virginia - Father Mark. I say renowned speed-demon because many of you know that I’m very diligent to observe the speed limit. If it says 45… then its 45, and that’s how I drive!

So, after following this school bus or my PT Cruiser for a few moments, you glance look at your watch, then the car’s clock; you listen to the radio announcer give the time, and you feel a sudden surge of anxiety and perhaps even anger. In your frustration and fear of being late, you then start to yell at the school bus, or God-forbid the little black PT Cruiser that’s going only 45 mph…. in a 45 mph zone. Have you ever wondered why we yell at the guy in front of us, with our windows up, knowing full well that he can’t hear us? What good does it do? Chances are that if he could hear us, we probably wouldn’t be nyelling. When you do finally arrive at work, your hot, stressed, frustrated, angry, and everyone knows it when your response to “good morning” is “What’s so blankety-blank good about it!”

Yes, we can get ourselves all worked up over the smallest things in life, turning the most insignificant issues into giant problems? As I said, we human have become very adept at turning the tiny, little mole hills of every day life into giant, mountains.

Each day we rush around in our daily life, hurrying from one place to another, trying to get everything done, fussing about all we have to do, and in the process, build ourselves us for great frustration, disappointment, stress, and fatigue. I myself am guilty of this from time to time, as Pattie can tell you, especially with the start of our Fall activities and schedule looming larger and larger before me. I worry sometimes that I’m not going to get everything done in time. But in reality, everything has always worked out fine, and this year will be no different – all the programs will be ready, and we will hit the Fall running.

We get all frustrated and hot and bothered about the smallest things…things we have no control over. We get all worked up about the news, or the congress, or the president, or the school system, or taxes, or traffic, or television shows, or how much things cost. And the reality of it all is that we have little or no control over any of it! So why do we allow ourselves to get so worked-up? Why do we insist on staying so busy, busy, busy all the time, rushing each moment of our precious life away?

In the Gospel which we have heard today, we see Jesus visiting the home of Mary and Martha. It is a very familiar story and passage, which has been used to communicate some essential truths about what’s important in life…and what’s not important in life.

In this story, Martha is busy trying to get everything organized and perfect for Jesus’ visit. She wants the house clean and spotless. No dust, no tracks on the rug, no clutter in the closets. Everything has to be perfect. She works feverishly on preparing the perfect dinner, and setting a perfect table. She makes Julia Child and Martha Stewart look like amateurs. Busy, busy, busy. Just like the mom who invited the Pastor and his family over for a dinner party. She worked and fussed all day long getting ready… and when it was time to eat, she asked her little daughter if she would say “grace.” The little girl responded by saying she didn’t know what to say; so mommy instructed her to just say what mommy always says. So everyone bows their head, and the little girl starts… “Oh Lord, why in the world did I invite all these people over here!”

That, my friends, describes Martha. Meanwhile, her sister Mary is just sitting in the parlor, listening to Jesus. He’s teaching and sharing thoughts of the Kingdom, and how to live, and how to know peace and joy and love in her life. She is enthralled by his presence and teaching, and just wants to sit and listen.

That creates a problem….not for Mary, but for Martha. She complains to Jesus…and actually scolds Jesus for not recognizing that Mary needs to help. She tells Jesus to tell Mary to get up and get to work…. Help set the table, help finish the salad, get some drinks ready… don’t just stand there… do something….. anything!

But Jesus says to Martha, basically, that she’s made much ado about nothing. Is the salad more important than salvation? Is the perfect dinner more important than the perfect peace that comes from God? Is a spotless house more important that a spotless heart? Is entertaining guests more important that eternal life?

Martha has made much ado about nothing… and we all sometimes act like Martha. We get all wrapped up in the BUSY-NESS of life… in doing and doing and doing. We have become so busy in our lives, so overwhelmed by having to get things done… and more and more things done, that we don’t have time to just stop… don’t have time for ourselves… don’t have time for life. Or worse, we’re so consumed by doing and doing and doing and running and running and running, that we feel really guilty when we do think about taking some time off, or slowing down a bit, or not doing something so we can enjoy our day, our families, our friends. We live by the adage, “Just don’t stand there, do something!”

Someone has suggested that we should no longer be called Human Beings… but rather Human Doings… because we no longer are Beings that live and breathe and take in life… but rather, we’re always doing and doing and doing, pushing the clock ahead, running out of time… trying to do as much as possible… as life rushes past us….

But isn’t life more than just doing and doing all the time; wearing ourselves down to a frazzle… focused all the time on being busy, on getting things done, to the point that we loose our joy and our peace? Many even convince themselves that they are too busy even for God! My friends, if you’re too busy for God, then you’re just too busy – period!

So… how do we overcome this syndrome… this Martha Phenomenon of being consumed, even obsessed with the BUSY-NESS of life? How do we get past the schedules and work and stresses of life, of striving for perfection in everything we do, instead of slowing down some, and enjoying the life and grace and peace and joy that God has given to us?

It’s not easy, but it can be done. Perhaps instead of living by the phrase, “Just don’t stand there, do something”… maybe once in a while we should adopt the philosophy of, “Just don’t do something, STAND there!”

What does that mean – “Don’t just do something, stand there!?” It means to be still, and listen. Be still and enjoy. Be still and let God’s Spirit quicken us, enliven us, charge us up, and fill us with the wonders of His Peace and Grace. To put it another way, like the title of a famous little book suggests, “Don’t sweat the small stuff … and it’s ALL small stuff!”

The real idea that we see here, especially in Mary, is the idea and concept of Sabbath. We’ve all heard of the Sabbath, in terms of what the Old Testament required, to take the 7^th day off and rest. But Sabbath is much, much more than just not working on the 7^th day… Sabbath is a state of mind, that not only knocks off work one day a week, but actually enjoys life, moment by moment, day by day, and does so from the perspective that sometimes just standing there, stopping to smell the roses really is a wonderful thing… really is what God had in mind when he established and commanded the Sabbath. Sabbath isn’t just a day… it’s a way of life.

Sabbath. The word itself has a comforting sound to it, doesn’t it! Sabbath. Rest. God himself established this idea of Sabbath, then he set the example in the Creation, then he gave it to man as a way to help us not wear ourselves away with BUSY-NESS and the doing and the running around all the time… in order to help us live each day of our short, fleeting lives, to the fullest… not just in doing… but in being… being alive… being aware… being a part of this Creation…. of enjoying the gift of life that God has given to us, and finding the joys and wonders in all God’s work and in his grace.

Sabbath is an important concept, one which took me a long time to really understand, and one of which I have to remind myself from time to time. To help me, and all of us remember that life is more than doing, and business, and stress, and to appreciate the notion not sweat the small stuff, I’ve taken the word Sabbath and developed an acrostic with the goal being to help us incorporate this idea of Sabbath into our lives; of how we really can enjoy this idea of rest and peace… not just on one special day of the week, but every day of every week, for the rest of our lives.

S – Stop: Right in the middle of your day, what ever it is you’re doing, and just STOP. Stop doing for just a moment, close your eyes, open your ears, and listen… think… meditate… and let your senses come back to life, instead of being dulled by the BUSY-NESS and running and doing of life. Just Stop and sit still, stand still, be still. Stopping what we’re doing, even for just a few minutes throughout the day can be very restful, and healthy. Maybe even take a slow walk… or a short nap… or just sit still with your eyes closed for a 5 minute quiet time. What ever form it takes, we need to learn how to STOP if we are ever going to have Sabbath in our lives.

A – Ask: When you’re feeling overwhelmed by the BUSY-NESS of life… ask yourself if what you’re doing right then and there is so important that it can’t wait for just a moment or two, or maybe an hour or two, or even a day or two. Ask yourself… “Is what you’re doing so important that 10 years from now, someone will remember that you didn’t do it right then and there.” Ask yourself if 10 years from now, someone will remember that what ever you are doing wasn’t perfect? I’m not talking about procrastination. Procrastination is the thief of time… it’s putting off till tomorrow things that really do need to be done today. The idea of Sabbath doesn’t promote sloth and procrastination; nor does it mean we shirk our responsibilities; but rather, we ask ourselves if this task, this activity, is so important that it keeps me from appreciating and even enjoying everything else that’s going on around me. So ASK…

B – Breathe: In silence, with your eyes closed, just breathe. Inhale and exhale slowly. Listen for your own heartbeat. Listen to what your heart… that inner person is saying to you. Breathe and let yourself dream, see yourself walking along a sea shore… breathing in the salt air. Close your eyes and breathe… see yourself sitting by a fire with a blanket and a book… Breathe… and feed your brain with oxygen… and feed your spirit with joy.

B – Bask: What does it mean to bask? Simply relax and bathe yourself in the joys and wonder of this wonderful Creation that God has given us. Enjoy the sunshine… do a little gardening and get your hands dirty… put up a bird feeder and then just sit listen to and watch the birds in your yard. Lie on your back and watch the clouds and try to imagine again what they all look like. Be a bit of a kid again, and enjoy a turtle, or a worm, or a squirrel running across the yard. God has given us a wonderful, colorful, vibrant creation that is full of life… so don’t let it all rush past you…. bask in the joys and wonders of it all.

A – Adore: Take time to Worship God. Make a little time each day, to say “I Love You God… thank you for my life.” Let God know how much you appreciate all the answers to your prayers. Make up a little song, or hum a hymn with praising God in mind. It can really relax and calm you, as well as feed your spirit. Remember this… that the cure for worry is worship and the cure for stress is praise.

T – Take Time for Yourself. Take a bath… take a walk… take a nap… read a book… get your hair and nails done… go fishing without any goal or idea of catching a single fish, but rather of just enjoying the river or lake… or just enjoy doing nothing at all for an hour or even two, sitting on the porch drinking coffee and talking with your spouse or to a friend. Taking time for yourself is not being lazy or selfish, but rather, it’s being sane! Remember, self-love is not as great a sin as self-neglect! So take a little time for yourself…

H – Hear: Hear God speaking… just like Mary did at Jesus’ feet. Mary made the decision to take a little Sabbath… to make a Sabbath moment with Jesus and listen to him speak; to let his words heal her spirit and encourage her heart. Instead of working and busying herself with all the chores of the day like her sister Martha, Mary took a Sabbath moment and was blessed… and that’s why Jesus said to Martha… “She has chosen the most important thing to do.”

Why not follow Mary’s example, and come and sit at the feet of Jesus for a lesson in what’s really important in life. Take some Sabbath this week, and let the peace of God which passes all understand, keep your hearts and minds in Jesus Christ. Let us pray.

In the Name of the Father, and of the Son,

And of the Holy Spirit. Amen.