Amos 8:1-12 
Psalm 52 
Colossians 1:15-28
Luke 10:38-42

Call to Worship

We commenced worship with a reflection on anger based on the lectionary texts with the anger of Amos at unjustice calling people ‘summer/rotten fruit’.  We mixed it with the angry rant of Psalm 52 and sung  the Hillsong classic, ‘Shout to the Lord’ alongside Marcus’ ‘angry version’.

Ministry of the Word

It wasn’t quite Melania Trump at the GOP Convention but, as referenced, Marcus basically preached Nadia Bolz Webber’ sermon on Mary and Martha with his own set of tragi-comic examples particularly around church cleaning rosters and vacuuming; driving in Footscray and family dinners run by his 82 year old mother in law…

the punchline…

….”Forgive them for they know not what they do.”  

We never do, really, for all the bluster, activism, rosters, consultants and models, all the work at political correctness and confected ,shame based, media moralistic outrage about cultural preferences, all the time!… If I’m honest, a lot of the time as people,  from Federal election campaigns to cleaning the house, we/I never seem to know what we are doing and sometimes we think the Bible is going to solve that for us…that a story like Jesus’ visit with Martha and Mary is going to give us a clear moral lesson so we can know what we are doing. And when we think we’ve got it down we can begin to judge the actions of others and we literally lose the plot.

So maybe choosing the better part isn’t about choosing between action and contemplation, or choosing to work hard OR rest at Jesus feet;  the Christian life has always been a combination of the two. Maybe the better part is not judging the actions of the other through the lens of your own personality. Because when we do so it is just a distraction from the main thing – and this story around which we gather…this MAIN THING, can never be taken away because it is always forming who you are, and, like water on rock, this liturgy, this work of the people, slowly and sometimes imperceptibly shapes us into the glory of God.

Friends… The story is why I’m here… amidst the vacuuming AND the preaching and the whole damn catastrophe! 

The liturgy/ work of the people isn’t taking part in some roster filling meritocracy for Jesus, or some quaintly quirkily diverse archaic social club meeting in a heritage Melbourne suburb.  It’s to remember our story and more than that, to invite and allow that story to shape our story and that by the power of the spirit we may become that story. Friends the story of God and God’s people will stand. And unlike the next roster and so much that passes as work in life, that story will not be taken away. Amen.

Benediction

A short reflection on being sent; getting outside; meeting others; public space and Christendom architecture… basically overview of social media buzz on the politics/ phenomena, good and bad, of recently launched Pokemon Go!