Original message shared by Rev. Melissa Guthrie at Come and Worship on July 20, 2025, in Winston Salem, NC, and The Banquet with Salvage Garden on July 26, 2025, in Greensboro, NC. Visit one or both of these faith communities!
I understand you recently read and talked about the Good Samaritan, taking care of each other.
Following Jesus’ telling of the parable of the Good Samaritan, to be a neighbor, take good care of each other, to DO this; Jesus tells two women, Mary and Martha, that sitting at his feet is the better thing to do. Better than…? Action? Does the gospel writer think contemplative practices of Christianity like prayer and study are really better than the active practices of hospitality and service? Should we think that too? This is disorienting.
I shall really make us disoriented.
[When preaching, Melissa picked up her materials and moved to the back of the room. Is there a physical way you can shift your body right now? Move to another place to continue reading? Stretch, breathe, move your body?]
Sometimes we need to reorient ourselves. To examine scripture, ourselves, our interactions with others, our experiences, from (an)other perspective.
[Did you reorient yourself?]
Please pray with me:
Holy God, we often operate from a familiar, comfortable place. At times we move through our days and relationships as if they are so commonplace. We’ve settled in, perhaps settled. May your holy Spirit stir within us a curiosity and openness to examine and reexamine scripture, ourselves, our interactions with others, our experiences, from other perspectives. Amen.
I share a poem from Mary Oliver, her 2013 collection of poetry titled, A Thousand Mornings.
Today
Today I’m flying low and I’m
not saying a word.
I’m letting all the voodoos of ambition sleep.
The world goes on as it must,
the bees in the garden rumbling a little,
the fish leaping, the gnats getting eaten.
And so forth.
But I’m taking the day off.
Quiet as a feather.
I hardly move though really I’m traveling
a terrific distance.
Stillness. One of the doors
into the temple.
Among thousands of mornings, do your own math, 356 mornings each year, times… How many mornings have you enjoyed? Are you enjoying them?
Among thousands of mornings, I am invited to be fully present here. Right here, right now. I don’t think Mary, sitting at the feet of Jesus, was “taking a day off.” But I think she was “letting all the voodoos of ambition sleep,” she was “still,” and fully present at the feet of Jesus, one of the doors of the temple was open. One of the doors…
Until today (technically last week when I began revisiting the scripture, when Brad reminded me I was worshiping with you all), until I Sat With the scripture, the story of Jesus and Mary and Martha, and the reflections of preachers and professors and the Greek Text, I approached and engaged its message in a binary way. This story of Mary and Martha presented a dichotomy, roles that must be mutually exclusive: each of us is Mary OR Martha and one is better than the other.
Who are you? I remember being asked. Who are you? I have often asked listeners. Are you Mary or Martha? Today, “Today,” I am invited to reorient the question and Jesus’ answer (which, Jesus’ answer, most of his “answers,” flip the script or challenge us to reorient how we think and do things.)
Many commentaries pit Mary and Martha against each other. Mary is the listener, Martha is the doer. Mary is introverted, Martha is extroverted. Mary is right, Martha is wrong.
I hadn’t heard this before, but Candler School of Theology Professor Jennifer Wyant shares that there is a legend about these sisters:
“There is a famous legend told about Martha of Bethany that was popular in the Middle Ages. In this story, which takes place after the resurrection of Jesus, she becomes a traveling preacher and ends up in a small town in France that, unfortunately, has a chronic dragon problem. She manages to slay the dragon and, in doing so, wins the whole town over to Christianity. In that same story, her sister Mary, on that same trip, ends up starting a monastery in the wilderness, meaning they both live out the roles assigned to them in Christian history: Martha acts and Mary studies. Martha represents an active faith, while Mary represents a contemplative faith.”
What if, what if Jesus isn’t distinguishing one sister, one way of showing up, as right and the other wrong? What if, what if Jesus is saying, “Martha, Melissa, Kristen… You… your worries and distractions are dragons in your way.
Slay your dragons, slay belief systems, slay systems of oppression that prevent us from being fully present here and now, from being a Good Samaritan, a neighbor, caring for each other.
Your “work” is important and the voodoos of ambition can sleep. Your hospitality and service are significant and stillness is one of the doors into the temple. Welcoming and serving the neighbor is essential – and and! – active listening might be a powerful way to show mercy, to be a neighbor. Caring for each other encompasses our actions and active listening. Worshiping God encompasses good works, study, and contemplation. Singing and silence. Serving and being served…
Say “and”…
I don’t think Jesus presents us with an either/or. I think Jesus invites us to a both/and, a “how can” we slay dragons and build monasteries? I wanted to reference the dragons once more!
What if, what if Jesus highlights Mary’s “better part” so that we reorient ourselves to the whole? The whole story, the whole opportunity, the whole community.
In what ways might you be misoriented? Is there a project, a person or relationship, an experience that could be better with some reorientation?
Both Mary and Martha make space for Jesus. Both women are disciples and servants. By the way, Martha is not baking pie and doing dishes. The Greek word used for Mary’s work is diakonia (dee-aaah–kohn-eee-ah) which means ministry. Diaknoia does not specify domestic service, but designates “a commissioned spokesperson or agent, a ‘go-between’ who ministers on the behalf of God.” Diakonia is a loaded word for Jesus’ followers; it is the root word for deacons and deaconesses.
As individual followers and a faith community, what is your ministry? What dragons must you slay to be fully present and all in?
Most Wednesday mornings I go to a cycle class at the gym. I’ve had a full few weeks and I’ve been distracted by some dragons. Serious things that needed my attention, but things that prevented me from tending to myself and being fully present overall. I didn’t want to go to the cycle class this Wednesday but I pulled into the gym parking lot, parked the car, sighed and sent a message to a friend: “I’m going to ride a bike that takes me nowhere.”
Wednesday’s class was the best, hardest, most moving class I’ve experienced. I slayed a dragon, y’all!
I worked hard and sweat a lot – I cried! – I’m so glad it’s dark in the cycle studio. The instructor focused on more than our form and the resistance of the bike, climbing hills and racing. She focused on our intentions, our mental and emotional wellbeing.
The wheels of the stationary bike were spinning fast, my legs were moving a lot. And I didn’t move anywhere. And I was so moved. The cycle class was like a therapy session! Through my sweat and tears, I “traveled a terrific distance.”
[When preaching, Melissa moved again. Is there a way you can shift your body once more? Stretch, breathe, move your body?]
Riding a bike that took me nowhere, I slayed a dragon and sat still in a monastery. Sweat dripping, heart racing, legs trembling but Still inside myself, I dismounted the stationary bike that moved me toward healing and hope for myself and the world, and I walked out of the gym with a new orientation.
Amen.