Dear Friends,

How many times have parents pondered the strange fact of life that our children, born of the same parents, raised in the same household, can be so different from each other? Or for that matter, how often have we recognized how different we are from our own siblings? Beyond the mysteries of birth order or the tangled web of sibling rivalries, there is the reality – sometimes joyful, sometimes painful – that our families are made up of unique individuals who see the world through complicated lenses and bring to life their own gifts and graces.

The Bible is full of stories about siblings whose trials and tribulations offer us food for thought about the life of faith. There are some doozys in the Old Testament beginning with Cain and Abel, Jacob and Esau, Joseph and his 10 brothers. But the couple in the New Testament whose home life reads a bit like a script from a reality show is the pair of sisters, Mary and Martha. In Luke 10:38-42, Jesus comes for a visit and each woman responds to his presence in a different way. Martha feels responsible to have everything just right in order to honor his presence with them. Mary goes about it another way and turns her attention 100% to Jesus. Martha doesn’t mask her irritation at Mary’s neglect of duty and complains to Jesus about it. In the absence of any record of Mary’s response, it may be assumed that her devotion to” being in the moment” with Jesus was not disturbed by her sister’s tantrum. What happens from there is a lesson about balance in one’s own life of devotion and discipleship.

I look forward to seeing you Sunday,

Rev. Martha