faith

Everything [in] between Faith & Works

Everything [in] between Faith & Works

Everything [in] between: Part 2
Series based on the Narrative Lectionary & Sanctified Art
March 16, 2025
Luke 10:38-42

While Jesus and his disciples were traveling, Jesus entered a village where a woman named Martha welcomed him as a guest.  She had a sister named Mary, who sat at the Lord’s feet and listened to his message.  By contrast, Martha was preoccupied with getting everything ready for their meal. So Martha came to him and said, “Lord, don’t you care that my sister has left me to prepare the table all by myself? Tell her to help me.”

The Lord answered, “Martha, Martha, you are worried and distracted by many things.  One thing is necessary. Mary has chosen the better part. It won’t be taken away from her.”

Luke 10:38-42 (CEB)

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Reflections written by Dr. Mindy McGarrah Sharp

Are you a Mary or a Martha?” is the wrong question. This familiar question reminds me of two former bosses. The first valued photographable work: build something tangible, make something quickly, sell something profitably. Don’t just stand there, do something!  The second valued relational depth and learning across differences: linger with people, let it disrupt other tasks, for this is the work. Don’t just do something, sit there!

The first go-getter had portfolios of success, but lacked depth and mutuality. The second sit-with-er had stories, but no material buildings to show for it. Which is better? 

At first glance, this text forces an either/or, especially when we read Jesus’ words with dripping condescension in translations that choose “the better part” to describe Mary’s actions (Luke 10:42). Should we be a workhorse or build relationships? Surely, no one has time to always do both well.

Recall what happens in Luke just before. When asked about what a disciple has to do, Jesus’ Good Samaritan story screams, “Don’t just stand there (or pass by), do something!” Receiving Martha’s frustrated question about unshared labor (where theological education was being counter-culturally offered to a woman), Jesus appears to scold, “Don’t just do something, stand (or sit) there!”

This could lead to a simple discernment—one choice better, one worse: choose better. But, when we read the Good Samaritan alongside this text, we see that Jesus blesses both: do something and sit there.

Further, Mary and Martha are sisters. They’re related. My second boss was right about working hard for right relationship. My first boss was onto something too: what are you making together?

Rather than showing which is better, my back-to-back bosses raise deep questions about productivity and
relationality. “Are you a Mary or a Martha?” is the wrong question.

What might it look like to shift our imagination from the ever-tempting mode of sibling rivalry — aiming to
outdo each other, a tendency found in sacred texts and in contemporary families, cultures, and countries?

What might a faith/works, works/faith healthy sibling relationship look like? What practices and habits would that require?

Decades after two very different bosses, I still have questions. What kind of relationships do the works we produce, photograph, and celebrate reflect? Is there shared labor and fair compensation?  Does everyone get enough time and space to rest, reflect, and learn? Is theological education accessible to everyone across genders, sexualities, races, nationalities, abilities, ages, and every other difference?  How would we know?  What new work could we create together with the benefit of sitting with each other, listening and learning each other’s stories?

Don’t just work, reflect on what your faith requires: sit and listen.

Don’t just rest in faith, put it to work: respond through just relational networks.

Repeat.

 

Honest Faith

Honest Faith: Moving from Certainty to Trust

September 22, 2024
Hebrews 11:1, James 2:14-26

Faith is the reality of what we hope for, the proof of what we don’t see.  The elders in the past were approved because they showed faith.   By faith we understand that the universe has been created by a word from God so that the visible came into existence from the invisible.

Hebrews 11:1-3

 

My brothers and sisters, what good is it if people say they have faith but do nothing to show it? Claiming to have faith can’t save anyone, can it?  Imagine a brother or sister who is naked and never has enough food to eat.  What if one of you said, “Go in peace! Stay warm! Have a nice meal!”? What good is it if you don’t actually give them what their body needs?  In the same way, faith is dead when it doesn’t result in faithful activity.  

James 2:14-17

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“When the brilliant ethicist John Kavanaugh went to work for three months at ‘the house of the dying’ in Calcutta, he was seeking a clear answer as to how best to spend the rest of his life. On the first morning there he met Mother Teresa. She asked, ‘And what can I do for you?’ Kavanaugh asked her to pray for him.

‘What do you want me to pray for?’ she asked. He voiced the request that he had borne thousands of miles from the United States: ‘Pray that I have clarity.’

She said firmly, ‘No, I will not do that.’ When he asked her why, she said, ‘Clarity is the last thing you are clinging to and must let go of.’ When Kavanaugh commented that she always seemed to have the clarity he longed for, she laughed and said, ‘I have never had clarity; what I have always had is trust. So I will pray that you trust God.’”

~ excerpt from Ruthless Trust, Brennan Manning

 

For far too many Christians, faith is simply a matter of believing that Jesus is the Son of God and that he died to forgive our sins so that we can go to heaven when we die.  Salvation is a simple transaction, his life in exchange for ours. 

Scripture knows nothing of this transactional faith.  There is nothing about believing  a particular theological truth to get some eternal reward in return.  Rather, faith in scripture always results in faithful action, in some sort of movement, or as Kierkegaard scholar Aaron  Simmons puts it, “Faith is Risk with Direction.”

In some ways, Kierkegaard’s Denmark was similar to today’s American South in that so many people simply assume they are Christian by virtue of being born into a Christian home or a Christian culture.  He was convinced, however, that such certainty on the sole  basis of where we were born had no resemblance to the kind of faith Jesus asked of the discipled when he said, “Drop your nets.  Come, follow me.” 

Honest faith moves us to action.  It does not give us certainty, but rather hope in possibilities we cannot yet see or know.  Faith always requires risk.  Are we willing to trust when the path is uncertain; to risk everything to truly follow Christ for the sake of love?

 

The Sin of Certainty

The Sin of Certainty

Reflections on the Wesleyan Quadrilateral - Experience
September 8, 2024


1 John 1:1-3, Romans 8:16

see also:
John 5:39-40, Matthew 7:15-23




We announce to you what existed from the beginning, what we have heard, what we have seen with our eyes, what we have seen and our hands handled, about the word of life.  The life was revealed, and we have seen, and we testify and announce to you the eternal life that was with the Father and was revealed to us.  What we have seen and heard, we also announce it to you so that you can have fellowship with us. Our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ.

1 John 1:1-3

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“We announce to you what we have heard, what we have seen with our eyes, what we have seen and our hands handled, about the word of life.”  In other words, what we proclaim to you about God is what we ourselves have seen, heard and touched.  Or to put it another way, we are sharing with you our “experience” of God.

Some have said that we cannot trust our experience because we are fallen human beings tainted by sin.  While there is certainly truth to the ways sin skews our perspective, it is equally true that we cannot know  anything except through the lens of our lived experience.  There is no idealized form of any object that can be described apart from the way one perceives it.  If ten people were to describe a particular tree, for example, there would certainly be similar elements such as color, parts like bark, leaves or branches, perhaps certain textures, etc.  And yet each description would be so unique in other ways that one might wonder if they are all describing the same tree.  One person might notice tiny holes from bugs that were eating at it, and another might notice the moss along the base.  Still another might zero in on a birds nest or a particular knot where a branch seemed to grow in an unlikely direction.  All of these details say as much about our experience of the tree as they do about the tree itself.

If each person would notice different aspects of a tree, how much more will each person have their own unique experience of God.  Even scripture is not “immune” from the impact of experience.  The Biblical writers to not have an objective source of information about God that is universally accepted as scientifically tested and verified fact.  Rather, they each write through the lens of their own experiences of God in their lives.  Abraham encounters God in the visitation of three strangers.  Moses experiences God in a burning bush.  Elijah sees God in the all consuming fire, hears God in the silence, and is nourished by God through bread and rest under the broom tree.  

People experience Jesus differently too.  The lepers and the tax collectors, for example, have a very different perception of who he is than the Jewish leaders who put him on trial.  Everything we know about God is mediated through someone’s experience and more likely, through the culmination of many people’s experiences throughout the centuries including our own.  In his letter to the Romans, Paul says that we “...received a Spirit that shows you are adopted as his children. With this Spirit, we cry, “Abba, Father.” The same Spirit agrees with our spirit, that we are God’s children.  (Romans 8:15-16). 

God sent the Spirit so that we could fully experience his loving presence and share that experience with others along the way.

 

We do not see things as they are. We see things as we are

~ Rabbi Shemuel ben Nachmani, as quoted in the Talmudic tractate Berakhot (55b.)

 

God of the Journey

God of the Journey

The God of Abraham - Part 1

Sunday, September 3, 2023
Genesis 12:1-9

The Lord said to Abram, “Leave your land, your family, and your father’s household for the land that I will show you.                                                                                     

Genesis 12:1

Listen to this Week’s Sermon here:

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5th grade was the worst year of my life. 

I started school almost a month late in the oppressive Florida humidity among swarms of love-bugs (if you know, you know). 

Apart from a few good years at the University of Florida and meeting McKenzie, Florida never really grew on me the way everyone said it would.  It may have been flowing with sweat and mosquitos, but it was a far cry from milk and honey.

As I said, one of the few blessings was my time in Gainesville as a Florida Gator.  I no sooner unloaded the car and said goodbye to my parents and I was off on my bike the rest of the week exploring a new campus, a new town, and the beginning of a new life.  That week before classes I met a group of campus ministry students who opened my heart to a depth of faith and a passion for following Jesus that I had never seen in all my years of going to church.   Little did I know then that this encounter would be just the beginning of my recognizing God’s call on my life.

So what does all this have to do with Abraham, let alone the God of Abraham? 

Like both of the seasons above, Abraham’s story is the story of a journey into a new place, a new season, and a new life.  I have had many such transitions and new seasons along my journey through life and ministry, probably more than most… from college to seminary to a doctoral program to training in Spiritual Direction… from Florida to Kentucky to North Carolina… from youth ministry to college ministry to pastoral ministry to retreat leadership…  and the journey continues.

Unlike that first transition from Baltimore to Orlando in 5th grade, every other move was prompted by something bigger than myself that compelled me to step into the unknown.  In 5th grade, I was told that my parents thought the neighborhood I had called home my entire life was no longer safe enough to raise my baby sister.  In my opinion, almost 1,000 miles seems a bit much to flee from a changing neighborhood. 

The God of Abraham is a God of the Journey, a God of transitions, a God who goes with us in every season of life.  I could not see God in my transition to Florida because I wasn’t looking.  I didn’t want to go.  Looking back, I can see how God used every step toward something greater, even if they were not steps I would have taken willingly.  I’m not saying God couldn’t have done great things had I stayed in Baltimore, or that somehow God made my parents move as some sort of grand plan for my life, but I can say that to my surprise, God showed up, even in Florida, in ways I could have never expected.

Just as my parents fled their neighborhood in Baltimore, I went to the University of Florida in large part to get away from home.  What I didn’t know was that God had already gone ahead of me.  God was already there.  And God has already been present in every place and season since. 

Sometimes we set our own path and we choose our own journey.  Other times life takes us where we do not want to go.  No matter how we got here or where we are going, the God of the journey has never left our side, and never will.

  


 

 

Your Faith Has Healed You


Your Faith Has Healed You

A Service of Healing & Wholeness

Sunday, June 11, 2023
James 5:14-16, Mark 5:21-43

Are any among you sick?  They should call for the elders of the church and have them pray over them,  anointing them with oil in the name of the Lord.  The prayer of faith will save the sick, and the Lord will raise them up; and anyone who has committed sins will be forgiven.  Therefore confess your sins to one another, and pray for one another, so that you may be healed.

James 5:14-16

Listen to this Week’s Sermon here:


From The United Methodist Book of Worship, pp. 613-614

Scripture strongly affirms ministries of spiritual healing, which in recent years have received renewed emphasis throughout Christ’s holy Church. The root of the word healing in New Testament Greek, sozo, is the same as that of salvation and wholeness. Spiritual healing is God’s work of offering persons balance, harmony, and wholeness of body, mind, spirit and relationships through confession, forgiveness, and reconciliation. Through such healing, God works to bring about reconciliation between God and humanity, among individuals and communities, within each person, and between humanity and the rest of creation. The New Testament records that Jesus himself healed the estranged and sick and sent out his disciples on ministries of healing. James 5:14-16a calls us also to pray for and anoint the sick, that they may be healed.

All healing is of God. The Church’s healing ministry in no way detracts from the gifts God gives through medicine and psychotherapy. It is no substitute for either medicine or the proper care of one’s health. Rather, it adds to our total resources for wholeness.

Healing is not magic, but underlying it is the great mystery of God’s love. Those who minister spiritual healing are channels of God’s love. Although no one can predict what will happen in a given instance, many marvelous healings have taken place.

God does not promise that we shall be spared suffering but does promise to be with us in our suffering. Trusting that promise, we are enabled to recognize God’s sustaining presence in pain, sickness, injury, and estrangement.

Likewise, God does not promise that we will be cured of all illnesses; and we all must face the inevitability of death. A Service of Healing is not necessarily a service of curing, but it provides an atmosphere in which healing can happen. The greatest healing of all is the reunion or reconciliation of a human being with God. When this happens, physical healing sometimes occurs, mental and emotional balance is often restored, spiritual health is enhanced, and relationships are healed. For the Christian, the basic purpose of spiritual healing is to renew and strengthen one’s relationship with the living Christ.

Patterns of healing services grow out of both Church traditions and the needs of the moment. Prayers for healing, accompanied if desired by anointing with the laying on of hands, may be incorporated into any service of congregational worship as a Response to the Word. Also, there may be a healing service at a stated time each week or month, or healing may be ministered privately to individuals. Many find not only prayer but also Holy Communion, laying on of hands, and anointing with oil to be healing.

Laying on of hands, anointing with oil, and the less formal gesture of holding someone’s hand all show the power of touch, which plays a central role in the healings recorded in the New Testament. Jesus often touched others — blessing children, washing feet, healing injuries or disease, and raising people from death. Biblical precedent combines with our natural desire to reach out to persons in need in prompting us to touch gently and lovingly those who ask for healing prayers. Such an act is a tangible expression of the presence of the healing Christ, working in and through those who minister in his name.

Anointing the forehead with oil is a sign act invoking the healing love of God. The oil points beyond itself and those doing the anointing to the action of the Holy Spirit and the presence of the healing Christ, who is God’s Anointed One.

A prayer for healing:

O God, the giver of health and salvation, we give thanks to you for the gift of oil.

As your holy apostles anointed many who were sick and healed them,

so pour out your Holy Spirit on us and on this gift,

that those who in faith and repentance receive this anointing

may be made whole; through Jesus Christ our Lord.

 

May the power of God's indwelling presence heal you of all illnesses—

of body, mind, spirit, and relationships—

that you may serve God with a loving heart. Amen.

So Hard to Believe

So Hard to Believe

Advent and Christmas can serve as a type of “thin place” in our church calendar. It is a season when the veil between heaven and earth seems more thin than usual. It may be a place where the holy and the ordinary meet.

That’s what this week’s song is about as we move into the Advent season. May the weeks ahead be filled with “thin places” where you encounter the miracle of God with us in beautiful and amazing ways.