Today’s Music

Spotify Playlist:
Hope - 2025-03-16

Slow Me Down
Today’s Scripture Passage is about the space between faith and works. A line from the 2nd verse of this song seems extremely helpful in navigating that space:

From my anxious drive to labor on and on
From the restless grind that has put my mind to sleep
Will you call me back and gently slow me down
Will you show me now, what to lose and what to keep —Slow Me Down

Take It Easy
Again, verse 2 of this song helps set the stage for our text today:

Lay down the scales where you weigh out your life
The measures are empty, just leave them behind
The distance between God’s two hands are enough
To tell you the depths of God’s love
Take it easy… —- Take it Easy

You Care for Me
I love the combination of work and faith throughout every section of this song. Our lives really are the space between God working with us while we discover the faith to rest in God’s care along the way.

The Breastplate of Saint Patrick
This song incorporates an old prayer attributed to Saint Patrick. It’s a prayer that rests in a faith that God’s presence is all around us and in us as we move through the various moments of a day. I love how this song anchors that presence of God in the real and sometimes difficult work of our lives.

Today’s Words for Worship

Call to worship
Come as you are.
If you have deep faith
or your faith has run dry,
if you know every scripture
or none at all,
if you have calloused hands
and live your faith through good works,
or if you kneel at God’s feet,
with a million hungry questions,
come as you are.
This is God’s house.
None are turned away.
All are welcome here.

Call to confession
The story of Mary and Martha is often painted as a story where one does right and one does wrong.
We know that life is often more complicated than that.
We know that faith is embodied through being present and taking action—and everything in between.
Knowing this, like Mary and Martha, let us draw near to God. Let us be honest about our
lives, our hopes, and our mistakes. For even in our messy middle, God meets us with grace.
Let us pray:

Prayer of confession
God of Grace,
We long to do the “right” thing.
We long to make the “right” choice.
We long to stand on the “right” side of the dividing line.
In our earnestness, we sometimes miss the sacred right in front of us.
In our earnestness, we sometimes miss opportunities to show love.
Show us how to hold our heart’s desire for perfection loosely.
Show us how to lead with grace and love, over anything else.
For even more than our desire to be right, we desire to be close to you.
Show us the way.
Amen.

Words of forgiveness
Faithful friends, God knows your heart.
When you mean well and lose your way, God knows.
When you try to do the right thing and miss the point, God knows.
When you long to be close to God, and doubt your worth, God knows.
You are seen. You are loved. You are forgiven. You have been sent to serve.
This is the good news of the gospel!
Nothing can separate you from God’s love.
Thanks be to God! Amen.

Prayer for illumination
Loving God,
When our anxiety hovers close,
when fear clings to our bones,
when our stress rises like the tide,
see us.
Speak to us.
Call us by name.
See us in the kitchen, in the classroom, in the hospital waiting room.
Speak to us in the quiet, in the crowd, in the inky black of night.
Call us beloved. Call us by name. Call us your child.
Whatever you do, speak to us,
for we cannot live on bread alone.
Amen.

Affirmation of faith
We believe in a Christ who
teaches, sees, affirms, and celebrates all of who we are.
We believe in a Christ who
invites us to use our gifts for good
and celebrates every step we take in that direction.
We believe in a Christ who
understands our anxieties
and is gentle with our concerns.
And we believe in a Christ who
looks at us with undiluted love.
The world will try to rank, rate, and declare winners,
but we know love has no limit.
So with God’s help,
may we nurture our faith
and do good work. Amen.

Today’s Scripture

38 Now as they went on their way, he entered a certain village, where a woman named Martha welcomed him into her home. 39 She had a sister named Mary, who sat at the Lord’s feet and listened to what he was saying. 40 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.” 41 But the Lord answered her, “Martha, Martha, you are worried and distracted by many things; 42 there is need of only one thing. Mary has chosen the better part, which will not be taken away from her.” —- Luke 10:38-42 (NRSV)

Today’s Visual Art

A Word from the Artist:
Rev. Lauren Wright Pittman
Inspired by Luke 10:38-42
Digital painting
Growing up, I felt I had to decide whether I was a Mary or a Martha. I never identified with
Martha because the culturally-prescribed roles of a woman were my weakness, and I didn’t identify with Mary either because she seemed more earnest than I felt. Diving into the Greek of this text helped me work through my very well-worn opinions to find some nuance. Martha’s work was not limited to cooking and cleaning; the Greek word used for her many tasks is διακονία which also means “service, ministering, and promoting religion.”3 With this layered meaning in mind, it is clear to me that Jesus’ response is not about Martha’s ministry, but her preoccupation with Mary.

I think the most pivotal shift in translation is found in v. 42 where it is often translated, “Mary has chosen the better part.” When you look at the Greek, however, it can also be translated as, “a good portion” or “a useful share.”4 In light of this, I believe Jesus is not offering a value judgment between them, but assuaging Martha’s worry by affirming that Mary is doing a good portion of the work too.

Mary sits at the feet of Jesus, a place that was reserved for men. I wonder if Martha was concerned about what might happen to Mary for being out of “her place.” Jesus’ response is radical because he affirms she has chosen a good portion of the work, and even though she is not where she is expected to be, no one can take that away from her. Jesus protects her right to assume the position of a disciple.

In this image, Mary eagerly reaches toward Jesus. Her clothing is patterned with mustard seeds and flowers because her faith may seem small, but her boundary-breaking faithfulness will nurture her faith to grow beyond what seems possible. Martha reaches toward Mary to pull her into more “appropriate” work. Martha’s dress is patterned with open hands to image her vital ministry of welcome, service, and cultivating space for Jesus’ message to take root. I imaged Jesus equally affirming both Mary and Martha’s lived-out faiths. He is green, the combination of Mary and Martha’s colors (yellow + blue), showing that he embodies the integration of both faith and works.