When I was a child I was a member of the Tufty Club. Quite possibly I still am. I’m not sure the membership ever really lapses. Certainly almost every child of my generation in the UK was encouraged to be a member. For Tufty (or Tufty Fluffytail to give him his full name) was the brainchild of the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents. He was, and still is, a squirrel created to tell stories and messages and be the emblem for the road safety of children. So all kinds of merchandise has been produced around Tufty, including films, games, and badges. At one stage there were indeed as many as 24 500 registered Tufty Clubs in the UK, mostly based in schools. All of which was great fun as well as learning for children, not least red-headed children like me who loved Tufty’s life, colour and native character. Sadly, the native European red squirrel is today under serious threat of extinction in the UK, due to the advance of the larger, aggressive, North American grey squirrels and the continuing loss o habitats. Yet Tufty’s message – to ‘stop, look and listen’ – lives us on today. For it is good advice not only for children and road safety, but also for all our lives and spiritual journeys. It is indeed close to the heart of today’s Gospel story and Jesus’ own words for Martha and Mary…
Stop, Look, Listen: isn’t that part, at least, of what Jesus is saying to Mary and Martha, and to us all? Or, in the words of a song, first recorded by the Philadelphia soul group the Stylistics. Stop, Look, Listen - to Your Heart. This is at the core of what it means to join, belong, and grow, in the Jesus Club. Much more than the Tufty Club, membership of the Jesus Club never really lapses, even if we forget about it. Have we taken its message to heart however, and are we deepening in awareness and consequent action?
Stop, Look, Listen - to Your Heart: how often do we really do that? This is at the centre of spiritual practice and Christian life. This is why our parish mission statement begins with the words ‘focused in Christ’. And this is really the point Jesus is making when he says: ‘Martha, Martha, you are worried and distracted by many things;2tthere is need of only one thing. Mary has chosen the better part, which will not be taken away from her.’
Note well: there is no need for us to attempt to make an unnecessary distinction or choice between Mary and Martha. We do not have to choose between these women, or between contemplation and action which they are sometimes alleged to represent. We do not have to choose between them any more than we have to choose between grace and works in faith. They go together!
What however is the attitude to Jesus which has priority? This is the real question. We do nott have to choose between Mary and Martha but we do have to choose to put God in Jesus first. This the the ‘one thing’, ‘the better part’, to which Jesus is referring in Mary’s attitude. Ultimately Martha’s concern for working and serving can wait. As Mary has put God in Jesus first it will not be taken away from her. Indeed, in stopping, looking and listening to Jesus, her work and serving will be all the better afterwards.
Do we see, and hear? This is not about devaluing work and service. It si about whether we are focused in God or not. Mary stopped, looked and listened. Martha, in contrast, we are told, ‘was distracted by her many tasks’. She was not properly focused. I suspect, as with the elder brother who keeps on working in the story of the Prodigal Son, that Martha was not focused partly as she was bearing some resentment. This she was allowing to get between her and stopping, looking and listening to Jesus: that is, her attitude was preventing her growing in relationship with God. Do we ever do the same, do you think? Do we allow resentment of others to come between us and our relationship with God? Perhaps we also allow false or unnecessary expectations to build up which distracts us from giving time and relationship to God? For it is striking that Mary was most certainly not acting out the typical riole for a woman in her culture. Sitting at a teacher’s feet – stopping, looking and listening – was not usually the palce for a woman. So Martha may have been voicing her awareness of this, and perhaps her own discontent of feeling she had to play the stereotypical female role. Jesus will ahve none of it. As elsewhere in the Gospels, what matters to God in Jesus is not whether we are male or female, or anything else. Nor does it really matter to God whether we conform to cultural expectations or not. What matters is whether we have time to stop, to look, and to listen to God. For whilst this story works well with the two women, Mary and Martha, it is also about men too. Indeed, in recent Christian history, it has often been men who have been the ones who have not always felt so comfortable about the ‘one thing (ultimately) necessary’: stopping, looking and listening to God in Jesus.
So how will we respond to today’s Gospel reading? Will we hold on to our activities, and our resentments, or will we stop, look and listen to God with our heart? Mary and Martha are not to be falsely separated . Action and contemplation are both required. Yet, ultimately are we not human be-ings before we human do-ings? These tare intimately linked. Yet whilst be-ing includes do-ing, do-ing tends not to have time for be-ing, and can often be a way of running away from our true be-ing. Becoming a human be-ing requires stopping, looking and listening with our heart. When we do this our human do-ings become that much more fruitful and less distracted.
So will we stop, look and listen to God in Jesus more fully? That is what it means to belong to the Jesus Club. It not only helps us avoid being knocked down by busy traffic on the highways of life. It also helps us flourish and find our true selves and happiness. In the name of Jesus, who calls us to stop, to look, and to listen to the heart of God, Amen.
(by Jon Inkpin for Pentecost 9 Year C, Sunday 17 July)
Let me conclude with a version of Stop, Look, Listen to Your Heart by Marvin Gaye and Diane Ross…
Stop, Look, Listen - to Your Heart: how often do we really do that? This is at the centre of spiritual practice and Christian life. This is why our parish mission statement begins with the words ‘focused in Christ’. And this is really the point Jesus is making when he says: ‘Martha, Martha, you are worried and distracted by many things;2tthere is need of only one thing. Mary has chosen the better part, which will not be taken away from her.’
Note well: there is no need for us to attempt to make an unnecessary distinction or choice between Mary and Martha. We do not have to choose between these women, or between contemplation and action which they are sometimes alleged to represent. We do not have to choose between them any more than we have to choose between grace and works in faith. They go together!
What however is the attitude to Jesus which has priority? This is the real question. We do nott have to choose between Mary and Martha but we do have to choose to put God in Jesus first. This the the ‘one thing’, ‘the better part’, to which Jesus is referring in Mary’s attitude. Ultimately Martha’s concern for working and serving can wait. As Mary has put God in Jesus first it will not be taken away from her. Indeed, in stopping, looking and listening to Jesus, her work and serving will be all the better afterwards.
Do we see, and hear? This is not about devaluing work and service. It si about whether we are focused in God or not. Mary stopped, looked and listened. Martha, in contrast, we are told, ‘was distracted by her many tasks’. She was not properly focused. I suspect, as with the elder brother who keeps on working in the story of the Prodigal Son, that Martha was not focused partly as she was bearing some resentment. This she was allowing to get between her and stopping, looking and listening to Jesus: that is, her attitude was preventing her growing in relationship with God. Do we ever do the same, do you think? Do we allow resentment of others to come between us and our relationship with God? Perhaps we also allow false or unnecessary expectations to build up which distracts us from giving time and relationship to God? For it is striking that Mary was most certainly not acting out the typical riole for a woman in her culture. Sitting at a teacher’s feet – stopping, looking and listening – was not usually the palce for a woman. So Martha may have been voicing her awareness of this, and perhaps her own discontent of feeling she had to play the stereotypical female role. Jesus will ahve none of it. As elsewhere in the Gospels, what matters to God in Jesus is not whether we are male or female, or anything else. Nor does it really matter to God whether we conform to cultural expectations or not. What matters is whether we have time to stop, to look, and to listen to God. For whilst this story works well with the two women, Mary and Martha, it is also about men too. Indeed, in recent Christian history, it has often been men who have been the ones who have not always felt so comfortable about the ‘one thing (ultimately) necessary’: stopping, looking and listening to God in Jesus.
So how will we respond to today’s Gospel reading? Will we hold on to our activities, and our resentments, or will we stop, look and listen to God with our heart? Mary and Martha are not to be falsely separated . Action and contemplation are both required. Yet, ultimately are we not human be-ings before we human do-ings? These tare intimately linked. Yet whilst be-ing includes do-ing, do-ing tends not to have time for be-ing, and can often be a way of running away from our true be-ing. Becoming a human be-ing requires stopping, looking and listening with our heart. When we do this our human do-ings become that much more fruitful and less distracted.
So will we stop, look and listen to God in Jesus more fully? That is what it means to belong to the Jesus Club. It not only helps us avoid being knocked down by busy traffic on the highways of life. It also helps us flourish and find our true selves and happiness. In the name of Jesus, who calls us to stop, to look, and to listen to the heart of God, Amen.
(by Jon Inkpin for Pentecost 9 Year C, Sunday 17 July)
Let me conclude with a version of Stop, Look, Listen to Your Heart by Marvin Gaye and Diane Ross…
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