“Action or contemplation? Service or worship? Hospitality or prayer? For as long as the church has existed, we’ve debated these dichotomies. Which is more important – kneeling at the altar, or mopping the church floors? What should we prioritize? How should we find a good balance between the mystical and the practical?” begins Debie Thomas, Minister of Lifelong Formation at St. Mark’s Episcopal Church in Palo Alto, California and blogger at Journey with Jesus. Today’s Gospel passage, Luke 10:38-42, is the familiar story of Mary and Martha. One woman chose to focus on the “practical work of hospitality,” while the other woman chose to sit at the feet of Jesus. Thomas invites us to view Jesus’s response to Martha’s hospitality not as a criticism or rebuke, but as an invitation to let go of crushing expectations and “choose the better part, which will not be taken away.”
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