Devotionals Detail
Brave Cooperation
Reading: Luke 10: 38-42
This week, I will be moving both my twin boys into their college dorms. There have been weeks of preparation for this moment. From trips to Target and Ikea, to ensuring doctors visits are made, and legal forms are completed, to arranging “college talks” weekly so I can make sure we’ve had the needed “adulting” conversations. Making space for new opportunities can require a lot of preparation. Our Scripture this week of Martha and Mary reveals our human nature to focus so much on the doing, that we are not intentional about the contemplation.
Show Up
Pay Attention
Cooperate with God
Release the outcome
These are the three tenants we are exploring this month in our sermon series entitled “Brave.” As we have found, being brave in our discipleship does not mean entering into danger intentionally or even being the loudest opinion in the room. Being brave is intentional presence with and for God. Today’s Scripture reminds us this can take many forms. While Mary is showing up at the feet of Jesus, paying attention to his every word, so is Martha insuring there is a place for Jesus to show up and paying attention to his every need in these acts of hospitality. It is in both the contemplative and the active engagement with God that we cooperate in who we are called to be in a variety of circumstances. Each relies upon the other – faith without works is dead, and works without faith leads to exhaustion. This is not about finding a balance as much as it is about aligning our heart with God’s heart.
This fall, we are offering you many opportunities to engage in ways to grow in your faith. Whether in devotion through Scripture, small group support, active engagement in community outreach, or sharing your gifts and talents in serving, I pray that you are finding ways to connect your heart and hands. Cooperating with God does not mean only sitting and listening like Mary, it does not mean being too busy to notice Jesus’ presence like Martha. Rather, it is the intentional way in which both action and contemplation allows us to connect with divine love that allows us to live out our faith. I pray this fall, you are finding room for both to dwell.