Colourful Dreamer

                                 Gate Pa – 16 th Sunday in OT - 2022 Readings: Hebrew Scripture:     Amos 8:1-12 Psalm:                       Psalm 52 Epistle:                        Col 1:15-29    Gospel:                      Luke 10:38-42                                   What I want to say: Explore the story of Mary and Martha as about what takes us away from what is important, rather than reading this as saying that listening to Jesus being more important that offering hospitality. What I want to happen: What might be the real thi...

Luke’s story of Martha and Mary (Luke 10:38-42) is a little bit of a mine field, especially for nay male trying to preach on it. Maybe I should stick to the prophet Amos who has some straightforward things to say about the priorities of the wealthy and powerful and the not good consequences of those priorities. Too often this story of Mary and Martha is used to again devalue the hidden work of women around the world keeping families, households, and communities going by providing food and hospitality and doing most of the cleaning, resulting in women remaining invisible and their contribution unacknowledged. Yet none of that fits with how Jesus treats women just about anywhere else in Luke’s gospel. So how might we read this. Luke is writing for small house churches struggling to life the way of Jesus. In this part of the Gospel, we are travelling with Jesus to Jerusalem, and a constant question is what pulls us away from this journey. And maybe one of things is being so preoccupie...