“The Better Part"

A Sermon Preached by Rev.Bruce Sanguin
July 22, 2007

Luke 10: 38-42

  Well, Mary might have chosen the “better part” but somebody had to tidy up, clean the sink, and prepare the lunch. I mean, what are you going to do? The Saviour of the world drops in unannounced. You can’t have him for lunch with the place looking like this, can you?  I can just see the women out there this morning, wondering how I’m going to tap dance around this story. Martha, it seems, has a point. She’s been left, as she complains, to do “all the work”. And she thinks Jesus should order her sister, Mary, to pitch in. Now, this happens to be a domestic conflict between two women, and what is unusual in this story is that Mary is audaciously venturing into what had been the exclusive domain of men – being a student of a rabbi. We don’t know if this is what is sticking in Martha’s craw – but we do know that it’s focused around domestic fairness.

   At our pre-marriage classes we continue to spend an hour or so helping couples to count up how much time they actually put in to domestic chores. It’s sobering to realize that, on average, an extra three eight-hour working days is spent taking care of the mundane tasks of cleaning the toilets, cutting the grass, buying gifts, taking the car in for repair – and most of these couples are not yet dealing with children. So naturally, the follow-up exercise – once they’ve determined that a lot of time is doing into domestic duties – is: Who’s actually doing it? No surprises here – and it hasn’t changed much in the 16 years we’ve been doing this program, the feminist movement notwithstanding. Women, by and large, continue to be the domestic Marthas of the household. And their partners aren’t sitting at the feet of the master – they’re more likely watching The Masters!

The couples with money get around this to some extent by hiring a cleaning woman  and, let’s face it, it’s always a woman. True confessions: I’m one of these men who don’t do his fair share. Not interested. I came to the sobering realization that I shouldn’t actually be living in a house. I’m not interested in the upkeep. Don’t have time. Don’t notice the dirt – at least not as quickly as Ann would like me to notice it. I have a higher tolerance for clutter than Ann. I’m not a slob mind you, and when she’s gone for longer periods of time, I do actually get around to cleaning up. She still doesn’t believe me. Recently I’ve been fantasizing about living in a hotel room. It would represent an honest recognition that by the time I’ve finished work and writing and making dinner, I’m bagged. So, Jesus, are you going to tell my lovely wife “Bruce has chosen the better part?”  I want to be there for that exchange.

Well, the reading may be about the fair division of household tasks on a superficial level. And I don’t want to imply that domestic chores are not sermon worthy. In fact, they are – insofar as it is an authentic issue of justice. It is an in-your-face, everyday justice issue that impacts all classes of people, except perhaps for the very wealthy – who can afford to get a crew of people to take care of this part of their life.  Let’s face it; the cleaning woman issue is also a justice issue involving an underground economy, the exploitation of immigrant women, and the way in which it highlights an entrenched class system.

But I would like to set this issue within the context of a slightly different perspective on the reading from Luke’s gospel. The “better part” that Mary has chosen relates to the quality of attention she is bringing to her task.  Martha, on the other hand, is “worried and distracted by many things” (10:4). Jesus then adds, “there is need of only one thing” (10:42). What is at issue, it seems to me, is what Otto Scharmer calls “the structure of attention.” Simply put, Mary listened deeply (10:39). She was fully present.

This capacity to focus attention on one thing has been part of the spiritual formation of disciples in all the major religions of the world, from Buddhism, Hinduism, Judaism and Christianity. Sometimes it’s called “single-mindedness”. Some traditions call it “mindful attention”. It is the capacity to be fully present to whatever it is one is doing – whether it is a domestic chore or a formal meditation or even playing golf, without the distraction of the chattering monkey mind. We only have one life, Jesus is saying. This mind swings from one thought, one image, and one worry to another, like a monkey swinging from branch to branch.  We have learned to believe that this distracted mind is who we are. But every religious teacher assures us that this is not true. This is a counterfeit mind. The deeper, authentic mind is able to witness the monkey mind. To live out of the authentic mind is to be connected to the Divine Mind or Christ consciousness. This is the “better part” that Mary chose. Martha believed that her problem was that she had to do all the work, while Mary was goofing off.  But the problem was more that she brought her counterfeit mind to the task.  She was worried and distracted. She wasn’t in her task. Brother Lawrence from the Christian tradition wrote a spiritual classic called Practicing the Presence of God, in which he describes cleaning the kitchen as a way of being fully present to the Holy. (I can just hear Ann thinking, you ought to try that some time, Bruce.)

When we are operating from our counterfeit mind, it is almost impossible to listen to anything but the chattering. This chattering is the source of our distraction. It typically takes the form of three over-bearing voices:  The Voice of Fear – we don’t know what Martha was worried about, but all worry is a form of fear; the Voice of Cynicism, which protects our hearts from being broken but robs us of joy; and the Voice of Judgment, that tells us our idea, vision, or hope is silly, unrealistic, or simply bad. These are the distracting voices that keep us from attending to our deep self and our deep calling in Christ. They too are generated by the counterfeit mind. (I believe it was Francesco Varela, who coined the terms Counterfeit and Authentic mind)

Freed of the distractions of the counterfeit mind, Mary chose the “better part.” She was free to listen to Jesus. One of the signs that we’re learning to shift from the distracted mind to the Christ-mind is that our capacity to listen deepens. There are at least four levels of listening. The first is simply downloading – whatever is being said you already know – or you think you do. This is the way a lot of husbands and wives “listen” to each other. This is listening from an absolutely distracted mind. The second is scientific listening. At this level, you are actually open to new data. You’re not just listening to reconfirm your own interpretations of reality. Here, you’ve quieted the counterfeit mind enough to receive new information. Descending deeper, there is empathic listening – actually putting oneself in the shoes of another person or being and feeling what they are feeling. It’s listening from the open heart. Many couples in our pre-marriage class experience empathic listening for the first time with each other.

But there is a deeper level of listening, yet. This is holy listening, the one thing Jesus was referring to in Mary’s “better way”.  This is a kind of listening that you hear with your inner ear. It’s the capacity to listen for the future that stands in need of you in order to emerge. To listen at this level is to have the mind of Christ. When we’re listening with the inner ear, everything we once thought was absolutely essential in life becomes background, and what was background – the generative source from which all futures emerge – becomes foreground.

When Mary was listening to Jesus with total, undistracted focus, I believe that this is what she was listening for – the future that required her unique gifts and qualities in order to be born into the world. My next book is about getting this to happen in congregations, that are, after all, a collection of individuals listening deeply for what the holy future that desires to emerge through them. I call this a culture of creative emergence.  In other words, what if we learned to listen from an authentic rather than counterfeit, distracted mind for the future that stands in need of us in order to be born?

I can see a team of people meeting on a regular basis simply listening at this level – from this Christ Mind for the future that is emerging through us – and then acting quickly and resolutely to help it emerge. We could take turns being on this team that would sit at the feet of the Christ and learn the discipline of holy listening – the better part that Mary chose.

 Why would we do this? We’re at a crossroad as a species on the planet earth. We will need to reinvent what it means to be human – or we will not be fit for life. We’re at that point right now. There is a virtual ground swell of humans on the planet who are tapping into the authentic Mind, this generative Source from which all futures emerge. We have reached a point when it is no longer enough to simply recreate what we’ve done in the past. As Christians we need to reinvent what it means to be church. It doesn’t mean waiting around for an external God to do something about the mess we’re in. It means tapping into our own authentic selves as the place where the Holy dwells, and offering a deep willingness to allow the future to emerge through us. God is already surging through you and through me. But, like Martha, when we’re distracted and worried we can’t feel this sacred flow. When the Voices of Fear, Judgment and Cynicism are active, we can’t hear the voice of Spirit. There is the one thing necessary for us as we enter the 21st century. To listen from our Authentic Mind and Heart to the Authentic Source of All Being.

For the last 300 years we have been fascinated by our capacity to make things, build things, change things, and by power and wealth. It is not all been negative, but it has come at a terrible cost to the earth, her creatures, and 75% of human beings who have not participated in this explosion of creativity focused around acquisition. In the 21st century, this project is little more than a spiritual distraction. We need to declare it defunct and bankrupt. It can no longer sustain our soul’s interest nor the earth’s capacity. The emerging future requires that we focus our creativity, not on acquisition, but on allocation – allocating the fruits of our creativity to the repair of the planet, peace between nations, and healing of our relationship with the poor, and the quality of our relationships with each other. How this future emerges within each one of us will be unique, quirky, distinctive, and hopefully fun. The vibrant, alive congregation individually and collectively sits at the feet of the Christ and listens for a new future that is coming into being through them.

Jesus tells Martha that Mary had chosen the better part, and that he will not take away from her. He refused to take the future away from Mary. Neither will he take it away from us. As you come to the table this morning to receive the bread and the cup – you may want to ask yourself in what small ways the future is being born through you.