“Now Martha was distracted by her many tasks, so she came to Him and said, ‘Lord, do You not care that my sister has left me to get on with the work by myself? Tell her to come and lend a hand.’ ‘Martha, Martha, you are fretting and fussing about so many things; but one thing is necessary. The part that Mary has chosen is the best part; and it shall not be taken from her.’”
(Luke 10:40) N.E.B.
New missions are fun. No sooner does one come for liturgy when somebody asks him or her to help out in some way. It’s not an ordinary parish where all is fixed and in order. It may be a rented hall or room used for other purposes. Altar tables must be brought out, icon screen set up, icons placed, choir stands fixed, coffee and donuts set out; and after it’s all over, everything put back where it all belongs. This honeymoon period then becomes a fond memory recalled again and again, once the parish settles into the routine that it shall continue until the second coming of the Lord, praise God.
How refreshing to be needed. How exciting to rise early and get to church and lend a hand, then to feel the satisfaction of having been part of something glorious, invigorating and spiritually rewarding. One priest years ago told me that when the bishop came to consecrate their sacred temple, following the ceremony he began crying and hardly was able to stop. He sensed that a precious era had ended. Years later I came to experience the same feeling.
It happens that many of those who had been so filled with zeal no longer attend the services as they had initially. No reason, they say, just that they find more pressing causes on Sunday morning. They no longer have the time, which is to say worship is no longer a priority for them.
What’s to be done? We search for ways to hold onto them or to bring them back. We call and ask for help. Fetch this, fix that, find something, sell tickets, distribute brochures, make yourself useful—and they do. But eventually that approach runs out. How do you tell a person to stop and pray? Is there a way to turn an active person into a prayerful child of the Lord?
Once upon a time our nation took seriously the commandment: “Honor the Sabbath. Six days you shall labor and do all your work; but the seventh is a Sabbath to the Lord your God. In it you shall not do any work” (Exodus 20:8). Of course that era is past. It would be difficult if not impossible in our culture to impose that rule on our people, but it had practical meaning. As Jesus said, “The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath” (Mark 2:27). He meant that rest, prayer and meditation are therapeutic. This is the best part.
We would not be ever dreaming of fantasy getaways and vacations to remote parts of the world if we would make each Sunday a true holiday. We would experience fewer nervous breakdowns. We would be less irritable and on edge, ready to pounce at an instant, less frustrated and more able to handle the situations that arise during the week. If only we could convert each Martha, female and male, into a Mary personality in the spiritual sense and open for them the experience contained in the Cherubic hymn: “Now lay aside all earthly cares—,” getting them to forget about their watches and to think about the lasting aspects of their lives, we may get them to practice meditation and enjoy the rhythm and meaning of worship.