Monday Ministerial Musings
By Rev. Mark William Ennis
Blog Number 25
July 22, 2019
In His Presence: Active or Passive?
Our lectionary this past Sunday was the very familiar story of Mary and Martha entertaining Jesus. Mary sits at Jesus feet learning from him while Martha does the busy work of entertaining. She certainly has the opportunity to sit with Jesus, but she chooses the role of hospitality, not sitting with him. For Martha, not sitting with Jesus was a choice.
Have you ever been in the presence of someone you were not able to interact with? I had this experience this past week. Most of my life I have had an itch to be an actor. For my sixtieth birthday, as a present to myself, I registered with an agent in New York City. This past week I had my first opportunity to be an “extra.” I was filmed for an episode of an HBO series. I was filmed just six feet away from James Franco. I so wanted to engage him in conversation. Yet, I was unable to. The rules of being an extra is that you don’t engage with the stars. I was six feet from James but could not converse with him!
Besides Martha, I wonder how many people were around Jesus but were not able and/or willing to engage with him. How many people were around Jesus but did not have the courage to speak to him? How many were told that Jesus was “bad” and were not willing to find out for themselves? How many wanted to speak with him but felt that they were not “good enough” to engage.
We who are disciples of Jesus are always in his presence. Do we actively engage with him or do we take the relationship for granted and ignore the full benefits of it? Jesus is always with us. Are we actively engaged with Jesus or are we passive with our friend? What is the point of being passive? Jesus is with us. Let us actively engage we will be blessed.
#ReformedChurchInAmerica #ClintonAvenueReformedChurch
#PastorMarkAuthor.com #Mary&Martha
#JamesFranco #Extra
To read more of Pastor Mark’s writings, please order a copy of his book:
Pastor Mark Author 