A sermon for the Sixth Sunday after Pentecost, July 20, 2025. The scriptures are Amos 8:1-12, Psalm 52, Colossians 1:15-28, and Luke 10:38-42.
I had a boss who used to say “The problem with religious fundamentalists is not that they read scripture. It’s that they don’t read enough scripture.” In other words, they only pay attention to SOME scripture.
I thought of Father Gerth’s insightful comment as I read last week’s “Interesting Times” piece in the New York Times. It had to do with a conversation between columnist Ross Douthat and a conservative Christian podcaster named Allie Beth Stuckey. I found it a difficult and infuriating read. It was challenging to me because it seemed so clear to me the way Allie Beth Stucky picks and chooses which scriptures she wants to value. To me, it seems that she argues for any scripture that supports her worldview, while dismissing or ignoring others.
One of the gifts of our Anglican tradition is using a lectionary for the scripture readings, the three-year cycle of scripture readings. That means, Sunday after Sunday, we hear scriptures that might align with our already-held views, but just as surely, we hear the Word of God that challenges and questions.
Today’s first reading is a good example. I wonder if Allie Beth Stuckey has ever read Amos 8:1-12, and if she has, what she must make of it.
God gives the prophet Amos a vision. It’s the vision of a basket of summer fruit. At this time of year, we might easily imagine it as a bowl of fresh peaches. Ripe and beautiful. But you know that in this weather, ripe peaches don’t last very long. They need to be eaten or used. Otherwise, they’ll overripen, become moldy, and rot.
That’s the image God is giving Amos for the situation with the people of Israel. God says, “You’re rotting quickly, and soon will be good for nothing but being thrown out.”
Hear this, you that trample on the needy, and bring to ruin the poor of the land, saying, “When will the new moon be over so we can make yet more money? We’ll manipulate the market and practice deceit with false balances, buying the poor for silver and the needy for a pair of sandals….
God sees all. God remember all, and God promises justice one day. God is saying to Amos, “tell the people to pay attention.” Those who exploit and oppress be warned. Those who are put down, oppressed, cheated, and dishonored…. Have faith. God sees and God will remember.”
By listening to scripture each week in church, but praying on scripture and reflecting on it, arguing with it, and talking about it, we help each other hear and see aspects of God’s love affair with humanity in ways that can surprise, in ways that can shock, in ways that give hope and in ways that give strength. Together, we pay attention, and learn from the attentiveness of each other.
After the 11AM service today, we’ll have a special coffee hour. We’ll celebrate St. James’s Day, which is really on the 25th of July, but we’ll use the day to share some Spanish snacks and talk about the pilgrimage 12 of us made in June on the Camino de Santiago in Spain.
One of the most interesting aspects of walking about 75 miles with a group of people, is how everyone has a different experience. Each day, when we caught up with others from our group at a coffee stop along the way, or at the end of the day, someone would mention something that others of us had not seen.
“Could you believe that cemetery just before the coffee shop?” Well, no, because I hadn’t seen it. I walked back to look more closely.
Another day, someone asked, “Did you see the man driving his cows along?” Well, no, I hadn’t. And luckily, someone took a video (and managed not to get trampled by the cows.) Whether along the walk, in nature, or in a church, we all had different experiences. We were attentive to different things and in different ways, and by sharing those insights, we see and understand more.
In today’s Gospel, there is both attention and activity.
Martha is active. She is busy, involved, and committed. I’ve always liked Martha. She works hard, she doesn’t suffer fools gladly and she makes things happen. I always pray for more Martha’s to be around in my church to help us get things done—to organize, to help, the extend the love of God to radiate out from this place.
Mary, on the other hand, is contemplative. She is quiet, calm, prayerful and deeply, DEEPLY attentive. She attends. She apprehends. She GETS Jesus; and all that he brings; and all that he means; and all that he promises; and all that he fulfills. It is because of this deep attention, this prayerfulness, that Mary is able to recognize Jesus as the Son of God, as God Incarnate, as God Among Us. It is because of her attentiveness that Mary has (in the words of Jesus) “chosen the better part.” I also pray for more Mary’s in our church—people to support us with prayer, to listen for God’s voice, to pray for healing, and to hold all we do and become in a cloud of prayer.
While Jesus says that Mary has chosen the better part, notice that he in no way criticizes or scolds Martha. It’s only when Martha has become exhausted, when she is frustrated and angry and tries to get Jesus to side with her over her lazy sister that Jesus helps Martha see what she is doing. He slows her down. He asks her to breathe. “Martha,” he says, “you are anxious and troubled about many things; one thing is needful.”
This one thing that is needful might be called prayer. It might be called “the ability to see clearly, to apprehend a thing or a person for its true qualities.” It might also be called simply, “attention.”
The Church gives us moments that invite our full attention. These moments are called Sacraments. Prayer is the practice of paying attention. Holy Communion is the activity of giving attention, to God and to one another.
Especially in these days when news comes at light speed, incidents of violence and heartbreak seem too fast to keep track of, and our own lives are often run at speeds that challenge our best intentions and highest hopes for the relationships we cherish, may the Holy Spirit slow us down.
May the Spirit focus our energies and help us be attentive.
Like Amos, may we eat and enjoy the good fruit in its season, but also trust that God sees the decay around us, and justice will come. Also, like Martha and Mary, may God give us the grace to be attentive according to our own gifts, and to eat and drink and rest with Jesus Christ our Lord. In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.