The Neighborhood Podcast
This is a podcast of Guilford Park Presbyterian Church in Greensboro, North Carolina featuring guests from both inside the church and the surrounding community. Hosted by Rev. Dr. Stephen M. Fearing, Head of Staff.
The Neighborhood Podcast
"Faith & Works" (March 16, 2025 Sermon)
Preaching: Rev. Stephen M. Fearing
Have you ever felt caught in the whirlwind of endless tasks and responsibilities, your mind racing with unchecked boxes on your to-do list? You're not alone. This deeply relatable exploration takes us into the kitchen of a frazzled parent, where dirty dishes, unpaid bills, and looming deadlines create the perfect storm of anxiety—until a persistent four-year-old delivers an unexpected punchline that changes everything.
Through the lens of Mary and Martha's story from Luke 10, we discover that the spiritual life isn't about choosing between action and contemplation, but finding the sacred balance between them. The sermon offers a refreshing defense of the "Marthas" among us—those who keep organizations running, ensure the hungry are fed, and handle the practical details that make community possible. Their service isn't less spiritual; it's essential. Yet equally important is Mary's choice to sit, listen, and be present.
The wisdom shared applies educational theory to spiritual growth, showing how the action-reflection model creates space for transformative questions: How did this go? What did I learn? Where is God calling me in all of this? These questions can't be answered when we're constantly running from task to task.
What makes this message particularly powerful is its refusal to pit women against each other or to create false dichotomies between faith and works. Instead, it invites us to see them as "two sides of the same coin"—complementary aspects of a healthy spiritual life. And sometimes, the reminder to find this balance comes from unexpected sources—even a child's silly joke that forces us to pause, make eye contact, and remember what truly matters. How might you find small moments to balance your Martha-like productivity with Mary-like presence today?
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Loving God. When our anxiety hovers close and when fear clings to our bones, when our stress rises like the tide, see us, speak to us, call us by name. See us in the kitchen, in the classroom, in the hospital waiting room. Speak to us in the quiet, in the crowd, in the inky black of night. Call us beloved, call us by name, call us your child. Whatever you do, speak to us, for we cannot live on bread alone. Amen, amen. Not live on bread alone, amen.
Speaker 1:The scripture reading this morning is from the book of Luke, chapter 10, verses 38 to 42. Now, as they went on their way, he entered a certain village where a woman named Martha welcomed him into her home. She had a sister named Mary, who sat at the Lord's feet and listened to what he was saying. But Martha was distracted by her many tasks. So she came to him and asked Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me to do all the work by myself? Tell her, then, to help me. But the Lord answered her Martha. Martha, you were worried and distracted by many things. There is need of only one thing Mary has chosen the better part, which will not be taken away from her Holy wisdom. Holy word.
Speaker 2:Thanks be to God. So, friends, I'm going to go ahead and warn you now that this sermon does contain some childish humor from my four-year-old. You have been warned. Let us pray, o Lord lord, may the words of my mouth and the meditations of all of our hearts be acceptable and pleasing in your sight, oh lord, our rock and our redeemer. So, friends, I will admit I I am someone who, like many of you, I trust, has times that I struggle with anxiety.
Speaker 2:Recently I was in a rather anxious place one late afternoon at our house.
Speaker 2:It had been a long day and the dishes needed to be done so I could cook dinner been a long day and the dishes needed to be done so I could cook dinner. Trisha was upstairs seeing a client, virtually, and I was in the kitchen with the girls. I was multitasking, or trying to at least doing the dishes while trying to catch up on some emails and then, of course, going through the stack of snail mail on the kitchen counter, which was mostly junk. But a few unexpected bills were adding to my stress. The kitchen counter had the latest arts and crafts projects the girls had been working on and I had no good place to put it. My head was racing, going through the mental to-do list, reminding myself of the chapter of my thesis that I was behind on and needed to get to my advisor, trying to remember whether tomorrow was trash and recycling day or just recycling this week, and then realizing that there was that congregant I had promised to check in on and had neglected to do so.
Speaker 2:And as I was in this rather frenetic headspace, and I think we all know what that feels like. The girls were, of course, playing right in the middle of the kitchen. No matter, we have a whole room in the house dedicated to toys, they play right in the middle of the kitchen, which, of course, added to my work. So I now had to avoid stepping on them as I was walking around them emptying the dishwasher. And on top of this, the girls were practically feral. They had had a long day, they had gone through the afternoon tiredness, but, as kids always do, they catch a second wind right before bedtime, you know, and they decided to start running circles around me, laughing and chasing one another. I, however, was not in the mood. There was just too much work that needed to be done.
Speaker 2:Hazel Grace, our four-year-old, must have sensed that I was a bit frazzled. She said to me Daddy, guess what? What? I responded without giving her a glance, keeping my gaze firmly focused on the dirty pan I was scrubbing in the sink. Daddy, guess what? She said what sweetheart? I responded with more than a little tone of annoyance, while keeping my focus on the dishes. My daughter, however, is nothing if not persistent. Daddy, I need to tell you something and I want you to look in my eyes. I sighed and looked at her, but she beckoned for me to get down on her level. So I got down on my knees and then I noticed that the kitchen floor was in desperate need of being mopped. Hazel Grace then actually put her hand on my chin and lifted my gaze to hers and said Daddy, guess what? Looking at my four-year-old. Finally, I asked her what? And then, without missing a beat, she looked at me and shouted Chicken butt, chicken butt. Ah yes, the sacred liturgy of a four-year-old. I'll see your. The Lord be with you and also with you and raise you. Guess what. Chicken butt. Never thought I would say that from a pulpit.
Speaker 2:See, friends, sometimes we get distracted. We get distracted by all that must be done, the important things that have to be done, and sometimes we get feverish and frenetic, anxious and afraid. There is so much to juggle. Sometimes we need loved ones to bring us back to a place of centeredness, of playfulness, of mindfulness and, yes, even silly childish joy. And I have found that it is a spiritual discipline, a constant practice honed over time and error, to achieve that balance we need between faithful works and a working faith. And sometimes, as I discovered that day in my kitchen, that wisdom can come from unexpected places. No, I don't think Jesus said to Martha in today's passage guess what Chicken butt Maybe? He did, and over a couple hundred years some scribe along the way went eh no, I think we'll cross that out. But in his own way, jesus compassionately invited Martha to find that balance in her own life, as he invites each of us to do in ours.
Speaker 2:Now here I must pause and say a redeeming word for the Marthas among us. Marthas, keep the trains running on time. Keep the trains running on time. Marthas, make sure all the supplies are gathered to feed our homeless neighbors at Greensboro Urban Ministry. Marthas, take the time to take the minutes for the committee meetings to make sure that we have effective communication. Marthas, make sure that the swim bag is fully stocked before the next pool outing or swim meet.
Speaker 2:Martha's not all of whom are women, by the way cook and clean, heal, comfort, advocate, direct, organize and collaborate. Every family, every organization, every church needs Martha's. A life of faithful action is indeed a part of the life of discipleship. And something else is equally true we must hold action in one hand and reflection in the other. In education, educational pedagogy. This model is crucial to learning and growing. The action reflection model yes, action is important, crucial even. But what is equally as important as action is taking time to reflect upon that action and ask transformative questions how did this go? What did I learn and how can I grow? What could have been done better or more?
Speaker 1:faithfully next time.
Speaker 2:Is this action still serving the need it was meant to address? How does this make me feel, or my neighbor feel? Where is God calling me and us in all of this? Where are my blind spots or areas for improvement?
Speaker 2:These questions cannot be attended to if we don't take occasional breaks from the rat race of life, and that's why today's passage reveals the spiritual discipline of works and faith. They are not opposites, friends. They're two sides of the same coin. See, I personally I don't like to think of Martha and Mary as two distinct individuals to be pitted against one another in today's passage. The patriarchy, after all, delights when women are pitted against one another.
Speaker 2:Mary and Martha are not in competition with one another. They need one another, just as faith and works need each other, just as you and works need each other, just as you and I need each other. Just as we need Jesus Christ as our model for a healthy balance between faith and action, we need Mary's faith just as much as we need the Good Samaritan's actions that we talked about in last week's passage and Martha's today. And there are so many ways that we can cultivate spiritual discipline to find that balance for each one of us. That's part of a healthy and robust life of faith. Because here at Guilford Park Presbyterian Church we do so much, and that's a beautiful good thing we feed the hungry, we clothed the naked, we house the homeless, we advocate for the marginalized, we visit the sick and the lonely, we welcome the children and we give hope to the hopeless.
Speaker 2:And we also come to this space each and every week to pause and to breathe, to pray, to sing, to listen and to give thanks that God has blessed us together to be a church, to be the hands of Christ in a broken world, and so I invite you to explore whatever ways you need to find that balance. For me personally, it was the playfulness of a four-year-old that brought me back to that balance. And so, church, there's only one way for me to close this sermon. I have to ask you guess what Chicken? Didn't know if y'all would actually do that, but you did so. Well done, friends. In the name of God, the creator, redeemer and sustainer, may all of us, god's playful children, say Amen.