After I have given the office on Tuesday my sermon title for the announcement boards and for the bulletins this Sunday I started working on the body of my sermon and I decided to call it, “The Value of Listening.” The gospel reading in Luke is saying that, listening to the word of God is more important than anything else you do in life. There are many important things to do in this world and those things all need to get done, but the Word of God must be the central focus of life. If we do all kinds of work, but we forget to take time to listen to God’s will, we will choose a “lesser part of life.” This does not mean that work is not important at all. Work still is very important, but the guiding and driving force behind all good work comes from God and must be centered with the word of God. Therefore, we want to listen to God in order to know God’s intention for us and for the world. There are many distractions in life. Have you ever been so busy and worked so hard, without a break that you felt over-loaded, like you were going to have a meltdown? Most of us have felt this way in various stages in our lives. Martha may have been working too hard in the same way.

All the work that Martha was doing was very important because if Martha did not do her work all the guests would have nothing to eat. While Martha and Mary are having Jesus in their house, they had an uncommon opportunity to listen directly to Jesus’ teaching. Is it more important to work for God or to have faith and study the word of God? Actually those two things are connected. All good things and good works come from God. The Bible tells us that, “Faith without works is dead” (James 2:26b). Faith will drive you to do things that are difficult. But those things don’t seem so hard because we get help from the Lord to do our work. But do we have the wisdom and the faith to take a break in life and listen to God and be able to say a prayer for ourselves to be strengthened and inspired by God’s word?

If there is one spiritual practice behind your whole life it would be to seek God’s will, and all the distractions of this world would be put into their proper perspective. Again, keep in mind that we are not saying that hard work is not important it is just that we are saying that learning God’s way comes before we follow God’s will. Also, work may come first, but if we have listened, we know our busyness is in accord with God’s plan. Before we embark on a major activity in life, it is essential to ask ourselves if our motivation is biblically founded and aligned with God’s plan. Doing lots of activities may make us feel comfortable; or more successful, or just busy, but are we really fulfilling God’s will in our lives? Jesus is talking about “first principles.” The first central and guiding principle is to sit at the Lord’s feet and listen to his teaching. There will be plenty of time to “cook dinner” after that. There are a lot of noises and distractions with the hustle and bustle in this world, but there is one overriding quiet, calm voice of God at the center of all wisdom.

What are your personal distractions that keep you from spending time with God? Our culture dictates that we should keep working all the time and that this is somehow good. But what happens to our relationships with Jesus, family, friends and the world around us when we are overworked? Many times we are driven by expectations. If you expect to be very busy then you will be because you don’t know any other way. How about setting aside 15 minutes each day to read the Bible? You may be surprised at the peaceful blessings this bring. When your thoughts are in accordance with God and are biblically founded, your priorities and perspectives in life will change. The pieces of the puzzle begin to come together in God’s good plan for you.

Have you ever tried to assemble something without reading the instructions? If you build your life without God, it is like trying to assemble a child’s crib or a toy without looking at the directions. When we build our lives that plan is the will of God. Listening to God is a form of planning for our lives. That planning helps make sure that our work is well directed. The gospel reading for today challenges us to listen to Jesus and do good work in that order. That order is feeding yourself with the Word and all the good works that follows. That good work that grows out of listening at Jesus’ feet could be in many different forms: you can work as a housewife, employee in your company, clergy in the church, stay at home mom or dad, work as a friend to the helpless, be a missionary, caring for a loved one, or like Martha cook dinner to feed others. All of those works are in God’s plan.

We need to listen to God more in order to be a better spouse, employee, friend, a missionary, neighbor, caregiver or a hostess. Those individuals who do mission work in Chile, Ghana, the Philippines, and South Dakota, or cooking and serving meals at our Homeless Ministry at Grace Place on Saturday morning chose to go to those places because they have listened to God and they want to be Christ for others. When you prepare a meal for your children you can be doing it with God’s love. When you wake up at 5 in the morning to go to your job to support your family, you can do it with a happy loving spirit of God because all good work is rooted in God’s teaching. That was Jesus’ point in today’s passage. Listen to God first and then do your good hard work for the Lord. Keep things in proper perspective. Try to be like both Mary and Martha and find time to listen to God’s word and apply it as you work. God is waiting for you. He’s longing to have a relationship with you. Will you give him a little of your time?

Jesus understood the need to recover from the exhausting work. Jesus has compassion for Martha. Jesus knew how important it was for her to get the physical, mental and spiritual restoration she needed. It was to her advantage, and for the effectiveness of her mission, if she joined Mary and listened to Jesus. Jesus pointed out that “Mary had chosen the best part and was doing the right thing, listening to Jesus” (verse 42). Jesus was not only concerned about the work that needed to be done, but he was also interested in protecting his own followers from getting “burnout.” Today we are invited to do what a disciple should do, to find our strength in Jesus. In the busyness of your life, you came today to find healing and restoration for your souls. Jesus is inviting you and me to learn the importance of taking the time to listen and learn from his teachings. We all need to set a time to be renewed. When concentrating very hard on a task take a 10 minute quiet time, and say a short prayer and you will be amazed at the results.

Each of us needs to do all the good that we can do, but at some point we have to intentionally take an opportunity to nourish ourselves even with our ministry work. Remember that each of us has our own ministry to perform in this world. Ministry is not just for the clergy but it is for everyone. Listen to God to find a place where you could be a blessing to others. This will depend on your own personal gifts. We should use our best strengths and abilities for the Lord. The Reverend Phil Blackwell, our senior pastor, is on a renewal leave for this summer which he really needed and is a well deserved opportunity to refresh his mind, body and spirit. He went to listen, to prepare, and to be refreshed for the coming years here at the Temple. When he comes back he will be recharged, rejuvenated and ready to lead this church in its mission with all of us. The Reverend Cheryl Magrini is going on a Spiritual Pilgrimage in the fall called “El Camino de Santiago” in Spain. For 35 days she will hike 500 miles. She will listen to God and be renewed in her spiritual life, and at the same time she will raised money for the Tutoring Center of the Chicago Temple. In the early part of this year, the Reverend Claude King, took a month long leave for renewal of his mind, body and spirit. He came back to us refreshed physically, mentally and spiritually and was ready to resume his ministries with us.

There is a man, originally from the Philippines who migrated to Holland. For the last two years he has come to Chicago to attend a conference. He told me that one of the things that he misses being from Holland is worshipping at a United Methodist Church, singing hymns and fellowshipping with good Methodists. Before coming to Chicago two years ago he went to the Internet and started looking for a United Methodist Church to attend while attending the conference. He found our church’s Website, and was very happy that our location would be walking distance from his conference. He was especially glad to know that we have the Mabuhay Fellowship, with many Filipinos. He e-mailed me and introduced himself. I found out that he was from the same province I came from in the Philippines. He was very happy to find our church and wanted to worship with us while in Chicago. He arrived in Chicago and came to worship on Sunday morning. He was a very pleasant man. He loves the worship and enjoyed meeting a lot of people and came to the Mabuhay Fellowship meeting. He came back last year to worship with us. Again he was very appreciative of everything he experienced in our church. It was our joy to have him. Following worship some of us Filipinos had an opportunity to visit with him. Since he was all excited and grateful about being in Chicago and attending our church, I invited him to move to Chicago. His reply was, “No, I don’t like to live here because you guys don’t know how to rest and relax. You always work and are constantly on the go. Where I live we know how to take time to enjoy life. We don’t always work. We rest, eat, play, sit around, and enjoy life.”

That man’s words stuck in my mind because there is some truth in it. The way we live our life makes us stressed. Some of us don’t know how to take time to enjoy life and maybe to even pray and read the Bible. Our culture tells us that being busy is good. Working hard is part of our lives. Some of us are overburdened by the way our society tells us to live. We are expectation driven. We even feel trapped sometimes. As you know I commute on the Metra Train from our home in Wheeling. On the train, a woman, sitting next to me was talking on her cell phone about how physically exhausted she is at work, attending to her family’s needs, one of her kids is almost impossible to deal with, and wondering how she could even accomplish everything on top of her children’s daily activities. As I was listening to her, I was getting stressed out! But the truth is that there are many of us who are trying to fulfill the demands of this world and trying to be a superhero. Many of us are multi-tasking. Some of us often “over-commit.” We see people driving and doing other things at the same time; putting make-up, talking on their cell phones, sending a text, or eating a meal. But is it really effective? Is it healthy? Is it really productive? Is it safe? Many of us are victims of this fast and technological world. There is a cell phone, e-mail, Facebook, and Twitter. Everything is within our reach and it keeps us busier and more involved than before the dawn of advanced technology.

Let us not be distracted by the pressures of our culture. When we are physically and spiritually renewed we become more eager to do God’s work and serve others. Whenever I have the opportunity to take vacation and quiet time with God, I find myself re-energized for ministry. It does not need to be a long extended vacation. Sometimes even spending for few hours at the Chicago Botanic Garden in Glencoe helps a lot. Walking is one of the stress reducers for me. I take time to walk almost every day. I also take time daily to be in touch with God and to pray for others. In the morning when I get up I don’t jump out of bed immediately but remain still in prayer before I begin my day. When I take the train to work I read my Bible and do my meditation with my devotional guide. At night Mark and I have a prayer time before we go to sleep. All these activities feed my spiritual life and help me to be centered and focused in my daily life and walk with God. “How is it with your soul” (John Wesley’s, words)? What do you do to feed your soul? What can you do to set aside time for prayer, study, and simple reflection? You don’t have to go very far in order to find some activities to help you be recharged in your spiritual tiredness. Here at the Chicago Temple we offer many opportunities to listen and renew yourself: there’s Sunday school for all ages, Taize Prayer Service every First Friday of the month at 6:30 p.m. We have Sky Chapel Prayer every Thursday night at 5:30 p.m. Every Wednesday we have Prayer and Communion starting at 7:30 in the morning through 9 a.m., and we also offer a Wednesday Noon Worship service. We hold worship services on Saturday at 5 p.m. and on Sunday at 8:30 a.m. and 11 a.m. Come and join us for those avenues where you can refuel your spiritual life and as you reach out for the needs of the world.

In order for us to be productive and effective in our daily lives, we need to be able to lower our stress level in life. Using ones lunch break to walk, pray, and simply be quiet with your eyes shut is restorative in the middle of the day. One of my favorite bumper stickers is, “Jesus is my role model.” Maybe we should learn, listen and follow Jesus as our role model. When we are overburdened we do not have anything left to care for God’s work, family, friends and those who needed our help. Find an alone time with God each day that works best for you. Spending time with God will help you find more meaning and satisfaction in your life and it will motivate you to feel great to serve others in the name of our Lord. If Jesus came to dinner would you sit down and listen to him? Amen.