|
Understanding
September 1, 2007
Dear Friends,
While we were on holiday this summer in Croatia we went to
the local Church. Like the vast majority of Churches in
Croatia it was a Roman Catholic Church and as most people
walked, we presumed it served the local area. As a visitor
it was interesting to observe people at worship. There were
all ages and everyone knew the words of the liturgy and
these obviously became part of people’s lives from an early
age and hopefully would be a resource to draw on in time of
need.
As my Croatian is limited to yes/no, please/thank you I
only understood a very few words in the service – in fact
names and those words that are from a common root like
Amen, alleluia…
The Gospel reading was obviously the account of Jesus
visiting the home of Mary, Martha and Lazarus (Luke 10)
when Martha was distracted with the domestic affairs and
Mary sat listening to the teaching of Jesus. I have no idea
what the Priest said about this passage but at one point I
heard him quote the words of Jesus; “Martha, Martha…”
when Jesus went on to tell her not to be worried over many
little things but to understand that Mary had chosen a good
way in being still and listening to Him. Just in those two
words his voice contained a real depth that spoke volumes
about Mary, Martha and indeed us. At the beginning of our
holiday I received it as a personal word of affirmation to
leave the hustle and bustle behind and find time to be
still and listen to His voice as Mary had done.
What it said to me at another level is that we do not need
to understand all that is read from the Bible or preached
about God’s Word for God to speak to us and to speak into
our own situations. As it is often said we do not need to
be as concerned about the parts of the bible that we do not
understand as the parts that we do but haven’t put into
practise.
We enjoyed the rest of our holiday and I hope that you will
have found a time of refreshment this summer either at home
or away.
With warmest Christian Greetings
Kath Pawlett
|
|
|
