Greetings, Body of Christ!

The church is buzzing this week. Apples are growing fat in the Memorial Garden, plump bees are bumbling from branch to branch, and electric fans are humming away at full tilt on windowsills. In this summer heat, I’ve been resting in the story of Mary and Martha that we’ll explore together this Sunday, imagining the calm coolness of that home at Bethany that was such a refuge for Jesus so often on his travels. It makes me think with gratitude about the different shapes that our households and families take and how our abiding friendships so often become our chosen families.

We visit this household of Mary, Martha, and their brother Lazarus multiple times in the gospels. There’s no indication that any of them were married or had children: three adult siblings living together, self-sustaining. Curiously, the home is identified as Mary’s, not Lazarus’. This unconventional arrangement, where Lazarus is never identified as the typical male head of the household, leads some scholars to speculate he may have lived with physical disability or intellectual difference that required his sisters’ care. While we won’t explore this angle in the sermon, it raises important questions for us to consider as a church community. Are there “invisible” differences in our own congregation and wider community that we haven’t fully acknowledged, met, or anticipated? Over the long term, I’m curious about what faith formation for people with neurological difference or adults in memory care might look like. If these or other ministries spark your interest, let’s talk and explore the possibilities.

We’ll also read again from Colossians this week and hear more dire warnings from Amos (I misspoke last Sunday, thinking we’d be moving into Hosea. That’s still to come, next week…). The full readings for each Sunday (as well as for daily morning and evening prayer, seven days a week) are always available to you online – you might like to bookmark the site in your browser, like I do.

In Christ and in community,

Rev. Sarah

Mary Sat
Patrick Henry Ryan (1943-2021, Trappist monk)

Martha stood
but Mary sat
and the sitting
led within
the things
that need two feet
to love
so peaceful
Martha
could not leave
her sister
all alone.

_____

This Sunday July 20, 2025 we will holding a Morning Prayer Service. 

Here is the link to the downloadable bulletin:
Sunday July 20, 2025

Preacher and Preacher: Rev. Sarah Lehman 

Our Musician is Hyejung Jun and Choir

To access the livestream, click on the button below.
Previous livestreamed services and sermon notes can be found on the website here.

Image: Denver Art Museum, ca, 1700-1730, Vanderbilt