Created to Be Authentic

“Created To Be Authentic”

July 14, 2024  Cobleskill United Methodist Church - Pastor Anna Blinn Cole

Luke 10:38-42

Eighth Sunday after Pentecost

Luke 10:38-42

Jesus Visits Martha and Mary

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 are 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.’

When I had the idea of doing a bluegrass Sunday, I was connected with this gentleman right here, Pete Enders, who shares my love for this kind of music.   When he and I met for the first time I mentioned that I was from the bluegrass state, particularly southeastern Kentucky, and that’s a big part of why I feel connected to this music.  What I then loved about Pete, is that after our first conversation, he came back to me with a suggestion of how today’s service could be themed.  How about we use the idea of an old-fashioned southeastern Kentucky tent revival they used to do in the early 20th century.  It was a neat idea and I think we kind of have the tent part covered with our Catalpa tree, we certainly have the good music.  That said, I will spare you the three-hour sermon and we’ll take a hard pass on snake-handling.  

But thinking about Kentucky tent-revivals brought back a not-too-distant memory of our 2018 trip to southeastern Kentucky when a group of 29 strangers from 10 United Methodist churches around Schoharie County Trip traveled to Red Bird, a mission outpost in the southern Appalachian Mountains. 

We were sent out to work on homes in the surrounding mountains, some of us replacing a roof, others working on a kitchen floor, and others replacing a set of stairs.  Like those early 20th century Kentucky tent revivals, some of the job sites even had a few copperheads. 

Snakes notwithstanding, it was a powerful and memorable experience.  We worked in homes and made connections with the people that lived there and with each other.  It was striking to visit another part of the country with fresh eyes and take in the amount of need that was present.  

As we talked around the dinner tables and campfires at night, the idea began to circulate: “you know, Schoharie County also has a lot of need that we often don’t see because we’re around it all the time.”  In other words, what if we looked at our own home area with fresh eyes like we were doing in southeastern Kentucky.  What would we see?  

The 29 strangers that left for Kentucky that summer came back as 29 friends and 29 collaborators ready to find a way to use our friendship to look at our own home county with fresh eyes.  It was a revival, of sorts.  Neighbors helping neighbors breaking the expectation that mission work has to be something you travel faraway to do.

Don’t get me wrong, it was powerful to go on a mission trip to a faraway place and see the hardship of folks in that place firsthand.  And southeastern Kentucky certainly has its share of hard living.  And I’m not sure we would be the same cooperative parish of churches had we not gone on that trip and witnessed both the hardship of that place and the community amongst us that it forged.  But it’s almost like we had to take that trip in order for us to realize that to be true to ourselves, we had to return to our own community and open our eyes in a new way to how we can be helpful.  

It's been a journey of authenticity.  Finding out who we are by working together on what we are becoming.  Neighbors that care about neighbors.  Churches that work side by side.   We are here in Schoharie County, the northernmost county of Appalachia- although you all typically say the word differently.  Being authentic is about looking inward and discovering that who you are, where your home place is, is both a place needs and a place of asset.  Operation: Home Repair, a project now in its second year, and right now between its first week and its second week has been a product of this revival in authenticity; a project of figuring out how to match the needs all around us with the assets all around us.  Bringing them together with fresh eyes.

Today, we continue our summer series of “Created to be”… by looking at what it means to be “Created to be authentic.”   What it means to find your true self even if it means breaking expectations.  

And to illustrate the theme, we’ve heard a story about breaking expectations.  It goes like this.

Jesus is passing through the town of Bethany.  He comes to the house of Mary and Martha and he knock, knock, knocks.  Now I’m not sure what you do when a Very Important Person happens to show up on your doorstep unannounced, but clearly this was a big moment for the household.  And the two sisters inside take two very different approaches.  Martha, who meets Jesus at the door, takes the traditional role.  She immediately busies herself with the domestic chores a woman in the household might have been expected to do.  We don’t know what she does, but we know it was many things.  And if you're a woman in 2024, you still probably understand the cultural expectations that continue to follow us when it comes to hosting.  What’s for dinner?  Is the house clean?  Are the beds made? Is everyone comfortable?  Can I get you anything?  

Mary, the other sister, takes a different approach.  The Bible doesn’t say if this was something she had to deliberate about or if it was an automatic response.  Nonetheless, she chose to take the Very Important Person, Jesus, to a place where they could sit and talk.  She chose to listen to his stories and hear about his ministry.  

The cultural expectations were no different for Mary than they were for Martha.  As a woman she would have been expected to help with the household chores.  And so, it’s not surprising that Martha interrupts the conversation between Jesus and Mary with a little bit of annoyance.  

“Um, Jesus, do you not care that Mary has left me with all the work to do?! Can you ask her to help me!”  

But Jesus does the unexpected.  Instead of asking Mary to carry out her cultural duties as a female in the house and get busy with the chores, he suggests to Martha that Mary has found a more authentic way to welcome him into their home. She’s chosen the better way, to listen to him as a person, not just prepare for him as a guest.  Mary is being more authentically herself, rather than conforming to expectations.  And Jesus notices and affirms her choice.  

Mary wasn’t the first to break expectations and be authentically herself, and she certainly wasn’t the last.  

Have you ever heard of a woman named Catherine Booth?  Catharine Booth believed that God was calling her to use her voice to preach the Gospel of Jesus.  There was only one problem.  The year was 1860 and it was unheard of for women to speak up in church, let alone preach. And yet Catherine didn’t give up.  During one of her husband’s sermons in her Methodist church, she timidly spoke up and asked if she might share a word, also.  Her husband, to his credit, recognized her calling and gave her the floor.  She was choosing to break expectations and this was, for her, the right thing to do.  “The better part,” as Jesus would have said.  Catherine’s preaching drew crowds.  It was meaningful and challenging in a way that was unique to who she was both as a woman and a person.  She was convinced that women had an equal right to speak and that their voices would add to the fullness of God’s church.  

Being our authentic selves takes courage. Catherine went on to be known as the Mother of The Salvation Army, instrumental in bringing equity and change to the lives of many within the organization and in communities across England, where she lived.

I believe God is always calling each of us to be more authentic.  To reach down deep inside to figure out who it is that we are here, and to strip away everything else that might try to hide that. 

Maybe it’s about reconnecting with music that connects you to your roots.  And maybe it’s about reconnecting with your neighborhood on a new level and being part of community home repair project.  Maybe it’s about charting a path that feels right, but may be unpopular.  Standing up for someone who doesn’t deserve it or who has been left behind.  Putting people before things.  

Whatever becoming more authentic means for you, I guarantee you it begins by figuring out what’s most important to you and then living your life with integrity so that you can uphold your values, even when it’s hard.  

Quite honestly, we need a revival of authenticity.  A new wave of people being true to themselves, even if it requires vulnerability.

Grace and Peace,

Pastor Anna