Bethany Balance

Can you balance a book on your head? In My Fair Lady walking with a book on your head was a drill for walking up straight and elegantly. In this challenge, one can feel if the book is off balance and adjust keep it up there.

That is physical balance in play, but there are many broad applications of the value of balance. In the ethical theory of Aristotle, we learn about the Golden Mean, the middle way between extremes in a person’s quest for happiness. Going the middle way, a person can avoid both excess and deficiency in any category.

The Anglican Christian tradition consistently holds up the wisdom of balance. One of the St. Francis priests was alluding to this in a sermon, and Shirley Barr, listening, jotted down the gist of it in this way: “The Episcopal Church is a balance between Protestant and Catholic; we are both.  We love the altar but from the pulpit, our thinking keeps revealing the brilliance of the Holy Bible and God and his Son Jesus.”

Here are some examples of balance in the Episcopal Church, We place a high value on sacrament and liturgy, but a high value also on preaching and study. We want to emphasize fellowship, and outreach as well. We love sensing the personal presence of an intimate God, and we love to sense God’s awesome, transcendent holiness. God is our ever-present Guide, God is also the Mystery beyond our knowing. We have a ministry that keeps us busy, planning our involvement in the community, and a ministry with a prayer that urges us to be still and quiet within our being. These edges invite us to the middle way between each pair of descriptions. It is good to find balance.

When Jesus visits his friends in the village of Bethany, near Jerusalem, he spends some time with a pair of sisters, Mary and Martha. You recall that Martha is busy with tasks allowing her to offer their special guest hospitality. Mary is sitting at the feet of Jesus, listening, and seemingly transfixed by his word and presence. Martha is attending to many things; Mary is fixed on one thing, attending singularly and simply to the presence of the Teacher:

As Jesus and his disciples went on their way, Jesus 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." (Luke 10:38-42)

I resist valuing Mary’s way above Martha’s, rather I seek to value the virtue of both. I am wondering about designing a life in Christ that follows the middle way between active faith and faith of stillness. In an active practice of faith, “Martha’s way,” we discover means of serving people, learning theology, getting to know each other, creating liturgy, and making programs work. The faith practice of stillness, “Mary’s Way,” we discover wisdom often lost in our culture. To find it we let go of our sense of self-based on actions, accomplishments, acquisitions, efficiency, productivity, skills, and evaluations. In quiet, single-focused attention, we even let go of ideas, images, and words. We let our unadorned self rest in the Presence of God. the Holy One.

Mary’s way may be a bit neglected generally in society, but her way is certainly accessible and possible to put into practice. I believe we need both wonderful figures of Bethany—these friends of Jesus. They are two sides of our faith structure and practice. We need to be both Martha and Mary. In the classic Anglican tradition, am working for balance, finding the middle way between active and contemplative practice. Might you consider the same? Can our walk with Christ be so beautifully balanced?