Genius loci

27th July 2025 

The Posture of the Heart – Jesus in the House of Martha and Mary Luke

Luke 10:38-42

38 Now as they went on their way, he entered a certain village, where a woman named Martha welcomed him into her home. 39 She had a sister named Mary, who sat at the Lord’s feet and listened to what he was saying. 40 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.’ 41 But the Lord answered her, ‘Martha, Martha, you are worried and distracted by many things; 42 there is need of only one thing.[a] Mary has chosen the better part, which will not be taken away from her.’

1. All over the world today people will be listening to the story of how Jesus visited Mary and Martha and what happened when he got there. It’s a well-known, homely, story of the Gospel. Mary sits at Jesus feet while Martha busies herself, we assume, in the kitchens.  

2. It’s also familiar to us in another way -in the feeling that it seems to describe. Our lives are often hard these days, -especially when we are working or caring for others at the same time. People say that our own times-our own world- has a particularly acute form of work-related stress.  We don’t stop- we can’t put up boundaries between home and work; often our work is in itself a way of distracting ourselves – from how we feel-from our loneliness or uncertainty or feelings of being lost. We plough on despite our pain – we have lost our peace - we ‘bury ourselves in work’; we are distracted by many things.

We are ‘Marthas’ and we want our struggles to be seen- and yet here is Mary-seemingly favoured, calmly sitting on the floor twiddling with that long hair of hers … … in a way it’s a gospel that seems to go against the grain of our experience -we are almost puzzled by it

3. That’s why it is such a great gospel -just because on the surface it goes against the grain, it stirs us up, it makes us think.  And this was also true -perhaps in different ways -for all of the centuries in which this story has been told and re-told.

One such telling is in art- the Dutch painters of the C16th and C17th loved to paint what looked real – and they were very interested in domestic reality -glistening fish, tiled floors -light through a window- which are often metaphors for an interior or a greater reality.

This Gospel of Martha and Mary and Jesus is painted by them quite a bit and in a particular way.

Many of these paintings, don’t in fact focus on the lovely dreamy Mary but rather on Martha-

In one painting by Joachim Beukelaer she stands before us, knife in hand, surrounded by the colour and texture and abundance of her kitchen. This Martha is challenging us, saying to us yes this is what its all about really -here is life. In the background over her shoulder, in faint colours, distant as if in a dream, Mary and Jesus sit alone -in a bleak dreamy haze.

4.  In another painting by Velasquez an old woman full of wrinkles and wisdom points knowingly at a Martha, this time young girl, whose solid sullen face and raw hands say that she’s a servant. The painter here is surely saying to us, ‘look, here is a servant- she’s a Martha, she too is important-though her life is demanding’.

All of these and others in their own way repeat our feelings about this story. They say ’hold on-let’s not lose sight of the realities of life -and all of its advantages – its colour and immediacy -as well as its demands. The paintings give voice to the very human complaint within us -which is about so much more than work – it says ‘Hello God -do you see me?  Can you notice me here among all of these distractions -these responsibilities- I’m only doing what I must, what I should after all

5.  if we go back to the Gospel though and read it again, we may see things differently again. The Gospel’s words are few but deep.

First let’s note Martha’s name- a name that over the centuries has become a name for servants – ‘hardworking Marthas’ – but in its Aramaic origins it means something entirely different-it means ‘Lady’ or ‘Mistress’.

And that’s what the Gospel clearly tells us. Martha is no Servant – Jesus arrives (Luke doesn’t even tell us where because his close friendship with Martha and Mary and Lazarus was so well known-but its almost certainly their home in Bethany). This is Martha’s home -she welcomes him, not a husband or father, certainly not Mary, she is in charge. She has authority and also responsibility for her household.

6. Mary, is in a lesser position- she sits at the feet of the Lord. That’s an important detail because it has a clear meaning for the listeners and readers of the Gospel. In ancient and biblical terms -as today- to sit at the feet of someone suggests a closeness and a trust -between Mary and the Lord.  Mary is Jesus’s disciple, His follower.

7. Now, Martha is that too-we know that from later gospels and Jesus loved them both dearly and Lazarus their brother but here -on this warm evening in Bethany Martha has other things to attend to.  She works or supervises while her sister sits and listens and talks. What is extraordinary and powerful is that she feels she can complain! She doesn’t just take this injustice she speaks her heart -with some feeling to the Lord. It’s an extraordinary passage- read it again-feel how direct she is -hear her voice and emotion – and her direct questioning of her God.

She asks him, ‘Don’t you care?!’ which translated into the language of feeling must surely be something like. ‘don’t you see me? Do you know how I feel? I’m trying so hard. Do you see who I am?!’

And then in a phrase that says a lot about how close she is to Jesus-how confident in him, how fearless in her exasperation she demands – ‘Tell her to help me!’

8. And here’s the thing-Jesus’ reply is not what we often mistake it for -it’s not, what often feels for us an inexplicable, ‘you’re wrong Martha.’ What he says is this –

‘I do see you’ and because I see you and know you and love you I’m going to say something to you that you may not want to hear. I see all that you do and are – your role and your work is important to you, it defines you in many ways- but in all that you’re missing something which matters deeply.

The one thing that makes and lies behind all that is good here - all of this – life and work and joy   – (here the gospel translation is says ‘is needful’). The one thing that will really bring you peace and meaning and wholeness.

Here-of course -the Gospel is silent ….what is this thing we ask- tell us Lord…

But the story and the painters tell us don’t they -its there in the actions and not the words .Its there in the silences and in the images -our peace is not in the busy kitchen but first and foremost at the feet of the Lord.

We need to attend to this first – before, within and through our busy lives -as one writer said we need to adjust the whole posture of our hearts ‘

Not to abandon our work-our responsibilities- our life

No not that at all but to know that we can and should take time to sit at the feet of our God, to be close to him, open with him. To listen and to ask. To love and to be loved-to feel his attention and his looking upon us -and then-since we must to pick up our kitchen knives, our tea towels and our trays and to return to the kitchen in peace. This is what one theologian has called ‘the posture of the heart’. Aligning ourselves to God in how we live and move and think and feel.

Thinking about this I offer you one final painting-Christ in the House of Martha and Mary by Vermeer. Here, Mary, Martha and Jesus. You can see Vermeer’s painting here. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christ_in_the_House_of_Martha_and_Mary_(Vermeer)

Martha leans over the lord attentive to Him and in her hands is a basket of  bread (the bread of life). This stands for all that is life and the work and effort and creativity of life. Jesus looks up to her point as he does so at Mary who is sitting at his feet, head in hand and pondering.

It’s a sort of Trinity, an acceptance that God is in all that we do and that there is a constant movement between our lives, our work, our understanding and our inner most selves-all held together in the attentive love and grace of God.

Amen. 

5th January 

The Road Goes Ever On and On.

The Road goes ever on and on, Down from the door where it began.
Now far ahead the Road has gone, And I must follow, if I can. (JRR Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings)

In a way this wintery part of the church year is all about journeys: the visit of Mary to her cousin Elizabeth,  the wearisome trek taken by Joseph and Mary, first to Bethlehem and then into Egypt, and of course the long road travelled by the Three Kings who followed a bright star across mountains and desert to find the Christ child and present him with their gifts.

To travel a road can be really hard but also deeply enjoyable. Indeed, as recent re-discovery of pilgrimage tells us, journeys, the sights, meetings and dangers that we encounter can  change us so that we return  somewhat different to how we were when we set out.  As Gandalf, the wizard in  J. R. R. Tolkien saga the Lord of the Rings, reminds us : ‘It's a dangerous business, Frodo, going out your door. You step onto the road, and if you don't keep your feet, there's no knowing where you might be swept off to.’ People have always known this and many of the adventure stories we tell, both ancient and new, are really ways of exploring such interior transformation.

We can also tell stories about missing such adventure. In one such Epiphany story there was a fourth king, Artaban, who got distracted on his way by stopping to help others and so arrived too late to see Jesus and give him his gift. After years of searching the Fourth King finally found Jesus, just as he was on the road to crucifixion and death.  Sadly, Artaban accepts that he cannot ever reach his saviour. The story has a good ending though because all of the acts of kindness that Artaban has done on his journeys are known and remembered and he hears a voice from heaven saying, ‘In as much as you have done it for one of the least of these little ones you have done it for me’. His long search is recognised and his gift is finally accepted. 

As Epiphany draws close perhaps it’s time to think about setting off on our own journey into the strangeness and wonder of the new year, ready to take new roads, ready to get lost in the right causes, ready to be changed and always searching for the God who loves us. 

16th September 

We enjoyed the Heritage weekend at Littlebourne Barn and St Vincents Church on 7th and 8th September. 

9th September

We have had some lovely poems shared with us by the wonderful Wendy Blanchett from during Lockdown and we will be sharing them over the coming weeks.

22nd August 

We have been given a beautiful painting of Wickhambreaux Church by Kent artist Keith A. Wells by the family of the recently departed Eileen. 

Eileen purchased the paining of the church because it was where she was married and the family has offered it to the church in her memory.

Eileen Rose Ruck

23 March 1931 - 10 July 2024

Eileen was born on 23 March 1931 in the village of Littlebourne to parents Fred and Lilian Cornwell. She was named ‘Eileen Rose’ and the family lived in Jubilee Road in Littlebourne and then moved to Grove Road in Wickhambreaux.

Eileen’s father Fred was born in Littlebourne and worked as a cow hand at Lee Priory. He became a well-known regular at The Rose Inn at Wickhambreaux. There is a bench in his memory outside the pub which was installed by regulars after his death in 1989.

Eileen’s younger sister Rita was born in 1936. The two sisters had an idyllic countryside childhood. Her father was a gamekeeper and her mother was a farm worker. They kept chickens in the back garden and had an extensive vegetable patch and a greenhouse full with tomatoes.

Eileen attended the local Wickhambreaux primary school and the nearby Sturry secondary school.

After leaving school, she worked in local farms mainly doing apple and hop picking.

She also often cared for the young sons of the local farmer, Mr. Twyman. It was here that she met Ronald, her future husband, who was working on a nearby property as a builder’s labourer.

Eileen and Ron were engaged in 1950 and married at Wickhambreaux church on 4 August 1951.

They lived together with Ron’s parents in Military Road in Canterbury to save up for a deposit on a house. Eileen occasionally earned more than Ron as a farm worker as she was paid ‘piece work’, a set fee for the amount of fruit picked each day.

Eileen, like so many women of her generation, worked hard to put the family first throughout her life. She and her husband Ron provided their children Kevin and Sally and grandchildren Cheryl, Jamie, Shona and Joshua with unconditional love and a safe environment to be themselves.

1st August 

Thought for the month!

August-  Gold and Purple.

August by an emperor was given his great name.

It is gold and purple, like a Hall of Fame.

(I have known it rather cold, and wettish, all the same.)

                                                                                         January Jumps About by George Barker

 

The eighth month of our calendar which we call ‘August’ was named, as the rhyme tells us, after an Emperor and a famous one at that.  Gaius Octavius Caesar (known as Octavian) was just eighteen when his great uncle Julius Caesar was assassinated in 44BC.  Although Caesar’s heir,  the young Octavian had to make some ruthless decisions and navigate great dangers, in order to survive the bitter struggle for power that broke out after his noble relative’s death.

Perhaps the best known example of this is the bloody battle between Octavian and his one-time close ally and friend, Marc Anthony. In an extraordinary story of love and power, Marc Anthony left his wife, Octavian’s sister, and married the spectacular Queen of Egypt, Cleopatra, becoming step-father to Cleopatra’s son by Julius Caesar, the young Ptolemy XV, known after his father as ‘Caesarion’.  Feeling threatened, Octavian led a fleet to Egypt and in the eighth month of the year he defeated Marc Anthony in a great sea battle.

What followed has been told and retold as tragedy and drama for centuries, perhaps most famously by Shakespeare, though the film with Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor is also quite good! In short, both Cleopatra and Marc Anthony committed suicide and on the principle  that ‘two Caesars are one too many’ Octavian ordered young Caesarion’s execution.

Octavian went on to consolidate his power and to establish an empire in which he and his descendants had ultimate power over the lives of millions.  Four years later he was granted the name ‘Augustus’ meaning ‘revered’ or ‘deserving honour’ and in 8BC, in honour of this consolidation of power, the eighth month was named after him-‘August’.

More than 500 years later, when Rome was a wreck and the great Empire of Augustus a distant memory,  Pope Gregory the Great, sent Augustus’ name sake-Augustine, to the distant shores of Kent. It was a mission of hope for all that Roman Christianity believed in and wanted to survive. Central to this was the belief that power should not be ruthless, that the lives of all people, rich or poor, were of immense value and that the world should be ruled through what Gregory called ‘the bond of love’. Such values would have been foolish to Augustus and his age but in this month of August 2024 I think they’re something we should re member and hold onto.

15th July 

For Those in Peril on the Sea

Last week I took some time to visit my home town of Deal and to take a walk along the coastal path there. The day, at last, felt like summer and the sea was mild and blue. Even so, something like a shadow flitted through my mind because the thought occurred that people would set off on boats from France on a day like this and hope to safely make the crossing. I prayed that there would be no one lost.

Later that evening the news announced a different reality. Four more people had drowned in the calm waters off Boulogne that day, tipped into the sea from a boat crammed with people.  At least twenty people have died so far this year in this way including two 7-year-old children. Such terrible and unnecessary deaths are a source of grief and worry to the world.

Sea Sunday

July the 14th was Sea Sunday- a day when Christians across the world remember those who work and face dangers on the sea: those who sail in conflict zones, those who sail in storms and dangerous seas, those who risk their lives for others.  We also remember those who are our brothers and sisters who die on the seas in desperate efforts to escape from poverty, violence and fear.

In the Gospel of Mark, we read about a furious storm that threatened to sink the fishing boat that was carrying Jesus and some of his friends across the lake of Galilee.  The boat was at risk of breaking up, the waves pounding in over its sides. Meanwhile Jesus, exhausted, slept unawares on a cushion in the stern. It was only when the disciples called to him in terror' teacher, don't you care if we all drown?' that he woke up

Then, Mark writes:

'He got up, rebuked the wind and said to the waves, “Quiet! Be still!” Then the wind died down and it was completely calm' .

 

A Prayer for ourselves when we feel helpless, for those who have died and those who are fearful at sea, for those who work to save them and for all of the storms we may face in our lives to come:

Lord Jesus who woke from sleep to calm the storms and to tell the winds to stop their howling.

be the calm centre of our souls, watch over and protect all who are in danger and help us to wake up when we hear their call.  Amen

 

Read an Anglo-Saxon Poem, the Seafarer

https://www.poetryintranslation.com/PITBR/English/Seafarer.php

 

Look at this painting from the Methodist Art Collection-Maggie Hamblin. Good Friday, Walking on Water

 https://www.methodist.org.uk/faith/the-methodist-modern-art-collection/browse-the-collection/good-friday-walking-on-water-2006-maggi-hambling/

1st July