Contemplation and Action

This week I’d like to share around something I had to prepare for a meeting this past week with fellow clergy. It seemed to go quite well, so I thought maybe this might be the place to expand on some of my reflections. It might also reassure some of my readers that I am not losing my marbles. Sometimes this blog might give that impression, but this is often the way with people like me who process their emotions and experiences through articulating them. My wife has learned to ignore my more strident pronouncements as simply part of this process.

Anyway, I was reflecting upon the story of Mary and Martha as it is found in Luke 10:38-42 (ESV).

³⁸ Now as they went on their way, Jesus entered a village. And a woman named Martha welcomed him into her house. ³⁹ And she had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord's feet and listened to his teaching. ⁴⁰ But Martha was distracted with much serving. And she went up to him and said, “Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me to serve alone? Tell her then to help me.” ⁴¹ But the Lord answered her, “Martha, Martha, you are anxious and troubled about many things, ⁴² but one thing is necessary. Mary has chosen the good portion, which will not be taken away from her.”

This story has been commented on throughout Christian history and particularly in the history of devotional and spiritual writing. Martha is taken as a symbol of activity (not always negatively) and Mary as a symbol of divine contemplation.

I begin by reflection upon the challenges of ordained life that I come across personally and regularly:

Solitary working - Little collegiality. Strange feeling when getting dressed in the morning that one is often not “going anywhere” to work. I’ve been doing this for many years in one form or another now and got used to it mostly.

Temptation to constant activity - Because this makes you feel like you can justify your position and your existence.

Loss of interior peace and sense of God’s presence - This is a consequence of constant activity.

Addiction to emails and social media - This is simultaneously attractive and soul-destroying.

Criticism and recalcitrance of others - When I said last week about clergy being consistently rejected by their congregations, I didn’t necessarily mean that I have experienced this over and above other clergy. I meant that it is a feature of committed, ordained life: you are constantly inviting people to church, to other events, to respond to the message of Christ, and people are constantly saying “No”. This is just the reality, as it was for Christ. Many people also say “Yes”, but the Nos are still painful.

Fatigue - Obviously.

Distraction- By everything. Particularly the BBC Sport App and football podcasts.

Sense of time running out - I’ve written about this many times before. See basically all of my past blog posts.

Anxiety over future of church, congregation, personal stability - This is (believe it or not) a pretty consistent theme in the life of ordained clergy in the Church of England, as it is for me also.

All of these elements conspire to crowd out our ability to spend to time in quiet contemplation

And yet contemplation “fuels” meaningful ministry and is therefore essential to it. It also fuels the Christian life in general and the Christian life cannot be lived effectively without it.

How to negotiate these thoughts and impulses from day-to-day?

This blog in general is largely an exploration of that question.