Martha: Patron Saint of OCD

As my third month as volunteer coordinator approaches, I must confess it has caused me to think a lot about the organizational requirements larger churches must go through on a day to day basis. When my time as coordinator ends at the end of March (and it WILL end then regardless of whether or not someone else can take over the job), I feel I must give praise to one person in the Bible who remains an inspiration to me for all things organizational: Martha.
We all know the story from the Gospel of Luke: Martha is head of the household and welcomes Jesus into their home and does all the work while Mary sits around and listens to Jesus. Martha gets mad about this and is chided by Jesus saying that she is distracted by many things while Mary has “chosen the better part” by taking time to listen to Jesus. We don’t really know what happened after that, Martha probably agreed with him or (if she was like me) she probably would’ve made the mistake of telling Jesus “Then fix your own $#@% dinner!” Although we can concede that Jesus was right and Martha was wrong, Martha still remains a veritable patron saint of people with type-A personalities. The pastor of my parents’ church said in a sermon that a group of people at her old church served as the logistical hub and named themselves “The Marthas.”
Although Jesus’ teachings and actions usually serve as the cornerstone of a Christian community of faith as they should, those who are driven to attend the organization of who does what and when remain a significant part of any church’s ministry (including our own). After all, “Meals under the Bridge” remains a very well-known and respected interfaith ministry here in San Antonio and it would not be possible without Ellen Ott’s attention to detail.
Like with Martha, our work in the Church is to honor and serve God since Martha’s OCD actions were in appreciation and respect for Jesus. However, what happens when that work causes us to loose sight of the bigger picture that is Jesus’ message of love and salvation? More than once I vented over the day to day business of being Moderator and how it can feel like frustration personified to friends who, unwittingly, got drawn into my diatribe. One time I was on one of these rants and the friend said: “If you hate being Moderator so much why do you do it?” This caused me to take a step back and realize that, in getting wrapped up in the minor details of being moderator, I had lost sight of why I did it which was to further the mission of Spirit of Peace which, I think the whole congregation can agree, is what God wants us to do (and because no one else wanted the job, but I digress). Although I did not hate being moderator, I got so wrapped up in the less-savory aspects of the position and forgot the reason I took the task on.
Probably someone who was a better organizer than I could ever be was Mother Teresa. When she started her ministry to the poor of India she had no start up money, was one of the few who actually reached out to the poor of Calcutta, and she had to do pretty much everything herself. In her Biography, she talked about her early months where she was tempted to return to Convent life, her response was: “Of free choice, my God, and out of love for you, I desire to remain and do whatever be your Holy will in my regard.” Well, fortunately Mother Teresa didn’t have to keep doing everything herself and her organization the “Missionaries of Charity” has grown to more than 4,000 nuns caring for people in over 123 countries. Still, although a great drive to work made her service possible, would she have continued to reach out to others if she had forgotten why she was doing such a tireless and thankless job?