Column by Mary Lee Talbot
The Rev. Canon Stephanie Spellers began her week as Chautauqua’s chaplain and preacher by getting the congregation to stand and pray together through music. “Arise, shine for your light has come / and the glory of the Lord has dawned upon you.” The congregation repeated it several times, swaying and clapping their hands.
Spellers preached at the 10:45 a.m. Sunday morning worship service in the Amphitheater. Her sermon title was “The Good Life,” and the scripture reading was Luke 10:38–42, the story of Jesus’ visit to Mary and Martha’s house.
The scripture reading had Spellers curious, she told the congregation: How many were Marys and how many were Marthas? After a show of hands, she said, “I am Team Martha all the way, and I come from generations of Marthas. Black women have been working, raising children, keeping house and shoving back racism with one hand and sexism with the other.”
She continued, “My mother worked at the phone company during the day and as a store clerk at night. Black women have been the backbone of white and Black households (since the beginning of this country). I know Jesus says just to sit and tend to the main thing, but I don’t have that luxury, Jesus. Don’t you get it? But he totally does.”
Work defines our self-worth in this country, and doing and having is everything, Spellers said. Being is just talk, “but it should not be. We all dream of the good life. No one will flourish if acquisition and accomplishments are the measure of meaning. We are made for community and love; we are human beings, not human doings.”
The theme for Week Five at Chautauqua capitalism — “Innovation in Capitalism” in the morning and “The Spirit of Capitalism,” focused on the legacy of the Protestant work ethic, in the afternoon. Spellers noted that capitalism, when it works, has promised people a good life, and people have produced more, served more and found labor fulfilling. But capitalism without guardrails is a commodifying beast in which every life is measured by how much more we give to those who already have the capital.
Pope Francis said that unfettered capitalism makes an idol of capital, that the greed for money ruins society. Unfettered capitalism enslaves people, destroys human fraternity and puts the Earth at risk.
“The internet went berserk and called him the ‘Woke Pope.’ But he was not wrong, and he did not make up his critique — he applied the witness of faith to capitalism,” Spellers said. She quoted Psalm 15, the text for the canticle in the morning service.
“O Lord, who may abide in your tent? / Who may dwell on your holy hill? / Those who walk blamelessly and do what is right / and speak the truth from their heart; / who do not slander with their tongue / and do no evil to their friends / nor heap shame upon their neighbors; / in whose eyes the wicked are despised / but who honor those who fear the Lord; / who stand by their oath even to their hurt; / who do not lend money atinterest / and do not take a bribe against the innocent. / Those who do these things shall never be moved.”
Spellers asked the congregation, “So how do we live together? By keeping our word, not profiting on the vulnerable, to lend without seeking a huge payback. All of this matters; when we are closer to God, we have a better chance to flourish.”
About one-quarter of Jesus’ parables are focused on money, she said. He was a poor man who lived with poor people who were trampled on by the Roman Empire. “Of course money mattered. Jesus knew it has a hold on our lives, and that is why he told people to sell all they have and give the money to the needy. Then we would have treasure in heaven where the treasure of our hearts will be.”
Spellers continued, “No wonder he gave a blessing to those who have little, and warned the rich that they could not serve God and money.”
She told the congregation that working hard to accumulate money and things is not the way to a good life. She warned that a person could not own a lot and then pay the people who work for them very little. Life is not “about having more, but being more.”
Jesus’ exhortation to Mary and Martha was not to choose contemplation over work, but to take a breath, that the highest priority in life is not to earn but to savor the preciousness of life and honor our duty to others.
“The core questions are the same, no matter what you do,” Spellers said. “Take only your share, leave enough for others, break from the tyranny of endless work, give thanks for breath, for people, for God’s ruach, God’s spirit, the source of it all.”
She continued, “Y’all need to do less taking and more giving, less doing and more being. That is a work ethic we can work with for a true, beautiful, very, very good life. Amen?” The congregation responded, “Amen.”
The Rt. Rev. Eugene T. Sutton, senior pastor for Chautauqua, presided. Robin Harbage, a facilitator with Chautauqua Dialogues, read the scripture. Owen Reyda, organ scholar, performed Andante Moderato in C Minor, by Frank Bridge, for the prelude on the Massey Memorial Organ. The Chautauqua Choir sang a cappella “Bless the Lord, O my soul,” music by Mikhail Ippolitov-Ivanov and text from Psalm 102. The choir was under the direction of Joshua Stafford, director of sacred music and the Jared Jacobsen Chair for the Organist. Symone Harcum, soprano, an artist ambassador with the Denyce Graves Foundation, sang “The Lord’s Prayer,” musical setting by Albert Malotte and accompanied by Stafford on the Massey organ. The Chautauqua Choir, for the offertory anthem, sang “The Call of Wisdom,” music by Will Todd and text by Michael Hampel after Proverbs 8. The choir was under the direction of Stafford and accompanied by Reyda on the Massey organ. For the postlude, Stafford performed Fugue in D Major, BWV 532, by Johann Sebastian Bach on the Massey organ. Support for this week’s chaplaincy and preaching is provided by the John William Tyrrell Endowment for Religion.
