Divine Drama Queen (!)

A good friend and I have debated the Martha and Mary story in Luke 10 more than once. I have a tendency to side with Martha and puzzle over Jesus' reaction to her request. My friend tells me that I should be siding with what Mary does.

This morning I came across a wonderful poem by U A Fanthorpe, an English poet who gives us a picture of Martha from Mary's point of view. It isn't the usual picture. You can see my comments here, plus links to the poem, some background to Fanthorpe, and also to a sermon by Colin Gibson, which discusses the same poem.

When I sent a copy of this poem to my friend, he replied with an article by Mark Galli from Christianity Today. It's called Divine Drama Queen, and presents a picture of a God who isn't emotionally reticent - not in the least. Here are some extracts:

A God who doesn't fly off the handle at the least provocation. A God who lives one step above the fray. A God who has that British stiff upper lip even when disaster is looming.

This God is like the volatile Italian woman who, upon discovering her husband's unfaithfulness, yells and throws dishes, refuses to sleep in the same bed, and doesn't speak to him for 40 days and 40 nights.

When God sees the space shuttle hurtling toward its destruction, he weeps, he rants, he pulls his hair out. And something inside him dies.

He yells and throws dishes, and walks off in a huff, slamming the door behind him—and then he turns around and gives his life for us.

He's like the crazy uncle in the family. At some point, you have to let your friends know about him, but you'd just as soon avoid having to introduce him.

And the reason why God acts like this? Because humans are 'mere' humans. We're something vastly more special than that....