{"id":4607,"date":"2025-07-19T13:09:52","date_gmt":"2025-07-19T13:09:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.stbartshhk.com\/?p=4607"},"modified":"2025-07-19T13:33:47","modified_gmt":"2025-07-19T13:33:47","slug":"distraction-and-devotion","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.stbartshhk.com\/?p=4607","title":{"rendered":"Distraction and Devotion"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><!--StartFragment --><\/p>\n<p>In our Gospel readings this week, Jesus visits the home of two sisters, Martha and Mary. Martha busies herself with hospitality, preparing and serving, while Mary chooses to sit at Jesus\u2019 feet, listening to His teaching.<\/p>\n<p>Though her service is well-intentioned, Martha becomes overwhelmed and frustrated, even asking Jesus to tell Mary to help her. \u00a0Mary prioritizes spiritual nourishment, choosing to be fully present with Jesus. What does Jesus say about the situation?\u00a0 He gently corrects Martha, saying she is \u201cworried and troubled about many things,\u201d but that \u201conly one thing is needed.\u201d Mary has chosen \u201cthe better part,\u201d which will not be taken from her.<\/p>\n<p>This passage invites us to consider our own priorities. Are we caught up in the busyness of serving, or are we making space to simply be with Christ? It\u2019s not a dismissal of service, but a reminder that being with Jesus is the better choice to meet our deepest needs.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Join with us on Sunday, July 20 as we walk with Jesus and reflect on his teachings.\u00a0 <\/strong><strong>We invite you to Come and See! Worship begins at 10 am. You can participate in worship via Facebook and YouTube as well as Zoom Meeting ID 848 8876 5860<br \/>\nPasscode: 543400<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.stbartshhk.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/At-the-feet-of-Jesus-1000x559-1.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\" wp-image-4608 aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/www.stbartshhk.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/At-the-feet-of-Jesus-1000x559-1-300x168.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"605\" height=\"339\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.stbartshhk.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/At-the-feet-of-Jesus-1000x559-1-300x168.png 300w, https:\/\/www.stbartshhk.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/At-the-feet-of-Jesus-1000x559-1-768x429.png 768w, https:\/\/www.stbartshhk.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/At-the-feet-of-Jesus-1000x559-1.png 1000w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 605px) 100vw, 605px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><!--EndFragment --><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In our Gospel readings this week, Jesus visits the home of two sisters, Martha and Mary. Martha busies herself with hospitality, preparing and serving, while Mary chooses to sit at Jesus\u2019 feet, listening to His teaching. Though her service is &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.stbartshhk.com\/?p=4607\">Continued<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4609,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4607","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-save-the-date"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.stbartshhk.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4607","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.stbartshhk.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.stbartshhk.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.stbartshhk.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.stbartshhk.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4607"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.stbartshhk.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4607\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4610,"href":"https:\/\/www.stbartshhk.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4607\/revisions\/4610"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.stbartshhk.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/4609"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.stbartshhk.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4607"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.stbartshhk.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4607"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.stbartshhk.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4607"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}