The following homily was given to Scouts gathered at the Chapel of the Twelve Apostles on the H. Roe Bartle Scout Reservation in Osceola, Missouri.
“Do a good turn daily” – that’s the lesser known “slogan” of the Boy Scouts. It goes back to the founding of the Boy Scout of America when one “unknown scout” did a simple “good turn” of helping the eventual founder of the BSA to find his way in a fog. It s seems so small. Yet, without this one good turn, the entire program that we love today may never have existed. Sometimes, taking care of just the little details is the most important thing. Little things sometimes leave big ripples through history.
“Be prepared” – the world-famous “motto” of the Boy Scouts. But… prepared for what? You don’t know. Now, in order to be prepared, sometimes new scouts (and leaders… especially leaders) think that this means you need to bring a lot of “stuff” when you go camping. But anyone can do that. The real test of a scout’s preparedness comes when you go backpacking. Now you have to make hard decisions about what is really necessary. What are you willing to carry on your back for over a week?
The scout slogan and motto come to mind when I look at today’s readings. In the first reading, Abraham does a simple “good turn” by being hospitable to some strangers. It turns out that he unknowingly was entertaining angels. The result is that God blesses him and from him the entire line of God’s chosen people descends. So much from such a small act, but that’s how it is with God. Like a good scout, we should not underestimate the power of doing little things well.
Finally, the motto “Be prepared” comes to mind when I read the Gospel. Like new scouts who really want to be prepared, Martha is trying to make sure that everything is properly prepared for Jesus. Being prepared is a good thing. Yet, Mary is more like the experienced scout. Jesus says that Martha is worried about “many things” while Mary has boiled it all down to the “one thing necessary.” As with backpacking, sometimes less is more. Being prepared is not about taking everything… it’s about taking the right things, like Mary.
So get out there and do those little things. Find the power in the scout slogan. And while you’re trying to fit everything into your life, don’t try to carry so much that you miss out on the most important things. God is the one thing necessary. Be prepared to leave a lot of stuff behind to follow him.