A Cup of Ambition (a Steve Orr Bible reflection)

Every workday of my childhood, my mother started her day with a cup of ambition. It was Maxwell House. Then she put on her armor and went off to do battle. 

The battle: her attempt to make some kind of progress toward management positions. In those days, such jobs were rare for women. 

Her armor: hair, make-up, and a professional wardrobe paired with her brain, personality, and drive. 

Having grown up with little, my mother was motivated from a very young age to have something of her own, to gather enough resources to run her own life. That meant having a well-paying job, a near impossibility in those days. But she persevered. A part of that was diligence, hard work, good work; but a big part of that, as anyone in management can tell you, is looking the part. 

My mother was focused. She had a plan. And she used everything at her disposal to pursue her objective. She even went so far as to rest her head each night on a satin pillow because it preserved her armor for the coming day. 

But here's the thing: Though she achieved some successes in her career, she never believed she had "arrived," never came to a point where she felt it was time to "rest on her laurels." She continually pursued an objective of ever-improving accomplishment, and she never stopped moving in the direction of her goal.

In this week's Philippians passage, Paul sets the same example for us in the pursuit of our relationship with the Lord. We must press on. We must not assume we have "arrived." Sure, our "battle armor" differs from my mother’s. But like her, we are to bring every bit of ourselves.

We are expected to actively pursue spiritual maturity, pressing on until the day we are finally told, "Well done, good and faithful servant."

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GRAPHIC:

https://www.pinterest.com/pin/559924166167297532/

Dolly Parton sings Working 9 to 5:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lq1JD-bcGTo

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Join us Friday morning for DaySpring’s Lectionary Breakfast. We share a meal and the pleasure of talking about how the words of the Bible actually work in our real lives. We'll be on Zoom** and at Our Breakfast Place at 8:00. One Friday closer to Easter! 

Blessings,

Steve

**Zoom link (Zoom allows you to mute the camera and the microphone if you don’t wish to be seen or heard.)

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/89947678414

SCRIPTURES FOR SUNDAY AND THE COMING WEEK

Read them here: 

https://lectionary.library.vanderbilt.edu/texts/?y=384&z=l&d=29

Print them here:

https://lectionary.library.vanderbilt.edu/wp-content/uploads/pdfs/Cx_FifthSundayinLent.pdf

Isaiah 43:16-21

Psalm 126

Philippians 3:4b-14

John 12:1-8

Fifth Sunday in Lent (April 6, 2025)

Prepping for the Bad Times? (a Steve Orr Bible reflection)

Except for some narrow aisles, every cubic inch of my neighbor's garage was packed. The floor-to-ceiling shelves held barrels, bottles, boxes, and cans of grains, fruits, water, vitamins, first aid kits, over-the-counter medicines, camp stoves, cots, toilet paper, and every other kind of thing you might need.

When I asked my neighbor—a serious guy, a scientist in fact—what this was all about, he handed me a well-thumbed paperback copy of Howard Ruff's How to Prosper in the Coming Bad Years. 

The book was filled with lots of convincing information supporting Mr. Ruff's contention that we were on the cusp of global meltdown. Not the end of civilization, exactly, but close enough that we would all want to have our garages filled with survival necessities—at least until order was restored.

The year was 1982.

As you no doubt have noticed, we're still here. Sure, there were some bad years. Those were followed by some good years. And those were followed by some bad ones. And then more good ones. Our local, state, national, and global economies have been up and they've been down, but never entirely out. Now, I'm not downplaying the very real possibility of economic bad times. I, too, believe in being prepared. I just have a somewhat different definition of "prepared" than my neighbor did.

But he did get something right.

My neighbor was employing the "Joseph Model" of preparedness: store up during the fat years because the lean years are coming. It's the model we use when we add to our savings accounts, when we invest some of our paychecks so we can retire someday, when we lay in a supply of tissues in preparation for allergy season. When you've got it, save some. It worked for Joseph and it will work for anyone who can do the same.

Elsewhere in scripture, we learn that for about four decades God provided the daily needs of the Israelites while He forced them to wander in the wilderness. Manna was the central nutrient. They arose early each morning, five days a week, and gathered the coming day's bread. Each day’s manna had to be eaten that same day. On the sixth day, they received a double portion so they could prepare the Sabbath meals before sundown. 

Then, one day, it came to a stop.

In this week's scripture from the book of Joshua, we learn that "The manna ceased on the day they ate the produce of the land, and the Israelites no longer had manna; they ate the crops of the land of Canaan that year." On the very day they no longer had need of it, God's provision of manna ended. But don't misunderstand this scripture: God's provision did not end, just the provision of manna. When God brought them into the abundant harvest awaiting them in the Promised Land, there was no longer a need for manna.

My neighbor was not wrong to stockpile in his attempt to ensure the safety and security of his family. His actions did not indicate a lack of faith. Out of his abundance, he set aside what he thought would be needed. And even though society did not come apart at the seams, his storehouse may have supported his family through any number of other crises. Based on the information he had available, he was being prudent. Joseph would approve.

God provided the manna to the Israelites in the wilderness, and God provided the abundance of the Promised Land. We don't always need a miracle. Usually, we just need to recognize that God is providing and not get too hung up on the provision itself. And if in abundant times we set aside some of the abundance to get ready for leaner times—well, that's in the Bible, too.

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PHOTO: Steve Orr

Download CDCs Zombie Apocalypse Guidelines:

https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/6023

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We have abundance every Friday morning at DaySpring’s Lectionary Breakfast. Join us on Zoom** and at Our Breakfast Place. Starting at 8:00, we spend an hour enjoying food, fellowship, the Bible, and—quite often—an overabundance of laughter.

No zombies expected.

Blessings,

Steve

**Zoom link (Zoom allows you to mute the camera and the microphone if you don’t wish to be seen or heard.)

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/89947678414

SCRIPTURES FOR SUNDAY AND THE COMING WEEK

Read them here: 

https://lectionary.library.vanderbilt.edu/texts/?y=384&z=l&d=28

Print them here:

https://lectionary.library.vanderbilt.edu/wp-content/uploads/pdfs/Cx_FourthSundayinLent.pdf

Joshua 5:9-12

Psalm 32

2 Corinthians 5:16-21

Luke 15:1-3, 11b-32

Fourth Sunday in Lent (March 30, 2025)

Hemingway’s Paris Feast (a Steve Orr Bible reflection)

The film Midnight in Paris made me consider a visit to 1920s France. 

Owen Wilson stars as a modern man unhappy with the way his life is turning out. Then one midnight in Paris, he finds what may make him happy: He travels back in time to the 1920s. There he enjoys the company of such luminaries as Pablo Picasso, Henri Matisse, Ernest Hemingway, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Gertrude Stein, James Joyce, Ezra Pound, and many more creatives of “The Lost Generation.”

How might I discover what it would really be like to do that: to live, walk, eat in that seemingly magical time when the writers and artists we celebrate were all together in one place? 

The answer: Hemingway wrote it all down, filling notebooks with his thoughts on the places, the people, and the events of his time in Paris. Sure, he lived in near poverty, but he knew the people whose ideas and artistic expressions changed the world. He later organized those notebooks into a book that his wife named A Moveable Feast. The title comes from a comment Hemingway made to a friend in 1950: "If you are lucky enough to have lived in Paris as a young man, then wherever you go for the rest of your life, it stays with you, for Paris is a movable feast."

Ultimately, though, that feast left an aftertaste of bitterness and disappointment. Those Lost Generation icons immersed themselves in that moveable feast, only to learn that for some places, “There is no there there.” 

This week's scriptures are about a different kind of moveable feast. Phrases like “delight yourselves in rich food” (Isaiah 55:2) and “My soul is satisfied as with a rich feast” (Psalms 63:5) capture the reality of eating the spiritual food God has prepared for us. We are urged to remember their true source when we ingest that "same spiritual food" and that "same spiritual drink" as the Israelites in the wilderness (1st Corinthians 10:3-4).

We may not be able to travel back to the movable feast of 1920s Paris. In contrast, we are urged to come to the feast prepared for us by God, a feast that moves with us through our lives. 

We can expect to be richly fed. 

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PHOTO FROM THE PARIS TOURIST OFFICE: 

https://parisjetaime.com/eng/

How to experience 1920s Paris, today:

https://www.unearthwomen.com/how-to-experience-1920s-paris-on-your-next-trip/

“The Lost Generation and the Writers Who Described Their World”— A good article: 

https://www.thoughtco.com/the-lost-generation-4159302

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Join our Friday morning feast at DaySpring’s Lectionary Breakfast. We meet on Zoom** and in person at Our Breakfast Place, starting at 8:00 for an hour like no other. We feast on food, we feast on God's word, and we feast on fellowship. And when we leave, parts of those feasts move with us, out into the day, the week, and the lives of those we meet.

Blessings,

Steve

**Zoom link (Zoom allows you to mute the camera and the microphone if you don’t wish to be seen or heard.)

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/89947678414

SCRIPTURES FOR SUNDAY AND THE COMING WEEK

Read them here: 

https://lectionary.library.vanderbilt.edu/texts/?y=384&z=l&d=27

Print them here:

https://lectionary.library.vanderbilt.edu/wp-content/uploads/pdfs/Cx_ThirdSundayinLent.pdf

Isaiah 55:1-9

Psalm 63:1-8

1 Corinthians 10:1-13

Luke 13:1-9

Third Sunday in Lent (March 23, 2025)

A Memphis Psalm (a Steve Orr Bible reflection)

Marc Cohn flew to Memphis, Tennessee, to make a connection. He thought he wanted to connect with what many call “the home of the blues.” But he found so much more. 

It’s likely you’ve sung or hummed along to his catchy hit song “Walking In Memphis.” And just as likely: You don’t know all the lyrics. Sure, most of us can belt out the chorus—it’s in the title—and maybe something about “the pouring rain.”

Perhaps, between not knowing the lyrics and discovering the song is about a blues pilgrimage to Memphis, we can be forgiven for not hearing Marc sing:

They've got gospel in the air.

It turns out Marc was also on a spiritual journey while walking in Memphis. He realized there was more to the place than just its music, emphasizing how a pilgrim would be welcomed “When you haven't got a prayer.”

“But, boy, you've got a prayer in Memphis.”

What came next was equal parts exhilarating and sad. Marc incorporated something into the lyrics that actually happened to him while visiting the city. One night at the famed blues joint Hollywood Cafe, he heard well-known pianist and gospel singer Muriel Wilkins perform—as she did every Friday night for many years. Marc was asked if he would perform a duet with her. What musician could pass that up?

And I sang with all my might.

She said

“Tell me are you a Christian child?”

And I said, “Ma’am, I am tonight.”

That’s about the last we hear of his spiritual journey: his one-night claim to a relationship with Jesus. 

Music is powerful. It pulls us, drives us, fills us in ways nothing else does. Can it be any wonder that the gospel message found its way into music? And when the Blues meets Gospel? Magnetic! 

All of this makes me wonder if our Memphis walker experienced something akin to David in this week’s Psalm 27. In the midst of all the worldly matters crowding in on him, David could be forgiven if he thought, “I haven’t got a prayer.” But instead, he seems to shout out “I will sing and make melody to the LORD!” He knows that music is a great way to celebrate his relationship to God, especially when life is handing him the “blues.” He takes courage knowing he can rely on his steadfast God.

Marc finished the song by walking, walking, walking in Memphis, endlessly wondering: “Do I really feel the way I feel?” Perhaps he had glimpsed what David calls “the goodness of the LORD in the land of the living.” All I know for certain is this: the duet they sang that night?

Amazing Grace.

_________________________

PHOTO: “Rainy Night On Beale Street” by Steve Orr

Here’s Marc Cohn’s song, with lyrics: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_2t8oVH3qao

A great story about Memphis, Muriel, Marc, The Hollywood Cafe, and how he came to write the song): 

https://www.songwritingmagazine.co.uk/songs/walking-in-memphis-marc-cohn 

Just for fun: the blues scene from “Adventures in Babysitting (“Nobody gets out of this bar without singing the blues!”) 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=552PLnE61TM

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There is no Lectionary Breakfast this Friday. It’s Spring Break in Texas, y’all! See you in a week. 

Blessings,

Steve

SCRIPTURES FOR SUNDAY AND THE COMING WEEK

Read them here: 

https://lectionary.library.vanderbilt.edu/texts/?y=384&z=l&d=26

Print them here:

https://lectionary.library.vanderbilt.edu/wp-content/uploads/pdfs/Cx_SecondSundayinLent.pdf

Genesis 15:1-12, 17-18

Psalm 27

Philippians 3:17-4:1

Luke 13:31-35 or Luke 9:28-36, (37-43a)

Second Sunday in Lent (March 16, 2025)

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Know Your Why (a Steve Orr Bible reflection)

In the original Karate Kid movie (1984), Mr. Miyagi saved high school student Daniel from a savage beating. The older man dispatched the bullies using Karate. Daniel begged to learn it so that he could protect himself. Mr. Miyagi agreed.

He directed Daniel to perform various menial tasks, including waxing Mr. Miyagi’s car. He insisted Daniel apply the wax by rotating his right hand in a clockwise circle. At the same time, he had to remove the wax by rotating his left hand counterclockwise. All of this while Mr. Miyagi chanted, over and over, “Wax on. Wax off. Wax on. Wax off.”

Daniel soon balked, feeling the older man was taking advantage of him, using him to get some chores done. Mr. Miyagi then revealed that all the supposed menial tasks were actually practice for effective Karate moves. Once he understood, Daniel dedicated himself to perfecting the moves. 

Daniel’s frustration with Mr. Miyagi grew from performing the “what” and the “how” without knowing the “why.” Once he understood the why, Daniel was quite willing to proceed. 

Whats, hows, and whys are at the heart of this week’s Luke passage. There, Satan tempted Jesus three times: once with sustenance, once with power, and once with personal value. All three temptations were whats or hows. Jesus needed to experience everything just as we do—the whats and the hows of life here. Jesus resisted Satan’s temptations, rebuffing Satan’s attempts to entrap him. But do we know the means of His victory?

Jesus never forgot why He was here. That clear understanding drove Him all through His life and ministry. The whats and the hows were not any easier for Jesus than for us. But knowing the why provided the drive to accomplish the mission. In the wilderness, Satan always offered a what or how temptation. Jesus always countered with a why response. Our why drives our behavior. Jesus knew His why. That’s how He could resist Satan. 

We can grow tired of the tasks God has assigned us. Maybe we think they are beneath our skill sets, or maybe they’re not aligned with our “calling.” Take heart. There is a plan. And if we stick with Him, we will eventually understand that He has been developing us through our experiences—as menial or frustrating as they may sometimes seem.

Wax on. Wax off.

_________________________

PHOTO (and a dandy little story of Simoniz, the car wax that made history): 

https://www.simoniz.com/about/company-history/

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We enter the season of Lent preparing for some time of personal reflection. Where do we stand with God? Are we faithful? Or have we sidelined ourselves from the conflict? Is there something of which we need to repent? 

The next six weeks are especially significant in our journey with Jesus through this life. Spend the Friday mornings with us at DaySpring’s Lectionary Breakfast. You'll be glad of the fellowship and time in the scriptures. We gather at 8:00 on Zoom** and in person at Our Breakfast Place for an hour like no other.

Blessings,

Steve

**Zoom link (Zoom allows you to mute the camera and the microphone if you don’t wish to be seen or heard.)

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/89947678414

SCRIPTURES FOR SUNDAY AND THE COMING WEEK

Read them here:

https://lectionary.library.vanderbilt.edu/texts/?y=384&z=l&d=25

Print them here:

https://lectionary.library.vanderbilt.edu/wp-content/uploads/pdfs/Cx_FirstSundayinLent.pdf

Deuteronomy 26:1-11

Psalm 91:1-2, 9-16

Romans 10:8b-13

Luke 4:1-13

First Sunday in Lent (March 9, 2025)

 

Shining Like the Sun (a Steve Orr Bible reflection)

Stephen King's publisher lobbied long and hard for King to not even write The Shining, worried he would get typed as a horror writer. The book went on to be King's first hardcover bestseller. 

There's some irony for you.

Then came the movie. The Stanley Kubrick film, generally considered one of the greatest horror films of all time, diverged significantly from King's novel. The author was quite vocal about his disappointment. The irony here is that the popularity of the movie drove book sales through the roof.  

People were puzzled about the title—even after reading the book or seeing the movie. Where did King get the idea to call it The Shining? He wouldn’t say. In fact, it wasn't until 11 years after its publication that King finally explained. The title came from John Lennon’s song, “Instant Karma!” In it, Lennon suggests that, “like the moon and the stars and the sun,” we "all shine on."

It seems "shining" has often been pretty controversial. It’s the kind of situation that might cause you to take a step back—maybe more than one step. 

Shining is a big part of this week’s scriptures. In the Exodus passage, when Moses came down from his mountaintop meeting with God, his face was positively glowing—really glowing. Moses was so bright, the people were afraid. He had to keep his face covered with a veil until the glow faded away. If we saw someone like that today, no doubt we would be frightened, too. 

In the Luke passage, Jesus took his inner circle up the mountain where He was transfigured. He too was left glowing after encountering God there. I wonder how long that glow lasted? Scripture doesn't tell us. We know one thing, though—they didn't come down from the mountain until the next day.

Both "shinings" show up in the Corinthians passage. Paul compares the two and tells us we can let go of that old, fading shine of the Law of Moses. He wants us to know that, since Jesus has “removed the veil,” we no longer need some intermediary to trek up the mountain on our behalf. We can now meet God face to face. But you need to be aware, it’s likely to leave a glow, a shining you do not want to avoid. You want people to see you with that shine. It's God's light pouring through you.

Shine on. 

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PHOTO: “Lakeside Sunrise” by Steve Orr

Curious? Here’s John Lennon singing “Instant Karma!” It’s not for everyone. Maybe just John Lennon fans. Still, Stephen King liked it:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zqgTSk9Aq50

Just for fun, here’s Colbie Caillat singing “Brighter Than the Sun”:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MYkudx096Pg

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Not all of us are morning people, bright and shining when we first face the day. That's what breakfast is for. And coffee. Join us for DaySpring’s Lectionary Breakfast on Friday morning at 8:00. We gather for a great hour of relaxed fellowship and scripture on Zoom** and in-person at Our Breakfast Place. 

Blessings,

Steve

 

**Zoom link (Zoom allows you to mute the camera and the microphone if you don’t wish to be seen or heard.)

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/89947678414

SCRIPTURES FOR SUNDAY AND THE COMING WEEK

Read them here:

https://lectionary.library.vanderbilt.edu/texts/?y=384&z=e&d=23

Print them here:

https://lectionary.library.vanderbilt.edu/wp-content/uploads/pdfs/Cx_TransfigurationSunday.pdf

Exodus 34:29-35

Psalm 99

2 Corinthians 3:12-4:2

Luke 9:28-36, (37-43a)

Transfiguration Sunday (March 2, 2025)