Catch God on the Whisper (a Lectionary reflection by Steve Orr)

There's an old joke that keeps hanging around about a man stranded in a flood. Some of the details have changed over the decades, but it is essentially this:

As flood waters began to rise around a man's house, people in a row boat came by and implored the homeowner to climb in. The man refused, saying, "I've prayed about this. God will save me." The row boat moved on. Next, as the rising waters forced the man to the second story of his home, people in a motorboat came by and implored the man to climb in. The man refused, repeating, "I've prayed about this. God will save me." The motorboat moved on. As the flood waters continued their inexorable rise, the man was forced out onto his roof. While he clung to the chimney, a helicopter came and hovered above the man. They implored him to climb up the rope ladder to safety. As he had done twice before, the man again said, "I've prayed about this. God will save me." The helicopter moved on. Soon the flood overtook the man and swept him to his death.

Upon arriving in Heaven, the man demanded an audience with God. At the meeting, the man, recounting that he had placed his faith in God to save him, demanded to know why God allowed him to drown. In response, God said, "I sent you a rowboat, a motorboat, and helicopter. What more did you expect?"

-=*=- -=*=- -=*=- -=*=- -=*=- -=*=- -=*=- -=*=- -=*=- -=*=- -=*=- -=*=- -=*=- -=*=- -=*=- -=*=- -=*=-

To be fair, any of us, weighed down with real problems, can lose the ability to recognize when actual help has arrived. It's almost endemic to the human condition. Consider the man in this week's Lectionary selection from John 5. Having been disabled for decades, he has joined many others who await a miraculous healing in the waters of Bethesda. Notice how he never answers when Jesus asks, "Do you want to be made well?" (John 5:6 NRSV). The guy can only talk about missed opportunities, not having anyone to help him with his problem, and how others seem to get all the breaks. The solution to his problem (Jesus) is right in front of him, but he is looking beyond, to something more complicated, perhaps something grander. In this case, Jesus took immediate action, not waiting for the man's perceptions to catch up.

But what do we do in our lives?

Some years ago, Oprah was invited to make the Commencement address at Wellesley College. In part, she recounted the experience of the Prophet Elijah on the Mountain of the Lord (1Kings 19). At first, there is a wind so strong it breaks the rocks on the mountainside (think hurricane). But God is not in the mighty wind. Next, there is an devastating earthquake that shakes the mountain. But God is not in the earthquake. This is followed by a powerful fire that sweeps across the mountainside. But God is not in the fire. Finally, Elijah hears "a still, small voice," a whisper. And there, in the whisper, is God.

Oprah went on to exhort the graduates to not wait for, nor expect, the grand spectacles, but rather, "to catch God on the whisper."

I thought it was a lovely way to launch those young women out onto the rest of their lives. And I think it's excellent advice for any of us. Why should we need the miraculous? Why not just tune our senses to perceive God's original, and simplest, approach? We don't need to skip the rowboat, the motorboat, and the helicopter while awaiting something grander. There is no need to look beyond what may appear to be just ordinary circumstance. Consider what (and who) is right in front you.

Catch God on the whisper.
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READINGS FOR THE COMING WEEK
Sixth Sunday of Easter (May 1, 2016)
http://lectionary.library.vanderbilt.edu/

First reading
Acts 16:9-15
Psalm
Psalm 67
Second reading
Revelation 21:10, 22-22:5
Gospel
John 14:23-29 or John 5:1-9

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Please join us for Lectionary Breakfast Friday morning. We meet at 8:00 at the Waco "Egg and I" restaurant. The hour we meet includes breakfasts we order from the menu, scriptures we read aloud, and unfettered discussion. We say what we think and we grow from listening to each other. Nothing fancy.

We're all hoping to "catch God on the whisper."

Enjoy your week!
Steve

The Monster Words (a Lectionary reflection by Steve Orr)

"Monsters, stay out of this room!
You have no business here.
N0 monsters under the bed!
You can't fit under there.
No monsters hiding in the closet!
It's too small in there.
No monsters outside of the windows!
You can't hold on out there.
No vampires, no werewolves, no things that bite.
You have no business here.
Nothing will touch you, or hurt you, all this night.
You have no business here."

-------- Stephen King's Cujo


The "monster words" are what Vic (the father) chants at bedtime so Tad (his very young son) will stop worrying about the monsters he believes are in his closet. It's a loving thing for a father to do.

If he believes the evil is not real.

When Vic needs to go on a business trip, he writes the incantation down on a piece of paper so Donna (the mother) can read it to Tad while Vic is gone. Eventually, Tad begins carrying the folded piece of paper in his pocket. He touches it whenever he feels afraid. Doing that gives him a little relief.

Of course, being a Stephen King novel, Cujo delivers a lot for Tad to fear. And I don't think I'm giving anything away when I tell you that the "monster words" are not wholly successful as the talisman against evil Tad wants them to be.

The same is true for us.

In Jacqueline Bussie's book, Outlaw Christian: Finding Authentic Faith by Breaking the Rules, she plows right into our tendency to use our own "monster words" to shield us from the harsh realities of our lives. Sure, there are times of joy and wonderment. But there are also times when things are so bad we wish we could "explain away evil and suffering with a theo-magical slight of hand."

When faced with betrayal, suffering, fear, terror, and death (ours or anyone else's), we armor ourselves with the "marshmallow armor" of religious platitudes, pious clichés, scriptures taken out of context, misquoted and/or misapplied theology: our monster words. We draw temporary (and truly unsatisfactory) relief from just having them near; being able to speak them into any terrible event.

When asked for whom her book was written, Bussie said, "If you are a person who has ever loved someone, lost them, and then heard the hidden question why blacksmith your heart so hard it felt like your ears bled, this book was written with you at heart."

If you are struggling with such hard things, then you may find some (true) relief in knowing that others are, too. Whether we can admit it or not, we all struggle with realigning our old ways of thinking with the dynamic new ways we are called to by Jesus.

Witness the "circumcised believers" in this week's Lectionary selection from Acts. They cannot seem to move past the requirements of the Law. After Peter returns from preaching to and baptizing Cornelius and his household (none of whom were Jewish), these "circumcised believers" interrogate Peter, saying, "Why did you go to uncircumcised men and eat with them?!"

You can read the story, yourself, and you should. The point is well made by Peter, and it's one we need to roll forward into our own faith-walk: when God points us in another direction, we can faithfully move in that direction. We are not enslaved to the old ways just because they are the comfort zone. In fact, if there's an ultimate point to the Book of Acts, it is that God is doing something new, something true and authentic, something that does not hide from the bad parts of life.

In real life, we are rarely removed from the hard bits. We must go through them. We don't need "monster words" on which to rely. We have the Holy Spirit and the promise that, regardless of how bad it gets, God is in it with us.
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READINGS FOR THE COMING WEEK
Fifth Sunday of Easter (April 24, 2016)
First reading
Acts 11:1-18
Psalm
Psalm 148
Second reading
Revelation 21:1-6
Gospel
John 13:31-35
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Join us Friday mornings? We still meet at the Waco "Egg and I" restaurant. Lectionary Breakfast starts at 8:00 and is an hour when a lot of truth is spoken.

Enjoy the week!
Steve

"It's only a milkshake." (a Lectionary reflection by Steve Orr)

Some quotes become staples of life advice. For example, "Be the change you wish to see in the world" (Mahatma Gandhi), "Never let the fear of striking out keep you from playing the game" (Babe Ruth), and "Never pay full price for late pizza" (Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles).

Often, when someone speaks or writes a quote, the very words are noteworthy; they remain illuminated in the mind long after the moment when they were heard or read. But there's nothing special about the words in the title quote, above. Standing alone like that, there is no particular import, no life-changing impact, no world-enhancing philosophy in them. Milkshakes, for the most part, are not momentous. Most of the things people say in this life, even the quotable stuff, must be understood in a context. And that is the case with the milkshake quote.

Fans of the TV show, Mad Men, likely recognized it, immediately. In the scene, a young woman is sitting in a restaurant with a man and his three children. While roughhousing, one of the kids knocks over a milkshake which begins to rapidly spread across the table. Everyone at the table appears horrified and frightened ... except the young woman. She gathers some napkins and kindly says, "It's OK. It's only a milkshake." *

As the last syllable of "milkshake" is still wafting through the air, the faces of the man and his children undergo a startling transformation; horror and fright become stunned wonder and a kind of hope-filled awe.

All of this comes at a watershed moment in the series, one of those pivot points where, to understand the full impact of the words, the viewer must have seen all the story that has gone before. Even describing the scene cannot convey its full meaning. Without the preceding four seasons, the viewer cannot fully understand and appreciate the true value of the words the young woman speaks, nor why they make such a powerful impact on the man and his children.

That brings us to this week's Lectionary reading from the Gospel of John. When pressed by the leaders of the Jews to "...tell us plainly" whether he is the Messiah, Jesus responds, "I have told you, and you do not believe. The works that I do in my Father's name testify to me...." Jesus is telling them that he has been revealing himself for the entire three years of His ministry. No mere words, at this point, are going to convey the full and correct answer to their question. They have ignored all that has gone before, not understanding that He has been communicating with them through his actions and through his words; that, taken together, the two form the answer to their question.

Jesus could give them a direct answer. But like the milkshake quote, His words could not be understood without all that has gone before. What they would carry away from the conversation would be, at best, a superficial understanding. They wanted to segment Jesus, separate his words from his deeds, remove him from the context of His story, and then judge Him based on what they perceived as blasphemous statements.

Sometimes, a milkshake is just a milkshake. But sometimes, when it comes at the end of a long line of words and actions, it transforms into hope and wonder right before our eyes.

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READINGS FOR THE COMING WEEK
Fourth Sunday of Easter (April 17, 2016)
http://lectionary.library.vanderbilt.edu/

First reading
Acts 9:36-43
Psalm
Psalm 23
Second reading
Revelation 7:9-17
Gospel
John 10:22-30
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We're gathering Friday mornings at the Waco "Egg and I" restaurant for Lectionary Breakfast, which is just a fancy way of saying we're going to talk about the Bible while we eat breakfast. We start at 8:00, and we enjoy an hour of discussion about one or more of the week's Lectionary passages. And we laugh. A lot.

But if you want a milkshake, you'll have to bring your own.

Enjoy the week!
Steve
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* "It's OK. It's only a milkshake."
Character: Megan Calvet
Madmen
Season 4, Episode 13: "Tomorrowland"
First aired October 17, 2010