The So-Called Silver Rule (a Steve Orr Lectionary reflection)

There’s a story, a Talmudic story, about a rabbi who was challenged by a non-Jew. To be clear, this person was mocking the rabbi when he “pledged” to convert to Judaism if the rabbi could express the entire Torah while standing on one foot. You can see how mocking that is, right?

In response, the rabbi immediately stands on one foot, and says, “What is hateful to you, do not do to your neighbor.”

This is sometimes called “The Silver Rule.” I think any follower of Jesus can recognize that this is quite similar to “The Golden Rule” (“Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.”) In fact, I think this so-called “Silver Rule” may better capture the true spirit of the more famous one.

It certainly helps us understand the actual meaning. As hard as it may be to believe, some people end up doing bad things to others in the name of “The Golden Rule.” So, working out some explanation is worthwhile.

People often sum up the Hippocratic Oath as “First, do no harm ....” In reality, it’s quite a bit longer and much more complex. But, that short piece gets the gist of it right. But, even more importantly, it captures the true full meaning for medical practitioners. Nothing in the longer version transcends the doing of no harm.

I write this comparison of “rules” and true meanings because there may be a need to do so with this week’s passage from 2 Corinthians. The Apostle Paul is in the middle of asking the members of the church at Corinth to supply funds for the relief of other Jesus followers (in other places) who have a financial need.

I have often heard portions of this passage (and others) used as a way to guilt people into giving money to a church or ministry. They often leave out the explanation Paul supplies: “I do not mean there should be relief for others and pressure on you.”

He goes on to say he only wants them to give “out of their abundance” to those others who are in need, rather than put themselves in poverty to help others. He further explains that he would expect a reciprocal arrangement should they ever find themselves in need and wanting other churches to send money to them.

Maybe it’s a subtle point, but I just keep encountering people who think they must impoverish themselves or they can’t be “real” Christians. I feel it needs to be underscored.

There’s a saying I once heard from a Texan: “If all you can do is all you can do, then all you can do is enough.” God loves us and, for the most part, only asks of us what we can do. If we are stretched, it is only because we are capable of it.

Here’s my version of all this: “In doing your good, do no harm, even to yourself.” I think that sums it up nicely.

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Photo: http://www.mimlitschgray.com/following/mimlitschgray.com/melting-silver-2002-2008

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Readings for the coming week
Proper 8 (13) (July 1, 2018)
https://lectionary.library.vanderbilt.edu//

2Samuel 1:1, 17-27
Psalm 130
Lamentations 3:22-33
Psalm 30
2Corinthians 8:7-15
Mark 5:21-43

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Just a quick reminder that DaySpring’s Lectionary Breakfast meets Friday morning at 8:00 in the function room of the Waco “Egg and I” restaurant (entrance is down the outside and near the back of the building).

It’s a great hour of scripture, laughter, prayer, food, discussion, and fellowship.

Plenty of give and take.

Blessings,
Steve

Hawks Above the Frio (a Steve Orr Lectionary reflection)

The Frio River is cold ... really cold ... take-your-breath-away cold. The temperature of the Frio is counterintuitive. All about, the Texas heat is a hundred degrees and more, but the river remains shockingly cold.

We were spending the week at the Laity Lodge Family Camp, which sits right at the headwaters of the Frio. This is the location of the fabled “Blue Hole,” a place known for an icy plunge. All I had to do was just place the tip of my foot into that river to register its extreme cold temperature. No plunge necessary, thank you.

I write this about the Frio to highlight a kind of paradox. On the west side of those headwaters is a cliff that towers over the little river; its pocks, notches, and caves starkly etched by the morning sun, and all but invisible when the sun slips behind its edge at end of day. And it is that cliff which is the site of the paradox.

There are hawks above the Frio.

It you’ve ever watched hawks, you know they do a lot of gliding. They catch the lift of rising thermals. These warm thrusts of air allow them to gently spiral up, up, up ... until they finally tilt over and either glide or dive. Hawks are hunters. They repeat this process, with only a little change each time, to help them spot and then claim their prey. This is how they get their food.

Above the Frio, the hawks perform as expected. They corkscrew up alongside the face of that cliff, and then, when they reach the end of that thermal, they either glide along the cliff face in a long, slow decent, or they dive hard and fast toward their target. Eventually, as they near the bottom of their passage, those hawks catch another thermal and start a new ascent.

I sat and watched them do this for hours.

Oh, not all at once. That’s a cumulative number. There are some rockers which face the cliff and afford a perfect view of this beautiful dance. I love to sit there and just watch. But you can see this spectacle from almost anywhere in the central part of the camp. I sat one morning on the back porch of our casita and watched them glide across our length of the Frio as they swooped back toward the headwaters, searching for that next thermal.

The paradox, of course, is how there are thermals, at all.

The air above that river should not even be warm, much less hot enough to lift hawks above the lip of the cliff ... and yet, there they are. Somehow, God has contrived to place extreme Texas heat and extreme cold adjacent to one another and make them both do wonderful things. Neither appears limited by the other in any observable way.

God does some amazing things, and we can observe them —even participate in them— if we are open to what appear to be paradoxes. In this week’s Lectionary scriptures are some great examples of that. I love how the Psalmist in 138 praises God because "you increased my strength of soul," and how in 130 the Psalmist describes God's "great power to redeem." There's that stunning (and often skipped over) statement by Jesus in Mark 3:28 ("Truly I tell you, people will be forgiven for their sins and whatever blasphemies they utter").

I could spend hours reflecting on those passages. What is “strength of soul” and how is it increased? God knows. And then, of course, there is the great paradox of redemption: God redeems us even though we don’t deserve it. Why? God knows. And it pairs perfectly with the forgiveness of blasphemies ... not something we humans are very good about doing. Thank God for that forgiveness.

This brings to mind the 2 Corinthians passage: "Everything is for your sake, so that grace, as it extends to more and more people, may increase thanksgiving, to the glory of God." Do you see the formula in there? Expansion of Grace = Increase in Thanksgiving (to the glory of God). And, as each person receives that extension of grace, it doesn't result in only the addition of thanksgiving; rather, the thanksgiving increases exponentially. Like those hawks above the Frio, grace increases thanksgiving in ever-rising spirals. Mysterious. Beautiful. And God is glorified.

How? God knows.

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READINGS FOR THE COMING WEEK
Proper 5 (10) (June 10, 2018)

1 Samuel 8:4-11, (12-15), 16-20, (11:14-15)
Psalm 138
Genesis 3:8-15
Psalm 130
2 Corinthians 4:13-5:1
Mark 3:20-35
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DaySpring’s Lectionary Breakfast meets every Friday morning at 8:00. We gather at the Waco "Egg and I" for food, fellowship, Bible discussion, prayer, and laughter. All are welcome.

Blessings,
Steve

How Sharpening the Saw Saved Camelot (a Steve Orr Lectionary reflection)

At the rate we were going, we were not going to meet our deadline.

And we had to meet that deadline. If we didn’t get the sets built, the actors in our annual college musical were going to be singing Camelot tunes on an empty stage!

Looking across the stage, I could see a person using the radial saw to create wood pieces of the correct length and width. Closer to where I was wielding a hammer, there were some folks standing about (waiting for the wood to be sawn, I presumed). There were others preparing a solution to turn muslin into stage flats. And then there was my crew. We had finished assembling a few of the larger all-wood set pieces and platforms, and now had nothing to do until more wood arrived.

The bottle neck, as anyone could deduce, was that saw. The process was slow. With almost every piece, the crew person on the saw was having to stop and back out the blade because it was getting stuck part way through. More than a couple times, a piece had to be thrown out and started over because the cut wasn’t straight.

Into this situation stepped Mr. Starnes, one of our drama instructors and the Technical Director on this musical production. He took it all in with a long glance, and then he walked straight over to the person running the saw. From a distance, I saw them speaking for a few seconds, and then, together, they removed the saw blade and replaced it with another. Mr. Starnes then turned away and walked toward us. When he came near, I asked about what I had observed.

“We’ve used that blade too much,” he said. “It’s grown dull. I helped Jimmy put on a new, sharp blade. We’ll arrange to have the other one sharpened.”

It was as simple as that. In short order, the sawn wood production increased, pieces began to flow out to the various working groups, and we were soon all engaged ... turning wood into dreams.

I recalled that memory some years later when I first read Stephen Covey’s 7 Habits of Highly Effective People. There, nestled among some excellent habits, right at the end, was Habit 7: Sharpen the Saw. Habit 7 is about renewal, but not saw blades. It’s about renewing people in four dimensions: the physical, social/emotional, mental, and spiritual.

And if that rings a bell, it’s because it sounds a lot like something you may have come across from the Bible. In fact, many of Covey’s “habits” are remarkably similar to Biblical exhortations. Habit 7 aligns perfectly with this week’s passages on the Sabbath from the book of Deuteronomy and the gospel of Mark.

The Deuteronomy passage repeats one of the Ten Commandments; instructing God’s people to take a day of rest following every six of working. Take a minute to think about that: God thinks rest is so important ... it’s a commandment! Add to that what Jesus teaches in Mark —that God made the Sabbath for people, not people for the Sabbath— and you realize taking a Sabbath rest is not about following a rule that restricts activity and movement.

The Sabbath is truly about renewal. And if done properly, taking a Sabbath rest renews us in all four of those dimensions defined by Covey. It is not enough to just stop working so we can then replace it with some other frantic activity. We need real rest, real renewal, and taking a Sabbath rest gives us the opportunity “sharpen” those essential areas of our lives.

After all, as I learned all those years ago building sets for Camelot, you can’t really be productive with a dull saw.
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READINGS FOR THE COMING WEEK
Proper 4 (9) Second Sunday after Pentecost (June 3, 2018)
https://lectionary.library.vanderbilt.edu/texts.php?id=204

1 Samuel 3:1-10, (11-20)
Psalm 139:1-6, 13-18
Deuteronomy 5:12-15
Psalm 81:1-10
2 Corinthians 4:5-12
Mark 2:23-3:6
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DaySpring’s Lectionary Breakfast meets every Friday morning at 8:00. We gather at the Waco "Egg and I" for food, fellowship, Bible discussion, prayer, and laughter. All are welcome.

Blessings,
Steve