Who’s Gonna Walk You Through the Dark Side of the Morning? (a Steve Orr scripture reflection)

Relationships can be hard.

But do they have to be?

Have you heard the Selena Gomez single, It Ain’t Me? It’s a catchy tune, one you just might want to set on repeat for a while. If you do listen to it, take a few minutes to meditate on the lyrics.** I expect something, there, will ring true, especially if you’ve ever had hard times in your love life.

She sings of a past love, remembering some of the times they enjoyed being together. But she also laments they drifted apart, mostly because of the other party’s bad behavior. In the chorus, she asks:

Who's gonna walk you through the dark side of the morning?
Who's gonna rock you when the sun won't let you sleep?
Who's waking up to drive you home when you're drunk and all alone?
Who's gonna walk you through the dark side of the morning?

You get the sense she did those things, at least for a while; got out of her empty bed to drive her love home from a night of debauchery, helped with the hangover, provided support through the dark times.

But then, she answers those questions: It ain’t me.

The questions are rhetorical. She’s already moved past the point of no return. She’s not going to do any of those things, anymore. She’s not coming back. She’s had enough.

It’s over.

But make no mistake: the song is about fidelity ... or, at least, the desire for it. As is the book of Hosea, despite how it may look otherwise in this week’s scripture. At God’s instruction, Hosea marries a person who seems unsuited for a sustained relationship. They form a life together, have children together. But, his spouse keeps cheating on him. And the children are not his.

The longer you stay in a relationship, the greater the likelihood the two of you are going to face difficulties. There are no two people who are alike: that, alone, guarantees conflicts. But, it’s at a whole different level when a spouse continues to looks elsewhere for intimacy.

So, what holds them together?

This is the question we need to answer about God and us. In Hosea, his marital relationship serves as an illustration of how God sees the chosen people; God loves them, and demonstrates that love every day. But the chosen people keep looking to other gods, false gods. They are serially unfaithful.

The amazing thing, here, is that God forgives their infidelity. In fact, God proclaims, ... in the place where it was said to them, "You are not my people," it shall be said to them, "Children of the living God.”

He wants them back.

God knows we stray. But, despite our infidelity to God, God remains faithful to us. Sure, there will be some rocky times. There will be those times when, by our pursuit of others to fill the place of God, we separate ourselves from God. But, God wants us to return. Even at our most remote, God loves us and remains faithful.

Who’s gonna walk you through the dark side of the morning?

You know.


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PHOTO: Steve Orr

** You can listen to “It Ain’t Me”, here. Just press SKIP AD when it appears on the screen: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j6sSQq7a_Po&app=desktop

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READINGS FOR THE COMING WEEK
Proper 12 (17) (July 28, 2019)
https://lectionary.library.vanderbilt.edu//texts.php?id=272

Hosea 1:2-10
Psalm 85
Genesis 18:20-32
Psalm 138
Colossians 2:6-15, (16-19)
Luke 11:1-13

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Will you be with us Friday morning at DaySpring’s Lectionary Breakfast? We read the Bible, discuss how it works in our real lives. Plus, we find time for a meal, some fellowship, a prayer, and, perhaps surprisingly, quite a bit of laughter.

Join us at 8:00 at Waco’s “Egg and I” restaurant. We’re usually in the function room (along the outside to a separate entry near the back), but ask if you don’t find us

It’s a great way to start the weekend.

Blessings,
Steve

If I Ever Wrote That Novel About Lazarus (a Steve Orr scripture reflection)

If I were to write a novel based on the Bible, my focus would be the Bethany siblings: Martha, Lazarus, and Mary. The title? BETHANY

My idea is to conflate four different Bible stories, to make one character out of four. I would combine Simon the Leper, Simon the Pharisee, Lazarus of Bethany (the resurrected brother of Mary & Martha), and Lazarus the Leper in the parable.

How interesting would it be if this Simon Lazarus was from a wealthy family (olive groves) and then, through “prodigal” living, contracted some skin disease (Leprosy was a term applied to several bad skin conditions)?

Because Leprosy was considered communicable though touch, Simon Lazarus would be ostracized by his family and by the entire community. He would sit outside the gates of his own family’s estate, begging for alms (and wishing he could return to his former life).

At some point in the story, Simon Lazarus would be cured of his disease by Jesus. That cure would lead to a conversion experience and to an ongoing friendship with Jesus ... but much damage would already have been done by his previous profligate life, and not just to his health.

His younger sister, Mary, had followed his example and become involved in similar wild living and dissolution. His elderly parents, orthodox Jewish believers, blamed Simon Lazarus. Already broken-hearted by Simon Lazarus’ rejection of all they believed, Mary’s poor life choices break their health. In time, their grief leads first one and then the other to their deaths.

The cured and converted Simon Lazarus is eventually welcomed back into his home, but now only he and older sister Martha constitute the family.

Eventually, over the years of his ministry, Jesus would visit the home of Simon Lazarus multiple times. On one occasion, a woman comes in and anoints Jesus’ head. On another, the same penitent woman enters and weeps on Jesus’ feet before anointing them with perfume and wiping them with her hair.

This woman would be Mary, the younger sister of Lazarus. Having lived a dissolute life, she has been drawn to Jesus by his teachings and his obvious love of sinners. He would have formed a personal relationship with her, just as he did with other “tax collectors and sinners.” She would even attend some of those early gatherings where Jesus dined with some of them. In other words: her own story of being drawn to Jesus would be told, completely separate from that of Simon Lazarus.

She would be so changed by her lifestyle (and the passage of years) that Simon Lazarus would not recognize her when she first appeared to anoint Jesus. It would only be after her conversion that Lazarus would realize she is his baby sister, the one he was not allowed to see all that time he was ostracized.

And what about Martha?

Martha stayed true to her family’s beliefs. Martha stayed and kept the home, nursing her parents in their old age. Martha watched her siblings waste their inheritance and their lives. And after her parents’ deaths, Martha became the matriarch. Maybe the years were not so many, but they were heavy with import. Much of significance had happened ... much that might not be forgivable.

In my novel, this is the Martha we would encounter in this week’s scripture from Luke; the one who stayed, the one who held it all together, the one who was, as Jesus described her, “worried and distracted by many things.”

Let’s remember this: Jesus knew the depths of those He encountered. When he spoke these words to Martha, he knew where Mary needed to be ... and he believed that, in that moment and in her future, that is where Martha needed to be, as well. His words were not an indictment of Martha, or of her desire to maintain order and decorum in her home.

Martha needed Jesus just as much as her siblings ... but not for the same reasons. Martha needed to hear those words from Jesus. They were for her. Let’s not make the same mistake many have made over the years. This is not, and never was: Mary good, Martha bad.

Jesus was issuing an invitation to Martha. It’s the same one He speaks to us: you can set down your heavy load. You can rest in Jesus. You can take a risk and allow Jesus to gently remove your armor. You are safe with Jesus.

You are, finally ... really ... home.


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READINGS FOR THE COMING WEEK
Proper 11 (16) (July 21, 2019)
https://lectionary.library.vanderbilt.edu//texts.php?id=271

Amos 8:1-12
Psalm 52
Genesis 18:1-10a
Psalm 15
Colossians 1:15-28
Luke 10:38-42

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Friday morning will be another amazing gathering of folk at DaySpring’s Lectionary Breakfast. When we gather at 8:00 at the “Egg and I” restaurant, we share an hour where, together, we encounter God. It’s food, fellowship, Bible discussion, and, surprising to some, joy and laughter.

Join us.

Blessings,
Steve

They Call It the Rollins Revolution (a Steve Orr scripture reflection)

When Rachel Rollins ran for the District Attorney of Suffolk County, Massachusetts, she pledged to dismiss most “low-level” cases rather than prosecute them. By that, she meant to drop or not pursue most nonviolent crimes. She even published a list of 15 such crimes that, in her words, were “most commonly driven by poverty, substance abuse, or other social problems.” To her, this was just taking a “more holistic” approach to enforcing the law; considering “not just the victim, but the defendant and the community,” as well.

Now, six months into her term, the Boston Globe has conducted an investigation, chronicling the impacts of her approach in a well written article. I won’t attempt to repeat their excellent work; rather, I commend it to you. **

As you might expect, this unusual approach has brought her a great deal of scrutiny ... and not a few detractors. Criminal defense attorneys praise her efforts. That’s not surprising. It’s the police officers who enforce the laws and the judges who determine the outcome of criminal cases that most object to her approach. The police intend to continue arresting law breakers, regardless of what the DA’s office does, but they don’t appreciate that their hard work may be for nought.

The judges are, maybe, the most unhappy. They point out that this new approach prevents them from even seeing defendants in need of such things as, say, drug rehabilitation ... because they often never appear before the judge in the first place. The judges feel they are precluded from sentencing them to the needed interventions.

The Globe article noted that past DAs operated in a similar manner, eventually dismissing over 60% of the same kinds of cases ... they just didn’t advertise it. What makes Rollins different is that she was quite open about her plans.

One other thing, though.

Rachel Rollins is the first woman of color to serve as Suffolk County District Attorney. Research indicates that, in the past, under previous DAs, people of color were “three to four times more likely to be charged with those same 15 offenses.”

Is this a good approach? I have no idea. It’s certainly a complex situation. Only time will truly tell if society is better served this way. What stands out to me, and what I find thought-provoking, is her focus on all of the persons involved, not just the victim.

And with that in mind, I note there is a theme of justice and mercy running through this week’s scriptures. In the book of Amos, God condemns the nation’s leaders for using the law to ensure the poor and downtrodden remain poor and downtrodden. They cheated their poor and powerless in the marketplace and in the courtroom.

In Psalm 82, God takes the judges to task for judging unjustly, for showing partiality to the wicked. God demanded they “Give justice to the weak and the orphan; maintain the right of the lowly and the destitute. Rescue the weak and the needy; deliver them from the hand of the wicked."

In Psalm 25, the psalmist acknowledges his lawlessness and then begs for God’s mercy, something for which he hopes but does not claim to deserve. In Luke, Jesus, speaking of the mercy shown by the hated Samaritan says, “Go and do likewise.”

What does it all mean for us? Clearly, there is a place for mercy in our dealings with others, to show to others the same mercy we want for ourselves. But, society cannot allow criminals to do as they wish, especially if their actions will harm others. If unchecked, where would that lead?

We are going to disagree on this kind of endeavor. Some of us will see it from one perspective and some of us from a diametrically opposite position. And some of us will view it from some third, hybrid point. But there is, I believe one course of action which we can all take together.

In the letter to the Colossians, the Apostle Paul declares he had not ceased praying for a group of people he had likely never laid eyes on. He did so because he believed they were precious to Jesus. We could imitate that. At a minimum, we could do likewise ... pray for DA Rollins, her staff, the police, the accused, the victims, the judges, and the community.

Now that would be a revolution.

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** Globe article: https://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/2019/07/06/stopping-injustice-putting-public-risk-suffolk-rachael-rollins-tactics-spur-pushback/IFC6Rp4tVHiVhOf2t97bFI/story.html?outputType=amp


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READINGS FOR THE COMING WEEK
Proper 10 (15) (July 14, 2019)
https://lectionary.library.vanderbilt.edu//texts.php?id=270

Amos 7:7-17
Psalm 82
Deuteronomy 30:9-14
Psalm 25:1-10
Colossians 1:1-14
Luke 10:25-37
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Friday mornings are special at DaySpring’s Lectionary Breakfast. Yes, we eat. And it’s good. But we also have a prayer, and we read selected scriptures. And then we talk about them.

Meet with us at 8:00 at the Waco “Egg and I” restaurant. If you haven’t been, you can’t imagine how satisfying an experience that all is. What an hour.

Blessings,
Steve