Step #7 for Climbing Mt. Everest (a Steve Orr scripture reflection)

 

At the summit of Mt. Everest, the temperature never rises above freezing.  

Wind speeds in May are 20-35 mph, the temps range from 0° Fahrenheit to 2° below, and the precipitation at base camp is rain instead of the usual snow. Most ascents are planned for May to take advantage of the comparatively gentler, drier conditions. 

David Breashears planned to ascend Mt. Everest in May, 1996 to make an IMAX film. But, long before the ascent to the top of Mt. Everest; long before they assembled the climbing team; long before the film crew was selected; and long before the Sherpas were hired: 

David Breashears made a plan.

When the time finally did come for Breashears and crew to ascend Mt. Everest, he had what Jim Collins (of Good to Great fame) calls a "SMaC recipe" (i. e., a plan that's Specific, Methodical, and Consistent). It was filled with very practical steps to ensure a safe and successful climb, as well as a great film. Its purpose was to impose certainty on every aspect of the climb, to achieve assurance that every safety precaution was taken, to inspire confidence that they were going to make a great film about a great adventure, to ensure that absolutely nothing was left to chance.

Among the steps in the SMaC were things like (Step #3) Thread the camera with bare hands, no matter how cold, to ensure a perfect shot every time, and (Step #8) Always bring backups for critical gear and supplies: extra oxygen, extra crampons, extra mittens, and extra supplies. Be prepared to stay longer than planned. With that kind of specificity and forethought, you can be certain the other steps were just as meaningful.  

Which leads us to Step #7 of the Breashears SMaC: In selecting teammates, choose people to get stranded with.

Now, that's some forethought. 

The rest of the SMaC steps were particular to making the film and the Everest climb, but Step #7 can be applied anywhere. We don’t have to climb Mt. Everest to appreciate the wisdom in carefully choosing our companions, no matter what adventures we share. 

That's why this week's Philippians passage stands out for me. Paul calls us believers to be a community; to agree with each other; to put each other first; to truly love each other. Then, he ratchets up the stakes by giving us an example of what he means: Jesus choosing to give up his place in heaven so He could put us first. Paul wants us to be willing to let everything go —if that’s what it takes— to help each other; to be selfless, obedient, sacrificial. 

Paul's encouragements underscore, perfectly, why we should choose spiritual journey teammates we’re willing to be stranded with ... because until Jesus returns, that’s exactly where we are: stranded. 

So, yes, put Step #7 into action. But, more importantly, be that teammate they want to be stranded with.

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Different versions of this reflection appeared about this time in 2014 and 2017.

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READINGS FOR THE COMING WEEK

Proper 21 (26) (September 24, 2017)

Exodus 17:1-7

Psalm 78:1-4, 12-16

Ezekiel 18:1-4, 25-32

Psalm 25:1-9

Philippians 2:1-13

Matthew 21:23-32

READ/PRINT THESE SCRIPTURES AT: https://lectionary.library.vanderbilt.edu/texts.php?id=161

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We had a great time last Friday at our first ever Zoom Lectionary Breakfast! Join us on Zoom this week at 8:00am for an hour like no other: scripture, discussion, laughter. BYOB (Bring your own breakfast).

Please contact me at least one day early if you want to attend. I will get you the Zoom Link and let our Zoom GateKeeper know so you can be admitted.

Blessings,

Steve

The Reluctant Time Travelers (a Steve Orr scripture reflection)

The reluctant ones are my favorites. 

I am always captivated by the reluctant time-travelers.  I’m drawn to their stories. It’s Claire Randall in Outlander. It’s Billy Pilgrim in Slaughter-house Five. It’s Henry DeTamble in The Time Traveler’s Wife. It’s Dan Vasser in the short-lived (but much praised and much missed) TV show, Journeyman ... on and on. 

Sure, there are plenty of stories where the characters use technology or some kind of power to intentionally travel through time. And they are usually interesting. But the reluctant time travelers have no control over when they vanish from their present life, none over where and when they travel, none over how long they are gone, and none over when (or if) they ever return. Somehow, I find that more believable.  

Oh, and one other thing: none of them wants to go. 

I suppose there are folk who live for adventures packed with zero predictability. I’m just not one of them. Count me with the reluctant time travelers. Somebody wants me to go somewhere I don’t want to go and do something I don’t want to do: I hate that. I think we've all felt that way at one time or another. Maybe several times. 

Take Dan Vasser, for instance: he has no option. He has to go, no matter what. He could be sitting at his desk, or even at home with his toddler when, with almost no warning, he would be swept away into the past. 

The disorientation, alone, would be reason enough to not desire the experience. Add in that upon his return to the present  —also beyond his control—  he could not provide a credible excuse for his absence ... well, let's just say his personal relationships suffer. Whatever force jerked Dan from his life as a husband, father, and reporter, it seemed to have zero concern for Dan. And, of most importance, Dan never had a choice. 

That's the main way we differ from Dan: For most of us, living in the first world as we do, there is almost always a choice.

We can say “No.” 

You might think the Prophet Jonah was more like Dan than us, but that would be wrong. Not only did Jonah have free will; in this week’s scriptures he so strongly objected to what God had instructed him to do, he actually went in the opposite direction!

Jonah is told to go and preach in Nineveh, the world’s largest city at the time (and a very wicked place). Jonah resists. God insists. Jonah goes, but in the opposite direction. God prepares a "great fish" to swallow Jonah. Eventually, Jonah prays and (somewhat) repents. Upon his release from the fish, Jonah goes to Nineveh and preaches what God had instructed him to preach in the first place ... but he is not happy about it. 

The book of Jonah, though, is not really about Nineveh, nor about the sailors on the ship, and certainly not about the fish. The story is about Jonah's relationship with God. Don't think for a minute God had to send Jonah to Nineveh. He could have sent anyone. He chose Jonah for a reason. Jonah needed some lessons: about obedience, about God's priorities, about grace, about second chances.

And a lesson about God's sovereignty. 

Unlike our reluctant time-travelers, Jonah had  —and exercised—  free will. He chose to disobey God. And why? Because he didn't agree with God's willingness to redeem some wicked people.

God is sovereign. He can do as He wants ... and what He wants is to forgive people their sins. If we're not on board with that, we're on the wrong spiritual journey. 

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Compass photo: Adobe Spark Post

Nineveh photo: https://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-31941827

Different versions of this reflection appeared in September 2014 as A Whale of A Tale (and An Epilogue) and September 2017 as Journeyman. 

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READINGS FOR THE COMING WEEK

Proper 20 (25) (September 20, 2020) 

Exodus 16:2-15

Psalm 105:1-6, 37-45

Jonah 3:10-4:11

Psalm 145:1-8

Philippians 1:21-30

Matthew 20:1-16

LINK TO THESE SCRIPTURES - https://lectionary.library.vanderbilt.edu//texts.php?id=160

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We’re back! DaySpring’s Lectionary Breakfast have resumed on Friday mornings at 8:00am (Central Time Zone). Join us for scripture, discussion, prayer, and laughter. Please contact me at least one day early if you want to attend. I will get you the Zoom Link and let our Zoom GateKeeper know so you can be admitted.

Blessings,

Steve

A Blizzard to Remember (a Steve Orr scripture reflection)

To say the Blizzard of '78 was memorable is to seriously undersell it.

In early February 1978, the storm hit New England with little warning. In a matter of hours, it dumped two to four feet of snow on everything. The hurricane-force winds drove snowdrifts to unimaginable heights, completely covering automobiles. There are photos of people walking along the snow packed streets showing car roofs peeking through by their ankles. Many went over a week without power. Automobiles were abandoned; snow plows could not clear the roads until the cars were towed. Communities ran out of places to put the snow. Coastal flooding was particularly destructive. Damages, in today's dollars, mounted to over $2 Billion.

This was no mere inconvenience. It was devastating, cataclysmic.  

People died.

Is it any wonder New Englanders recall it so vividly, even more than four decades later?

The entire 18 winters I lived in the Boston area, I complained; the bone-chilling cold, the icy roadways, the clothes-destroying oily slush, unplowed streets and driveways, popsicle toes ... so many problems. And then, when I voiced my very legitimate woes, someone would, without fail, say: "What, this? This is nothing. You should have been here for the Blizzard of '78."

We remember the really big moments in our lives. That’s how you would think it would be with the Israelites based on this week's Exodus passages. An enormous blazing pillar of fire at night and a massive darkness-enshrouding cloud by day that confounded their enemies. Walking across a dry seabed while writhing walls of water towered on either side. The stunning destruction of their enemies when those watery walls crashed down on them. 

All by the hand of God.

You would think something like that would stick in a person's mind.

But time after time, when facing some subsequent dilemma, the children of Israel just ... drew a blank. Instead of recalling the amazing events of that long night and morning, they dissolved into complaints and rebellion whenever they felt their needs were not being met.

No matter how you dress that up, it comes down to lack of faith. No one had ever seen the kind of power God showed in rescuing the Israelites from the Egyptians. They even wrote a song about it. And, yet ...

This week’s scriptures are about remembrance, compassion, forgiveness, and faith. Read them. Meditate on them. And then the next time you're facing a challenge —even a really tough one— do what the Israelites often failed to do. Reflect for a moment and recall that there is nothing you cannot go through as long as God is with you.  

A little faith goes a long way.

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PHOTO: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OT0eX7FZXv4

A different version of this reflection appeared in September 2014 as The Blizzard of '78.

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READINGS FOR THE COMING WEEK

Proper 19 (24) (September 13, 2020)

https://lectionary.library.vanderbilt.edu//texts.php?id=159

Exodus 14:19-31

Psalm 114 or Exodus 15:1b-11, 20-21

Genesis 50:15-21

Psalm 103:(1-7), 8-13

Romans 14:1-12

Matthew 18:21-35

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Next week! September 18 is our launch date for DaySpring’s Lectionary Breakfast. We will gather (virtually) at 8:00am on Zoom (link coming next week).  We should be able to use any computer or smart phone with an internet connection. And, for those who might like to not be seen in the morning, you can turn off your camera and attend by voice, alone.

Can hardly wait!

Steve

P.S. Email me to let me know if you want to “attend.” I’ll alert our gatekeeper to let you in. 

Some Clever River Song (a Steve Orr scripture reflection)

That’s what I felt I needed: some really clever song about rivers. I wanted to focus on them in this week’s reflection. I thought it would be perfect if I could start out with a few lyrics or song stories about rivers. 

No such luck. 

So, I’m just going to tell you about my rivers. 

When two waters flow into the same space, they call it a confluence. There is such a confluence that frames two sides of my hometown: the Ohio River and the Tennessee River blend together there. It's a very picturesque image ... when described in words. 

In truth, it is two very different energy flows slamming into each other; distinct entities trying to overpower each other, neither giving way. You can actually see the two rivers fighting to remain distinct. They even look different. One is smoother, darker, richer in color. The second is choppier, roiling almost, and much lighter hued.

In my hometown, we are aware of a particular truth that changes how we view that river battle: there is something much larger just over the horizon. Only about a hour farther on, these two battling waters smack into the Mississippi River. 

And that's the end of the battle. 

We say things like, "They join the Mississippi." But, in truth, those two rivers don't so much join as they completely disappear. There is no more talk of which river. It's the "Mighty Mississippi," so big it absorbs all other waters connecting to it, taking them and all they represent down to the sea.

A more perfect metaphor cannot be found for the two main Jewish groups around the time of Jesus and his early followers. The Pharisees believed in an afterlife, and believed each person must scrupulously keep the laws and commandments of God in order to ensure actually getting to that afterlife. The Sadducees rejected the idea of an afterlife, believing each person must do good in this life, because this life is all there is. The two groups were always in conflict, always battling for which was right, which would transcend the other.

We see it in this week's Romans passage. The two factions are like my two hometown rivers; and they were using the laws and the commandments in their battle to control people's lives. Then Jesus came and taught a much larger, all consuming truth: Love is the fulfillment of all those commandments and laws.

Suddenly, just like my hometown rivers, all those laws and Commandments  —and all the conflicts based on them—  are swallowed up in something larger, so much larger it's almost too much to grasp.

Love is a mighty river, the only river that matters. The battles that raged before we joined love are as meaningless as the fighting of my two hometown rivers. Love is the flow that will take us all in and carry us to the sea ... an ocean, really, of living water. 

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A different version of this reflection appeared in September 2017 as Two Rivers Meet in My Hometown. 

Here’s a nice song about a river: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fztz_Vr9uHk

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READINGS FOR THE COMING WEEK

Proper 18 (23) (September 6, 2020)

https://lectionary.library.vanderbilt.edu//texts.php?id=158

Exodus 12:1-14

Psalm 149

Ezekiel 33:7-11

Psalm 119:33-40

Romans 13:8-14

Matthew 18:15-20

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Almost there. Watch for an announcement concerning DaySpring’s fall reboot of Lectionary Breakfast. We plan to, once again, gather at 8:00 on Friday mornings to share our thoughts. Meeting on Zoom will be different, but it will also be good.

Soon,

Steve