“Are There Any Nominations From the Floor?” (a Steve Orr reflection for Palm Sunday)

I was watching it all slip away—and I hated it. 

In the fall of the 7th grade, I ran for my homeroom’s student council representative. I lost. I lost again in the 8th. And the 9th. And the 10th. The 11th grade, though, was a very special year for me. Oh, I still lost my run for representative, and to the same guy who  always won: Bobby King (not his real name).  

 

Still, something new happened that school year. That spring, I became a viable candidate for Student Council president because Bobby King was not allowed to run. The faculty and the principal decided he was over-committed. Since he was unwilling to give up anything, they denied his request to run for president. Finally, I felt, I was going to get mine. I had scoped the only other person allowed to run and, even though it would be challenging, I felt I could beat him. I was finally going to get elected, and not only that, elected to the highest office. I felt excited, happy—assured.

 

Election Day finally came. The polls would open immediately following the candidate speeches in the auditorium. If I had had any concern, it vanished after we finished our speeches to the student body. The other candidate spoke first. I spoke second. Based on the applause, I clearly had the upper hand. 

 

Then, the principal asked if there were any nominations from the floor. 

 

For the first time anyone could remember, someone was nominated from the floor. A guy popped out from the side stage, stepped to the podium, and uttered the very words I feared: “I nominate Bobby King!” For his part, Bobby was seated in the very last row, the very highest point on the floor of the auditorium. He stood and slowly walked down the sloping aisle toward the stage. As he passed each row of students, they rose to their feet, wildly cheering and applauding. By the time he mounted the stage, it was obvious to everyone that he would be the winner.

 

I was crushed—and I was angry. Everything I had worked for had been stolen from me, and not just for that election, but for all the years I had been trying. With each rising row of students, shouting their accolades and praise for their chosen leader, my envy and jealousy rose. And rose. And rose. His triumphal procession to the front infuriated me. I was forced to just watch as it all fell apart before my eyes. More than anything else in the world, I wished him gone.

 

That right there? That is what the religious and political leaders of Israel felt when they watched Jesus descend from the Mount of Olives in a triumphal procession toward Jerusalem. They felt it all belonged to them, and they could not abide the thought someone else would take their place, that someone else would have all that power. They wanted Jesus gone, and they set in motion a plan to make that happen. 

 

We see it all in this week's Matthew passage. Not pretty then, not pretty when I was in high school, and not pretty now. Do we, like the leaders of Israel, want to keep hold of the power? Are we trying, even now, to push Jesus from the lordship of our lives?

Or, do we embrace “the stone that the builders rejected” as the cornerstone of our lives? 

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PHOTO: The author, circa 1968

BONUS: For the full story of Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem, first read the prophecy in Zechariah 9:9-17. Then read all three of the Gospels that report it: Matthew 21:5ff, Luke 19:28ff, and John 12:12ff.

 

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Join us at 8:00 Friday on Zoom** and at Our Breakfast Place for DaySpring’s Lectionary Breakfast. We'll be feasting, getting our hearts and minds prepared for Maundy Thursday, Good Friday and all that leads up to Easter. There’s a great breakfast menu, and the spiritual food is the very best.

 

There will be NO nominations from the floor.

 

Blessings,

Steve

 

 

 **Contact me for the Zoom link

NOTE: Zoom allows you to mute the camera and the microphone if you don’t wish to be seen or heard.

 

SCRIPTURES FOR SUNDAY AND THE COMING WEEK

Find them here:

https://lectionary.library.vanderbilt.edu/texts.php?id=29

 

Print them here:

https://lectionary.library.vanderbilt.edu/pdf//Ax_LiturgyofthePalms.pdf

 

Liturgy of the Palms (April 2, 2023)

Psalm 118:1-2, 19-29

Matthew 21:1-11

The Biggest Monster of All (a Steve Orr scripture reflection)

When I was a pre-teen, kids my age often assembled plastic models from kits: model cars, ships, airplanes, jets—even the occasional model rocket. As for me, I saved my few dollars for something truly special: I built models of monsters. 

 

The Aurora Plastics Company had signed a deal with Universal Studios to create model kits of some of Universal’s most famous movie monsters. My first model was the Wolf Man. By the end of my tween years, I had also painted and assembled the Phantom of the Opera, the Creature from the Black Lagoon, Dracula, the Mummy, and, of course, the one that started it all: Frankenstein. 

 

I can’t imagine Mary Shelley envisioning such a future for her fictional creation. When she conceived Dr. Frankenstein’s monster, it was on a dare: a competition among soon-to-be famous writers to see who could dream up the scariest tale. The results were all quite interesting. It was Mary’s tale of science gone wrong, though, that galvanized the public and created the most famous monster of all. 

 

The re-animation of the dead has been on people's minds ever since people started dying—but the power to do so has never been ours. When Shelley suggested that electricity was the way to do it, she was just reflecting the cutting-edge science of her day—an idea that led to today’s heart defibrillators. 

Still, in the nonfiction world, electricity can only do so much. There remains a point beyond which people do not return. That point was long past when Jesus finally came to Bethany. In this week's John passage, Lazarus had already been in the tomb four days. Not even modern medicine could have brought him back. 

But Jesus could—and did. 

Shelley’s monster was a complete fabrication, just like my plastic ones. But not all monsters are made of words or plastic. Some are quite real. Take death, for example. We fear it. For most of us, it’s the biggest monster of all. There is one, though, for whom a monster, even death, holds no fear. He lives to inhabit both the means and the ultimate method of our escape from all monsters, famous or otherwise. 

This week’s scriptures all address resurrection and redemption. The two are inextricably tied together. Every redemption story is a Jesus story and every resurrection is a Jesus resurrection. Jesus is redemption and resurrection; neither exists outside of His person. 

 

Like Ezekiel’s valley of bones and four-days-dead Lazarus, only the power of God can infuse us with the “breath of life.” Jesus is not just alive: Jesus is life.  

 

No monster can prevail. 

 

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PHOTO:

https://basementofthebizarre.com/2021/11/01/the-basement-toy-box-the-aurora-monster-model-kits-gone-but-certainly-not-forgotten/

Info about the documentary “The Aurora Monsters: The Model Craze that Gripped the World”

https://m.imdb.com/title/tt1773715/?ref_=nv_sr_srsg_0

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Life moves pretty fast. Pause for an hour: Join us Friday morning for DaySpring’s Lectionary Breakfast. We've been meeting in the back room at Our Breakfast Place and on Zoom.** The fun starts at 8:00 and is supposed to stop at 9:00 ... and sometimes it does. 

 

Food, fun, fellowship, prayer, scripture, and the free flow of ideas. What an hour!

 

Full of life. 

 

Blessings,

Steve 

 

 **Contact me for the Zoom link

NOTE: Zoom allows you to mute the camera and the microphone if you don’t wish to be seen or heard.

 

SCRIPTURES FOR SUNDAY AND THE COMING WEEK

Find them here:

https://lectionary.library.vanderbilt.edu/texts.php?id=28

 

Print them here:

https://lectionary.library.vanderbilt.edu/pdf//Ax_FifthSundayinLent.pdf

 

Ezekiel 37:1-14

Psalm 130

Romans 8:6-11

John 11:1-45

Fifth Sunday in Lent (March 26, 2023)

Y’all Go Ahead On (a Steve Orr scripture reflection)

Let me start by saying: It all came from a place of love. 

 

There we were, all standing around the dining table, ready to eat. Before us was a table laden with all manner of aromatic foods. There was roast beef with potatoes and carrots, fried chicken, baked ham, chicken-fried steak, black-eyed peas, macaroni and cheese, green beans with salt pork, mashed potatoes, creamed corn, fruit salad, Aunt Erma’s chocolate sheet cake (half with nuts, half without), chocolate cream pie, fresh blackberries, lemon bars, snickerdoodles, cherry cheese pie, banana bread, and peanut butter Rice Crispy bars. 

 

And we couldn’t eat any of it. 

 

No, it wasn’t Thanksgiving or Easter or Christmas or any other holiday. It was just Sunday lunch at Ma’s. As the family matriarch, she would, from time to time, invite all of her grandchildren over. It made for a very crowded table at Sunday lunch. 

 

That didn’t matter to Ma. This was her opportunity to do the thing she loved most: make each of her grandchildren feel loved and special. And Ma’s love language was food. Whenever a grandchild came for a meal, Ma always made their favorite food. She never forgot what food each one loved and she always served it—even when all of them were gathered. 

 

As you might expect, preparing and cooking all of those different foods for the same meal could challenge even the most experienced chef. And getting it all to the table, hot, was its own kind of special miracle. But, for the most part, Ma pulled it off. Entree after entree, side dish after side dish, dessert after dessert, Ma got it all to the table in time for us to sit down together and enjoy ourselves. 

 

With one exception. 

 

After we were called in to lunch, and stood around the table staring at all that great variety of food, we would hear Ma call out from the kitchen, “Y’all go ahead on! I’m just going to wait for these rolls to come out of the oven.”

 

I thought of this oft-repeated scenario when I read this week’s scripture from 1 Samuel. It’s the story of Samuel’s visit to Bethlehem.

 

He was God’s chosen messenger and he had come to Bethlehem on a secret mission. Israel was to have a new king—a person to replace the current king. Samuel had come to anoint that future king, and he did so under the cover of making a sacrifice to God. Jesse and family were invited to join in. Only Samuel knew that God would choose one of Jesse’s sons to be that new king. 

Everyone remained standing as long as he remained standing, which Samuel did as Jesse brought each of his sons before him, one at a time. None of them were God’s choice for king. Then, upon learning that David, the seventh and youngest, was still in the field watching over the flock, Samuel said, “Send and bring him; for we will not sit down until he comes here.”

It was like our dilemma at Ma’s Sunday lunches. What to do? We were there because Ma invited us. She was due our respect because of who she was. We absolutely were not going to “go ahead on.” Even though someone allows you to be disrespectful, it doesn’t mean you should act that way. And so, nobody sat down until Ma joined us, fresh rolls in hand. 

No doubt, many wished Samuel had said something like “Y’all go ahead on.” But even if he had, I doubt many would have taken him up on the offer. As Israel’s prophet (and final Judge), Samuel was a man to be respected—and feared. Until he concluded the business for which he had come—God’s business—nobody sat down.

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PHOTO: Collection of Pattie Orr

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I hope you can join us Friday morning at DaySpring’s Lectionary Breakfast: food, fellowship, prayer, scripture, and "a robust exchange of ideas." Continuing at Our Breakfast Place (and on Zoom**), we usually get going around 8:00-ish and find it hard to leave by 9:00. It's the laughter. I blame the laughter. Otherwise, we would get out on time.

 

Oh, sure, someone's in charge, but only God is on the throne.

 

Blessings,

Steve

 

 **Contact me for the Zoom link

NOTE: Zoom allows you to mute the camera and the microphone if you don’t wish to be seen or heard.

 

SCRIPTURES FOR SUNDAY AND THE COMING WEEK

Find them here:

https://lectionary.library.vanderbilt.edu/texts.php?id=27

 

Print them here:

https://lectionary.library.vanderbilt.edu/pdf//Ax_FourthSundayinLent.pdf

 

1 Samuel 16:1-13

Psalm 23

Ephesians 5:8-14

John 9:1-41

Fourth Sunday in Lent (March 19, 2023)

 

Faith and a Fast Moving Bull (a Steve Orr scripture reflection)

That bull was moving on!

It happened about the time everyone was headed back from lunch. The bull, lighting out for the territory ahead, was giving it his all as he sprinted down a very busy street. Behind him, lasso and whip at the ready, raced a man in a red pickup truck—followed by four police cars.  

 

It was a sight.

 

Drivers pulled to the side as that parade headed toward the roundabout. Folks finishing their burgers and fries at Health Camp were entranced. But an even more interesting part of the story was about to come.  

 

That's when two "animal control cowboys" rode up. Their job was to corner the fella and wrangle him into a trailer. They made it look easy. His flirt with freedom at an end, the bull was returned to his owner, only a little worse for the wear. The whole spectacle was a thing of a few minutes, but it gave us all something to talk about for a long time after. 

 

Later, when it was written up in the newspaper, a police sergeant was quoted as saying, “The good thing about living in Texas is that it’s not too long after you call a cowboy that you get one coming to you.”

 

That brings us to this week's scriptures from Exodus and Psalms, passages that focus on a time when the children of Israel tested God. At this point in the story, they had experienced the wonder and power of God again and again…and again: the plagues on Egypt, the miracle of the Passover; the pillar of cloud and the pillar of flame; the dry crossing at the Red Sea and the destruction of the Egyptian army; undrinkable water cured; free meat every evening to feast on and manna every morning.  

 

And yet, after all of that, when they grew thirsty, they insulted God by complaining as if they had never witnessed a single miracle. They had seen His power—lived it—but acted as if none of it had ever occurred.

 

The police in my community called on animal control cowboys when faced with the need to round up an errant bull. They made that call because they knew those cowboys were available and ready to accept the challenge. There was every confidence that a cowboy would soon be coming to do what needed to be done.

 

That's because we live in "cowboy country." 

We know they exist, that they’re capable, and that we can depend on them. We’ve seen their abilities and have no concern about them handling such things. Our experience with cowboys has led to our faith in them to address our cowboy needs.

 

The Israelites lived in "God Country." They had been living there for some time. Yet, when the need arose, they couldn't trust God for their need. We can extend a little grace to these folks. After all, they had recently come out of generations of enslavement. Trust can be a very difficult thing under such circumstances. 

 

Our circumstance is different…or is it? Some of us have trust issues, even with God. Maybe especially with God. 

 

If you have seen the power of God in your life, consider imitating our local bull chasers. Trust that when you need God's help, God already knows and has an answer on the way.

 

You have a cowboy coming to you.

 

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PHOTO (Waco Police Department and a story about that bull-on-the-run):

https://www.keranews.org/2014-03-19/officers-with-lassos-chase-an-angry-bull-through-the-streets-of-waco?_amp=true

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There is no Lectionary Breakfast this week. We’re all off somewhere on Spring Break. See you next week!

 

Blessings,

Steve 

 

 **Here’s the Zoom link:

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

NOTE: Zoom allows you to mute the camera and the microphone if you don’t wish to be seen or heard.

 

SCRIPTURES FOR SUNDAY AND THE COMING WEEK

Find them here:

https://lectionary.library.vanderbilt.edu/texts.php?id=26

 

Print them here:

https://lectionary.library.vanderbilt.edu/pdf//Ax_ThirdSundayinLent.pdf

 

Exodus 17:1-7

Psalm 95

Romans 5:1-11

John 4:5-42

Third Sunday in Lent (March 12, 2023)

 

Blowing In the Wind? (a Steve Orr scripture reflection)

Lately I’ve been hearing Queen songs in advertisements. I heard parts of “I Want to Break Free” behind a commercial for a cruise line. I also heard “Don’t Stop Me Now” in an ad touting the joys of a California vacation. (“Having a good time!”) I feel certain there are others. That kind of thing happens a lot with well known rock anthems. Hearing them reminded me of the fact that, while some songs remain popular for so long they end up in advertisements, many a song never makes it out of the recording studio. 

 

“Bohemian Rhapsody,” arguably the greatest achievement of rock group Queen, was almost killed before the public ever even heard of it. 

 

Record producers just could not wrap their heads around it. The song seemed to whirl about like one of its lyrics: “any way the wind blows.” Some sections seemed to be going somewhere, but never actually arrived. Some seemed to spring up completely out of context to what was happening around them. Plus, there were several interjections that didn't seem to relate to anything. 

 

And most unforgivable of all: It was six minutes long!

 

No one can tell you the meaning of “Bohemian Rhapsody.” Many have tried. But we’re missing an essential piece: the author’s explanation. As far as we know, Freddie Mercury, who died in 1991, never gave anyone a good explanation of its meaning—or even if it meant anything at all. 

 

What we do know: It was a piece of rock music intended to evoke a sense of opera—You try to condense an opera down to six minutes and see what you come up with. Despite going on to be recognized as one of the greatest pieces of rock music ever recorded, people are still confused by it to this day. 

 

Listen to it here: 

https://www.youtube.com/watchv=jFKBR1ggTMY

 

It is only through the lens of time that some coherent theme has emerged. When it was released in Iran in 2000, long after Freddie Mercury's death, the band told that audience the song was about a young man who accidentally killed someone, sold his soul to the Devil in a Faustian bargain, cried out to God for help, and was finally redeemed by way of intercession. 

 

So, “Bohemian Rhapsody” might—might—be a redemption story.

 

That same kind of confusion crops up in this week’s scripture from the Gospel of John. Nicodemus, a leader in Israel, sneaks out to meet with Jesus under the cover of darkness. He’s looking for some straight answers. And he gets them—sort of. They are straight answers. They’re just not answers Nicodemus understands. 

 

He wasn’t alone in his confusion. People were often confused by the words of Jesus, including those closest to Him. Some messages seemed to go in one direction, but never actually ended up where expected. Some of the things He said seemed to spring up completely out of context to what was happening around them. Sometimes, He said things that didn't seem to relate to anything.

 

And all, likely, for the same reason. 

 

It would be easy to scoff at their confusion, now, two millennia after Jesus walked the Earth. But how might it go if we tried to condense into a few words all the hope of heaven, the long-laid plans for human redemption, and the wisdom of using self-sacrifice to defeat an evil enemy?

 

See what I mean? Unenlightened people would likely be confused by what we said. 

 

So, what brings us that enlightenment? 

Jesus told Nicodemus how he (and we) would come to understand: the Holy Spirit. Like the wind, the Holy Spirit has no human restrictions, its beginnings and endings cannot be discerned. While, like the wind, we can’t control it, the Holy Spirit is essential to our understanding of Jesus, His message, and His actions. Without the Holy Spirit, the whole thing looks and sounds like foolishness. 

 

Without the Holy Spirit to guide us, our spiritual journey would take us—any way the wind blows. 

 

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PHOTO 

(Steve Orr, “Pacific, Mid-Ocean Moon”)

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Join us Friday morning for DaySpring’s Lectionary Breakfast at Our Breakfast Place and on Zoom.** We start at 8:00 and enjoy an hour of scripture, discussion, prayer, and whatever we order off the menu. Clarity is always sought (if not always achieved).

 

Blessings,

Steve 

 

 **Contact me for the Zoom link

NOTE: Zoom allows you to mute the camera and the microphone if you don’t wish to be seen or heard.

 

SCRIPTURES FOR SUNDAY AND THE COMING WEEK

Find them here:

https://lectionary.library.vanderbilt.edu/texts.php?id=25

 

Print them here:

https://lectionary.library.vanderbilt.edu/pdf//Ax_SecondSundayinLent.pdf

 

Genesis 12:1-4a

Psalm 121

Romans 4:1-5, 13-17

John 3:1-17 or Matthew 17:1-9

Second Sunday in Lent (March 5, 2023)

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