Thursday, July 17, 2025

Deep Inside Your Armor (a Steve Orr Bible reflection)

In a fictional story I’ve considered writing, the three Bethany siblings—Jesus’ friends Mary, Martha, and Lazarus—would be the children of well-off olive oil merchants. Lazarus would become the prodigal son from the parable. Mary would become the woman caught in adultery, as well as the sinful woman who anoints the feet of Jesus. My fictionalized Lazarus and Mary would, at some point, be restored and saved by Jesus. 

But what about Martha?


In my story, Martha is the good one, the responsible one. Martha remains true to her family’s beliefs. She stays and keeps the home, nurses her parents in their old age. Martha watches her siblings waste their inheritance and their lives. After her parents’ deaths, Martha becomes the family matriarch.

That is the Martha I would like us to encounter in this week’s Luke passage: the one who stayed, the one who held it all together. But also the one who Jesus described as “worried and distracted by many things.” 

It is not, and never was: Mary good, Martha bad. His words about worry and distraction were not an indictment of Martha, nor of her desire to maintain order and decorum in her home. Jesus knows the depths of the people He encounters. Martha needed Jesus just as much as her siblings—just not for the same reasons. When He spoke those words to Martha in real life, He knew that she, like Mary, needed to be sitting in His presence. 

His words to her were an invitation. 

It’s the same one He offers us: You can set down your heavy load of excessive worries and numerous distractions, the “armor” you use to cover the real you. You’re safe with Jesus. You can take the risk of allowing Him to gently remove that armor. 

You can rest in Him. 


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PHOTO: “A Knight in Malta” by Pattie Orr

BONUS MATERIAL 
Pause and listen to Twila Paris sing about the armor we wear: “The Warrior Is a Child” (with lyrics on the screen)


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Friday morning at 8:00 we will gather on Zoom** and at Our Breakfast Place for DaySpring’s Lectionary Breakfast. We share an hour of food, fellowship, Bible discussion, and—surprising to some—laughter and joy. Together, we encounter God. 

Blessings,

Steve

 

**Zoom link (Zoom allows you to mute the camera and the microphone if you don’t wish to be seen or heard.)

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



SCRIPTURES FOR SUNDAY AND THE COMING WEEK
https://lectionary.library.vanderbilt.edu/wp-content/uploads/pdfs/Cx_Proper11.pdf

Amos 8:1-12
Psalm 52
Genesis 18:1-10a
Psalm 15
Colossians 1:15-28
Luke 10:38-42
Proper 11 (16) (July 20, 2025)

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Tuesday, July 8, 2025

We Can’t Run on Empty (a Steve Orr Bible reflection)

For a while, I was a bank examiner. It was a hard job. We worked day and night. Days, we were in banks examining them. Nights and weekends, we were analyzing data and writing reports. I saw little of my wife and baby. My chief memory from that period? Being exhausted. There never seemed to be even a moment to recharge.  

Sometimes, I would go over to a colleague’s apartment to collaborate on number-crunching and report prep. On those nights, he played a Jackson Browne album over and over. About once each hour, we would hear Jackson sing "Running on Empty." After a while, I knew all the lyrics and could sing along. Those lyrics perfectly matched my situation:


(Running on) RUNNING ON EMPTY!

(Running on) RUNNING BLIND!

(Running on) running into the sun

But I'm running behind


No vehicle runs on empty. Doesn’t matter whether it’s gasoline, diesel, electricity, or any other fuel. There’s got to be something in “the tank” for it to work as intended. I guess we could get out and push. But how long could we keep that up?


I recalled this season of my life as I read this week's Luke passage. I've known so many people who became exhausted trying to fulfill their desire to “Love your neighbor as yourself.”


Spiritually speaking, these followers of Jesus are running on empty. I'm not sure where we got the idea that we can perform the so-called “second greatest commandment” on our own. Maybe from some misapplication of the concept of "sacrificial love." Definitely from some misunderstanding of scripture. 


Wherever we got that idea, it's wrong.


We are spiritual vessels. Unless we allow ourselves to be filled with the love, vitality, talents, and gifts of God, we are not going to be able to love our neighbors as ourselves. If we can accept God's filling of our vessel, we will have the resources to love our neighbor without bankrupting our spirits. In other words: God loves us, why can't we love ourselves? 


Seriously, dare we think less of ourselves than does God?


When I was a bank examiner, I soon came to the understanding that the people above me were also running on empty. I exited that career path in less than a year. I found a job that let me spend my evenings and weekends with my family, meeting my vital needs, and recharging my batteries for the next workday. 


Granted, we cannot always arrange our work for the optimum rest and recreation needed. But that is no reason to approach our spiritual journey the wrong way. We can (and must) set aside time with God, allow ourselves to accept that God loves us, to rest in that love, and to love ourselves as God loves us.


Something must be in the vessel or there will be nothing to pour out. Then, and only then, can we successfully love our neighbors as ourselvesOnly then can we truly live the second greatest commandment.


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PHOTO: Steve Orr


Jackson Browne singing “Running On Empty (with lyrics): 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vq25ZJwZJzU


Devotions for people running on empty): 

https://www.faithfoxvalley.org/running-on-empty



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Join us Friday for a great hour of fellowship at DaySpring’s Lectionary Breakfast. We meet at 8:00 on Zoom** and at Our Breakfast Place. It is a time of scripture reading, discussion, and laughter—part of the way God fills our vessels for the week ahead.


Blessings,

Steve

 

**Zoom link (Zoom allows you to mute the camera and the microphone if you don’t wish to be seen or heard.)

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



SCRIPTURES FOR SUNDAY AND THE COMING WEEK
Read them here: 

Print them here:

Amos 7:7-17

Psalm 82

Deuteronomy 30:9-14

Psalm 25:1-10

Colossians 1:1-14

Luke 10:25-37

Proper 10 (15) (July 13, 2025)


Wednesday, July 2, 2025

Accepting the Gift of Pain (a Steve Orr Bible reflection)

It’s possible you may never have heard of Hansen's Disease. It doesn’t get a lot of media attention. And if it does ring a bell, it might be more like: "Wasn't that on an episode of The X-Files?”


You may, however, know Hansen's by its other name: leprosy.


It's likely you've also never heard of Dr. Paul Brand, the Leonardo da Vinci of the Hansen's Disease universe. It was Dr. Brand who first raised the idea that the observable symptoms of the disease—skin lesions, blindness, crippled limbs, disfigured faces—might be a result of nerve damage caused by the disease rather than directly by the disease. He began documenting lack of pain along with the other symptoms. In time, he drew the wider medical community to an inescapable conclusion: The lack of pain in these people's lives was causing them harm. 


Wait. Wouldn't the absence of pain be a blessing, especially for those suffering from such a terrible disease?


People with Hansen's didn't notice when a rock or limb scratched them, and so made no attempt to protect themselves from infection. Simple abrasions led to serious problems. A twisted ankle went unnoticed, was never immobilized, leading to permanent dislocation. The absence of pain set up a serious domino effect leading to loss: of limbs, facial features, vision.

 

This week's 2 Kings passage says leprosy afflicted Naaman, the commander of the Aramean King's army. Whatever he had, it was serious. Aram’s King sent 750 pounds of silver and 150 pounds of gold with Naaman to Israel in hopes it would purchase a cure for his condition—that's over $3 million US dollars!


If Naaman did have Hansen's, then his likely symptoms included white, scaly skin and one other very notable symptom: lack of protective sensation. In other words, a significantly diminished sensitivity to pain. Hansen's is a progressive disease. Absent treatment, every symptom worsens over time. While at first glance an insensitivity to pain might look like a good thing, especially for a warrior like Naaman, there is a real downside.

 

Naaman, at first throwing a fit because the prophet Elisha failed to make a big enough deal over him, was eventually convinced by those who cared about him to comply with the prophet's simple instructions. After bathing seven times in the Jordan River—as instructed—Naaman was cured of his leprosy. His skin was fully restored.


On the other hand, along with his skin, he may also have regained his pain. 

 

Pain is a gift that protects us in a world filled with hidden dangers. Pain draws our attention, early on, to injuries that could deepen and cause us great harm if not timely addressed. 

 

Pain is a gift to the spirit as well as the body. It is that quality of life we often wish was not present, but which is really a gift from a loving God. 

 

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BONUS MATERIAL:


Dr. Brand wrote several books, three of which were written with Philip Yancey, including Pain: The Gift Nobody Wants. In addition, Dr. Brand is also one of the featured subjects of Yancey's book, Soul Survivor


Types of Nerve Damage Due to Leprosy (and graphic):

https://www.happiesthealth.com/articles/neurology/types-of-nerve-damage

 

Controversy: There's this big controversy over whether what the Bible calls "leprosy" is always the same as Hansen's. I certainly don't know. But archeological discoveries and subsequent DNA testing have established that Hansen's was present in Asia, Europe, and even the Americas over 5,000 years ago. 

https://www.eurasiareview.com/01072025-a-rare-form-of-leprosy-existed-in-the-americas-for-thousands-of-years/

 

 

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There will not be a DaySpring Lectionary Breakfast this week. Enjoy the holiday weekend and join us next week. Below is the list of the coming week’s Lectionary scriptures. 

 

Blessings,

Steve

 

SCRIPTURES FOR SUNDAY AND THE COMING WEEK

Read them here: 

https://lectionary.library.vanderbilt.edu/texts/?z=p&d=63&y=384

 

Print them here:

https://lectionary.library.vanderbilt.edu/wp-content/uploads/pdfs/Cx_Proper9.pdf

 

2 Kings 5:1-14

Psalm 30

Isaiah 66:10-14

Galatians 6:(1-6), 7-16

Psalm 66:1-9  

Luke 10:1-11, 16-20

Proper 9 (14) (July 6, 2025)