Hobbits and the Problem With Desire (a Steve Orr Bible reflection)

In J. R. R. Tolkien’s The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings trilogy, several characters fight over a magical ring that doesn’t belong to them. These include hobbits, elves, wizards, humans, and a very creepy being named Gollum. The ring was forged to give its possessor power over several other magical rings. 

The being wearing the One Ring could control those who wore the other rings. Very tempting—whether desired for good or for ill.

But it comes with a price—a stiff one.

Gollum is the only one who calls the ring "my precious," but all of the others act as if that is true for them, as well. They so badly want to possess it that few of them can see the danger lurking beneath that shiny surface.

I thought of that while reading this week's selection from Luke 12. Someone in the crowd shouts out to Jesus, “Teacher, tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me.” You're left to decide for yourself about the "shouter." Has he been cheated out of what is rightfully his? Is it that he believes it only "fair" that his brother share with him? Or does he know full well he is due nothing—and wants it anyway? 

There are a lot of problems with the man having demanded that Jesus intervene. The first is that he may see Jesus as just another scribe (lawyer) who should adjudicate disputes about property. Makes you wonder if he had listened to what Jesus had just been saying in the first 12 verses of the chapter. The best scenario—and it's not pretty—is that he recognizes the true power and authority of Jesus, and that he wants to use Jesus as a wedge or leverage in a family dispute. 

Think about that one for a while.

In his response to the man, Jesus elevates the issue to what really matters—and it's not who owns what in this life. In the parable that follows, Jesus makes it clear that our focus in this short life should be on our relationship with God, not on the level of abundance or scarcity we are experiencing at any given moment.

Why we desire what we desire is definitely worth taking time to consider. Luke Burgis, author of Wanting (The Power of Mimetic Desire in Everyday Life), reports strong evidence that imitating the desires of people we admire is a prime reason for our own desires. But that’s a longer discussion for another time. Regardless, it does leave the question: Is it okay to want things? The answer? Sure. It’s even okay to have things. Just don't let them rule you. As Jesus says later on in Chapter 12: “For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”

What then is the action we can take now? Scripture makes it clear: Store up your treasures in God. Nothing and no one is more precious.

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PHOTO (also, some thoughts on God, evil, and the One Ring of Middle Earth):

https://lorehaven.com/speculativefaith/evil-and-the-one-ring-to-rule-them-all/

Luke Burgis on why spirituality should have a much greater role in determining our desires:

https://pathlesspath.com/luke-burgis/

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We're getting together Friday morning at 8:00 for DaySpring’s Lectionary Breakfast. Join us on Zoom** or in person at Our Breakfast Place. Great food, great Bible discussions, and great fellowship. Plus, a surprising amount of laughter. 

Hobbits welcome (Bring my precious the Ring)

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

Find them here:

https://lectionary.library.vanderbilt.edu/texts/?y=384&z=p&d=67

Print them here:

https://lectionary.library.vanderbilt.edu/wp-content/uploads/pdfs/Cx_Proper13.pdf

Hosea 11:1-11

Psalm 107:1-9, 43

Ecclesiastes 1:2, 12-14; 2:18-23

Psalm 49:1-12

Colossians 3:1-11

Luke 12:13-21 (Best to read 12:1-34)

Proper 13 (18) (August 3, 2025)

In the Clearing Stands a Boxer (a Steve Orr Bible reflection)

I wasn’t supposed to read it. 

I was 11 years old and exploring under the eaves in our attic when I found A Stone for Danny Fisher by Harold Robbins. To say it was inappropriate for an 11-year-old would be an understatement. It’s definitely an adult novel. 

The story: A poor Jewish boy in the 1930s Great Depression learns he can use fighting (his one “skill”) to bring in some money for his family. While pursuing elevating levels of competition and increasing rewards in the boxing ring, he falls in love with a beautiful Catholic girl. But his boxing prowess also brings him to the attention of organized crime. Jewish boy. Catholic girl. Covetous criminals. I'll let your imagination take over from here. Suffice to say: Danny Fisher lives a life filled with troubles.

The one mystery that had eluded me is the meaning of the title. There is nothing in the novel about stones. Nobody gives one to Danny. Reading this week’s Luke passage led me to an answer. There, Jesus poses the question: What loving father would give his child a snake instead of fish, a scorpion instead of an egg? A quick cross check of Matthew’s gospel finds Jesus posing a similar question in Chapter 7: What father would give his child a stone instead of bread? 

I believe Robbins thought someone, likely God, had given Danny a raw deal, a "stone" of a life rather than one filled with good.

In the Luke and Matthew passages, Jesus makes the opposite argument as Robbins. We tend to divide these into separate groups: Lord’s Prayer, loving fathers, asking, seeking, and knocking. But Luke delivers them all linked together so we can understand the real point: God loves us and will meet our needs.

Our lives are not about what we want or need. Sure, those things are important. But at the heart of it, we have a loving Father who desires good for us. God is a father who, in His answers to our prayers, far surpasses the loving intent of any earthly father.

Maybe Danny did receive a stone instead of bread, but I reject that it came from God. Tough times come to everyone. We, too, experience just such tough times. But we measure our lives by our relationship with God, not by our circumstances. 

Our father gives us the bread.

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PHOTO: Adobe Express and Photoshop Express

There is no direct connection between “The Boxer” by Simon & Garfunkel and A Stone for Danny Fisher. Yet, it perfectly captures the kind of hard life Danny lived. Here it is with lyrics on the screen:

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=MYPJOCxSUFc&pp=ygUVdGhlIGJveGVyIHdpdGggbHlyaWNz

How A Stone for Danny Fisher became the Elvis Presley movie, King Creole:

https://themysterytrainblog.com/2013/06/08/king-creole-a-stone-for-danny-fisher/

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I hope you can join us Friday morning for DaySpring’s Lectionary Breakfast. We gather at 8:00 on Zoom** and at Our Breakfast Place. It’s a very nourishing hour of scripture, fellowship, and laughter. 

The bread's good, too.

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: 

https://lectionary.library.vanderbilt.edu/texts/?y=384&z=p&d=66

Print them here:

https://lectionary.library.vanderbilt.edu/wp-content/uploads/pdfs/Cx_Proper12.pdf

Hosea 1:2-10

Psalm 85

Genesis 18:20-32

Psalm 138

Colossians 2:6-15, (16-19)

Luke 11:1-13

Proper 12 (17) (July 27, 2025) 

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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)

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=uRNFf3ykQvM

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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

Read them here: 

https://lectionary.library.vanderbilt.edu/texts/?y=384&z=p&d=65

Print them here:

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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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 ourselves. Only 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: 

https://lectionary.library.vanderbilt.edu/texts/?y=384&z=p&d=64

Print them here:

https://lectionary.library.vanderbilt.edu/wp-content/uploads/pdfs/Cx_Proper10.pdf

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)

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)