The Billion Dollar Giveaway (a Steve Orr scripture reflection)

I was offended. It was supposed to be a celebration, and they were ruining it!

We had accomplished something truly amazing. Having crossed the $2 Billion point in our efforts, our leadership was taking a day to celebrate our accomplishments. Bigwigs flew out from the main office. They took photos of us holding a giant $2 Billion check. We were being touted in the news.

It should have been a perfect day. And yet, detractors in our own office had dubbed our accomplishment “the billion dollar giveaway.” Sniping from the wings, it seemed to me. It wasn’t their accomplishment, so they intended to ruin it for the rest of us. I mean ... come on ... there were cookies and cake in the break room!

I was in a state. No telling what I was saying out loud. It was at this point my boss gently guided me into his office and closed the door. He told me to calm down. He then shocked me by putting a name to my behavior.

Aesthetic outrage.

Yep, that’s right. He was telling me that the whisper campaign of our fifth-column naysayers, while possibly a violation of decorum, had no impact on the substance of our gathering. We had, in fact, accomplished the very thing we were celebrating. In other words, my outrage had no real substance. I had no real reason to be offended.

Wait. What? But ... But they ... Oh.

Slowly it began to sink in. He was correct. My response was to some superficial matter and had completely ignored the substance of the event. I was offended at their violation of what I perceived as the rules of proper conduct. Until he made me see it, I had lost track of what was truly important.

Jesus ran into a similar mindset in this week’s scripture from Luke. He healed a woman while at church! To our modern sensibilities, this may seem absolutely the right place and time, but not so to the leader of the Synagogue. He was offended. How dare Jesus ... or anyone ... say or do anything to breach the decorum of the Sabbath! — There are rules, people! — In his view, all that healing should take place on one of the other six days.

But Jesus came back with inescapable logic. Not a person there would leave their farm animals bound on a Sabbath, unable to have access to water. How does that stack up against providing much needed relief to a human on the same day?

What we make room for in our spiritual space is, not surprisingly, personal. And also no surprise, we give ourselves some latitude. The downside of this is that, sometimes (often?), we don’t allow the same leeway in the spiritual space of others ... particularly if what they do breeches our definition of decorum.

You may find that some people prefer the traditional pieces of worship to the actual work of worship. Nothing Jesus said that day was new, and it wasn’t news to His audience. For centuries, the Prophets had been telling God’s people that the work of worship — attending to the needs of the poor, the widowed, the orphaned, the imprisoned ...and the ill — was more important to God than the sacrifices and festivals ... even though God had instructed them to do those things, too.

The acts of worship have meaning and purpose. They are not, however, satisfactory on their own. Like Jesus, we must become attuned to the needs of those near us — our neighbors, if you will — and act on that knowledge in a timely manner: do the actual work of worship.

Even if it causes a bit of aesthetic outrage along the way.


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Photo: “Leading An Ox to Water” by Steve Orr

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READINGS FOR THE COMING WEEK
Proper 16 (21) (August 25, 2019)
https://lectionary.library.vanderbilt.edu//texts.php?id=276

Jeremiah 1:4-10
Psalm 71:1-6
Isaiah 58:9b-14
Psalm 103:1-8
Hebrews 12:18-29
Luke 13:10-17

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Join us Friday morning at Our Breakfast Place (formerly The Egg and I) for DaySpring’s Lectionary Breakfast. An hour of food, scripture, and discussion starts at 8:00am. It’s a wonderful way to launch the weekend.

Blessings,
Steve

Judas and the Inverted Pyramid (a Steve Orr Lectionary reflection)

He said what?! To whom?!

My sophomore year in high school brought a lot of changes. One of those changes, a positive one and one most important to me, was that I could take a class in journalism.

For one hour each day, five times each week, for about 40 weeks, I studied the fundamentals of Journalism. Throw in homework assignments and working on our award-winning school newspaper, I spent about 500 hours that school year immersed in journalistic pursuits. Yes, I learned how to write a concise, complete, accurate, and readable news story. Beyond the writing, though, I also learned how to do the research and investigatory work necessary to produce the elements of those stories. As Mrs. Cooper taught us: conveying what you want to convey is one thing; knowing whether it is accurate is something else entirely.

For the writing part, we learned to apply the Inverted Pyramid; the organization of information so that the most important facts appeared first in the story, with subsequent paragraphs containing information of lesser importance. Employing the Inverted Pyramid style, the first paragraph of a news story should contain (or, at least reference) the main who, what, when, where, and why (and/or how) fact-set.

If I were reporting on the events described in this week’s selection from the Gospel of John, the first paragraph would go something like this.

Last night in Bethany, at the home of Lazarus, Martha, and Mary, one of Jesus’s followers, Judas, criticized Mary for anointing Jesus’ feet with a pound of expensive perfume. Judas questioned why the fragrance was not, instead, sold for 300 denarii and the proceeds distributed among the poor.

That’s not a bad opening paragraph. The main actors are all named. The main event, the foot-washing, is referenced. And a possible conflict is identified. It’s enough to make the reader wonder what happened next.

In an exclusive to this paper, another follower, John, described the events. John indicated he and other followers were invited to join Jesus for dinner at the Bethany household. [You my recall this home from a story we reported not long ago. It is the same location where Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead!] During dinner, while Jesus visited with Lazarus, Mary brought in the jar of ointment, lavished its contents on the feet of Jesus and then proceeded to wipe it off with her hair!

This works perfectly in an inverted pyramid story. The second paragraph provides the background for the first part of the first paragraph. The third paragraph will address the conflict between Jesus and Judas.

As the scent of the expensive perfume filled the house, Judas was heard to say, “Why was this perfume not sold for three hundred denarii and the money given to the poor?" The reader might think this question was not aimed at anyone in particular; more of a rhetorical question than one seeking an answer. However, John tells us Jesus responded to Judas, telling him, “Leave her alone. She bought it so that she might keep it for the day of my burial. You always have the poor with you, but you do not always have me."

The good reporter uses the last paragraph to bring the story to a close ... or to as much of a close as can be engineered with the facts at hand.

There has been speculation as to not only what Jesus meant by the comment to Judas that he would “always have the poor” with him, but also why he directed the comment to Judas. Jesus is known to periodically pause and direct side comments to His followers. However, in this case, it is clear His remarks were made directly in response to Judas. There seems to be a brewing conflict between these two, one that bears watching. The reader can depend on our reporters to remain vigilant, and to bring you the news of whatever develops.

That would be the end of a news story. The facts were presented and unknowns were identified. Mrs. Cooper would instruct us to move over to the Opinion Page if we wanted to write anything else about those events. Let’s do that and see what might have been printed there.

Sharp words were exchanged last night at a home in Bethany. The well known preacher, Jesus, took to task one of his followers for criticizing the actions of their host (see related story on Page 1). It seems one Judas expressed dismay that a pound(!) of perfume was applied to the feet of Jesus by Mary, sister to Martha and Lazarus (see “Life After Resurrection” Page 8, for more on this mystery man). While it may seem bizarre to anoint someone’s feet with perfume (and then wipe it off with her hair), in our view, Mary was perfectly within her rights to do so. Her home, her perfume. However, this Judas opined that the perfume was expensive and could have been sold for 300 denarii(!). Further, he thought that value could have been more useful in the hands of the poor than on the feet of Jesus. It is hard to argue with the need of the poor, but ....

This Judas kept the common purse of Jesus and his followers and no doubt had money on his mind ... perhaps too much. We have it on good authority that this Judas said what he said “not because he cared about the poor.” Our source further accused Judas of being a thief, claiming that he “used to steal” from their common purse. Well, that puts a whole new light on his complaints about the poor! In our opinion, this Judas cares nothing about the needs of the poor, but only about his own pockets. It seems his master has caught him out as well, sending this parting shot his way: “Leave her alone. She bought it so that she might keep it for the day of my burial. You always have the poor with you, but you do not always have me."

Sounds to us like Jesus was not really commenting on the poor, at all. That, by using ‘the poor” as a metaphor, He was telling Judas that he could steal from the purse at any time, but that there would not be another occasion when Mary could express her feelings about Jesus. As for our newspaper, it is our hope the authorities will take note of this man and his love of money. For, as we all know, it is the love of money that is the root of all evil.

It might be interesting to read what this fictional newspaper would write about subsequent events. And what opinion pieces might grace its Opinion Page. But that’s it for now.

At least we now know who said what to whom.

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GRAPHIC (a great link to lessons for writers and wanna-be-writers): https://writerswrite.co.za/why-you-need-the-inverted-pyramid-when-you-write/inverted-pyramid-in-comprehensive-form/

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READINGS FOR THE COMING WEEK
Fifth Sunday in Lent (April 7, 2019)
https://lectionary.library.vanderbilt.edu//texts.php?id=122

Isaiah 43:16-21
Psalm 126
Philippians 3:4b-14
John 12:1-8

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One Friday closer to Easter! Join us for DaySpring’s Lectionary Breakfast at the Waco “Egg and I” restaurant. We start at 8:00am, packing an hour with good news, good food, good fellowship, good discussion, and a belly laugh or two. You should join us.

Blessings,
Steve

The Last Policeman and the Reluctant Prophet (a Steve Orr Lectionary reflection)

Their world was ending, but it was no excuse for continued injustice.

Henry Palace always wanted to be a police detective ... ever since he was a boy and his mother was murdered. The detective leading that investigation explained every step to the young boy who had lost his mother. And, somehow, from that terrible crucible came a desire to investigate and solve crimes ... to see justice done.

And that’s what we find Henry trying to do when Ben Winter’s novel, The Last Policeman, begins. Only, a lot has changed since Henry was a boy. And now, a lot of people, including many of his peers among the detectives of the Concord, New Hampshire PD, are puzzled by his dedication.

You see, everyone has recently learned that a huge meteor is on its way to destroy all life on the planet. There are those who don’t quite see the point of pursuing law enforcement when, six months along, there may well be nothing left.

Most think Detective Henry Palace should just cool it. But someone —maybe more than one someone— wants him gone for good.

Oddly enough, in one of this week’s Lectionary scriptures, Amos encountered a similar mindset while delivering God’s prophecies to the northern kingdom of Israel. Local leaders wanted Amos to know that he, and all his talk of justice for the poor, was no longer welcome in the north. They begged him to go back to the south, to Judah, to peddle his prophesying there.

But, where Detective Henry Palace continued to insist he was a policeman and must press on in the pursuit of justice, Amos balked. Amos rejected the title of prophet, declaring, "I am no prophet!”

What was going on there? Why would God’s prophet reject the title of prophet? The answer: in that time, being called a prophet was tantamount to an insult. It implied you were just spouting whatever would earn you some money. Yes, some people, supposedly speaking for God, were telling other people whatever they wanted to hear just to get a payday. The title had fallen into such disrepute that God’s actual prophet could not abide being thought of as one.

Still, despite his reservations, Amos responded to God’s call. Unlike Jonah, who also objected to some aspects of being a prophet, Amos went where he was sent and did what he was told to do. He carried God’s message that Israel, because of the injustices leaders heaped upon their own people, was about to be devastated by a foreign invader, that death-and-destruction was on its way.

And so, like Detective Henry Palace, Amos pursued justice in the looming shadow of destruction, asking only that people do right by one another despite what was to come.

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PHOTO (and more about The Last Policeman by Ben Winters): https://www.amazon.com/Last-Policeman-Novel-Trilogy-Book-ebook/dp/B0076Q1GW2

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READINGS FOR THE COMING WEEK
Eighth Sunday after Pentecost
Proper 10 (15) (July 15, 2018)
https://lectionary.library.vanderbilt.edu//

2 Samuel 6:1-5, 12b-19
Psalm 24
Amos 7:7-15
Psalm 85:8-13
Ephesians 1:3-14
Mark 6:14-29
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No matter what may be coming your way, consider taking some time to be with God’s people. Join us Friday morning at DaySpring’s Lectionary Breakfast. We meet at the Waco “Egg and I” Restaurant and begin at 8:00. An hour later, you will have read scripture, eaten breakfast, discussed how we can live, and laughed. Sounds nice.

Blessings,
Steve

Windtalkers Revisited (a Steve Orr Lent reflection)

What kept them from being court-martialed?

In the middle of a war, they transmitted military information over the radio —in the clear!— for everyone to hear ... even the enemy!

Did you see Windtalkers, the movie about the members of a Native American tribe, Navajo? They served the U.S. military during World War II in an unusual way: sharing military secrets over the radio.

What kept these men from being court-martialed? Two things: (1) they were under orders to do so, and (2) everything they said was spoken in Navajo, a complex and unwritten language known only to members of the Navajo tribe. Message created in English, translated into Navajo and transmitted over the radio; received by a Navajo and translated back into English: very simple, very effective.

They were the perfect military code.

But, maybe you don’t know that they were not the first "code talkers" used by our military. Something you might not have learned from the movie: the U.S. used code talkers in World War I, too. The first known use of Native American code talkers was in September 1918 when Cherokee troops transmitted message for the allies in their language during the Second Battle of the Somme. Choctaws were used in the same way to help win several key battles in the Meuse-Argonne Offensive in France. It is reported that within 24 hours of starting to use these code talkers, the tides of the battle turned in the favor of the allies, and within 72 hours, the enemy was on the run.

Even less known is that Adolf Hitler knew about the successful use of code talkers during World War I. He sent a team of some thirty anthropologists to the United States to learn Native American languages before the outbreak of World War II. However, these languages proved too difficult to learn. Still, knowing of Hitler's attempt, the U.S. limited the Navajo code talkers to the Pacific Theater.

Despite every effort, the enemy could not break the code. But, all of this effort would have been of no use without a key element: for every code talker, there had to be a "code listener." This is an essential element to all communication. When someone transmits a message, it must be understood by the person receiving it, or no communication actually takes place.

In this sense, Jesus was a kind of code talker.

Almost everything Jesus said pointed toward a fuller message in the scriptures. He often quoted from or paraphrased scripture when He spoke, trusting that His fuller message would be understood by his listeners. That is certainly what is happening in this week's selection from the 14th chapter of the gospel of Mark when Jesus speaks of the poor.

Some have misunderstood what Jesus meant when he said, “For you always have the poor with you, and you can show kindness to them whenever you wish; but you will not always have me" (NASV Mark 14:7). He is not telling his listeners (nor us) that they need not care for the poor. On the contrary, Jesus is "coding" Deuteronomy 15:7-11, and He is “sending” to a group of “code listeners” who could not help but understand the fuller message.

Care for the poor was a fundamental part of the Israel’s cultural fabric. It was "incorporated" in the early and most foundational parts of the Law.

When some expressed anger that the expensive perfume had been "squandered" on Jesus, He caught them in an attempt to sidestep their responsibilities under the Law. Not a single one of them said, "Seeing this expensive perfume used this way reminds me I need to spend some of my money on the poor." No, they just wanted to point out that someone else’s money had not been used to help the poor. [Side Note: In John 12, the leader of these complainers is identified as Judas Iscariot, the eventual betrayer of Jesus.]

So, code listeners, here is the message: whenever you wish, you may take some of your resources and share them with the needy. Should others direct some of their resources to the needy? If they want to follow the teaching of Jesus, they should. But you never need to wait to see if someone else does it. The poor surround us, and will continue to do so. You only need eyes to see and ears to hear.

And maybe a little “code listening” to help point the way.

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A version of this reflection appeared near the end of the Season of Lent in 2015.

Photo and story about the Navajo Code Talkers:
http://navajopeople.org/navajo-code-talker.htm


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READINGS FOR THE COMING WEEK
You can access both of the reading lists, below, by using the links found here: https://lectionary.library.vanderbilt.edu//lections.php?year=B&season=Lent

Liturgy of the Palms (March 25, 2018)
Psalm 118:1-2, 19-29
Mark 11:1-11 or John 12:12-16

Liturgy of the Passion (March 25, 2018)
Isaiah 50:4-9a
Psalm 31:9-16
Philippians 2:5-11
Mark 14:1-15:47 or Mark 15:1-39, (40-47)
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We would love to have you among us Friday morning for DaySpring’s Lectionary Breakfast. Join us at 8:00 at the Waco "Egg and I." Good food, great fellowship, and a message we can all understand. Truly an hour like no other.

Enjoy the week!
Steve
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A [well, sort of] LECTIO DIVINA FOR LENT

Not looking forward to fasting? Isaiah has some alternatives for you.

"HERE is the way I want you to fast.

Set free those who are held by chains without any reason. Untie the ropes that hold people as slaves. Set free those who are crushed. Break every evil chain.

Share your food with hungry people. Provide homeless people with a place to stay. Give naked people clothes to wear. Provide for the needs of your own family.

THEN the light of my blessing will shine on you like the rising sun. I will heal you quickly. I will march out ahead of you. And my glory will follow behind you and guard you. That is because I always do what is right. You will call out to me for help. And I will answer you. You will cry out. And I will say, 'Here I am.'

Get rid of the chains you use to hold others down. Stop pointing your finger at others as if they had done something wrong. Stop saying harmful things about them.

Work hard to feed hungry people. Satisfy the needs of those who are crushed. THEN my blessing will light up your darkness. And the night of your suffering will become as bright as the noonday sun." (Isaiah 58:6-10 NIRV - New International Readers Version)


"THIS is the kind of fast day I'm after: to break the chains of injustice, get rid of exploitation in the workplace, free the oppressed, cancel debts. What I'm interested in seeing you do is: sharing your food with the hungry, inviting the homeless poor into your homes, putting clothes on the shivering ill-clad, being available to your own families. Do this and the lights will turn on, and your lives will turn around at once. Your righteousness will pave your way. The God of glory will secure your passage. THEN when you pray, God will answer. You'll call out for help and I'll say, 'Here I am.' If you get rid of unfair practices, quit blaming victims, quit gossiping about other people's sins, If you are generous with the hungry and start giving yourselves to the down-and-out, your lives will begin to glow in the darkness, your shadowed lives will be bathed in sunlight.
(Isaiah 58:6-10 MSG - The Message)


“I will tell you THE KIND OF FAST I WANT:
>Free the people you have put in prison unfairly and undo their chains. Free those to whom you are unfair and stop their hard labor.
>Share your food with the hungry and bring poor, homeless people into your own homes. When you see someone who has no clothes, give him yours, and don’t refuse to help your own relatives.
>THEN your light will shine like the dawn, and your wounds will quickly heal. Your God will walk before you, and the glory of the Lord will protect you from behind. THEN you will call out, and the Lord will answer. You will cry out, and he will say, ‘Here I am.’
>If you stop making trouble for others, if you stop using cruel words and pointing your finger at others, if you feed those who are hungry and take care of the needs of those who are troubled, THEN your light will shine in the darkness, and you will be bright like sunshine at noon." (Isaiah 58:6-10 NCV - New Century Version)

[ABOUT LECTIO DIVINA: It is a practice some do to help them absorb the full meaning of scripture for their real lives. There are various approaches. It is common to read a scripture three times, pausing between each reading to meditate on the meaning, wisdom, and application . . . or, at least that's how I do it :-) --Steve ]

The Way Things Work

The Way Things Work
(a brief Lectionary reflection by Steve Orr)

Maybe you've sat with your child or grandchild and thumbed through "The Way Things Work" by David Macaulay. Or maybe you, like me, only needed your inner child nearby to enjoy learning how stuff works :-)

If you've never spent any time with this wonderful book, let me encourage you to grab a copy and get ready to be dazzled. There are no dry, difficult to understand explanations here. Macaulay is a genius at making the complex seem simple, with the added bonus that most of it is visual. If a picture is worth a thousand words, then Macaulay has saved us millions.

Or perhaps you've read (viewed) some of his other, award-winning books: "Castle" (he assembles one for us), "City" (all about Rome), "Ship" (a sea-going visual treat), "Pyramid" (just what you think), or "The Way We Work" (human anatomy), etc. These are delightful attempts to make plain much of what inhabits our modern life or which we wonder about from our past.

But you may not know of my favorite work by Macaulay: "Motel of the Mysteries." In this funny, quirky book Macaulay does for the modern world what he has done for castles, cathedrals, and pyramids. But there's a twist.

The set up: 2000 years from now most of the American continent is covered in a thick layer of petrified material. It has become one giant archeological site; people from across the globe trying to piece together what life was like in "Usa" before the not-fully-understood catastrophe made it uninhabitable.

In what has some pretty humorous parallels to Howard Carter's excavation of Tutankhamen's tomb, Macaulay shows us how easy it is, despite best intentions, to get it all wrong. Every time something is discovered about life in "Usa," it is assumed to have religious significance. And that's what happens when the ground gives way beneath amateur archeologist Howard Carson. He drops several feet into a shaft that, fortuitously for him (and us), reveals a previously undisturbed "burial" chamber in one of the former civilization's mysterious "motels."

A great part of the fun in reading through "Motel of the Mysteries" is that, due to Mr. Macaulay's remarkable drawings, we readers recognize everything and KNOW it is not what they think it is. We know it's just a motel room and that each discovered item is not something of religious significance. Some of my favorites are the Sacred Urn (commode), the Sacred Point (foil seal on the toilet paper), the Internal Component Enclosure used to symbolically store major organs of the deceased (ICE bucket), and the "Plant That Would Not Die."

If you have any interest in archeology---whether you read Michener's "The Source" cover to cover or are just a fan of Indiana Jones---you should find this makes for an entertaining afternoon. Snickers abound :-)

And that brings us to this week's Lectionary passages. Somewhat like Macaulay's future archeologists, we tend to see what we expect to see. And all the more so when we are treading familiar territory. We get so caught up in the part of the story we know, we often miss some very significant gems.

We read Esther expecting to come to the thrilling conclusion where the evil villain gets his just reward. But it's worth a revisit to Esther 9:22 where the details of the subsequent celebration are told, including the many "days for sending gifts of food to one another and presents to the poor." Wait. What? They celebrated by giving gifts to the poor? Now there's a thought; gifts to the poor. That one has me scratching my head trying to remember the last time I gave a gift (not a loan or a necessity) to the poor.

We read the Numbers passage unsurprised to find that, once again, the people are whining to Moses about something. This time they miss the foods they had for "free" while being slaves in Egypt; they want meat (miraculous manna is just not enough). Moses then whines to God about it (Yes, he really did). In response, God, just before dumping two feet of quail on the campo, gets Moses to convene the tribal elders at the Tent of the Meeting. God then drops a load of spirit on them that is so strong they all start prophesying, even two of them that stayed behind in the camp!

Joshua, Moses' assistant and eventual successor, is so horrified to learn of these two "outlier" prophets, he calls for Moses to stop them. But, in Numbers 11:29 Moses replied, "Are you jealous for my sake? Would that all the Lord's people were prophets, and that the LORD would put his spirit on them!" It's a cautionary note to those in spiritual authority; a leader's desire should be that God blesses the people and leaders equally, particularly in matters of the Spirit.

In all the talk about who should or should not be casting out demons in the name of Jesus, who's for us and who's against us, and whether we're salty enough, you could easily miss this admonition to those who mislead the young. Mark 9:42 quotes Jesus saying, "If any of you put a stumbling block before one of these little ones [children] who believe in me, it would be better for you if a great millstone were hung around your neck and you were thrown into the sea."

Gulp.

And finally there is all that talk in James about praising and praying; praying for the sick and the sad, and about how Elijah is just like us. You might miss this comment in James 5:20 which says "you should know that whoever brings back a sinner from wandering will save the sinner's soul from death and will cover a multitude of sins."

Covered. Gone. For good.

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READINGS FOR THE COMING WEEK
http://lectionary.library.vanderbilt
Proper 21 (26) (September 30, 2012)

Esther 7:1-6, 9-10; 9:20-22
Psalm 124
Numbers 11:4-6, 10-16, 24-29
Psalm 19:7-14
James 5:13-20
Mark 9:38-50

Join us Friday at 8:00 a.m. at Cafe Cappuccino to imbibe food for thought and body. This "Cafe of the Mysteries" is located in downtown Waco on 6th, near the Courthouse, and there are many excellent items to be discovered therein. Food and libation is available for all in the inner chamber ;-)

Enjoy the week!
Steve