(a not very brief Lectionary reflection by Steve Orr ... in parts)
In the previous installments, I told you about sabotage and the labor situation in 1920, and then promised I would relate it to mustard seeds. To do that, I started writing about faith; specifically, "as much faith" as a mustard seed, and the guilt we experience because we don't seem to be able to perform to the standards (moving mountains with such a small amount of faith).
If we're being honest with ourselves, I think we can all agree that we tend to put "mustard seed faith" on the "No Can Do" list. Let's face it. It sounds so surreal! Who goes around moving mountains? And on top of that strangeness, why did Jesus use such an obscure metaphor? Yes, it IS small, but there are smaller things around. Jesus once used a mote (speck of dust) to suggest how picky we can be when searching out the sin in OTHER people's lives. A mote is a lot smaller than a mustard seed. Of course, if you are already feeling guilty about having too little faith, the mote thing doesn't help. Why not use a pebble? They were quite common in Jesus' time and have remained so. We would all recognize a pebble. In fact, if SIZE was all that mattered, Jesus could have chosen any number of small items which have endured right up until today: grain of salt, grain of wheat, speck of dirt, particle of sand, drop of rain.
I don't think anyone would accuse Jesus of being haphazard. It's really no stretch to believe he intentionally selected the mustard seed as the metaphor for effective faith. So what is it about mustard seeds? I think you see where this is going. It CAN'T be just a matter of size. There must be something about the mustard seed, itself; some inherent quality other than its size. Knowing more about them may help clear all this up.
First, Jesus himself tells us (Mark 4:31-32) a mustard seed "is the smallest seed you plant in the ground. Yet when planted it grows and becomes the largest of all garden plants, with such big branches that the birds of the air can perch in its shade." That is how Jesus illustrated the Kingdom of God. And it can serve as a way we can view faith. When it is very small, we are to plant it; to initially shield it from the harsher elements by placing it in a nurturing environment, an environment designed to facilitate its growth.
The other side of this illustration is that the properly nurtured faith can grow into a very strong faith. Like the resulting mustard PLANT, it will not only grow larger than anything else in the garden of our lives, it can become SO large that others can find shelter, protection, and rest there. This is God at work in a most mighty way.
One more thing you may not know about a mustard seed is its inherent strength. And in this way, we are VERY like the little tyke.
But, what does any of this have to do with sabotage and the 1920 labor scene? Be here next time for the wrap-up where we tie it all together.
In the meantime, if you are in Waco Friday morning, join our little band at Cafe Cappuccino (8:00 a.m., downtown on 6th Street, near the Courthouse) for breakfast and a great time kicking around this week's Lectionary passages.
READINGS FOR THE COMING WEEK
Proper 13 (18) (July 31, 2011)
Genesis 32:22-31 and Psalm 17:1-7, 15
Isaiah 55:1-5 and Psalm 145:8-9, 14-21
Romans 9:1-5
Matthew 14:13-21
Wednesday, July 27, 2011
Wednesday, July 20, 2011
Sabotage and Mustard Seeds 2
(a not very brief Lectionary reflection by Steve Orr ... in parts)
Last time, I told you about sabotage and the labor situation in 1920, and then promised I would relate it to mustard seeds. For me to deliver on that promise, we first need to spend some time talking about faith; specifically, "as much faith" (Phillips) as a mustard seed.
If you look up Matthew 17:20, you will find a teaching of Jesus that most of us followers consider very difficult (if not impossible!) to accomplish. Right after Jesus casts out a demon, his followers ask why THEY couldn't cast of the same demon. His answer: "You have so little faith." He then says something that, to many of us, lands like a bomb. "I assure you that if you have as much faith as a grain of mustard seed, you can say to this hill ("mountain" in the NIV), 'Up you get and move over there!' and it will move --- you will find nothing is impossible."
When most people read that passage they immediately conclude it is impossible to have that kind of faith. Plus, they then feel bad about whatever faith they do have; it feels inadequate. Let me suggest that this conclusion derives more from how we interpret this passage than from Jesus' intended message. Here's my reasoning.
First, and this is key, when we read the Bible we must always keep in mind that the overwhelming majority of us are reading a translation; not the original language. I'm not looking to digress into controversy, here. All I want to suggest is that we have a tendency to interpret what we read in the Bible as RULES, as standards, as measures of performance. It's neater that way. The closer the Bible comes to being a list of rules, the tidier it is. And once we've been able to divide those rules into the "I guess I can do that" list and the "Oh, come on! Nobody can do THAT!" list, we give ourselves permission to ignore whatever is on the second list.
That WOULD be tidy except for one problem. We don't ALSO give ourselves permission to stop feeling guilty about it.
What do we do about THAT? ... More of the answer in the next installment.
In the meantime, if you are in Waco Friday morning, join our little band at Cafe Cappuccino (8:00 a.m., downtown on 6th Street, near the Courthouse) for breakfast and a great time kicking around this week's Lectionary passages.
READINGS FOR THE COMING WEEK
Proper 12 (17) (July 24, 2011)
Genesis 29:15-28 and Psalm 105:1-11, 45b or Psalm 128
1 Kings 3:5-12 and Psalm 119:129-136
Romans 8:26-39
Matthew 13:31-33, 44-52
Last time, I told you about sabotage and the labor situation in 1920, and then promised I would relate it to mustard seeds. For me to deliver on that promise, we first need to spend some time talking about faith; specifically, "as much faith" (Phillips) as a mustard seed.
If you look up Matthew 17:20, you will find a teaching of Jesus that most of us followers consider very difficult (if not impossible!) to accomplish. Right after Jesus casts out a demon, his followers ask why THEY couldn't cast of the same demon. His answer: "You have so little faith." He then says something that, to many of us, lands like a bomb. "I assure you that if you have as much faith as a grain of mustard seed, you can say to this hill ("mountain" in the NIV), 'Up you get and move over there!' and it will move --- you will find nothing is impossible."
When most people read that passage they immediately conclude it is impossible to have that kind of faith. Plus, they then feel bad about whatever faith they do have; it feels inadequate. Let me suggest that this conclusion derives more from how we interpret this passage than from Jesus' intended message. Here's my reasoning.
First, and this is key, when we read the Bible we must always keep in mind that the overwhelming majority of us are reading a translation; not the original language. I'm not looking to digress into controversy, here. All I want to suggest is that we have a tendency to interpret what we read in the Bible as RULES, as standards, as measures of performance. It's neater that way. The closer the Bible comes to being a list of rules, the tidier it is. And once we've been able to divide those rules into the "I guess I can do that" list and the "Oh, come on! Nobody can do THAT!" list, we give ourselves permission to ignore whatever is on the second list.
That WOULD be tidy except for one problem. We don't ALSO give ourselves permission to stop feeling guilty about it.
What do we do about THAT? ... More of the answer in the next installment.
In the meantime, if you are in Waco Friday morning, join our little band at Cafe Cappuccino (8:00 a.m., downtown on 6th Street, near the Courthouse) for breakfast and a great time kicking around this week's Lectionary passages.
READINGS FOR THE COMING WEEK
Proper 12 (17) (July 24, 2011)
Genesis 29:15-28 and Psalm 105:1-11, 45b or Psalm 128
1 Kings 3:5-12 and Psalm 119:129-136
Romans 8:26-39
Matthew 13:31-33, 44-52
Wednesday, July 13, 2011
Sabotage and Mustard Seeds 1
(a not very brief Lectionary reflection by Steve Orr ... in parts)
The first year of the Roaring Twenties was a pretty good bellwether for the rest of the decade. 1920 was a year filled with all sorts of conflicts, excitements, and problems. World War I had ended a scant 13 months earlier, Prohibition had been in effect for a year, and the Communist Labor Party of America was just four months old. 1920 was the first year women voted in a presidential election (overwhelmingly Republican), and it was a bad year for baseball; the now infamous Chicago 8---players for the Chicago White Sox baseball team---were indicted for taking bribes to throw the 1919 World Series. Sports writers took to calling the team the Chicago Black Sox. They we're later acquitted, but were still banned from organized baseball for life ("Say it ain't so, Joe!"). It was the year Sinclair Lewis published Main Street, and it was a year of particularly strong labor unrest.
Labor unrest was certainly not new in 1920. Workers and owners had been in conflict for centuries. What set this year apart was A. Mitchell Palmer, the Attorney General under President Woodrow Wilson. Palmer wanted, more than anything, to be President. He wanted every American to believe unions were going to destroy our country, and that the only way to stop that destructive force was to elect him President. To this end he waged a relentless campaign against organized labor. Joe McCarthy must have been taking notes because it had all the earmarks of the 1950's Communist witch hunts. Suffice to say there was plenty of nastiness on BOTH sides of this conflict. This was long before civil rights, Miranda, probable cause, etc. Union members were treated badly, and many people at the time believed the behavior of Palmer's federal agents justified the retaliatory use of sabotage by labor supporters.
Sabotage. To most Americans in 1920 sabotage was a fairly new term. It was not very popular; mainly because the only context most had for it was that the Germans had employed sabotage in fighting the allies "over there." Union sabotages, however, while certainly destructive, rarely resulted in harm to people. The term itself seems to come from the French word for wooden shoe: sabot. Legend has it that the first use of sabot-age was among French workers early in the Industrial Revolution. A worker would throw one wooden shoe into the machinery as protest (against poor working conditions, against unemployment caused by machinery replacing humans, etc.). Like the proverbial monkey wrench, this shoe toss would bring the offending machine to a halt. Many an employer spent anxious hours "waiting for the other shoe to drop."
Perhaps you are staring to wonder what any of this has to do with mustard seeds, or, for that matter, with the Lectionary. Well, push on Pilgrim. Answers coming in future installments!
In the meantime, if you are in Waco Friday morning, join our little band at Cafe Cappuccino (8:00 a.m., downtown on 6th Street, near the Courthouse) for breakfast and a great time kicking around this week's Lectionary passages.
READINGS FOR THE COMING WEEK
Proper 11 (16) (July 17, 2011)
Genesis 28:10-19a
Psalm 139:1-12, 23-24 or Isaiah 44:6-8
Psalm 86:11-17
Romans 8:12-25
Matthew 13:24-30, 36-43
The first year of the Roaring Twenties was a pretty good bellwether for the rest of the decade. 1920 was a year filled with all sorts of conflicts, excitements, and problems. World War I had ended a scant 13 months earlier, Prohibition had been in effect for a year, and the Communist Labor Party of America was just four months old. 1920 was the first year women voted in a presidential election (overwhelmingly Republican), and it was a bad year for baseball; the now infamous Chicago 8---players for the Chicago White Sox baseball team---were indicted for taking bribes to throw the 1919 World Series. Sports writers took to calling the team the Chicago Black Sox. They we're later acquitted, but were still banned from organized baseball for life ("Say it ain't so, Joe!"). It was the year Sinclair Lewis published Main Street, and it was a year of particularly strong labor unrest.
Labor unrest was certainly not new in 1920. Workers and owners had been in conflict for centuries. What set this year apart was A. Mitchell Palmer, the Attorney General under President Woodrow Wilson. Palmer wanted, more than anything, to be President. He wanted every American to believe unions were going to destroy our country, and that the only way to stop that destructive force was to elect him President. To this end he waged a relentless campaign against organized labor. Joe McCarthy must have been taking notes because it had all the earmarks of the 1950's Communist witch hunts. Suffice to say there was plenty of nastiness on BOTH sides of this conflict. This was long before civil rights, Miranda, probable cause, etc. Union members were treated badly, and many people at the time believed the behavior of Palmer's federal agents justified the retaliatory use of sabotage by labor supporters.
Sabotage. To most Americans in 1920 sabotage was a fairly new term. It was not very popular; mainly because the only context most had for it was that the Germans had employed sabotage in fighting the allies "over there." Union sabotages, however, while certainly destructive, rarely resulted in harm to people. The term itself seems to come from the French word for wooden shoe: sabot. Legend has it that the first use of sabot-age was among French workers early in the Industrial Revolution. A worker would throw one wooden shoe into the machinery as protest (against poor working conditions, against unemployment caused by machinery replacing humans, etc.). Like the proverbial monkey wrench, this shoe toss would bring the offending machine to a halt. Many an employer spent anxious hours "waiting for the other shoe to drop."
Perhaps you are staring to wonder what any of this has to do with mustard seeds, or, for that matter, with the Lectionary. Well, push on Pilgrim. Answers coming in future installments!
In the meantime, if you are in Waco Friday morning, join our little band at Cafe Cappuccino (8:00 a.m., downtown on 6th Street, near the Courthouse) for breakfast and a great time kicking around this week's Lectionary passages.
READINGS FOR THE COMING WEEK
Proper 11 (16) (July 17, 2011)
Genesis 28:10-19a
Psalm 139:1-12, 23-24 or Isaiah 44:6-8
Psalm 86:11-17
Romans 8:12-25
Matthew 13:24-30, 36-43
Thursday, July 7, 2011
The Perfect Lectionary Reflection
The Perfect Lectionary Reflection
(a brief Lectionary reflection by Steve Orr)
I had the PERFECT Lectionary reflection for this week's passages. Just perfect. But, I can't find it. I wrote the piece several years ago to pair with Isaiah 55:10-11. Now, if I could just locate it, I would have the perfect little story to underscore God's message in the Isaiah passage. But, alas, that is not to be.
Isn't that just the thing? You have the perfect thought, the perfect word, the perfect idea, the perfect story to illustrate something from scripture; the VERY thing that will just make that passage spring to life for the reader; that little boost the scripture needs to settle deep into the heart of the reader where it will take root and produce spiritual fruit a hundredfold or more ... and you just can't quite produce it at the right moment. SO frustrating.
Nothing for it, though. I guess THIS week God's word will have to get by without my support ;-)
"For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven, and do not return there until they have watered the earth, making it bring forth and sprout, giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater, so shall my word be that goes out from my mouth; it shall not return to me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I purpose, and succeed in the thing for which I sent it."
--Isaiah 55:10-11
LECTIONARY READINGS FOR THE COMING WEEK
Proper 10 (15) (July 10, 2011)
Genesis 25:19-34
Psalm 119:105-112
Isaiah 55:10-13
Psalm 65:(1-8), 9-13
Romans 8:1-11
Matthew 13:1-9, 18-23
If you are in Waco Friday morning, join our group for breakfast and more of the foregoing at Cafe Cappuccino (8:00 a.m. - downtown on 6th near the Courthouse).
Enjoy!
Steve
(a brief Lectionary reflection by Steve Orr)
I had the PERFECT Lectionary reflection for this week's passages. Just perfect. But, I can't find it. I wrote the piece several years ago to pair with Isaiah 55:10-11. Now, if I could just locate it, I would have the perfect little story to underscore God's message in the Isaiah passage. But, alas, that is not to be.
Isn't that just the thing? You have the perfect thought, the perfect word, the perfect idea, the perfect story to illustrate something from scripture; the VERY thing that will just make that passage spring to life for the reader; that little boost the scripture needs to settle deep into the heart of the reader where it will take root and produce spiritual fruit a hundredfold or more ... and you just can't quite produce it at the right moment. SO frustrating.
Nothing for it, though. I guess THIS week God's word will have to get by without my support ;-)
"For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven, and do not return there until they have watered the earth, making it bring forth and sprout, giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater, so shall my word be that goes out from my mouth; it shall not return to me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I purpose, and succeed in the thing for which I sent it."
--Isaiah 55:10-11
LECTIONARY READINGS FOR THE COMING WEEK
Proper 10 (15) (July 10, 2011)
Genesis 25:19-34
Psalm 119:105-112
Isaiah 55:10-13
Psalm 65:(1-8), 9-13
Romans 8:1-11
Matthew 13:1-9, 18-23
If you are in Waco Friday morning, join our group for breakfast and more of the foregoing at Cafe Cappuccino (8:00 a.m. - downtown on 6th near the Courthouse).
Enjoy!
Steve
Thursday, June 23, 2011
Friending Ashley Judd
(a brief Lectionary reflection by Steve Orr)
Lately, Facebook has been suggesting I become friends with Ashley Judd.
It pops up on the right hand side of the screen under "People You May Know." Ashley Judd ... with that little +1 symbol and the "Add Friend" link beneath her name. The first time it happened I, naively I now realize, clicked on the link. Facebook quickly displayed a message informing me that Ashley couldn't be friends with me because she already has too many friends. I don't know this for certain, but I sensed it was a comment made snidely. As if the word, "dimwit" were invisably appended to the end of the message.
(Stop that. I could, TOO, be friends with Ashley Judd!)
I know why it's there. It's because Facebook's algorithm thingy recognized we are both from Kentucky. So, of COURSE we might know each other. That right there, that kind of "thinking," is why I haven't lost a minute of sleep worrying about artificially intelligent robots taking over the earth. They've got a LONG way to go. In any event, I had learned my lesson. So now when I see it lurking over there on the right, I just ignore it.
It's too bad, really, because I think I really COULD share some stories with Ashley that, being from Kentucky, would resonate for her. I could tell her about Paul and Mike, about Carolyn and Ginny Ann, about Bob and Robin, Bruce and Bonnye; about the great times we all had exploring the Land Between the Lakes, spelunking, picking apples to earn spending money, writing poetry, climbing on the monkey bars, playing on the train tracks, driving through the 19th Hole, playing ball on a makeshift mowed-out diamond, being in school plays and musicals, canoeing Kentucky Lake, holding hands, and, yes, skipping stones.
Great memories of growing up in west Kentucky. Even the bad parts don't look so bad after half a century. Yes, I think Ashley would recognize some of that. And would welcome a friendship that helps her to recall her own growing-up times.
"Whoever welcomes you welcomes me, and whoever welcomes me welcomes the one who sent me. --Matthew 10:40
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This week's Lectionary readings
Genesis 22:1-14
Psalm 13
Jeremiah 28:5-9
Psalm 89:1-4, 15-18
Romans 6:12-23
Matthew 10:40-42
If you are in Waco Friday, join us at Cafe Cappuccino for some great food and a fine time talking about this week's passages (8:00 a.m. On 6th, near the Courthouse).
Monday, June 6, 2011
At War With Dad - DDay Special Edition
A memoir by Steve Orr.
THIS IS A REPOST FROM AN EARLIER DATE. IT APPEARS TODAY TO HONOR ALL WHO HAVE SERVED, OR NOW SERVE, OUR COUNTRY IN MILITARY ENDEAVORS.
The argument had been going on for the better part of an hour. Actually, Dad didn't think it was much of an argument considering his Sergeant was doing almost all of the talking. The Captain of the boat handled his side of the argument with looks and shrugs. Dad couldn't hear them, but based on the fury he saw on his Sergeant's face, it seemed like it must be pretty important.
But Dad didn't really care what they were arguing about. In true army fashion, they had been rushed to the disembarkation point, only to find they had to wait over 24 hours before they could board the boat. Then, once on board, he and his crew of two having secured their 40mm Bofors gun, the excitement of finally DOING something was cut short by the journey itself. The crossing had been rough. Most of the men on the boat were seasick, Dad included. And for the last hour, he had watched his Sergeant alternate between puking over the side of the boat and yelling at the salty old Brit who was piloting them across the Channel.
It was June 6, 1944. D-Day. They were on their way to Normandy, France.
Dad knew very little about the plans for that day; only that when they finally did reach shore, they were supposed to hitch their gun to a deuce-and-a-half truck which would transport it, and the three of them, to the place where they would start shooting at things with it. And as a recently promoted Corporal, he knew more than most.
The landing, when it finally came, happened swifty, and not at all as had been described. When the ramp slapped onto beach, everyone on the boat saw the same thing: nothing . . . no other soldiers, no equipment, and most importantly to Dad, no deuce-and-a-half. So, at the urging of the Sergeant, several of the soldiers helped Dad and his crew wrestle the wheeled gun off the boat and across part of the beach until they reached a point where the resistance of the sand could no longer be overcome by human efforts. They were stuck midway between water's edge and the firmer ground that bordered the beach. Nothing was going to move that gun one more inch until a truck could could be found to pull it.
That's when Dad learned the topic of his Sergeant's one-sided argument: he had been trying to convince their civilian pilot they were headed in the wrong direction, but to no avail. The result? They were on the wrong beach.
So, while Sarge and the rest of the soldiers left to reconnect with the larger body of the invading force, Dad and crew had to stay and protect their gun. Which didn't seem like such a bad thing, until the ordinance starting falling all about them. Their gun was cradled in a wheeled structure, or carriage. It didn't provide much cover, but it was the best they were going to find. So they dived under it, dug a shallow trench in the sand and, as Dad put it, "hunkered down." All throughout that day they "hugged the sand" under that gun, praying the random explosions would not find them.
Eventually, the day came to an end, and with it an end to the shelling. It was only later that Dad learned the old pilot's mistake had spared them the horrors, and likely instant death, they would have encountered at their intended destination: Omaha Beach. If you've ever seen the opening sequence to the movie, "Saving Private Ryan," then you have some idea of what they were spared.
[The above is a selection from a longer piece I am writing about the few things my Dad told me of his service during World War II.]
Thursday, June 2, 2011
Mind Your Head, Watch Your Step
At last, we were on our way! This was a journey of firsts for us: first time to go to Alaska; first time to take a cruise; first time to be this far from shore without an airplane! ;-) It was one of those times in life where every moment seems to hold a special view, or thought, or experience.
So, what with all that excitement going on, perhaps you will pardon me for reading a lot of meaning into the signs that suddenly loomed up before us as we took a turn around the ship's deck. There on the wall, just to the left of a doorway leading to the ship's interior were two neatly lettered signs, one just above the other. On the first were the words: "MIND YOUR HEAD." And just below it, the second read: "WATCH YOUR STEP."
I was transfixed. It felt as if God had reached down and placed those signs just there for me to read. Yes, I was on vacation, but that didn't mean the complexities of my life had disappeared with the rapidly receding Seattle skyline. I had a lot on my mind; chief of which was the recent realization that I might have to return to a profession for which I thought the need had long ago ended; the possibility I might need to resurrect skill sets I thought would never be needed again.
The appearance of those signs---despite the fact that, in subsequent days, I encountered identical signs at every entrance to the interior---just seemed providential. The thoughts printed there pierced to the heart of my worries, calming me. Yes, those thoughts are just good advice to folks perambulating about on a boat that is subject to the uncertainties of the sea. But I think you will agree they can be usefully applied to our non-seagoing lives as well.
So, aboard ship, I minded my head and watched my step. But I carried those instructions with me when I returned to the real world; referencing them often over the following months and years. I find them reflected in one of today's lectionary passages: "Turn all your anxiety over to God because he cares for you. Keep your mind clear, and be alert." 1 Peter 5:7-8a
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The lectionary readings for the coming week
Acts 1:6-14
Psalm 68:1-10, 32-35
1 Peter 4:12-14; 5:6-11
John 17:1-11
Join us if you are in Waco on Friday. We meet at Cafe Cappuccino (on 6th, near the Courthouse) at 8:00 a.m. Good food and an interesting discussion with fabulous people ;-)
Enjoy!
Steve
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