Thank You, Todd Rundgren (a Lectionary reflection by Steve Orr)

The behind the scenes tour of Atlanta's CNN was fascinating; seeing how the "news" gets made. The highlight was the few minutes we spent on the Headline News set during the LIVE broadcast of "Morning Express with Robin Meade." We sat quietly at a table just out of camera range. All about us, people were active at work stations doing, I supposed, something in support of that broadcast. I spent most of the time looking back and forth between the live actors and the monitors posted in the work stations.

And that's when I saw it.

Scrawled in someone's large script on a white board section of one of the work stations was the name: Todd Rundgren. Do you know him? Todd has been continuously making music since the early 1970's. Probably best known in recent years for his catchy tune, Bang the Drum All Day ("I don't wanna work! I just wanna bang on the drum all day!"), seeing his name on that board immediately brought to mind one of his lesser known (but actually better) tunes, Mighty Love.

In that latter song---a great, thumping, toe-tapping piece of music---Todd and crew contrast lesser love (in this case, what the Greeks referred to as “Eros”; romantic love) with a lasting, mighty love. The song recounts how the lesser love does not last, even though deeply sworn and strongly intended, because, as the song says, “that’s the way love goes.”

But what kind of love IS "a mighty love"?

With events like the Genesis flood firmly planted in the histories of almost all peoples, and the record of the Red Sea drowning Pharaoh’s army, it shouldn’t come as much of a surprise that later Biblical writers came to use phrases like “mighty waters,” “many waters,” “great waters,” and “deep waters” as a kind of metaphor for serious trouble.We see them using that phrase in the Psalms and the prophecies on a regular basis; even in the Song of Solomon. It always refers to big trouble, overwhelming trouble, the kind of trouble you really can’t get out of by yourself, the kind of trouble that just might be the end of you. Mighty waters.

But there is a countering force to mighty waters.

Now, as some of you are old enough to recall, Todd Rundgren is not known as a “Christian” singer; you won’t find his music listed on any of the “Christian top 40.” But, as with some other “secular” performers ---like The Pretenders on “I’ll Stand By You,” Anne Murray on “You Needed Me,” Josh Grogan on “You Raise Me Up,” and Carole King on “Way Over Yonder”--- he sometimes strays into deeply spiritual territory … if only we have the “ears to hear.” And I think we can put on our spiritual ears and hear that Todd Rundgren’s “mighty love” is actually what the Greeks called “Agape,” an unconditional love, one that always acts in our best interest, one that lasts; or, as one of my professors put it: “love, in spite of.”

God's love.

As the Psalm 29 selection in this week's Lectionary indicates: God is the master of the mighty waters. Since God is love, His mighty love Is greater than any troubles that come our way, even those "floods" that threaten to, and sometimes do, overwhelm us.

Mighty Waters?

Mighty Love.

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READINGS FOR THE COMING WEEK
Trinity Sunday (May 31, 2015)
Isaiah 6:1-8
Psalm 29
Romans 8:12-17
John 3:1-17

Visitation of Mary to Elizabeth (May 31, 2015)
1 Samuel 2:1-10
Psalm 113
Romans 12:9-16b
Luke 1:39-57
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There have been a LOT of "mighty waters" lately. Some of them ACTUAL waters. Don't endanger yourself, but if you can get out, join us Friday morning for Lectionary Breakfast. We'll gather at the Waco "Egg and I" restaurant from 8:00 to 9:00. There will be plenty of food, scripture, laughter, and love. Come.

Enjoy the week!
Steve

photo from imgkid.com

The Snow Queen (a Lectionary reflection by Steve Orr)

From the very beginning, when the writers, animators, and directors first started crafting Disney's Frozen---and for a very long, long time after that---Elsa was the villain of the piece.

When they started, they were telling the story of "The Snow Queen," Hans Christian Andersen's fairy tale of the evil woman who captured a boy's heart and kept him prisoner in her icy realm. And they relished the possibility of creating a new, iconic Disney villain; someone to join such evildoers as Ursula, Scar, Captain Hook, and Cruella de Vil.

Everything was in place to do that. The Snow Queen has formed the basis for many a literary villain. Author after author has used her evil for their variations on the theme. Take C. S. Lewis' White Witch in The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe: she was so evil she had transformed Narnia into a land where it "was always winter, but never Christmas."

But, as anyone who has seen Frozen knows, that is NOT what happened in the movie. Elsa did NOT become the villain of Frozen. And now that we know the disparity between the original plan and the eventual outcome, we have to ask: what changed?

It was the song.

Animated movies, particularly Disney animated movies, are complex enterprises with many pieces, most of which move along on parallel tracks at the same time. Story writers, song writers, artists, etc., are all working on the same project, but are not in contact with each other every day. So, perhaps it is understandable that those helming the movie did not hear the song "Let It Go" until later in the process. But when they finally heard it, well . . .

It changed everything.

Suddenly, based on the lyrics of that song, Elsa was no longer a two dimensional villain, but rather a complex person who had reasons for freezing everyone out. You've heard the song and you've seen the changes it wrought.

We are like Elsa. As it says in this week's Lectionary selection from Romans 8, we are in suspense until God fulfills our hope for redemption. We find we must await the work of the Spirit in our lives; "to help us in our weakness," to intercede for us while we are still in flux, to lead us through the process of becoming.

When they started, Elsa was the villain. When they finished their work, she was the redeemed.

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READINGS FOR THE COMING WEEK
http://lectionary.library.vanderbilt.edu

Day of Pentecost (May 24, 2015)
Acts 2:1-21 or Ezekiel 37:1-14
Psalm 104:24-34, 35b
Romans 8:22-27 or Acts 2:1-21
John 15:26-27; 16:4b-15

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How great it would be to see you at Lectionary Breakfast this Friday morning! If you can, meet us at 8:00 at the Waco "Egg and I" for a hearty breakfast, enjoyable companions, and life-changing scripture.

No one gets the cold shoulder.

Enjoy the week!
Steve

New Lamps for Old (a Lectionary reflection by Steve Orr)

My earliest recollection of the Aladdin story comes from a cartoon I saw as a child. In it, Aladdin had a magic lamp. Whenever he rubbed it, a Djinn would grant his wish. There were two problems, though: (1) he stole the lamp from 40 thieves (who wanted it back), and (2) another, evil man wanted the magic lamp for his own, evil purposes.

Aware of these dangers, Aladdin, employing cartoon logic, "hid" the magic lamp at home . . . with other lamps. There is a scene where the evil man, having discovered the lamp's "hiding place," comes up with a scheme to possess it. Posing as a merchant, he walks down the street calling out "New lamps for old! New lamps for old!" At Aladdin's house, he makes his offer to the housekeeper who, thinking it a great bargain, swaps the old lamps for shiny new ones. And just like that, the magic lamp is possessed by the evil man who, presumably, is out the expense of all those new lamps. But, hey, magic lamp.

The housekeeper was tricked by an analytical fallacy: like many people, she concluded new was better than old, but without ever considering the key element---the lamps themselves. "New versus old" was enough of a basis, for her and for many of us, on which to make her choice. Like most of us, she believed, all things being equal, new was better.

New is not enough.

But make no mistake, quite a few people believe exactly the opposite. If you doubt that, go to an antiques auction, sometime, and see the passion folks bring to the battle to own something old. The fallacy remains, though, if the item itself should be ignored in the decision-making.

Old is not enough.

When Peter travels to the home of the Roman Centurion Cornelius in Acts 10, his traveling companions are all of the "old is better" school. They are expecting SOMEthing to happen, but are completely unprepared for what God decides to do: "The circumcised believers who had come with Peter were astounded that the gift of the Holy Spirit had been poured out even on the Gentiles," (NRSV Acts 10:45) According to the old ways, only the descendants of Jacob would be granted a portion of God's spirit. Yet, here God went a NEW direction.

The mistake those early believers made was to view Jesus and His teachings through the lens of their religion, their culture, and their history (i.e., assuming the old way was the only way). Two millennia later, we must also guard against this kind of fallacious thinking. Everything---especially our culture and our religion---must be viewed and evaluated through the lens of Jesus and His teachings, not the other way round. In this case, we must go with the new.

In this case, there's no magic in that old lamp.
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For more on the blended tales of Aladdin and Ali Baba see: http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aladdin

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[Note the connections among this week's Lectionary scriptures]

READINGS FOR THE COMING WEEK
http://lectionary.library.vanderbilt.edu/

Sixth Sunday of Easter (May 10, 2015)
First reading
Acts 10:44-48
Psalm
Psalm 98
Second reading
1 John 5:1-6
Gospel
John 15:9-17

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Once again, we gather at the Waco "Egg And I" restaurant Friday morning. Join us at 8:00 for something new and fresh, some news that is truly good.

Enjoy the week!
Steve

The Door and the Vine (a Lectionary reflection by Steve Orr)

Something strange happened one night.

I was in my dorm room, talking to a girl on the telephone. In the dark.

But none of that is the strange part. In fact, I often talked on the phone with girls, and I often conversed past sunset, too engrossed in the conversation to take notice that the room had grown dark. No, that was all normal. The strange part had to do with the door.

It opened.

Which should not have happened.

Our dorm room doors always locked, automatically, when closed. You needed a key to open one of these doors. And my key was in my pocket. Yet, while I sat, motionless now, mouth hanging open, voiceless, in my dorm room, in the dark, I watched as the door swung silently open, painting my floor with a rectangle of light from the hallway.

Next, one of my fellow students stepped into the room just as silently as my opening door and my now voiceless conversation. He . . . the only word for it was . . . crept . . . to the center of the room, glancing about, pausing for a longer time as his eye fell on the bed. Ensuring, I assumed, that the bed was empty. I observed him for a few more seconds. Then, reaching above and behind me, I flipped on the room lights.

He jumped.

Then, finally seeing me sitting in the chair just inside the door, he looked me right in the eye and said, "Sorry. Wrong room." He then walked past me, out the door, and down the hall toward his own room.

I thought about that strange occurrence for quite a while; about two hours. Then, I called campus security and reported what had occurred.

Perhaps you're wondering why I waited so long to make that call. The reason is this: Bob (not his real name) had been sent to our small christian college by his family because he "needed better companions" who would serve as "positive influences" to help steer him away from some "troubling choices" he had made back home. In short: they sent him to a christian college in hopes it would turn him from a life of crime.

I hesitated so long because I knew all this about Bob and suspected that "turning him in" to the Dean of Men for breaking into my room would surely lead to his dismissal. And I would be the cause of that. It might well mean he had exhausted his last chance.

But in the end, I did do just that. Things had gone missing from various dorm rooms for weeks. Others were being violated by someone who had no respect for the rules or for their fellow human beings. I could not afford to not report the strange situation.

Sometimes in life we encounter a person who, due to poor choices, is like the branch in this week's Lectionary passage from John 15; a branch that has to be cut off because it no longer produces acceptable fruit. It is always a moment of profound sadness to realize we may play a role in the events that leads to them being cut off from the very associations that could benefit them. If only they would choose the better path.

It makes God sad when He must remove a branch from the Vine, from the ONLY means to life. But, God expects fruit to be produced when we are connected to His Vine. Those who DO produce fruit will have unproductive areas of their lives trimmed away.

And those who do not produce acceptable fruit will be wholly removed and sent away.
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READINGS FOR THE COMING WEEK
Fifth Sunday of Easter (May 3, 2015)
http://lectionary.library.vanderbilt.edu/

Acts 8:26-40
Psalm 23:25-31
1John 4:7-22
John 15:1-8
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It's Lectionary Breakfast time! We meet Friday mornings at the Waco "Egg and I" restaurant from 8:00 - 9:00. Join us for scripture, laughter, and tasty food.

You're welcome, always.

Enjoy the week!
Steve

Photo by Martin Pope (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/gardening/gardeningadvice/6563482/How-to-prune-vines.html)

The Court of Good Deeds (a Lectionary reflection by Steve Orr)

Without preamble, the tall man fixed his eyes on Bob and asked in the voice of one who was accustomed to speaking only with the most cultured members of society, "What did you do and how do you plead?"

Bob had no idea how to respond to that. Finally, after a few seconds, he cleared his throat and said, "Begging your pardon, sir, I do not know how to answer you. I do not know why I am here, nor, for that matter, what "here" is."

"Come, come, man. Surely you heard the Bailiff. This is the Court of Good Deeds," explained the tall man. "I am Chief Justice. You have been brought here to answer for your crimes. Now, please, can we move on? My brothers and I have other things to which we must attend."

Bob was starting to get it, or at least a glimmer of it. "Are you telling me there is a law against performing good deeds and that I have broken it?"

At this, one of the other . . . Justices, Bob presumed . . . spoke. He was short and thick, but spoke with the same cultured, pleasant sounding voice as the first. "It is most disingenuous of you to pretend ignorance of the law. I can assure you. Acting this way is not the path to obtaining our sympathy."

In response, Bob stated, "If I am brought before this . . . um, tribunal to answer for helping an elderly man regain his footing after a fall, then I can confirm I did so. However, I cannot understand how such an act caused me to be brought before judges. How can an act of kindness be a crime?"

The third justice, a man who was neither tall nor short, but upon whom appeared a continuous scowl, asked, "Did you have a permit?"

"A permit, sir?" asked Bob. "Where would someone obtain a permit to perform good deeds?" Bob asked this somewhat facetiously, thinking, even then, that this might be some kind of prank.

"You would obtain the permit from this court, of course," said the tall justice. "Where else? You need only apply, state your untended good deed, and pay the fee. It couldn't be simpler. And if you had done so, none of this morning's unpleasantness would be necessary. As it is, we are now inconvenienced with having to deal with the matter."

"But," replied Bob, "How does God's love abide in anyone who has the world's goods and sees a brother or sister in need and yet refuses help? By the time one came here, applied and obtained your permission, the person in need might have come to even greater harm. How, in your laws, does one, acting in God's love, assist another on the spur of the moment?"

All three justices, and even the Bailiff, were stymied. No one had ever claimed to perform a good deed, without premeditation and their approval, in the name of "God's love." Angered that they could think of no good response, they dismissed Bob, warning him to to conform to the law and not to discuss the morning's proceedings with anyone.

Bob walked from the cavernous chamber and back out onto the street. As he started away from the court, he spotted a young woman struggling with groceries and three small children. Stepping from the shadow of the court's edifice, he entered the sunlight, grinned, and headed her way.

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READINGS FOR THE COMING WEEK
Fourth Sunday of Easter (April 26, 2015)
First reading
Acts 4:5-12
Psalm
Psalm 23
Second reading
1 John 3:16-24
Gospel
John 10:11-18

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I hope you can be with us Friday morning for Lectionary Breakfast. We start at 8:00-ish, sharp, and are always done not one minute later than a few minutes after 9:00. The good folks at the Waco "Egg and I" restaurant ready the meeting room for us each time, deliver the food of our choice, and provide great service. We have a blast!

Don't judge us.

Enjoy the week!
Steve

Two Archers (a Lectionary reflection by Steve Orr)

Two archers met in a wood.

One archer, dressed in various shades of brown, entered the Wood from the east and walked westward. The other archer, dressed all in green, entered from the opposite side of the Wood and walked eastward. The brown archer strode purposefully; he clearly had a destination in mind. The green archer walked with ease, ambling a bit, taking in the beauty of the Wood.

Still, each was on such a path that, had they not halted, they would certainly have collided. Who can say for certain what causes one of us to take notice of another in such disparate mindsets? And yet, at the last, they did sense each other and stopped. For a few seconds they just looked at each other.

Then the brown archer said, "Hello friend. I see you, too, have come to use the King's archery range."

The green archer appeared surprised, looked about, and, only then, took notice of the targets set aways off to the north. The brown archer missed this reaction, having already set his gear and begun preparation to shoot.

All the green archer said was, "So, this is the King's range?"

"Oh yes!" replied the brown archer. "Do you not know? The King has set aside the whole of His Wood for the pleasure of His subjects. And he encourages us to use the range to improve our targeting."

As if to demonstrate, the brown archer nocked his first arrow, drew back, eyed the target, and let fly. The arrow flew swiftly across the vast clearing toward one of the targets. At first, the arrow was on course, but at the very last it appeared to lose speed. When it finally struck the target, the arrow rested well below the bullseye.

"Sin!" cried the green archer, a bright grin splitting his face. He was suddenly awakened to the fun that might be had here.

Selecting an arrow from his quiver, the green archer quickly nocked it, drew deeply on the bow, and released. In no time, a loud "THUNK" heralded the arrow's arrival at the other end the clearing. But it was not on the target. It was not even in the hay bales backing the targets. Rather, it was buried to the fletching in a hollow tree far off to the right.

"Miss," said the brown archer.

"At least it didn't fall short like yours!" crowed the green archer. Then, before the other could act, he grabbed another arrow, set it to string, and pulled even farther back before releasing. This arrow flew even faster than the first, slicing past the targets, over the bales, past the nearby trees, and off into the forest. No sound of its landing was heard.

The brown archer watched, frozen, as the green archer lofted a third arrow high and to the left, a fourth high and to the right, then turned and sent one through the woods behind them. Finally, shaken from his shock, the brown archer, cried, "What are you doing? You're not even TRYING to hit the target!"

"Of course not," replied the green archer. "How boring! The fun is in NOT aiming for the target! I so enjoy the feel of flinging the arrows off at top speed, the flexing of my muscles, and that sense of power! I really don't want to fuss with all that aiming."

The brown archer had heard enough. "Don't you realize there are others in the King's Wood? Your wild arrows could easily hit someone, perhaps even kill someone. We come here so we CAN practice our aim. This clearing is set up for just that exercise. That's WHY there are targets. Certainly the King knows we will not always hit the bullseye. I, for example, am plagued with a weak pull and my arrow often falls short. I tally many a sin. But no one, not even the worst archer, comes here INTENDING to do that. And we never act in such a way as to endanger others."

The green archer, no longer enjoying himself, gathered up his gear and spoke petulantly, "Well, YOU'RE no fun." He stalked away, continuing his original journey to the east.

The brown archer watched the other bowman disappear to the east. He stood that way for a while, thinking of the wild abandon with which the other had launched his missiles, recalling the days of his youth when he, too, had been the thoughtless archer. After a while longer, he selected an arrow from his quiver, nocked it along the string, pulled deeply on the bow, eyed the target for a long while . . .

And then let fly.

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"All who indulge in a sinful life are dangerously lawless, for sin is a major disruption of God’s order. Surely you know that Christ showed up in order to get rid of sin. There is no sin in him, and sin is not part of his program. No one who lives deeply in Christ makes a practice of sin. None of those who do practice sin have taken a good look at Christ. They’ve got him all backward.

So, my dear children, don’t let anyone divert you from the truth. It’s the person who acts right who is right, just as we see it lived out in our righteous Messiah. Those who make a practice of sin are straight from the Devil, the pioneer in the practice of sin. The Son of God entered the scene to abolish the Devil’s ways." (‭1 John‬ ‭3‬:‭4-8‬ MSG)

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READINGS FOR THE COMING WEEK
http://lectionary.library.vanderbilt.edu/

Third Sunday of Easter (April 19, 2015)
First reading
Acts 3:12-19
Psalm
Psalm 4
Second reading
1 John 3:1-7
Gospel
Luke 24:36b-48

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Our Friday mornings at Lectionary Breakfast are a true pleasure. If you're in Waco, join us at 8:00 at the "Egg and I" restaurant. We will enjoy the treasures the King has shared with us, luxuriating in each other's company, and tasting the Word to see that it is good.

Bows and arrows are checked at the door.

Enjoy the week!
Steve

Photo by "rescuer" GoodWP.com

The Audience of God (a Lectionary reflection by Steve Orr)

We, the audience, had come from all across the United States to hear this choir sing, to see Dr. James Abbington lead, to absorb gospel standards and other pieces of black sacred music, to have our souls refreshed. Before us, high up in the choir area of the church sanctuary, stood a large, combined choir composed of folks from several local churches and from churches as far away as Fort Worth and Dallas; well-dressed men and women; dark suits, white shirts and ties, colorful scarves, long black dresses.

For the second night in a row, Dr. Abbington asked us, the audience, to become part of the show.

For those of us who had attended a far less formal gathering the night before, the announcement was not all that surprising. The previous night, after a full day of speakers and panels, leading scholars presenting and discussing on the state of black sacred music, those same scholars took to the stage. Accomplished musicians, all, they were expected to provide us with an evening of gospel greats.

And we were not disappointed.

As our performers for the evening arranged themselves around dual pianos, Dr. Abbington changed the dynamic. We found ourselves called on to sing.

Us. The audience.

I marveled at this. He seemed so certain we would just do as he said. What made him think we, the audience, would agree to this? Weren't WE supposed to be on the receiving end of all this?

But we did what he told us to do. We belted out "Oh Happy Day," "Marching to Zion," and "Every Praise (is to Our God)." Song after song, we sang. But that was not the end of it. Next, Dr. Abbington started calling people to come to the front to take the solo parts and the leads. In short order, there were more people standing between the lip of the stage and the front row than in the rest of the auditorium.

Now here we were, 24 hours later, and he was doing it again.

I was starting to think this was just a thing he liked to do, the way some rock stars like to tilt the microphone toward the audience so they can chime in on some parts. Maybe this was just his way.

Then he said something that put it all in perspective: "According to Kierkegaard, in church, God is the only audience; we are all participants in the worship."

While I think I have long had a similar understanding of worship, I've never heard it said quite that way: God is the only audience.

He is certainly the only audience that matters.

Moses forgot this. Angered at the bickering Israelites, he struck the rock with his staff to get the water they needed. In doing this, he disobeyed God's instruction to get that the water by speaking to the rock. And he paid the price. Afterwords, GOD said to Moses and Aaron, “Because you didn’t trust me, didn’t treat me with holy reverence in front of the People of Israel, you two aren’t going to lead this company into the land that I am giving them.” (‭Numbers‬ ‭20‬:‭12‬ MSG)

We are not, in fact, the audience. No matter where we sit or stand in the house of meeting, when we act as though we or someone else is the audience, we forget a basic truth about worship.

God is the only audience.
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Selected from a reflection on "Marching to Zion, the Pruit Symposium on Black Sacred Music" [Baylor University, October 2014]
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Something to keep in mind as we start the Advent season.

READINGS FOR THE COMING WEEK
http://lectionary.library.vanderbilt.edu

First Sunday of Advent (November 30, 2014)
Isaiah 64:1-9
Psalm 80:1-7, 17-19
1 Corinthians 1:3-9
Mark 13:24-37