Remember the Big Moments (a Steve Orr scripture reflection)

The entire 18 winters I lived in the Boston area, I complained. There were: the bone-chilling cold, the icy roadways, the clothes-destroying oily slush, unplowed streets and driveways, “Popsicle Toes.” But, when I voiced my very legitimate woes, some local would, without fail, say: "This?! This is nothing. You should have been here for the Blizzard of '78."

And they probably had a point. To say the Blizzard of '78 was memorable is to seriously undersell it.

It hit New England with little warning, dumping two to four feet of snow on everything in a matter of hours. Hurricane-force winds drove snowdrifts to unimaginable heights, completely covering automobiles. There are photos of people walking along the snow-packed streets with car roofs peeking through at their ankles. Many went more than a week without power. Snow plows could not clear the roads until abandoned cars were towed. Communities ran out of places to put the snow. Coastal flooding was particularly destructive. Damages, in today's dollars, passed $2 billion and kept going.

This was no mere inconvenience. It was devastating, cataclysmic. People died. Is it any wonder New Englanders recall it so vividly, even more than four decades later?

We remember the really big moments in our lives. That's how you would think it would be with the Israelites based on this week's Exodus passages. An enormous blazing pillar of fire at night and a massive darkness-enshrouding cloud by day that confounded their enemies. Walking across a dry seabed while writhing walls of water towered on either side. The stunning destruction of their enemies when those watery walls crashed down on them. 

All by the hand of God.

You would think something like that would stick in a person's mind. No one had ever seen the kind of power God showed in rescuing the Israelites from their Egyptian oppressors. They even wrote a song about it. 

And yet...

Time after time, when facing some subsequent dilemma, the children of Israel just...drew a blank. Instead of recalling the amazing events of that long night and morning, they dissolved into complaints and rebellion whenever they felt their needs were not being met.

This week’s scriptures are about forgiveness, remembrance, compassion, and faith. Read them. Meditate on them. Then the next time you're facing a challenge, even a really tough one, do what the Israelites often failed to do. Reflect for a moment and recall that there is nothing you cannot go through as long as God is with you.  

Even a little faith goes a long way in the big moments of life.

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IMAGE: https://www.freepik.com/free-photo/beautiful-vertical-shot-large-burning-fire-night_13361818.htm#query=firey%20pillar&position=37&from_view=search&track=ais

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DaySpring’s Lectionary Breakfast gathers Friday mornings on Zoom** and in person at Our Breakfast Place. Join us at 8:00 for food, fellowship, scripture, and laughter.

Blessings,

Steve

 

 **Contact me for the Zoom link

NOTE: Zoom allows you to mute the camera and the microphone if you don’t wish to be seen or heard.

 

SCRIPTURES FOR SUNDAY AND THE COMING WEEK

 

Find them here:

https://lectionary.library.vanderbilt.edu/texts.php?id=159

Print them from here:

https://lectionary.library.vanderbilt.edu/pdf//Ax_Proper19.pdf

Exodus 14:19-31

Psalm 114 or Exodus 15:1b-11, 20-21

Genesis 50:15-21

Psalm 103:(1-7), 8-13

Romans 14:1-12

Matthew 18:21-35

Proper 19 (24) (September 17, 2023)

The Mighty Mississippi (a Steve Orr scripture reflection)

A talented musician wrote a song about my hometown. 

Okay. More than one musician wrote a song about Paducah, Kentucky. Benny Goodman and Carmen Miranda sang the praises of Paducah in their film “The Gang’s All Here.” The song was crafted by Leo Robin and Harry Warren, and they established for all time: “If you wanna, you can rhyme it with bazooka. But you can’t poo poo Paducah. It’s another name for Paradise.” (1)

 

As strange as it may seem, several people wrote songs about Paducah. (2) George Coryell, a hometown contemporary of mine, wrote and performed “Paddlewheels.” It’s a fine little song about Paducah that includes many of the town’s hallmarks. Chief among those is Paducah’s two rivers and the paddlewheel-driven riverboats that sail them.

“We played down by the river, 

  where the Ohio and Tennessee meet. 

  We were always there to see 

  the Belle of Louisville and the Delta Queen.” (3)

 

When two waters flow into the same space, it is called a confluence. Such a confluence frames two sides of my hometown: The Ohio River and the Tennessee River blend together there. It's a very picturesque image—when described in words. 

 

In truth, it is two very different energy flows slamming into each other. From the moment they meet, these distinct entities are trying to overpower each other, neither giving way. You can actually see the two rivers fighting to remain distinct. They even look different. One is smoother, darker, richer in color. The other is choppier, roiling almost, and much lighter hued.

In my hometown, we are also aware of a particular truth that changes how we view that river battle: there is something much larger just over the horizon. Only about an hour farther on, these two battling waters smack into the Mississippi River. 

 

We say things like, "They join up with the Mississippi." But, in truth, those two rivers don't so much join as they completely disappear. There is no more talk of which river. The Mississippi is the river. On the north, its headwaters are just shy of the Canadian border and it knifes through the U.S. all the way south to the Gulf of Mexico. The "Mighty Mississippi," is so big it absorbs all other waters. It takes them—and all they represent—down to the sea.

A more perfect metaphor cannot be found for the two main Jewish groups at the time of Jesus and his early followers. The Pharisees believed in an afterlife and believed each person must scrupulously keep the laws and the Commandments of God to ensure actually getting to that afterlife. The Sadducees rejected the idea of an afterlife, believing each person must do good in this life, because this life is all there is. The two groups were always in conflict, always battling over which was right, which would transcend the other.

 

We see it in this week's Romans passage. The two factions were like my two hometown rivers: They were using the laws and the Commandments in their battle to control people's lives. Then Jesus came and taught a much larger, all-consuming truth: Love is the fulfillment of all those commandments and laws.

 

Suddenly, just like my hometown rivers encountering the Mississippi, all those laws and commandments—and all the conflicts based on them—were swallowed up in something larger, so much larger it's almost too much to grasp. That something is the love taught and modeled by Jesus. We can use the metaphor of a mighty river to grasp that enormity. 

 

The battles that raged among us before we became followers of Jesus are as meaningless as the fighting of my two hometown rivers. And like the Mississippi, God’s love is the mighty flow that will take us all in and carry us to the sea—a sea of living water. 

 

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PHOTO: the Lower Mississippi River and it’s southernmost delta as seen from outer space

https://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/images/144701/flooding-on-the-lower-mississippi-continues

 

BONUS MATERIAL

(1) Watch a clip from “The Gang’s All Here” and enjoy their version of “Paducah:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RGNoH4bjHmo

 

(2) Article about Paducah-related music: 

https://www.wkms.org/arts-culture/2015-07-09/update-paducah-life-celebrates-25-years-with-song-contest

 

(3) Listen to “Paddlewheels” 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gDqdcWe4A80 

 

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Join us Friday morning for DaySpring’s Lectionary Breakfast. We meet at 8:00 on Zoom** and in person at Our Breakfast Place. We share scripture, fellowship, good food—and even some laughs. 

 

Blessings,

Steve

 

 **Contact me for the Zoom link

NOTE: Zoom allows you to mute the camera and the microphone if you don’t wish to be seen or heard.

 

SCRIPTURES FOR SUNDAY AND THE COMING WEEK

 

Find them here:

https://lectionary.library.vanderbilt.edu/texts.php?id=158

 

Print them from here:

https://lectionary.library.vanderbilt.edu/pdf//Ax_Proper18.pdf

 

Exodus 12:1-14

Psalm 149

Ezekiel 33:7-11

Psalm 119:33-40

Romans 13:8-14

Matthew 18:15-20

Proper 18 (23) (September 10, 2023)

 

Dad Was a Brickie (a Steve Orr scripture reflection)

Dad only worked at the brothel for about a week. 

There was in my hometown what was then called “a house of ill repute.” I could write a lot about that place and the fact that even children knew about it. But not this time.

 

This is how Dad came to work at our everybody-knows-about-it brothel. Dad worked for his cousin, Norman, as a “brick and tile man” or “Brickie.” Norman, a General Contractor, had agreed to make some repairs and updates to the building. Included was a new patio across the back of the house and a brick walkway to the back gate. Sure, what they were doing was far from building a cathedral. But no one on the crew could afford to turn down a paying job, Dad included. So, every day, for about a week, he worked on that patio and walkway—brick...by brick...by brick. 

 

Nothing says we must always be happy about our job, whistle while we work, or sing out "Hi ho, hi ho; it's off to work we go." Sometimes, we just aren't in the mood. Sometimes, the job is just a thing you need to do. It’s not always about building cathedrals. The real question, at the end of the day, is: Did we do our work correctly and completely? If the answer is “yes,” then we did what we could.  

 

Most of us know 1 Corinthians 13 as The Love Chapter. With this week's scripture from Romans, we get what some call The Other Love Chapter. It is, if you will, the brickies version as opposed to the cathedral version in 1 Corinthians. While the Corinthians passage gives us the broad strokes about love, Romans is definitely the day-to-day, nuts and bolts, brick-by-brick approach. 

 

Perhaps you've wondered exactly how love is patient, kind, not envious, not boastful, not proud, not dishonoring others, not self-seeking, not easily angered, not keeping a record of wrongs, not delighting in evil, rejoicing in the truth, always trusting, always hoping, and always persevering.  

 

The thought of trying to accomplish that list can seem pretty daunting when you see it all compact like that. 

 

Sometimes all the lofty goals and wishes aren’t enough to get you where you need to be, not enough to ensure the actual work gets done—even when the goal is loving. Sometimes, like Dad, you need to do the nuts-and-bolts version, to be practical. 

 

It’s that way in the actual practice of loving. Those lofty goals in 1 Corinthians 13 need practical, brick-by-brick, steps. Read the very practical actions listed at Romans 12:9-21. Then, just like a Brickie laying one brick and then another, do them. 

 

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PHOTO: Steve Orr

BONUS MATERIAL 

THE OTHER LOVE CHAPTER

“Your love must be real. Hate what is evil. Hold on to what is good. Love each other like brothers and sisters. Give your brothers and sisters more honor than you want for yourselves. Do not be lazy but work hard. Serve the Lord with all your heart. Be joyful because you have hope. Be patient when trouble comes. Pray at all times. Share with God’s people who need help. Bring strangers in need into your homes. Wish good for those who do bad things to you. Wish them well and do not curse them. Be happy with those who are happy. Be sad with those who are sad. Live together in peace with each other. Do not be proud, but make friends with those who seem unimportant. Do not think how smart you are. If someone does wrong to you, do not pay him back by doing wrong to him. Try to do what everyone thinks is right. Do your best to live in peace with everyone. My friends, do not try to punish others when they wrong you. Wait for God to punish them with his anger. It is written: “I am the One who punishes; I will pay people back,” says the Lord. But you should do this: “If your enemy is hungry, feed him; if your enemy is thirsty, give him a drink. Doing this will be like pouring burning coals on his head. Do not let evil defeat you. Defeat evil by doing good.” —Romans 12:9-21 ICB

 

 

In Romans 12:17-21, Paul is quoting Proverbs 25:21-22: “If your enemy is hungry, feed him. If he is thirsty, give him a drink. Doing this will be like pouring burning coals on his head. And the Lord will reward you.”

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DaySpring’s Lectionary Breakfast meets Friday mornings in the function room at Our Breakfast Place. We still start at 8:00 and spend an hour eating, reading, talking, praying, and laughing. 

 

Blessings,

Steve

 

SCRIPTURES FOR SUNDAY AND THE COMING WEEK

 

Find them here:

https://lectionary.library.vanderbilt.edu/texts.php?id=157

 

Print them from here:

https://lectionary.library.vanderbilt.edu/pdf//Ax_Proper17.pdf

 

Exodus 3:1-15

Psalm 105:1-6, 23-26, 45b

Jeremiah 15:15-21

Psalm 26:1-8

Romans 12:9-21

Matthew 16:21-28

Proper 17 (22) (September 3, 2023)

 

The Catch-22 Conundrum (a Steve Orr scripture reflection)

“How we spend our days is how we spend our lives."  —Annie Dillard

 

How’s life going? Do you sometimes feel like Wile E. Coyote in the Road Runner cartoons? He just can’t win. No matter what approach he takes, no matter how sophisticated, he never succeeds in capturing that pesky bird!

 

The problem: Mr. Coyote is stuck inside a paradox, a Catch-22.

 

His avian nemesis is much faster than he, and—because that’s not difficult enough—smarter than he looks. Mark Twain describes a coyote as “a living, breathing allegory of Want, He is always hungry.” That means there is no way Wile E. can win. His hunger means he has no choice but to continue chasing the Road Runner. He cannot do otherwise. Those are the “rules” he is forced to live by. That’s a Catch-22. 

 

We, of course, are not cartoon characters.

 

We have a choice. We always have a choice. Unlike the coyote, we are not enslaved to our natures. Still, it may seem that we, too, are sometimes stuck in a Catch-22 situation. Each day, we apply ourselves to the often crazy and crippling “rules” of this life—only to find that, even when we win, there can be a serious downside. And when we lose? It can feel like we have no worth at all.

 

But there is a way out.

 

In this week’s Exodus passage, we meet two extraordinary people: Shiphrah and Puah. Despite being commanded by Pharaoh to kill all the male Hebrew babies, these two midwives risked their lives to do the exact opposite. Day in and day out, they helped deliver all the babies. Each delivery, by itself was a single event. But when they were aggregated, they became a legacy. Today, these two are heralded as heroes, people who stood in the gap to protect the defenseless.

 

This week’s Romans passage exhorts us: “Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your minds, so that you may discern what is the will of God.” Shiphrah and Puah refused to be conformed to their world. Though mired in an impossible situation, they found a way to serve God.

 

It is often a shock to recognize that our day-in-day-out activity is our life. It might not seem like it in the moment, but what we do with each day builds up into our entire life. When all is said and done, it is what we actually do, not what we long for, that becomes our life. 

 

After all, at its most basic, a tapestry is simply a collection of threads.

 

You don’t have to be stuck in a Catch-22. You actually can make your life have meaning well beyond what this world would have you believe. Take some time each day to spend with God: Renew your mind. It is the way to ensure you no longer conform to the Catch-22 rules of this world. Remember, what we do each day becomes our life. 

 

How we live each day becomes our legacy.

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PHOTO: Steve Orr

 

 

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Join us Friday morning at DaySpring’s Lectionary Breakfast. We meet at Our Breakfast Place and we start at 8:00-ish. It’s an hour of good food and good folk learning to serve God one day at a time. 

 

Blessings,

Steve

 

SCRIPTURES FOR SUNDAY AND THE COMING WEEK

 

Find them here:

https://lectionary.library.vanderbilt.edu/texts.php?id=156

 

Print them from here:

https://lectionary.library.vanderbilt.edu/pdf//Ax_Proper16.pdf

 

Exodus 1:8-2:10

Psalm 124

Isaiah 51:1-6

Psalm 138

Romans 12:1-8

Matthew 16:13-20

Proper 16 (21) (August 27, 2023)

 

One of the Little Dogs (a Steve Orr scripture Reflection)

Many want to be the people other people think about, to be the main topic of conversation. 

There’s a preoccupation, these days, with being the focus of every moment. But, if we're being honest, we'll admit that's not really a new thing. We've been caught up with being exceptional for quite some time. Decades. Centuries. 

 

Maybe even millennia.

 

Part and parcel with this are certain phrases we toss about in our conversations, self-help books, and social media posts. Phrases like: "If you can't run with the big dogs, stay on the porch!" "Go big or go home!" "Cookies are for closers!" There are many of them, rendered all sorts of ways, but their messages all boil down to one thing: you want to be one of those people—a closer, a winner, a big dog. 

 

But there's another side to that message: If you’re not a winner, you are, somehow, lesser. There’s a not-so-subtle subtext that you're either among the elite, or you're not worth our consideration.

 

In this week’s Matthew passage, Jesus is confronted by a non-Jewish woman. She is seeking His intervention on behalf of her daughter who is besieged by demons. 

 

Jesus ignores her. (Wait. What?!)

 

But she keeps following Him, calling after Him, never letting up, really advocating on behalf of her suffering child. Even His disciples beg Jesus to address her—specifically, to send her away. Eventually, Jesus does engage with her, but the reader gets another surprise. 

 

He does not give her what she's asked for. 

 

He tells her that He was sent to the "lost sheep" of Israel. In other words: "Not you." Then, adding insult to injury, Jesus calls her a dog. He tells her it would not be right for the "little dogs" (house pets—as opposed to the big, feral dogs that ran in packs in those days) to have the food intended by the master for His children. She is one of the "little dogs," and, therefore, not due anything from Jesus.

 

Jesus is astonished by her response: "Even the dogs eat the crumbs from the master's table."

 

How often do you think Jesus is astonished by something we say or do? I can’t imagine it’s often. Here, Jesus is so affected by her perspective, He praises her faith. This is a faith that existed despite the absolute absence of any reason to believe it would produce a benefit for her or her daughter. He then grants her request. 

 

We need to be like this woman—one of the "little dogs” in this world. We should seek Jesus even if we are convinced we are in no position to demand His attention, much less His action on our part.

 

Life is not about whether we're winners or losers, whether we're closers, or even if we can run with the big dogs. Desiring excellence can be a good thing. But it raises the question: With whom do we associate when we pursue that desire?

 

Maybe we should have been running with the little dogs all along. 

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PHOTO: Adobe Express

 

_________________________

 

Join us Friday morning for DaySpring’s Lectionary Breakfast. We're in the back function room at Our Breakfast Place and we still start at 8:00-ish. Good food, good folk, spending an hour with a good God. 

 

Blessings,

Steve.

 

SCRIPTURES FOR SUNDAY AND THE COMING WEEK

 

Find them here:

https://lectionary.library.vanderbilt.edu/texts.php?id=155

 

Print them from here:

https://lectionary.library.vanderbilt.edu/pdf//Ax_Proper15.pdf

 

Genesis 45:1-15

Psalm 133

Isaiah 56:1, 6-8

Psalm 67

Romans 11:1-2a, 29-32

Matthew 15: (10-20), 21-28

Proper 15 (20) (August 20, 2023)

 

 

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"The task is, not so much to see what no one has yet seen; but to think what nobody has yet thought, about that which everybody sees." —Erwin Schrödinger

 

New Orders Needed? (a Steve Orr Lectionary reflection)

When Japan surrendered in August 1945, World War II came to an end in the Pacific.

But not for everyone.

 

On scattered islands in the Pacific Ocean, small pockets of Japanese soldiers either did not know or did not believe that Japan had surrendered. For them, the war was definitely not over. Lieutenant Hiro Onoda was given orders to disrupt and sabotage enemy efforts — and to never surrender or to take his own life.

He was a man who followed orders.

Despite several attempts by the post-war Japanese government to convince him to surrender, he refused to accept the good news that the war was over. His commanding officer had not issued him any new orders. Therefore, he would follow the orders he had.

Rather than believe the sound of human footfalls meant good news, Lieutenant Onoda assumed just the opposite: Every sound could be the enemy. In his view, he had to defend himself against any encroachment. Shots were fired. Lives ended. It was only when, in 1974, his former commanding officer was flown to the island and formally delivered new orders to him that Lieutenant Onoda surrendered. 

 

He had been at war for 30 years.

 

In this week's Lectionary selection from Romans, Paul quotes Isaiah 52 when he writes, "How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!" But, Isaiah also raises (and Paul repeats) the question: "Who has believed our message?" People may be sent, proclamations voiced, and the Lord made known throughout the world. But if those who are on the receiving end do not believe that what they hear constitutes good news, they may, like Lieutenant Onoda, refuse to come in from the cold.

 

As happened with Elijah in another of this week's scriptures, when Lieutenant Onoda was given new orders, they were life-changing. The trajectory of the remainder of his life was significantly different from the previous decades. But it took new orders to make that happen. When we humans "dig in" to a belief, it is very difficult to change. It is only when the message comes coupled with what we recognize as a higher power that we are willing to set aside our "old way" and become something entirely new.

 

Paul was exactly that way before his encounter with Jesus on the road to Damascus. He wouldn't surrender without new orders—and he got them.

 

Our takeaway: If, when you deliver your good news, it is rejected, don't be discouraged. People often reject change that seems to conflict with their existing structure—especially if it sounds like they may have to "surrender." Instead of giving up, reach out to God, pray on their behalf. 

 

New orders may be needed.

 

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PHOTO: Lt. Onoda receiving new orders in 1974. (from War History Online)

https://www.warhistoryonline.com/world-war-ii/in-1974-hiro-onoda-became-the-last-japanese-world-war-two-soldier-to-surrender-m.html/amp

_________________________

DaySpring’s Lectionary Breakfast is truly a "stand down" experience. We leave our concerns for a while and just enjoy some time together. Join us Friday morning for food, fellowship, and some time in God's word. We meet in the back function room at Our Breakfast Place. We start at 8:00. Visiting and laughter are both on the menu.

 

Blessings,

Steve

 

SCRIPTURES FOR SUNDAY AND THE COMING WEEK

 

Find them here:

https://lectionary.library.vanderbilt.edu/texts.php?id=154

 

Print them from here:

https://lectionary.library.vanderbilt.edu/pdf//Ax_Proper14.pdf

 

Genesis 37:1-4, 12-28

Psalm 105: 1-6, 16-22, 45b

1 Kings 19:9-18

Psalm 85:8-13

Romans 10:5-15

Matthew 14:22-33

Proper 14 (19) (August 13, 2023)