Still Can’t Face the Day? (a Steve Orr Bible reflection)

How do you face the day? 

 

Do you need Gordon Lightfoot’s proverbial second cup of coffee? Or maybe you need a battle cry to get your motor running? Conventional wisdom tells us to seize the day: Carpe Diem! 

When I hear that phrase, it conjures those stirring last lines of William Ernest Henley's poem, Invictus: 

 

"I am the master of my fate, 

 I am the captain of my soul."

 

People everywhere urge us to seize the day. They write about it, make speeches about it, teach classes about it. Some actually do it. 

Most of us, though, just feel guilty about not doing it. Or not doing it very well. Or not doing it as well as someone else. We’ve all heard the exhortation. It sounds like the right thing to do. And, as Pulitzer Prize winning author Annie Dillard* writes: “How we spend our days is, of course, how we spend our lives.” No one wants to be accused of wasting a day. 

Still, I wonder: Is Carpe Diem really the best exhortation for us? Do we even need a daily battle cry?

John Ortberg, theologian and author, suggests our desire should not be to seize the day, but rather to welcome whatever the day brings to us.** We should have confidence in our God and not feel the need to control it all. He proposes we substitute "Salve” for “Carpe."

 

Salve Diem: Greet the day.

 

It's the perfect term for this week's Matthew selection. In the parable of the mustard seed, Jesus explains the kingdom of God is like a tiny seed growing into something so large that it provides an enormous shelter.*** We need to trust in God, the true captain of our souls, to provide what is needed for this day. And, like Solomon in this week’s 1 Kings passage, we should ask for wisdom to handle what comes our way. 

 

The Kingdom of God really is like a mustard seed: Massive growth is inevitable because the mustard seed knows no limits. The mustard seed doesn't "seize the day." 

 

It simply is what God made it. 

 

By being itself, the mustard seed grows to great size. That’s what mustard seeds do. And that is the takeaway for us. We must trust that God can and will use us as we are.    

 

With faith in God to be in it with us, we can all say “Salve Diem!”

 

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BONUS MATERIAL 

 

PHOTO of a fully grown mustard plant: 

https://snowmasschapel.org/mustard-seed-moments/

For you Gordon Lightfoot fans, here’s Chris Roberts’ cover of Gordon’s “Second Cup of Coffee” with all its pathos, regret, and desire for second chances:  

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

*Annie Dillard’s The Writing Life

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/12530.The_Writing_Life?ac=1&from_search=true&qid=hjOjAYlwjf&rank=1

**Ortberg’s article “What to Do With a Day” resides, unfortunately, behind a paywall. So, unless you have a subscription to “Christianity Today Pastors,” you’ll have to take my word for it. 

***Short article explaining about the so-called "mustard tree."

http://allfearless.com/2012/09/the-mustard-seed-controversy/

 

***A reflection on the mustard seed parable:

http://dannycoleman.blogspot.com/2012/07/parable-of-mustard-seed.html?m=1

 

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Join us for DaySpring’s Lectionary Breakfast on Zoom* and in Waco at Our Breakfast Place. We meet Friday morning at 8:00. We have a great time discussing the scriptures, eating some delicious food, and laughing out loud. It's a wonderful way to greet the day.  Salve Diem.

 

Second cups of coffee are on the house. 

Blessings,

Steve

 

*Zoom link (Zoom allows you to mute the camera and the microphone if you don’t wish to be seen or heard.)

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/89947678414

 

SCRIPTURES FOR SUNDAY AND THE COMING WEEK

 

Find them here:

https://lectionary.library.vanderbilt.edu/texts/?y=17134&z=p&d=66

 

Print them from here:

https://lectionary.library.vanderbilt.edu/wp-content/uploads/pdfs/Ax_Proper12.pdf

 

Genesis 29:15-38

Psalm 105: 1-11, 45b

Psalm 128

1 Kings 3: 5-12

Psalm 119: 129-136

Romans 8: 26-39

Matthew 13: 31-33, 44-52

Proper 12 (17) Ninth Sunday After Pentecost (July 26, 2026)

 

In the Summer of ’62 (a Steve Orr Bible reflection)

In the summer of 1962, I met a god. 

 

It was a comic-book god, but the encounter was thrilling just the same. That’s when Marvel changed the world, launching three new books:  Spider-Man, The Incredible Hulk, and Thor: The God of Thunder.

 

I was a "tween"—not yet a teenager, no longer a little child. Junior high and high school still loomed ahead. I was a ripe target for the angst-filled storylines of Spider-Man and his alter-ego, high school science nerd Peter Parker. The Jekyll-and-Hyde nature of the Incredible Hulk, with his anger management challenges, perfectly resonated with a young male starting to explode with not-entirely-welcome hormones. But the comic-book character who truly enthralled me that summer was the mild-mannered, partially-disabled physician Don Blake. 

 

While vacationing in Norway, Dr. Blake found a stick in a cave. He decided to use it as a cane. Later, circumstances caused him to strike that stick on a rock—and in a flash Don Blake the human was transformed into Thor, the Norse god of thunder. The "stick" resumed its true form: the mighty Mjolnir, the most powerful hammer in existence. At the moment of Dr. Blake's transformation, my pre-adolescent brain wrestled with an astonishing realization: There was a "god" inside that human.

But, while I thrilled to the adventures of Thor, I was troubled that he was portrayed as a god. As far as I was concerned, there could be only one. By spending my hard-earned pennies on those comics, was I, somehow, worshipping a false god? The workaround I finally granted myself was this: This Thor is a fictitious god, just a comic-book superhero. 

 

This week’s scripture passages are filled with God encounters. We also encounter something else: God’s anger toward any who worship pretend gods. God repeatedly sent messages to those idol worshippers: Your “gods” have zero validity. 

 

If you've read Old Testament scripture, you know that God—the God of the Angel Armies—regarded these so-called "gods" as fictitious creations of humans, no more worthy of worship than a rock or block of wood. In the Isaiah passage, God called them out: 

 

"I am the first and I am the last; besides me there is no god. Who is like me? Let them proclaim it. Who has announced from of old the things to come? Let them tell us what is yet to be. There is no other rock; I know not one."

 

With that kind of Biblical clarity, it should come as no surprise that the comic-book made me think about the "god" inside the man. It dovetailed perfectly with another matter on my young mind: the incarnation of Jesus. I realized I am much more interested in the true God, the God who is unafraid to declare Himself the one and only, the God who is confident the fake ones will not reply. 

 

My God is unafraid to challenge those fake gods. My God entered this existence inside a person—for real. My God doesn't need a magic hammer to transform to human and back again. He is already both at the same time—and the only real God I encountered in the summer of ’62.

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PHOTO (THOR’S HAMMER and a deeper dive into Thor, his hammer, and related Norse mythology):

https://norse-mythology.org/symbols/thors-hammer/

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We would love for you to join us Friday morning for DaySpring’s Lectionary Breakfast. We meet on Zoom* and in Waco at Our Breakfast Place. We gather at 8:00 and have a great hour together. Come for the food and stay for the fellowship. Or just come for the fellowship. Our time together is transforming.

 

All sticks (and hammers) must be checked at the door.

 

Blessings,

Steve

 

*Zoom link (Zoom allows you to mute the camera and the microphone if you don’t wish to be seen or heard.)

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/89947678414

 

SCRIPTURES FOR SUNDAY AND THE COMING WEEK

 

Find them here:

https://lectionary.library.vanderbilt.edu/texts/?y=17134&z=p&d=65

 

Print them from here:

https://lectionary.library.vanderbilt.edu/wp-content/uploads/pdfs/Ax_Proper11.pdf

 

Genesis 28:10-19a

Psalm 139:1-12, 23-24

Isaiah 44:6-20

Psalm 86:11-17

Romans 8:12-25

Matthew 13:24-30, 36-43

Proper 11 (16) (July 19, 2026)

 

 

Preparing the Soil (a Steve Orr Bible reflection)

I was a “townie.” I grew up in a good-sized city in the middle of the USA. Our tiny house sat on a busy street corner and sported a yard of patchy grass and Mimosa trees. No flowers. Certainly not any crops. By all rights, I should know absolutely nothing about farming.

 

And yet…I know quite a bit about farming.

 

Like many communities in "the middle," my hometown rested against a crescent of farmland. It was impossible for us to not know about it. Farming was part of our economy, made headlines in the newspaper. Many of our friends and relatives lived and worked on farms. Scouting events were held at the Tobacco Barn.

 

We knew. 

 

Almost any one of us could tell you about soil preparation; how a farmer first plowed, then harrowed, then furrowed the soil. All before ever planting a single seed. 

 

Much like the followers of Jesus, when we heard the parable of the sower in this week’s Matthew passage, we understood the farming part. We knew about seeds needing good ground to produce the best crop, how weeds and brambles can choke out a section, and how birds and varmints will whisk those seeds away if they are not covered in enough earth.

 

One might wonder why Jesus told so many parables; why not just speak plainly? Why should they (and we) have to "figure out" what is meant by a story? Sure, we could understand the agricultural references—even though we were townies—but why use that approach at all? Turns out, we aren’t the first to ask. Those first disciples beat us to it. Jesus explained: Not every listener could receive the direct teaching He had been giving the disciples. There was no “readiness” in many people’s hearts.

 

Jesus said different things to different people; His message was and still is shaped to the listener. He assessed His listeners before He spoke to them. What do they need to hear? The leaders often need shaking up. The poor and oppressed need to know that God has not forgotten them. The ailing need a kind word and some intervention. And, of course, everyone needs to hear the good news in a way they can understand and appreciate.

 

Like any good farmer, Jesus understood there was a need to, first, prepare the soil. Planting came only after the soil was ready to receive. He used parables to create that readiness. Then He planted the seed.

 

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PHOTO: Adobe Express 

 

BONUS MATERIAL

His first listeners likely understood something else many of us might miss: In the Matthew passage, Jesus was referencing the prophet Jeremiah: “Plow up the hard ground of your hearts! Do not waste your good seed among thorns.” (Jeremiah 4:3)

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

 

Plows must be checked at the door.

Blessings,

Steve

 

*Zoom link (Zoom allows you to mute the camera and the microphone if you don’t wish to be seen or heard):

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/89947678414

 

SCRIPTURES FOR SUNDAY AND THE COMING WEEK

 

Find them here:

https://lectionary.library.vanderbilt.edu/texts/?y=17134&z=p&d=64

 

Print them from here:

https://lectionary.library.vanderbilt.edu/wp-content/uploads/pdfs/Ax_Proper10.pdf

 

Genesis 25:19-34

Psalm 119:105-112

Isaiah 55:10-13

Psalm 65:(1-8), 9-13

Romans 8:1-11

Matthew 13:1-23

Proper 10 (15) (July 12, 2026) (Seventh Sunday After Pentecost)