Several years ago, a question was put to Futurists consulting with a government think tank: "How would life be lived if, every day for 20 minutes, there was no gravity?"
The group immediately split into two different camps: the "gravity will disappear every day at the same time" camp and the "no one knows when the 20 minutes of non-gravity will occur in a given day" camp.
The scenarios they tossed out were, to say the least, intriguing. Everything from "we would need to anchor everything not already tied down" to "we could take it as an opportunity to teach people to fly." Other ideas included permanently labeling everything so items that "strayed" could be returned to the rightful owner and strengthening roofs so they could withstand the impact of objects that would, surely, fall on them when gravity resumed.
Still, what is most interesting to me is that not a single one of them applied their scenarios any where except on Earth. You see, at that point in time, no one had actually flown into space; the Earth had yet to be orbited; space stations were fully the province of fiction. None of these folk, until later told to do so, considered the question from the perspective of outer space.
They were thinking chaos would ensue for 20 minutes every day; that, at a minimum, the potential for loss and injury had to be addressed.
This makes me think about the passages of this week's Lectionary readings. Psalm 81:11-12 talks about what would happen if our spiritual gravity were switched off, perhaps permanently. We would be allowed to follow our OWN counsel. Like an object no longer tethered to the Earth by gravity, we would spin off in the direction we were already headed, but with nothing to break our speed except impact. Our "own counsel" would soon lead us to destruction.
Despite how we often chafe against its seeming limitations, we need the spiritual gravity God offers us to keep us tethered to reality, to continue moving in orbit around all that truly matters.
This week's passages are all about HOW we do that.
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http://lectionary.library.vanderbilt.edu
READINGS FOR THE COMING WEEK
Proper 17 (22) (September 1, 2013)
Jeremiah 2:4-13
Psalm 81:1, 10-16
Sirach 10:12-18 or Proverbs 25:6-7
Psalm 112
Hebrews 13:1-8, 15-16
Luke 14:1, 7-14
I hope to see you Friday morning at "The Egg and I" in Waco. From 8:00 to 9:00, we have a great time rocketing through the scriptures, and the food is LOTS better than paste and Tang :-)
Enjoy the week!
Steve
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