Seize the Day! (a Steve Orr Lectionary reflection)

Carpe Diem!

It conjures up thoughts of champions; rugged individualists, explorers of the unknown, captains of industry. Maybe we recall Eric Liddell outrunning all those other chariots of fire in the 1924 Olympics. Or great leaders who have shaped our country over the centuries. Or 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."

Regardless, people all about us are urging us to seize the day! They write books about it, make speeches about it, teach classes about it.

And some actually do it.

But most of us, I think, just feel guilty about not doing it. Or not doing it very well. Or not doing it as well as someone else. We hear the exhortation. It sounds like the right thing to do. And none of us wants to be accused of wasting a day.

But I wonder: is Carpe Diem really the best exhortation for us?

John Ortberg, in his Leadership Journal article, What to Do With a Day, suggests we can do better. Our desire should not be to seize the day, but rather to welcome whatever the day brings to us; to have confidence in our God and not feel the need to control it all. He proposes we use "Salve Diem" as our exhortation.

Greet the day.

I liked it immediately. It's the perfect term for this week's Lectionary selection from Matthew: the parable of the Mustard Seed. When we read about how the kingdom of God is like a mustard seed, we find that Jesus provides the interpretation for us: a tiny seed that grows into something so large that it provides shelter.* But it is hard to read this passage and not think of that other Matthew reference to mustard seeds; the one where Jesus tells his disciples that someone with the faith of a mustard seed could move a mountain.

A bad reading of the Mustard Seed parables would have us conclude that we are supposed to try to out-faith each other; that we must dig deep, muster up some more faith; somehow make it grow to be large enough to move mountains. We might come away from those passages thinking we are failing at this faith thing (perhaps asking ourselves: If not, then why can't I move mountains?).

But we would be wrong.

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.

This is the takeaway for us. We need to trust in God, the true Captain of our souls, to provide what is needed for this day. Like Solomon in the 1st Kings passage, we should ask for wisdom to handle what comes our way. And we should do that, "being confident of this, that he who began a good work in [us] will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus." (Philippians 1:6 NIV)

Salve Diem!

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*An interesting reflection on the mustard seed parable: http://dannycoleman.blogspot.com/2012/07/parable-of-mustard-seed.html?m=1

*Short article explaining about the so-called "mustard tree." http://allfearless.com/2012/09/the-mustard-seed-controversy/

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A somewhat different version of this reflection appeared in July 2014 as "The Captain of My Soul."
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READINGS FOR THE COMING WEEK
Proper 12 (17) (July 30, 2017)
http://lectionary.library.vanderbilt.edu/

First reading and Psalm
Genesis 29:15-28
Psalm 105:1-11, 45b or Psalm 128
Alternate First reading and Psalm
1 Kings 3:5-12
Psalm 119:129-136
Second reading
Romans 8:26-39
Gospel
Matthew 13:31-33, 44-52

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Join us at the Waco "Egg and I" restaurant Friday morning at 8:00. We have a great time discussing the scriptures, eating delicious food, and laughing with joy. It's an hour like no other; a wonderful way to greet the day.

Salve Diem!

Steve

The Gods of Summer (a Steve Orr Lectionary reflection)

In the summer of 1962, I encountered a god.

OK, to be fair, it was a comic book god, but the encounter was pretty thrilling nonetheless.

The summer of '62 was when "funny books" took a turn ---a permanent turn, as it turns out--- for the serious. That was when the company that would eventually become Marvel launched The Incredible Hulk (May), Spider-Man (August), and Thor: The God of Thunder (August). Today, we are surrounded by these Marvel characters (and many, many others) on our televisions, in our movie houses, and, of course, in many printed forms. But, then ...

I was still a "tween," not yet a teenager, but no longer a child; Junior High loomed ahead in the approaching fall. 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-Hyde nature of the Incredible Hulk, with his anger management challenges, perfectly resonated with a young male about to explode with not-entirely-welcome testosterone.

But the character who captured me the most that summer was the mild-mannered, partially disabled physician, Don Blake. While vacationing in Norway, he came upon a walking stick in a cave. Blake's limp was pronounced and he needed that walking stick. Eventually, circumstances caused Dr. Blake to strike that stick on a rock ... and in a flash Don Blake was transformed into the Norse God of Thunder, Thor, and the "walking stick" resumed its true form: Mjolnir, the most powerful hammer in existence.

That hammer, forged by dwarves as one of three gifts for the Norse Gods, was enormously powerful; it could level mountains, summon storms. Like a guided missile, it would hit whatever it was thrown toward, and, especially handy, it always returned to the hand of the one who wielded it. Both hammer and god would return to their "lesser" forms whenever Mjolnir was out of Thor's hand for a certain period of time.

Here's what happened in my pre-adolescent brain at the moment of Dr. Blake's transformation: Wow! There's a super hero inside that guy with the limp! And all that day, and for several to follow, and all through the next school year as I read more of Thor's adventures, long after that first adventure had started to fade from short-term memory, my brain still mulled that initial thought:

There was a "god" inside that man.

Thor was one of a pantheon of Norse Gods. The Greeks and Romans had similar pantheons: leader-gods like Odin and trickster gods like Loki. But these were all, actually, god-come-latelies. Long before those cultures rose to the point they could influence even modern day thought, there were other beings designated as gods. In scripture, we come across many cultures that worshiped beings they called gods. Often, these were hand-carved or cast metal forms that occupied space in people's homes or on alters at high places near their cities.

If you've spent nearly any time reading Old Testament scripture, you likely know that God ---the God-of-the-Angel-Armies, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the God who led the Israelites out of Egyptian bondage--- regarded these so-called "gods" as fictitious creations of humans, no more worthy of worship than a rock or block of wood.

And God was angered by any who did worship these pretenders.

And that brings us to Isaiah 44:6-8, one of this week's Lectionary scriptures. After innumerable messages to the worshippers of these idols proclaiming their complete absence of validity, God calls them out:

"Thus says the LORD, the King of Israel, and his Redeemer, the LORD of hosts: I am the first and I am the last; besides me there is no god. Who is like me? Let them proclaim it, let them declare and set it forth before me. Who has announced from of old the things to come? Let them tell us what is yet to be. Do not fear, or be afraid; have I not told you from of old and declared it? You are my witnesses! Is there any god besides me? There is no other rock; I know not one." (NRSV)

With that kind of certainty on display, it may not come as a surprise that when that comic book got me to thinking about the "god" inside the man, it dovetailed perfectly with another such matter that was on my young mind: Immanuel, God-With-Us, the incarnation of Jesus. I was much more interested in the true God, the one who was unafraid to declare Himself to be the one and only, the one so confident of their silence that He was unafraid to challenge those fake gods. The one who entered this existence inside a person ... for real; the one who didn't need a magic hammer to transform him from God to man and back again ... because He could be both at the same time.

That's the God encounter that mattered to me.

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READINGS FOR THE COMING WEEK
Proper 11 (16) (July 23, 2017)

Genesis 28:10-19a
Psalm 139:1-12, 23-24
Isaiah 44:6-8
Psalm 86:11-17
Romans 8:12-25
Matthew 13:24-30, 36-43

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Will you be in the Waco area? We would love for you to join us for Lectionary Breakfast Friday morning. Still meeting in the back room of the local "Egg and I" restaurant, we start (almost exactly, but not really) at 8:00 and have a great hour (ish), together. Come for the food and stay for the fellowship ... or just come for the fellowship.

Our time together is transforming.

Blessings,
Steve

Little House on the Prairie? (a Steve Orr Lectionary reflection)

I am sitting in my seat in class; it's just after lunch. My arms are on my desk and my head is on my arms. At the same time, I am also standing in the doorway while "Pa" Ingles is stretching a thick rope between the small cabin and the barn so he won't get lost during the coming blizzard.

How is that possible? Our third grade teacher is reading to us from one of the Laura Ingles Wilder books. That school year, she took us on a daily journey through the first few of them. I mostly remember LITTLE HOUSE IN THE BIG WOODS, ON THE BANKS OF PLUM CREEK, LITTLE HOUSE ON THE PRAIRIE, and FARMER BOY.

In my imagination, I was there when the blizzard hit the little house in the big woods. I was with Laura when she found leeches on her skin after a dip in the creek. I could see the look on Ma's face when the cow's hoof came through the roof of the sod house.

But there is a mystery, here. I was a Townie. By all rights, I should have known absolutely nothing about barns, creeks, cabins, cows, and ... leeches! How was it I had no problem envisioning these? I grew up in a good sized city in the middle of the USA; our yard had nothing growing in it other than normal lawn greenery. Not even any flowers. Certainly not any crops.

And yet . . . I did then, and still do, know quite a bit about farming.

Like many communities in "the middle," my home town in West Kentucky was almost surrounded by farmland. We were a little different in that one whole side of our town fronted a couple of good-sized rivers. Beyond that, the rest of the town rested against a crescent of farms. It would have been almost impossible for us Townies to not know about farming. It was part of our economy, made headlines in the local paper, and many of our friends and relatives lived and worked on farms out in the county. Our athletes competed with their athletes. FFA and 4H jackets were commonly seen in local stores and eateries. Scouting events were held at the Tobacco Barn.

We knew.

In this week's Lectionary scriptures are several references to agriculture in it's many forms, and it can help to know a bit about agriculture.

Much like the citizens of Jerusalem and the other towns visited by Jesus (Matt 13:1-9, 18-23), when we first heard the parable of the sower, we understood it. We knew all about how seeds need good ground if they are to produce the best crop, how weeds and brambles can choke out a section if not tended, and how birds and other varmints will whisk those seeds away if they are not covered in enough earth. The message in that parable seemed clear enough to us: be the good soil.

But is that the message we're supposed to take away?

In another of this week's Lectionary passages (Isaiah 55:10-11), God declares His word in like the rain: not returning to heaven until it accomplishes His purposes. After reading that, you 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, even though we were Townies we could understand the agricultural references, but why use that approach at all? Well, as you saw in the Matthew passage, we're not the first to ask that question. In His answers to the Disciples who asked about this, Jesus explained: to create readiness.

Jesus said different things to different people; his message was shaped to the listener. What that means is that he assessed them before he spoke to them. What did they need to hear? The leaders often needed shaking up. The poor and oppressed needed to know that God had not forgotten them. The ailing needed a kind word and some intervention.

Not every heart is ready to hear the messages of the gospel in its purest form. So, everyone needs to hear the good news in a way they can understand and appreciate.

First, "create readiness," prepare the soil, and then plant the seed ... something everyone, then, understood.

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READINGS FOR THE COMING WEEK
Proper 10 (15) (July 16, 2017)
http://lectionary.library.vanderbilt.edu/

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

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Join us for Lectionary Breakfast, Friday morning, if you're in Waco. We continue to meet at the "Egg and I" restaurant at 8:00. We share scripture, fellowship, and, yes, a few laughs, over good food. And, if you can't be with us in person, join us in spirit.

The soil is rich.

Enjoy the week!
Steve

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A somewhat different version of this reflection appeared in July 2014 as "Townies."

My Other Life Revisited (a Steve Orr Lectionary reflection)

I have imagined a different life.

It is a different time ... actually a different timeline. People dress in clothing that looks a lot like steampunk costumes, great dirigibles ply the skies, and automobiles look much as they did on the early part of the 20th century. In this imagined life, I am in service to the Queen of England; her personal Paladin. My friends are people like Nikola Tesla and Harriet Quimby. I have many adventures, drive/fly interesting vehicles, and often "go under cover" to ferret out enemies of the Crown.

It's all in fun, a harmless exercise of my imagination. I "do" this imagining through a Pinterest board where, by pinning photos, I tell a kind of story about a life where there's ... mmm ... just a bit more swash in my buckle than in my real life.

Lately, real life has been crowding out my pretend life, and the experience reminds me of something important: We don't always like our real lives.

Sometimes, we don't even like ourselves. We struggle with how to live a good life, often fighting inclinations to do things we know we should not, and sometimes losing that fight. In a pretend life, we are completely in control. So, it's nice to pretend from time to time, to "get away" for awhile from the pressures of this life. It can be fun, and even a relief.

But we must not allow ourselves to spend too much of our time in this retreat. For, as the poet writes:

Life is real! Life is earnest!
And the grave is not thy goal;
Dust thou art, to dust returnest,
Was not spoken of the soul. **

Each of us does have another life, a different life; the one that continues after this one concludes. Scripture says we get a new body ... and adventures so amazing they can't now be described in terms we can understand. For the time being, we must follow the teaching in this week's Lectionary selections from Matthew and Romans.

We must allow The Lord to place us in light harness so we may be guided; and we must trust Him to rescue us when we live a life contrary to what we know is good.

I cannot imagine a better way.

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READINGS FOR THE COMING WEEK
Proper 9 (14) (July 9, 2017)
http://lectionary.library.vanderbilt.edu/

Genesis 24:34-38, 42-49, 58-67
Psalm 45:10-17 or Song of Solomon 2:8-13
Zechariah 9:9-12
Psalm 145:8-14
Romans 7:15-25a
Matthew 11:16-19, 25-30

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** "A Psalm of Life" by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

If interested, you can view my Pinterest Board, "In Another Life," here: http://pin.it/b1n2j5U

A slightly different version of this reflection appeared in July 2014 as "Another Life."
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Join us Friday morning for Lectionary Breakfast. We start at 8:00-ish and spend the hour learning from scripture and each other. The food is good and the fellowship is better!

Waco's "Egg and I" restaurant (in the back).

Blessings,
Steve

Say Anything (a Steve Orr Lectionary reflection)

"I feel like a young John Cusack.”

That's the line from Ben Rector's song, Brand New. The song is about how he feels when he is in love: so joy-filled he believes he can do anything. The lyrics evoke a sense of newness tied to experiences ... like flying, dancing, and laughing. So, it's a bit of stumble when, amidst all those experiences, we get to the line about John Cusack.

Rector says he imagines what happens when he sings the lyric ... that people younger than he just draw a blank and maybe think: who's John Cusack? And that people who are older than he think: does he know who that is?

And, of course, there's the question of why it is even in the lyrics: why include John Cusack in a song about the empowerment of love?

Rector explains that he had in mind the 1989 film, Say Anything. In case you don't recall, Cusack played Lloyd Dobler, an average guy who decides that he will make a play for Diane, the most beautiful girl in his high school and, not incidentally, the class Valedictorian. Everyone, not least her father, is shocked when Diane agrees to date Lloyd. It's a case of optimism ---in the face of no real reason to be optimistic--- triumphing over skepticism.

Film critic Roger Ebert gave it his well-known "thumb up," saying, "one of the best films of the year—a film that is really about something, that cares deeply about the issues it contains—and yet it also works wonderfully as a funny, warmhearted romantic comedy." Not everyone agreed at the time, but the movie is now considered one of the all time best movies about high school; not least because everything about it feels real. There are no magical solutions to the challenges faced by the unlikely couple. No Deus Ex Machina providing a convenient plot twist. The only "super power" on display is Lloyd's youthful optimism.

All that to say, Ben Rector was thinking of Lloyd Dobler's optimism when he wrote/sang "I feel like a young John Cusack.” Being in love made him feel, despite perhaps some evidence to the contrary, that he could, like Lloyd Dobler, risk it all.

He had faith.

In this week's Lectionary passage from Genesis, Abraham is instructed to take his only son and sacrifice him as a burnt offering to God.

That had to be a shock.

Up until then, things had been rocking along pretty well for Abraham. Life was good. Having a son meant he had an heir, a huge thing for Abraham. After many, many decades of thinking his servants would inherit, life had made a very positive turn. It felt brand new. And his love for his son was the centerpiece of that.

And yet.

Clinging to a thin optimism that, somehow ---in the face of all evidence to the contrary--- God would make it all be OK, Abraham obeyed God's command.

He had faith.

Read the passage and learn why one of God's names is Jehovah-Jireh ... "God Provides."

And prepare to feel brand new.
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READINGS FOR THE COMING WEEK
Proper 8 (13) (July 2, 2017)
http://lectionary.library.vanderbilt.edu/

Genesis 22:1-14
Psalm 13
Jeremiah 28:5-9
Psalm 89:1-4, 15-18
Romans 6:12-23
Matthew 10:40-42

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I hope you can join our group Friday morning for what we call "Lectionary Breakfast." We start at 8:00, and spend the hour enjoying the scripture and each other's company. Location: In the back at Waco's "Egg and I" restaurant.

And some of us might just say anything.

Blessings,
Steve

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More about John Cusack and Lloyd Dobler here: https://g.co/kgs/mv9uTk
And: http://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/great-movie-say-anything-1989


More about Ben Rector and Brand New here: http://www.billboard.com/articles/columns/rock/7476878/ben-rector-talks-first-hot-100-hit-brand-new
And: http://roughstock.com/news/2016/06/40507-album-review-ben-rector-brand-new