Revisiting a Dead End (a Steve Orr scripture reflection)

A dead end can be a negative or a positive, depending on your viewpoint. But it can mean real trouble when you come upon one, unexpectedly.

Call it what you will —caving, spelunking ... crazy— exploring under the earth is a pastime that just draws some people. My friend and I were two of those people. We had done our planning, assembled our gear, and were presently deep under the earth.

How deep? I don't know. All I know is that we had been going steadily downward the whole time. We started out walking. Then, we had to crouch a bit. Soon enough, we were crawling on all fours.

And always on a slight decline.

Eventually, the cave ceiling became so low the only practical thing to do was to lie down. For most of that journey, we crawled along with just enough room to use our legs and arms to push/pull us. That wasn't so difficult. Even though it was slight, the incline was downward. There was still room to turn over on our backs whenever we wanted to take a break.

The payoff for all of this? The massive "cave of crystals" rumor said we would find at the end of the tunnel. Others had been there before us, and had promised the experience was well worth all the trouble. So on we went. In time, the tunnel dimensions grew pretty tight. We lost the ability to turn over on our backs; just too narrow. There was just enough ceiling height for us and our gear.

Yogi Berra famously said, “When you come to a fork in the road, take it.” We eventually found ourselves at just such a point. Left? Right? Like many of life’s choices, the two tunnels before us bore nothing to indicate the best way. For no particular reason, we chose the left tunnel.

We had been told that the last stretch was a bit more of an decline, the end of which would be an opening into the large cave. We got pretty excited when the tunnel turned even more downward ... until we came to the wall.

Dead end.

So there we were, one in front of the other, heads down, feet up. At this point, the tunnel was too tight for us to turn around. We hadn't found the crystal cave. We couldn't go forward. We were out of options. We just wanted to give up.

Are you feeling that claustrophobia? That sense of failure? No room to maneuver? Nowhere to turn? Stuck between a rock and a hard place?

The Hebrew word for this kind of situation is "tzoros." It's the word for trouble. Its literal meanings are dire straits, nowhere to turn, between a rock and a hard place, no room to maneuver, out of options, no margin.

That's the word in this week's Lectionary selection from Psalm 91 where God says, "Those who love me, I will deliver; I will protect those who know my name. When they call to me, I will answer them; I will be with them in trouble, I will rescue them and honor them." (NRSV Psalm 91:14-15)

Some trouble is expected. But more often than not, we don’t see it coming. Regardless whether we expected it or were caught off guard, what a difference it makes to not be alone! My friend and I were able to discuss our situation, cheer each other up, and go about the business of moving ourselves, backwards, to the junction. It took a little longer, but our wrong turn helped us know which was the right turn. And taking the right tunnel led us to the crystal cave.

God knows when we are in trouble (tzoros) and will be with us in it. Anne Lamott gets at this in Traveling Mercies: "This is the most profound spiritual truth I know: that even when we're most sure that love can't conquer all, it seems to anyway. It goes down into the rat hole with us . . . and there it swells and comforts. It gives us second winds, third winds, hundredth winds." That is God's response to no margin, to dire straits, to "out of options," to trouble so bad it needs a special word to describe it.

God goes down into it with us. God meets us at the dead end ... even if we’re revisiting that dead end. No matter how much tzoros we’re in, God's expansive (and expanding) love truly can conquer all.

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PHOTO: https://www.theurbanlist.com/sunshinecoast/a-list/queenslands-caves

A different version of this reflection appeared in September 2016 as Dead End.

Link to Anne Lamott’s Traveling Mercies: https://smile.amazon.com/Traveling-Mercies-Some-Thoughts-Faith/dp/0385496095/ref=sr_1_1?crid=HS72A167N5OE&keywords=traveling+mercies+by+anne+lamott&qid=1569534211&sprefix=Traveling+m%2Caps%2C316&sr=8-1
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READINGS FOR THE COMING WEEK
Proper 21 (26) (September 29, 2019)
https://lectionary.library.vanderbilt.edu//texts.php?id=281

Jeremiah 32:1-3a, 6-15
Psalm 91:1-6, 14-16
Amos 6:1a, 4-7
Psalm 146
1 Timothy 6:6-19
Luke 16:19-31
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Join us Friday morning for Lectionary Breakfast. We meet at 8:00 at the Waco "Egg and I" restaurant for an interesting hour of food, scripture, and fellowship.

Blessings,
Steve

Imitating the Streetwise Manager (a Steve Orr scripture reflection)

Wait. Jesus wants us to be like this guy?!

After experiencing a banking crisis as a banker, I opted to work for a federal banking agency. People all over the country were struggling with what to do when their local bank closed its doors ... often, forever. I decided I would rather resolve banking crises than be pummeled by them.

Times of crisis, particularly those related to money, give rise to many interesting things, one of which is “debt forgiveness.” Now, perhaps you’re thinking, “Why would anyone who is owed money want to forgive that debt? Wouldn’t they want it all paid back?” Yes, surprising no one (I hope), people who lend money would like to have their money back. But, in tough times, even the well intentioned may lack the resources to repay all of what they, in good faith, borrowed. My employer’s view: half a loaf is better than none. Better, in our thinking, to forgive some of the debt than to collect none of it. And so, we sometimes allowed people to “write down” their indebtedness to a lower amount.

We forgave some of their debt.

That brings me to the streetwise manager in the parable Jesus tells in Luke. Upon getting caught squandering his employer’s money, he is fired. To soften the impact of this abrupt change in his soft life, he forgives a portion of the debt owed his employer by some major debtors. He allowed them to reduce their debt for his own benefit, not his employer’s. His hope was to be welcomed into their homes once his employer cut him loose.

It was a shrewd move.

Shockingly, Jesus wants us to imitate the guy!

Read what Jesus told his disciples (from THE MESSAGE): ““Now here’s a surprise: The master praised the crooked manager! And why? Because he knew how to look after himself. Streetwise people are smarter in this regard than law-abiding citizens. They are on constant alert, looking for angles, surviving by their wits. I want you to be smart in the same way —but for what is right— using every adversity to stimulate you to creative survival, to concentrate your attention on the bare essentials, so you’ll live, really live, and not complacently just get by on good behavior.””
(‭‭Luke‬ ‭16:8-9‬ ‭MSG‬‬ - https://www.bible.com/bible/97/luk.16.8-9.msg)

To be clear, Jesus is not advocating we be dishonest like the self-centered manager, but rather to be smart and alert as we traverse this life. Jesus doesn’t call us to a life of passivity. We are to be actively seeking, every day, opportunities to do good, to do right.

Creative survival: it’s just another way of saying, “Be wise as serpents, harmless as doves.” (Matthew 10:16)

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PHOTO: Steve Orr

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READINGS FOR THE COMING WEEK
Proper 20 (25) (September 22, 2019)
https://lectionary.library.vanderbilt.edu//texts.php?id=280

Jeremiah 8:18-9:1
Psalm 79:1-9
Amos 8:4-7
Psalm 113
1 Timothy 2:1-7
Luke 16:1-13

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Friday mornings at DaySpring’s Lectionary Breakfast are special. Starting at 8:00, we take an hour to eat, pray, read scripture, and engage us some fascinating discussions. We meet at Our Breakfast Place (formerly Egg and I). You should join us.

Blessings,
Steve

The Second Kick of the Mule (a Steve Orr scripture reflection)

They say we’re supposed to learn from our experiences. They also say “hope springs eternal.”

There’s a scene I like in the movie, Jesse Stone: Lost In Paradise. Police Chief Jesse Stone (played perfectly by Tom Selleck) tries to mend a broken relationship ... but she’s frosty.

AMANDA: “Chief Stone.”
JESSE: “— Jesse.”
AMANDA: “Mr. Fish is waiting for you, Chief Stone.”
JESSE: “I know our last meeting didn't go very well, And I see you're still upset. I'm sorry.”
AMANDA: “I questioned your intentions. You asked me why. And I said I've kissed a few frogs in my day. Are you a frog, Jesse?”
JESSE: “I don't think so. Perhaps you'd let me make it up to you over a cup of coffee.”
AMANDA: “There's no education in the second kick of a mule.”
JESSE: “I see.”
(Key pad beeping)
(Door clicking open)
JESSE: “I'm ... very sorry, Amanda.”
AMANDA: “... ... ... Just coffee.”

What do you think? Should Amanda take Mark Twain’s advice about the mule kick? Or should she take a chance, betting Jesse’s not just another frog with a bogus claim to royalty? In romance, we always want them to be good people. It is our hope they will finally find what they’ve been looking for. But ... experience can be a cruel teacher, and some of us are slow to learn.

That seems to be a theme running in this week’s scriptures. God’s people were supposed to be in a committed relationship with God ... but, over and over, they just kept being drawn away to false gods.

They had spent a lot of years “kissing frogs” before God had Moses lead them out of Egypt. In fact, they kissed frogs for so long, they came to believe that was how things were supposed to be. Perhaps we can understand how they were so easily drawn to those bad boys. It’s a hard habit to break. Still, you have to wonder. It’s not like they did these things in a vacuum. God kept giving them reasons to know that He was the real deal. And, He kept showing how those false gods never delivered; that, at best, they were just frogs claiming a kiss would transform them into princes.

Hopefully, we can read these passages and learn the lessons they teach. There’s no need to subject ourselves to a bunch of lies and liars trying to take God’s place in our lives. We should be able to lean into the teachings of Jesus and the example of the Apostle Paul in this week’s selections.

Because, after all, the saying is true: there really is nothing new to learn in the second kick of a mule.

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PHOTO: Adobe Spark Post
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READINGS FOR THE COMING WEEK
Proper 19 (24) (September 15, 2019)
https://lectionary.library.vanderbilt.edu/texts.php?id=279

Jeremiah 4:11-12, 22-28
Psalm 14
Exodus 32:7-14
Psalm 51:1-10
1 Timothy 1:12-17
Luke 15:1-10
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DaySpring’s Lectionary Breakfast meets Friday morning at Our Breakfast Place (formerly Egg and I). The hour starts at 8:00 and includes food, fellowship, scripture, and a robust exchange of ideas. Plus, there’s always the chance of some possibly inappropriate laughter.

Join us.
Steve

I Bless the Rains Down in Africa (a Steve Orr scripture reflection)

No member of the band, Toto, had ever been anywhere near the continent of Africa, but they wrote and performed a number one hit song about it, anyway. It’s true: main lyricist David Paich later revealed that the descriptions of Africa in the song came from what he had read in National Geographic. When he finally toured Africa over a decade later, locals were shocked to learn he had never been there before; they felt he had described it “so beautifully” in the song.

But the surprising part is that the song is actually about a lonely missionary.

Wait. What?

In an interview published in The Guardian,** Paich explained that he had attended an all-boys Catholic school as a child ... that it was there he first heard from teachers who had served as missionaries in Africa. They told tales about their work, and did not hide how lonely it often was for them. The song reflects these stories. It attempts to capture the thoughts of one lonely missionary struggling with whether to follow his heart to a future with a woman he loves or to follow his heart to stay and minister to Africa.

The lyrics move back and forth between his feeling for the woman and his feelings for Africa. To the woman he sings: “It's gonna take a lot to drag me away from you! There's nothing that a hundred men or more could ever do!” Yet, Africa keeps interrupting these declarations, calling to him with its sound and beauty. He does seek the advice of an Elder, hoping that person can provide wisdom from “some old forgotten words or ancient melodies.” All we know is that he is advised to “Hurry boy, it’s waiting there for you.” The “it” in this guidance is not clarified for us: is “it” the love of the land and the people? Or, is “it” the love of the woman? The song doesn’t tell us. We are left to ponder.

Who writes a song about missionaries, about people felt called by God to go and serve others in a foreign land? Perhaps a person inspired to do so? Paich admitted that, because the song almost poured out of him fully formed, he felt “as if a higher power was writing through me....” I suspect the psalmists and the prophets of the Bible would recognize that feeling ... and not just that feeling, but the struggles and loneliness, as well.

But does a person need to be a missionary to relate to all that? Of course not. As we move along our own spiritual journey, we face struggles and loneliness; we question our commitment to the Lord, our adequacy to the task, whether anyone even cares about what we are experiencing. It can be daunting. As they sometimes say: the struggle is real.

What we do know is this: while they were making their choices, those missionaries were not idle. They continued to “do the duty” as poet Robert Browning would put it. Which brings us to another thing that stood out in Paich’s memory of his school days: the attitude the missionaries had toward those to whom they ministered.

An attitude we could certainly imitate.

Paich recalled that, despite their struggles and loneliness, they blessed everyone and everything; “the villagers, their Bibles, their books, their crops....” Despite their own personal problems, these ministers never stopped ministering, never failed to extend their blessings.

They even blessed the rains down in Africa.


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Link to Africa performed by Toto (with lyrics): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qDLJ3pUZm9A&app=desktop

PHOTO (and an excellent Billboard article about Toto and Africa): https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.billboard.com/amp/articles/columns/rock/8097503/toto-africa-oral-history-interview

**The Guardian interview: https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2018/jan/30/toto-how-we-made-africa

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READINGS FOR THE COMING WEEK
Proper 18 (23) (September 8, 2019)
https://lectionary.library.vanderbilt.edu//texts.php?id=278

Jeremiah 18:1-11
Psalm 139:1-6, 13-18
Deuteronomy 30:15-20
Psalm 1
Philemon 1:1-21
Luke 14:25-33

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Friday morning is coming. Will you be with us? DaySpring’s Lectionary Breakfast is a perfect place and time to explore the scriptures, discuss how they impact our lives, and eat a nice meal. We read, we talk, we eat, and we laugh. Join us at 8:00 at “Our Breakfast Place” (formerly The Egg and I, corner of New Road and Franklin).

Blessings,
Steve