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

How do you face the day, these days? 

 

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

When I hear that, 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 books 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, of course, none of us wants to be accused of wasting a day.

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

 

Our desire, John Ortberg suggests, 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 that 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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PHOTO: Steve Orr

BONUS MATERIAL 

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

 

*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 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.

 

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=152

Print them from here:

https://lectionary.library.vanderbilt.edu/pdf//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) (July 30, 2023)