Han Solo and the Pestering Widow (a Steve Orr Bible reflection)

Han Solo is one of the most compelling characters of the Star Wars saga. Whether you consider him a hero of the revolution or an enemy of the state, his journey is worth following all the way to the end.

When we first meet Han in the original Star Wars film, he is hanging out in a bar with his…um…“peers.” Obi-Wan Kenobi describes the Mos Eisley Cantina as “a wretched hive of scum and villainy.” Han seems to belong in that hive. Cheat, braggart, smuggler. Ruthless. That’s the Han we meet.  

 

And, he is a liar. 

 

Wait. What? Sure: cheat, braggart, smuggler, even ruthless. (After all, Han shot first.*) But liar? Where does that come from?

 

Han brags to Luke and Obi-Wan that his spaceship is more than fast enough to meet their needs. He claims, "It's the ship that made the Kessel Run in less than 12 parsecs."

 

Astronomers and astrophysicists shuddered.

 

Scientifically speaking, that can’t possibly be how fast the spaceship made the Kessel Run. A parsec is actually a measurement of distance, not speed. One parsec is roughly 3.26 light-years (about 19 trillion miles). So, if Han wasn't bragging about the speed of his ship, what did he mean?  

 

Well, the Internet is full of answers.

 

Many serious scientists have weighed in on this, and their answers run the gamut. One theory: Han took a short-cut through a dangerous region of space to reduce the distance, an action a more risk-averse pilot would not take. One scientist talked of wormholes (or hyperspace). One wrote a very learned paper on why it had to be time-travel.

 

In the case of Han Solo, it’s unlikely there will ever be an answer that is acceptable to everyone. However, Star Wars author George Lucas is on record with his answer: His note in the script says Han’s brag was "obvious misinformation.")

 

And who knows better than the author?

 

The situation is similar to what happens when we read the words of Jesus. That’s especially true when He tells a parable as He did in this week’s Luke passage. We often get caught up in the details of the parable—completely missing the reason Jesus told the parable.

Read the passage. Then consider some of the questions usually raised about it. What are we supposed to make of the hard-hearted judge and the widow who pesters him? There are only eight verses, but the debates about the meaning of this parable are, seemingly, infinite. Is the judge God? Are we the widow? Are we supposed to act like the judge? Should we seek justice like the widow—keep pestering until we get our way? Is it important for us to figure out who her adversary is, so we can apply it to our lives? And what is Jesus trying to tell us with that last statement about faith? Or was the parable told just for the benefit of the twelve apostles, and not for us?

 

On and on the debates go—all of it, in my opinion, missing the point.

 

The passage opens with: "Jesus told them a parable to show them they should always pray and not lose heart.“ Luke indicates the purpose right there in the very first verse. If you read the parable and come away with any other meaning than that we "should always pray and not lose heart," then you have drifted from what Jesus meant for His audience to take away from the parable. 

 

And who knows better than the author?

 

_________________________

PHOTO by Steve Orr (Library in Hotel 1928, Waco, Texas)

*Memory refresher-Han & Greedo in the Cantina:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PjGZ8ABEFhI

 

 

Script note: Han was lying about the 12 parsecs:

https://imsdb.com/scripts/Star-Wars-A-New-Hope.html

 

 

_________________________

 

DaySpring continues to meet for Lectionary Breakfast every Friday morning on Zoom** and in person at Our Breakfast Place. Join us at 8:00 for some excellent earth-based foods and some celestial discussions.

 

Astrophysicists are welcome, but must limit themselves to words we can all understand. 

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=384&z=p&d=80

Print them here:

https://lectionary.library.vanderbilt.edu/wp-content/uploads/pdfs/Cx_Proper24.pdf

Jeremiah 31:27-34

Psalm 119:97-104

Genesis 32:22-31

Psalm 121

2 Timothy 3:14-4:5

Luke 18:1-8

Proper 24 (29) (October 19, 2025)

A How-To Guide: Outlanders and Sassenachs (a Steve Orr Bible reflection)

Consider Claire Randall of the Outlander novels. Claire fell through time from 1945 England to 18th Century Scotland. Surrounded by Highlanders, and stuck with her clearly British accent, she was a Sassenach. It’s a term used by locals to label outlanders: that is, anyone who is “from away." She's wasn’t one of them—and they reminded her of it every single day. 

 

Are you an outlander? Do you ever feel like you've been exiled from all that brings you comfort? Do you sometimes find yourself surrounded by folks who seem like they’re a tribe, but not one to which you can belong?

That's so uncomfortable, and so filled with rejection it can become unbearable. I think all of us have had this kind of experience to some degree: at school or on the playground, at work, in the neighborhood, in our towns—even, sadly, at church. We don't seem to know the lingo, and even if we want to assimilate, no one seems interested in helping us. We feel different—and truly, we are different.

 

What are we supposed to do? Keep a stiff upper lip? Remain calm and carry on? The answer might lie with Claire. Until she can return to her home and her previous life, she must find a way to fit in.

 

God’s guidance to the banished Israelites in this week's scriptures is all about how they might fit in. God wanted them to fit into a place that was foreign in every sense of the word. In language, culture, and societal position, those exiles were outlanders. God’s message through the prophet Jeremiah told them how to act while they remained in Babylon. At last they knew what God expected of them while they were being outlanders—true strangers in a strange land. 

 

God’s message to them: Get married and have children. Encourage your children to marry and have children. Build houses and live in them. Plant gardens and eat the produce. In other words, settle in. Of most importance: “Seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile, and pray to the Lord on its behalf, for in its welfare you will find your welfare."

 

When circumstance or other people—or our own choices—make us sassenachs and outlanders, we must not let that immobilize us. We must keep living as best we can. We must grow, flourish even—settle in and bloom where we’re planted.

 

Most important, we must seek the best for those among whom we are the sassenachs and outlanders. Even going so far as to pray to God for their well-being. Their welfare is our welfare. 

 

That's loving your neighbor as yourself.

 

__________

PHOTO: “A Stewart (Stuart) Clan Tartan Plaid” by Steve Orr

Outlander by Diana Gabaldon:

https://www.amazon.com/Outlander-4-Copy-Boxed-Set-Dragonfly/dp/1101887486/ref=sr_1_2?crid=RI3B7B1IRHPW&keywords=Outlander&qid=1664986179&qu=eyJxc2MiOiI0LjA2IiwicXNhIjoiNC43OCIsInFzcCI6IjQuMzgifQ%3D%3D&s=books&sprefix=outlander%2Cstripbooks%2C110&sr=1-2

 

_________________________

 

Friday morning is a great time for you to join us at Dayspring’s Lectionary Breakfast. We start at 8:00, sharing our mealtime at Our Breakfast Place (and on Zoom**). We continue with scripture, discussion, and some of the best fellowship anywhere. We're supposed to finish at 9:00, and some do, but some stay longer. It's that good. 

 

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=384&z=p&d=79

 

Print them here:

https://lectionary.library.vanderbilt.edu/wp-content/uploads/pdfs/Cx_Proper23.pdf

 

Jeremiah 29:1, 4-7

Psalm 66:1-12

2 Kings 5:1-3, 7-15c

Psalm 111

2 Timothy 2:8-15

Luke 17:11-19

Proper 23 (28) (October 12, 2025)

The Trouble With Yesterday (a Steve Orr Bible reflection)

In the film Yesterday,  would-be rocker Jack Malik awakens in the hospital after a bad traffic accident. That’s a good thing. But Jack soon discovers he has awakened to a world where he is apparently the only person who remembers the Beatles. 

 

In an early scene, Jack, still unaware of what has transpired, sings “Yesterday” to some of his friends. They assume it’s his song since they’ve never heard it before. And they are stunned. The song is far better than anything Jack has ever written. They are bowled over by the sense of longing so perfectly conveyed through its lyrics and music. As I watched the scene and listened to him sing, I found I could easily imagine that I, too, was hearing it for the first time: 

“Yesterday, all my troubles seemed so far away.
Now it looks as though they're here to stay.
Oh, I believe in yesterday.

Suddenly, I'm not half the man I used to be.
There's a shadow hanging over me.”

And there it was: a deep, deep desire to somehow turn back the clock, a longing to travel back in time to something and somewhere that could no longer be. 

Would you like to travel to the past?

 

Time is like a river—or so Einstein thought. He believed it flowed, that it sped up and slowed down. His contemporaries thought time might have banks like a river, that the past was back there, just around a bend. They believed that if someone had great desire to do so, really wanted to go, he or she could travel back the way the "river" had come, back around the bend, so to speak, to the past.

This is the theme tying together several of this week's scriptures. Not time travel, per se, but the almost overwhelming desire to return to the past. This is particularly true of Psalm 137 and the first passage from Lamentations where the writers capture the laments of the Israelites, enslaved by Babylon and exiled far from home.

 

Of course, the real problem is not years or miles, but rather the distance one has traveled from God. The Israelites mourned for the land of Israel, not fully grasping that the place called Israel was nothing without its relationship to God. That's why they were in exile in the first place: They had drifted away from God and needed time and circumstance to teach them that lesson.

 

Do you ever feel a sense of melancholy for a time and place in the past? Could it be that what you really desire is a closer relationship with God? The selections from Psalm 137, Lamentations 3, and Habakkuk provide us some relief and point us toward some true solutions for our longing. 

 

As followers of Jesus, our situation is different from those exiled Israelites. Underscored in the 2 Timothy passage is that the Holy Spirit flows within us, connecting us believers to God in ways we cannot even fully understand. Like a river, it brings spiritual life and nourishment to us. When we feel ourselves drifting from God, we can pray in that Spirit for what we need to fully reconnect us. 

 

That’s better than Einstein’s river of time. For Jesus is the same yesterday, today, and forever. No time travel needed.

_________________________

PHOTO: “Back Round the Bend” by Steve Orr, (Skagway River, Alaska)

To fully appreciate the overwhelming sadness of exiled Israelites and their longing to return, listen to this song ("Babylon") from the TV show, Mad Men. The lyrics are borrowed from Psalm 137:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S78xHlm36xY

From the movie, Jack Malik sings “Yesterday”: 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5VgRuLQgeSE

 

For you Rat Pack fans, here’s the Frank Sinatra version of “Yesterday”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y0fP5srK8k8

 

How Paul McCartney Wrote “Yesterday”: https://www.esquiremag.ph/culture/music/beatles-yesterday-history-a1926-20190913-lfrm

 

_________________________

 

Join us Friday morning at DaySpring’s Lectionary Breakfast. We gather at 8:00 on Zoom** and in person at Our Breakfast Place. We wrap things up about an hour later. The food is good. But the scripture, discussion, fellowship, and laughter are better.

Time travelers must arrive on time!

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=384&z=p&d=78

 

Print them here:

https://lectionary.library.vanderbilt.edu/wp-content/uploads/pdfs/Cx_Proper22.pdf

 

Lamentations 1:1-6

Lamentations 3:19-26 or Psalm 137

Habakkuk 1:1-4; 2:1-4

Psalm 37:1-9

2 Timothy 1:1-14

Luke 17:5-10

Proper 22 (27) (October 5, 2025)

_________________________