Vivi Dropped Her Basket (a Steve Orr Lectionary reflection)

Vivi had a secret.

In the novel, Devine Secrets of the Ya Ya Sisterhood, we meet a group of older women who have been friends since early childhood. Despite their flaws, they still care deeply for each other. A war has erupted between one of the sisterhood, Vivi, and her adult daughter, Sidda. Like many family conflicts, it stems from equal parts truth and misunderstanding.

Hoping to reconcile mother and daughter, the other members of the Ya Ya Sisterhood kidnap Sidda from her life in New York City and spirit her away to Louisiana. Because she needs to understand just why her mother is so difficult a person, they must reveal to Sidda her mother's deepest, darkest secret. And so, they tell her.

Vivi dropped her basket.

That’s the phrase Vivi used to describe a time when she had a mental and emotional breakdown as a young mother, brutally beat her children, and was then hospitalized for her subsequent attempted suicide.

Vivi dropped her basket.

Life can be tough. Some of us fare better than others. Some of us are, for reasons known and unknown, stronger than others when it comes to our mental and emotional health. And, even when we appear strong to those around us, we can be coming apart on the inside.

Any of us can be fragile. Even those of us who follow Jesus. We are not immune.

The Twila Paris song, The Warrior is a Child, is about that fragility among believers: "People say that I'm amazing, strong beyond my years. But they don't see inside of me, I'm hiding all the tears ... I drop my sword and cry for just a while, 'cause deep inside this armor, the warrior is a child." (https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=uRNFf3ykQvM)

Elijah, a true warrior for the Lord, was this almost superhuman prophet of the Old Testament. He performed amazing feats in the name of the Lord. People were in awe of his power and authority. To his peers, he seemed the ideal warrior for the Lord.

And yet.

Elijah dropped his basket.

That's the story we find in this week's Lectionary passage from 1 Kings. This great warrior for God, on the heels of a mighty victory ... just loses it. In fear, he runs out into the wilderness; so depressed, he begs God to take his life. Do you see God’s response?

Rest and sustenance.

And then ... more rest and sustenance.

Why? Because God knew Elijah needed both before he could begin the journey back; a journey that included an audience with God.

Keep that in mind as we face the struggles that affect us in this life. No matter how strong we've been, no matter how amazing our most recent mountaintop experience, no matter the number of victories we've achieved, any of us can drop our basket.

Like Elijah, we can depend on God to be in it with us, to hear what we have to say, and, if we can receive it, to ensure we receive the rest and sustenance we need for our journey.

But there’s something else here: we might, instead, be the person God has sent to deliver the rest and sustenance to one who has dropped their basket.

Just like the Ya Ya Sisterhood.

_______________________
PHOTO: Steve Orr - Waco, Texas - August, 2018

_______________________
A slightly different version of this reflection appeared in June 2016.

_________________________

READINGS FOR THE COMING WEEK
Proper 14 (19) (August 12, 2018)
https://lectionary.library.vanderbilt.edu//

2 Samuel 18:5-9, 15, 31-33
Psalm 130
1 Kings 19:4-8
Psalm 34:1-8
Ephesians 4:25-5:2
John 6:35, 41-51
_________________________

Once again, we meet Friday morning for DaySpring’s Lectionary Breakfast at the Waco “Egg and I” restaurant. Join us at 8:00 for a great hour of food and fellowship. We’re usually in the function room (down the outside, near the back). But if you can’t find us, ask.

Blessings,
Steve

Conquistador (a Lectionary reflection by Steve Orr)

In the novel, Conquistador, S. M. Stirling tells an exciting and thought-provoking tale of a North America that never saw the arrival of Europeans. Through a clever device, he has his characters travel from 1946 California to another California, one that is filled with various Native American groups, none of whom has ever seen a Caucasian.

Many adventures ensue for these "conquistadors" and the many men and women who followed them from our world to that still unsullied new one. There were no highways, no man-made aquifers, no super cities (LA, for instance). There was no smog.

The early crossovers, these Conquistadors from "FirstSide," made the most of the pristine nature of things; they brought over horse's, camped out, went hunting. Eventually, they hatched a plan to mine precious metals from what they knew, from FirstSide history, to be untouched sources. They used it to build wealth back on FirstSide. Their goal? To establish an infrastructure that would keep that new "new world" (and the gateway to it) secret, to maintain its treasures for themselves and their progeny.

And in time, they succeeded. For that story, and the challenges they faced from FirstSide in the 21st Century, you'll need to read the book.

One of the many aspects that puzzled these new invaders was how the newly discovered "new world" came to be. How could it be that that history contained no European discovery of the Americas? It took many years, but they eventually saw enough of the new world to piece together the chain of events. I won't go into that, but suffice to say it started with Alexander the Great not dying in 323 B.C.E.

One of the twists posited by the author is that this changed timeline led to Christianity never forming. He lays it out quite logically, and without any sympathy that I could detect.

In this week's Lectionary scriptures, there are two resurrections: one facilitated by Elijah and one performed by Jesus. Both involved raising the sons of widows. Both freshly alive young men were returned to their mothers and received with joy. Both acts led to people drawing closer to God.

How strange to think that someone could imagine a world where redemption lay forever beyond the reach of humankind, where salvation was not even a concept, much less a reality, where the conqueror of death never came.

Here on FirstSide, in our real world, Jesus came from another world to walk ours. Over two millennia ago, he conquered something far more important than a country or even a continent. By bringing life in the form of himself, he conquered all that separates us from God.

He is our conquistador.

_________________________

READINGS FOR THE COMING WEEK
http://lectionary.library.vanderbilt.edu/

Third Sunday after Pentecost
Proper 5 (10) (June 5, 2016)

1 Kings 17:8-16, (17-24)
Psalm 146
1 Kings 17:17-24
Psalm 30
Galatians 1:11-24
Luke 7:11-17

_________________________

We are more than conquerors. Join us Friday mornings for Lectionary Breakfast and find out why. Still meeting at 8:00 at the Waco "Egg and I" restaurant.

Walk-ins welcome.

Enjoy the week!
Steve

Catch God on the Whisper (a Lectionary reflection by Steve Orr)

There's an old joke that keeps hanging around about a man stranded in a flood. Some of the details have changed over the decades, but it is essentially this:

As flood waters began to rise around a man's house, people in a row boat came by and implored the homeowner to climb in. The man refused, saying, "I've prayed about this. God will save me." The row boat moved on. Next, as the rising waters forced the man to the second story of his home, people in a motorboat came by and implored the man to climb in. The man refused, repeating, "I've prayed about this. God will save me." The motorboat moved on. As the flood waters continued their inexorable rise, the man was forced out onto his roof. While he clung to the chimney, a helicopter came and hovered above the man. They implored him to climb up the rope ladder to safety. As he had done twice before, the man again said, "I've prayed about this. God will save me." The helicopter moved on. Soon the flood overtook the man and swept him to his death.

Upon arriving in Heaven, the man demanded an audience with God. At the meeting, the man, recounting that he had placed his faith in God to save him, demanded to know why God allowed him to drown. In response, God said, "I sent you a rowboat, a motorboat, and helicopter. What more did you expect?"

-=*=- -=*=- -=*=- -=*=- -=*=- -=*=- -=*=- -=*=- -=*=- -=*=- -=*=- -=*=- -=*=- -=*=- -=*=- -=*=- -=*=-

To be fair, any of us, weighed down with real problems, can lose the ability to recognize when actual help has arrived. It's almost endemic to the human condition. Consider the man in this week's Lectionary selection from John 5. Having been disabled for decades, he has joined many others who await a miraculous healing in the waters of Bethesda. Notice how he never answers when Jesus asks, "Do you want to be made well?" (John 5:6 NRSV). The guy can only talk about missed opportunities, not having anyone to help him with his problem, and how others seem to get all the breaks. The solution to his problem (Jesus) is right in front of him, but he is looking beyond, to something more complicated, perhaps something grander. In this case, Jesus took immediate action, not waiting for the man's perceptions to catch up.

But what do we do in our lives?

Some years ago, Oprah was invited to make the Commencement address at Wellesley College. In part, she recounted the experience of the Prophet Elijah on the Mountain of the Lord (1Kings 19). At first, there is a wind so strong it breaks the rocks on the mountainside (think hurricane). But God is not in the mighty wind. Next, there is an devastating earthquake that shakes the mountain. But God is not in the earthquake. This is followed by a powerful fire that sweeps across the mountainside. But God is not in the fire. Finally, Elijah hears "a still, small voice," a whisper. And there, in the whisper, is God.

Oprah went on to exhort the graduates to not wait for, nor expect, the grand spectacles, but rather, "to catch God on the whisper."

I thought it was a lovely way to launch those young women out onto the rest of their lives. And I think it's excellent advice for any of us. Why should we need the miraculous? Why not just tune our senses to perceive God's original, and simplest, approach? We don't need to skip the rowboat, the motorboat, and the helicopter while awaiting something grander. There is no need to look beyond what may appear to be just ordinary circumstance. Consider what (and who) is right in front you.

Catch God on the whisper.
________________________

READINGS FOR THE COMING WEEK
Sixth Sunday of Easter (May 1, 2016)
http://lectionary.library.vanderbilt.edu/

First reading
Acts 16:9-15
Psalm
Psalm 67
Second reading
Revelation 21:10, 22-22:5
Gospel
John 14:23-29 or John 5:1-9

_________________________

Please join us for Lectionary Breakfast Friday morning. We meet at 8:00 at the Waco "Egg and I" restaurant. The hour we meet includes breakfasts we order from the menu, scriptures we read aloud, and unfettered discussion. We say what we think and we grow from listening to each other. Nothing fancy.

We're all hoping to "catch God on the whisper."

Enjoy your week!
Steve

Run For Your Life (a Lectionary Reflection by Steve Orr)

The news was bad, about as bad as it gets. His life was forfeit. It appeared nothing could be done to change that. So. Decision time.

Fight, flight, or fold?

Some of us recall the television show, Run For Your Life, where, in the first episode, successful attorney Paul Bryan is told by his doctor that he has less than two years to live. Faced with a hopeless situation, he elects to "take the money and run." For 85 more episodes we follow Paul Bryan (perfectly portrayed by Ben Gazzara) as he travels the globe attempting to do all those things, go all those places that might, in modern parlance, constitute his "bucket list."

This show worked a lot like Route 66; each episode finding the main character embroiled in some situation, but rarely in the same place and rarely with people he had met before. One week he might be stuck in middle America because his car broke down, and the next he might be enlisted by US intelligence to perform some task behind the Iron Curtain (Why, yes, it . . ahem . . . WAS a long time ago).

For those who have never seen it, this is one of the best shows television has offered us, regardless of year. Great writing, great acting, and a who's who of Hollywood stars on their way up. Definitely worth your viewing time.

And that brings me to this week's Lectionary scriptures. In the 1st Kings passage Elijah, coming off the victory at Mount Carmel, suddenly finds his life threatened, and not by just anybody. He has been threatened by Queen Jezebel, a woman who has a reputation of delivering on her threats.

Like Joseph before him (and many others before and after), Elijah elects to run from the confrontation. It seems counter-intuitive, especially following Mount Carmel's mind-blowing victory. But, run he does.

Paul Bryan COULD have chosen differently. He could have stayed right where he was, just accepted the bad hand he had been dealt. "Fold" is always an option. But he chose, instead, to take a different path, to "run for his life." And because of his choice, adventures ensued. Elijah, too, ran from his troubles . . . right into the arms of God.

There are times when we need to press on, but there are also times when the thing to do is run the other way. Or if not run, then walk, or maybe just step off for a bit . . . and seek an audience with the one who is "a very present help in trouble." (Psalms 46:1 NKJV)

###############################
http://lectionary.library.vanderbilt.edu

READINGS FOR THE COMING WEEK
Proper 7 (12) (June 23, 2013)

1 Kings 19:1-4, (5-7), 8-15a
Psalm 42 and 43
Isaiah 65:1-9
Psalm 22:19-28
Galatians 3:23-29
Luke 8:26-39

The Fifth Widow

The Fifth Widow
(A brief Lectionary reflection by Steve Orr)

Looking back at that title, I now realize it sounds like one of those "cozy" murder mysteries from the UK with one of Agatha Christie's characters tracking down the connection between the first four widows to prevent the untimely death of the fifth; or maybe one of Steve Berry's globe-hopping adventure romps where the "the fifth widow" turns out to be something Napoleon had hidden away and that nefarious people are willing to kill for.

Sorry. No. Nothing that dramatic. But hang with me. There IS something to see here.

There are five widows in this week's Lectionary selections. Can that be coincidence? It seems highly unlikely that such a confluence of widows could be accidental. I think someone is trying to focus our thoughts.

We start with Naomi and Ruth, two widows barely getting by on the seasonal work Ruth can get "gleaning" (the law allowed the poor to gather any grain missed by the harvesters). Times are tough for the two widows; plus there's a spirit of lawlessness about that even moving back to Israel could not spare them from. Rape is a serious concern. So an aging Naomi comes up with a daring plan to ensure her daughter-in-law Ruth is protected and provided for. As I keep stating, Ruth, at only four chapters, is one of the shortest books in the Bible. You should read it.

And then there is the widow of Zarephath in 1st Kings. She has almost nothing. In fact, it is so close to nothing she expects to use the last of it to make her final meal in this life. Here is another woman who, like Ruth, was a Gentile and thus had no right to claim anything under God's laws. And once again, God does something contrarian: because this widow agreed to use the last of her resources to serve God's prophet, she was rewarded with enough food to last her family the entirety of the drought. There is more to this story and it is worth your time to read about what comes next.

The fourth widow is in the Mark passage. Her generosity leads to her being immortalized in scripture. Right after Jesus warns the crowd to beware the Scribes who "devour widows' houses," he observes a widow place two coins in the temple treasury, far less than amounts given by others that day, but they were all she had. And as Jesus points out, there is nothing greater than ALL. Like the widow of Zarephath, she trusts God with her resources.

These four widows have something in common. They are all needy. It was a common state in those days: widows, orphans, the disabled; they were all dependent on God's people honoring God's commands to care for the needy. Something that is often in very short supply among God's people FOR God's people.

And that brings us to the fifth widow. She's in Psalm 146. In a way, even though no name is given, she is the most important of the five. That's because she is every widow. She is OUR widow. The psalm (and the other passages) makes it plain that God intends good for the widow (and the orphan, the blind, the oppressed, the stranger, the hungry, the prisoner . . . all those "bowed down" by the circumstances of their lives . . . regardless of how they got that way . . . regardless whether they are counted among the "chosen" or not). Should we treat them any differently than does God? No. There are reasons God wants us to follow His example in this regard. And I bet you can think of them with a little effort.

In any case, "Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world." (James 1:27 NIV)

###############################
READINGS FOR THIS WEEK
http://lectionary.library.vanderbilt.edu

Proper 27 (32) (November 11, 2012)
Ruth 3:1-5; 4:13-17
Psalm 127
1 Kings 17:8-16
Psalm 146
Hebrews 9:24-28
Mark 12:38-44

THE EGG AND I: we're giving it a try out this coming Friday (11-16-2012). Join us there (corner of New Road and Franklin, behind Outback) if you can, at 8:00 a.m.

Enjoy the week!
Steve

Just Like Us

Just Like Us
(a brief Lectionary reflection by Steve Orr).

Well here's another one.  Another one of those pieces of scripture the Lectionary sometimes foists on us without context or explanation (I call them "scrap-ture").  

Or is it?   Could it be the selection of these fragments is intentional, setting the hook so to speak, ploys to tempt us to head into the Book to find out on our own?  Maybe.  For me, the jury is still out on that one.  In any case, if you know any thing about Elijah, you know this scrap (1st Kings 19:4-8) is about a not-very-well-known crisis point in the life of the great prophet of God.

Crisis?  Wait.  Isn't this the guy who prayed that it wouldn't rain and got a 3-and-a-half-year drought?  And didn't he later pray the rain to start again?  Isn't he the one who led the defeat of the 450 prophets of Baal on Mount Carmel with that spectacular fire from Heaven thing?  Isn't this the guy who was the first to raise the dead?!

The fiery chariot guy, right?

Why would HE have a crisis?  That right there---that question---is why the inclusion of this particular "scrap-true" may just be intentional on the part of the Lectionary.  Elijah doesn't take up a lot of Biblical real estate: a few chapters in 1st Kings, a few passages scattered across a handful other places.  But, page count aside, he is considered the greatest prophet; clearly the one connected to the most, and most spectacular, miracles.

And yet, here he is in this week's passage begging God to take his life.

If you think about it, you know those other stories about Elijah.  And the one that follows this week's passage, too: the "still, small voice" story.  And you may have heard the one where Elijah passes his Prophet job onto Elisha.  And, of course, pretty much everyone knows about Elijah being swept up into heaven by way of a fiery chariot ride.

There is a passage elsewhere that has a bearing on this moment in Elijah's life, an "An Instance of the Fingerpost" (thank you Ian Pears!) where God is pointing us to something important.  I remember well the moment I first read James 5:17 ("Elijah was human just like us").  It stopped me in my tracks.  All I could think was, "That guy?!"

It hardly seemed possible that such a legendary figure could be the same as we.  How could that be?  It drove me to investigate.  What was it about Elijah that was "just like us?"  As I read one amazing episode after another, I began to wonder if James and I were thinking about the same Elijah.  And then I came to today's passage and I knew.

He dropped his basket. 

That's the polite southern way to say, "He lost it" or, less prosaically, "He was depressed."  You have to be a very long way from mental health before you beg God to take your life.  That kind of thing, that depression that sometimes follows those wonderful mountaintop experiences, that can happen to any of us.  And does.

Besides the frank revelation that Elijah had begun to believe more in the power of his enemies than in the power of his God---as comforting as it is to see him as human---there is also what God did about it.  In the passage that follows this one, God listens to Elijah's litany of concerns and then does something remarkable: God (a) helps Elijah see reality is not as bad as he thought, (b) re-tasks Elijah for the next phase of his service, and (c) sends Elijah BACK THE WAY HE CAME(!).

Elijah's journey, from mountaintop to depression and back, was a long one.  There had to be periods of physical rest and refreshment as well as spiritual renewal.  And one-on-one time with God was essential.  But the results made that journey worthwhile, maybe even necessary.

Elijah was human.  Just like us. 


###############################
READINGS FOR THE COMING WEEK
http://lectionary.library.vanderbilt
Proper 14 (19) (August 12, 2012)

2 Samuel 18:5-9, 15, 31-33
Psalm 130
1 Kings 19:4-8
Psalm 34:1-8
Ephesians 4:25-5:2
John 6:35, 41-51