Who is Doug and Why Would You Fry Him? (a Steve Orr scripture reflection)

I was conditioned. That’s my story, and I’m sticking with it.

When we moved to Boston, we were actually looking forward to learning all about this new place. We expected we would need to make some cultural adjustments. We just had no idea how much adjustment was going to be needed.

The thing we thought we could depend on to make our transition a bit easier is the very thing that failed us: the English language. I might have expected a language challenge if we had moved to London, England or, say, Edinburgh, Scotland. But not from a move within the USA. I thought we only had to adjust to the New England accent. I was so naive.

From the very beginning, we could not communicate.

Perhaps the biggest challenge: we had to learn all new terminology. A shopping cart was a “carriage.” Sprinkles on ice cream? “Jimmies.” A milkshake was a “frappe,” and a water fountain was a “bubbler.” Those small cardboard cups of ice cream with the little wooden spoon? “Hoodsies.”

Each of these had a distinct name ... and no other name. Take, for instance, ice cream. If you asked for sprinkles on your ice cream, you would be met by a blank stare. If you failed to ask for a Hoodsie, by name, you didn’t get one. And don’t get me started on the drama that follows ordering a “double dip” when you should have requested two scoops.

When change encounters culture, culture wins. We weren’t going to change them. So, it didn’t take long for us to fall into the habit of assuming we just didn’t understand ... especially when a strange word appeared before us. We had become conditioned.

Hopefully, that explains my response when I saw the sign for FRIED DOUG.

I admit the fleeting thought: Who’s Doug and why would you fry him? But, I had come to the point I no longer questioned, critically, the terms and practices of my culture. My repeated experiences had formed a certain mindset: others who preceded me in history had made choices to speak and act certain ways. Even if I didn’t really understand the why, I was conditioned: FRIED DOUG must mean something.

Or, must it? For me, my FRIED DOUG clarity came just moments later when the crowd moved aside. As they parted, I realized I had only been seeing part of the sign. Now that I could see it all, I could easily understand my error. There, immediately to the right of “DOUG” was the letter “H.”

... Oh.

FRIED DOUGH made a lot more sense than FRIED DOUG. My own habit had tricked me into believing there was one meaning, when In fact there was another.

It’s similar, in a way, to what was happening with God’s people when Isaiah confronted them with their hypocrisy in this week’s scripture selection. God rejected all their religious practices, en mass. In fact, God told them those actions and observances had become a burden, and He had grown weary of bearing them! God rejected their prayers, their gatherings, their festivals: every part of what they did or said as worshippers.

Why? What had they done to warrant such a reaction? I’m sure they attempted, much as we do today, to performed each religious practice, properly. Where had they gone wrong?

They fell into a habit.

Their culture required certain religious practices of them. They had been conditioned to do them, and so ... they did them. But, over time, what made those practices meaningful had fallen away. God said their hands were bloody from doing evil. They had to restore themselves by serving justice, rescuing the oppressed, defending the orphan, and pleading for the widow.

They needed the clarity the Prophet Isaiah was providing. Like the “H” in my FRIED DOUG sign, they were missing something essential. Without that missing piece, their worship was worse than meaningless: the object of their worship no longer wanted to hear from them. If they wanted their religion to be acceptable to God, they had to actually do good.

There is no doubt they were going to have to make some serious adjustments. The question is: do we?


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READINGS FOR THE COMING WEEK
Proper 14 (19) (August 11, 2019)
https://lectionary.library.vanderbilt.edu//texts.php?id=274

Isaiah 1:1, 10-20
Psalm 50:1-8, 22-23
Genesis 15:1-6
Psalm 33:12-22
Hebrews 11:1-3, 8-16
Luke 12:32-40

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DaySpring’s Lectionary Breakfast meets Friday morning at the “Egg and I” restaurant (soon to be renamed “Our Breakfast Place”). We start at 8:00, and enjoy a time of scripture, prayer, food, and fellowship.

Blessings,
Steve

Who’s Gonna Walk You Through the Dark Side of the Morning? (a Steve Orr scripture reflection)

Relationships can be hard.

But do they have to be?

Have you heard the Selena Gomez single, It Ain’t Me? It’s a catchy tune, one you just might want to set on repeat for a while. If you do listen to it, take a few minutes to meditate on the lyrics.** I expect something, there, will ring true, especially if you’ve ever had hard times in your love life.

She sings of a past love, remembering some of the times they enjoyed being together. But she also laments they drifted apart, mostly because of the other party’s bad behavior. In the chorus, she asks:

Who's gonna walk you through the dark side of the morning?
Who's gonna rock you when the sun won't let you sleep?
Who's waking up to drive you home when you're drunk and all alone?
Who's gonna walk you through the dark side of the morning?

You get the sense she did those things, at least for a while; got out of her empty bed to drive her love home from a night of debauchery, helped with the hangover, provided support through the dark times.

But then, she answers those questions: It ain’t me.

The questions are rhetorical. She’s already moved past the point of no return. She’s not going to do any of those things, anymore. She’s not coming back. She’s had enough.

It’s over.

But make no mistake: the song is about fidelity ... or, at least, the desire for it. As is the book of Hosea, despite how it may look otherwise in this week’s scripture. At God’s instruction, Hosea marries a person who seems unsuited for a sustained relationship. They form a life together, have children together. But, his spouse keeps cheating on him. And the children are not his.

The longer you stay in a relationship, the greater the likelihood the two of you are going to face difficulties. There are no two people who are alike: that, alone, guarantees conflicts. But, it’s at a whole different level when a spouse continues to looks elsewhere for intimacy.

So, what holds them together?

This is the question we need to answer about God and us. In Hosea, his marital relationship serves as an illustration of how God sees the chosen people; God loves them, and demonstrates that love every day. But the chosen people keep looking to other gods, false gods. They are serially unfaithful.

The amazing thing, here, is that God forgives their infidelity. In fact, God proclaims, ... in the place where it was said to them, "You are not my people," it shall be said to them, "Children of the living God.”

He wants them back.

God knows we stray. But, despite our infidelity to God, God remains faithful to us. Sure, there will be some rocky times. There will be those times when, by our pursuit of others to fill the place of God, we separate ourselves from God. But, God wants us to return. Even at our most remote, God loves us and remains faithful.

Who’s gonna walk you through the dark side of the morning?

You know.


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PHOTO: Steve Orr

** You can listen to “It Ain’t Me”, here. Just press SKIP AD when it appears on the screen: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j6sSQq7a_Po&app=desktop

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READINGS FOR THE COMING WEEK
Proper 12 (17) (July 28, 2019)
https://lectionary.library.vanderbilt.edu//texts.php?id=272

Hosea 1:2-10
Psalm 85
Genesis 18:20-32
Psalm 138
Colossians 2:6-15, (16-19)
Luke 11:1-13

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Will you be with us Friday morning at DaySpring’s Lectionary Breakfast? We read the Bible, discuss how it works in our real lives. Plus, we find time for a meal, some fellowship, a prayer, and, perhaps surprisingly, quite a bit of laughter.

Join us at 8:00 at Waco’s “Egg and I” restaurant. We’re usually in the function room (along the outside to a separate entry near the back), but ask if you don’t find us

It’s a great way to start the weekend.

Blessings,
Steve

James Bond and the Wisdom of Solomon (a Steve Orr scripture reflection)

When Ian Fleming delivered his first James Bond novel (Casino Royale) to his publishing house, they were, to say the least, reluctant to publish it. It was so different from anything that had yet been published. Plus, it seemed so ... well, unbelievable. In fact, if not for the intervention of Fleming’s brother, who had been published by the same house, we might never have had James Bond.

Today, when James Bond novels and movies are all about us, it seems strange to think someone balked at launching that character. Bond, or Agent 007 as he is often known, is the template for modern spies; certainly for Cold War spies. Without Bond, would we have Jason Bourne? The whole genre of spy fiction might not exist.

So, what was the problem?

The problem lay in the genius of the thing (as is often the fact). Fleming, a former British Naval Intelligence Officer (i.e., spy) created a fictional character as an amalgam of actual spies; other clandestine operatives he knew and worked with, as well as himself. He then told tales reflecting actual spy missions.

There had never been anything quite like it.

Today, we have a special appreciation for that kind of verisimilitude. Today, when a former “operative” writes a book about spy stuff, publishers are all over it. And it’s all because of that original publisher’s experience with that first James Bond novel. The initial print run of that hardback sold out in less than a month. A second printing that same month also sold out that same month! Next, a third printing of 8,000 hardback copies quickly sold out. And by then, they understood what they had: a gold mine.

This —valuing the words of those with experience— is the mindset we need to bring to Wisdom.

Wisdom calls to anyone who will hear her. She offers to share her benefits with anyone and everyone. They are open to all. We need only seek her.

That’s the central message from this week’s selection from Proverbs chapter 8. But it’s not the only message we find there. After making her appeal, she does something we lovers of spy novels can appreciate: she shares her Bona Fides. Wisdom tells us she is the real deal, that she’s not some hack offering the “philosophy du jour” or just telling us what we want to hear.

So, what’s in her bio?

•The first of God’s creation, before the beginning of the earth
•When God established the heavens, she was there
•During creation, she was next to God, serving as a master craftsman and director of the work
•God delighted in her
•She delighted in God’s inhabited world and the human race

Why seek Wisdom? Why trust in her to be our guide? Because she was there when it all began. She had a role in creation; knows, first hand, what was intended; knows the purpose within the design.

If you can’t trust a resume like that, who can you trust?

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PHOTO (and more about that first edition of Casino Royale): https://www.thebookbond.com/2012/03/collectible-casino-royale-hardcovers.html?m=1

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READINGS FOR THE COMING WEEK
Trinity Sunday (June 16, 2019)
https://lectionary.library.vanderbilt.edu//texts.php?id=262

Proverbs 8:1-4, 22-31
Psalm 8
Romans 5:1-5
John 16:12-15
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Once again, DaySpring’s Lectionary Breakfast is meeting Friday morning at our local “Egg and I” restaurant. We start at 8:00; the hour includes great fellowship, good food, Bible study, and a “robust exchange of ideas.”

Join us!
Steve

Dragons, Hipsters, and Mangers ... Oh My! (A Steve Orr Advent reflection)

The dragons were just too much.

That’s my guess, anyway. In a neighborhood (and, lets face it, a nation) festooned with Yule trees, lighted bushes and rooflines, blow-up Santas, wire reindeer, Yodas, and Minions ... it may seem strange that one of Diana Rowland’s neighbors took umbrage at her use of dragons for Christmas decorations. The AP story reported that her anonymous neighbor left a note suggesting the dragons were demonic and that Rowland didn’t “know the true meaning of Christmas.”

OK, yes, inflatable dragons are different. But demonic? I guess that is one of those “eye of the beholder” things. If we’re going to have to restrict our displays to just manger scenes ... well, people can get creative, there, too. One recent manger scene was rendered Hipster style. Mary and Joseph are shown taking a selfie with the baby. The three wisemen are rendered as Amazon delivery people on Segway scooters. There’s a solar collector on the roof ... and a drone.

Don’t get me wrong. I love a well-crafted manger scene. But considering how little we actually know about the night of Jesus’ birth, it might be that we would have to remove several manger scenes for not accurately reflecting what scripture actually says about it. Were there hipsters at Jesus’ birth? Unlikely. Dragons? Also unlikely. Same for Minions. And Christmas trees, light strings, inflatable ... well, anythings.

In fact, little-to-nothing of modern Christmas decoration relates directly to the birth of Jesus.

If we find ourselves spending an inordinate amount of time thinking about how such things don’t capture “the true meaning of Christmas,” it just might be that our focus is in the wrong place. Instead of thinking about how wrong everyone is in their approach to this holiday period, we should invest those brain cells and emotional energy in meditating on what was (and is) really happening.

And to that end, I recommend Mary’s lovely speech in this week’s selection from Luke. It is often called The Magnificat.

“My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior, for he has looked with favor on the lowliness of his servant. Surely, from now on all generations will call me blessed; for the Mighty One has done great things for me, and holy is his name. His mercy is for those who fear him from generation to generation. He has shown strength with his arm; he has scattered the proud in the thoughts of their hearts. He has brought down the powerful from their thrones, and lifted up the lowly; he has filled the hungry with good things, and sent the rich away empty. He has helped his servant Israel, in remembrance of his mercy, according to the promise he made to our ancestors, to Abraham and to his descendants forever.”
(‭‭Luke‬ ‭1:46-55‬ ‭NRSV‬‬ - http://bible.com/2016/luk.1.46-55.nrsv)

Magnify the Lord, keeper of promises.
Rejoice in God’s mercy.
Lift up the lowly.
Fill the hungry.

Mary knew where the focus should be this season.

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PHOTO: Steve Orr
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READINGS FOR THE COMING WEEK
Fourth Sunday of Advent (December 23, 2018)
https://lectionary.library.vanderbilt.edu//

Micah 5:2-5a
Psalm 80:1-7
Hebrews 10:5-10
Luke 1:39-45, (46-55)

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Join us Friday morning for DaySpring’s Lectionary Breakfast. As usual, we start at 8:00 at the Waco “Egg and I” restaurant. The hour that follows is packed with Bible, discussion, food, fellowship, and prayer. It is a blessing.

Merry Christmas!
Steve

The Scariest Thing (a Steve Orr Lectionary reflection)

“Do you know what the scariest thing is?”

This is the question raised by Elijah Price in the movie, Unbreakable. It’s the pivotal question of the movie. And it’s answer drives everything in the story.

Early in the movie, we learn that Price was born with brittle bones ... bones that break very easily. Because he was so breakable, other children yoked young Elijah with the moniker, “Mr. Glass.” His affliction fills him with fear; fear that all the pain, all the surgeries and hospital stays, all the casts and metal pins in his bones, may be all for nothing. That he may just be so afflicted for no reason whatsoever.

So he asks the question: “Do you know what the scariest thing is?” And he also supplies the answer: “To not know your place in this world, to not know why you're here.”

In this week’s Samuel passage, God set David on the throne of Israel. He did it in such a way that there could be no doubt on anyone’s part. David knew his place in this world.

In the Ezekiel passage, God made Ezekiel a prophet. He did it in such a way that no one, least of all Ezekiel, could ever doubt he had been sent by God. Ezekiel knew his place in this world.

In the Corinthians letter, the Apostle Paul explained that he accepted God’s imposition of a “thorn in the flesh.” It showed everyone that God had extended His grace to a flawed vessel, that God’s grace was enough. Paul knew his place in this world.

And, finally, in the Mark passage: Jesus, on a visit to his hometown, had a shocking encounter with the life He could have had. He was forced to deal with an inability to do at home the kinds of amazing miracles he had done everywhere else. As a result, He turned away from His hometown and headed off to carry the good news elsewhere ... somewhere people were more receptive to His message.

Jesus knew his place in this world.

In the movie, Elijah Price shapes his life around a vision of who he might be, a vision he formed in isolation. In our examples this week, each person was open to God’s leading and instruction concerning who and what he was. Sure, they experienced fear in their lives, but not a fear of what purpose they served in this life. Each knew his place in this world.

The scariest thing is not the conclusion reached by Elijah Price —though it could be ... if you pursued the answer in isolation.

The scariest thing is to live your life without God in it. Your place is with Him.

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PHOTO (and more about the movie, Unbreakable):
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0217869/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1

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READINGS FOR THE COMING WEEK
Proper 9 (14) (July 8, 2018)
https://lectionary.library.vanderbilt.edu//

2 Samuel 5:1-5, 9-10
Psalm 48
Ezekiel 2:1-5
Psalm 123
2 Corinthians 12:2-10
Mark 6:1-13

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How was July 4th for you? I hope you were able to have time to celebrate and recreate some. We continue to meet DaySpring’s Lectionary Breakfast Friday mornings at the Waco “Egg and I” Restaurant. Join us at 8:00 for an hour of food, fellowship, and scripture.

Blessings,
Steve

The Bogard House Revisited (a Steve Orr Epiphany reflection)

Moonshiners, Al Capone, Prohibition ... A mansion situated deep in the land between the rivers where only the shacks of poor farmers should have been. We'd all heard the stories about the long lost “Bogard House” ... not much more than rumors, really.

Then, one day, we actually found it.

It’s a longish story that I will spare you. Suffice to say that, by the time one of our group found it, “between the rivers” had become The Land Between the Lakes, a modern recreational playground. Long gone were the moonshiners and poor farmers; though some of the shacks still stood along nearly impassable dirt tracks far from the modern highway that traversed it.

It was along those dirt tracks that we traveled that day, dodging pitfalls and uprooted trees, following our friend, wondering which, or if any, of the rumors were true.

And then we came over a rise and suddenly found ourselves staring at a large, multi-story home situated on the banks of the Lake Barkley. It had seen better days, but even then it was impressive. In an area that, before TVA, was known for its poverty, this house would certainly have been a mansion. Someone with some money had lived there.

But, why? Why would someone with money want to live all the way out there in the boonies? As it turned out, many of the stories we had heard were true. Joe Bogard, revered among his neighbors as the "King of Moonshiners," had lived there with his family. Moonshine was produced there and was sold all over the Midwest, including to certain folk up Chicago way. The rumor that airplanes landed on a strip in front of the house, loaded up with hooch, and flew it back to Al Capone? Well, we could never find any evidence of that.

But we did find four secret rooms.

As I say, though, the story of that day is longish. So we will step away for the moment, pausing only to note this: we had heard of that house, stories of other peoples from other times, and then we came to know it ourselves.

Much like the questions in this week's Isaiah selection:

"Do you not know? Have you not heard? The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He will not grow tired or weary, and his understanding no one can fathom. He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak. Even youths grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall; but those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint." (Isaiah 40:28-31 NIV)

None of this was news to the people of Israel. They had been hearing of God all their lives. There was a long, documented history of God doing amazing things among their nation. And yet, they had let what they heard cease to be what they knew. They had become theological amnesiacs. God had become more of a rumor to them than a reality.

God's prophets spoke the message He gave them. Those words from Isaiah? Those are the words of God, spoken to His people. They are about His kingdom and they are not rumor. You can put your faith in them. So, seek it, ask for it, knock doors until you gain entry.

Because, one day, you will come over a rise and there it will be.


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A version of this reflection appeared in February 2015.

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For more of my memory about that day at The Bogard House, there is an incomplete memoir at: http://write-craft.blogspot.com/2011/05/in-development-bogard-house-by-steve.html

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Photo: Sadly, that’s not a photo of the Bogard House. Maybe there’s one out there, somewhere, but I’ve not yet found it. This house, situated on Lake Winnipesaukee, looks a lot like it, though. See more of it at https://www.nhlakesrealty.com/newest-listings-on-lake-winnipesaukee/

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READINGS FOR THE COMING WEEK
Fifth Sunday after the Epiphany (February 4, 2018)
https://lectionary.library.vanderbilt.edu/texts.php?id=64

Isaiah 40:21-31
Psalm 147:1-11, 20c
1 Corinthians 9:16-23
Mark 1:29-39
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Friday mornings are times of exploration and discovery at Lectionary Breakfast. We delve into God’s word to find out for ourselves just what is real. Join us at 8:00 at the Waco “Egg and I” restaurant for an hour like no other.

Blessings,
Steve

Juggling for Dummies (a Lectionary reflection by Steve Orr)

When most of us think of juggling, we picture someone tossing several differently-shaped objects into the air, possibly while riding a unicycle, possibly exchanging those objects with another person riding a unicycle.

We think juggling is complicated.

But that's not how real jugglers learn the craft. They start small, with two or three balls. Or better yet, with ball-like bags that don't bounce away when they aren't caught. Which --the not being caught part-- happens a lot when beginners are learning the craft of juggling. Still, most people can learn to juggle three small, equally-sized objects. True, its not automatic, and, true, it takes practice.

But it's not complicated.

The complicated stuff comes later ... much later. Jugglers must first become really good at getting those three, relatively small things to do as they should. Once they master that beginner level, then, and only then, should they consider taking on more complicated routines.

Few of us are going to progress to the chainsaws-juggling level. A few will; a few always do. But they invest a lot of time and diligent practice ---years of practice--- before they can confidently juggle the most difficult (and, quite possibly, most dangerous) things.

In this week's Lectionary scriptures, we read in the book of Micah, where, somewhat rhetorically, he wonders how someone shows proper respect to God. He asks if special, and increasingly difficult sacrifices would be required to impress God? What kind of sacrifice would be big enough, dangerous enough, meaningful enough to cancel out a person's sin?

But Micah already knows the answer, and it's not that complex. In fact, it is surprisingly simple: "God has told you what is good; and what does the LORD require of you but to do justice, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God?"

Sure, there are people ---a few--- who are called to do much more complicated and dangerous things in this life. But that's not most of us.

The challenge before most of us God-followers: to begin with a few, relatively simple actions, and ---most importantly--- to not skip over the beginner level. We need that beginner stage. It may well be that we are called to transit our spiritual journey with the basics, to spend all our time keeping just those three balls in the air. For most of us ---the overwhelming majority of us--- that is all God is asking.

To consistently act justly, to consistently be merciful, and to consistently walk humbly in God's presence, all at the same time: you may find, as have I, that there's plenty of challenge in that.

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READINGS FOR THE COMING WEEK
http://lectionary.library.vanderbilt.edu/lections.php?year=A&season=Epiphany

Fourth Sunday after the Epiphany (January 29, 2017)
Micah 6:1-8
Psalm 15
1 Corinthians 1:18-31
Matthew 5:1-12
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I hope you can join us Friday morning at Lectionary Breakfast. We're still at the Waco "Egg and I" restaurant, reading scripture, praying, eating, and laughing from 8:00 to 9:00. Sometimes we're in the meeting room in the main restaurant (you can see us), and sometimes were in a room at the back of the building. If you're not sure, ask.

Jugglers welcome (but juggling not required).

Blessings,
Steve


* As far as I know, there is no such book as Juggling for Dummies. However, there are many excellent juggling books and tutorials around. Google "basic juggling" and you can find several training aids, both free and for sale.

Expecting Justice? (a Lectionary reflection by Steve Orr)

We went to his office expecting Justice.

That was not a crazy thing to think, under the circumstances. My classmate and I had an interesting situation, but not a new one. These kinds of things happen from time to time, even to the best of people. Mistakes can be, and are, made. We're all human.

The situation: on the midterm exam, we both had answered the same question the same way. But, on my paper the answer was marked as correct. While on my classmate's paper, the same answer was marked as incorrect. To our thinking, the professor need only fix the mark on my classmate's paper and then adjust his overall midterm grade.

That is not how it went.

At first, once we had provided him the two exams and explained the problem, he just looked at us. At us, not at the exams. That silent stare of his lasted long enough to begin to feel uncomfortable. Then, still not looking at the exams, he said to us, "I don't change grades. You know this. I have stated this on several occasions. In fact, I make that announcement before every exam." [To be fair, what he always told us was, "I don't negotiate grades." I guess we were naive, but this didn't seem, at least to us, to fall under the term, "negotiate." This was an error, made either by him or by his grader. All we were asking was for a simple correction.]

There's no need to drag this out. Everything we said that afternoon was for nought. He was firm in his stance, and he never changed my classmate's grade. It was a profoundly disappointing experience, on many levels. He was an excellent Professor, the kind who makes the learning process come alive. To find he had this bizarrely obstinate side to him was a shock. We felt that we had been let down by someone we had, up until that moment, respected.

A strong social bond had been broken.

This experience came back to me as I read through this week's Lectionary scriptures. Most of this week's selections deal with God's shock and disappointment to discover His people had broken covenant, had broken the contract, if you will.

What contract, you ask?

Throughout history, God has repeatedly asked His people to provide justice for the weak, equal treatment for all, help for those in need, to speak God's word faithfully, for leaders (whether religious leaders or otherwise) to not mislead the flocks they shepherded. This list goes on and on. A reductionist might choose "equity" as the word that sums it up. However, I think we do ourselves a disservice to reduce it down.

We are not asked to merely ensure equity exists. We are asked to actively seek it and provide it. It is not enough to just check to see if people are being treated as they should be. God asks us to do something about it. Each of us.

In the Isaiah passage, God is deeply disappointed because "he expected Justice, but saw bloodshed; righteousness, but heard a cry!" When you expect Justice, as did my classmate all those years ago, the disappointment is deep and lasting when you receive the opposite.

You could say, "Oh, it's just a grade, not something significant." But I would suggest it all depends on whether you're on the receiving end or not. Think of it this way: if it was so disappointing for "just a grade," how awful it must be for someone who expects fair treatment ---from the courts, from the marketplace, from the church, from neighbors, from the halls of government--- and finds the opposite, or at best, indifference.

Now you know how God feels about it.

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READINGS FOR THE COMING WEEK
Proper 15 (20) (August 14, 2016)
First reading and Psalm
Isaiah 5:1-7
Psalm 80:1-2, 8-19
Alternate First reading and Psalm
Jeremiah 23:23-29
Psalm 82
Second reading
Hebrews 11:29-12:2
Gospel
Luke 12:49-56
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Join us if you can Friday morning at the Waco "Egg and I" restaurant. Lectionary Breakfast starts at 8:00 and goes for about an hour. We spend our time looking into the mind of God by reading scripture' we visit, discuss, and, yes, laugh.

Enjoy the week!
Steve

The Coming Bad Years (a Lectionary reflection by Steve Orr)

Except for some narrow aisles, every cubic inch of my neighbor's garage was packed. The floor-to-ceiling shelving held such necessities as barrels and boxes of dried foods, bottles of water, vitamins, first aid kits, over-the-counter medicines, camp stoves, cots, and toilet paper.

What brought us to this impromptu garage tour was a question I had asked him just minutes earlier. Glancing over my fence, I had asked, "Hey Dave, why are you plowing up your back yard?" The answer, which in retrospect seemed obvious, was "To plant corn, a grape arbor, and other fruits and vegetables to supplement the dried foods."

You can see, now, how one thing led to another.

Eventually, I got around to asking what this was all about. Dave, a serious guy, a scientist in fact, studied me for a few moments, and then stepped into a corner of the garage. He handed out a well-thumbed paperback copy of Howard Ruff's How to Prosper in the Coming Bad Years. "Here," he said. "You need to read this."

I read it. The book was filled with lots of convincing information supporting Mr. Ruff's contention that we were on the cusp of a global meltdown. Not the end of civilization, exactly, but close enough that we would all want to have our garages filled with survival necessities ... at least until order was restored.

The year was 1982.

As you no doubt have noticed, we're still here. Sure, there were some bad years. Those were followed by some good years. And those were followed by some bad ones. Our local, state, national, and global economies have been up and they've been down, but none of them has been out. Now, I'm not downplaying the very real possibility of economic bad times. I, too, believe in being prepared. I just have a somewhat different definition of "prepared" than my neighbor did.

But he did get something right.

My neighbor was employing the "Joseph Model" of preparedness: store up during the fat years because the lean years are coming. It's the model we use when we add to our savings accounts, when we invest some of our paychecks so we can retire someday, when we lay in a supply of tissues in preparation for allergy season. When you've got it, save some of it. It worked for Joseph and it will work for anyone who can do the same.

Elsewhere in scripture, we learn that for four decades God provided the daily needs of the Israelites, and Manna was the central nutrient. Five days a week, they arose each morning and gathered the coming day's bread, and it had to be eaten that day. On the sixth day, they received a double portion so they could prepare the meals for the Sabbath before sundown.

Then, one day, it came to a full stop.

In this week's Lectionary selection from Joshua, we learn that "The manna ceased on the day they ate the produce of the land, and the Israelites no longer had manna; they ate the crops of the land of Canaan that year" (Joshua 5:12 NRSV). On the very day they no longer had need of it, God's provision of Manna ended. But don't misunderstand this scripture: God's provision did not end, just the provision of Manna. When God brought them into the abundant harvest awaiting them in the Promised Land, there was no longer a need for Manna.

My neighbor was not wrong to stockpile in his attempt to ensure the safety and security of his family. His actions did not indicate a lack of faith. Out of his abundance, he set aside what he thought would be needed. And even though society did not come apart at the seams, Dave's storehouse may have supported his family through a personal crisis. He was being prudent based on the information he had available. Joseph would approve.

God provided the Manna, and God provided the abundance of the Promised Land. We don't always need "miracle food." Usually, we just need to recognize that God is providing and not get too hung up on the source. And if, in abundant times, we set aside some of the abundance to get ready for leaner times ... well, that's in the Bible, too.

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

Fourth Sunday in Lent (March 6, 2016)
First reading
Joshua 5:9-12
Psalm
Psalm 32
Second reading
2 Corinthians 5:16-21
Gospel
Luke 15:1-3, 11b-32
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We have abundance every Friday morning at Lectionary Breakfast. Can you carve out an hour to meet with us at the Waco "Egg and I" restaurant? We start at 8:00 and spend the next hour enjoying abundant food, abundant fellowship, abundant spiritual food for scripture, and, quite often, an overabundance of laughter.

Enjoy the week!
Steve

A Moveable Feast (a Lectionary reflection by Steve Orr)

In 1956, after the better part of three decades, Ernest Hemingway finally found his treasure.

According to A. E. Hotchner, Hemingway's friend and biographer, the two of them had been invited to lunch at the Paris Ritz by the Hotel's Chairman, Charley Ritz. While they ate, Ritz wondered if Hemingway knew he had a trunk stored in the hotel's basement, noting that it had been there since 1930. Hemingway was both surprised and pleased by the news. His friend, Louis Vuitton, had specially made that trunk for Hemingway in the 1920's, but the writer had lost track of it.

After lunch, Ritz had the trunk brought up to his office. Hemingway sifted through clothes, menus, receipts, memos, hunting and fishing paraphernalia, skiing equipment, racing forms, and correspondence. Then, at the bottom, he found the treasure: two stacks of notebooks, the kind school children used in the 1920's.

The notebooks were filled with his commentary on the places, the people, and the events of his life during his time in Paris. He had lived in near poverty in 1920's Paris, but he had known the people whose ideas and artistic expressions changed the world of "the lost generation." Among those described in his commentaries were F. Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald, Gertrude Stein, Alice B. Toklas, James Joyce, Ezra Pound, and Aleister Crowley, to name only a few.

If you want to get a sense of this heady period, watch the film, Midnight in Paris.

Hemingway eventually had his notebooks transcribed and then organized them into a book entitled, A Moveable Feast. The book was his memoir of those years and those people as he knew them. The title of the book comes from a comment Hemingway made to a friend n 1950: "If you are lucky enough to have lived in Paris as a young man, then wherever you go for the rest of your life, it stays with you, for Paris is a movable feast."

After carefully preserving his thoughts, writing almost daily his observations of his life and those who shared it, Hemingway lost them all. He searched for those notebooks for years, decades.

This week's Lectionary scriptures are about a different kind of moveable feast. Using such phrases as "delight yourselves in rich food (Isaiah 55:2)," and "My soul is satisfied as with a rich feast (Psalm 63:5)," this week's scriptures capture the reality of eating the spiritual food God has prepared for us. We are enjoined to not lose our way; to not partake of the "same spiritual food" and the "same spiritual drink" as the Israelites in the wilderness (I Corinthians 10:3-4) while yet forgetting their true source. And finally, we are warned of the perils of not producing our portion of that moveable feast in the parable of the fruitless fig tree (Luke 13:6-9).

Hemingway lost his moveable feast for a time. And then one day, as with most lost things, he found them right where he had left them. Our moveable feast is right where it's been all our lives. We need only return to it.
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READINGS FOR THE COMING WEEK
http://lectionary.library.vanderbilt.edu/
Third Sunday in Lent (February 28, 2016)
First reading
Isaiah 55:1-9
Psalm
Psalm 63:1-8
Second reading
1 Corinthians 10:1-13
Gospel
Luke 13:1-9
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Join us for a feast Friday mornings at Lectionary Breakfast. As usual, we meet at the Waco "Egg and I" restaurant at 8:00 for an hour like no other. We feast on food, we feast on God's word, and we feast on fellowship. And when we leave, part of those feasts moves with us, out into the day, the week, and the lives of those we meet.

Enjoy the week!
Steve

The Shining (a Lectionary reflection by Steve Orr)

There was a lot of controversy surrounding Stephen King's The Shining.

Likely, though, it's not what you think. I mean, if you think the controversies were things like a young child being stalked by evil ghosts or being endangered by his own father, then you would be wrong. Somehow, as strange as that sounds, today, people managed to accept both those premises.

The first controversy had to do with the novel, itself. King's publisher lobbied long and hard for King to not even write the novel. After the success of Carrie and 'Salem's Lot, Doubleday was worried King would get typed as a horror writer. There's some irony for you. The Shining went on the be King's first hardback bestseller.

The second controversy was the title; people just didn't get it. People had heard of visions, as in the Bible, and they had heard of precognition, as in ESP, but "shining?" What was that? Did King just make that up? It wasn't until 11 years after The Shining was first published that King explained: he took the title from a John Lennon song, "Instant Karma!," where Lennon suggests we, like the moon, stars, and sun, "all shine on."

Of course, the big controversy was the Stanley Kubrick film. Generally considered one of the greatest horror films of all time, it nevertheless diverged significantly from King's novel. King was not shy about his disappointment. The irony, here, is that the movie likely drove book sales through the roof.

It seems that "shining" has always been a bit controversial . . . as we see in this week's Lectionary scriptures. When Moses came down from the mountaintop meeting with God, his face was positively glowing . . . really glowing. Let that sink in for a minute; try to picture it. Even in this day of CGI movies, seeing someone like that in real life would be disconcerting. Moses was so bright, the people were afraid; he had to wear a veil for quite some time, until the glow had faded away.

Then, in another of this week's passages, Jesus takes his inner circle up the mountain where He is transfigured and, He too, is left glowing after encountering God there. I wonder how long that glow lasted? Scriptures doesn't tell us, but one thing we know, they didn't come down from the mountain until the next day.

Both "shinings" reappear in the II Corinthians passage, where Paul writes:

“With that kind of hope to excite us, nothing holds us back. Unlike Moses, we have nothing to hide. Everything is out in the open with us. He wore a veil so the children of Israel wouldn’t notice that the glory was fading away—and they didn’t notice. They didn’t notice it then and they don’t notice it now, don’t notice that there’s nothing left behind that veil. Even today when the proclamations of that old, bankrupt government are read out, they can’t see through it. Only Christ can get rid of the veil so they can see for themselves that there’s nothing there.

Whenever, though, they turn to face God as Moses did, God removes the veil and there they are—face-to-face! They suddenly recognize that God is a living, personal presence, not a piece of chiseled stone. And when God is personally present, a living Spirit, that old, constricting legislation is recognized as obsolete. We’re free of it! All of us! Nothing between us and God, our faces shining with the brightness of his face. And so we are transfigured much like the Messiah, our lives gradually becoming brighter and more beautiful as God enters our lives and we become like him.”
‭‭(2 Corinthians‬ ‭3:12-18‬ ‭MSG‬‬
http://bible.com/97/2co.3.12-18.msg)

We should have no fear of the shining, the real shining. It's God's light pouring through.
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READINGS FOR THE COMING WEEK
Transfiguration Sunday (February 7, 2016)
Last Sunday before Lent
First reading
Exodus 34:29-35
Psalm
Psalm 99
Second reading
2 Corinthians 3:12-4:2
Gospel
Luke 9:28-36, (37-43a)

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Not all of us are morning people, bright and shining when we first face the day. That's what breakfast is for. Join us for Lectionary Breakfast Friday morning at 8:00. We gather for a great hour of relaxed fellowship and scripture at the Waco "Egg and I" restaurant.

Enjoy the week!
Steve

The Deep Blue Sea (a Lectionary reflection by Steve Orr)

We were miles out, and no matter which direction I turned, there was no land to be seen. I recall thinking, this shouldn't bother me . . . But it did.

I was born and raised in west Kentucky. Water was a big part of my life. Our town sat at the confluence of two long, navigable rivers; the Ohio and the Tennessee. We played down by the river; I learned to water-ski on that boisterous confluence; I first operated a small motorboat there. Plus, a short 20 miles southeast of us was one of America's great inland playgrounds, Kentucky Lake and Lake Barclay, with their 265 square miles of parkland: The Land Between The Lakes. I learned to swim in those lakes; boated on them, water-skied on them, camped on them.

But, at 20 years of age, I had never been "at sea." No matter what body of water, I had always been able to see land. Now, here we were, well out into the Gulf of Mexico, and there was nothing to see but water in every direction.

I confess, I didn't much care for it.

But, I didn't want to be rude. Our family friends had offered to take me out for a day of fishing and "picnicking." Every other part of that day was nice. Our onboard repast of cheese, fruit, sandwiches, and soft drinks was delicious. The company ---a retired grocer and his wife--- were warm, gentle, and fun. They were living a life-long dream: retire to Florida, buy a boat, fish in the gulf. This day, now a regular weekend experience for them, was their definition of perfect.

So, I swallowed my nervousness and incipient claustrophobia, tamped them down deep inside, and, catching some of their joy, plastered a genuine smile on my face.

Still.

The day moved along. Probably quickly for them; definitely slowly for me. We fished. We caught some. I was not surprised to discover, despite the lively movement of the boat, that I was not seasick. After all, I grew up on the water. Just not this water. And always, not stopping for a minute, was the question pinging around in my head, When will this be over?

The storm rose up early in the afternoon.

The grocer had gone below for a short, post-picnic nap. The grocer's wife and I pulled in the fishing lines ---Did I mention that neither she nor I knew how to operate the boat?--- Never taking my eyes off the mounting waves, I asked, with as much insouciance as I could muster, if we should wake her husband. She thought not; he had earned his rest. For her part, she seemed completely unaffected by the increased rocking of the boat, the tiny little whitecaps forming on the peaks of the choppy waves, and the darkening clouds rolling in from . . . Well, I had no idea which direction.

We sat. She chatted. I watched. The wind had become quite brisk before I heard the welcome sound of the hatch opening. The grocer emerged looking well rested. He looked up (the sky was growing darker). He looked out (the waves were growing higher). His eyes fell on the stored fishing gear. Then, as calm as you please, he said, "We should probably head back in." He was not concerned. He knew what to do.

I recall thinking, He's got this.

And that's when I finally relaxed. Oh, our return trip was bouncy, and windy, but I enjoyed it. Partly, because I knew we were headed ashore, but, mostly, because I was confident in his confidence. He was the master of the boat. He understood the relationship of the craft to the water. He knew how to take that vessel through the weather and on into the safety of the port.

Sometimes our lives take on similar dimensions. We find ourselves in a place where the "mighty waters" of life threaten; we're tossed about by the wind and the waves. But, no matter how far out we are, no matter how deep, we can take comfort. This week's Lectionary selection from Psalms 93 says: “The ocean depths raise their voice, O Lord; they raise their voice and roar. The Lord rules supreme in heaven, greater than the roar of the ocean, more powerful than the waves of the sea.” (Psalm‬ ‭93:3-4‬ ‭GNT‬‬)

The Lord is not disturbed by the high winds, the mounting waves, the darkening clouds. No matter the storms that arise on our journey through this life, we can have confidence in His confidence.

He's got this.
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READINGS FOR THE COMING WEEK
http://lectionary.library.vanderbilt.edu/

Reign of Christ - Proper 29 (34) (November 22, 2015)
First reading and Psalm
2 Samuel 23:1-7
Psalm 132:1-12, (13-18)
Alternate First reading and Psalm
Daniel 7:9-10, 13-14
Psalm 93
Second reading
Revelation 1:4b-8
Gospel
John 18:33-37
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Will you be in Waco Friday morning? Join us for Lectionary Breakfast at the "Egg and I" restaurant from 8:00 to 9:00 for an hour like no other. The scriptures are fascinating, the food is tasty, and our fellow travelers are just the best. ☺️

Enjoy the week!
Steve

The Possibilities in the Subtleties (a Lectionary reflection by Steve Orr)

Caldwell O'Connor had always loved steam driven locomotives. Even as a boy.

And when he recognized the steady replacement of steam by petroleum products was going to put an end to them, O'Connor felt an urgency to capture those behemoths on film, before they vanished into history. And of course, he wanted to capture them in motion.

There was just one problem.

He quickly discovered something other filmmakers could have told him: fast-moving objects appeared jerky when filmed. There was no way to smoothly film their progress across a field of vision. Cameras didn't move that fast without shaking.

So, being an engineer by trade, O'Connor invented a solution. He called it the "fluid-damped camera head." It was a a silicone-filled platform that fit between the camera and the tripod. It eliminated the jerkiness that plagued the rapid panning required to film fast-moving objects.

It solved what he thought was the problem.

One day, while pursuing his joy of filming moving steam-powered locomotives, a stranger tapped O'Connor on the shoulder and asked to take a look. As the guy seemed to know his way around cameras, O'Connor agreed. By his comments, the stranger indicated he recognized what O'Connor had accomplished. And then he asked O'Connor to make 10 of the platforms for him.

That stranger was Walt Disney.

With his expert eye, Disney observed O'Connor's operation of his camera as he filmed racing steam-driven locomotives, the ultra smooth panning as the lens followed the train across the landscape. He recognized something most of us wouldn't even register: O'Connor was filming more smoothly than was possible with existing motion picture technology.

It was a subtle thing, but Walt saw the possibilities in it.

When Walt Disney tapped O'Connor on the shoulder that day, it changed the course of O'Connor's life. He went on to developed many engineering marvels, and he later won the Academy Award for his creation of the "fluid-damped camera head," an invention that completely changed filmmaking. He quit his job with the power company to work full time on his engineering projects, many of which were for Disney.

Disney was in the process of trying to film The Living Desert, one of his first live action nature films. He, too, had been plagued by the jerkiness of rapid panning required to film, in his case, fast moving animals. Using the O'Connor head, The Living Desert went on to win the very first "Academy Award for Documentary Feature."

O'Connor saw his invention as solving his problem: filming trains. Walt Disney saw the possibilities of the O'Connor head for filming ANY moving object; that it was an industry-changing invention.

And it all started with a tap on the shoulder.

Disney, an acknowledged master in his realm, saw the possibilities in the subtleties. He knew that with this relationship he could do wonders. We need someone like that in our lives, someone who can observe us so closely they can perceive the possibilities in aspects so subtle that even we may not recognize them as potential strengths.

In this week's Lectionary, Job is reeling from all the terrible things that have befallen him and his family. Job believed in God, but he had a different relationship with God than we do. Job lived in a world that associated material gain with the belief that It came about because of God's favor, God's approval. In the world view of Job's time, he should have been immune to tragedy.

We know different.

Job also believed if only he could find a way into God's presence he could present his concerns, make his case, receive an explanation of what he had done to deserve such tragedies, and perhaps get some instruction on how to correct his faults. For Job, this was hope.

It is different for us.

We know we have someone who desires the very best for us. We don't have to wait until our lives come apart before we reach out to Him. If we're open to it, we can begin an adventure with just a gentle tap on our spiritual shoulders. We need only be expectantly still.

The Master, who can see the possibilities in our subtleties, can do wonders.
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READINGS FOR THE COMING WEEK
http://lectionary.library.vanderbilt.edu/

Proper 23 (28) (October 11, 2015)

Job 23:1-9, 16-17
Psalm 22:1-15
Amos 5:6-7, 10-15
Psalm 90:12-17
Hebrews 4:12-16
Mark 10:17-31
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Be sure to read all of this coming week's Lectionary selections. This is one of those weeks when they all fit together. We're looking at Job, in particular, so start there.

Then join us for Lectionary Breakfast Friday morning at 8:00 at the Waco "Egg and I" restaurant. We'll be talking about what happened to Job (and why), and whether we need to be concerned about something like that happening to us.

Enjoy the week!
Steve


Photo credit: http://wallpapers55.com/steam-locomotive-passing-through-desert/

The Door and the Vine (a Lectionary reflection by Steve Orr)

Something strange happened one night.

I was in my dorm room, talking to a girl on the telephone. In the dark.

But none of that is the strange part. In fact, I often talked on the phone with girls, and I often conversed past sunset, too engrossed in the conversation to take notice that the room had grown dark. No, that was all normal. The strange part had to do with the door.

It opened.

Which should not have happened.

Our dorm room doors always locked, automatically, when closed. You needed a key to open one of these doors. And my key was in my pocket. Yet, while I sat, motionless now, mouth hanging open, voiceless, in my dorm room, in the dark, I watched as the door swung silently open, painting my floor with a rectangle of light from the hallway.

Next, one of my fellow students stepped into the room just as silently as my opening door and my now voiceless conversation. He . . . the only word for it was . . . crept . . . to the center of the room, glancing about, pausing for a longer time as his eye fell on the bed. Ensuring, I assumed, that the bed was empty. I observed him for a few more seconds. Then, reaching above and behind me, I flipped on the room lights.

He jumped.

Then, finally seeing me sitting in the chair just inside the door, he looked me right in the eye and said, "Sorry. Wrong room." He then walked past me, out the door, and down the hall toward his own room.

I thought about that strange occurrence for quite a while; about two hours. Then, I called campus security and reported what had occurred.

Perhaps you're wondering why I waited so long to make that call. The reason is this: Bob (not his real name) had been sent to our small christian college by his family because he "needed better companions" who would serve as "positive influences" to help steer him away from some "troubling choices" he had made back home. In short: they sent him to a christian college in hopes it would turn him from a life of crime.

I hesitated so long because I knew all this about Bob and suspected that "turning him in" to the Dean of Men for breaking into my room would surely lead to his dismissal. And I would be the cause of that. It might well mean he had exhausted his last chance.

But in the end, I did do just that. Things had gone missing from various dorm rooms for weeks. Others were being violated by someone who had no respect for the rules or for their fellow human beings. I could not afford to not report the strange situation.

Sometimes in life we encounter a person who, due to poor choices, is like the branch in this week's Lectionary passage from John 15; a branch that has to be cut off because it no longer produces acceptable fruit. It is always a moment of profound sadness to realize we may play a role in the events that leads to them being cut off from the very associations that could benefit them. If only they would choose the better path.

It makes God sad when He must remove a branch from the Vine, from the ONLY means to life. But, God expects fruit to be produced when we are connected to His Vine. Those who DO produce fruit will have unproductive areas of their lives trimmed away.

And those who do not produce acceptable fruit will be wholly removed and sent away.
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READINGS FOR THE COMING WEEK
Fifth Sunday of Easter (May 3, 2015)
http://lectionary.library.vanderbilt.edu/

Acts 8:26-40
Psalm 23:25-31
1John 4:7-22
John 15:1-8
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It's Lectionary Breakfast time! We meet Friday mornings at the Waco "Egg and I" restaurant from 8:00 - 9:00. Join us for scripture, laughter, and tasty food.

You're welcome, always.

Enjoy the week!
Steve

Photo by Martin Pope (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/gardening/gardeningadvice/6563482/How-to-prune-vines.html)

The Court of Good Deeds (a Lectionary reflection by Steve Orr)

Without preamble, the tall man fixed his eyes on Bob and asked in the voice of one who was accustomed to speaking only with the most cultured members of society, "What did you do and how do you plead?"

Bob had no idea how to respond to that. Finally, after a few seconds, he cleared his throat and said, "Begging your pardon, sir, I do not know how to answer you. I do not know why I am here, nor, for that matter, what "here" is."

"Come, come, man. Surely you heard the Bailiff. This is the Court of Good Deeds," explained the tall man. "I am Chief Justice. You have been brought here to answer for your crimes. Now, please, can we move on? My brothers and I have other things to which we must attend."

Bob was starting to get it, or at least a glimmer of it. "Are you telling me there is a law against performing good deeds and that I have broken it?"

At this, one of the other . . . Justices, Bob presumed . . . spoke. He was short and thick, but spoke with the same cultured, pleasant sounding voice as the first. "It is most disingenuous of you to pretend ignorance of the law. I can assure you. Acting this way is not the path to obtaining our sympathy."

In response, Bob stated, "If I am brought before this . . . um, tribunal to answer for helping an elderly man regain his footing after a fall, then I can confirm I did so. However, I cannot understand how such an act caused me to be brought before judges. How can an act of kindness be a crime?"

The third justice, a man who was neither tall nor short, but upon whom appeared a continuous scowl, asked, "Did you have a permit?"

"A permit, sir?" asked Bob. "Where would someone obtain a permit to perform good deeds?" Bob asked this somewhat facetiously, thinking, even then, that this might be some kind of prank.

"You would obtain the permit from this court, of course," said the tall justice. "Where else? You need only apply, state your untended good deed, and pay the fee. It couldn't be simpler. And if you had done so, none of this morning's unpleasantness would be necessary. As it is, we are now inconvenienced with having to deal with the matter."

"But," replied Bob, "How does God's love abide in anyone who has the world's goods and sees a brother or sister in need and yet refuses help? By the time one came here, applied and obtained your permission, the person in need might have come to even greater harm. How, in your laws, does one, acting in God's love, assist another on the spur of the moment?"

All three justices, and even the Bailiff, were stymied. No one had ever claimed to perform a good deed, without premeditation and their approval, in the name of "God's love." Angered that they could think of no good response, they dismissed Bob, warning him to to conform to the law and not to discuss the morning's proceedings with anyone.

Bob walked from the cavernous chamber and back out onto the street. As he started away from the court, he spotted a young woman struggling with groceries and three small children. Stepping from the shadow of the court's edifice, he entered the sunlight, grinned, and headed her way.

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READINGS FOR THE COMING WEEK
Fourth Sunday of Easter (April 26, 2015)
First reading
Acts 4:5-12
Psalm
Psalm 23
Second reading
1 John 3:16-24
Gospel
John 10:11-18

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I hope you can be with us Friday morning for Lectionary Breakfast. We start at 8:00-ish, sharp, and are always done not one minute later than a few minutes after 9:00. The good folks at the Waco "Egg and I" restaurant ready the meeting room for us each time, deliver the food of our choice, and provide great service. We have a blast!

Don't judge us.

Enjoy the week!
Steve

My Thin Place (a Lectionary reflection by Steve Orr)

Unexpected. That's the word. Everything about that morning was unexpected.

First, it was cool. That summer had been one of the hottest in recent memory; days on end of triple digit highs. So, by "cool" I mean it was a pleasant morning to take a stroll in a short-sleeved shirt. Also, I was early. Unexpected. Because of the timing for the commuter rail, I often needed to hurry from the station to my office. But not that morning. The sun had yet to crest the buildings, the tall sides of the downtown canyon. The morning was still dawning.

I was completely caught off guard by the birds.

Rounding a corner, i suddenly found myself serenaded. So, so unexpected. On my right was a small pocket park, and its trees were packed full of singing birds. Even though there was no melody, the collected sound of their birdsong was surprisingly harmonious. I stopped and just let it wash over me. For several long minutes, I was completely wrapped in those blended voices.

Many people, when asked to identify a place where they feel closer to God, will describe things like high mountains, majestic waterfalls, a peaceful stretch of ocean, or a moment of absolute silence in an ancient meeting place. But, these "thin places" are individual. Sure, people often erect edifices to mark those places. Jacob did that, twice; once, on the west side of the Jordan River where he had a vision of a stairway to heaven, and again, two decades later on the east side where he wrestled with an angel as he was returning to the land promised him by God. Jacob did not expect either of those encounters; they were arranged by God, on God's timetable.

Not many modern people claim to have encountered God, at least not like Jacob did; up close and personal. In modern times, we tend to describe it as "feeling closer" to God, or, as one friend suggested, "not as far from God as I usually am." However you want to describe it, that unexpected birdsong serenade was my thin place. I felt that God was there, in that moment, sharing a portion of His creation with me. I was moved to do something I rarely do; I wrote a poem.

Sun still coming;
Short-sleeve cool;
Birdsong peals;
Buildings ring.

I know there are many people who make sometimes long, arduous journey's so they can visit some "thinny," places where others have claimed an encounter with God. And I mean no disrespect for their choices when I state that, for me, I think there is great value in waiting for God to make the arrangements, for Him to chose the place of encounter . . . and the nature of the experience.

There is no stone to mark that spot of urban birdsong. Only the poem, and my memory of the experience, remain. It was transient, an unexpected moment in an unexpected place.

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I hope you can join us at the Waco "Egg and I" restaurant Friday morning. We're in at 8:00 and out at 9:00. And, for that hour, we have our own little thin place in the "Egg and I" meeting room. We spend time in God's word and draw closer to Him.

Enjoy the week!
Steve

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http://lectionary.library.vanderbilt.edu

READINGS FOR THE COMING WEEK
Proper 13 (18) (August 3, 2014)

Genesis 32:22-31
Psalm 17:1-7, 15
Isaiah 55:1-5
Psalm 145:8-9, 14-21
Romans 9:1-5
Matthew 14:13-21

The Cowboy Coming to You (a Lectionary reflection by Steve Orr)

There was a bit of a commotion in our Central Texas community the other day.

It happened about the time everyone was headed back from lunch.

The bull, lighting out for the territory ahead, was giving it his all as he sprinted down a very busy street. Behind him, lasso and whip at the ready, raced a man in a red pickup truck . . . followed by three (or possibly four) police cars.

It WAS a sight.

As entrancing as that parade was to local drivers and the folks finishing their burgers and fries, the most interesting part of the story came at the end.

That's when two "animal control cowboys" arrived to corner the fella and wrangle him into a trailer. His flirt with freedom at an end, the bull was returned to his owner, only a little worse for the wear.

And as one local police sergeant noted, “The good thing about living in Texas is that it’s not too long after you call a cowboy that you get one coming to you.”

That brings us to two of this week's Lectionary scriptures: the Exodus 17 passage where the children of Israel tested God, and Psalm 95 which refers to that event. When Exodus 17 opens, the Israelites have experienced the wonder and power of God again and again and again: the ten plagues on Egypt, including the miracle of the Passover; the pillar of cloud and the pillar of flame; the dry crossing at the Red Sea and the destruction of the Egyptian army; undrinkable water cured; free meat every evening to feast on and manna every morning with which to make bread.

And yet, after all of that, when they grew thirsty, they insulted God by complaining as if they had never witnessed a single miracle. They had seen His power, LIVED it, but acted as if none of it had ever occured.

Is it any wonder that God came to loath them?

The police in my community called on animal control cowboys when faced with the need to round up an errant bull. They made that call because they KNEW those cowboys were available and ready to accept the challenge. There was every confidence that a cowboy would soon be coming to do what needed to be done.

That's because we live in "cowboy country." We know they are there, that they are capable, and that they can be depended on in time of need. We have seen their abilities and have no concern about them handling our needs. Our experiences with relation to cowboys has led to our faith in them to address our cowboy needs.

In the same way, the Israelites lived in "God Country." They had been living there for some time; yet, when the need arose, they couldn't muster a tiny bit of faith, even with all their experience with Him, to trust God for their need.

If you have seen the power of God in your life, imitate our local police in your faith; trust that when you need God's help that He already knows and has an answer on the way.

You have a cowboy coming to you.

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We're rounding everyone up Friday morning at 8:00 for feed and a little scripture grazing. Join us if you can. We'll be at the Waco "Egg and I" restaurant.

Cow folk welcome.

Enjoy the week!
Steve

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http://lectionary.library.vanderbilt.edu

READINGS FOR THE WEEK
Third Sunday in Lent (March 23, 2014)

Exodus 17:1-7
Psalm 95
Romans 5:1-11
John 4:5-42

dallas noir (a brief Lectionary reflection by Steve Orr)

Even as a kid, I was the one who was more interested in the B movie than the double feature headliner at our local drive-in theater. That's because the B movie was often the one with the "noir."

Noir is a story style that usually involves at least one dead person, murdered by someone wanting something that dead person owned, controlled, or had access to. Think: The Maltese Falcon. There is almost always a tough-talking protagonist seeking the truth, along with some complicated chemistry ("sparkage") between the protagonist and a suspect. Think: Mike Hammer.

I like noir.

Seems like I was always having to stay up late to see the B movie or catch the late, late show. But that's when I could see the hard-boiled detective (private or police) wade through the miasma of half-truths and red herrings on the way to ferreting out the perpetrator. This may be why I am a night owl.

I like noir so much, I recently made a pilgrimage to the Half-Price Books mother ship in north Dallas to attend the pre-release event for a new anthology called "dallas noir." This is the 60-th release from Akashic Books in a series with titles like boston noir, mumbai noir, and wall street noir (lower case all intentional). Future editions include such destinations as Baghdad, Stockholm, and Jerusalem.

The evening did not disappoint. Not only could I purchase the book in advance of public release, the editor and ten of the authors were on hand! I stood, transfixed, as author after author discussed his/her story, the what and why of it, and how they chose that particular Dallas neighborhood in which to set it. A little bit of heaven for a noir lover.

As the term implies, these are dark stories. I've spent more than a little time trying to sort out just what it is that draws me to them. A few years ago, after considering and dismissing one reason after another, I decided it was this: almost every story has at its center a knight-in-tarnished-armor who struggles against that darkness, perhaps personally, perhaps professionally, and not always succeeding . . . but never giving up.

Now, in this week's Lectionary selections, I find another reason. With all its darkness (commandments are broken, deadly sins are everywhere), each noir story serves up a dramatic illustration of what can happen when we forget something important: The idea that we control the flow of wealth is an illusion, and attempts to take it from others always leads to a dark place. When this life is measured in decades that can usually be counted on the fingers of two hands, the very concept of "possession" must be called into question.

True, while we're here, we are to be good stewards of what has been entrusted to us. And while stewarding these trusts, we are to do so in recognition of this truth:

‘The silver and gold are mine,’ says the Lord who rules over all. (Haggai 2:8)


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http://lectionary.library.vanderbilt.edu

READINGS FOR THE COMING WEEK
Proper 27 (32) (November 10, 2013)

Haggai 1:15b-2:9
Psalm 145:1-5, 17-21 or Psalm 98
Job 19:23-27a
Psalm 17:1-9
2 Thessalonians 2:1-5, 13-17
Luke 20:27-38

Can you be with us Friday morning? We're still meeting at 8:00 at the Waco "Egg and I" restaurant. The food is tasty and the coffee is hot.

Oh, and their dark roast is superb :-)

Enjoy the week!
Steve

A Matter of Gravity (a Lectionary reflection by Steve Orr)

Several years ago, a question was put to Futurists consulting with a government think tank: "How would life be lived if, every day for 20 minutes, there was no gravity?"

The group immediately split into two different camps: the "gravity will disappear every day at the same time" camp and the "no one knows when the 20 minutes of non-gravity will occur in a given day" camp.

The scenarios they tossed out were, to say the least, intriguing. Everything from "we would need to anchor everything not already tied down" to "we could take it as an opportunity to teach people to fly." Other ideas included permanently labeling everything so items that "strayed" could be returned to the rightful owner and strengthening roofs so they could withstand the impact of objects that would, surely, fall on them when gravity resumed.

Still, what is most interesting to me is that not a single one of them applied their scenarios any where except on Earth. You see, at that point in time, no one had actually flown into space; the Earth had yet to be orbited; space stations were fully the province of fiction. None of these folk, until later told to do so, considered the question from the perspective of outer space.

They were thinking chaos would ensue for 20 minutes every day; that, at a minimum, the potential for loss and injury had to be addressed.

This makes me think about the passages of this week's Lectionary readings. Psalm 81:11-12 talks about what would happen if our spiritual gravity were switched off, perhaps permanently. We would be allowed to follow our OWN counsel. Like an object no longer tethered to the Earth by gravity, we would spin off in the direction we were already headed, but with nothing to break our speed except impact. Our "own counsel" would soon lead us to destruction.

Despite how we often chafe against its seeming limitations, we need the spiritual gravity God offers us to keep us tethered to reality, to continue moving in orbit around all that truly matters.

This week's passages are all about HOW we do that.

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http://lectionary.library.vanderbilt.edu

READINGS FOR THE COMING WEEK
Proper 17 (22) (September 1, 2013)

Jeremiah 2:4-13
Psalm 81:1, 10-16
Sirach 10:12-18 or Proverbs 25:6-7
Psalm 112
Hebrews 13:1-8, 15-16
Luke 14:1, 7-14

I hope to see you Friday morning at "The Egg and I" in Waco. From 8:00 to 9:00, we have a great time rocketing through the scriptures, and the food is LOTS better than paste and Tang :-)

Enjoy the 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)

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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