Flashy Thingy: Forgetting on purpose (a Lectionary reflection by Steve Orr)

Remember the "flashy thingy" from the Men In Black movies, that cigar-shaped tech used by the agents to make people forget extraterrestrials are living on Earth? Well, the time has come when we may not need Will Smith or Tommy Lee Jones to flash away our memories.

Apparently, we can forget.

Oh, I don't mean accidental forgetting; we all know we can do that and most of us wish we could make it stop. Nor do I mean repressed memories associated with traumatic experiences (such as often exists in patients diagnosed with PTSD). It is quite common for people to repress bad memories.

What I mean is this: we can decide to forget ... and then do so.

Several promising studies over the past few years have shown that, instead of psychological repression, we can actually trigger memory suppression. I know those terms seem similar, but they are actually very different. The first one, repression, happens without conscious decision, and is almost always associated with having experienced a traumatic event. It's the second one, voluntary suppression, that is our focus.

Just as a person may use certain techniques to ensure the remembering of something, there are ways in which a person can intentionally forget. Most of the research in this area is aimed at helping people who have been crippled (for lack of a better term) by traumatic memories; people who have developed psychoses, neuroses, depression, etc., because they cannot forget.

All of this is still experimental. We humans are still a long way from having a "flashy thingy" we can wield with surgical precision to erase troubling memories. One big plus in all this, however, is that our brains tend to heavily lace the memory process with creativity; in fact, the two are almost welded together. As I wrote five years ago, we don't so much "Save" our memories as we "Save As." Even as we are making our memories, we tend to recast them in creative ways.

So, what would that mean for the Creator of all creation? Does God possess the ability to forget at will? Can God's creativity trump His memory? Can love really cover a multitude of sins?

Anyone reading this week's Lectionary passage from Jeremiah would have to wonder.
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READINGS FOR THE COMING WEEK
Proper 24 (29) (October 16, 2016)
http://lectionary.library.vanderbilt.edu/texts.php?id=284

First reading and Psalm
Jeremiah 31:27-34
Psalm 119:97-104
Alternate First reading and Psalm
Genesis 32:22-31
Psalm 121
Second reading
2 Timothy 3:14-4:5
Gospel
Luke 18:1-8
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Can you join us Friday morning for Lectionary Breakfast? We would love for you to meet us at the Waco "Egg and I" restaurant for food, fellowship, and, yes, fun. We start 8:00-ish and are gone by 9:00-ish. In between, we read scripture, eat whatever we order from the menu, discuss, and (I know I keep reporting this, but its true) there is an almost unbelievable amount of laughter.

Join us.

Enjoy the week!
Steve

Triple Crown (a Lectionary reflection by Steve Orr)

There are thousands of horse races every year, all across the planet. And while several countries have Triple Crown competitions, it is the U.S. Triple Crown that the world follows in the media. Many of us recently thrilled at American Pharaoh's win at the Belmont Stakes. Having already won the Kentucky Derby and the Preakness, the Belmont win made American Pharaoh the 12th Triple Crown winner in U.S. history, and ended a 37 year drought.

It's a competitive sport; and Thoroughbred Racing, though a smaller subset, is the most competitive part of that sport. Riders and horses train intensely for a period of years. Before the Derby, several horses are considered favorites. But when the Preakness is run, the Derby winner is the most favored horse in the race. The other riders know they must outperform the Derby winner if they are going to take the Preakness. And should the same horse win both the Derby and the Preakness, the competition for the Belmont is intensified by magnitudes.

Like all competitors, the owners, trainers, and jockeys understand that, regardless of the horse's physical abilities, they must win the mental competitions before the physical ones. For sake of discussion, let's call those mental competitions "races."

RACE ONE - Recognizing that there is a greater performance level: I like that Robert Browning quote for this "...a man's reach should exceed his grasp, or what's a heaven for?" The competitor must understand there is a gap between where s/he is and the greater performance level.

RACE TWO - Recognizing that there is a challenge to seek that greater performance level: Simply knowing there is a greater performance level isn't enough to bring about a win. The competitor must desire it and work toward it. They must accept the challenge.

RACE THREE - Recognizing there is a means to accept that challenge & bridge the gap through instruction and preparation: In short, it's a process and you have to start somewhere. Why not start with an instructor/trainer who is best qualified to lead you where you need to be in order to win? This is where the real work begins.

But wouldn't it all seem a bit absurd if people raced alongside those horses? Strange as that sounds, God calls us to do just that. This week's Lectionary selection from Mark 4 has within it a reference to a challenge in place between humans and God: how some people can understand enough of God's ways to rise above, to bridge the gap between God and humans, to be able to be imitators of God in their dealings with other humans.

Responding to Jeremiah's complaints that good things keep happening to bad people, God says, "If you have raced with men on foot, and they have wearied you, how will you compete with horses?" (Jeremiah 12:5 English Standard Version) God uses a proverbial expression to help Jeremiah understand that his complaining reflects spiritually immaturity. There is more, much more, that God needs from Jeremiah. He really is calling for the young prophet to step up to a higher level, to "compete with the horses." But if he can't handle the day-to-day, then how will he handle larger truths? It's RACE ONE.

Jesus raised the very same concept when he asked "If I have told you earthly things and you do not believe, how will you believe if I tell you heavenly things?" (‭John‬ ‭3‬:‭12‬ NKJV). Jesus is tossing down the gauntlet, issuing the challenge to seek the higher things. They need to accept the challenge to be more than they are. RACE TWO.

Finally, in this week's selection (Mark 4:33-34), we see that Jesus spent much of his ministry speaking in parables, and only in parables, to most of his audiences. Why? Because it's what "they were able to hear..." BUT, to those He had challenged, to those whom He expected to strive for that greater spiritual maturity, his disciples, "he explained everything in private."

We are called to be more, to know more, to do more; but we are not expected to just arrive there. Nor are we expected to strive toward that alone. Just as did Jesus' disciples, we have an instructor who will explain to us so that we may, in turn, help others to understand. RACE THREE.

The race is on. Are you in it?
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READINGS FOR THE COMING WEEK
http://lectionary.library.vanderbilt.edu/

Proper 6 (11) (June 14, 2015)
1 Samuel 15:34 - 16:13
Psalm 20
Ezekiel 17:22-24
Psalm 92:1-4, 12-15
2 Corinthians 5:6-10, (11-13), 14-17
Mark 4:26-34
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Eric is away this week, so the mice will play! :-) Please join our Lectionary Breakfast group Friday morning at 8:00. We're still at the Waco "Egg and I" restaurant and it's still the best hour of the day.

Enjoy the week!
Steve

Al Capone Does My Shirts (a Lectionary reflection by Steve Orr)

It's 1935. Moose Flanagan and his family have just moved from the middle of the country to Alcatraz Island so that his father can take a job as a prison guard. Having a job, any job, is an accomplishment, even six years after the great stock market crash of 1929. But this job comes with both a decent salary AND a place to live. All of the guards at Alcatraz must live on the island, so quarters are provided for them and their families.

As important as those things are, though, there is another reason for them moving away from all that is familiar to them. Moose's sister, Natalie, needs a special school, and one of the few such schools, perhaps the best of them all, is located just across the Bay in San Francisco. Moose's Dad and Mom uprooted their family, made the move, took the dangerous job, agreed to live on the island, all pinned on the hope she will be admitted.

Al Capone Does My Shirts is one of my favorite reads. I recommend it to all (and I can hardly wait the few more years until I can read it with my grandson!). Gennifer Choldenko's novel has it all: dangerous criminals and trustees, family life and school, a Warden and prison guards, a likable main character and baseball, and, of course, Alcatraz and Al Capone.

But it also has some other things: uncertainty, yearning, forced relocation (for Moose), and not knowing who your true friends are.

And in these things, we find a connection to this week's Lectionary passages. I am particularly thinking of the upheaval being experienced by the Israelites who were forced to move to a foreign land, are captives there, and who must find their way, somehow, until they are released.

They yearn for the home they left behind.

I wished I could have reached into the novel and shared with Moose the comforting words Jeremiah wrote for God's people in Lamentations:

"But this I call to mind, and therefore I have hope: The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. “The Lord is my portion,” says my soul, “therefore I will hope in him.” (Lamentations 3:21-24 ESV)

When the Lord is our portion, it doesn't matter where we are, and we can place in God all our hopes for ourselves and our loved ones. God's faithfulness always exceeds whatever we lack.

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http://lectionary.library.vanderbilt.edu

Who SAYS we never shake things up? Eric switched his sermon source for this week and last. This week, he will use the Lectionary passages intended for October 6, 2013. Next week, we will be back on track.

READINGS FOR THE COMING WEEK
Proper 22 (27) (October 6, 2013)

Lamentations 1:1-
Lamentations 3:19-26 or Psalm 137
Habakkuk 1:1-4; 2:1-4
Psalm 37:1-9
2 Timothy 1:1-14
Luke 17:5-10

I hope to see you Friday morning at Lectionary Breakfast. We will gather at the Waco Egg and I restaurant at 8:00 to share food and fellowship.

Please leave your laundry at home.

Enjoy the week!
Steve