Yesterday (a Steve Orr scripture reflection)

The recent film, Yesterday, is about Jack Malik, a would-be rocker who remembers the Beatles. The problem: he has miraculously awakened to a world where he is apparently the only person who remembers them.

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

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

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

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

Would you like to travel to the past?

Time is like a river ... or so Einstein thought. He believed it flowed; sped up and slowed down. His contemporaries thought time might have banks like a river, that the past was back there ... just out of sight, around a bend. They believed that if someone had great desire to do so, really wanted to go, he or she could travel back the way the "river" had come, back around the bend, so to speak, to the past. They could "return" to a place and time to which they may never have even been before; likely a place/time only their ancestors had known.

As strange as it may sound, this is the theme tying together several of this week's scriptures. Not time-travel, per se, but the almost overwhelming desire to return to the past. This is particularly true of Psalm 137 where the Psalmist captures the laments of the Israelites, enslaved by Babylon and exiled far from home (Don't read this one to young children; the ending is very harsh). It is also reflected in the first passage from Lamentations. To fully appreciate the overwhelming sadness of their situation, their longing to return, listen to this song ("Babylon") from the TV show, Mad Men: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TsVCjykMHVw&app=desktop

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

Do you sometimes feel that almost overwhelming sense of melancholy for a time and place in the past? Could it be that what you really desire is a closer relationship with God? The selections from Lamentations 3, Habakkuk, and Psalm 37 provide us some relief and point us toward some true solutions to our longing.

As believers, we have a different situation than those exiled Israelites. As we find underscored in the Second Timothy passage, we have the Holy Spirit flowing within us, connecting us to God in ways we cannot even fully understand. Like a river, it brings life and nourishment to us. And when we feel ourselves drifting from God, we can pray in that Spirit for whatever is needed to fully reconnect us.

For Jesus is the same yesterday, today, and forever. No time-travel needed.

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PHOTO: Adobe Spark Post

Jack Malik sings Yesterday: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QlAZniSQ9mY&app=desktop

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

A somewhat different version of this, (Would you like to travel to the past?), appeared in 2016.

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READINGS FOR THE COMING WEEK
Proper 22 (27) (October 6, 2019)
https://lectionary.library.vanderbilt.edu//texts.php?id=282

Lamentations 1:1-6
Lamentations 3:19-26 or Psalm 137
Habakkuk 1:1-4; 2:1-4
Psalm 37:1-9
2 Timothy 1:1-14
Luke 17:5-10

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Join us if you can, Friday morning, at Lectionary Breakfast. We still gather at Our Breakfast Place (formerly the Waco "Egg and I" restaurant). We start at 8:00 and wrap things up about an hour later. The food is good, but the scripture, discussion, fellowship, and laughter are better.

Enjoy the week!
Steve

The Billion Dollar Giveaway (a Steve Orr scripture reflection)

I was offended. It was supposed to be a celebration, and they were ruining it!

We had accomplished something truly amazing. Having crossed the $2 Billion point in our efforts, our leadership was taking a day to celebrate our accomplishments. Bigwigs flew out from the main office. They took photos of us holding a giant $2 Billion check. We were being touted in the news.

It should have been a perfect day. And yet, detractors in our own office had dubbed our accomplishment “the billion dollar giveaway.” Sniping from the wings, it seemed to me. It wasn’t their accomplishment, so they intended to ruin it for the rest of us. I mean ... come on ... there were cookies and cake in the break room!

I was in a state. No telling what I was saying out loud. It was at this point my boss gently guided me into his office and closed the door. He told me to calm down. He then shocked me by putting a name to my behavior.

Aesthetic outrage.

Yep, that’s right. He was telling me that the whisper campaign of our fifth-column naysayers, while possibly a violation of decorum, had no impact on the substance of our gathering. We had, in fact, accomplished the very thing we were celebrating. In other words, my outrage had no real substance. I had no real reason to be offended.

Wait. What? But ... But they ... Oh.

Slowly it began to sink in. He was correct. My response was to some superficial matter and had completely ignored the substance of the event. I was offended at their violation of what I perceived as the rules of proper conduct. Until he made me see it, I had lost track of what was truly important.

Jesus ran into a similar mindset in this week’s scripture from Luke. He healed a woman while at church! To our modern sensibilities, this may seem absolutely the right place and time, but not so to the leader of the Synagogue. He was offended. How dare Jesus ... or anyone ... say or do anything to breach the decorum of the Sabbath! — There are rules, people! — In his view, all that healing should take place on one of the other six days.

But Jesus came back with inescapable logic. Not a person there would leave their farm animals bound on a Sabbath, unable to have access to water. How does that stack up against providing much needed relief to a human on the same day?

What we make room for in our spiritual space is, not surprisingly, personal. And also no surprise, we give ourselves some latitude. The downside of this is that, sometimes (often?), we don’t allow the same leeway in the spiritual space of others ... particularly if what they do breeches our definition of decorum.

You may find that some people prefer the traditional pieces of worship to the actual work of worship. Nothing Jesus said that day was new, and it wasn’t news to His audience. For centuries, the Prophets had been telling God’s people that the work of worship — attending to the needs of the poor, the widowed, the orphaned, the imprisoned ...and the ill — was more important to God than the sacrifices and festivals ... even though God had instructed them to do those things, too.

The acts of worship have meaning and purpose. They are not, however, satisfactory on their own. Like Jesus, we must become attuned to the needs of those near us — our neighbors, if you will — and act on that knowledge in a timely manner: do the actual work of worship.

Even if it causes a bit of aesthetic outrage along the way.


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Photo: “Leading An Ox to Water” by Steve Orr

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READINGS FOR THE COMING WEEK
Proper 16 (21) (August 25, 2019)
https://lectionary.library.vanderbilt.edu//texts.php?id=276

Jeremiah 1:4-10
Psalm 71:1-6
Isaiah 58:9b-14
Psalm 103:1-8
Hebrews 12:18-29
Luke 13:10-17

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Join us Friday morning at Our Breakfast Place (formerly The Egg and I) for DaySpring’s Lectionary Breakfast. An hour of food, scripture, and discussion starts at 8:00am. It’s a wonderful way to launch the weekend.

Blessings,
Steve

They Shall Not Grow Old (a Steve Orr Lectionary reflection)

It felt like I was watching magic.

Do yourself a favor: see Peter Jackson’s stunning World War I documentary, They Shall Not Grow Old. If you were enthralled by what he did with Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit, you should see what he does with reality. Gone is the jerky silence of those hundred-year old, black and white films. What he and his production team have accomplished with sound, color, and digitization is amazing.

He makes those soldiers come to life.

The film’s only narrators are men who actually fought in WWI, which adds authenticity. But the real magic came when I heard the sounds of the soldiers eating, laughing, marching, speaking. They came to life in full color. It felt as if I knew them, these men from a century ago. That’s some incredible filmmaking.

As we watched, one comment jumped out at me. One of the narrators made a joke, with the punchline, “We got mittens, too!” It triggered a memory of a story my own father told me about his military service in the Second World War ...

D-Day was mere days behind them. Dad and his crew continued to operate their British 40MM Bofors gun, one of six the U. S. Army had borrowed from the Brits. Since they were part of the infantry, they were always in the thick of the fighting. It was in these early battles that Dad first heard something strange being shouted by the enemy:

GOT MITTENS!

The voices were, of course, German and heavily accented; but Dad could think of no other phrase that made any sense. And yet ... it made no sense. But there was no mistaking what he was hearing. For some reason, as they charged Dad’s position, the German soldiers were shouting “Got Mittens!” Over and over Dad heard them shout “Got Mittens!” So many were shouting it, the rattle and thump-thump-thump of gunfire didn’t drown it out.

But, strange as he thought that was, it didn’t even come close to how strange Dad thought it was when he learned what they were really shouting.

He couldn’t exactly recall when he came into possession of the belt buckle; one of those early battles. He found it just lying on the battlefield, a ragged piece of webbed belt still clinging to one side. When he saw the swastika gripped in the Eagle’s talons, he knew for certain. It was German. Then, he saw something else. At first, he didn’t realize what he was looking at; he thought them just embossed symbols, part of the design.

But then he saw they were words.

There, stamped into the thin metal of the buckle, in a tight circle around the Eagle and Swastika, was “GOTT MIT UNS.”

It took a little bit; but slowly his mind worked it out. Dad felt his skin begin to crawl; some part of his brain already realizing. There on the belt buckle were the words he had been hearing as wave upon wave of Germans assailed their positions all throughout those early battles. “Gott Mit Uns! Gott Mit Uns! Gott Mit Uns!”

God with us.

It seems shockingly pretentious to believe God favored one side over the other in WWI. And yet ... God did favor one set of people over other people in many conflicts in the Old Testament. But, it is also no stretch to say that much changed along those lines with the death and resurrection of Jesus.

When the leaders of Israel confronted Peter and the Apostles in this week’s selection from the book of Acts, those leaders may well have believed God was on their side. In demanding that the Apostles stop sharing the good news, they may have believed God approved of their actions. But, as we know, many of Israel’s past leaders still believed they acted with God’s approval long after God had rejected them for failing to obey His commands.

That was the situation in Acts chapter 5. Even after three years of Jesus telling them, those leaders had not accepted the truth: God had rejected them. And, in the gentlest way possible, that’s what Peter and the Apostles communicated to them in responding: "We must obey God rather than any human authority.”

The message? God was not with them.

There will always be people who believe God favors their side in a conflict. For the most part, though, they will be wrong. Yes, God does favor some folk over others, even today. But, for those whom God favors, the conflicts are spiritual ones.

Peter and the Apostles did not take up arms against those who had decided to be their enemies. They knew Jesus, whom prophecy called Immanuel; “God with us.” They knew the true battle was a spiritual one, and so they fought with spiritual weapons; truth, prayer, and the guidance of the Holy Spirit. And with Immanuel on their side.

We must do the same. For we, too, can declare, “God with us.”

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PHOTO: https://m.imdb.com/title/tt7905466/?ref_=m_nv_sr_1

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Some portions of this reflection were taken from an October 2011 reflection entitled Got Mittens?

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READINGS FOR THE COMING WEEK
Second Sunday of Easter (April 28, 2019)
https://lectionary.library.vanderbilt.edu//texts.php?id=134

Acts 5:27-32
Psalm 118:14-29 or Psalm 150
Revelation 1:4-8
John 20:19-31

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I hope you can join us Friday morning for DaySpring’s Lectionary Breakfast. In this season of Easter, it is a great way to continue our focus on that empty tomb and its meaning, today. We meet at 8:00 at the “Egg and I” for a wonderful hour of food, fellowship, and Bible discussion.

Blessings,
Steve

Judas and the Inverted Pyramid (a Steve Orr Lectionary reflection)

He said what?! To whom?!

My sophomore year in high school brought a lot of changes. One of those changes, a positive one and one most important to me, was that I could take a class in journalism.

For one hour each day, five times each week, for about 40 weeks, I studied the fundamentals of Journalism. Throw in homework assignments and working on our award-winning school newspaper, I spent about 500 hours that school year immersed in journalistic pursuits. Yes, I learned how to write a concise, complete, accurate, and readable news story. Beyond the writing, though, I also learned how to do the research and investigatory work necessary to produce the elements of those stories. As Mrs. Cooper taught us: conveying what you want to convey is one thing; knowing whether it is accurate is something else entirely.

For the writing part, we learned to apply the Inverted Pyramid; the organization of information so that the most important facts appeared first in the story, with subsequent paragraphs containing information of lesser importance. Employing the Inverted Pyramid style, the first paragraph of a news story should contain (or, at least reference) the main who, what, when, where, and why (and/or how) fact-set.

If I were reporting on the events described in this week’s selection from the Gospel of John, the first paragraph would go something like this.

Last night in Bethany, at the home of Lazarus, Martha, and Mary, one of Jesus’s followers, Judas, criticized Mary for anointing Jesus’ feet with a pound of expensive perfume. Judas questioned why the fragrance was not, instead, sold for 300 denarii and the proceeds distributed among the poor.

That’s not a bad opening paragraph. The main actors are all named. The main event, the foot-washing, is referenced. And a possible conflict is identified. It’s enough to make the reader wonder what happened next.

In an exclusive to this paper, another follower, John, described the events. John indicated he and other followers were invited to join Jesus for dinner at the Bethany household. [You my recall this home from a story we reported not long ago. It is the same location where Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead!] During dinner, while Jesus visited with Lazarus, Mary brought in the jar of ointment, lavished its contents on the feet of Jesus and then proceeded to wipe it off with her hair!

This works perfectly in an inverted pyramid story. The second paragraph provides the background for the first part of the first paragraph. The third paragraph will address the conflict between Jesus and Judas.

As the scent of the expensive perfume filled the house, Judas was heard to say, “Why was this perfume not sold for three hundred denarii and the money given to the poor?" The reader might think this question was not aimed at anyone in particular; more of a rhetorical question than one seeking an answer. However, John tells us Jesus responded to Judas, telling him, “Leave her alone. She bought it so that she might keep it for the day of my burial. You always have the poor with you, but you do not always have me."

The good reporter uses the last paragraph to bring the story to a close ... or to as much of a close as can be engineered with the facts at hand.

There has been speculation as to not only what Jesus meant by the comment to Judas that he would “always have the poor” with him, but also why he directed the comment to Judas. Jesus is known to periodically pause and direct side comments to His followers. However, in this case, it is clear His remarks were made directly in response to Judas. There seems to be a brewing conflict between these two, one that bears watching. The reader can depend on our reporters to remain vigilant, and to bring you the news of whatever develops.

That would be the end of a news story. The facts were presented and unknowns were identified. Mrs. Cooper would instruct us to move over to the Opinion Page if we wanted to write anything else about those events. Let’s do that and see what might have been printed there.

Sharp words were exchanged last night at a home in Bethany. The well known preacher, Jesus, took to task one of his followers for criticizing the actions of their host (see related story on Page 1). It seems one Judas expressed dismay that a pound(!) of perfume was applied to the feet of Jesus by Mary, sister to Martha and Lazarus (see “Life After Resurrection” Page 8, for more on this mystery man). While it may seem bizarre to anoint someone’s feet with perfume (and then wipe it off with her hair), in our view, Mary was perfectly within her rights to do so. Her home, her perfume. However, this Judas opined that the perfume was expensive and could have been sold for 300 denarii(!). Further, he thought that value could have been more useful in the hands of the poor than on the feet of Jesus. It is hard to argue with the need of the poor, but ....

This Judas kept the common purse of Jesus and his followers and no doubt had money on his mind ... perhaps too much. We have it on good authority that this Judas said what he said “not because he cared about the poor.” Our source further accused Judas of being a thief, claiming that he “used to steal” from their common purse. Well, that puts a whole new light on his complaints about the poor! In our opinion, this Judas cares nothing about the needs of the poor, but only about his own pockets. It seems his master has caught him out as well, sending this parting shot his way: “Leave her alone. She bought it so that she might keep it for the day of my burial. You always have the poor with you, but you do not always have me."

Sounds to us like Jesus was not really commenting on the poor, at all. That, by using ‘the poor” as a metaphor, He was telling Judas that he could steal from the purse at any time, but that there would not be another occasion when Mary could express her feelings about Jesus. As for our newspaper, it is our hope the authorities will take note of this man and his love of money. For, as we all know, it is the love of money that is the root of all evil.

It might be interesting to read what this fictional newspaper would write about subsequent events. And what opinion pieces might grace its Opinion Page. But that’s it for now.

At least we now know who said what to whom.

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GRAPHIC (a great link to lessons for writers and wanna-be-writers): https://writerswrite.co.za/why-you-need-the-inverted-pyramid-when-you-write/inverted-pyramid-in-comprehensive-form/

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READINGS FOR THE COMING WEEK
Fifth Sunday in Lent (April 7, 2019)
https://lectionary.library.vanderbilt.edu//texts.php?id=122

Isaiah 43:16-21
Psalm 126
Philippians 3:4b-14
John 12:1-8

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One Friday closer to Easter! Join us for DaySpring’s Lectionary Breakfast at the Waco “Egg and I” restaurant. We start at 8:00am, packing an hour with good news, good food, good fellowship, good discussion, and a belly laugh or two. You should join us.

Blessings,
Steve

Wax On. Wax Off. (a Steve Orr Lectionary reflection)

Daniel has a problem. He is being bullied by schoolmates.

In the original “Karate Kid” movie (1984), Mr. Miyagi saves high school student Daniel from a savage beating. The older man dispatches the bullies through a form of Karate. Daniel begs to be instructed in Karate so that he can protect himself from the bullies.

Mr. Miyagi agrees to train Daniel and then directs Daniel to perform various menial tasks. One such task involves waxing Mr. Miyagi’s car. The older man insists Daniel apply the wax with his right hand, moving it in a clockwise circle. Similarly, he insists Daniel remove the wax with his left hand moving in a counter-clockwise circle. And, to make it even more difficult, it seems, the teen must apply and remove the wax at the same time! All of this while Mr. Miyagi chants, over and over, “Wax on. Wax off ... Wax on. Wax off.”

Daniel soon becomes frustrated with Mr. Miyagi, feeling the older man is taking advantage of him, using him to get some chores done. Daniel refuses to continue performing the tasks. At this juncture, Mr. Miyagi reveals that all the supposed menial tasks are actually practice for effective Karate moves. Upon understanding this, Daniel dedicates himself to perfecting all the moves.

And that brings us to Jesus and His confrontation with Satan in the wilderness.

In this week’s scripture passage from Luke, Satan tempted Jesus three times. Once with sustenance, once with power, and once with personal value. All three could be described as “whats” and/or “hows.” We know that Jesus resisted these temptations, rebuffing Satan’s attempts to entrap him. But, do we know the means of His victory?

If you think Jesus overcame Satan in the wilderness temptations because He is also God, you have completely misunderstood what happened there ... and why. Living life here on Planet Earth was all about experiencing life just as we do. Jesus needed to have our experiences, good and bad, empowering and tempting, etc. If, all through that experience, Jesus could just tap into being God as a way to have what was needed to resist temptation, then how could He be the “first born” of all of us?

He needed to experience everything just as we do; the “whats” and the “hows” of life here. In the wilderness, Satan always led with a “what” or a “how.” Jesus always responded with a “why.” That’s because the “why” always drives behavior. Jesus knew His “why.” That’s how He could resist Satan. The “whats” and the “hows” were not any easier, but knowing the “why” provided the drive to accomplish the mission. Jesus never forgot why He was here. And that drove Him all through His life and ministry.

Daniel’s frustration with Mr. Miyagi grew from performing the “whats” and the “hows” without knowing the “why.” Once he understood the “why,” Daniel was more than willing to perform as required.

Perhaps you have grown tired of the tasks God has assigned you? Maybe you think they are beneath your skill sets, or maybe they’re not aligned with your “calling?” Take heart. There is a plan. And if we will stick with Him, we will, eventually, understand that He has been developing us through our many experiences ... as menial as they may seem.

Wax on. Wax off.

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PHOTO (and a great little article about the true value on “menial” tasks: https://www.communicationlighthouse.com/embracing-menial-tasks-a-leaders-calling/
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READINGS FOR THE COMING WEEK
First Sunday in Lent (March 10, 2019)
https://lectionary.library.vanderbilt.edu/texts.php?id=118

Deuteronomy 26:1-11
Psalm 91:1-2, 9-16
Romans 10:8b-13
Luke 4:1-13
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Friday mornings are the best! We gather at the Waco “Egg and I” restaurant for DaySpring’s Lectionary Breakfast. We start at 8:00 and wrap things up around 9:00. Join us for food, fellowship, scripture, and prayer ... and laughter.

Blessings,
Steve

Giants in the Earth (a Steve Orr Lectionary reflection)

Even though I grew up surrounded by them, I was 21 years old before I actually saw my first giant.

I grew up on the Ohio River, an hour north of where it disappears into the Mississippi. Talk of the giants was common. Most of us had heard the tales: they were buried in the large earthen “Indian mounds” common in our area. By all estimates, these folk averaged eight, nine feet; even taller in some cases. Books, newspaper articles —and rare photos— attested to their existence.

While early explorers reported meeting giants in the Americas as late as the 1500’s, considerable archeological “evidence” suggested large tribes of giants lived in America from about 5600 BC to around 400 AD. Burial sites scattered all across the country have yielded giant skulls, extra large femurs, etc. For some, though, the real treasure troves lay in and near the Ohio River Valley where full skeletons were found. They were proportionally larger humans ... giants, in other words.

It’s possible none of it is true. I never actually saw one of those skeletons. It was all stories, books, and articles. Like the reference to giants in Genesis 6:4, it was all old news. Sure, the Israelites fought them from time to time, and we all know the David and Goliath story. But how many have actually encountered a real giant?

I was sitting in church when I happened to look back at one of the doors. There, bending deep because even his shoulders were to high up to fit under the lintel topping the opening, was my giant. After he squeezed through, he straightened up ... and up ... and up some more.

I know what 6’6” looks like, even 7 foot. I’ve seen a lot of extra-tall people in my life, most of them basketball players. They are almost all of a certain body type; elongated arms and legs, long torso. But this fellow was something else, altogether. He was proportional in every way ... except he was at least 8’ feet tall!

I couldn’t take my eyes off him ... nor could anyone else. He just stood there for a bit, looking around the room. There was no way he was going to fit into one of our seats. Eventually, someone found him a wide bench, and he sat there, against the back wall, most of the service. At some point, though, once we were deep into worship, he slipped out. He was gone when next I looked. I never saw him, again. But seeing someone of that stature left a life-long impression.

I write about giants, this week, because our scriptures are about the stature of God’s “chosen.” The 1st Samuel passage concludes with a comment that the boy Samuel continued “to grow both in stature and in favor with the LORD and with the people.” The Luke passage notes, similarly, that the boy Jesus “...increased in wisdom and in stature, and in favor with God and with people” (Luke‬ ‭2:52‬ ‭NET‬‬).

Those parallels are not accidental.

The two boys got bigger, physically. That’s not surprising. But they also grew in other ways ... ways that drew the explicit approval of both God and people. Still, you might think these verses have no direct application to you. After all, one is about a future prophet and the other is about the Messiah.

There is a connection, though: Samuel and Jesus were God’s chosen ... as are we.

Our physical stature takes care of itself. If we’re not already physical giants, it’s unlikely we ever will be. However, as God’s chosen, we are to seek an increasing spiritual stature. The Colossians passage tells us how.

As God's chosen ones, holy and beloved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience. Bear with one another and, if anyone has a complaint against another, forgive each other; just as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive.

Above all, clothe yourselves with love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony. And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in the one body. And be thankful.

Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly; teach and admonish one another in all wisdom; and with gratitude in your hearts sing psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs to God. And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.

Master those, and you, too, can be a giant.

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PHOTO (Robert Wadlow, 8’ 9” tall, stands next to his 5’ 11” father): http://www.sideshowworld.com/41-GG/121-Robert/Wadlow.html

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READINGS FOR THE COMING WEEK
First Sunday after Christmas Day (December 30, 2018)
https://lectionary.library.vanderbilt.edu//

1 Samuel 2:18-20, 26
Psalm 148
Colossians 3:12-17
Luke 2:41-52
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Join us Friday morning for DaySpring’s Lectionary Breakfast. The hour starts at 8:00 and just tickets along: prayer, scripture, discussion, laughter. Good food, too.

Happy New Year!
Steve

The Stage Manager (a Steve Orr Lectionary reflection)

It was one of those moments you remember for the rest of your life.

In the life of a musical, there are many, many milestones. Under the leadership of the Director, the actors must learn their lines, where to go when, to become their characters. The Choreographer must teach the moves to all who will dance. The Choral Director must ensure that all who will sing know the music and lyrics. The orchestra must learn to play every song and instrumental piece. Over the course of many rehearsals, these are all honed into a (hopefully) well-oiled machine ... a vibrant piece of art that will entertain and enthrall the audience.

But, of course, there’s more: the somewhat hidden parts.

For weeks on end, the various stage crews build everything that must appear onstage; the walls, doorways, buildings, platforms, etc. Others dedicate their time and talents to costuming, lighting, sound, marketing, ticket sales ... on and on. In my theatre days, we didn’t have the phrase, “It takes a village.” But that’s what it takes.

At the moment of change —the moment that would stay with me for the rest of my life— we had finally come to Dress Rehearsal; the night before Opening Night; the night before the public would actually appear to serve as the final arbiters of all our work. As Stage Manager, it was my job (I thought) to ensure we were ready. As I surveyed the various personnel under my direct charge, I saw that all were diligently performing their tasks; from lighting and sound preparation, to the last minute checks of a large house that had to move about the stage on large (concealed) wheels, to those assigned to ensure the actors were located properly for their entrances to upcoming scenes.

It was at that moment the Director approached me and asked the question I was expecting: “Are you ready?” He had asked that question before, and I had always answered honestly, even if the answer was not always that we were 100% ready. Complete honesty was the only way that relationship could work. That night, though, I could happily, say, “Yes. We are ready.”

He looked me in the eye, saw that I was certain, and then spoke the words that would mean so much to my young life (and all the years to follow). “Good. Then, the show is yours.”

He had never said anything like that, before.

In my head, I was thinking something like, “How can it be my show? This is his show!” I’m not sure exactly what words I said in response, but I got across that I didn’t understand. He smiled and explained. The Director was going to be sitting in the audience for the performance; as, in fact, were all the other directors, designers, teachers ... all those who had worked so heard to hone this into art. None of them would be on the stage for the performance. None of them would be backstage. Whatever we delivered to the audience from this point forward, it was entirely up to us.

From this point forward, I was in charge.

Though I hadn’t been consciously aware of it, I was one of those pieces that had been honed over the preceding weeks and months. He had been preparing me for this moment, the moment when I would be fully in charge of whatever we brought to that audience.

No one had ever said anything even remotely like that to me in my entire life. No one had ever placed me in charge of anything. The impact on me was ... transformative. And, even though there were many ups and downs over the next few nights —and, indeed, over the rest of my life— that moment, and all it meant, remained with me. It has been a reservoir of confidence to draw on in good times and bad.

I had been elevated ... by the only person with the power and authority to do so: The Director.

I immediately recalled this moment when reading this week’s selection from the Letter to the Hebrews. It is what the Hebrew writer was explaining about Jesus. God, the only person with the power and authority to do so, elevated Jesus to be “the heir of all things,” to inherit a name above any angel, to be the one who “sustains all things by His powerful word,” to sit down “at the right hand of the Majesty on high.”

And how did that happen? Jesus obeyed.

He obeyed God in all He did throughout His three decades on this planet ... including, most importantly, to willingly become the ”pioneer” of our salvation through suffering and death. Because of his unfailing obedience, Jesus now speaks for God.

It’s His show.

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PHOTO: https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth864976/

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READINGS FOR THE COMING WEEK
Proper 22 (27) (October 7, 2018)
https://lectionary.library.vanderbilt.edu//

Job 1:1, 2:1-10
Psalm 26
Genesis 2:18-24
Psalm 8
Hebrews 1:1-4, 2:5-12
Mark 10:2-16
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Join us Friday morning for DaySpring’s Lectionary Breakfast. We still meet at 8:00 at the Waco “Egg and I” restaurant for an interesting hour of scripture, discussion, prayer, laughter, and food. We would love for you to be there with us (If you don’t see us, ask the hostess).

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 So-Called Silver Rule (a Steve Orr Lectionary reflection)

There’s a story, a Talmudic story, about a rabbi who was challenged by a non-Jew. To be clear, this person was mocking the rabbi when he “pledged” to convert to Judaism if the rabbi could express the entire Torah while standing on one foot. You can see how mocking that is, right?

In response, the rabbi immediately stands on one foot, and says, “What is hateful to you, do not do to your neighbor.”

This is sometimes called “The Silver Rule.” I think any follower of Jesus can recognize that this is quite similar to “The Golden Rule” (“Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.”) In fact, I think this so-called “Silver Rule” may better capture the true spirit of the more famous one.

It certainly helps us understand the actual meaning. As hard as it may be to believe, some people end up doing bad things to others in the name of “The Golden Rule.” So, working out some explanation is worthwhile.

People often sum up the Hippocratic Oath as “First, do no harm ....” In reality, it’s quite a bit longer and much more complex. But, that short piece gets the gist of it right. But, even more importantly, it captures the true full meaning for medical practitioners. Nothing in the longer version transcends the doing of no harm.

I write this comparison of “rules” and true meanings because there may be a need to do so with this week’s passage from 2 Corinthians. The Apostle Paul is in the middle of asking the members of the church at Corinth to supply funds for the relief of other Jesus followers (in other places) who have a financial need.

I have often heard portions of this passage (and others) used as a way to guilt people into giving money to a church or ministry. They often leave out the explanation Paul supplies: “I do not mean there should be relief for others and pressure on you.”

He goes on to say he only wants them to give “out of their abundance” to those others who are in need, rather than put themselves in poverty to help others. He further explains that he would expect a reciprocal arrangement should they ever find themselves in need and wanting other churches to send money to them.

Maybe it’s a subtle point, but I just keep encountering people who think they must impoverish themselves or they can’t be “real” Christians. I feel it needs to be underscored.

There’s a saying I once heard from a Texan: “If all you can do is all you can do, then all you can do is enough.” God loves us and, for the most part, only asks of us what we can do. If we are stretched, it is only because we are capable of it.

Here’s my version of all this: “In doing your good, do no harm, even to yourself.” I think that sums it up nicely.

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Photo: http://www.mimlitschgray.com/following/mimlitschgray.com/melting-silver-2002-2008

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Readings for the coming week
Proper 8 (13) (July 1, 2018)
https://lectionary.library.vanderbilt.edu//

2Samuel 1:1, 17-27
Psalm 130
Lamentations 3:22-33
Psalm 30
2Corinthians 8:7-15
Mark 5:21-43

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Just a quick reminder that DaySpring’s Lectionary Breakfast meets Friday morning at 8:00 in the function room of the Waco “Egg and I” restaurant (entrance is down the outside and near the back of the building).

It’s a great hour of scripture, laughter, prayer, food, discussion, and fellowship.

Plenty of give and take.

Blessings,
Steve

Ants on the Volcano (a Steve Orr Lectionary reflection)

I was profoundly disappointed. Had I traveled all the way to Hawaii just to watch a line of ants march across a dusty spot?

The crossing was a good one; pretty smooth as ocean voyages go (for a hilarious description of a not smooth crossing of the Pacific, see Mark Twain’s Letters from Hawaii). We enjoyed our five days at sea, and that experience was its own separate pleasure. But, lets not pretend: the purpose of the cruise was to reach, and explore, Hawaii.

Our first day on the big island started out so well: our first tour stop was the Hilo Coffee Mill, a combination coffee plantation, cafe, and gift shop. Getting to tour their coffee growing, curing, and roasting operation —followed by drinking some of that fresh and delicious local brew— portended well for the remainder of the day.

There were other interesting sights to see and places to visit ... and we took them all in. However, my goal for that day was to experience Mount Kilauea, the long smoldering volcano that originally formed the island.

It seemed to take forever for us to get to this point in the tour. But ... eventually ... we arrived. We queued up with everyone else, waiting (as patiently as possible) for our turn to peer into the heart of the volcano. There was no one setting time limits; so each person, couple, or group, took as long as they wished. For me, it seemed like forever! Still, even a watched pot will, finally, boil. And our time did finally come.

As we stepped forward to take our place at the front of the line, I was keyed up. Before that day, I had never actually seen a volcano, even at a distance. And while I had viewed this one, just minutes earlier as we drove toward it, what I saw was just a big hill. Now was the moment of truth. Now I would stare down into the heart of the Earth. Now I would see, with my own eyes, the stuff that came before.

What I saw below: a roughly circular patch of dirt crisscrossed by lines of ants marching one behind the other.

After all of the emotional build up, I was profoundly disappointed. Had I traveled half the Pacific Ocean just to watch a line of ants march across a dusty spot? I looked to one side and caught the expressions of the folks just turning to leave the lookout point. Clearly, they were in awe. I turned to the other side where I saw a similar expression on my wife’s face.

What was I missing here? I looked back at the view, seeking to understand.

And then, as sometimes happens to me, everything before my eyes rearranged itself. Suddenly, I was not looking at ants crossing a patch of dirt. Suddenly, those ants became humans, people so far away from me that they appeared as small as ants. And that dusty spot became an enormous volcanic caldera, plugged up with cooled magma.

Humans were walking across the space where, in years past, lava had flowed. They were, in fact, walking on lava (cooled to the point that it would hold the weight of humans and, not insignificantly, not burn them to a cinder). That sent a shiver up my spine.

Perspective. It changes everything.

Before I fully perceived what I was experiencing, my understanding was wrong. Oh, it felt right. In fact, I was certain of what I was seeing: ants on a patch of dirt. But the facts were different than my perception of them. It was only after I saw what was actually before me that I had a full understanding.

And that’s the situation alluded to in this week’s selection from the gospel of John. The perception of ... well, almost everyone ... was wrong. It was wrong about sin, wrong about righteousness, and wrong about judgement. People felt that the sin in their life could not be overcome, that the standard of God’s righteousness was just too high fo a human to achieve ... felt that God had judged them, found them wanting, and had abandoned them to a hell on Earth.

And maybe you’ve felt it, too ... felt as hopeless as ants crawling across a rumbling, threatening volcano?

But maybe that’s too personal. Let’s take a step back and just say that these conditions still exist for some. They can’t understand the new relationship we have with sin because they do not believe that Jesus is really who He claimed to be. They can’t understand the truth about how someone achieves righteousness because they do not accept that Jesus is now with God, acting on our behalf. And they do not understand judgment because they do not acknowledge that “the ruler of this world” has already been condemned.

Jesus taught his disciples that when He sent the “Spirit of Truth” to them, they would be able to understand the truth about these things. It can be difficult to grasp these lessons. Jesus said that, without the Advocate (the Spirit), some of what we need to know would be too much to bear. We need to be gently guided into understanding these contra-intuitive things.

We are not ants on a volcano, as some might want us to believe. We are not distant, little beings to God. We are loved by God and by His son. Our journey has been provided for. We need only allow the Spirit to equip us properly.

Perspective. It changes everything.


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PHOTO (and info about Mount Kīlauea Volcano. Please support Wikipedia.): https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kīlauea

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READINGS FOR THE COMING WEEK
Day of Pentecost (May 20, 2018
https://lectionary.library.vanderbilt.edu//

Acts 2:1-21 or Ezekiel 37:1-14
Psalm 104:24-34, 35b
Romans 8:22-27 or Acts 2:1-21
John 15:26-27; 16:4b-15
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Pentecost marks the celebration of the moment when God began to share His Spirit with all of us who believe. Join us Friday morning as we allow the Advocate to guide us and instruct us. Meet us at 8:00 at the Waco “Egg and I” restaurant (in the function room, around the back). It’s an hour like no other.

Grave Robber! (a Steve Orr Lectionary reflection)

Staring at your own tombstone can be a sobering experience.

Each year in May, we make the trek into Hood County, Texas to attend some very important board meetings ... for a couple of cemeteries.

We have become involved with the governing boards of two historic Texas cemeteries: one with the graves of our earliest Texas ancestors. The other cemetery holds the graves of folks a lot closer to us in time ... as well as our own.

And it’s the latter of these two where I annually face my mortality in a most graphic way. There, carved into granite, is my full name —all three names, like it would be reported if I was arrested for some crime— along with my date of birth. Of course, there is no second date ... yet. Perhaps you’ve heard someone say, right after shivering, “Someone must be walking across my grave!” Well, I’ve actually seen people walk on mine!

Someday, a second date will fill the remaining blank space on my tombstone. Until then, I will continue my journey, here, doing the best I can. Please don’t think I’m being maudlin or macabre. It’s just on my mind this time of year because our service to the community intersects some of our future plans. Plus ... it fits perfectly with the message of this week’s 1st John passage.

John keeps circling back to a few key points because he wants his correspondents to be crystal clear about what is important. And, perhaps the most important of them all is this: “I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, so that you may know that you have eternal life.”

We need never become too disturbed about that transit point we call the grave. That is not the end of our journey. There is much more to go ...

and our final destination isn’t final, at all.

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READINGS FOR THE COMING WEEK
Seventh Sunday of Easter (May 13, 2018)
https://lectionary.library.vanderbilt.edu/texts.php?id=93

Acts 1:15-17, 21-26
Psalm 1
1 John 5:9-13
John 17:6-19
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Join us Friday morning at 8:00 for DaySpring’s Lectionary Breakfast. It’s an unusual blend of scripture, laughter, prayer, and spirited discussion among friends. If that sounds good to you, then meet us at the Waco “Egg and I” restaurant. We’ve been meeting in their function room, around the back.

Blessings,
Steve

Miracle in Gaza? (A Steve Orr Lectionary reflection)

Madeline L’Engle would likely call it a “wrinkle in time.” Perhaps Stephen King would call it a “thinny.” Gamers might want to term it a “gate” or “portal.” Einstein might call it a “space-time bridge.”

Whatever you call it, this was one of the stranger occurrences found it scripture.

The story in Acts chapter 8 begins a lot like other biblical stories: God instructs Philip to go southwest on the road from Jerusalem to Gaza, sometimes called the Wilderness Road. Along that road, Philip encounters a very important person riding in a chariot, a eunuch from Ethiopia. This eunuch is a court official of Ethiopia, in charge of Queen Candace’s entire treasury. He is returning home from recently worshipping in Jerusalem (Passover has just ended).

As Philip nears the moving chariot, he notes that the eunuch is reading aloud from what we would call Isaiah chapter 53. [You should stop, here, and go read that chapter before continuing on.] Most christians would recognize this passage of scripture as describing the last days and hours before Jesus died on the cross. But, when Philip asks the eunuch if he understands what he is reading, the fellow says, “How can I, unless someone guides me?”

The eunuch invites Philip to join him in the chariot. And then, as the chariot eats up the miles, traveling along that Wilderness Road into Gaza and on toward Ethiopia, Philip explains. Starting with this scripture, Philip proclaims to him the good news (gospel) of Jesus as the Messiah (Christ). After a while, now believing what Philip has been teaching about Jesus, the eunuch spies a body of water and says, "Look, here is water! What is to prevent me from being baptized?"

He commands the chariot to stop, then he and Philip enter the water and he is baptized by Philip.

Like I said, the story starts out pretty straight forward. God sends Philip. He meets and instructs the eunuch on a prophecy that tells of Jesus being the Christ. Finally, having now become a believer, the eunuch asks for and is baptized.

Here is where it gets a little strange.

As they are returning to dry land, “the Spirit of the Lord snatched Philip away; the eunuch saw him no more, and went on his way rejoicing. But Philip found himself at Azotus, and as he was passing through the region, he proclaimed the good news to all the towns until he came to Caesarea.”

Let me unpack that for you: Philip disappears right in front of the eunuch and then finds himself over 30 miles away in Azotus (a town situated west of Jerusalem, near the Mediterranean Sea).

Did God teleport Philip to his next assignment?

You will not be shocked to discover that scholars, of course, are divided on this. Was it a miraculous event or was Luke just describing a quick exit for Philip? But, this is hardly the only instance of such miraculous transportation in the Bible. Consider when Jesus appeared to His disciples as they were gathered, post crucifixion, in locked rooms. Jesus just appeared in the midst of them. I tend to agree with those who think it was a miraculous event, mostly because of the phrase, “the Spirit of the Lord snatched Philip away.” The original language there for “snatched” is the same as for the “rapture.” Sounds pretty miraculous to me.

But, what is the point of all this? I think our takeaway is really found in the “bookends” of the story. It begins with God sending Philip to proclaim the good news to someone. And how does it end? Apparently unaffected by his miraculous journey to Azotus, Philip just heads north and keeps on telling folks the good news about Jesus.

And isn't that always the point?

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PHOTO: https://curiosity.com/topics/theoretically-passing-through-space-and-time-in-a-wormhole-curiosity/

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READINGS FOR THE COMING WEEK
Fifth Sunday of Easter (April 29, 2018)
https://lectionary.library.vanderbilt.edu//

Acts 8:26-40
Psalm 22:25-31
1 John 4:7-21
John 15:1-8
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Join us Friday morning at 8:00 for DaySpring’s Lectionary Breakfast. We spend that hour in the function room of the Waco “Egg and I” restaurant eating, praying, discussing scripture, and enjoying each other’s company. Lotta laughter, too.

Blessings,
Steve

Windtalkers Revisited (a Steve Orr Lent reflection)

What kept them from being court-martialed?

In the middle of a war, they transmitted military information over the radio —in the clear!— for everyone to hear ... even the enemy!

Did you see Windtalkers, the movie about the members of a Native American tribe, Navajo? They served the U.S. military during World War II in an unusual way: sharing military secrets over the radio.

What kept these men from being court-martialed? Two things: (1) they were under orders to do so, and (2) everything they said was spoken in Navajo, a complex and unwritten language known only to members of the Navajo tribe. Message created in English, translated into Navajo and transmitted over the radio; received by a Navajo and translated back into English: very simple, very effective.

They were the perfect military code.

But, maybe you don’t know that they were not the first "code talkers" used by our military. Something you might not have learned from the movie: the U.S. used code talkers in World War I, too. The first known use of Native American code talkers was in September 1918 when Cherokee troops transmitted message for the allies in their language during the Second Battle of the Somme. Choctaws were used in the same way to help win several key battles in the Meuse-Argonne Offensive in France. It is reported that within 24 hours of starting to use these code talkers, the tides of the battle turned in the favor of the allies, and within 72 hours, the enemy was on the run.

Even less known is that Adolf Hitler knew about the successful use of code talkers during World War I. He sent a team of some thirty anthropologists to the United States to learn Native American languages before the outbreak of World War II. However, these languages proved too difficult to learn. Still, knowing of Hitler's attempt, the U.S. limited the Navajo code talkers to the Pacific Theater.

Despite every effort, the enemy could not break the code. But, all of this effort would have been of no use without a key element: for every code talker, there had to be a "code listener." This is an essential element to all communication. When someone transmits a message, it must be understood by the person receiving it, or no communication actually takes place.

In this sense, Jesus was a kind of code talker.

Almost everything Jesus said pointed toward a fuller message in the scriptures. He often quoted from or paraphrased scripture when He spoke, trusting that His fuller message would be understood by his listeners. That is certainly what is happening in this week's selection from the 14th chapter of the gospel of Mark when Jesus speaks of the poor.

Some have misunderstood what Jesus meant when he said, “For you always have the poor with you, and you can show kindness to them whenever you wish; but you will not always have me" (NASV Mark 14:7). He is not telling his listeners (nor us) that they need not care for the poor. On the contrary, Jesus is "coding" Deuteronomy 15:7-11, and He is “sending” to a group of “code listeners” who could not help but understand the fuller message.

Care for the poor was a fundamental part of the Israel’s cultural fabric. It was "incorporated" in the early and most foundational parts of the Law.

When some expressed anger that the expensive perfume had been "squandered" on Jesus, He caught them in an attempt to sidestep their responsibilities under the Law. Not a single one of them said, "Seeing this expensive perfume used this way reminds me I need to spend some of my money on the poor." No, they just wanted to point out that someone else’s money had not been used to help the poor. [Side Note: In John 12, the leader of these complainers is identified as Judas Iscariot, the eventual betrayer of Jesus.]

So, code listeners, here is the message: whenever you wish, you may take some of your resources and share them with the needy. Should others direct some of their resources to the needy? If they want to follow the teaching of Jesus, they should. But you never need to wait to see if someone else does it. The poor surround us, and will continue to do so. You only need eyes to see and ears to hear.

And maybe a little “code listening” to help point the way.

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A version of this reflection appeared near the end of the Season of Lent in 2015.

Photo and story about the Navajo Code Talkers:
http://navajopeople.org/navajo-code-talker.htm


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READINGS FOR THE COMING WEEK
You can access both of the reading lists, below, by using the links found here: https://lectionary.library.vanderbilt.edu//lections.php?year=B&season=Lent

Liturgy of the Palms (March 25, 2018)
Psalm 118:1-2, 19-29
Mark 11:1-11 or John 12:12-16

Liturgy of the Passion (March 25, 2018)
Isaiah 50:4-9a
Psalm 31:9-16
Philippians 2:5-11
Mark 14:1-15:47 or Mark 15:1-39, (40-47)
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We would love to have you among us Friday morning for DaySpring’s Lectionary Breakfast. Join us at 8:00 at the Waco "Egg and I." Good food, great fellowship, and a message we can all understand. Truly an hour like no other.

Enjoy the week!
Steve
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What If This Was Easy? (a Steve Orr Lent reflection)

Sometimes I get stuck.

From time to time, I find myself stumped, unable to resolve a problem. I may have spent several minutes (hours!) attempting to master a means to fix, correct, open, understand, etc. ... and then I recall my “magic” question. I’ve been amazed how just that one change of perspective can produce a happy outcome.

I use it to unjam the logs, to break the impasse of my thoughts. What I am really asking myself is this: am I over-complicating this? Am I subconsciously attempting some complicated approach when a simple one will do (and do better)? Have I gotten in my own way?

Am I making it harder than it needs to be?

Let me be clear: this is not a question about effort. Some things require effort to be done correctly, effectively, successfully ... sometimes, a lot of effort. And I’m not talking about those things in this life that are actually complicated. Rocket science is still well beyond the ken of most of us. But, among those matters with which most of us must deal in our daily lives, it’s been my experience that we tend to over-complicate them.

Often, to our own detriment.

This week’s Lectionary scriptures illustrate the point. The Ten Commandments are anything but complicated. Sure, if we want to, we can make them complicated ... but why do that? Simple commands, straight forward directives. Love and revere God, and no other “gods.” Don’t steal. Don’t murder. Don’t lie. Don’t cheat. Don’t covet. Take a day off. Honor your parents. In fact, they are so uncomplicated, Jesus sums them up in just a few sentences at Matthew 22:35-40.

What if this was easy?

The Psalm passage continues the thought that God’s directives for our lives are not only straight forward and actually good for us, but are easily perceived in creation; so obvious that not even words are needed.

What if this was easy?

And the 1st Corinthians passage aims right for heart of the matter. When we rely on the “wisdom” of this world, we over-complicate the truth: God’s wisdom is so simple it appears foolish to people on the outside looking in.

We sometimes find that we are stuck, don’t we? Can’t seem to move forward, can’t seem to back out; can’t resolve that problem; can’t open that pickle jar. Or, maybe a lot more than stuck? Overwhelmed even? Sometimes life appears to be so difficult and so complicated, and no resolution in sight, we want to just throw up your hands and yell, “God, I can’t do this!”

Maybe we’re just asking the wrong question.

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READINGS FOR THE COMING WEEK
Third Sunday in Lent (March 4, 2018)
https://lectionary.library.vanderbilt.edu//

Exodus 20:1-17
Psalm 19
1 Corinthians 1:18-25
John 2:13-22

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DaySpring’s Lectionary Breakfast is still meeting Friday mornings at the Waco “egg and I” restaurant. Look for us in the back. We start at 8:00, and then enjoy an hour of great food, fellowship, scripture, and prayer.

Couldn’t be easier.

Blessings,
Steve

Following the Star to ... Nazareth?! (a Steve Orr Epiphany reflection)

The Wise Men never made it to Bethlehem.

Wait. What?!

In the Sony animated Christmas film, The Star (which was delightful), some talking animals, following several adventures, eventually join the three Wise Men to greet the newborn Jesus lying in a feed trough (manger) in a Bethlehem stable.

But, talking animals aside, is that what really happened?

Most retellings of the Nativity story follow the same basic plot line as the Sony version: three Wise Men (sometimes called Magi or Kings) travel “from the East” (that is, east of Israel), following a star that, they say, heralds the birth of “the King of the Jews (Messiah).” They head first to Jerusalem, but find only the current king, Herod.

Everyone's interested to know who and where this new King is, especially Herod. So he gathers Israel’s scholars, and they all agree Bethlehem is where the Messiah will be born. The Wise Men then leave Jerusalem and follow “the star” to that stable in Bethlehem where they find Jesus still in the feed trough and bestow their respective gifts.

But, some scholars disagree.

They point out that scripture clearly states (see this week’s Matthew selection) the Wise Men only enter the story “after Jesus was born.” Further, when they finally meet Jesus, it is in a house ... no mangers or animals (talking or otherwise) are present.

There are those who argue that, according to Jewish Law, Jesus was presented at the Temple about 40 days after His birth. This was required for all firstborn sons. They point to the second half of Luke chapter 2 which supports their view and also contains this: “When they had finished everything required by the law of the Lord, they returned to Galilee, to their own town of Nazareth.” (Luke 2:39)

So. Could the Wise Men have followed the star to Nazareth instead of Bethlehem? Maybe. There is no real way for us to know. Scripture only tells us they followed the star to a house where “On entering the house, they saw the child with Mary his mother; and they knelt down and paid him homage.” (Matthew 2:11)

Wait. What happened to the stable?

I don't suppose we'll ever know. All we really know is that at some point after Jesus was born —days? weeks?— wise men came on pilgrimage from the east based on what they saw in the heavens and they worshiped Jesus.

In other words: some people learned about Jesus and felt they should seek Him out. Leaving behind all that was familiar to them, they began a spiritual journey, following God’s lead. When they found Jesus, they worshiped Him.

Sounds like something anyone could do ... anywhere.

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A very different version of this reflection appeared in January 2013 as “A Little Epiphany of my Own.”
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Image credit: http://www.freebibleimages.org/photos/wise-men/
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READINGS FOR THE COMING WEEK
Epiphany of the Lord (January 6, 2018)

Isaiah 60:1-6
Psalm 72:1-7, 10-14
Ephesians 3:1-12
Matthew 2:1-12


Link to table of readings for the season of Epiphany: https://lectionary.library.vanderbilt.edu//lections.php?year=B&season=Epiphany

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The 12 days of Christmas end on January 5th. Lectionary Breakfast meets that morning at the Waco “Egg and I” Restaurant for about an hour. We start at 8:00 and enjoy an hour of prayer, food, discussion, fellowship, and laughter.

No drumming drummers expected ... well, not 12 of them, anyway.

Blessings,
Steve

DAY OF THE [walking] DEAD (a Steve Orr Lectionary Reflection)

On the screen, the decaying not-quite-dead move inexorably forward on a shuffling parody of human walking. The plucky heroes and heroines episodically run to various hiding places, but can never seem to actually shake the tide of zombies following them. What’s tips them off? Sound? Smell? Something about truly live humans draws these “walking dead” to their hiding places with unerring accuracy

... or it could be just the movie’s plot.

That is how we tend to think of the “walking dead,” though: Zombies. How else would it be? Dead people do not get up out of their graves and just walk away ... like nothing ever happened to them.

Or do they?

In a week packed with Halloween, All Saints Day, Dia De Los Muertos, and the 500th Anniversary of Protestantism; what’s a person to write about? Well, I guess some people are going to write about Martin Luther, the Wittenberg door, and the Reformation. But, as you probably already noticed, I’m going to write about dead people ... and walking.

All of the All Saints Day Lectionary readings reference that time when Jesus will return, when we will “be like him,” when the saints will gather in heaven and stand before the Throne of God. This is “the resurrection” at which Martha believed she would once again see her dead brother Lazarus. But Jesus tells her, “I am the resurrection.” Then, he proceeds to raise her brother from his grave to rejoin the living, right then.

When “the resurrection” is standing right next to you, there is no need to wait for the last day for people to return to life. Throughout the New Testament, we see Jesus (and, later, the apostles) return dead people to life ... and those people walk. But the strangest resurrection episode takes place during the three days in which Jesus is dead (Matthew 27:50-53). Immediately after Jesus died, graves opened and the “holy ones” returned to life. But that’s not the end of it: after Jesus’ resurrection, these “holy ones” walked into Jerusalem and “appeared to many people.”

It was a for-real “dia de los [walking] muertos”; another miracle awaiting that first Easter morning to take a stroll.

Shocking!

I’m certain it was even more shocking, then, when some of them encountered people they had known in their previous life. Accepting that the power of Jesus to raise the dead was so great that it blasted out into graveyards at the moment of his death, I note that it wasn’t everyone who came back to life. Who, then, were these so-called “holy ones”? Don’t think of them as ascetics who had lived their lives in retreat from the culture of their day.

No.

The Jewish understanding of holiness was not a passive one, but rather a very active one. Yes, “holy ones” were to be separate and distinct. But they were expected to interact with their culture, permeating it like light ... or perhaps, salt. To be “in the world, but not of the world,” to borrow a phrase we often hear, even in these most post-modern times, to describe how christians are supposed to live out our spiritual walk —to walk the walk, nor just talk the talk— until we reach our destination.

To —in much the way we are to love God— love our neighbors as ourselves ... our holy selves.

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Table of Readings: https://lectionary.library.vanderbilt.edu//lections.php?year=A&season=Season%20after%20Pentecost


READINGS FOR THE COMING WEEK
All Saints Day (November 1, 2017)

Revelation 7:9-17
Psalm 34:1-10, 22
1 John 3:1-3
Matthew 5:1-12

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PROPER 26(31) November 5, 2017

Joshua 3:7-17
Psalm 107:1-7, 33-37
Micah 3:5-12
Psalm 43
1 Thessalonians 2:9-13
Matthew 23:1-12

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Photo credit: The link is to a fun zombie-based —and amazingly accurate— representation of how to actually manage your time while balancing the urgent vs the important. http://www.livehard.co.uk/important-vs-urgent-time-management-zombie-apocalypse-style/

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Can you join us Friday morning at Lectionary Breakfast? We gather at 8:00 in the “Waco “Egg and I” function room (at the back, around the side) for food, fellowship, prayer ... and some quality time hammering out how to use the scriptures to ensure we walk the walk, not just talk the talk.

Blessings,
Steve

The Gods of Summer (a Steve Orr Lectionary reflection)

In the summer of 1962, I encountered a god.

OK, to be fair, it was a comic book god, but the encounter was pretty thrilling nonetheless.

The summer of '62 was when "funny books" took a turn ---a permanent turn, as it turns out--- for the serious. That was when the company that would eventually become Marvel launched The Incredible Hulk (May), Spider-Man (August), and Thor: The God of Thunder (August). Today, we are surrounded by these Marvel characters (and many, many others) on our televisions, in our movie houses, and, of course, in many printed forms. But, then ...

I was still a "tween," not yet a teenager, but no longer a child; Junior High loomed ahead in the approaching fall. I was a ripe target for the angst-filled storylines of Spider-Man and his alter-ego, high school science nerd, Peter Parker. The Jekyll-Hyde nature of the Incredible Hulk, with his anger management challenges, perfectly resonated with a young male about to explode with not-entirely-welcome testosterone.

But the character who captured me the most that summer was the mild-mannered, partially disabled physician, Don Blake. While vacationing in Norway, he came upon a walking stick in a cave. Blake's limp was pronounced and he needed that walking stick. Eventually, circumstances caused Dr. Blake to strike that stick on a rock ... and in a flash Don Blake was transformed into the Norse God of Thunder, Thor, and the "walking stick" resumed its true form: Mjolnir, the most powerful hammer in existence.

That hammer, forged by dwarves as one of three gifts for the Norse Gods, was enormously powerful; it could level mountains, summon storms. Like a guided missile, it would hit whatever it was thrown toward, and, especially handy, it always returned to the hand of the one who wielded it. Both hammer and god would return to their "lesser" forms whenever Mjolnir was out of Thor's hand for a certain period of time.

Here's what happened in my pre-adolescent brain at the moment of Dr. Blake's transformation: Wow! There's a super hero inside that guy with the limp! And all that day, and for several to follow, and all through the next school year as I read more of Thor's adventures, long after that first adventure had started to fade from short-term memory, my brain still mulled that initial thought:

There was a "god" inside that man.

Thor was one of a pantheon of Norse Gods. The Greeks and Romans had similar pantheons: leader-gods like Odin and trickster gods like Loki. But these were all, actually, god-come-latelies. Long before those cultures rose to the point they could influence even modern day thought, there were other beings designated as gods. In scripture, we come across many cultures that worshiped beings they called gods. Often, these were hand-carved or cast metal forms that occupied space in people's homes or on alters at high places near their cities.

If you've spent nearly any time reading Old Testament scripture, you likely know that God ---the God-of-the-Angel-Armies, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the God who led the Israelites out of Egyptian bondage--- regarded these so-called "gods" as fictitious creations of humans, no more worthy of worship than a rock or block of wood.

And God was angered by any who did worship these pretenders.

And that brings us to Isaiah 44:6-8, one of this week's Lectionary scriptures. After innumerable messages to the worshippers of these idols proclaiming their complete absence of validity, God calls them out:

"Thus says the LORD, the King of Israel, and his Redeemer, the LORD of hosts: I am the first and I am the last; besides me there is no god. Who is like me? Let them proclaim it, let them declare and set it forth before me. Who has announced from of old the things to come? Let them tell us what is yet to be. Do not fear, or be afraid; have I not told you from of old and declared it? You are my witnesses! Is there any god besides me? There is no other rock; I know not one." (NRSV)

With that kind of certainty on display, it may not come as a surprise that when that comic book got me to thinking about the "god" inside the man, it dovetailed perfectly with another such matter that was on my young mind: Immanuel, God-With-Us, the incarnation of Jesus. I was much more interested in the true God, the one who was unafraid to declare Himself to be the one and only, the one so confident of their silence that He was unafraid to challenge those fake gods. The one who entered this existence inside a person ... for real; the one who didn't need a magic hammer to transform him from God to man and back again ... because He could be both at the same time.

That's the God encounter that mattered to me.

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READINGS FOR THE COMING WEEK
Proper 11 (16) (July 23, 2017)

Genesis 28:10-19a
Psalm 139:1-12, 23-24
Isaiah 44:6-8
Psalm 86:11-17
Romans 8:12-25
Matthew 13:24-30, 36-43

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Will you be in the Waco area? We would love for you to join us for Lectionary Breakfast Friday morning. Still meeting in the back room of the local "Egg and I" restaurant, we start (almost exactly, but not really) at 8:00 and have a great hour (ish), together. Come for the food and stay for the fellowship ... or just come for the fellowship.

Our time together is transforming.

Blessings,
Steve

Stranger in a Strange Land (a Lectionary reflection by Steve Orr)

In Robert Heinlein's STRANGER IN A STRANGE LAND, the main character, Michael, is a human who was raised on Mars by Martians, and then, as an adult, comes to Earth. He grows up on a planet with very little water and then comes to a planet that is mostly water. Actual, physical, wet water is a central theme, but it also takes on a spiritual meaning quite apart from its physical form. When people on Earth give MIchael a drink of water, he considers them to be "water brothers" because they have shared water with him. He feels spiritually bound to them because, having grown up with very little of it, water has a spiritual meaning for him. The humans he meets only think of water as a physical liquid, and therein lies a lot of miscommunication.

On Earth, even though he is also human, he is truly a "stranger in a strange land."

Water. When you need it (or feel that you won't be able to get it when you need it) ... well, it's hard to think of anything else. The Lectionary scriptures, this week, are all about water: the physical kind and the spiritual kind. In Exodus, the people fear they will die for lack of water. Following God's instruction, Moses (the original stranger in a strange land) strikes a rock in front of tribal leaders and water gushes forth. But, in this week's Psalm, the event is mostly remembered as a time of complaining and testing of God; not so much for the gushing miracle.

In the gospel of John, Jesus is tired and thirsty; He breaks some taboos by asking a Samaritan woman for a drink of water. What follows is one of those conversations we often find in John where Jesus means one thing and his listener thinks he means something else. It's all about the water: but she thinks he means the wet kind, and he actually means the spiritual kind. Finally, in Romans, we're told that the reason "hope does not disappoint" is "because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us."

That's the spiritual water of which Jesus spoke.

We can't let wet water, or the lack of it, remain our focus in this life. Sure, we need it; we can't live without it. But there comes a point when, like the folks in the Samaritan village, we move from the physical to the spiritual. We must think of the spiritual water that is as essential to our souls as the physical water is to our bodies. We can't live without that spiritual water, either.

We can both drink and share that living water because it never runs out; a continuously gushing miracle that daily strengthens us for our journey.

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READINGS FOR THE COMING WEEK
Third Sunday in Lent (March 19, 2017)
http://lectionary.library.vanderbilt.edu/

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

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Lectionary Breakfast still meets Friday mornings at the Waco "Egg and I" restaurant. Starting at 8:00, we take the time to allow the living water to flow through us as we laugh, pray, read, discuss, and, of course, eat breakfast.

And each person gets a full glass of water.

Blessings,
Steve

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PHOTO CREDIT:
J. Alan Glennon. (2008) About Geysers, http://www.uweb.ucsb.edu/~glennon/geysers/index.htm, University of California, Santa Barbara, originally posted January 1995, updated August 9, 2008.

Under the Cloak of Darkness (a Lectionary reflection by Steve Orr)

The lights in my garage are on motion detectors.

When I step into my garage, a sensor notes my movement, connecting the power to a light. When I open the door and look into the garage, it's just a dark space. But when I actually enter the garage, it is flooded with light. That light can be a little disorienting; going from complete darkness to bright light can do that. Briefly, I'm thrown off by that light. That's eventually replaced by relief that I can see.

I like that light.

It gives me comfort. I feel confident, each time I enter the garage, that darkness will be replaced by light. It took some work to install the first motion detector and light combination, but it was worth it. So worth it, I installed motion detectors on all of the lights in the garage. Now, wherever I go in the garage, a light turns on as I approach.

We have a darkness situation in this week's Lectionary selection from the gospel of John (3:1-17). If you haven't read it, take a minute to do so, now (It includes the famously quoted John 3:16). In this passage, Nicodemus, a leader of the Jews, comes to speak with Jesus.

Under the cloak of darkness.

Nicodemus has taken a lot of criticism for waiting until dark to have this conversation with Jesus. Who knows? Maybe he had a busy day and this was the first time he had a space in his schedule. Still, even if he had a reasonable excuse, bad optics. Nicodemus looks like he has waited until dark because he doesn't want anyone telling the other Jewish leaders that he was conversing with Jesus. And ... maybe that's really the truth of it.

But here's the thing: despite any potential dangers, he came anyway.

There's a lot we could take away from this encounter between Nicodemus and Jesus. There are multiple significant matters discussed. But there is one key lesson, the one from which the others flow: Nicodemus came to Jesus.

Like my garage light, movement is required.

Peering into my garage, all one sees is darkness. It is only after taking that step into the garage that the light shines forth. If Nicodemus had not taken that step, had not come to visit Jesus that night, he might never have had the opportunity to learn about the need to be born of the Spirit.

If you want to know Jesus, you have to take that first step. You have to have faith that the light will shine forth, even under the cloak of darkness.

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READINGS FOR THE COMING WEEK
Second Sunday in Lent (March 12, 2017)
http://lectionary.library.vanderbilt.edu/

Genesis 12:1-4a
Psalm 121
Romans 4:1-5, 13-17
John 3:1-17 or Matthew 17:1-9

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Can you be with us, Friday morning? Lectionary Breakfast meets at the Waco "Egg and I" restaurant at 8:00. We invest that hour in moving closer to the Lord. We laugh, eat, pray, read scripture, and wrestle with the meaning for our daily living.

And there's plenty of light.

Blessing,
Steve

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READINGS FOR THE COMING WEEK
Second Sunday in Lent (March 12, 2017)
http://lectionary.library.vanderbilt.edu/

Genesis 12:1-4a
Psalm 121
Romans 4:1-5, 13-17
John 3:1-17 or Matthew 17:1-9

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Can you be with us, Friday morning? Lectionary Breakfast meets at the Waco "Egg and I" restaurant at 8:00. We invest that hour in moving closer to the Lord. We laugh, eat, pray, read scripture, and wrestle with the meaning for our daily living.

And there's plenty of light.

Blessing,
Steve