Shake It Off (a Lectionary reflection by Steve Orr)

Duckwater.

That's the word we came up with when we were kids. It was our shorthand for those times when our peers were calling us names or otherwise "putting us down." What we meant whenever we said that to someone, our coded message if you will, was: "let it roll off your back like water off a duck."

Some things are just not worthy of our emotional investment. We deny them power over us by treating them as something that has about as much sticking power as water sliding off a duck. To quote from a recent movie, sometimes you just need to, "Let it go." As a current pop star might put it: just shake it off.

Pick your mechanism. Choose the idiom that works for you. However we do it, we need to, somehow, separate what is not important from what is. In fact, if we haven't done so, yet, we need to start emphasizing what is truly important in every aspect of our existence. And, at some point, we need to give zero time to those matters which are really only distractions from what actually matters.

In this week's Lectionary selection from the book of Hebrews, the writer talks about the time when God will shake off the created realm so that all that remains is the eternal.

As we prepare for that time, we need to keep moving ourselves away from what is only temporary and toward what is everlasting; to behold the only things that truly matter, and to shed what only seems, and only momentarily, consequential.

Duckwater.
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READINGS FOR THE COMING WEEK
Proper 16 (21) (August 21, 2016

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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We would love for you to join us Friday morning for Lectionary Breakfast. We meet at 8:00 at the Waco "Egg and I" restaurant for an hour of scripture, discussion, tasty food, and lasting sustenance.

Blessings!
Steve

The Snow Queen (a Lectionary reflection by Steve Orr)

From the very beginning, when the writers, animators, and directors first started crafting Disney's Frozen---and for a very long, long time after that---Elsa was the villain of the piece.

When they started, they were telling the story of "The Snow Queen," Hans Christian Andersen's fairy tale of the evil woman who captured a boy's heart and kept him prisoner in her icy realm. And they relished the possibility of creating a new, iconic Disney villain; someone to join such evildoers as Ursula, Scar, Captain Hook, and Cruella de Vil.

Everything was in place to do that. The Snow Queen has formed the basis for many a literary villain. Author after author has used her evil for their variations on the theme. Take C. S. Lewis' White Witch in The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe: she was so evil she had transformed Narnia into a land where it "was always winter, but never Christmas."

But, as anyone who has seen Frozen knows, that is NOT what happened in the movie. Elsa did NOT become the villain of Frozen. And now that we know the disparity between the original plan and the eventual outcome, we have to ask: what changed?

It was the song.

Animated movies, particularly Disney animated movies, are complex enterprises with many pieces, most of which move along on parallel tracks at the same time. Story writers, song writers, artists, etc., are all working on the same project, but are not in contact with each other every day. So, perhaps it is understandable that those helming the movie did not hear the song "Let It Go" until later in the process. But when they finally heard it, well . . .

It changed everything.

Suddenly, based on the lyrics of that song, Elsa was no longer a two dimensional villain, but rather a complex person who had reasons for freezing everyone out. You've heard the song and you've seen the changes it wrought.

We are like Elsa. As it says in this week's Lectionary selection from Romans 8, we are in suspense until God fulfills our hope for redemption. We find we must await the work of the Spirit in our lives; "to help us in our weakness," to intercede for us while we are still in flux, to lead us through the process of becoming.

When they started, Elsa was the villain. When they finished their work, she was the redeemed.

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

Day of Pentecost (May 24, 2015)
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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How great it would be to see you at Lectionary Breakfast this Friday morning! If you can, meet us at 8:00 at the Waco "Egg and I" for a hearty breakfast, enjoyable companions, and life-changing scripture.

No one gets the cold shoulder.

Enjoy the week!
Steve