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

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.

The Ghost Army Revisited (a Steve Orr Lent reflection)

They were playing “make believe” in the middle of a war!

When word began to spread that the army was seeking recruits with skills in the areas of drawing, painting, stage craft, theatrical lighting, sound production, and the like, several people were interested. It was the height of World War II. Many who wanted to serve had been rejected on various grounds, usually for failing the entrance physical. Upon discovering they might be allowed to serve in a newly created unit, while doing the very things they were already skilled at, sounded almost too good to be true.

And maybe it was.

Admission was strictly at the option of the Army. Applicants had to write a letter explaining why they wanted to serve in the unit. Once admitted, they could tell no one what they were assigned to do ... and that injunction lasted for over forty years after the war (some parts are still top secret).

But that’s only the beginning of the strangeness. Several people, already serving in combat roles, received mysterious visitors who told them they were being reassigned to this new unit, 23rd Headquarters Special Troops. To the consternation of these soldiers and their immediate supervisors, these visitors refused to answer any questions about their new duties.

Eventually, over 1,100 able-bodied soldiers, people who were otherwise capable of combat roles, were transferred into the 23rd, a non-combat unit.

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"All warfare is based on deception. Hence, when we are able to attack, we must seem unable; when using our forces, we must appear inactive; when we are near, we must make the enemy believe we are far away; when far away, we must make him believe we are near."

Sun Tzu
The Art of War
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During the last year and a half of that war, the 23rd had one of the strangest jobs in the military: they had to pretend to be an army. Their job was to bring to life Sun Tzu's precept on deception.

They became a Ghost Army.

Using sound trucks with loud-speakers, fictional radio scripts, and deceptive visuals (like inflatable rubber tanks & jeeps), these men delivered a false understanding to the enemy. At times, command needed the enemy to believe invasion forces were massing a hundred miles south of the actual location: the 23rd took care of that. At other times, command needed the enemy to think the army was closer than it actually was. The 23rd took care of that.

By playing specially made recordings, at night over loud speakers, the enemy could "hear" entire battalions entering an area, the sounds of pontoon bridge construction along with cursing sergeants, even the sounds of tanks clanking over those bridges: all of it nothing more than sound. Using scripts, the men would engage in radio chatter, exactly like that used by actual combat units, to mislead the enemy into thinking deployments were moving in one direction, toward one objective, when something completely different was being executed elsewhere.

The enemy was listening ... and acting on what they heard. But the pinnacle was what they did with fake vehicles. Rubber tanks, weighing less than 100 pounds when inflated, and could easily be moved about by four men. Tanks, jeeps, gun emplacements, and "motor pools" were just a few of the magicks in their bag of tricks. They were incredibly successful.

Our enemy uses deception on us, too.

The enemy sometimes makes us believe God is further away than He actually is. Our enemy wants us to believe: “God cannot possibly love me!” And he employs deception to convince us of it. He "shows" us the big guns pointed at us and makes us worry about the impact such things will have on our lives. It is all designed to look and sound like assaults we cannot survive, to distract us from our true ally, God, and to defeat us by any means.

In this week's Lectionary selection from Psalm 51, there are many negatives. Satan would be very pleased if we became dispirited by such things as being sinners, God's judgment, and us having done evil. Instead, we need to recall that Satan wages a war for our souls, that he wishes to mislead us and distract us from truth, and specifically this truth: even then, even under the Law, the Psalmist knew that God possessed steadfast love, could have mercy, could forgive, and could "blot out my transgressions."

In a system where the Law taught that the nation’s sins could only be rolled forward each year (and never completely eliminated), the idea that sins could be "blotted out" was radical.

The Psalmist uses his sin to emphasize God's boundless love. The Psalmist somehow knows that, should God choose to do so, He could actually create a clean heart in a living human, place a new and right spirit within that person, actually restore a person to the joy of salvation.

It has, of course, always been true: God can forgive our sins.

God can make us new and whole, can completely ignore what we've done. And then on top of that, continually energize our newly installed spirit, teaching us wisdom in our most secret inner being, so we grow to be willing to continue in a state of grace-filled forgiveness.

Oh, Satan would never want us to know that ... and he will use his ghost army to try to keep us from remembering that God is greater than our failings, draws near to us when we seek Him, and loves us more than we can even love ourselves.


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A somewhat different version of this reflection appeared during Lent 2015

GHOST ARMY PHOTO and story: http://www.messynessychic.com/2015/05/14/the-ghost-army-of-wwii-that-duped-hitler/

MORE ABOUT THE GHOST ARMY (a PBS Special, a book, and a possible movie): http://www.ghostarmy.org/
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READINGS FOR THE COMING WEEK
Fifth Sunday in Lent (March 18, 2018)
https://lectionary.library.vanderbilt.edu//

Jeremiah 31:31-34
Psalm 51:1-12 or Psalm 119:9-16
Hebrews 5:5-10
John 12:20-33
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Join us if you can on Friday morning for DaySpring’s Lectionary Breakfast. We always start at 8:00-ish, sharp. And we wind things up right on the dot of 9:00-ish. Come for the food, the prayer, the scriptures, and the provocative discussions that flow. But stay for the laughter.

Blessings,
Steve

A Separate Peace (a Lectionary reflection by Steve Orr)

There was this book; A Separate Peace. We read it in the ninth grade. There's a lot I don't recall about the book, but that's not due to memory lapse: I just didn't get it, even then. The story took place in the U.S. during World War II. I seem to recall some guy fell out of a tree and broke his leg, and the main character was named Finny (maybe).

That's about it.

I'm certain, because I remember the concerned look on my teacher's face, that I was supposed to get a lot more out of it than that. I'm pretty sure we were supposed to be profoundly affected by it.

That was not my experience. I just didn't find anything about the book to like. Everyone seemed kind of mean. Or at least that's how I remember it. For whatever reason, I never connected with it.

But I do recall one important thing.

The title had to do with treaties. It goes something like this: a group of allies agree to go to war together, as a unified force, or at least agree to all fight the same enemies. That's part of it. The other part is this: each country making up the allies also agrees to not make "a separate peace" with the enemy forces. In other words, "we're all in it together, and none of us quits until we all agree to quit."

A separate peace sounds like a nice thing, a way to walk away from the battle rather than face the terrible things that are assuredly coming; pain, separation, destruction, and death. But there is a problem with a separate peace that may not be readily apparent. If one of the allied countries decided to make a separate peace with the enemy forces, that would be a betrayal of the other countries in the allied forces. The original commitment made by the betraying country would now be without meaning, and they would likely never be trusted by their former allies, ever again.

That's what's happening in this week's Lectionary selection from Luke 4:1-13. Satan, in the middle of his multi-millennia war with God, has come to Jesus to entice Him into a separate peace. They both know that some hard times are ahead for Jesus; pain, separation, destruction, and death. Satan's "temptations" are all inducements for Jesus to abandon his allegiance to God. To step out of the war.

There are times and places for a separate peace. Truly, sometimes it is better to walk away from the war than to continue, even if we can't convince our allies to do so. But for the "war in heaven" that spilled over onto Earth, our oath of fealty must stand firm. Like Jesus, we must resist whatever draws us away from our commitment to God.

Now is not the time for a separate peace.
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READINGS FOR THE COMING WEEK
http://lectionary.library.vanderbilt.edu/texts.php?id=118

Deuteronomy 26:1-11
Psalm 91: 1-2, 9-16
Romans 10:8b-13
Luke 4:1-14

Here's a link to all the readings for the season of Lent.
http://lectionary.library.vanderbilt.edu/lections.php?year=C&season=Lent

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We enter the season of Lent preparing for some time of personal reflection. Where do we stand? With God? Are we faithful? Or have we sidelined ourselves from the conflict? Is there something of which we need to repent?

The next six weeks are especially significant in our journey with Jesus through this life. Spend the Friday mornings with us at Lectionary Breakfast. You'll be glad of the fellowship and time in the scriptures. We gather at 8:00 a.m. at the Waco "Egg and I" restaurant for an hour like no other.

Blessings,
Steve