Stuck In Reverse (A Steve Orr scripture reflection)

In theory, theory and reality are the same. In reality, they're not.

I'm pretty sure where it went wrong was when they had the 11-year old drive the tractor. We were at the farm of some family friends, helping with spring planting. The idea was a simple one: use the tractor to pull a discing sledge through the field to make furrows. Once it was done, we could walk down each row, pressing one seed into the soil about every eight inches.

There are some things you need to know before I tell more of this tale. First, when I was eleven years old, it was common for children of all ages to work on family farms. Second, it was common for friends to drive out from town to help on farms. Third, it was common (and perfectly legal) for ten year old children to operate farm machinery, including tractors and pickup trucks.

So there we were, townies and farm folk, children and adults, all friends, working together to get a crop into the ground. Two of us kids were eleven that spring, the oldest of the bunch. My friend was the farm boy; I was the townie.

The first pass of the tractor and sledge made some progress, but the ground was still hard from winter. It was harrowed, but not furrowed. Another pass would be needed. We all took a break at that point, heading to the house for a drink and to the outhouse for the obvious. It was then, as we were about to resume, that the father asked his son to drive the tractor.

A big smile on his face, my friend climbed up onto the seat, placed one hand in the steering wheel and one on the large gearshift knob. Wrestling it into reverse, he backed that tractor away from the fence line and stopped, planning to turn and pull forward. That's the point when it got stuck in reverse. No matter what he did, he could not get the thing into any forward gear. To be fair, it was an old tractor. It might have happened to anyone. It was just my friend's bad luck it happened as he was about to plow his first set of furrows. His turn was over before he had even gone ten feet.

Farms run on hard work, good tools, and windows of opportunity. It wasn't like they could just quit for the day. Neither the good weather nor the presence of additional farm hands (amateur though we were) could be relied upon. A solution had to be found.

And that's when the farmer had his idea: he would drive the tractor backwards. The sledge would now be in front, so to speak, but the principle was the same: the discs would be pressed into the soil and the field would be tilled. All he had to do was look back over his shoulder as he drove the tractor backwards through the field.

To be fair, it worked pretty well for the first row.

But while backing through the second row, something caused the tractor to swerve. The sledge backed over part of the row he had just finished plowing. He managed to straighten out the tractor, but not before doing more damage to the already completed row.

After the same thing happened twice more, he gave up.

That was the end of plowing, at least for that day. A mechanic was called and we were told, ”You kids go play.” Which we did.

I recalled this incident when I read the words of Jesus in this week’s passage from Luke. His said a person was unfit for the Kingdom of God if they put their hand to the plow and then looked back. It sounded like Jesus was condemning any potential followers who wished to tell their families goodbye. But, did Jesus really say we can't follow him unless we disconnect from our families?

Scholars tell us the language used in that passage should convey the idea of continuously acting. In other words, what Jesus is warning against is someone continually focusing on their previous life while also trying to be His disciple. It just won't work. It would be like trying to plow a field while looking back. You might be able to keep your furrows straight for a short time, but, eventually, it would all end up crooked.

Like trying to plow with a tractor stuck in reverse.


_________________________
PHOTO: Beth Stewart

_________________________
READINGS FOR THE COMING WEEK
Proper 8 (13) (June 30, 2019)
https://lectionary.library.vanderbilt.edu//texts.php?id=268

2 Kings 2:1-2, 6-14
Psalm 77:1-2, 11-20
1 Kings 19:15-16, 19-21
Psalm 16
Galatians 5:1, 13-25
Luke 9:51-62

__________________________

Join us Friday morning at Waco’s @Egg and I” restaurant for DaySpring’s Lectionary Breakfast. We start at 8:00 and spend the next hour in fellowship, Bible discussion, and prayer. We eat and laugh, too.

Blessings,
Steve

Chain of Command (a Lectionary reflection by Steve Orr)

I recently saw a TV show where a traveling faith healer set up a large tent outside London. People came, night after night, to beg the healer to intervene for them with God. They all wanted just one thing: to be well. And the healer, invoking the name of God, appeared to heal all manner of frailties.

That's the kind of scenario we associate with faith healers: while in the physical presence of someone claiming to represent God, people appear to be healed of what ails them. There are witnesses, witnesses who can praise the healer and God for the miracle. It's as close to a standard as we come with this kind of thing.

So, with that standard in mind, imagine this scenario: an army captain is stationed is a foreign country where there is a history of insurgents trying to overthrow his government's presence there. The captain couldn't be more different than the locals; wealthy, well educated, a favored son of his country, and has a completely different religion. One day, he is informed that one of his staff has fallen ill; so ill, in fact, he is likely to die. The captain goes to local community leaders and asks them to reach out to an itinerant preacher and (supposed) miracle worker, who is traveling through that part of the country. The captain would like for the preacher to come and heal the ailing man.

Can you imagine an officer in our army doing such a thing? As the more advanced country, our healthcare is almost certainly better than any available in a "second world" foreign outpost. And, even stranger, would one of our army officers seek help from a local "miracle worker"? It sounds too bizarre to be believed.

And yet.

That's what's going on in the Luke passage in this week's Lectionary selections. Jesus enters Capernaum and is soon approached by the Jewish elders on behalf of a Roman Centurion! The local military leader of the repressive regime that has conquered their country! And if that's not strange enough, they want Jesus to come with them to the Centurion's house so he can heal the Centurion's servant! But, while this may sound very unusual to us, Jesus appears to just take it in stride. He agrees to go.

And, though quite a bit out of the ordinary, at least it meets the faith healing standard: Faith healer does the healing in the presence of witnesses.

It's what happens next that shocks even Jesus.

While on their way, a message comes from the Centurion to Jesus: “Lord, do not trouble yourself, for I am not worthy to have you come under my roof. That is why I did not presume to come to you. Instead, say the word, and my servant must be healed. For I too am a man set under authority, with soldiers under me. I say to this one, ‘Go,’ and he goes, and to another, ‘Come,’ and he comes, and to my [servant], ‘Do this,’ and he does it.” (‭‭Luke‬ ‭7:6-8‬ ‭NET‬‬, http://bible.com/107/luk.7.6-8.net)

Scripture says Jesus was amazed, that He marveled at the Centurion's faith in Jesus' authority. Everyone else, even Jesus, was expecting the standard. Instead, because of this Gentile's surprisingly expansive faith, Jesus honors his request. He does not go to the Centurion's house, and yet, the servant is healed anyway.

The authority of Jesus has not diminished by even the tiniest part since this happened.

What does your faith allow?

_________________________

READINGS FOR THE COMING WEEK
Proper 4 (9) (May 29, 2016)
First reading and Psalm
1 Kings 18:20-21, (22-29), 30-39
Psalm 96
Alternate First reading and Psalm
1 Kings 8:22-23, 41-43
Psalm 96:1-9
Second reading
Galatians 1:1-12
Gospel
Luke 7:1-10
_________________________

Friday morning's coming! If you can join us for Lectionary Breakfast, we would be delighted. We still gather at 8:00 at the Waco "Egg and I" restaurant for an hour not quite like any other. Food, faith, and a shocking amount of fun :-)

Enjoy the week!
Steve

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

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

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

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

It WAS a sight.

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

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

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

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

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

Is it any wonder that God came to loath them?

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

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

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

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

You have a cowboy coming to you.

##############################################################

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

Cow folk welcome.

Enjoy the week!
Steve

###############################
http://lectionary.library.vanderbilt.edu

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

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

Shade Number 14 Welder's Glass

(a brief Lectionary reflection by Steve Orr)

Looking directly into the sun, even for a few seconds, will destroy your retina. You would not immediately notice that damage. Your retina has no pain receptors. But the damage occurs. And it is permanent.

Sadly, many people discover this truth after trying to watch a solar eclipse through inadequate filters; sun glasses, photographic film, smoked glass, etc. In fact, the safest way to watch a solar eclipse is through reflection; not look directly at it, at all. The irony here is that it is perfectly safe to view a TOTAL ECLIPSE with the naked eye. It is the minutes before totality and those immediately after that hold the greatest threat to vision. In those minutes, many of us feel safe to look directly at the sun presuming enough of the harmful rays are blocked because the moon "covers" much of the sun.

One filter that DOES provide adequate protection for direct viewing of the eclipse before and after totality is "shade number 14 welder's glass." Have you ever looked at the glass in a Welder's helmet? At SN 14, the glass only transmits about 3 millionths of the visible light striking its surface. It is designed to protect the eyes of the wearer by keeping out all but the very brightest of lights, and it only allows a small amount of that through.

So, what do you see when you look at a Welder's helmet fitted with SN 14 glass? You see yourself. Yes, under certain circumstances you can see THROUGH it, but mostly you just see a very dark reflection of yourself and whatever is around you.

It makes me think of 1st Corinthians 13:12. I have always liked the rendering in the King James Version "For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known." (1 Corinthians 13:12 KJV)

Still, whether it is THROUGH a dark glass or into a dim mirror that we see, the effect is the same: an imperfect vision of reality.

The point of the 13th chapter of 1st Corinthians is this: we are to love, and we are not to allow ourselves to be distracted from that charge by ANYTHING. We all are curious to one degree or other about the great mysteries. What does the future hold? What follows death? Is there another age to come, and if so, what will it be like (and will I be there)? But we are not to know those answers just yet. And until that time, we are to be very actively engaged in faith, hope, and love.

As for me, I am happy to "see through a glass, darkly" as I sojourn here. Because, what's on the other side of that glass is very, very, very bright.


###############################
http://lectionary.library.vanderbilt.edu
READINGS FOR THE COMING WEEK
Fourth Sunday after the Epiphany (February 3, 2013)

Jeremiah 1:4-10
Psalm 71:1-6
1st Corinthians 13:1-13
Luke 4:21-30

The Atheist and Me

The Atheist and Me
(a brief Lectionary reflection by Steve Orr)

Scientist and renowned atheist Richard Dawkins has said and written quite a bit about religion, especially christianity. For example, in his book, The God Delusion, he wrote "One of the truly bad effects of religion is that it teaches us that it is a virtue to be satisfied with not understanding.”  The amazing thing about that statement is that I can, ALMOST, agree with him. If only I could switch a few of those words around. 

A statement I COULD agree with would read like this: "One of the effects of truly bad religion is that it teaches us that it is a virtue to be satisfied with not understanding.” See what I did there? 

But, to be clear, Richard Dawkins and I do NOT really agree on this point---or, for that matter, on almost all points---because he lumps all religions together. He has no use for any religion. Whereas I most certainly have a use for a particular religion.

But, I find that I am sometimes at odds with others over what is meant by the term "christianity." Quite often people claiming the label of "christian" seem to start on the wrong end of the continuum, elevating process over people, caring more about the "rules" than about relationships, being quick to judge and slow to forgive. Sometimes it seems as if the very LAST thing on their minds is loving their neighbor; when---if we are in fact following the teachings of Jesus---loving our neighbors as ourselves (that "royal law" Jesus quotes from Leviticus) should be way, way out near the front, right next to loving God.

And in THAT sense, I find Richard Dawkins and I may be in agreement on one point: "Nothing is wrong with peace and love. It is all the more regrettable that so many of Christ's followers seem to disagree." It is sobering to find that an atheist sees us so clearly, sees us for how our human-ness has "over topped" what we have been taught concerning such fundamental spiritual matters.

But don't take my word for it. Get THE word on the matter. Read the "Sermon on the Mount" or the response Jesus gave to the question: "What is the greatest commandment?"

Or, check out this week's Lectionary selection from the letter of James:

"So speak and so act as those who are to be judged by the law of liberty.  For judgment will be merciless to one who has shown no mercy; mercy triumphs over judgment.  What use is it, my brethren, if someone says he has faith but he has no works?  Can that faith save him?  If a brother or sister is without clothing and in need of daily food, and one of you says to them, "Go in peace, be warmed and be filled," and yet you do not give them what is necessary for their body, what use is that?  Even so faith, if it has no works, is dead, being by itself. But someone may well say, "You have faith and I have works."  Show me your faith without the works, and I will show you my faith by my works.  You believe that God is one.  You do well; the demons also believe, and shudder.  But are you willing to recognize, you foolish fellow, that faith without works is useless? (James 2:12-20)

One last comment. Instead of "you foolish fellow," the Orthodox Jewish Bible addresses these matters to "oh hollow man." 

Shudder, indeed.

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

Proper 18 (23) (September 9, 2012)
Proverbs 22:1-2, 8-9, 22-23
Psalm 125
Isaiah 35:4-7a
Psalm 146
James 2:1-10, (11-13), 14-17
Mark 7:24-37

I hope to see you all Friday, September 14th. In the meantime, join the group THIS WEEK at Cafe Cappuccino (downtown on 6th, near the Courthouse) at 8:00 for breakfast and Bible . . . and some big servings of love, grace, and mercy :-)

Enjoy the week!
Steve

What You Have

What you have
(a brief Lectionary reflection by Steve Orr)

"Is it OK for God's people to have stuff?"

That's the question, in one form or another, I get from time to time. The questioner is concerned about materialism. And more specifically, they are concerned about the conflicting messages they are receiving from well-meaning believers and spiritual leaders.

On the one hand, we are bombarded with messages that say, in effect, if we DON'T have stuff, it's because we don't have enough faith, or enough of the right kind of faith. The message: your lack of stuff is a direct measure of your lack of faith. Simultaneously, we are bombarded from the complete opposite direction with messages telling us that we must NOT have stuff (or only have very little stuff) because stuff gets between us and God. The message: the less stuff you have, the closer to God you are.

To say the messages are confusing is somewhat of an understatement. As a result, it is quite common for us to just PICK A SIDE rather than remain confused . . . even though we are often unable to fully explain the Biblical basis for our choice.

Part of the confusion comes from the fact that we are not asking the right question. Behind the question, "Is it OK for God's people to have stuff?", is what we really want to know: "Is it OK for ME to have stuff?" As it turns out, that is a much better question, and one we can address through scripture.

Throughout the Bible there are many people depicted as having stuff; all the kings, for example. Also, there are many large land owners in scripture---including Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob---who have large households, thousands of head of cattle and/or sheep, productive farming operations with many employees to perform the many tasks that attend such estates. These would be the equivalent of today's super-rich.

There are good kings and bad kings, good wealthy people and bad wealthy people. In fact, it is quite rare that the reader of scripture encounters a person who is lauded for their wealth or their lack of wealth. We read of Joseph, who comes from a wealthy background, gets sold into slavery, goes to prison, and then rises to the highest position under Pharaoh. We read of David, also from a well-off family, who goes from shepherd to soldier to sovereign.

Moses had it all and gave it all up to flee a murder charge, but ends up leading a nation. Job had it all only to see it all taken from him, and then, eventually, received even more than he had to begin with. The Prophet Elijah lives for a while on just what God gives him to eat and drink, but later has a servant and a residence. Then there is the Prophet Obadiah who worked for an evil king, lived in relative luxury during the famine, but served God honorably. Rahab is a prostitute who becomes a princess. Ruth is a widow who marries a wealthy land owner. Esther, a slave, enters a beauty contest and becomes the queen of a nation.

And then there's Solomon, someone who never knew anything but wealth. When pressed for a definitive answer, this week's scripture about Solomon is where I point people. Is it OK for you to have stuff? Personally, I don't think the answer lies with the stuff; it lies with you.

What you have
Has you.
Neither bad nor good;
Just true.

What is your relationship to the stuff? I ask that because this question about whether it's OK to have stuff is a "first world" question. It's not a "third world" question. We only ask the question because we live in a place where there is plenty. In undeveloped or underdeveloped countries, they're asking much more fundamental questions. There is not a surfeit of stuff with which to be concerned.

If God asked you, as he did of Solomon, what you want, what would your answer be? Solomon's answer perfectly reflects the idea of "Seek first the Kingdom of God and all these things will be added to you."

Do you have questions about materials things? or about ANY thing? Do as Solomon did: ask God for wisdom. He will give it, and more. The question then becomes, not WHETHER you may have stuff---you live in the first world; there's a LOT of stuff here---but rather what does your God-given wisdom tell you to do with it?

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

Proper 15 (20) (August 19, 2012)
1 Kings 2:10-12; 3:3-14
Psalm 111
Proverbs 9:1-6
Psalm 34:9-14
Ephesians 5:15-20
John 6:51-58

Lots of great selections this week on wisdom. Soak it up! :-)

We will be enjoying each other's company and some great food this Friday morning at Cafe Cappuccino (downtown Waco, on 6th near the Courthouse). Join us at 8:00 if you are in town.

Enjoy the week!
Steve

4th & Final Part - Sabotage and Mustard Seeds

(a not very brief Lectionary reflection by Steve Orr ... in parts ... and this is the final part)

When we started this journey a few weeks back, I promised you I would explain what sabotage had to do with mustard seeds, and I will perform on that promise this week. The first week we looked at the labor movement in 1920 and the fact that sabotage was sometimes employed by those who were pro-labor. The second week we explored why we often feel our faith is inadequate, that it doesn't seem to stand up to the standard of "mustard seed faith."

In the third week we wanted to understand just what Jesus meant when he told his disciples "I assure you that if you have as much faith as a grain of mustard seed, you can say to this hill ("mountain" in the NIV), 'Up you get and move over there!' and it will move --- you will find nothing is impossible."; so we spent some time learning about the mustard seed itself. We learned that, over time, the mustard seed transforms itself from the smallest of seeds into the largest of plants, that our faith could be similarly nurtured from weakness to strength.

Here's where we tie all of that together. During the labor movement of the 1920's, certain labor leaders considered sabotage a legitimate means of drawing attention to their cause. It should be noted that even those who agreed (clearly the minority) saw these as the acts of desperate people; last ditch efforts to be employed only when all other means had failed.

One of the most effective weapons of sabotage employed by these folks (you saw this coming, right?) was the mustard seed. Saboteurs used to sneak large amounts of mustard seeds into concrete mixtures. They were so small, no one noticed them among the sand, pebbles, and other ingredients. The "miracle" of the mustard seed occurred long after the liquid concrete mixture had been poured into forms and hardened. Those little mustard seeds did enormous damage. How?

Just by being themselves.

Remember what Jesus said about those little seeds? "... it grows and become the largest plant in the garden." Even encased in concrete, those mustard seeds just kept in growing. Nothing more.

And nothing less.

What would it be like if WE were those mustard seeds? Would we look around us and say, "Oh well. I'm completely blocked in. There's nothing I can do." Or could we bring ourselves to say, "I may be a tiny mustard seed, but I can do what I was designed to do. God doesn't ask any more of me than that. I will grow." When those seeds grew, they did a real number on that concrete. It crumbled to pieces under the onslaught of those little mustard seeds.

Just so we're clear, I am NOT suggesting you go out and use your God-given gifts destructively. I AM recommending you consider that Jesus may not have been talking about size, alone, when he used the mustard seed to illustrate true faith. What is it to have "as much faith" as a mustard seed? Isn't it just that amount of faith needed to go on doing what God designed us for, even when surrounded by adversity?

Height, width, breadth ... none of these dimensions matters in a human being. The dimension that matters is depth. Next time you find yourself thinking your faith is too weak or second rate ---perhaps feeling blocked in or immobilized by the hard things in your life--- remember the saboteurs and their tiny mustard seeds. Trust that God gave you a faith that, though now tiny, will grow; a faith that, in the end, will grow so large it will overshadow your problems. The branches of your faith may even, in time, become a haven for others. Nurture it.


################################################

As always, if you are in Waco Friday morning, you're invited to join our little band at Cafe Cappuccino (8:00 a.m., downtown on 6th Street, near the Courthouse) for breakfast and a great time kicking around this week's Lectionary passages. We would love to have you drop in.

READINGS FOR THE COMING WEEK
Proper 14 (19) (August 7, 2011)
Genesis 37:1-4, 12-28 and Psalm 105: 1-6, 16-22, 45b
1 Kings 19:9-18 and Psalm 85:8-13
Romans 10:5-15
Matthew 14:22-33

3rd part - Sabotage and Mustard Seeds

(a not very brief Lectionary reflection by Steve Orr ... in parts)

In the previous installments, I told you about sabotage and the labor situation in 1920, and then promised I would relate it to mustard seeds.  To do that, I started writing about faith; specifically, "as much faith" as a mustard seed, and the guilt we experience because we don't seem to be able to perform to the standards (moving mountains with such a small amount of faith).

If we're being honest with ourselves, I think we can all agree that we tend to put "mustard seed faith" on the "No Can Do" list.  Let's face it.  It sounds so surreal!  Who goes around moving mountains?  And on top of that strangeness, why did Jesus use such an obscure metaphor?  Yes, it IS small, but there are smaller things around.  Jesus once used a mote (speck of dust) to suggest how picky we can be when searching out the sin in OTHER people's lives.  A mote is a lot smaller than a mustard seed.  Of course, if you are already feeling guilty about having too little faith, the mote thing doesn't help.  Why not use a pebble?  They were quite common in Jesus' time and have remained so.  We would all recognize a pebble.  In fact, if SIZE was all that mattered, Jesus could have chosen any number of small items which have endured right up until today: grain of salt, grain of wheat, speck of dirt, particle of sand, drop of rain.  

I don't think anyone would accuse Jesus of being haphazard.  It's really no stretch to believe he intentionally selected the mustard seed as the metaphor for effective faith.  So what is it about mustard seeds?  I think you see where this is going.  It CAN'T be just a matter of size.  There must be something about the mustard seed, itself; some inherent quality other than its size.  Knowing more about them may help clear all this up.  

First, Jesus himself tells us (Mark 4:31-32) a mustard seed "is the smallest seed you plant in the ground.  Yet when planted it grows and becomes the largest of all garden plants, with such big branches that the birds of the air can perch in its shade."  That is how Jesus illustrated the Kingdom of God.  And it can serve as a way we can view faith.  When it is very small, we are to plant it; to initially shield it from the harsher elements by placing it in a nurturing environment, an environment designed to facilitate its growth.

The other side of this illustration is that the properly nurtured faith can grow into a very strong faith.  Like the resulting mustard PLANT, it will not only grow larger than anything else in the garden of our lives, it can become SO large that others can find shelter, protection, and rest there.  This is God at work in a most mighty way.

One more thing you may not know about a mustard seed is its inherent strength.  And in this way, we are VERY like the little tyke.

But, what does any of this have to do with sabotage and the 1920 labor scene?  Be here next time for the wrap-up where we tie it all together.

In the meantime, if you are in Waco Friday morning, join our little band at Cafe Cappuccino (8:00 a.m., downtown on 6th Street, near the Courthouse) for breakfast and a great time kicking around this week's Lectionary passages.

READINGS FOR THE COMING WEEK
Proper 13 (18) (July 31, 2011)
Genesis 32:22-31 and Psalm 17:1-7, 15  
Isaiah 55:1-5 and Psalm 145:8-9, 14-21  
Romans 9:1-5
Matthew 14:13-21

Sabotage and Mustard Seeds 2

(a not very brief Lectionary reflection by Steve Orr ... in parts)

Last time, I told you about sabotage and the labor situation in 1920, and then promised I would relate it to mustard seeds. For me to deliver on that promise, we first need to spend some time talking about faith; specifically, "as much faith" (Phillips) as a mustard seed.

If you look up Matthew 17:20, you will find a teaching of Jesus that most of us followers consider very difficult (if not impossible!) to accomplish. Right after Jesus casts out a demon, his followers ask why THEY couldn't cast of the same demon. His answer: "You have so little faith." He then says something that, to many of us, lands like a bomb. "I assure you that if you have as much faith as a grain of mustard seed, you can say to this hill ("mountain" in the NIV), 'Up you get and move over there!' and it will move --- you will find nothing is impossible."

When most people read that passage they immediately conclude it is impossible to have that kind of faith. Plus, they then feel bad about whatever faith they do have; it feels inadequate. Let me suggest that this conclusion derives more from how we interpret this passage than from Jesus' intended message. Here's my reasoning.

First, and this is key, when we read the Bible we must always keep in mind that the overwhelming majority of us are reading a translation; not the original language. I'm not looking to digress into controversy, here. All I want to suggest is that we have a tendency to interpret what we read in the Bible as RULES, as standards, as measures of performance. It's neater that way. The closer the Bible comes to being a list of rules, the tidier it is. And once we've been able to divide those rules into the "I guess I can do that" list and the "Oh, come on! Nobody can do THAT!" list, we give ourselves permission to ignore whatever is on the second list.

That WOULD be tidy except for one problem. We don't ALSO give ourselves permission to stop feeling guilty about it.

What do we do about THAT? ... More of the answer in the next installment.

In the meantime, if you are in Waco Friday morning, join our little band at Cafe Cappuccino (8:00 a.m., downtown on 6th Street, near the Courthouse) for breakfast and a great time kicking around this week's Lectionary passages.

READINGS FOR THE COMING WEEK
Proper 12 (17) (July 24, 2011)
Genesis 29:15-28 and Psalm 105:1-11, 45b or Psalm 128
1 Kings 3:5-12 and Psalm 119:129-136
Romans 8:26-39
Matthew 13:31-33, 44-52

Sabotage and Mustard Seeds 1

(a not very brief Lectionary reflection by Steve Orr ... in parts)

The first year of the Roaring Twenties was a pretty good bellwether for the rest of the decade. 1920 was a year filled with all sorts of conflicts, excitements, and problems. World War I had ended a scant 13 months earlier, Prohibition had been in effect for a year, and the Communist Labor Party of America was just four months old. 1920 was the first year women voted in a presidential election (overwhelmingly Republican), and it was a bad year for baseball; the now infamous Chicago 8---players for the Chicago White Sox baseball team---were indicted for taking bribes to throw the 1919 World Series. Sports writers took to calling the team the Chicago Black Sox. They we're later acquitted, but were still banned from organized baseball for life ("Say it ain't so, Joe!"). It was the year Sinclair Lewis published Main Street, and it was a year of particularly strong labor unrest.

Labor unrest was certainly not new in 1920. Workers and owners had been in conflict for centuries. What set this year apart was A. Mitchell Palmer, the Attorney General under President Woodrow Wilson. Palmer wanted, more than anything, to be President. He wanted every American to believe unions were going to destroy our country, and that the only way to stop that destructive force was to elect him President. To this end he waged a relentless campaign against organized labor. Joe McCarthy must have been taking notes because it had all the earmarks of the 1950's Communist witch hunts. Suffice to say there was plenty of nastiness on BOTH sides of this conflict. This was long before civil rights, Miranda, probable cause, etc. Union members were treated badly, and many people at the time believed the behavior of Palmer's federal agents justified the retaliatory use of sabotage by labor supporters.

Sabotage. To most Americans in 1920 sabotage was a fairly new term. It was not very popular; mainly because the only context most had for it was that the Germans had employed sabotage in fighting the allies "over there." Union sabotages, however, while certainly destructive, rarely resulted in harm to people. The term itself seems to come from the French word for wooden shoe: sabot. Legend has it that the first use of sabot-age was among French workers early in the Industrial Revolution. A worker would throw one wooden shoe into the machinery as protest (against poor working conditions, against unemployment caused by machinery replacing humans, etc.). Like the proverbial monkey wrench, this shoe toss would bring the offending machine to a halt. Many an employer spent anxious hours "waiting for the other shoe to drop."

Perhaps you are staring to wonder what any of this has to do with mustard seeds, or, for that matter, with the Lectionary. Well, push on Pilgrim. Answers coming in future installments!

In the meantime, if you are in Waco Friday morning, join our little band at Cafe Cappuccino (8:00 a.m., downtown on 6th Street, near the Courthouse) for breakfast and a great time kicking around this week's Lectionary passages.

READINGS FOR THE COMING WEEK
Proper 11 (16) (July 17, 2011)
Genesis 28:10-19a
Psalm 139:1-12, 23-24 or Isaiah 44:6-8
Psalm 86:11-17
Romans 8:12-25
Matthew 13:24-30, 36-43

The Real Me

I think I have mentioned elsewhere that I was shy when I was young; not the "aw shucks" kind of shy; the "oh-please-let-me-fade-into-this-wall" kind of shy.  It was in the 7th grade that I decided to do something about this problem.  I undertook this endeavor as a subset of a larger enterprise.  I had finally come to the conclusion that I was going to have to take the reins of my life because, apparently, no one else was going to.  Everyone in my life seemed pretty busy, too busy to provide any guidance to me.  And so, I began to make decisions for myself.

One set of those decisions were related to my realization that, somehow, I had to overcome my debilitating shyness.  It was my observation that most people seemed to be able to hold conversations, be comfortable in groups, and have friends.  Wanting that for myself, I started making changes.  They were painful.  Over the next few years I joined student organizations so I would be forced into social situations, took a Speech class (that was awful), auditioned for and acted in school plays (more nerve-wracking than the Speech class, but of blessedly shorter duration). I even signed up to run for Student Council Representative.  I believe I may hold the record for most consecutive unsuccessful runs for SC Rep (grades 7, 8, 9, 10, and 11).

One thing I did that was not a part of this campaign to overcome my shyness was join the student newspaper.  I decided I wanted to write; so I took a journalism course and helped lay out the paper.  Becoming a writer was a long-term goal, and I didn't allow myself to apply any pressure toward it's accomplishment.  However, it was while working on the student newspaper that my name became known to my peers.  And I discovered something new about me: I really LIKED being known.  Unexpected, unplanned; I began in earnest my slow climb out of my shyness because I liked that people knew the me that was a writer for the school paper.  I had a long way to go, but it was a start.

Being known.  It's important.  My young self was almost overcome by that first whiff of being known.  Very heady stuff. 

One of the many interesting things one learns by reading the Bible is that there are several names for God, different ways that He is known; names such as Yahweh or Jehovah ("God who preserves what he creates") and El Shaddai ("God Almighty").  The writers of the books record the names revealed to His people and they record the names His people ascribed to Him.  This latter group are usually combination names, such as Jehovah Jireh ("My God will provide").  

My all time favorite, though, was not ascribed to God by one of the writers; in fact, it was not even given Him by someone of power, stature, or position.  The name appears only once, in Genesis Chapter 16, and it is spoken by an Egyptian slave.  I immediately thought of his story when I read the Genesis 12:1-4 passage in this week's Lectionary readings.

There is so much that is interesting about this story.  Abram's wife, Sarai, is old; well past the fertile years.  There is no earthly basis for her to believe she will be able to become pregnant or, even if so, that she could successfully carry the child to term.  Having lost faith in God's promise that she would become a mother in her own right, she "gives" her slave, Hagar, to Abram as a second wife.  She reasons "The Lord has not given me any children.  Sleep with my slave, and if she has a child, it will be mine."  For his part, we're not sure what Abram was thinking.  Maybe he really believed THIS arrangement was how God was going to make him "a great nation".  Whatever his thoughts, in short order Hagar becomes pregnant and, also in short order, proud (that she is carrying THE HEIR) and hateful to Sarai.  

I doubt anyone will be shocked to learn that Sarai retaliated; nor that Hagar soon ran away.  And it is while she is on the run that she has an encounter with God.  Hagar is not what you would call a sympathetic character.  True, her situation stems from another person's lack of faith, and from the acts of a person who views Hagar as having value in only whatever ways Hagar proves useful.  It's not a story through which runs the milk of human kindness.  Frankly, I was pretty surprised when God took an interest in her.  Yet, He did.  And in a profound way.  As a result of this encounter, Hagar thinks, “Have I really seen God and lived to tell about it?”  So from then on she called him, “The God Who Sees Me.”

She NAMES God!

I used to be in awe of this passage for that reason alone.  But as time went on, and I continued to return to this story, I became more enamored of the question: WHY did Hagar name Him "The God Who Sees Me"?  For the longest time, I held the belief that Hagar, being a slave, saw herself as someone who was NOT seen by others; that is, not valued enough by others to REALLY see the real Hagar.  Thankfully, with the passage of years, God has rescued me from that errancy.

Now I know the truth: we ALL have a need to be known.  And I, for one, am very happy to know that God "sees me"; to have confidence that He sees my good intentions along with my failed executions, sees my belief while helping my unbelief, sees my selfish desires as well as my attempts to store up the right kinds of treasures.  The real me.  The person I am ... and the person I aspire to become.

#################################

READINGS FOR THE COMING WEEK
Second Sunday in Lent (March 20, 2011)
Genesis 12:1-4a
Psalm 121
Romans 4:1-5, 13-17
John 3:1-17 or Matthew 17:1-9

If you're in Waco this Friday morning, join us at 8:00 at Cafe Cappuccino (downtown on 6th, near the Courthouse) for a tasty breakfast and more of the above.

Enjoy!
Steve