A Moveable Feast (a Lectionary reflection by Steve Orr)

In 1956, after the better part of three decades, Ernest Hemingway finally found his treasure.

According to A. E. Hotchner, Hemingway's friend and biographer, the two of them had been invited to lunch at the Paris Ritz by the Hotel's Chairman, Charley Ritz. While they ate, Ritz wondered if Hemingway knew he had a trunk stored in the hotel's basement, noting that it had been there since 1930. Hemingway was both surprised and pleased by the news. His friend, Louis Vuitton, had specially made that trunk for Hemingway in the 1920's, but the writer had lost track of it.

After lunch, Ritz had the trunk brought up to his office. Hemingway sifted through clothes, menus, receipts, memos, hunting and fishing paraphernalia, skiing equipment, racing forms, and correspondence. Then, at the bottom, he found the treasure: two stacks of notebooks, the kind school children used in the 1920's.

The notebooks were filled with his commentary on the places, the people, and the events of his life during his time in Paris. He had lived in near poverty in 1920's Paris, but he had known the people whose ideas and artistic expressions changed the world of "the lost generation." Among those described in his commentaries were F. Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald, Gertrude Stein, Alice B. Toklas, James Joyce, Ezra Pound, and Aleister Crowley, to name only a few.

If you want to get a sense of this heady period, watch the film, Midnight in Paris.

Hemingway eventually had his notebooks transcribed and then organized them into a book entitled, A Moveable Feast. The book was his memoir of those years and those people as he knew them. The title of the book comes from a comment Hemingway made to a friend n 1950: "If you are lucky enough to have lived in Paris as a young man, then wherever you go for the rest of your life, it stays with you, for Paris is a movable feast."

After carefully preserving his thoughts, writing almost daily his observations of his life and those who shared it, Hemingway lost them all. He searched for those notebooks for years, decades.

This week's Lectionary scriptures are about a different kind of moveable feast. Using such phrases as "delight yourselves in rich food (Isaiah 55:2)," and "My soul is satisfied as with a rich feast (Psalm 63:5)," this week's scriptures capture the reality of eating the spiritual food God has prepared for us. We are enjoined to not lose our way; to not partake of the "same spiritual food" and the "same spiritual drink" as the Israelites in the wilderness (I Corinthians 10:3-4) while yet forgetting their true source. And finally, we are warned of the perils of not producing our portion of that moveable feast in the parable of the fruitless fig tree (Luke 13:6-9).

Hemingway lost his moveable feast for a time. And then one day, as with most lost things, he found them right where he had left them. Our moveable feast is right where it's been all our lives. We need only return to it.
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READINGS FOR THE COMING WEEK
http://lectionary.library.vanderbilt.edu/
Third Sunday in Lent (February 28, 2016)
First reading
Isaiah 55:1-9
Psalm
Psalm 63:1-8
Second reading
1 Corinthians 10:1-13
Gospel
Luke 13:1-9
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Join us for a feast Friday mornings at Lectionary Breakfast. As usual, we meet at the Waco "Egg and I" restaurant at 8:00 for an hour like no other. We feast on food, we feast on God's word, and we feast on fellowship. And when we leave, part of those feasts moves with us, out into the day, the week, and the lives of those we meet.

Enjoy the week!
Steve

Triple Crown (a Lectionary reflection by Steve Orr)

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Enjoy the week!
Steve

The Lone Ranger (a Lectionary reflection by Steve Orr)

One of my favorite television shows as a child was "The Lone Ranger." Each week I made certain I could be in front of the TV at just the right time to catch the most recent adventure of that masked champion. This could be a challenging enterprise, on occasion. We had only one black & white television, located in our small living room, and there were four us competing for its use; plus there were the usual noises and interruptions of house-cleaning, meal prep, and the general activities of life to serve as distractions. And it was a very small house.

Still, each week I found a way to watch and listen as he and his trusty sidekick, Tonto, thwarted the nefarious plans of bad guys all across the west; saving towns from ruffians, banks from robbers, and widows from those who attempted to swindle them out of their hard-scrabble farms.

One of my favorite parts of each show was at the very end, after he and Tonto had ridden away. Invariably, one of the townspeople, or maybe a ranch hand, or, even more poignantly, a child of that week's widow, would raise the question: "Who WAS that masked man?"

I loved that moment.

Because I knew.

I knew what the answer was going to be. I was on the inside. I had special knowledge these folks were lacking. And even though the answer was the same every time, I loved hearing it: "Why, THAT was the Lone Ranger!"

Which brings me to the reading from Luke in this week's Lectionary selections. On the first reading, it may seem a little odd; talk of people having died in horrible ways, followed by a parable about a fig tree. And it's owner. And the gardener.

Still, if you read through it a few times, I think you will understand this: Jesus is telling the crowd "Don't be distracted by the news. What is important is NOT what Herod is doing and it is NOT whatever horrible thing has happened to other people. Stay focused on what IS important: repentance.

And then He underscores this message with the parable about the unfruitful fruit tree. The message? Produce what you are supposed to produce (for example: Love God and love your neighbor as yourself) or face the possibility of being removed from to grove. Permanently.

For me, I especially like the Gardner stepping in to intercede on behalf of the fruit tree; asking for one last chance. I picture some of those disciples sitting around, possibly over the evening meal, discussing events of the day and especially the words of Jesus, and quite possibly agreeing it was a wonderful thing for the Gardner to step in and advocate on behalf of saving that tree; staving off, even if only for a while, the consequence of not bearing its fruit. But then one of them suddenly says, "I'm pretty sure I know who the "owner" is in that parable, and I think WE are the fruit trees, but who is the gardener?!"

It seems so clear from our perspective of two millennia later. But they seemed to have had a recurring problem with understanding who Jesus really was. It is likely that most people could not "connect the dots" until after the resurrection. Scripture supports that conclusion.

The take away here, for us, is that we have an advocate, one who asks God to give us just one more chance so we can be spared. And, unlike many who actually heard the words of Jesus as He spoke them, we know the answer to the question:

"Who was that masked man?"

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http://lectionary.library.vanderbilt.edu

READINGS FOR THE COMING WEEK
Third Sunday in Lent (March 3, 2013)
First reading: Isaiah 55:1-9
Psalm: Psalm 63:1-8
Second reading: 1 Corinthians 10:1-13
Gospel: Luke 13:1-9

It would be so great if you could join us for breakfast at "The Egg and I." If you are in Waco on Friday morning, you will find us there at 8:00, chowing down of some good victuals and kicking around this week's scripture selections.

No one will be required to whistle or hum the relevant part of the "William Tell Overture" . . . however, those that do will receive free admission ;-)

Enjoy the week!
Steve