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 God of Little White Lies (a Lectionary reflection by Steve Orr)

Sometimes I think that's the God most of us worship: the God of little white lies.

By that, I mean a God who can handle all the "little" badness we do: petty theft, the occasional negative comment about someone, near-miss coveting, driving less than 5 MPH over the speed limit, mild self-righteousness, shorting the tithe ("just a little bit, and just this once").

I could go on and on. I'm sure you can come up with a list of "small" sins. Most of us know which ones we think are the "big" ones. And most of us feel quite confident that we're not the folks who are committing those "big" sins.

The truth, though, is that sin is sin. All of us fall short (that's the meaning of the word, "sin"). We can all stand along the pier and argue about who missed the boat "more," but the fact is: we all missed the boat, and none of us can bridge that gap, alone.

Still.

There is a variance. No, it's not big or little sins. It's how we respond to the sins in our lives. Some folks live pretty good lives. I know some. You, too, I imagine. I have the suspicion that, even though they know their sins, those sins don't feel so heavy.

But, just as there are folks living pretty good lives, there are folks whose lives are overwhelmed with bad, weighed down by their load of sins.

Oh, you're one of those folks? Well let me share some good news with you. That crushing burden you feel? That sense that you will never get out from under the plaguing sin? God ---the real God--- is not just a God of little white lies. God is big enough, and, as hard as this may be to believe, loving enough, to forgive your transgressions.

"When deeds of iniquity overwhelm us, you forgive our transgressions" (Psalm 65:3 NRSV).

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READINGS FOR THE COMING WEEK
Proper 25 (30) (October 23, 2016)
http://lectionary.library.vanderbilt.edu/

First reading and Psalm
Joel 2:23-32
Psalm 65
Alternate First reading and Psalm
Sirach 35:12-17 or Jeremiah 14:7-10, 19-22
Psalm 84:1-7
Second reading
2 Timothy 4:6-8, 16-18
Gospel
Luke 18:9-14
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Join us Friday morning at Lectionary Breakfast. Well start at 8:00 and spend an hour in God's word, sharing our true selves, and enjoying each other. (Waco "Egg and I" restaurant, Franklin and New Road)

Blessings,
Steve

Flashy Thingy: Forgetting on purpose (a Lectionary reflection by Steve Orr)

Remember the "flashy thingy" from the Men In Black movies, that cigar-shaped tech used by the agents to make people forget extraterrestrials are living on Earth? Well, the time has come when we may not need Will Smith or Tommy Lee Jones to flash away our memories.

Apparently, we can forget.

Oh, I don't mean accidental forgetting; we all know we can do that and most of us wish we could make it stop. Nor do I mean repressed memories associated with traumatic experiences (such as often exists in patients diagnosed with PTSD). It is quite common for people to repress bad memories.

What I mean is this: we can decide to forget ... and then do so.

Several promising studies over the past few years have shown that, instead of psychological repression, we can actually trigger memory suppression. I know those terms seem similar, but they are actually very different. The first one, repression, happens without conscious decision, and is almost always associated with having experienced a traumatic event. It's the second one, voluntary suppression, that is our focus.

Just as a person may use certain techniques to ensure the remembering of something, there are ways in which a person can intentionally forget. Most of the research in this area is aimed at helping people who have been crippled (for lack of a better term) by traumatic memories; people who have developed psychoses, neuroses, depression, etc., because they cannot forget.

All of this is still experimental. We humans are still a long way from having a "flashy thingy" we can wield with surgical precision to erase troubling memories. One big plus in all this, however, is that our brains tend to heavily lace the memory process with creativity; in fact, the two are almost welded together. As I wrote five years ago, we don't so much "Save" our memories as we "Save As." Even as we are making our memories, we tend to recast them in creative ways.

So, what would that mean for the Creator of all creation? Does God possess the ability to forget at will? Can God's creativity trump His memory? Can love really cover a multitude of sins?

Anyone reading this week's Lectionary passage from Jeremiah would have to wonder.
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READINGS FOR THE COMING WEEK
Proper 24 (29) (October 16, 2016)
http://lectionary.library.vanderbilt.edu/texts.php?id=284

First reading and Psalm
Jeremiah 31:27-34
Psalm 119:97-104
Alternate First reading and Psalm
Genesis 32:22-31
Psalm 121
Second reading
2 Timothy 3:14-4:5
Gospel
Luke 18:1-8
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Can you join us Friday morning for Lectionary Breakfast? We would love for you to meet us at the Waco "Egg and I" restaurant for food, fellowship, and, yes, fun. We start 8:00-ish and are gone by 9:00-ish. In between, we read scripture, eat whatever we order from the menu, discuss, and (I know I keep reporting this, but its true) there is an almost unbelievable amount of laughter.

Join us.

Enjoy the week!
Steve

Two Archers (a Lectionary reflection by Steve Orr)

Two archers met in a wood.

One archer, dressed in various shades of brown, entered the Wood from the east and walked westward. The other archer, dressed all in green, entered from the opposite side of the Wood and walked eastward. The brown archer strode purposefully; he clearly had a destination in mind. The green archer walked with ease, ambling a bit, taking in the beauty of the Wood.

Still, each was on such a path that, had they not halted, they would certainly have collided. Who can say for certain what causes one of us to take notice of another in such disparate mindsets? And yet, at the last, they did sense each other and stopped. For a few seconds they just looked at each other.

Then the brown archer said, "Hello friend. I see you, too, have come to use the King's archery range."

The green archer appeared surprised, looked about, and, only then, took notice of the targets set aways off to the north. The brown archer missed this reaction, having already set his gear and begun preparation to shoot.

All the green archer said was, "So, this is the King's range?"

"Oh yes!" replied the brown archer. "Do you not know? The King has set aside the whole of His Wood for the pleasure of His subjects. And he encourages us to use the range to improve our targeting."

As if to demonstrate, the brown archer nocked his first arrow, drew back, eyed the target, and let fly. The arrow flew swiftly across the vast clearing toward one of the targets. At first, the arrow was on course, but at the very last it appeared to lose speed. When it finally struck the target, the arrow rested well below the bullseye.

"Sin!" cried the green archer, a bright grin splitting his face. He was suddenly awakened to the fun that might be had here.

Selecting an arrow from his quiver, the green archer quickly nocked it, drew deeply on the bow, and released. In no time, a loud "THUNK" heralded the arrow's arrival at the other end the clearing. But it was not on the target. It was not even in the hay bales backing the targets. Rather, it was buried to the fletching in a hollow tree far off to the right.

"Miss," said the brown archer.

"At least it didn't fall short like yours!" crowed the green archer. Then, before the other could act, he grabbed another arrow, set it to string, and pulled even farther back before releasing. This arrow flew even faster than the first, slicing past the targets, over the bales, past the nearby trees, and off into the forest. No sound of its landing was heard.

The brown archer watched, frozen, as the green archer lofted a third arrow high and to the left, a fourth high and to the right, then turned and sent one through the woods behind them. Finally, shaken from his shock, the brown archer, cried, "What are you doing? You're not even TRYING to hit the target!"

"Of course not," replied the green archer. "How boring! The fun is in NOT aiming for the target! I so enjoy the feel of flinging the arrows off at top speed, the flexing of my muscles, and that sense of power! I really don't want to fuss with all that aiming."

The brown archer had heard enough. "Don't you realize there are others in the King's Wood? Your wild arrows could easily hit someone, perhaps even kill someone. We come here so we CAN practice our aim. This clearing is set up for just that exercise. That's WHY there are targets. Certainly the King knows we will not always hit the bullseye. I, for example, am plagued with a weak pull and my arrow often falls short. I tally many a sin. But no one, not even the worst archer, comes here INTENDING to do that. And we never act in such a way as to endanger others."

The green archer, no longer enjoying himself, gathered up his gear and spoke petulantly, "Well, YOU'RE no fun." He stalked away, continuing his original journey to the east.

The brown archer watched the other bowman disappear to the east. He stood that way for a while, thinking of the wild abandon with which the other had launched his missiles, recalling the days of his youth when he, too, had been the thoughtless archer. After a while longer, he selected an arrow from his quiver, nocked it along the string, pulled deeply on the bow, eyed the target for a long while . . .

And then let fly.

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"All who indulge in a sinful life are dangerously lawless, for sin is a major disruption of God’s order. Surely you know that Christ showed up in order to get rid of sin. There is no sin in him, and sin is not part of his program. No one who lives deeply in Christ makes a practice of sin. None of those who do practice sin have taken a good look at Christ. They’ve got him all backward.

So, my dear children, don’t let anyone divert you from the truth. It’s the person who acts right who is right, just as we see it lived out in our righteous Messiah. Those who make a practice of sin are straight from the Devil, the pioneer in the practice of sin. The Son of God entered the scene to abolish the Devil’s ways." (‭1 John‬ ‭3‬:‭4-8‬ MSG)

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

Third Sunday of Easter (April 19, 2015)
First reading
Acts 3:12-19
Psalm
Psalm 4
Second reading
1 John 3:1-7
Gospel
Luke 24:36b-48

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Our Friday mornings at Lectionary Breakfast are a true pleasure. If you're in Waco, join us at 8:00 at the "Egg and I" restaurant. We will enjoy the treasures the King has shared with us, luxuriating in each other's company, and tasting the Word to see that it is good.

Bows and arrows are checked at the door.

Enjoy the week!
Steve

Photo by "rescuer" GoodWP.com

Rule Number 8

Photo by Stephen Orr

Rule Number 8
(a brief-ish Lectionary reflection by Steve Orr)

I don't know how much attention you pay to the internal workings of today's companies.  It is one of the things that seems to have been a significant part of my life for several decades.  I am fascinated by how they work, how they function and dysfunction, how they succeed, and how they fail.  I am particularly drawn to the company philosophies, both formal and informal; as well as those that live out an unacknowledged philosophy.  All companies have them, it's just that some companies don't know they have them.  This fascination is one of the reasons I loved reading "Good To Great" by Jim Collins and crew.

Lately, I've been looking at companies referenced in a book entitled "The Definitive Drucker" (about Peter Drucker, "the father of modern management"); an absolute goldmine of information put together by Elizabeth Haas Edersheim (who was granted unprecedented access to Mr. Drucker the last 16 months of his life, and then produced this book from their discussions).  Throughout the book, examples are presented from real companies.

And that's how I got to Google.

Google's philosophy has been encapsulated into 10 golden rules for operating their business.  You would not be surprised, I think, to learn Google encourages creativity or that they operate with considerable consensus-building, or even that almost every decision is driven by quantitative analysis.  These are but three of the key operating philosophies that guide the internet behemoth.  And when you think about it, they sound like what you would expect from Google.  However, you might be surprised to learn Rule Number 8.

Don't be evil.

The concept was first suggested at Google by employees Amit Patel and Paul Buchheit (the creator of Gmail).  Buchheit said he "wanted something that, once you put it in there, would be hard to take out."  It went on to appear in Google's 2004 IPO prospectus in a letter from Google's founders (it became known as the "Don't Be Evil" manifesto).  The letter stated: "Don't be evil.  We believe strongly that in the long term, we will be better served --- as shareholders and in all other ways --- by a company that does good things for the world even if we forgo some short term gains."

It should be no surprise to find that Google CEO Eric Schmidt (now Executive Chairman) included it in his "10 Golden Rules for Knowledge Workers" as Rule Number 8.  Schmidt said, "Much has been written about Google's slogan, but we really try to live by it, particularly in the ranks of management."

I've been told that Kurt Kaiser once said, "You can live your entire life by a wonderful lyric" (Kurt, did you say that?).  I really LIKE that, and I can see how it can be true.  For me, that lyric might be "I will stand by you" from the song by The Pretenders.  But I can see how a motto could work the same way.  Frankly, I think "Don't Be Evil" is hard to beat as a motto.  For me, it ranks right up there with the Hippocratic Oath and Sun Tzu's "The best battle is the battle won without being fought."

For all of that, it is not a new idea.  Yes, it is surprising (and quite nice) to see a corporation put it out there for everyone to see (and to judge them by).  But the concept has been around a very long time.  For example, I am pretty sure David was aware of it.

You know, we're all weak in one way or another; many ways, really.  The Bible clearly states that we all fall short (<-- "sin" means "to miss the target").  King David apparently had some weakness when it came to beautiful women; thus, his seduction of Bathsheba and his accumulation of wives.

But there's weakness and then there's evil.  David crossed over when he sent Bathsheba's husband back to the front lines carrying his own death sentence.

Don't be evil.

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

Proper 12 (17) (July 29, 2012)
2 Samuel 11:1-15
Psalm 14
2 Kings 4:42-44
Psalm 145:10-18
Ephesians 3:14-21
John 6:1-21

Join us if you can on Friday morning.  As is our practice, we will be at Cafe Cappuccino (downtown Waco, on 6th near the Courthouse) at 8:00 to discuss this week's scripture passages and to scarf down some great food.

The pancakes are not evil; however, they are really, really big!  ;-)

Enjoy the week!
Steve