A Stone for Danny Fisher (a Lectionary reflection by Steve Orr)

I was eleven years old and exploring under the eaves in our attic when I found the book.

It was A Stone for Danny Fisher by Harold Robbins.

I knew the author's name and I knew I had no business reading a book by him, but I did it anyway. I later learned that this was one of, if not the, best of Robbins' novels. A Stone for Danny Fisher is so well written, you can still buy it. It has some sex in it; fairly mild by today's standards. And some violence, too. But, as I learned all those years ago, there are far better reasons to read an adult book.

The story is of a Jewish boy whose later teen years coincide with the Great Depression of the 1930's. The one skill he can use to bring in some money to help his family is that he is an excellent boxer. While pursuing elevation and increasing rewards in the ring, he meets and interacts with all sorts of interesting folk, including a beautiful Catholic girl with whom he falls in love. Eventually, his boxing prowess brings him to the attention of organized crime. I'll let your imagination take over for the rest of it. Suffice to say, Danny Fisher had many troubles in his life. The end of the book could well make you cry.

What I will say about the novel is this: I've read it three times ---once, aloud to my infant daughter as she slept in my arms (Sorry, Hon)--- and each time, I've found depths I somehow missed on the earlier readings. I'm thinking of reading it again, soon.

The one mystery that eluded me for years was the meaning of the title. There is nothing in the novel about stones. No one gave one to Danny. Then one day, I read Luke 11 and saw: “What father among you, if his son asks for a loaf of bread, will give him a stone; or if he asks for a fish, will instead of a fish give him a serpent? Or if he asks for an egg, will give him a scorpion?" (Luke‬ ‭11:11-12‬ ‭AMP). Suddenly, I got it: Robbins thought someone, likely God, had given Danny a raw deal, a "stone" of a life rather than one filled with good. It all fit.

But that was not the end of the Bible passage. The balance of the verse said: "If you then, evil as you are, know how to give good gifts [gifts that are to their advantage] to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask and continue to ask Him!” (Luke‬ ‭11:13‬ ‭AMP‬‬, http://bible.com/8/luk.11.11-13.amp)

You see, that passage is part of a longer section where Jesus answers his disciples' request to teach them to pray. In answering them, Jesus made exactly the opposite argument as Robbins. He tells them that God loves them and will meet their needs. This is the ask-seek-knock section; the Lord's Prayer section. We tend to slice this section into separate parts, but Luke delivers them all together so we can understand the real point.

Our lives are not about what we want or need. Sure, those things are important, even necessary in many cases. But at the heart of it, we need to understand that we have a loving Father who desires good for us; a Father who, in his answers to our prayers, far surpasses both the eventual responsiveness of a pestered neighbor and the loving intent of an earthly father.

We face the same challenges as those early disciples, though, in understanding prayer. Yes, we ask for our daily bread when we pray, as we should. God is the giver of good gifts. If only we can also grasp the greater values to be had in prayer; our affirmation of God's sovereignty, the relationship between forgiveness we extend to those who need it and the forgiveness God extends to us, the guidance away from temptation and unnecessary trial, rescue from evil. And crowning all of it: the gift of the Holy Spirit.

Maybe Danny Fisher did receive a stone instead of bread, but I reject that it came from God. Tough times come to every one. We believers, though having just such tough times, measure our lives by our relationship with God, not by our circumstances.

We get the bread, every time.
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READINGS FOR THE COMING WEEK
Proper 12 (17) (July 24, 2016)
First reading and Psalm
Hosea 1:2-10
Psalm 85
Alternate First reading and Psalm
Genesis 18:20-32
Psalm 138
Second reading
Colossians 2:6-15, (16-19)
Gospel
Luke 11:1-13
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I hope you can join us Friday morning for Lectionary Breakfast. We still gather at the Waco "Egg and I" restaurant at 8:00 for a very nourishing hour of scripture and fellowship. The bread's good, too.

Blessings,
Steve

N.O.N.A. (a Lectionary reflection by Steve Orr)

In the movie, Groundhog Day, Weatherman Phil Conners awakens each morning to find ... it's still Groundhog Day! If you've never seen this movie, I recommend it; one of my all time favorites.

Reliving the same day over and over can change a person. But Phil, the epitome of narcissism, resists doing so for a very long time. Early on, he decides he will seduce Rita, his producer, by pretending to be her ideal man. In the scene where he first asks what she wants in a man, she list several attributes and he comments on each.

It goes something like this: someone who is humble ("Me"), kind ("Also me"), generous, courageous, and sensitive ("Me, me, and me"); someone who likes children and is not afraid to change a poopy diaper ("Does he have to use the word poopy?"); someone who loves his mother and plays a musical instrument ("I am really close on this one; really, really close.").

I don't know about you, but I found myself wondering if I could live up to Rita's high standards. I felt the same way when I finished reading Psalm 15 in this week's Lectionary passages, too. The list there is also pretty daunting:

“Lord, who may dwell in your sacred tent? Who may live on your holy mountain? The one whose walk is blameless, who does what is righteous, who speaks the truth from their heart; whose tongue utters no slander, who does no wrong to a neighbor, and casts no slur on others; who despises a vile person but honors those who fear the Lord; who keeps an oath even when it hurts, and does not change their mind; who lends money to the poor without interest; who does not accept a bribe against the innocent. Whoever does these things will never be shaken.”
‭(‭Psalm‬ ‭15:1-5‬ ‭NIV‬‬, http://bible.com/111/psa.15.1-5.niv)

Blameless, righteous, speaks the truth, does not slander, does no wrong, casts no slurs, despises the vile, honors those who fear the Lord, keeps an oath even when it hurts ("oof!"), doesn't change their mind, lends to the poor (!) without charging interest (!), accepts no bribes. At first, as I skimmed the passage, I found myself thinking, "Me ... me ... also me." But as I slowed down to really let those qualities sink in, I realized I could not live up to most of them or had in the past acted contrary to them.

In fact, if Psalm 15 was a job posting, I would not apply. At the office, one colleague used to point out that, for some job postings, management already had their eye on someone for the position. He called these NONA jobs ... NONA being an acronym for "No One Need Apply." Psalm 15 seems like it may have always been a NONA job.

If any of us had to do all that to dwell with the Lord, we would never qualify.

But then I recalled there was one person who could answer positively to all of those: blameless, righteous, truthful, sinless, steadfast, gave freely without expecting repayment, could not be bribed, did not slander or cast slurs, despised the vile, honored those who feared the Lord, and kept his promise even unto death. And when Jesus ---the one person who could claim all these qualities--- went to the cross, his death and resurrection opened the way for all of us to live on the holy mountain, to dwell in the sacred tent.

Without him, no one need apply.
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READINGS FOR THE COMING WEEK
http://lectionary.library.vanderbilt.edu/

Proper 11 (16) (July 17, 2016)
Amos 8:1-12
Psalm 52
Genesis 18:1-10a
Psalm 15
Colossians 1:15-28
Luke 10:38-42
_______________________

Join us on Friday mornings for Lectionary Breakfast. We start at 8:00, and continue for an hour like no other. The food at the Waco "Egg and I" restaurant is tasty, but it pales compared to the fellowship and illumination we share that hour. I hope you can be with us. No one need apply ... just come.

Blessings,
Steve

Running on Empty (a Lectionary reflection by Steve Orr)

For a while, I was a bank examiner.

Every workday, we were in a bank. And at the end of every workday, we worked into the night on the examination report ... late into the night. And even though I was a husband and father, I often had to work on weekends just to keep up with all that we had to do "outside the bank."

Sometimes, I would go over to the apartment of one of my colleagues so we could collaborate on the number-crunching, chart building, and report preparation. He had a Jackson Browne album that he would play, over and over. About once each hour, we would hear them sing "Running on Empty." After a while, I knew all the lyrics and could sing along. I remember thinking the words perfectly matched my situation:

"Running on, running on empty
Running on, running blind
Running on, running into the sun
But I'm running behind"

That's my chief memory from that period: being exhausted. There never seemed to be even a moment to recharge. This all came back to me as I read this week's Luke 10 passage. I've known so many people who became exhausted trying to fulfill the requirement of "Love your neighbor as yourself"; people who, spiritually speaking, were running on empty.

We tend to think of it something like this:
1. My neighbor needs loving, and I need to love him/her.
2. Their needs are important to God.
3. I, of course, have wants and needs, but I just have to buck up and do what I can for my neighbor, first.
4. After I've done what I can for my neighbor, I can then try to address my needs with whatever resources I have left over.

I'm not certain where we got the idea that we are supposed to do that all on our own. Maybe from some misapplication of "sacrificial love" or maybe "sacrificial giving." Definitely from some misunderstanding of scripture. Wherever we got that idea, it's wrong.

We are vessels; and unless we allow God to fill us with His love, His vitality, His talents, His gifts, we are not going to be able to love our neighbors as ourselves. If we can accept God's filling of our vessel, we will have the resources to love our neighbor without bankrupting our spirits. In other words, God loves us; why can't we love ourselves?

Seriously, dare we think less of ourselves than does God?

When I was a bank examiner, I eventually came to the realization that the people above me were also running on empty. I made plans to exit that career path, returning as soon as I could to a more traditional banking career. I found a job that let me spend my evenings and weekends with my family, meeting my vital needs, and recharging my batteries for the next workday.

Granted, we cannot always arrange our work for the optimum rest and recreation needed. But that is no reason to approach our spiritual journey that way. We can (and must) set aside time with God, allow ourselves to accept that He loves us, to rest in that love, and to love ourselves as God loves us.

Then, and only then, can we successfully love our neighbors as ourselves. There must be something in the vessel or there will be nothing to pour out. Only then can we truly obey the second greatest commandment.
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READINGS FOR THE COMING WEEK
Proper 10 (15) (July 10, 2016)
First reading and Psalm
Amos 7:7-17
Psalm 82
Alternate First reading and Psalm
Deuteronomy 30:9-14
Psalm 25:1-10
Second reading
Colossians 1:1-14
Gospel
Luke 10:25-37

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Join us if you can for a great hour of fellowship. We still meet at the Waco "Egg and I" restaurant on Friday mornings for Lectionary Breakfast. We start at 8:00 and wrap up around 9:00. It's a time of scripture reading, discussion, and laughter. It's part of the way God fills our vessels for the week ahead.

Blessings,
Steve

The Gift of Pain (a Lectionary reflection by Steve Orr)

[A version of this appeared in 2010.]

You may have never heard of Hansen's Disease; or it may be you can't quite recall what it was you once knew about it (or maybe you're thinking, "Wasn't that on an episode of the X-Files?"). And, if you don't know about Hansen's Disease, it's likely you've never heard of Dr. Paul Brand, the Leonardo da Vinci of the Hansen's Disease universe. *

Perhaps you know Hansen's by its other name: leprosy.

That's what this week's lectionary passage in 2 Kings Chapter 5 says afflicted Naaman, an Aramean who commanded the King's army. [There's this big controversy over whether what the Bible calls "leprosy" is always the same as Hansen's, and I certainly don't know; but the recent discovery of a 4,000-year old skeleton has established that Hansen's was present in the area at the time.] Whatever Naaman had, it was serious. The King of Aram sent 750 pounds of silver and 150 pounds of gold with Naaman to Israel in hopes it would purchase a cure for the his condition . . . that's over $3 million US dollars!!

If Naaman did have Hansen's, then his likely symptoms included white, scaly skin (and that seems to be the obvious symptom described in the passage); and one other very notable symptom: lack of protective sensation. In other words, a significantly diminished sensitivity to pain. Hansen's is a progressive disease; if not treated, every symptom worsens over time. While at first glance an insensitivity to pain might look like a good thing, especially for a warrior, there is a real downside.

What? Wouldn't the absence of pain be a blessing, especially for those suffering from such a terrible disease? It was Dr. Brand who first raised the thought that the observable symptoms of the disease---skin lesions, blindness, crippled limbs, disfigured faces---might be a result of the nerve damage caused by the disease rather than a direct result of the disease. He quickly began documenting lack of pain along with the other symptoms. Over time he drew the attention of the wider medical community to an inescapable conclusion: the lack of pain in these people's lives was causing them harm.

People with Hansen's didn't notice when a rock or limb scratched them, and so made no attempt to protect themselves from infection; simple abrasions led to serious problems; a twisted ankle went unnoticed, was never immobilized, and dislocation became permanent; a serious domino effect leading to loss of limbs, facial features, vision.

After first throwing a fit because the Prophet Elisha failed to make a big enough deal over him, Naaman was eventually convinced by those who cared about him to comply with the Prophet's simple instructions. So, after bathing seven times in the Jordan as instructed, Naaman was cured of his leprosy; his skin fully restored.

And, along with his skin, he may also have regained his pain; that quality of life we often wish was not present, but which is really a gift from a loving God; a gift that protects us in a world filled with hidden dangers, injuries that could deepen and cause us great harm if not for the signpost of pain to draw our attention to address them early. It is a gift to the spirit as well as the body.

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READINGS FOR THE COMING WEEK
Proper 9 (14) (July 3, 2016)
First reading and Psalm
2 Kings 5:1-14
Psalm 30
Alternate First reading and Psalm
Isaiah 66:10-14
Psalm 66:1-9
Second reading
Galatians 6:(1-6), 7-16
Gospel
Luke 10:1-11, 16-20
_______________________

If you're in Waco, Texas on Friday, join the group for Lectionary Breakfast (and more of the above) at the "Egg and I" restaurant (8:00 a.m. Intersection of Franklin and New Road).

Blessings,
Steve
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* Dr. Brand wrote several books, three of which were written with Philip Yancey, including PAIN: THE GIFT NOBODY WANTS. In addition, Dr. Brand is also one of the featured subjects of Yancey's book, SOUL SURVIVOR.

Lawless (a Lectionary reflection by Steve Orr)

"A gripping and sinister tale."

That's the reviewer's comment on the cover of the very first Rebus novel, Knots & Crosses. And it's true. Already, as the story opens, two young girls have been abducted and murdered, and a third is missing. Detective Sergeant John Rebus of the Edinburgh Police is one of many hunting the killer. But only he has begun to receive bizarre messages --- knotted string and matchstick crosses --- taunting him to try to solve the puzzle before it's too late.

For those who love crime novels, hard boiled detectives, and other noir fiction, Ian Rankin's Rebus is absolutely magnetic. Like his noir brothers and sisters, he has a superficial toughness masking a somewhat broken interior. Like them, as well, he tends to work outside the established protocols to accomplish his objectives. Make no mistake, Rebus does not brook lawlessness; he's a copper, after all. He just may bend a rule here and there to ensure justice.

But, at least for some of us, there is a big difference between Rebus and most other noir anti-heroes.

John Rebus is a believer.

Oh, he's rejected his Presbyterian roots; and though he's tried several churches, he just cannot find one that really works for him. Nevertheless, Rebus believes in God and continues to seek Him in his own, broken way. Still, his beliefs form the core of his moral code and that's what drives him to pursue the lawless.

I can't help but wonder if John Rebus, like most of us, would benefit from a better understanding of this week's Lectionary selection from Galatians 5. No doubt he would recognize the list of problem behaviors seen in verses 19-21 as root causes for much of the lawlessness infecting his beloved Edinburgh: “The result of sin’s control in our lives is clear. It includes sexual immorality, impurity and wild living, worshiping false gods, doing witchcraft, hating, making trouble, being jealous, being angry, being selfish, making people angry with each other, causing divisions among people, having envy, being drunk, having wild and wasteful parties, and doing other things like this. I warn you now as I warned you before: Those who do these things will not be in God’s kingdom.” (‭‭Galatians‬ ‭5:19-21‬ ‭ICB, ‬‬http://bible.com/1359/gal.5.19-21.icb)

But I wonder if Rebus would recognize that it is his desire for the qualities in verses 22-23 that drive him in his pursuit of the criminals: “But the Spirit gives love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control.” (Galatians‬ ‭5:22-23‬a ‭ICB, ‬‬http://bible.com/1359/gal.5.22-23.icb) *

All of us could do well to focus our time and energy on that second list. The more we can rest in the Spirit, the more we can have those "fruit" in our lives. All of these are outside the Law; that is, the Law of Moses. And while to relax and enjoy them may have the uncomfortable feel of lawlessness, none of us would have to worry that Detective Rebus, or any like him, would be coming for us. Because, as has been made plain in Galatians:

"Against such things there is no law.” ‭
(‭Galatians‬ ‭5:23‬b ‭NIV‬‬, http://bible.com/111/gal.5.23.niv.")
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READINGS FOR THE COMING WEEK
http://lectionary.library.vanderbilt.edu/

Proper 8 (13) (June 26, 2016)
First reading and Psalm
2 Kings 2:1-2, 6-14
Psalm 77:1-2, 11-20
Alternate First reading and Psalm
1 Kings 19:15-16, 19-21
Psalm 16
Second reading
Galatians 5:1, 13-25
Gospel
Luke 9:51-62
_________________________

I hope you can join us Friday morning for Lectionary Breakfast. We still meet at the Waco "Egg and I" restaurant at 8:00 for an hour that surprises and enriches. It's "lawlessness" in the very best sense of the word! :-)

Enjoy!
Steve
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** An alternative reading of the "Fruits of the Spirit"

“But what happens when we live God’s way? He brings gifts into our lives, much the same way that fruit appears in an orchard—things like affection for others, exuberance about life, serenity. We develop a willingness to stick with things, a sense of compassion in the heart, and a conviction that a basic holiness permeates things and people. We find ourselves involved in loyal commitments, not needing to force our way in life, able to marshal and direct our energies wisely. Legalism is helpless in bringing this about; it only gets in the way. Among those who belong to Christ, everything connected with getting our own way and mindlessly responding to what everyone else calls necessities is killed off for good—crucified.” (Galatians‬ ‭5:22-23‬ ‭MSG‬‬, http://bible.com/97/gal.5.22-23.msg)

Elijah and the Ya Ya Sisterhood (a Lectionary reflection by Steve Orr)

Vivi had a secret.

In the novel (and movie), Devine Secrets of the Ya Ya Sisterhood, we meet a group of older women who have been friends since early childhood. Even now, they still care deeply for each other, despite their flaws.

A war has erupted between one of the Ya Ya's, Vivi, and her adult daughter, Sidda. Like many family conflicts, this one is part truth and part misunderstanding. Hoping to reconcile the two, the Ya Ya's kidnap Sidda from her life in New York City and spirit her away to Louisiana.

In the course of trying to help her understand just why her mother is so difficult a person, they finally realize they must reveal to Sidda her mother's deepest, darkest secret.

Vivi dropped her basket.

If you know the story, then you already realize this is the phrase Vivi came up with to describe a time when she had a mental and emotional breakdown as a young mother, brutally beat her children, and then was hospitalized for her subsequent attempted suicide.

You'll have to read the book or rent the movie to get the rest of it. As for us, this is what we need to know: Vivi dropped her basket. Life can be tough. Some of us fare better than others. Some of us are, for reasons known and unknown, stronger than others when it comes to our mental and emotional health. And, even when we appear strong to those around us, we can be coming apart on the inside.

About the time I discovered Elijah in my Bible reading, I also discovered the Twila Paris song, The Warrior is a Child. It was a perfect paring. In the song, Paris sings, "People say that I'm amazing, strong beyond my years. But they don't see inside of me, I'm hiding all the tears ... I drop my sword and cry for just a while, 'cause deep inside this armor, the warrior is a child."

Elijah, on the other hand, is this almost superhuman prophet of the Old Testament. He performs amazing feats in the name of the Lord. People are in awe of his power and authority. To his peers, he seems the ideal warrior for the Lord. And yet.

Elijah dropped his basket.

That's the story we find in this week's Lectionary passage from 1 Kings. This great warrior for God, on the heels of a mighty victory ... just loses it. In fear, he runs out into the wilderness; so depressed, he begs God to take his life. When you read this passage, don't stop when the Lectionary breaks: keep going through the end of Elijah's story. See what God does with Elijah's depression.

Keep that in mind as we face the struggles that affect us in this life. No matter how strong we've been, no matter how amazing our most recent Mountaintop experience, no matter the number of victories we've achieved, any of us can drop our basket.

The takeaway this week is tied to a passage in the New Testament book of James where we're told, "Elijah was a man just like us." And like Elijah, we can depend on God to be in it with us, to hear what we have to say, and, if we can receive it, to redirect us on our journey.
_______________________

READINGS FOR THE COMING WEEK
Proper 7 (12) (June 19, 2016)
First reading and Psalm
1 Kings 19:1-4, (5-7), 8-15a
Psalm 42 and 43
Alternate First reading and Psalm
Isaiah 65:1-9
Psalm 22:19-28
Second reading
Galatians 3:23-29
Gospel
Luke 8:26-39

_______________________

We meet each Friday morning for Lectionary Breakfast. We're still sojourning at the Waco "Egg and I" restaurant from 8:00 to 9:00-ish for an extraordinary hour of relaxed fellowship, Bible reading, and meaningful exploration of just how those scriptures affect our actual lives.

Join us.

Blessings,
Steve

Conquistador (a Lectionary reflection by Steve Orr)

In the novel, Conquistador, S. M. Stirling tells an exciting and thought-provoking tale of a North America that never saw the arrival of Europeans. Through a clever device, he has his characters travel from 1946 California to another California, one that is filled with various Native American groups, none of whom has ever seen a Caucasian.

Many adventures ensue for these "conquistadors" and the many men and women who followed them from our world to that still unsullied new one. There were no highways, no man-made aquifers, no super cities (LA, for instance). There was no smog.

The early crossovers, these Conquistadors from "FirstSide," made the most of the pristine nature of things; they brought over horse's, camped out, went hunting. Eventually, they hatched a plan to mine precious metals from what they knew, from FirstSide history, to be untouched sources. They used it to build wealth back on FirstSide. Their goal? To establish an infrastructure that would keep that new "new world" (and the gateway to it) secret, to maintain its treasures for themselves and their progeny.

And in time, they succeeded. For that story, and the challenges they faced from FirstSide in the 21st Century, you'll need to read the book.

One of the many aspects that puzzled these new invaders was how the newly discovered "new world" came to be. How could it be that that history contained no European discovery of the Americas? It took many years, but they eventually saw enough of the new world to piece together the chain of events. I won't go into that, but suffice to say it started with Alexander the Great not dying in 323 B.C.E.

One of the twists posited by the author is that this changed timeline led to Christianity never forming. He lays it out quite logically, and without any sympathy that I could detect.

In this week's Lectionary scriptures, there are two resurrections: one facilitated by Elijah and one performed by Jesus. Both involved raising the sons of widows. Both freshly alive young men were returned to their mothers and received with joy. Both acts led to people drawing closer to God.

How strange to think that someone could imagine a world where redemption lay forever beyond the reach of humankind, where salvation was not even a concept, much less a reality, where the conqueror of death never came.

Here on FirstSide, in our real world, Jesus came from another world to walk ours. Over two millennia ago, he conquered something far more important than a country or even a continent. By bringing life in the form of himself, he conquered all that separates us from God.

He is our conquistador.

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

Third Sunday after Pentecost
Proper 5 (10) (June 5, 2016)

1 Kings 17:8-16, (17-24)
Psalm 146
1 Kings 17:17-24
Psalm 30
Galatians 1:11-24
Luke 7:11-17

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We are more than conquerors. Join us Friday mornings for Lectionary Breakfast and find out why. Still meeting at 8:00 at the Waco "Egg and I" restaurant.

Walk-ins welcome.

Enjoy the week!
Steve