First Sunday After Christmas
December 31, 2024
You make your own bed
This expression is said to come from the late 1500s in France. It has many variations such as "you have made your own bed so lie in it." Similar ideas are expressed with words such as "as you brew so shall you drink." They all mean when you create (usually unpleasant) circumstances they are yours to endure. Although one assumes less common than a few generations ago, there are probably those who have moved straight from having their mother make their bed to having a spouse make their bed. In the same way, no doubt there are many who use various forms of leverage and power to avoid the circumstances of their choices and actions. Those at the top of any social structure come to mind and this is particularly true when speaking of organized crime. Generals Die in Bed is a short novel by Charles Yale Harrison. As the title suggests, war is described as a very different experience for generals than for foot soldiers. To return to the metaphor, generals issue beds to the privates and generals have their beds made for them—nobody is making their own bed.
Galatians 4:7
So you are no longer a slave but a child, and if a child then also an heir, through God
This verse, in its context, the last line of an extended metaphor that likens us as children of God to minors who set free by adulthood, gives the view that we don’t make our own bed. Our creator creates our bed. Our place in this world as a heir of God is our bed. Our call is to accept that gift, not create it for ourselves.
Epiphany of the Lord
January 6, 2024
You have to name it to claim it
This is an abbreviation Dr. Phil's "tenth law" but I doubt he is able to copyright these six words in this order. His actual law is "You have to name it before you can claim it." The corresponding strategy is to "get clear about what you want and take your turn." Put another way, he says "The most you'll ever get is what you ask for." Although it is the tenth of his laws, his intention is to draw importance and attention to the value of goal setting.
Ephesians 3:10
...so that through the church the wisdom of God in its rich variety
Might now be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly places.
Dr. Phil places the importance of "naming" as the necessary step to claiming individual or collective victory in a world seen as competitive. Paul, in writing to the Ephesians, names one overarching goal that "the wisdom of God should be made known." The challenge with setting personal goals is that they must each be tested against the goals of God. Each one ought to be offered to God for blessing. Sometimes they are not in harmony and the blessings will not be forthcoming. Even more dangerously, they sometimes appear to be in harmony but are not and so we silence the voice of God who is trying to get us to attend the larger picture. This is why so many choose to "live one day at a time" without worry about [goals for] tomorrow. (Matthew 6:34)
Baptism of our Lord
January 7, 2024
He who hesitates is lost
The phrase "The woman that deliberates is lost" closes scene one of Act 4 of Joseph Addison's 1712 play Cato: A Tragedy. He uses the phrase to imply that a woman should not hesitate when love for her is declared. In its present form, “he who hesitates is lost” is used to explain everything from why a baseball player is thrown out on a close play to why one person is passed over for a promotion in a corporate setting.
Mark 1:12
At once the Spirit sent him out into the desert
And the Spirit immediately drove him out into the wilderness.
Have you ever read the Gospel of Mark in one sitting? It moves forward at breakneck speed. In the NRSV, the word “immediately” appears no less than 27 times in 16 chapters with Mark 1:12 being the first. The pace is radically different from the other three, longer Gospels. For Mark, impatience, necessity and urgency rule the day at each turn. While many scripture verses speak of the value of patience, consideration and sober second thoughts, the evangelist Mark appears to be a "he who hesitates is lost" kind of guy who therefore understands and portrays Jesus in the same light.
Second after Epiphany
January 14, 2024
Familiarity breeds contempt
This is the common translation of the last words, which deliver the moral of Aesop's fable, The Fox and the Lion. In the fable, upon successive meetings with the lion, the fox transforms from being afraid to indifferent when seeing the lion in the streets. Others suggest the wording we recognize first appeared in Chaucer's Tale of Melibee. Although even in that setting, it is introduced as a pre-existing phrase. Chaucer immediately adds to by saying that “too great humility or meekness… [also] …engenders contempt.” Regardless of whom you wish to credit, the phrase is unquestionably cynical about the nature of human relationships. For it suggests that disdain will follow from knowing someone better. Many couples celebrating Golden Wedding anniversaries would beg to differ. Another cynical expression of this ilk is to define as expert as “someone more than 10 miles away from home with a briefcase.”
John 1:46a
"Nazareth! Can anything good come from there?"
Nathanael said to him, "Can anything good come out of Nazareth?"
Bigotry is as old as the Bible. Even older! Nathanael's sense that he is familiar enough with Nazareth to cast judgment on anyone from there is challenged only a scant few verses later. He says of Jesus of Nazareth, "Rabbi, you are the Son of God! You are the King of Israel!" On occasion, I felt somewhat taken for granted as a resident pastor. The expression "special guest" is telling in itself. The guest who is special is contrasted with the same old-same old boring person you know. Familiarity, if not a breeder of contempt, can certainly breed indifference.
Third Sunday after Epiphany
January 21, 2024
Look before you leap
Similar advice comes in the form, “Look both ways before you cross the street.” Aesop tells two fables that speak of the wisdom of attention before action. The Two Frogs and The Fox and The Goat. In the first, the two frogs come across a well when it was hot out and, although they first thought they should hop in for the cool water, they reconsidered when they realized they would have no way out. They looked before they leapt and, in doing so, spared their lives. In The Fox and the Goat we again have a well of cool water in a time of scarcity. In this story, however, the fox is trapped in the well and invites the goat down to join him. Once the goat jumps in, the fox climbs on top of the goat and is able to jump out of the well by jumping off the goat's horns, leaving the goat behind. The goat did not look before leaping. A common phrase I heard from inmates was, “I was in the wrong place at the wrong time” and while that could have occurred randomly, in most instances,looking before leaping might have prevented it.
Mark 1:17-18
And Jesus said to them, “Follow me and I will make you fish for people.”
And immediately they left their nets and followed him.
Depending upon the translation you are using, Mark uses the word “immediately” 41 times. This is more than half the uses in the entire Greek and Hebrew bibles! He likes the word and sees the experience of Jesus as being overwhelming, overwhelming enough to cause people to react immediately. In ways we would never dream of doing. Later, Jesus himself needs to slow people down and ask his followers, often, to assess the demands of discipleship. But Simon and Andrew, and followed by James and John (sons of Zebedee) in the very next verse choose very much to leap before they look. Different situations call for different responses. There is no one size fits all approach.
Fourth Sunday after Epiphany
January 28, 2018
Fear is the beginning of wisdom
This adage simply takes God out of the verse in Psalm 111 quoted below. A common theme in my discussions with inmates is the theme of fear. Many claim that the criminal life has caused them to be devoid of fear. Some long for the days when they felt fear and speak of being numb to it and recognize the incredibly foolish risks that such a state leads to. Yet others have become terrorized by fear of repeated events and live lives that avoid almost everything through isolation and substance abuse. And still others speak of the painful experience of being seen by others as a crazed animal that can only be feared. While fear operates in us all it appears to take on a heightened importance in the lives of the marginalized, particularly those who live in violence and the threat of violence, for whatever reasons. I have often directed people towards the 1997 book, The Gift of Fear, by Gavin de Becker. The book is aptly titled as he details how we are to listen to our fear, knowing it speaks to us, giving us the wisdom to know when we are threatened. He provides strategies to ensure that we are attentive to this sometimes still, small voice, when it speaks.
Psalm 111:10a
The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.
This biblical teaching is echoed in Proverbs 1:7, 9:10 and other places. A mechanism may be at work. Fear leads to humility for fear is based on the recognition that we neither know nor can control our fate. Fear is based on recognizing our own shortcomings and inability to fend for ourselves. Fear is indeed the antechamber to prayer, the bringer of wisdom. One could draw a sharp distinction between fear of the Lord and fear of circumstances. However, one could also conclude that God is more apt to give us the strength and insight to respond to fear rather than granting us a life where any reasons for fear were absent.
Fifth Sunday after Epiphany
February 4, 2018
You can't be all things to all people
These commonly used words, of undetermined origin, seem too obvious. It doesn’t hold up to basic logic. How can you be a rich person to one and a poor person to other? How can you be fluent in everyone else's language? How can you be endlessly generous to everyone you meet? The phrase exists because we often try to accomplish the impossible and stretch ourselves too thin. We compromise our integrity and wear ourselves ragged in the process. In the most measured use, it is a simple call to moderation and attention to limits and boundaries. At the other end of the spectrum, it can be used to defend putting out any effort at all. I can’t be all things to all people; I will just be myself and let others deal with that.
1 Corinthians 9:19-23
For though I am free with respect to all, I have made myself a slave to all,
so that I might win more of them.
To the Jews I became as a Jew, in order to win Jews.
To those under the law I became as one under the law
(though I myself am not under the law)
so that I might win those under the law.
To those outside the law I became as one outside the law
(though I am not free from God’s law but am under Christ’s law)
so that I might win those outside the law.
To the weak I became weak, so that I might win the weak.
I have become all things to all people, that I might by all means save some.
I do it all for the sake of the gospel, so that I may share in its blessings.
Paul not only says it is possible to be all things to all people, but points to his own life as living proof. Perhaps this is where the power of the phrase comes. We aren't all Paul. He can, but we can't. Or maybe it is better understood as creative use of hyperbole or exaggeration. Then again, we are told that nothing is impossible with God. (Matthew 19:26) It would take fancier footwork than I can muster to make the claim that scripture does not contradict this proverb. We all appreciate when others try to “meet us where we are” or at least “in the middle” perhaps a step in the right direction would be to do that on a regular basis, and then reassess if we can follow the example Paul lays out for us.
December 31, 2024
You make your own bed
This expression is said to come from the late 1500s in France. It has many variations such as "you have made your own bed so lie in it." Similar ideas are expressed with words such as "as you brew so shall you drink." They all mean when you create (usually unpleasant) circumstances they are yours to endure. Although one assumes less common than a few generations ago, there are probably those who have moved straight from having their mother make their bed to having a spouse make their bed. In the same way, no doubt there are many who use various forms of leverage and power to avoid the circumstances of their choices and actions. Those at the top of any social structure come to mind and this is particularly true when speaking of organized crime. Generals Die in Bed is a short novel by Charles Yale Harrison. As the title suggests, war is described as a very different experience for generals than for foot soldiers. To return to the metaphor, generals issue beds to the privates and generals have their beds made for them—nobody is making their own bed.
Galatians 4:7
So you are no longer a slave but a child, and if a child then also an heir, through God
This verse, in its context, the last line of an extended metaphor that likens us as children of God to minors who set free by adulthood, gives the view that we don’t make our own bed. Our creator creates our bed. Our place in this world as a heir of God is our bed. Our call is to accept that gift, not create it for ourselves.
Epiphany of the Lord
January 6, 2024
You have to name it to claim it
This is an abbreviation Dr. Phil's "tenth law" but I doubt he is able to copyright these six words in this order. His actual law is "You have to name it before you can claim it." The corresponding strategy is to "get clear about what you want and take your turn." Put another way, he says "The most you'll ever get is what you ask for." Although it is the tenth of his laws, his intention is to draw importance and attention to the value of goal setting.
Ephesians 3:10
...so that through the church the wisdom of God in its rich variety
Might now be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly places.
Dr. Phil places the importance of "naming" as the necessary step to claiming individual or collective victory in a world seen as competitive. Paul, in writing to the Ephesians, names one overarching goal that "the wisdom of God should be made known." The challenge with setting personal goals is that they must each be tested against the goals of God. Each one ought to be offered to God for blessing. Sometimes they are not in harmony and the blessings will not be forthcoming. Even more dangerously, they sometimes appear to be in harmony but are not and so we silence the voice of God who is trying to get us to attend the larger picture. This is why so many choose to "live one day at a time" without worry about [goals for] tomorrow. (Matthew 6:34)
Baptism of our Lord
January 7, 2024
He who hesitates is lost
The phrase "The woman that deliberates is lost" closes scene one of Act 4 of Joseph Addison's 1712 play Cato: A Tragedy. He uses the phrase to imply that a woman should not hesitate when love for her is declared. In its present form, “he who hesitates is lost” is used to explain everything from why a baseball player is thrown out on a close play to why one person is passed over for a promotion in a corporate setting.
Mark 1:12
At once the Spirit sent him out into the desert
And the Spirit immediately drove him out into the wilderness.
Have you ever read the Gospel of Mark in one sitting? It moves forward at breakneck speed. In the NRSV, the word “immediately” appears no less than 27 times in 16 chapters with Mark 1:12 being the first. The pace is radically different from the other three, longer Gospels. For Mark, impatience, necessity and urgency rule the day at each turn. While many scripture verses speak of the value of patience, consideration and sober second thoughts, the evangelist Mark appears to be a "he who hesitates is lost" kind of guy who therefore understands and portrays Jesus in the same light.
Second after Epiphany
January 14, 2024
Familiarity breeds contempt
This is the common translation of the last words, which deliver the moral of Aesop's fable, The Fox and the Lion. In the fable, upon successive meetings with the lion, the fox transforms from being afraid to indifferent when seeing the lion in the streets. Others suggest the wording we recognize first appeared in Chaucer's Tale of Melibee. Although even in that setting, it is introduced as a pre-existing phrase. Chaucer immediately adds to by saying that “too great humility or meekness… [also] …engenders contempt.” Regardless of whom you wish to credit, the phrase is unquestionably cynical about the nature of human relationships. For it suggests that disdain will follow from knowing someone better. Many couples celebrating Golden Wedding anniversaries would beg to differ. Another cynical expression of this ilk is to define as expert as “someone more than 10 miles away from home with a briefcase.”
John 1:46a
"Nazareth! Can anything good come from there?"
Nathanael said to him, "Can anything good come out of Nazareth?"
Bigotry is as old as the Bible. Even older! Nathanael's sense that he is familiar enough with Nazareth to cast judgment on anyone from there is challenged only a scant few verses later. He says of Jesus of Nazareth, "Rabbi, you are the Son of God! You are the King of Israel!" On occasion, I felt somewhat taken for granted as a resident pastor. The expression "special guest" is telling in itself. The guest who is special is contrasted with the same old-same old boring person you know. Familiarity, if not a breeder of contempt, can certainly breed indifference.
Third Sunday after Epiphany
January 21, 2024
Look before you leap
Similar advice comes in the form, “Look both ways before you cross the street.” Aesop tells two fables that speak of the wisdom of attention before action. The Two Frogs and The Fox and The Goat. In the first, the two frogs come across a well when it was hot out and, although they first thought they should hop in for the cool water, they reconsidered when they realized they would have no way out. They looked before they leapt and, in doing so, spared their lives. In The Fox and the Goat we again have a well of cool water in a time of scarcity. In this story, however, the fox is trapped in the well and invites the goat down to join him. Once the goat jumps in, the fox climbs on top of the goat and is able to jump out of the well by jumping off the goat's horns, leaving the goat behind. The goat did not look before leaping. A common phrase I heard from inmates was, “I was in the wrong place at the wrong time” and while that could have occurred randomly, in most instances,looking before leaping might have prevented it.
Mark 1:17-18
And Jesus said to them, “Follow me and I will make you fish for people.”
And immediately they left their nets and followed him.
Depending upon the translation you are using, Mark uses the word “immediately” 41 times. This is more than half the uses in the entire Greek and Hebrew bibles! He likes the word and sees the experience of Jesus as being overwhelming, overwhelming enough to cause people to react immediately. In ways we would never dream of doing. Later, Jesus himself needs to slow people down and ask his followers, often, to assess the demands of discipleship. But Simon and Andrew, and followed by James and John (sons of Zebedee) in the very next verse choose very much to leap before they look. Different situations call for different responses. There is no one size fits all approach.
Fourth Sunday after Epiphany
January 28, 2018
Fear is the beginning of wisdom
This adage simply takes God out of the verse in Psalm 111 quoted below. A common theme in my discussions with inmates is the theme of fear. Many claim that the criminal life has caused them to be devoid of fear. Some long for the days when they felt fear and speak of being numb to it and recognize the incredibly foolish risks that such a state leads to. Yet others have become terrorized by fear of repeated events and live lives that avoid almost everything through isolation and substance abuse. And still others speak of the painful experience of being seen by others as a crazed animal that can only be feared. While fear operates in us all it appears to take on a heightened importance in the lives of the marginalized, particularly those who live in violence and the threat of violence, for whatever reasons. I have often directed people towards the 1997 book, The Gift of Fear, by Gavin de Becker. The book is aptly titled as he details how we are to listen to our fear, knowing it speaks to us, giving us the wisdom to know when we are threatened. He provides strategies to ensure that we are attentive to this sometimes still, small voice, when it speaks.
Psalm 111:10a
The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.
This biblical teaching is echoed in Proverbs 1:7, 9:10 and other places. A mechanism may be at work. Fear leads to humility for fear is based on the recognition that we neither know nor can control our fate. Fear is based on recognizing our own shortcomings and inability to fend for ourselves. Fear is indeed the antechamber to prayer, the bringer of wisdom. One could draw a sharp distinction between fear of the Lord and fear of circumstances. However, one could also conclude that God is more apt to give us the strength and insight to respond to fear rather than granting us a life where any reasons for fear were absent.
Fifth Sunday after Epiphany
February 4, 2018
You can't be all things to all people
These commonly used words, of undetermined origin, seem too obvious. It doesn’t hold up to basic logic. How can you be a rich person to one and a poor person to other? How can you be fluent in everyone else's language? How can you be endlessly generous to everyone you meet? The phrase exists because we often try to accomplish the impossible and stretch ourselves too thin. We compromise our integrity and wear ourselves ragged in the process. In the most measured use, it is a simple call to moderation and attention to limits and boundaries. At the other end of the spectrum, it can be used to defend putting out any effort at all. I can’t be all things to all people; I will just be myself and let others deal with that.
1 Corinthians 9:19-23
For though I am free with respect to all, I have made myself a slave to all,
so that I might win more of them.
To the Jews I became as a Jew, in order to win Jews.
To those under the law I became as one under the law
(though I myself am not under the law)
so that I might win those under the law.
To those outside the law I became as one outside the law
(though I am not free from God’s law but am under Christ’s law)
so that I might win those outside the law.
To the weak I became weak, so that I might win the weak.
I have become all things to all people, that I might by all means save some.
I do it all for the sake of the gospel, so that I may share in its blessings.
Paul not only says it is possible to be all things to all people, but points to his own life as living proof. Perhaps this is where the power of the phrase comes. We aren't all Paul. He can, but we can't. Or maybe it is better understood as creative use of hyperbole or exaggeration. Then again, we are told that nothing is impossible with God. (Matthew 19:26) It would take fancier footwork than I can muster to make the claim that scripture does not contradict this proverb. We all appreciate when others try to “meet us where we are” or at least “in the middle” perhaps a step in the right direction would be to do that on a regular basis, and then reassess if we can follow the example Paul lays out for us.