The Meyer Minute

The Meyer Minute for January 17, 2014

Some of you wondered about yesterday’s Minute, how that terrible prayer relates to “Thou shalt not steal.”  Aha, a teaching moment!  Hope I’m up to it. 

The meal prayer by fictional NASCAR driver Ricky Bobby came from the movie “Talledega Nights.”  The prayer was pure satire, not a real prayer.  The purpose of satire is, as the Roman poet Horace, put it, “to speak the truth with a smile.”  The prayer mocks some Americans, I’d say many, for being addicted to the never-ending acquisition of money and possessions.  Call it “consumerism.”

All the commandments come from God and flow out of the First Commandment, “Thou shalt have no other gods before Me.”  “Thou shalt not steal” and “Thou shalt not covet” remind us that while we all need physical things to live, we won’t find peace for our souls by forever buying stuff.  Jesus says, “No one can serve two masters.  You cannot serve God and money.” (Matthew 6:24)  The prayer shows Ricky Bobby serving money and stuff and exposes the materialistic idolatry of many Americans.   We used to call tuberculosis “consumption.”  Today’s “consumption” is consumerism and it’s killing our spiritual lives. 

 

 

The Meyer Minute for January 16, 2014

“Thou shalt not steal” is the topic in my seminary class today.  Part of the session will discuss this “prayer” from the movie “Talladega Nights.”  NASCAR driver Ricky Bobby offers grace.

Dear Lord baby Jesus….  We thank you so much for this bountiful harvest, Domino’s and KFC and the always delicious Taco Bell.  I just want to take time to say thank you for my family, my two beautiful, handsome striking sons, Walker and Texas Ranger, or TR as we call him, and of course my red-hot smoking wife, Carley, who’s a stone cold fox..  Also want to thank you for my best friend and team-mate, Cal Naughton, Jr. who’s got my back no matter what….  We just thank you for all the races I’ve won, and the $21.2 million…Whew!  Loved that money that I have accrued over this past season also due to abiding endorsement contract that stipulates that I mention “PowerAid” at each grace.  I just want to say that PowerAid is delicious and it cools you off on a hot summer day and we look forward to PowerAid’s release of Mystic Mountain Blueberry. Thank you for all your power and your grace, dear baby God.  Amen.

What does this satire say about our culture?

 

The Meyer Minute for January 15, 2014

Jesus, I’m perplexed.  I can’t figure out if following You is simple or hard.  You make it sound simple, “My yoke is easy and my burden is light” but I’m not so sure.  (Matthew 11:30)  Following You is a juggling act, trying to deal with the challenges of living while trying to be a sincere Christian.  What if I just lived for the here-and-now?   What if I stepped out the door each day with the attitude it’s all about me?  Sure, I’d let some others into my life, but only if they were of use to me.  Wouldn’t that be easier than imagining You looking over my shoulder all the time?  This juggling, this measuring every day’s reality against You and how You want me to be…  It’s not easy.  Look at the disciples in the Bible.  As often as not, You said cryptic things, walked on and left them befuddled.  Maybe that’s it.  It’s not about me looking over my shoulder.  It’s about You leading on but looking over Your shoulder to keep me with You.  Yup, that’s it.  Still hard but with You in the lead, I’m focused in my muddle.

The Meyer Minute for January 14, 2014

It would take 3,000 years for you to count all the stars in the Milky Way galaxy, the place we call home. What did the wise men see on Epiphany?  Was it one of the 100 billion stars in our galaxy? An unusual alignment of planets?  Whatever.  God moved behind the vast cosmic scene to touch their lives.

It's nothing new for many of us to hear we're important, precious in the sight of God. But repetition dulls that message even as the workaday world convinces us that we really don't matter.

In The Gift of the Magi, Della sells her beautiful hair to buy a fob chain for her dear husband's watch, while Jim is selling that watch to buy a set of combs for Della's hair. They "most unwisely sacrificed for each other the greatest treasure of their house," might be the world's heartless analysis, but O. Henry says "Of all who give and receive gifts, such as they are wisest."

Sacrificing for another is heavenly wisdom and whenever someone sacrifices for you, it's a continuing epiphany from God. Do you see it? In the grand cosmic scheme of things you truly are loved.

 

The Meyer Minute for January 13, 2014

Thank You, O Lord, for the problems I’ll wrestle with today.  May they remind me that I’m Your dependent, sometimes helpless child. 

Thank You for letting me fret over paying bills.  “Man doesn’t live by bread alone,” but we do need it.   When wherewithal is scant, help me trust You are merciful to help in unexpected ways.

Thank You for any infirmities of body I may feel today.  What a strange blessing to come to terms with my mortality.  Ouch!  It drives me to You who change not.

Thank You for disappointments.  People and problems will disappoint me.  Of course!  They are not God; only You are.  Disappointments direct me back to You.

Thank You for the difficult people who will get under my skin today.  Remind me it’s not them versus me but Your patient love through me to them.  Since Jesus is my best friend, I can be calm with people.

Thank You, O Lord, for all the work that won’t get done today, try as I might.  In that You teach that we live by grace, not by works. 

It’s going to be a good day.

The Meyer Minute for January 10, 2014

I keep dear books close to my favorite chair.  One is “Starck’s Prayerbook,” written by an early 19^th century minister.  For many years now I’ve faithfully read Starck’s devotion for January 10.  Here’s part of it…

“The return of the day when we first beheld the light of this world, our birthday, ought to be a day of praise and thanksgiving….”  Christians should “praise the faithfulness and goodness of God, (1) because He had them to be born of Christian parents, who brought them to the knowledge of salvation in Jesus Christ; (2) because He has given them a healthy body and sound mind; (3) because He has guarded them against misfortune, rescued them from dangers, and hitherto preserved them. 

“At the same time, (4) they humbly ask for forgiveness…and promise God that they will spend the remaining days of their life in childlike obedience and godliness. (5) They also comfort themselves with the thought that if they continue thus in faith and love, God will continue to spread the wings of His mercy over them.  (6) Finally, they reflect that the celebration of their birthday…may have been their last celebration on earth.”

Later today I’ll return to that favorite chair, put a throw over my legs, and ponder what Starck has said.  It’s true for everyone for everyday.

The Meyer Minute for January 9, 2014

Sweet!  We sin; God forgives.  True?  After writing about trusting God’s gift of forgiveness from Jesus’ cross, St. Paul asks, “What shall we say then?  Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound?  By no means!” (Romans 6:1-2)

So don’t sin, don’t kill, don’t commit adultery, don’t steal, and don’t lie.  OK, you haven’t.  Now put on your church clothes, hear about grace and forgiveness (which you really don’t need as much as other people)…and be numb to the war within you.  Dumb too.

“The Lord saw…that every intention of the thoughts of (man’s) heart was only evil continually.” (Genesis 6:5)  Jesus says, “Evil things come from within.” (Mark 7:23)  Our first feelings, our first thoughts are so often sinful.  It’s commendable when we don’t act on those impulses but the impulse is still sin.  Paul called himself “captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members.” (Romans 7:23) 

Only God can get His grace and forgiveness as deep into us as our sin.  “The great mystical work of the Holy Spirit is in the dim regions of our personality which we cannot get to.”  (Oswald Chambers)

The Meyer Minute for January 8, 2014

Years ago Charles Leroux of the Chicago Tribune interviewed Professor James Leary, who's spent years gathering ethnic jokes. Every group has its jokes, but far and away the most famous are about Ole and Lena.

"Ole walks into work, and both of his ears are bandaged up. The boss says, 'What happened to your ears?' Ole says, 'Yesterday I vas ironing a shirt ven da phone rang and I accidentally answered da iron.' The boss says, 'Well, that explains one ear, but what happened to your other ear?' Ole says, "I tried to call da doctor.'"

There's a goodness from God when we get together and laugh. David Reid told about a young Scottish minister who spent all his time studying theology and no time socializing with normal people. "When asked how he like his new parson, an old Scot said that he supposed he was all right, in the main, but six days he was invisible and the seventh day he was incomprehensible" (in For All the Saints, II, 776).  Far better to while away some time in idle chatter and laughter. God created us for community.

Speaking of community, Ole and Lena are planning a trip to New York. They're going to look for the big apple (Chicago Tribune, January 8, 2003; Sec 2).

 

The Meyer Minute for January 7, 2014

Brrrrr….  Many of us are gripped by bitter and dangerous cold.

James 2:16-17: “If a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacking in daily food, and one of you says to them, ‘Go is peace, be warmed and filled,’ without giving them the things needed for the body, what good is that?”

Deuteronomy 6:5: “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.”

Those passages, and there are others, remind us that life before God is total, body, soul and spirit.  I don’t know how it is in your faith tradition, but we Lutherans put a high premium on education because God’s word to us, the Bible, calls for learning.  Unfortunately, we sometimes give the impression that life before God is simply a matter of head knowledge.  Our red cheeks, our almost frozen toes and fingers, our shivering… remind us that we come before God as his flesh-and-blood creatures.

Psalm 147:17-18:“He hurls down His crystals of ice like crumbs; Who can stand before His cold?  He sends out His word and melts them.”  Please, Lord!  And soon!  

The Meyer Minute for January 6, 2014

What led you to Jesus?  This Epiphany day, we note that the star didn’t lead the wise men to Jesus as much as it set them seeking the newborn king of the Jews.  What started you toward Jesus?  Was it parents, family, friends, or some circumstance in life that led you to search for something more?  When the wise men got to Jerusalem, the star disappeared, just as the initial impulses that started you toward Christ also fade.  At that point, the harder work begins, the work of trusting the word of God.  The wise men got that word from Herod’s theologians, that the Christ was to be born in Bethlehem.  When something has started us toward Christ, we must shift to the word for guidance.  Whatever we experience is important, but in the last analysis, “We live by faith and not by sight.” (2 Corinthians 5:7) 

Still, stars and sights come as we journey by faith.  When the wise men headed to Bethlehem, the star reappeared and “they rejoiced with exceeding great joy.” (Matthew 2:10)  The word is our life, but what we see and experience can be added joys from God.