Flying Lessons

The Epiphany 6A reading from Hebrew scripture (Leviticus 9:1-2, 9-18) outlines the obligations of faithful people: leave gleanings for the poor and alien, don't steal, don't profane, don't defraud your neighbor, don't put a stumbling block, don't keep wages overnight, be partial to the poor, don't slander, don't reprove a neighbor or you'll be guilty yourself, don't bear a grudge against anyone.

The gospel reading (Matthew 5:38-48) finds Jesus developing ideas that have been around before. Don't do the least you can do, instead do more. Turn the other cheek. Give your cloak as well. Go the second mile. Give to everyone who begs from you. Love your enemies.

The epistle reading (I Corinthians 3:10-11, 16-23) reminds us that we are building a temple based on the foundation that is Jesus Christ. We are to be wise and not boast about human leaders, instead remembering that we belong to Christ.

Reading these texts together can leave the reader feeling that faith is, if not burdensome, then at least heavy. Think how many people we become responsible for: the poor, the alien, our neighbor, our employees, those who would oppress us, those who make demands of us, those who beg from us and more. Living our faith connects us to people.

How is it possible to live abundantly while carrying responsibility for so many people? Do we become oppressed by our faith? No. And maybe we should thank Daniel Bernoulli for helping us understand that we can get our faith off the ground, even with great weight upon us. It is Bernoulli, a mathematician and physicist. whose experiments and formulations helped us understand how to get a 747 (which has an empty weight of about 400,000 pounds) off the ground.

Bernoulli was working with fluid dynamics, but in terms of flight, air is the "fluid". The shape of the wing causes air to move faster across the top of the wing than the bottom of the wing. Faster moving fluids (top of the wing) create less pressure, so the bottom of the wing creates greater pressure, creating lift. Lift opposes the weight of the airplane, allowing it to take off and remain in the air. The weight is not a deterrent to flying when air is moving and providing lift. In the same way, our lives of faith are given lift by the Holy Spirit blowing in and through our lives.

Mike Kelley. Airportrait of LAX. 2014. 

For more of Mike Kelley's work, see: http://www.mpkelley.com/2016/10/17/the-making-of-airportraits-chasing-planes-around-the-world/

Photographer Mike Kelley's airportraits show just how many planes take off from given airports. Over and over, Bernoulli's
principle performs as it should, carrying more than 1.5 million travelers per day in the U.S.

Imagine all of those planes as people of God who are lifted to carry countless others. Suddenly it doesn't seem quite so burdensome.

On Facebook this week, a look at two specific instructions from this week's readings. Click on the link below. 

I Corinthians 3.1-9: What's Not in the Picture

Paul? Apollos? No. The one who is important is God. That's Paul's message to the Christ-followers in Corinth (I Corinthians 3:1-9, Epiphany 6A). Paul doesn't deny that both he and Apollos are part of the process, but the growth, he acknowledges, comes from God.

The seed-plant-water-grow sequence offers the opportunity to think about the church in the context of gardening or farming. In the painting that is considered his masterpiece, Scottish artist William York MacGregor, shows a vegetable stall filled with cabbages, rhubarb, leeks, potatoes, onions and more. It is a reminder that those seeds that are planted by Paul (or whomever) are seeds for a variety of produce.

 William York MacGregor. The Vegetable Stall. 1884. Edinburgh: National Galleries Scotland. For the painting, see: https://art.nationalgalleries.org/art-and-artists/5106. For an x-ray showing the painted-out figure, see: https://www.nationalgalleries.org/research/projects-263/x-ray-of-the-vegetable-stall/changes-in-composition/

But it is what isn't there that makes this painting an even better match for this text. Originally, influenced by Dutch and Flemish painters, MacGregor included a figure in the painting.

At the right side of the composition, the stall holder was shown counting her money. MacGregor chose to paint out that figure, just as Paul painted over the role played by himself and Apollos. It isn't that the roles of the people aren't important, it's just that God's work is more important.

One plants. One waters. But it is God who gives the increase.  

This week on Facebook: a sculptural work focusing on Matthew 5:21-37. Click here.
For thoughts on Deuteronomy 30:15-20, click here.