Theology for Breakfast: The Holy Irritant in Forward Day by Day May-June-July 2024

Every morning I read the scripture assigned by the Episcopal Book of Common prayer, then relax into a short reflection on those readings offered by the quarterly Forward Day by Day. Every quarter I've culled highlights. See my responses going back to 2013.

May Reflections for May are by Reverend Kira Austin-Young, currently serving in San Francisco, where she and her dog pass by homeless encampments every day. She's reminded by Psalm 102.17 that "God favors the prayers of the homeless." While institutions provide short-term care and devise long-term solutions, she imagines her small part to be the answer to "the prayer of my neighbor."

Having read her piece, I myself walked my dog in a parking lot where we repeatedly encountered a homeless woman named Brenda. Three Sunday mornings in a row, she had politely rebuffed offers to buy her sandals, coffee, food -- but she brightened up considerably on Mothers Day when I asked if she was a mother. She wanted to tell me about her children and grand-children.

The writer struggles with Matthew 7.18, "Everyone who asks receives." How does that sound to families in the youth hospice where she was chaplain? She thinks, "There is not a one-to-one correspondence between what we ask in prayer and what we receive." (That, I'd say, would be magic -- harnessing God's power to do our will.) Pray specific prayers, anyway, she says, to make yourself aware of God's presence. "The victims are in our thoughts and prayers" has come to mean "We're not going to do anything," but she admits prayers at least prepare us for action and open us to God's will.

She "gets worked up" over public figures who won't deal with important issues. Responding to Psalm 37.7 ("Be still ... wait patiently for the Lord") she admits that getting worked up "is unhelpful at best, and at most, leads to evil." Besides, as Jesus asked in Mt. 6.27, "Can anyone by worrying add a single hour to your span of life?"

Public figures who disgust her need prayers more than anyone, she admits, and she needs to be the one to pray for them. She gets "likes" for snide comments about those leaders, but she hasn't "built up" anyone or anything by writing insults (Ephesians 4.29 "Let no evil come out of your mouth, but only what is useful for building up.")

There's humor and joy in some of her observations. Jesus is like a stand-up comic when he points out, "when John and his disciples ate nothing, the Pharisees said he had a demon in him, but when I and my disciples have dinner, they say we're drunkards and gluttons." The great line about "Leviathan that God made for the sport of it" (Psalms 104.27) reminds her how we know more about outer space than about the oceans that occupy most of our planet, and how much more there is to "the strangeness and untouchability of God."

July For July, we had essays by Philip Beyer, retired businessman and archdeacon of a diocese in Florida.

In Beyer's stories, the Holy Spirit manifests as a Holy Irritant.

• Beyer sought time alone in a chapel, but ended up listening to someone already there in great need. "The hidden treasure I found was at hand, not in solitude, not in my agenda, but fully immersed in human sorrow."
• During an outdoor service, he was annoyed by homeless people wandering by - until the priest invited them to join in.
• He remembers his newspaper delivery route, how angry he was at those who didn't pay up - but then the baker paid him in donuts, with the side effect of opening his eyes to the fact that his bag got lighter with each delivery, and his hardness softened to forgiveness.
• As an executive traveling with elderly tourists in Jerusalem, he impatiently took over the soft-serv ice cream machine to hurry the tour along, and discovered fun and friendship in serving them.
• Hassled by a man at a homeless shelter who kept demanding "more tea," he slammed a full pitcher down on the table. The man's disappointment opened Beyer up to realize, the man hadn't needed or wanted tea; he needed the attention (cf. Jesus and the blind man, Mt. 20.29-34).

The pharisees seem to have irritated Jesus. Their demand for a sign reminds Beyer of a sign he received during a morning run when he was feeling low. The voice of a cardinal caught his attention, then the bird suddenly appeared, lifting Beyer's spirits. He asks us if we've had such an experience.

Indeed: Riding my bike on the Silver Comet trail, I approached a couple from behind as they walked side by side. The woman was talking, gesturing, re-enacting some big confrontation. At something she said, the man turned his head towards her so quickly that his dred locks shook, and I saw his eyes open wide on her, his broad smile, his admiration and delight. I caught that spirit of love vicariously and I carry it with me to this day, as often as I recall that moment.

Beyer's experience in Haiti after the earthquake could be a parable. Beyers despaired of finding building materials for the parish church, but the priest didn't seem to be doing anything about that. As they toured the parish, the priest just hugged people and smiled and listened to their problems. Again, Beyers was irritated. But the next day, people showed up with materials enough to rebuild.