2318AFC050723 – Obedient scissors
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Acts 6:7 – 7 The word of God continued to spread; the number of the disciples increased greatly in Jerusalem, and a great many of the priests became obedient to the faith.
1 Peter 2:6-8 –
6 For it stands in scripture:
“See, I am laying in Zion a stone,
a cornerstone chosen and precious;
and whoever believes in him will not be put to shame.”
7 To you then who believe, he is precious; but for those who do not believe,
“The stone that the builders rejected
has become the very head of the corner,”
8 and
“A stone that makes them stumble,
and a rock that makes them fall.”
They stumble because they disobey the word, as they were destined to do.
John 14:10-14 – 10 Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? The words that I say to you I do not speak on my own; but the Father who dwells in me does his works. 11 Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father is in me; but if you do not, then believe me because of the works themselves. 12 Very truly, I tell you, the one who believes in me will also do the works that I do and, in fact, will do greater works than these, because I am going to the Father. 13 I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. 14 If in my name you ask [me]* for anything, I will do it. (*Some ancient authorities exclude the word “me”)
Psalm 33:18 – 18 Truly the eye of the Lord is on those who fear him,
on those who hope in his steadfast love
Grace, mercy, and peace will be with us from God the Father and from our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father’s Son, in truth and love. In addition to our Key Verses, we begin today with a quote from one of our favorite Christian authors, C. S. Lewis. Here it is in a nice little meme featuring that quote. You may recall the passage in James which talks about faith and works: James 2:26 – 26 For just as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is also dead. A scissor (or pair of scissors if you prefer) is an apt image for the relationship between faith and works. Today we are also going to think of scissors as working like faith and prayer together. Prayer is one of the most perfect “works,” because when we pray we pray in Hope – 1 Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. (Hebrews 11:1) We know what we are hoping for because we are certain of what we do not see; prayer is hope in action. Today, then, we are talking about the blades of the “pair of scissors” as being faith and prayer – which of those two is most essential for living a genuinely Christian life?
The obvious answer is that – like the quote from Lewis – one is not much good without the other. If we live in prayer without faith, we’re just heating up plain air. If we live in faith without prayer, it’s like we’re swimming in sand. They really do belong together, and when we don’t keep them together (here it comes), we just can’t cut it in Life. There’s quite a lot more to scissors, though, than just the blades. Back (way back) in 2008, we had a post called 840AFC100308 – Faith and Wheelbarrows. (↔ Click Link) It was kind of fun to write because at the end we knew that the handles were Trust and Knowledge, the pan of the wheelbarrow is practical knowledge we learn in our lives, and then we went a bit bonkers with the wheel being consciousness and morality (check out the post to see how we got there).
Let’s begin with why “scissors” is a plurale tantum – that’s a noun that is used and understood as a plural without any form that is a singular of that noun. The etymology of scissors comes from a Latin word which referred to a cutting instrument with two blades that slid past each other. (c.f. “What’s the Singular of ‘Scissors’? at Merriman-Webster online). The simple answer is that over centuries we got used to the idea of referring to the two-bladed shears as a pair of scissors. HOWEVER, the scissors have more than the blades just like a wheelbarrow has more than a wheel and a “barrow” (the mound of “stuff” carried in the pan). Scissors have handles too, and if the blades work like faith and prayer, then the handles work like ways to “handle” faith and prayer.
What do we need to handle Faith? Well, we’d need something or some-One as the basis of Faith. Since those two items are – for Christians – directed at God, then the basis of Faith is Scripture through which God has continued to reveal himself since the day he first said, “Let there be …” Scripture is such a powerful tool! It provides movement, strength, and control in our lives. Now the other blade representing Prayer also has a handle. What do you suppose would be the handle for Prayer? Let me ask some simple questions. How did we first learn to pray? How did we grow our prayer life from those first lessons? Where do we most often join hearts, hands, and voices in Prayer? We learned to pray from our parents, most likely; our parents who represent the Domestic Church. Later we are, hopefully, blessed to have some form of religious education through church, and as adults we find a “Church Home.” Let’s call the handle on the Prayer side of the scissors “The Church.”
Now, if Scripture and the Church are the handles of the scissors, it’s pretty evident that they most certainly are going to be working together. Each will assist the other in cutting through the bonds that that restrain us, or the fabric of our lives, or opening envelopes that bring us information we need for successful living. You know, when we use scissors, we pretty much always use them with one hand, our dominant hand, and one handle is operated by the thumb and the other handle is operated by two or three opposing (to the thumb) fingers like this:
The action of the thumb is like the powerful opening and closing action of Prayer, and the action of Scripture is like the guiding action of Faith. Our hands guide the action of the scissors just like our thoughts, intuitions, and decisions guide our lives. We can see that Prayer is the type of action that happens when we work with God and with others in community. Prayer is a gift of Grace. We cannot give Grace to ourselves anymore than we can give Salvation to ourselves. Grace comes from God, God is always of and in community. Scripture and Faith help us to use the power we can experience through community and prayer. When Scripture and Faith, Prayer and Church all come together great things can happen! But wait!! There’s MORE!!
How in the WORLD can we use a pair of scissors that has no fulcrum? You know, that little post that holds the blades together so we can stick our fingers through the handles and make them work? Goodness sakes! If we have Scripture, Faith, Prayer, and Church, what else do we need to live a Christian life? Belovéd, the fulcrum for all those things is
OBEDIENCE!
And there is the meaning of the title of this post and the thread that runs through all the Key Verses. We see “ a great many of the priests became obedient to the faith.” Next we have, “They stumble because they disobey the word, as they were destined to do.” I read that as “disobey the Word, the Logos.” In the Gospel we see, “Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me?” Jesus’ entire human Life and Divine Life centered on obedience to his Father. This is why he says, “I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son.” What is God’s Great Command? “I am the Lord your God. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your might. You shall Love your neighbor as yourself. I AM the Lord your God.” Can we truly forget that Jesus is God? If you are in CIAY, or a good student of theology, you will know that whenever one Person of the Trinity Acts, they all act together. Obedience is at the core of everything in our relationship with God – or rather we should say it is our disobedience that disfigured our relationship with God. His image in us has been damaged, but he wipes away the damage and helps us hold Scripture, Faith, Church, and Prayer together. Just one thing left:
Truly the eye of the Lord is on those who fear him,
on those who hope in his steadfast love
In this short passage we have the traits of reverence and hope. When those virtues combine with obedience, we experience humility. We surrender to the Lord our present endeavors, or future expectations, and acknowledge his Primacy in all things. Can you take a guess at what part of the scissors this might represent? We’ve established that the fulcrum is the essential piece that makes it possible for the scissors to work. WHAT HOLDS THE FULCRUM IN PLACE? LOOK AT THIS PHOTO. The scissors’ fulcrum is held in place with a fastener – a nut, a bolt, a screw, or a rivet – something that keeps the fulcrum in place, allows the blades to work together without budging from its position. In the same way, humility anchors obedience. Without the fulcrum and its retainer, the scissors are not of much use. Without humility and obedience, Scripture, Faith, Church, and Prayer are also not of much use. “The eye of the Lord is on those who Love and obey him.” His Everlasting Love (↔ Music Link) is there every time we pick up the scissors. You must be tired of hearing this by now, but nonetheless “It’s in the Absolutely Perfect Plan.” God IS Love. He cannot, will not, stop watching us, encouraging us, guiding us, Loving us. (↔ Music Link. That’s a secular love song, but imagine Jesus singing that to you). So, what’s next?
How about this? “Yeah, so what?” said someone. We all know this game. We know paper covers rock, rock breaks scissors, scissors cut paper. Suppose with me then, that the rock is the World, a stumbling block to believers, and that the paper is the life we are given to shape and change and to beautify. The paper is a gift from God, and so are the scissors. When we use our Gifts against the World, the paper covers the stone but the stone does not go away. Also, when we use the scissors against the stone, they have little effect on the World and can damage or even break the scissors. Take a moment to reflect on what we’ve covered, and then think about this photo and compare it to 1 Corinthians 6:9-14. Add to that this passage from a couple of pages ahead of that one: 1 Corinthians 5:12-13 – 12 For what have I to do with judging those outside? Is it not those who are inside that you are to judge? 13 God will judge those outside. “Drive out the wicked person from among you.” Other than evangelization, we don’t do anything to change the World into something more like paper. But wait! There’s MORE! <groan>
1 Peter 2:4-5 – 4 Come to him, a living stone, though rejected by mortals yet chosen and precious in God’s sight, and 5 like living stones, let yourselves be built into a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. That rock up there by the scissors and paper? That rock is inanimate. It’s dead. When we shed ourselves of the World, we become living stones which can help to build a spiritual house with Christ as the Corner Stone (↔ Music Link). Let us leave the dead rocks alone and join up with the Living Stones of the whole New World. Take our scissors, too; walk – don’t run – with the Man from Galilee. (↔ Music Link) Repent and believe the Gospel, then go ahead and rock out alive forever and ever because YOLO-F. Peter tells us Christ was “chosen by God and precious to him.” Christ, the Messiah is “called ‘elect,’ as appointed by God to the most exalted office conceivable.” And we are called to that same life as his servants. We are called the elect, the chosen because “Even before he made the world, God loved us and chose us in Christ to be holy and without fault in his eyes” (Ephesians 1:4 paraphrase) This word is ἐξελέξατο exelexato (↔ Learning Link) and it denotes chosing the best of its kind or class. What a GOOD God we have! He even gave us obedient scissors.
Unless otherwise indicated, all scripture passages are from the New Revised Standard Version Catholic Edition (NRSVCE) New Revised Standard Version Bible: Catholic Edition, copyright © 1989, 1993 the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
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Aloha Friday Messages by Charles O. Todd, III is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License
