March 11, 2022 – “Pull Yourselves up by your Bootstraps”

“Now he was teaching in one of the synagogues on the sabbath. And just then there appeared a woman with a spirit that had crippled her for eighteen years. She was bent over and was quite unable to stand up straight. When Jesus saw her, he called her over and said, “Woman, you are set free from your ailment.” When he laid his hands on her, immediately she stood up straight and began praising God. But the leader of the synagogue, indignant because Jesus had cured on the sabbath, kept saying to the crowd, “There are six days on which work ought to be done; come on those days and be cured, and not on the sabbath day.” But the Lord answered him and said, “You hypocrites! Does not each of you on the sabbath untie his ox or his donkey from the manger, and lead it away to give it water? And ought not this woman, a daughter of Abraham whom Satan bound for eighteen long years, be set free from this bondage on the sabbath day?” When he said this, all his opponents were put to shame; and the entire crowd was rejoicing at all the wonderful things that he was doing.” Luke 13:10-17

As I have said in my previous devotions, the phrase “Boomer” has become a catchall phrase for someone who was not necessarily born into the “baby boomer” generation – they just have to be seen as representing the characteristics of someone born to that generation. And recently the phrase “OK Boomer” has become a repudiation of all people who are older, who believe they are the most informed, while the new generation feels as if boomers are out of touch and condescending. For example, boomers often say “…in my day, we put in our time and so you young people need to pull yourselves up by your bootstraps and get on with life.”

To pull yourself up by your bootstraps is physically impossible. In fact, the original meaning of the phrase was more along the lines of “to try to do something completely absurd.” Etymologist Barry Popik and a linguist have cited an American newspaper snippet from Sept. 30, 1834, as the earliest publishing of the phrase to lift oneself up by one’s bootstraps. A month earlier, a man named Nimrod Murphree announced in the Nashville Banner that he had “discovered perpetual motion.” The Mobile Advertiser picked up this tidbit and published it with a farcical response: “Probably Mr. Murphree has succeeded in handing himself over the Cumberland river, or a barn yard fence, by the straps of his boots.” Bootstraps were a typical feature of boots that you could pull on in the act of putting your boots on. But no one could actually pull themselves over anything – it would be physically impossible.

If we continue to tell future generations to “pull themselves up by the bootstraps”, we are presenting them an impossible task. No past generation was able to make it without the help of the previous – at least since the Great Depression. Each presenting generation had the hope and the expectation that things would be better than the previous. It appears that this is no longer the case. Generations “Z”, “I” and “Millennial” are simply seeking a relationship with us boomers – they are not seeking to remove us from the equation. Unless we are willing to work together, not only will they be people without faith, they may also continue to be people without hope.

Jesus not only frees us from our sins, but Jesus can also help free us from our ways of thinking and behaving – so we can work together to make this world a better place for all.

Let us pray,

Lord Jesus, we cannot pull ourselves up by our bootstraps if we have no boots. In other words, what we have today would not be possible without the work of those who came before us. Help us work together now so we can provide for the generations to come. Amen.

Pastor Dave

March 12, 2022 – “Know Your Place”

“Again he entered the synagogue, and a man was there who had a withered hand. They watched him to see whether he would cure him on the sabbath, so that they might accuse him. And he said to the man who had the withered hand, “Come forward.”  Then he said to them, “Is it lawful to do good or to do harm on the sabbath, to save life or to kill?” But they were silent. He looked around at them with anger; he was grieved at their hardness of heart and said to the man, “Stretch out your hand.” He stretched it out, and his hand was restored. The Pharisees went out and immediately conspired with the Herodians against him, how to destroy him.” Mark 3:1-6

As I have said in my previous devotions, the phrase “Boomer” has become a catchall phrase for someone who was not necessarily born into the “baby boomer” generation – they just have to be seen as representing the characteristics of someone born to that generation. And recently the phrase “OK Boomer” has become a repudiation of all people who are older, who believe they are the most informed, while the new generation feels as if boomers are out of touch and condescending. For example, boomers often say “let these young people earn their way, besides, they should know their place.”

I find it interesting that the Pharisees are waiting in the synagogue to “see” if Jesus “Knew His Place” – if he would heal the man with the withered hand on the Sabbath. It is amazing to me that the “people of the law” were so mired in it, that when the miraculous occurs, when a physical healing such as this, something that you and I would never expect to see — let alone someone living in the first century — when this wonderful event occurs in their presence, all they can do is worry about whether this healing breaks the commandment of honoring the Sabbath.  Personally, if I watched a faith healer restore a withered hand, I would be completely astounded, and amazed, and would give glory to G-d.  When the miraculous happens right in front of our eyes, do we let the details of our daily lives keep us from seeing how great this G-d of ours really is? Or do we sit back and give praise to G-d.

Let us pray,

Lord Jesus, your miraculous acts should not scare us – they should offer opportunities to offer prayer, praise and thanksgiving to you. Amen.

Pastor Dave