Threading The Needle
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Object:
Contents
"Threading the Needle" by Frank Ramirez
"Linus Syndrome" by Gregory Tolle
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Threading the Needle
by Frank Ramirez
Mark 10:17-31; Psalm 22:1-15
"It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of God."
-- Mark 10:25
Talk about threading a needle. Those men and women at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory and NASA probably still shudder when they remember what it was like the evening of August 5, 2012 and ask themselves, "What were we thinking?"
They referred to it as the "Seven Minutes of Terror" but at the time it felt a lot more like seventy than seven.
A few years ago the scientists at those two institutions realized they had a problem -- how do you get a delicate vehicle that weighs around a ton down to the Martian surface in one piece with all the scientific instruments intact, so you don't waste the billions of dollars it cost by the time it touches down on the surface of the Red Planet?
Keep in mind that most scientific missions to Mars have failed and that includes the efforts by many different countries. There are several reasons for this -- Mars is very far away, it's in motion, the Earth is in motion, it takes a while to get there, and during all that time lots of things can go wrong. One mission in 1999, for instance, failed because of a tiny error in mathematics -- the computer produced by the manufacturer used units in English measure, while NASA and JPL used the metric system. As a result Mars wasn't quite where it was supposed to be at the time of orbital insertion and the extraordinarily expensive ship crashed onto the surface.
Now previous landers have been much smaller. Some had landed with conventional rockets. Others, a little bigger, used parachutes, rockets, and inflated balloons that absorbed the impact and allowed the landers to bounce around before they came to rest.
But in order for this new craft, dubbed Curiosity, to make a safe landing the scientists had to piece together an improbable Rube Goldberg-like chain of events, which couldn't be tested beforehand because the conditions on Earth and Mars are so different.
Curiosity would first careen through the thin Martian atmosphere (100 times thinner than Earth's) at precisely the correct angle in order to slow it down from interplanetary speeds. On earth this atmospheric braking would be enough to slow a returning vehicle to a speed of only a few hundred miles an hour and parachutes could then do most of the rest of the work. But the Martian atmosphere would only serve to slow the craft from 13,000 to 1,000 miles an hour.
So the next stage was to use a parachute that had never been tested in actual conditions to slow it down below supersonic speeds producing a sudden sensation (if anyone had actually been aboard) of a shock nine times the strength of earth's gravity in a fraction of a second. The one hundred pounds of parachute had to withstand 65,000 pounds of force. Would it work? No one knew. There was, as mentioned before, no way to test it beforehand.
The heat shield would then drop away, hopefully allowing the craft's radar to bounce off the Martian surface. Then, a little later, the parachute would detach, and rockets would deploy, but the rockets couldn't travel with the ship all the way down, because they would kick up so much dust they might damage the delicate instruments.
So at the right moment the craft would be carefully lowered 25 feet below the rockets on cables, descending below the rockets that would continue to fire until the whole assembly was traveling around two miles an hour. Once Curiosity's wheels touched the surface, the cables were to be released and the frame with the rockets, continuing to fire, would climb higher before crashing a safe distance away.
All this would happen within seven minutes and since it takes fourteen minutes for signals from Mars to reach Earth, all of this had to happen automatically, without any help from ground control. What the scientists were watching on their screens had already happened nearly a quarter-hour before. All they could do was watch. And on the evening of August 5, that's exactly what they did.
As we all know, that's exactly what happened and it happened perfectly. Every calculation, every line of computer code, every theory, was exactly correct, and Curiosity threaded the tiniest eye of the thinnest needle and landed exactly as it was supposed to do. There was jubilation in mission control in Pasadena, which spoke volumes -- obviously everyone knew the odds against everything going right.
But at least they knew it was possible, assuming they'd done their math and engineering correctly. When Jesus talked about threading a needle, he wasn't talking about using a thread, but stated quite clearly that what he was talking about was not possible, not any time, no how -- not when you're using a camel to thread that eye. At least without God it is clearly impossible.
Frank Ramirez has served as a pastor for nearly 30 years in Church of the Brethren congregations in Los Angeles, California; Elkhart, Indiana; and Everett, Pennsylvania. A graduate of LaVerne College and Bethany Theological Seminary, Ramirez is the author of numerous books, articles, and short stories. His CSS titles include Partners in Healing, He Took a Towel, The Bee Attitudes, and three volumes of Lectionary Worship Aids.
Linus Syndrome
by Gregory Tolle
Mark 10:17-31
As he was setting out on a journey, a man ran up and knelt before him, and asked him, "Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?" Jesus said to him, "Why do you call me good? No one is good but God alone. You know the commandments: 'You shall not murder; You shall not commit adultery; You shall not steal; You shall not bear false witness; You shall not defraud; Honor your father and mother.' " He said to him, "Teacher, I have kept all these since my youth." Jesus, looking at him, loved him and said, "You lack one thing; go, sell what you own, and give the money to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; then come, follow me." When he heard this, he was shocked and went away grieving, for he had many possessions. (vv. 17-22)
Once when I was a young youth minister, I was playing with a five-year-old boy named Michael in the fellowship hall of our church. I had placed him on my shoulders and took him for the ride of his life. I ran. I spun around. I ran some more. It wasn't long before Michael was holding on for dear life and screaming in a high-pitched five-year-old voice at a volume loud enough to shatter fine crystal. He had one single request -- Put me down! There was only one small problem. He wouldn't let go. I couldn't honor his request unless I could first pry his little fingers from my head.
Michael was suffering from the dreaded disease known as Linus syndrome. It's a little known disease because I made it up. In memory of Charles Schulz, I named it for his Linus character in the Peanuts cartoon. Linus Van Pelt was Lucy's little brother whose idiosyncrasy was to carry around his blanket. Many tried a variety of techniques to get Linus to give up his blanket, but he simply would not let go.
Many of us suffer from Linus syndrome even though we may not have been officially diagnosed. We have something that we cling to unnecessarily. We have something that keeps us at arm's length from Christ. There is something that we need to give up -- to let go -- in order to be a complete and radical disciple of Jesus Christ.
Take my five-year-old friend Michael for instance. He literally needed to let go of my head. He desperately wanted to achieve a goal -- to get off my shoulders. But his own fear of letting go prevented him from achieving his goal. He couldn't see that he was preventing himself of achieving his goal.
So it is with the rich man who encounters Jesus in Mark 10:17-22. He has his sights set on becoming a disciple, but Jesus tells him he must first let go. His requirement is to let go of his wealth. Jesus tells him to "go sell what you own and give the money to the poor." But the rich young man had Linus syndrome and had great difficulty giving up his wealth. The scripture describes his reaction: "He was shocked and he went away grieving."
It is easy to focus on the man's wealth as the problem, and it is true that abundance can be an enemy to the abundant life of Christ. However, being poor does not necessarily bring salvation. The man's problem was not wealth -- the wealth was merely a symptom. His problem was his disease -- Linus syndrome. Having wealth was not the problem; giving it up was. His riches had become more important to him than his faith.
For some of us, Linus syndrome will be exposed through the symptom of wealth, and others will discover Linus syndrome through other symptoms. If Jesus were to examine us, he might ask us to let go of pride, fear, ego, pettiness, alcohol, or revenge. Christ would ask us to let go of whatever keeps us from him -- from a radical discipleship. Whatever it is, let go, and enjoy the abundant life with Jesus. Discover the true wealth of peace and joy that comes from following Christ and letting him be Lord.
(from Lectionary Tales for the Pulpit, Series VI, Cycle B [Lima, Ohio: CSS Publishing Company, Inc., 2005], pp. 142-143)
*****************************************
StoryShare, October 14, 2012, issue.
Copyright 2012 by CSS Publishing Company, Inc., Lima, Ohio.
All rights reserved. Subscribers to the StoryShare service may print and use this material as it was intended in sermons, in worship and classroom settings, in brief devotions, in radio spots, and as newsletter fillers. No additional permission is required from the publisher for such use by subscribers only. Inquiries should be addressed to permissions@csspub.com or to Permissions, CSS Publishing Company, Inc., 5450 N. Dixie Highway, Lima, Ohio 45807.
"Threading the Needle" by Frank Ramirez
"Linus Syndrome" by Gregory Tolle
* * * * * * * *
Threading the Needle
by Frank Ramirez
Mark 10:17-31; Psalm 22:1-15
"It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of God."
-- Mark 10:25
Talk about threading a needle. Those men and women at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory and NASA probably still shudder when they remember what it was like the evening of August 5, 2012 and ask themselves, "What were we thinking?"
They referred to it as the "Seven Minutes of Terror" but at the time it felt a lot more like seventy than seven.
A few years ago the scientists at those two institutions realized they had a problem -- how do you get a delicate vehicle that weighs around a ton down to the Martian surface in one piece with all the scientific instruments intact, so you don't waste the billions of dollars it cost by the time it touches down on the surface of the Red Planet?
Keep in mind that most scientific missions to Mars have failed and that includes the efforts by many different countries. There are several reasons for this -- Mars is very far away, it's in motion, the Earth is in motion, it takes a while to get there, and during all that time lots of things can go wrong. One mission in 1999, for instance, failed because of a tiny error in mathematics -- the computer produced by the manufacturer used units in English measure, while NASA and JPL used the metric system. As a result Mars wasn't quite where it was supposed to be at the time of orbital insertion and the extraordinarily expensive ship crashed onto the surface.
Now previous landers have been much smaller. Some had landed with conventional rockets. Others, a little bigger, used parachutes, rockets, and inflated balloons that absorbed the impact and allowed the landers to bounce around before they came to rest.
But in order for this new craft, dubbed Curiosity, to make a safe landing the scientists had to piece together an improbable Rube Goldberg-like chain of events, which couldn't be tested beforehand because the conditions on Earth and Mars are so different.
Curiosity would first careen through the thin Martian atmosphere (100 times thinner than Earth's) at precisely the correct angle in order to slow it down from interplanetary speeds. On earth this atmospheric braking would be enough to slow a returning vehicle to a speed of only a few hundred miles an hour and parachutes could then do most of the rest of the work. But the Martian atmosphere would only serve to slow the craft from 13,000 to 1,000 miles an hour.
So the next stage was to use a parachute that had never been tested in actual conditions to slow it down below supersonic speeds producing a sudden sensation (if anyone had actually been aboard) of a shock nine times the strength of earth's gravity in a fraction of a second. The one hundred pounds of parachute had to withstand 65,000 pounds of force. Would it work? No one knew. There was, as mentioned before, no way to test it beforehand.
The heat shield would then drop away, hopefully allowing the craft's radar to bounce off the Martian surface. Then, a little later, the parachute would detach, and rockets would deploy, but the rockets couldn't travel with the ship all the way down, because they would kick up so much dust they might damage the delicate instruments.
So at the right moment the craft would be carefully lowered 25 feet below the rockets on cables, descending below the rockets that would continue to fire until the whole assembly was traveling around two miles an hour. Once Curiosity's wheels touched the surface, the cables were to be released and the frame with the rockets, continuing to fire, would climb higher before crashing a safe distance away.
All this would happen within seven minutes and since it takes fourteen minutes for signals from Mars to reach Earth, all of this had to happen automatically, without any help from ground control. What the scientists were watching on their screens had already happened nearly a quarter-hour before. All they could do was watch. And on the evening of August 5, that's exactly what they did.
As we all know, that's exactly what happened and it happened perfectly. Every calculation, every line of computer code, every theory, was exactly correct, and Curiosity threaded the tiniest eye of the thinnest needle and landed exactly as it was supposed to do. There was jubilation in mission control in Pasadena, which spoke volumes -- obviously everyone knew the odds against everything going right.
But at least they knew it was possible, assuming they'd done their math and engineering correctly. When Jesus talked about threading a needle, he wasn't talking about using a thread, but stated quite clearly that what he was talking about was not possible, not any time, no how -- not when you're using a camel to thread that eye. At least without God it is clearly impossible.
Frank Ramirez has served as a pastor for nearly 30 years in Church of the Brethren congregations in Los Angeles, California; Elkhart, Indiana; and Everett, Pennsylvania. A graduate of LaVerne College and Bethany Theological Seminary, Ramirez is the author of numerous books, articles, and short stories. His CSS titles include Partners in Healing, He Took a Towel, The Bee Attitudes, and three volumes of Lectionary Worship Aids.
Linus Syndrome
by Gregory Tolle
Mark 10:17-31
As he was setting out on a journey, a man ran up and knelt before him, and asked him, "Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?" Jesus said to him, "Why do you call me good? No one is good but God alone. You know the commandments: 'You shall not murder; You shall not commit adultery; You shall not steal; You shall not bear false witness; You shall not defraud; Honor your father and mother.' " He said to him, "Teacher, I have kept all these since my youth." Jesus, looking at him, loved him and said, "You lack one thing; go, sell what you own, and give the money to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; then come, follow me." When he heard this, he was shocked and went away grieving, for he had many possessions. (vv. 17-22)
Once when I was a young youth minister, I was playing with a five-year-old boy named Michael in the fellowship hall of our church. I had placed him on my shoulders and took him for the ride of his life. I ran. I spun around. I ran some more. It wasn't long before Michael was holding on for dear life and screaming in a high-pitched five-year-old voice at a volume loud enough to shatter fine crystal. He had one single request -- Put me down! There was only one small problem. He wouldn't let go. I couldn't honor his request unless I could first pry his little fingers from my head.
Michael was suffering from the dreaded disease known as Linus syndrome. It's a little known disease because I made it up. In memory of Charles Schulz, I named it for his Linus character in the Peanuts cartoon. Linus Van Pelt was Lucy's little brother whose idiosyncrasy was to carry around his blanket. Many tried a variety of techniques to get Linus to give up his blanket, but he simply would not let go.
Many of us suffer from Linus syndrome even though we may not have been officially diagnosed. We have something that we cling to unnecessarily. We have something that keeps us at arm's length from Christ. There is something that we need to give up -- to let go -- in order to be a complete and radical disciple of Jesus Christ.
Take my five-year-old friend Michael for instance. He literally needed to let go of my head. He desperately wanted to achieve a goal -- to get off my shoulders. But his own fear of letting go prevented him from achieving his goal. He couldn't see that he was preventing himself of achieving his goal.
So it is with the rich man who encounters Jesus in Mark 10:17-22. He has his sights set on becoming a disciple, but Jesus tells him he must first let go. His requirement is to let go of his wealth. Jesus tells him to "go sell what you own and give the money to the poor." But the rich young man had Linus syndrome and had great difficulty giving up his wealth. The scripture describes his reaction: "He was shocked and he went away grieving."
It is easy to focus on the man's wealth as the problem, and it is true that abundance can be an enemy to the abundant life of Christ. However, being poor does not necessarily bring salvation. The man's problem was not wealth -- the wealth was merely a symptom. His problem was his disease -- Linus syndrome. Having wealth was not the problem; giving it up was. His riches had become more important to him than his faith.
For some of us, Linus syndrome will be exposed through the symptom of wealth, and others will discover Linus syndrome through other symptoms. If Jesus were to examine us, he might ask us to let go of pride, fear, ego, pettiness, alcohol, or revenge. Christ would ask us to let go of whatever keeps us from him -- from a radical discipleship. Whatever it is, let go, and enjoy the abundant life with Jesus. Discover the true wealth of peace and joy that comes from following Christ and letting him be Lord.
(from Lectionary Tales for the Pulpit, Series VI, Cycle B [Lima, Ohio: CSS Publishing Company, Inc., 2005], pp. 142-143)
*****************************************
StoryShare, October 14, 2012, issue.
Copyright 2012 by CSS Publishing Company, Inc., Lima, Ohio.
All rights reserved. Subscribers to the StoryShare service may print and use this material as it was intended in sermons, in worship and classroom settings, in brief devotions, in radio spots, and as newsletter fillers. No additional permission is required from the publisher for such use by subscribers only. Inquiries should be addressed to permissions@csspub.com or to Permissions, CSS Publishing Company, Inc., 5450 N. Dixie Highway, Lima, Ohio 45807.
