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Norman Podhoretz has written a scholarly (dry) book on THE PROPHETS.  He describes the mission of the Old Testament Prophets –including Moses! — as waging war against “an enemy as insidious and seductive as he was cruel and evil: the enemy they knew as idolatry.” (page 2)….”this enemy keeps coming back under different names and in mutated forms that are not always easy to recognize as his.”   The scriptures many of us will be studying this weekend address this idolatrous battle.

“Why do you spend your money for that which is not bread, and your labor for that which does not satisfy?  Listen carefully to me, and eat what is good, and delight yourselves in rich food….listen, so that you may live.”  says Isaiah 55:2-3.  Long before the days of Empty Calories, this prophet appealed to our habits as consumers:   why waste the essence of your worth on this year’s fad-idol, which will be out of style by NEXT year?  Anticipating Lent, he spoke of responsible choices and care of our resources.

St. Paul harangues the Corinthian church, warning against pious complacency:  “Do not become idolaters as some of [the ancient Hebrews] did…..So if you think you are standing, watch out that you do not fall.” (I Corinthians 10: 7,12)  Please note that these warnings are addressed to the Whole Community, as well as applied to individuals thereof!  And what makes you think you’re so special?  “No testing has overtaken you that is not common to everyone….with the testing [God] will also provide the way out so that you may be able to endure it.” (v.13)  Ah, now that IS Good News!

Jesus is directly connected to the prophetic tradition, often wounding before healing.  St.  Luke remembers his examples of Jewish worshipers massacred by governmental soldiers; and of innocent bystanders killed when the tower of Siloam fell on them — evidently current events. Those folks were no worse than others, he said, but if you don’t repent of your complacent idolatry you won’t have any better luck!  He then begins the healing process with the parable of the unproductive fig tree and the Gardener who intercedes on its behalf:  one more year, one more time… (but the fig tree is expected to ultimately live up to its potential!) You can read this in Luke 13:1-9.

It’s hard for me to admit my idols; but I have lots of distractions from citizenship in God’s Kingdom.  Well-fed, sheltered in my warm study against the winds of late winter, and sated with anthems of William Boyce, it’s easy to use holy-talk.   Without these idols, would my heart be as eager in devotion??

  God Bless Us, Every One!     H    B    King

Is there anything beyond today, with its greed and cynicism?  Will the sun really shine tomorrow?  On these dreary days when Winter just won’t give up, when messages of violence and cheap life fill us with nausea….?  Most everyone looks at Christians as hopelessly naive:  a sweet teenaged girl at Wendy’s laughed at my sooty face after Ash Wednesday services.  Neither of us thought the other had a clue!

Abraham looked for clues (Genesis 15:1-8):  “how am I to know?”  It surely didn’t look as though he would be ancestor of a Great Nation, or possess a Land of Milk & Honey.  He was Just Getting Old — who could he trust?

One commentator has called the Philippi of the First Century a Mardi Gras.  True enough, there were all sorts of diversions and pastimes.   “Their end is destruction; their god is the belly; and their glory is in their shame; their minds are set on earthly things.” (3:19)  Woe to those prophets who would dare say there is More!  Yet Paul announced a heavenly Savior who will “transform the body of our humiliation that it may be conformed to the body of this glory…” (3:21)

Jesus was disgusted with Jerusalem, and all it represented. “How often have I desired to gather your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you were not willing!” (Luke 13:34)  The image is of immature and recalcitrant searchers, putting off protection and care for just one more morsel…  Just one more, Mama!

Lenten preaching this week will try to remind both Believers and Party-goers alike that a gracious Creator intends to call us from scrabbling in everyday dust, and has sent Christ to guide our journey.  “I believe that I shall see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living.  Wait for the Lord; be strong, and let your heart take courage; wait for the Lord!”  (Psalm 27:13-14)

God Bless Us, Every One!     H   B   King

Scriptures for the First Sunday in Lent are deliciously full of imagery and holy narrative!  Any of them will be informative and challenging to a congregation:  as indeed they were written to bolster the faith-communities of Hebrews on the doorstep of the Promised Land; the worshiping family at the Jerusalem Temple; the underground Church scattered through Nero’s Rome; and the second-generation Disciples tempted to accept the Good Enough.

The writer of Deuteronomy warns the new inhabitants of Canaan about neglecting their allegiance to Yahweh now that they’ve arrived.  “When you have come into the land that the Lord your God is giving you ….take some of the first of all the fruit of the ground…”  These were to be presented to the priests, along with a ritual of remembrance and thanksgiving.  (Deuteronomy 26:1-11)  When we present our tithes and offerings, is it not an acknow-ledgement  of God’s deliverance, protection and completeness??

Being a member of the Christian Church in Rome was an act of civil disobedience.  Believers had to choose between a comfortable (?) life as a law-abiding Roman citizen OR holding fast to their core understandings, that is, allegiance to Christ FIRST!  Paul goes beyond confession to demonstrable discipleship:  “if you confess with your lips that Jesus is Lord AND believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.” (Romans 10:9) 

Which brings us to the traditional lesson for the First of Lent, Jesus’ Temptation in the Desert (this year found in Luke 4:1-13).  To begin, please understand that the stiffest temptation  is not between Good & Evil, usually a no-brainer.  Rather, the tough ones are between  Wonderful and Perfect!   Should Jesus have turned stones into bread and fed the whole world from henceforth?   That’s a GOOD idea — but not the completeness of Christ.  Or should Jesus have taken advantage of ruling the world, directing all nations in holy living?   Now that’s also a Good Idea — but not the completeness of Christ.   And if he were to  exercise death-defying stunts, so that he’d be famous and influential?   That could be a Good Idea — but not….   You get it, Jesus wouldn’t be authentic if he did all these things, no matter how relevant, powerful or spectacular.

Individually and as a body, we’re tempted to put all our energies into doing Good Things.  Not bad–but will we lose our integrity as Disciple or Faithful Congregation?   Sometimes the tail wags the dog, and that’s when we lose our identity.  The Season of Lent gains its intensity from the self-awareness of our faith journey, and our recognition in the desert spots that God has given a still-higher calling.  Can good things lure Jesus from a focus on God’s Will?  Will Good Ministries lure our congregation into a warmth of complacency?

God Bless Us, Every One                          H  B   King

Most of our churches will observe Transfiguration Sunday this weekend.  During the Season after the Epiphany —AHA!, remember — we’ve been exploring ways in which God has been displayed through Jesus.   Implicit in this journey is the underlying question, “What has God been showing ME?”  And like unto it, “How will this revelation confront and guide those around me?”  What changes?

Moses was on Mt. Sinai for a LOOONG time, twice as many days as you could count on your fingers and toes.  Most people back at camp said that he’d NEVER come back…did he get too close to God and was burned?   But here he comes, carrying Ten Laws about how we’re to approach God and others in the community.   And look!  What’s with his FACE?   It really glows and shines!  Every time Moses would talk with The Lord, “the Israelites would see the face of Moses, that the skin of his face was shining…” (Exodus 24:35)

St. Paul recollects this holy history when he reminds the Corinthian congregations about the changes which occur from being with Christ.  He said that Moses veiled his face so that his people wouldn’t see the glory fade.  Only Christ removes the veil.  “And all of us, with unveiled faces, seeing the glory of the Lord as though reflected in a mirror, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another; for this comes from the Lord, the Spirit.”  (II Corinthians 3:18)  Well, THAT’S certainly Good News!

`The Gospel (Luke 9:28-36) is the traditional account of Jesus and his closest lieutenants climbing into the clouds, and there conversing with Moses (the Law) and Elijah (the Prophets).  (These fellows also had mountain-stories, you may remember)   “The appearance of his face changed, and his clothes became dazzling white.”  Once again, God’s Voice identified Jesus as The Son and demanded that he be heard.

Know anyone who’s had an encounter with God and is markedly changed?  A prime duty of the Church is to welcome and nurture those who’re being transfigured, those who are obvious in their journey ” from glory unto glory”.  We who are Wesleyan may well fix on the doctrine of Perfection, and this is a perfect day for it!

Emmet Kelly, the hobo clown with the battered derby, had the trademark gimmick of sweeping the light from the far corners into a little ball of glory at his feet.   May you be steppin’ in the Light….

God Bless Us,Every One            H  B  King