My Blog

To me, it seems as though we’ve had a lot of Parent/Child scripture readings, this Summer.  This week is no exception:  I trace a common thread of parental advice and bonding in these lections.   As a father of two now-successful men, I remember my concerns for their growing “in favor with God and [humans]”.   Many of us consider GOD to be a loving parent as well–what are the stories in your life that will verify this?

The Book of Hosea is a Book of Grace.  Again and again an interested God steps off his cloud to intercede and restore the Children:  not because we’re special, and certainly not because we deserve it!   Yet “when Israel was a child, I loved him.” (11:1-11)   This rebellious child has worshiped other gods, and has disowned parental loyalty:  shall he again be in slavery,  with the “sword in their cities”?    But the Lord remembers hugging the child, and teaching him to walk….how can God execute this fierce anger?   They’ll come home, they’ll come home….

Paul speaks to the Colossians with Parental Wisdom (3:1-11).    “Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth…..put to death whatever in you is earthly.”   His list covers all the possibilities:  fornication, evil desire, greed, anger, malice, slander & abuse, lying.  Remember who you are, that you’re wearing new clothes in God’s Holy Image!   I used to get a similar reminder just before I stepped out the door, did you?

Jesus probably wasn’t speaking to children, per se, in Luke 12:13-21.  Yet this sounds like good advice from a Parent who thinks his kid is flying too high, wide ‘n’ handsome:  “the things you have prepared, whose will they be?  So it is with those who store up treasures for themselves but are not rich toward God.”  The land-owner wasn’t being chided for being rich, but for not giving God thanks by sharing with others…

At the risk of immodesty, I’d offer my poem ICARUS GROUNDED.

  One day my Father brought me wings!                                                                                 New horizons now are mine,                                                                                                           I fly above the boulders                                                                                                                    Rolling down my path.

Too bad for me.   I soon forgot                                                                                                           These wings Another’s gift of Grace                                                                                            And not my own.  I flew too high,                                                                                                 Beyond my skill and wisdom’s bound.

Dizzying spiral, earth’s plane now above,                                                                                     Now beneath me, I tumbled in flames                                                                                         On the floor of the desert.   Old friends came in awe                                                               To view my burnt-out husk.

Earthbound I sit, waiting                                                                                                                 For my melted wings to heal.

God Bless Us, Every One                    H  B   King     

Maybe it’s just me, tossing ‘n’ turning nowadays with specters of Monsanto Chemical, Trayvon Martin & over-stuffed Defense Budgets.   But there’s some prophetic thread running through Sunday’s readings that needs to be followed and unwoven from the world’s otherwise careless, life-is-cheap business.

The first three chapters of the Book of Hosea are an analogy of Grace, and can explain redemption and restoration and tenacious love.  This week we confine ourselves to the first introduction (1:2-10) of  The Problem:  Hosea is to marry a whore.   She then produces three children, which may or may not be sired by Hosea.  Following chapters tell about Hosea’s rejection of  this woman–and how he buys her back.  But today we dwell on the children themselves, and the counter-cultural care Hosea extends to them.  How God-like is this?   What do we do with the “questionables” of our neighborhood & world??

St. Paul exhorts the Believers at Colossae to reject the idolatry of following “philosophy and empty deceit, according to human tradition.” (2:8)  He reminds them & us that Christ is not only head of every ruler & authority, but that he disarmed them in a most public manner!  This resurrection –itself counter-cultural– erased our shady past and gave us a child-like start once again….  Good News fer sure!

Some worship-experiences introduce the Lord’s Prayer with the words, “Thus with the confidence of children, let us pray as our Lord Jesus taught, ‘Our Father….'”  Where else should we feel so vulnerable and intimate?  Luke’s Gospel (11:1-13) remembers not only these basics, but elaborates with the unspeakable magnanimaty of this Great Father:  “ask…seek…knock…”   And concludes, “If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!”

In Sunday School we sang, “Jesus loves the little children, All the children of the world;  Red & Yellow, Black & White, they are precious in his sight:  Jesus loves the little children of the world.”  Can we do less?

God Bless Us, Every One                     H   B   King

Eliza Doolittle, in MY FAIR LADY, sings to her would-be suitor, “If you’re in love, then show me!”  Not one for empty professions, the street-wise lass expects a lover to live out their otherwise pretty words.   Sunday’s scriptures tell a bit about GOD’s expectations in the same line.  Are you walkin’, or are you just talkin’?

Amos is always an enigma, both then and now.  What meaneth this upstart who dares to hold a holy plumb-line to the Kingdom of Israel? (7:7-9)  Amos confronts all of us who praise God with the actual expectations which come with our professed devotion.   Amos’ message was against exploitation and chicanery (self-idolatry), and calls for justice and righteousness to “roll down like water”.

Sometimes I get bogged down in Paul’s long sentences.   But don’t rush through the Letter to the Colossians, because there’s lots of good stuff there.  Especially reference his prayer that believers there “may lead lives worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him, as you bear fruit in every good work and as you grow in the knowledge of God.” (1:10)  “Bearing fruit”, then, is a natural extension of “grow[ing] in the knowledge of God.”   Fruit is always pretty–but it’s more than a still-life because there’s a Holy Essence inside!

St. Luke remembers how an expert in Jewish legalism asked Jesus about What to DO to gain eternal life.   “Well, how do YOU read it?”, Jesus asked. (10:25 ff)  The law teacher gives the textbook response, “Love the Lord your God  with all your heart…soul… strength…  mind; and your neighbor as yourself.”   That’s what the words say, in Deuteronomy and Leviticus — but who IS the neighbor?  So Jesus tells the Good Samaritan parable:  those who subscribed to The Law ignored the victim, whereas that (shudder!)  Lawless Samaritan actually did something for him.  What does God expect?

I ponder a lot about the Frank Sinatra dilemma.   You remember it: do?be?do?be?do?  Always an introvert, I’d rather curl up in a sanctuary with my Faith to the wall.  But travelers  to God’s Kingdom are expected to flesh out their worship & devotion with signs of mercy and kindness as they journey.

God Bless Us, Every One                         H   B   King

My mother, God Bless Her, was described by her brothers & sister as a person who “could find a cloud for every silver lining.”  She always expected something to go wrong.  Alas!  I have inherited from her what Marie calls my “worry-gene”, a passive expectation that Nothing’s Right Today!  Sunday’s readings are an antidote for me and all the other Eeyore’s of the Church.

In the Second Book of the Kings of Israel comes the story of Naaman, General of Syria’s armies:  good of heart and skilful in battle, he had leprosy.(5:1-14)   A Hebrew serving-girl exclaimed to Naaman’s wife, “If only my lord were with the prophet who is in Samaria!  He would cure him of his leprosy.”  To make a long story shorter, Naaman soon arrived amid pomp & splendor at Elisha’s door, with many gifts & honors.  Elisha’s instructions (delivered by butler, how disrespectful!)  were to wash in the Jordan seven times.  Grumbling,  Naaman did–and was instantly cured!   Great story!  Happy ending!  I guess Naaman was finally ready when someone unfolded Grace to him.

Paul’s Letter to the Galatian congregations is both remonstrance and encouragement, sometimes both in one sentence!  In what we call the 9th verse of Chapter 6, we read, “so let us not grow weary in doing what is right, for we will reap at harvest time, if we do not give up.”   Even when it seems as if nobody cares, and everyone’s for themselves, and death & despair in all around I see…  Do you ever get weary of doing “what is right”?   I know I do.

Jesus sends first 12 and then 70 out ahead of his tour to announce that “the Kingdom of God has come near to you.” (Luke 10:1-11, 16-20)  Just conjecture, but some of these front-men could well have muttered, “We’ll not be welcome, no one wants salvation; if they do, then let ’em come HERE.”   No, said the Lord, “The harvest is PLENTIFUL!”  He evidently saw something that the rest of us were too jaded to see.

My cynicism often troubles me.  I’d rather say that we can do it, than it can’t be done.  These scriptures are to jar me into higher expectations of God’s abilities and humanity’s readiness to accept God’s Kingdom.   As I dare to speak them on Sunday, I pray that I may expect others to be encouraged to expect more from God and each other….   “Once more, dear friends, into the breach!”

God Bless Us, Every One                 H   B   King