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When I was younger (so much younger than today), it seemed as if the proscribed lections for Summertime were blue skies and fluffy clouds.  We sang, “This Is My Father’s World” and “When Morning Gilds the Skies”.  Sermons were about gardens/harvests/growing things.  Lately, readings have become harsh with personal discipline and alternative ethics.  The unfolding Kingdom of God is seen as over-against, more than the fulfillment of natural cycles.  What makes things so serious?  Or have I changed that much…?!

Even as a kid, Jeremiah never lightened up.  If he were alive today, he woulda been the only kid in 10th Grade who finished “War & Peace”.  “Under the weight of your hand I sat alone, for you had filled me with indignation.  Why is my pain unceasing, my wound incurable, refusing to be healed?” (Jeremiah 15:17-18)  And a holy answer came, “If you utter what is precious, and not what is worthless, you shall serve as my mouth.  It is they who will turn to you, not you who will turn to them.” (v.19)  In the midst of all the fluff, how do I utter what is precious??

It’s best to savor Paul’s Letter to the Romans one sentence at a time.  This week, we have an entire treasure- chest of gems in chapter 12:9-21.  One that leaps out at me is verse 12: “Rejoice in hope, be patient in suffering, persevere in prayer.”  In keeping with the other threads, Paul speaks of his own tenacity and wishes his readers  also to hang in.   I imagine that Roman Believers often sat alone, apart from the arrogant cruelty which marked their culture.  We peculiar people ARE odd, not going along with popular moon-struck values which fade in the Light of Christ….

“From that time on,” Matthew says, “Jesus began to show his disciples that he MUST go to Jerusalem and undergo great suffering at the hands of the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and on the third day be raised.” (16:21)  Peter (recently appointed as The Rock), speaking for me as always, points out how tough and impractical this would be — and gets reprimanded for missing Holy Direction.  Again.  Jesus goes on to say that there are greater values than our momentary cravings.  Our daily survival pales when compared to the Eternal Life of the Ultimate Community!

Sometimes I sit alone.  Even in a group, the talk sooner or later comes to issues of justice, equality and forbearance.  My advocacy for the poor & disenfranchised is uncomfortable to most, and friends drift away.  I’m seen as a Religious Nut.   Jeremiah-like, I’m sometimes angry to be burdened with a Greater Vision, especially when everyone else is playing games and not worrying about racial shootings and far-off tribal conflicts….   But THANKS BE TO GOD for the alternate community of the Church, a tangible Island of Holy Misfits who’ve glimpsed an Ideal Kingdom which shall prevail!!

God Bless Us, Every One                            Horace Brown King

I’ve been involved in a few church rebuilding programs, some larger, some smaller. Whatever the size, there’s a moment early in the procedures when the architect/builder gathers the committee and says, “Here’s what I think you want.” Then a document is unrolled which describes the dimensions and details of the planned structure. After a bit of tweaking, we all agree–pretty much–on a proposal to construct such an edifice. (No closets, please: they’re magnets for all sorts of debris!) What are the steps to discern the BEST way?

Isaiah of Babylon addresses the returning Exiles, poised on the doorstep of the Promised Land, concerning the reconstruction of a Holy Nation. “Look to the rock from which you were hewn, and to the quarry from which you were dug….For the Lord will comfort Zion; he will comfort all her waste places, and will make her wilderness like Eden(!), her desert like the garden of the Lord…” (51:1,3) Seems to be a matter of following GOD’s design more than the wisdom of the more temporal communities surrounding.

With that thought, we turn to Paul’s Letter to the Romans: “Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your minds, so that you may discern what is the will of God–what is good and acceptable and perfect.” (12:2) The House of God isn’t going to be made of ticky-tacky, indistinguishable from the rest of the development! We’re almost sure to conflict with the local Building Code. And the people who live here are a bit peculiar, too…

Matthew gleefully recounts the occasion where Jesus asks, “Who do they say that I am?” (16:13 ff.) “They” say that Jesus is a prophet or a healer or an activist, one of many. “But who do YOU say that I am?” And Simon Peter acknowledges that Jesus is authentically unique: “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.” How did he discern this?! “Flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father in Heaven.” Aha, the SOURCE of valid discernment!

And so the New Jerusalem is built, remembering the pleasantness of the Lord’s Garden, also warning those who would come in that this place is different from the rest of the world. The language is justice, faith and inclusion. The “mansions” are prepared and maintained by the Risen Christ–but those who would reside here are admonished that their ethics will be misunderstood and mocked by many. Pray for discernment, brothers and sisters, andf be transformed as God works in you!

God Bless Us, Every One Horace Brown King

A group of 8-10 well-read adults gathers on Sunday mornings before worship at the Lutheran Church where I often preach. Their discussion of the Morning Lessons is deep and passionate: I always learn something for my sermon. Last Sunday the conversation dealt with an Old Question, “Can we/I fall from Grace?” Folk religion worries this concept to tatters, bringing guilt-trips about past moral or ethical lapses, real or magnified by time. A deeper question may well be, “How much am I worth? Will an angry God discard me as irredeemable?” I once met a jail inmate whose tattoo identified his own self-worthlessness — “Child of Hell”.

Into this paranoia the Church introduces an alternate concept. Isaiah 56 addresses a despondent remnant of Israel, wearily picking up the pieces after 70 years of Exile in Babylon. “Maintain justice, and do what is right, for soon my salvation will come, and my deliverance be revealed.” (v.1) He urges the welcome of “foreigners” who have joined themselves to the faith-community: “My house shall be called a house of prayer for all peoples….I will gather others to them besides those already gathered.” (vv.7,8) So there must be Others created and loved by God!

Paul’s Letter to the Romans is so full of gems! In Chapter 11 he still agonizes that the traditional Jews are disdaining others who are beloved by God — especially Jesus, the Christ. He speaks of disobedience overcome by mercy, and that what has been called Good should not be profaned. “for the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable.” (v.29) This verse is easily memorized, not so easily remembered; may it comfort you in hours of despair!

Matthew’s Gospel was addressed to those whose lives revolved around Jewish propriety. You may hear the “parable” of Jesus which tells that what goes into a person’s mouth doesn’t defile that person nearly as much as that which comes out. This then is contrasted with the story directly following, that of Jesus in Phoenicia being confronted by a woman of that place whose daughter was demonized. The Galilee crowd soon found out that even these foreigners were created holy, loved by God….

As almost always, the inspiration is both individual AND communal. As individuals, we gain confidence that God Always Loves Us, despite our daily screw-ups. And as a community of Believers, we’re to recognize the Divinity in the Stranger, and to affirm their holy worth beyond their neighborhood of origin.

God Bless Us, Every One Horace Brown King

The post-midnight dark was terrifying! As a little kid, if I woke and the night-light was out, I KNEW that monsters and vampires were in the corner! Straining toward the grayness of the window, it occurred to me that I was blind! Maybe I was prematurely buried! Maybe there wasn’t anyone else in the whole world! MOM!!

Just in case there are other scared folks, our Sunday readings discuss how near God really is. The Hebrew Bible lends us the familiar story of Elijah on the lam from Queen Jezebel, found in I Kings 19. Discouraged and alone, he ran off to Mt. Sinai to talk to the Chief face-to-face. “What are you doing HERE?” asked Yahweh. Elijah replied, “The Israelites have forsaken your covenant, thrown down your altars, and killed your prophets with the sword. I alone am left (sigh), and they are seeking my life, to take it away.” (v.10 & 14) A wind, an earthquake, a fire! And the Sound of Silence… There were yet seven thousand faithful–so get on with it, Elijah!

Paul assures the Roman Christians of a generous Lord of all: “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.” (Romans 10:13) Paul moves us away from individual angst to a world-community of both Jew & Greek. Today’s disciples need to hear this often, especially dealing with immigration and ethnic mistrust. Can red-states and blue leave our regional cultural deities for a greater allegiance? Our bumper sticker says that Jesus loves the 99%…AND those 1%ers?

Jesus finally got an opportunity to go up the mountain by himself. In his absence, the Twelve managed to get themselves in trouble again, this time in one of those sudden windstorms on the Sea of Galilee. (Matthew 14:22-33) Already frightened by the dark and the high waves, they really freaked when they saw Jesus WALKING ON THE WATER! Peter, speaking for the rest of us, quavered, “Lord, IF IT IS YOU, command me to come to you on the water.” “Come on, then.” This called Peter’s bluff; what could he do to save face but get out of the boat? Sinking, he called, “Lord, save me!” And Jesus did, of course.

We humans are a strange bunch. Constantly threatened by “fightings and fears without, within” amplified by assorted things that go Bump in the night, we often have enough sense to call on God for assurance and a Way Out. Our night-terrors are not to be scoffed at, but rather to be experienced within a greater faith-community where many will admit to the same alarms, if we’re honest. Thanks for these stories!

God Bless Us, Every One Horace Brown King