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Coming Soon! To a congregation near you! It’s a Brand-New Christian Year! Time to expect Something Completely Different! Is this the time when God is gonna break in? Devout Jews anticipated a Freeing Messiah; what we got is a Baby… For the next four weeks we’ll follow the writings which explore “the hopes and fears of all the years”, which will hopefully articulate our own roller-coaster of Coming Christmas.

The miscellaneous collection of oracles associated with (Trinto-)Isaiah includes this yearning: “O that you would tear open the heavens and come down, so that the mountains would quake at your presence–” (64:1) The image of a torn veil of heaven leads me also to remember how the sky was torn with the angels announcing the Nativity to the shepherds of Bethlehem, and how the veil of the Temple was torn in two as Jesus died. These are all of God’s initiative, symbols of Grace, moments when Holiness may be seen face to face. Advent prepares us for these holy encounters.

In the meantime, how do we wait? Some have opted to withdraw from the World which God loves so much to a sheltered hilltop, perhaps to drink Kool-Aid with their friends. But life goes on under God’s daily guidance, and we drink eternity where it finds us! Paul begins his letters to the Corinthians with thanksgiving for the rich gifts of “knowledge of every kind”, “so that you are not lacking in any spiritual gift as you wait for the revealing of our Lord Jesus Christ.” (I, 1:7) If Advent is a time for re-centering on our personal life-values, then the ONGOING Advent which we preach becomes a time for us to express these in order that the Greater Community may likewise prepare for the Holy.

Mark’s Gospel (13:24-37) is one of those strange messages which folklore loves to quote in those mags that we read in line at Price Chopper. The moon, sun & stars will all be capsized, and nothing familiar shall remain. Jesus says that SOMEday this’ll happen, God knows–but in the meantime, stay on your toes, do your work as assigned, and be glad when The Man comes back! We’re not lacking as we wait.

Preachers are often met with blank stares by their congregants at this Season. Doesn’t she know I have cookies to bake? Where’s the gold garland? I’m sure the belt I bought for Samantha must be in the hall closet!? Nevertheless, we’re gonna remind you until Christmas Eve that the most important preparation is within YOU; and the brightest lights are those inside others you meet….

God Bless Us, Every One! Horace Brown King

Good Amurricans that we are, we pay little attention to Kings–unless it’s Elvis; or Benny Goodman, the King of Swing; or Nat “King” Cole… Yet here we are at Christ the King Sunday, democritized in some congregations to “the Reign of Christ”. Call it as you will, readings for the upcoming weekend deal with a Mighty God who should be beyond all knowing who personally comes to call back the people who’ve wandered away. Words of comfort at the end of the Church Year prepare us for the tip-toe anticipation of Advent.

“For thus says the Lord God: I myself will search for my sheep, and will seek them out. As shepherds seek out their flocks when they are among their scattered sheep, so I will seek out my sheep. I will rescue them from all the places to which they have been scattered on a day of clouds and thick darkness.” (Ezekiel 34:11-12) Is this a King or what! The Prophet looked for a restoration of a David-like kingdom, whereas later Believers wait for a universal King to establish an enduring realm of Justice, Peace and Righteousness.

Paul speaks of the reign of Christ as if it were already in place: “And (God) has put all things under (Christ’s) feet and has made him the head over all things for the church, which is his body…” (Ephesians 1:22) Salvation becomes an invitation to accept a role in Christ’s ongoing work of refining the once-perfect Garden that human caretakers have allowed to fray about the edges.

Matthew’s remembrance of the Parable of the Sheep and the Goats (25:31-46) can be problematical if we interpret this to be about Works Alone. The Shepherd/Son of Man commends the Good Sheep for their charitable works because those fed, clothed and nurtured were members of his family. Thus our loving outreach and relief is done because we believe that “the least of these” are still created in Christ, AND that we’ve seen a holy image in them!

Worship for Christ the King affirms that we’re part of a greater family, united and loved by a compassionate Monarch whose Creation runs the spectrum from a seven-age Big Bang to kneeling in the dust and breathing Life into a muddy molding. With the Psalmist we shall shout, “O come, let us worship and bow down, let us kneel before the Lord, our Maker! For he is our God, and we are the people of his pasture, and the sheep of his hand.”

God Bless Us, Every One. Horace Brown King

Scriptures about the “end times” usually appear in Advent, in anticipation of a Messiah who comes among humans to straighten out what can be fixed before all heaven breaks loose. So what are these readings doing here, at the end of Kingdomtide, just before The Reign of Christ? The Preacher needs to be aware that they are offered as signs of Grace as an alternative to destruction.

Zephaniah pictures a seeking God: as lantern-lit Diogenes searched for an honest man, “At that time I will search Jerusalem with lamps, and I will punish the people who rest complacently on their dregs…” (1:12) He portrays the Coming One as prosecutor in the courts of Righteousness and Justice–“in the fire of his passion the whole earth shall be consumed.” (v.18) The presenter can read in harsh tones…but not forget to invite her hearers to stay tuned for better news!

That better news comes in Paul’s first letter to the Thessalonian believers. He by no means downplays the suddenness of the Change of History, yet brings a word of Grace: “For God has destined us not for wrath but for obtaining salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ.” (5:9) He acknowledges that the stress of daily living can make us forget that we’re citizens of the Kingdom-to-come! “Therefore encourage one another and build up each other as indeed you are doing.” (v.11)

Matthew remembers Jesus’ story of The Talents. (25:14-30) It’s a parable, not an analogy, firmly couched in human attributes. When a rich man went off on a business trip, he gave substantial sums to each of his three vice-presidents. Two of them invested in other business, and did very well! The third, trying to protect his posterior, buried his portion…and it didn’t earn interest OR keep up with inflation. When the Boss returned, he rewarded the two who ventured; but fired the frugal one… So what? Well, there’s gonna be a Day when you Faithful will receive abundance–and that’s a good promise.

Are these lessons a Warning or a Promise? Or both? We’re standing at the junction of the future Day of the Lord and the present Ethic of Faithful Righteousness. “Christ’s life, death, and resurrection inaugurated the realm of God that he proclaimed. While there may well be a future fullness to that realm, it is present in the world now.” (Mark B. Lee)

God Bless Us, Every One Horace Brown King

Remember the BBC television show from ?? years ago, where an elderly “couple”–widow & widower–raised Cain at a retirement home? Both were still pretty feisty, and their bored mischief confounded staff and their relatives alike. They wanted to keep busy and relevant while they waited to die. They didn’t play according to The Rules, which perplexed many and delighted others… This weekend’s readings are about What To Do while we Wait For God.

The feisty prophet Amos annoyed both the King and the Priesthood with his call to civic responsibility. He said that The Day of the Lord, when God comes to straighten out his Creation, wouldn’t be much fun, especially for the Chosen People (who should know better). “Why do you want the day of the Lord? It is darkness, not light…” (5:18) The image is of running from a lion and meeting a bear; and if you DO make it safely home (whew!) getting bitten by a snake! Festivals, solemn assemblies, offerings and noisy songs just aren’t gonna placate a present God. “But let justice roll down like waters, and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream.” (v.24)

Evidently there was quite a discussion going on in Thessalonica about the parousia, the anticipated “rapture”. Will Jesus come for only those alive? Or will he include ALL the saints “who now rest from their labors”? St. Paul tried to limit this by assuring them, “For since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so, through Jesus, God will bring with him those who have died.” (I, 4:14) It struck me as odd that he didn’t have some specific ethical admonitions; although the paragraphs just before reminded Believers to treat each other kindly, with justice. But this week concentrates more on Final Procedures…

So what will the kingdom of heaven be like? Matthew remembers Jesus’ story about the Ten Bridesmaids, half of whom were unprepared. (25:1-13) They just didn’t have enough oil to last out the evening. There’s been plenty of time, Jesus said, to get your “oil” supplied: through the Church, your covenant group, scriptural studies, prayer & meditation… So when The Bridegroom finally gets here, don’t expect others to give you what you shoulda already provided. (Individualists love this story; community-builders wonder why the oil wasn’t pooled in the first place. Let the preacher beware: Smugness isn’t pretty, and doesn’t really belong in Church.)

How then shall we wait for God? Astragon & Vladimir didn’t know the day nor the hour, so they kept on doing what they were doing, for weal or woe. Yet they kept on believing that SOMEDAY –soon, maybe!– the final curtain would drop. I saw a t-shirt which read, “Jesus is Coming! Everybody look busy!” Our busy-ness might well be directed to telling the Gospel by word and deed in the understanding that a timeless Lord will again turn our clocks back…

God Bless Us, Every One Horace Brown King