My Blog

How do we get along together?  Even the most primitive tribes have cultural rules for their members’ survival and well-being.  In more progressive tribes, an Outside Power (Divinity) is acknowledged to be the provider and maintainer of these rules.  Those who believe that a god is a human invention often manipulate and temper these rules.  Others with a transcendent view of God are still struggling to get it right.(?)  During these Kingdom-weeks at the climax of the Christian Year we continue to be examined by scriptures calling the believer into an unfolding community of both Faith and Integrity.

Job is a tale from pre-history which confronts and refutes our naive teaching that “if we’re Good, then we’ll be blessed”  all our lives.  When we attain a certain age, we begin to realize that Bad Things often happen to Good People–and we begin to think that there was no reason to Be Good.  With Mrs. Job we ask ourselves, “Do you still persist in your integrity?  Curse God, and die.” (2:9)  The Evil One has often whispered in my ear, “Nice guys finish last!”  Honest churches must allow these words to be spoken; denial is more than a river in Egypt.  Thomas Edward Frank reminds us that “life together is a continual discovery of God sitting in the ashes beside us.”  (FEASTING on the WORD, B 4, p.126)

The Prologue to the Book of the Hebrews introduces this foray into Cosmic Truth almost as well as the movie introduction, “In A Galaxy Far, Far Away”:  “Long ago God spoke to our ancestors in many and various ways by the prophets, but in these [recent] days he has spoken to us by a Son….and he sustains all things by his powerful word.” (1:1-3)  Again, the listening Church must live within the knowledge of paradox.  As somebody’s Law and all its corollaries remind us, “Stuff Happens!”  The Old Rules aren’t fully adequate–what, in these recent days, shall we do with The Christ?

Alas, Mark’s remembrance of Jesus’ teaching about divorce (10:2-12) has been used to bludgeon victims of abuse and degradation for centuries.  This passage isn’t about Getting Along despite the Cost!  It DOES speak up for those who’ve been shelved arbitrarily, those who’ve been retired for a newer model, those who’ve been locked-out as victims of boredom.  Jesus is again re-writing the rules to provide support for the cast-off and the powerless.

21st-Century Living is about community, like it or not.  There are few places to hide where we’re not connected to others.  Once -useful rules for isolated tribes don’t deal with the complexities and paradoxes now thrust on us.  Old standards are no longer absolute as we rub elbows with cultures new to us.  The Christian Church can: a) say nothing, pretending that we still live in the 1800’s; b) denounce “those” people who’re not clones of who we think we are; or c) actively engage in open conversation about how our Faith-Journeys help us to meet the challenges of an ever-expanding Creation–and its Creator.

God Bless Us, Every One.                    Horace Brown KIng

I admit it.  I’m a fairweather friend.  I can be a humorous and sanguine buddy as long as things are going well–but if you really need a helping hand, I can usually duck out by doing something else.  Fortunately, God isn’t like that.  In all seasons, God can be relied upon to be an empathetic and genuine companion, always ready to hear and attend to our anxieties and disappointments.  Lessons for the coming weekend uncover this Steadfast Love, and remind us of our own importance within  Creation.

We begin with selected verses from the Book of Esther (7:1-10; 9:20-22)  This book wasn’t written down in current form until the time of the Maccabees–about 175 BCE–although portions of it had been passed on as oral tradition for several centuries before.  The book doesn’t pretend to be “history”:  its purpose is to encourage the Jewish people to endure in times of trouble, for wickedness and racial persecution will get zapped in the end!  This message is important today because of the fear- mongers who stir up anxiety about good people who’re maligned because they look different or speak differently or worship differently than “we” do…  So it’s a message of social justice and faith in a God who hasn’t let us down.

The Epistle reading is that of James, the Advice Columnist of the New Testament, 5:13-20.  Today he urges intercessory prayer for the sick, the broken and the wandering.  His implication is that the God of Steadfast Love will receive these needs and make the sufferer(s) whole…no matter how bad things have been.  Those who tackle this text “will almost certainly find resistance,since it is no small thing to dislodge the self-serving wisdom of the world with the community-healing wisdom of God.”  (Barbara Brown Taylor)

And the Gospel seems loaded with harsh judgment (Mark 9:38-50):  is this really Jesus telling us to purge ourselves of an offending body part?  The bottom line seems to say that it’s better to enter eternity maimed than to be thrown into hell for the sins of “one part”.  (Devout Jews were not allowed into the sanctuary if they were bodily deformed or incomplete.)  Can we infer that the God of Steadfast Love makes room in heaven for even the imperfect?  This can get tricky, if we’re to keep integrity with Mark’s remembrance.

A recurring theme will continue to surface during these weeks leading to the fulfillment of the Christian Year, before we turn to the anticipation of Advent.  That theme is one of Building the Good Community, becoming the People of God more and more along our Holy Journey.  There is really nothing to fear as we acknowledge this God of Steadfast Love who is unfolding a goodly future before us.

God Bless Us, Every One                 Horace Brown King

The Lessons assigned to this coming weekend are difficult.  If there’s a thread running through them, it’s that of Community Development.  That is, God is trying to build The Good Community–the Kingdom of God?– from a motley crew of sinners who are coming along with a great deal of baggage!  Blinded by tribal sayings that may or may not be of God, we stumble in un-knowledge  and try to discern the sacred presence within and around us.

In England, there’s a pub–maybe several–called “The Silent Woman”.  It’s sign depicts a female form with no head.  (The correctness police are on their way!)  We begin with a questionable passage from Proverbs 31, beginning at verse 10:  “A capable wife who can find?….”  I have no idea how this got to be Biblical, for it has been used to abuse women for 2500 years!  It may have been a descriptor of the Ideal Wife in ancient Israel; perhaps it was a love-letter by some well-meaning guy that got slipped into the manuscript…  Oft-quoted by insecure males who’re afraid of women when they’re not barefoot & pregnant, it seems to have little value.  Can YOU find any Grace or God-talk here?

James has flowing images for building up the Church as Christ’s body (3:13-4:3, plus 7 &8).  I especially like his scolding us, “You want something and do not have it; so you commit murder.  And you covet something and cannot obtain it; so you engage in disputes and conflicts.   You do not HAVE because you do not ASK.” (v.7)  Of what are we scared?  Is our dealing with authority so terrifying that we hang back?  Somehow we’ve gotta ditch the tribal wisdom that we’re “in the hands of an angry God”!

Well, Jesus WAS kinda angry with the thickness of his disciples who didn’t get it because they didn’t want to hear it.  Pastor Michelle calls them the “duh-ciples”!  We see this especially in Mark’s account which doesn’t use unnecessary words to capture the intensity of Jesus’ radical teaching.  “But they did not understand what he was saying and were afraid to ask.” (9:32)  And a few verses later, Jesus asked them what they were arguing about as they traveled–but they were silent.  C’mon, folks, how can we experience the Holy if we won’t talk to God??

Talking with God involves more than praying for a pony, or that Saturday will be nice for the picnic.  Sacred Writ through the ages has stressed the delight of meaningful conversation with a caring friend.  We dare approach the Creative-Redemptive-Sustaining energy of each day as this divinity swirls around us!  Our assignment, then, is to revel in this relationship AND to invite others in:  don’t be scared!

God Bless Us, Every One.              Horace Brown King

There’s a grand mythology that those who wish to know God must find a magic key to unlock the Heavenly Door.  This is found in observing “correct” positions for praying, and perhaps uttering words which will flatter or coerce God into granting every wish.  Or in journeying a long way to a mystic mountain to grasp the hem of God’s robe.  Or by identifying places where a polite God couldn’t be found….  This weekend’s scriptures point to a pro-active God who keeps breaking into our fortified memories and walking the street-corners of our guilty fantasies.

“Proverbs” are snippets of worldly advice, whereas “Wisdom” refers to Eternal Truths about knowing deity.  The book should really be known as “Wisdom”, better than “Proverbs”.  Call it what we will, we’ll read from the First Chapter, beginning at verse 20.  Wisdom/Sophia/the Holy Spirit is here seen soliciting in the market-place:  “I will make my words known to you.”   Alas! some have refused this gift:  “[They] would have none of my counsel, and despised all my reproof…they shall eat the fruit of THEIR way and be sated with THEIR OWN devices….but those who listen to me will be secure.”   We ignore Holy Wisdom at our own peril!

St. James tells us to hold our tongue (3:1-12).  Rich in imagery, the passage bemoans our hypocrisy of language:  “With [our tongue] we bless the Lord and Father, and with it we curse those who are made in the likeness of God.” (v.9)  Our tongue is pictured as a fire, a “world of iniquity”, itself “set on fire by hell”.  For James, disparaging and disrespectful talk is more than a momentary problem, for it indicates the brokenness of a needy and lop-sided Creation.  The one who speaks ill of another denies the Holy Spirit’s ability to extend Grace!

“Who do people say that I am?  Who do YOU say that I am?” are questions of Jesus remembered in Chapter 8 of Mark’s Gospel.  Again we contrast the Voice of the Crowd with the Voice whispering deep in our soul.  And then (vv.31-33) comes a cosmic dialogue, Darkness against Light, profane against sacred, today against forever:  Peter began to rebuke Jesus’ forthcoming passion; but Jesus rebuked Peter for his clinging to “human things”.  Well, somebody had to speak for all of us!

So, is there power in the Spoken Word?  We affirm a heavenly LOGOS, the Word of God now made in human container.  How does this Word resonate as an assertive, foot-in-the-door Wisdom?  And how do our tongues reflect–and too often deny–this inborn Presence of God?  And will we miss the Big Picture of God’s slowly unfolding Kingdom by dwelling upon our own muted and wistful voices of the status quo?

God Bless Us, Every One.           Horace Brown King

As the last throes of Summer flip into the mellowness of Autumn, the weekly scripture readings continue to encourage the developing Christian Community.  Some of us need to hear that we’ll not always be victims of The System; others need to be confronted with the social inequity so rampant in our headlines.  We could hear the coming week’s passages as admonitions to a holier individual life– or we could see them (more usefully, I think) as reminders to the Whole People of God that YHWH has high hopes for the visibility of The Church.

From the Hebrew Wisdom we read selected verses from Chapter 22 of the Book of Proverbs  “The rich and the poor have this in common: the Lord is the Maker of them all.” (v.2); “Those who are generous are blessed, for they share their bread with the poor.” (v.9); “Do not rob the poor because they are poor, or crush the afflicted at the gate;” (v.22).  Stephen C. Johnson says, “Biblical wisdom is concerned not merely with the moral character of the individual, but with the formation of a wise community rooted in the peace and justice of God.” (FEASTING ON THE WORD, B 4, p.27)   How does our theological claim intersect with the world in which we live?

Some very good thinkers have claimed that the Letter of James is counter to the Faith so emphasized by Paul.  The value of this epistle is to remind the Church that holiness must be lived out, that it’s more than an intellectual exercise.  The second chapter holds our feet to the fire as we welcome ALL, not just Our Own Kind, or those who can do us favors.  James seems to tell us that our Faith naturally spawns acts of mercy and kindness…even to THOSE people!

Mark’s Gospel remembrance continues to puzzle us (7:24-37).  Jesus was “out of the office” (he thought) on the Syrian seashore.  But one of the local women, not Jewish, recognized that here could be a healing for her demon-possessed daughter.  Jesus seems reluctant to share God’s power with an “infidel”: “Let the children be fed first, for it is not fair to take the children’s food and throw it to the dogs.” !!!(v.27)  Yet the woman begged even crumbs–and the daughter was healed!  Don’t spend too much time trying to establish Jesus’  motives or make excuses for him:  the bottom line is that one of Those People were touched by Grace and included within the Family!

So the readings are prophetic:  they confront the idolized shortcomings of the prevailing social order, and they offer hope and inclusion to “the huddled masses yearning to breathe free”.  God is envisioned as the redeemer, the advocate for those who cannot secure their own defense.  Followers of Jesus, bolstered by the presence of the Holy Spirit, are emboldened to shelter the storm-tossed by including them as equals in this unfolding Kingdom.

God Bless Us, Every One                       Horace Brown King