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I suppose that most of us want to “go to Church” for the comfort and stability it may provide, an oasis in our troubled week.  Yet one of the prime duties of the Church and the scripture that feeds it is to stretch the souls of its members.  This week’s readings are no exception:  those who worship are hauled beyond their safety and tradition to look a bit further into the greater scheme of Creation.  We open the Holy Writings with fear and trembling; our understanding will never be the same again!

Jeremiah was still a boy when he recognized God’s call to speak a word of newness to a culture quite content to be self-righteous. (1:4-10)  But his words were to be authored by The Lord: “You shall go to all to whom I send you, and you shall speak whatever I command you….I am with you to deliver you, says the Lord.”  Notice that Jeremiah’s hesitancy is seen as normal by Yahweh, and the divine response is couched in tender terms of partnership.  Reading about Jeremiah’s call “suggests that God still calls, God’s mission is not yet accomplished, and even the jaded, weary ex-idealist can still be hauled by God into a fresh place, a renewed discipleship.”  (James C. Howell, FEASTING ON THE WORD, C 1:291)  Et tu?

I always shudder when the “Love Chapter”, I Corinthians 13, comes around.  Way too many brides choose this for their wedding, thinking it romantic and controlling.  St. Paul inserts this passage into his lover’s quarrel with the Corinthian Church not as a chintzy hope for what should be, but as a remonstrance to congregations who were NOT particularly patient & kind, who were good at insisting on their own way, being irritable and resentful!  Paul is expecting a more noticeable growth in ethical matters and provoking his hearers to more Christ-like lives.  Such, of course, are products of intentional intimacy with the Savior…

Jesus preached a good sermon in his home synagogue in Nazareth. (Luke 4:21-30) Old neighbors proudly claimed him as their own.  BUT when he recalled that God pushed the envelope of tribal devotion by feeding a SYRIAN widow during the famine, and that Naaman the SYRIAN general was healed of leprosy, this assaulted their complacency so much that they were about to throw Jesus over the cliff!  Ever since, the Church’s expected position is On the Edge, right where tradition meets the frontier of disbelief.

Beyond the Call to Do Something for God is a vocational concept of BEING Something for God.  Adolescent Jeremiah was called to speak, yes; more importantly, to BE God’s Person.  (Read the whole book to see just how he did this!)  The cluster of house- churches in eclectic Corinth were called to BE more and more Christ-like.  The Nazarene synagogue was called to have a more inclusive world-view, to BE what their Law required.

I expect to be showing my advanced years by quoting German pietist Gerhard Tersteegen– “God Calling Yet!  Shall I not hear?  Earth’s pleasures shall I still hold dear?  Shall life’s swift passing years all fly, And still my soul in slumber lie?              God Calling Yet!  Shall I not rise?  Can I [God’s] loving voice despise, And basely [God’s] kind care repay?  {God} calls me still; can I delay?”

God Bless Us, Every One.      Horace Brown King

My thoughts on lectionary passages for the upcoming weekend can be found every Tuesday at this spot on Facebook; or on HoraceBrownKing

Okay, I know.  It’s not Politically Correct.  But the tune has been an ear-worm all morning; many of us happily sang it in Vacation Bible School.  We’ll be talking diversity, this weekend–and how to claim Community from broken dreams.  The dilemma of history is this:  how can we honor the past without being condemned to live in it?  All generations tend to wax nostalgic about The Good Old Days, which is OK as long as we don’t delude ourselves into trying to go back…  Like it or not, that was Then, this is Now.  Where is the connect?

The ragged remnant of Israelites who straggled back from Exile had been immersed in Babylonian life for 70 years.  Their identity had become unraveled.  They had heard old tales about “the Law”; but few if any knew much about it or the Holy People it defined.  In Nehemiah 8 we hear how Ezra the priest read from the Mosaic Law (probably the Book of Deuteronomy), and how shocked his hearers were that God gave instruction about how to live in a covenant community.   Ezra audaciously told them that they COULD begin again:  “do not be grieved, for the joy of the Lord is your strength.” (v.10)

The Twelfth Chapter of Paul’s First Letter to the Corinthian congregations makes lengthy comparison of the Body of Christ–the Church–with the human body.  Each part has a different function, yet all function together spontaneously.  A body doesn’t work well when even a single cell takes leave.  This isn’t only to make the absent souls feel guilty, but also affirms the worth and divinely planned position of even the smallest.  “I am the Church, you are the Church, we are the Church together!”

St. Luke remembers (4:14ff) when Jesus came to his hometown synagogue at Nazareth, and read from the prophet Isaiah.  Everyone nodded self-righteously at the familiar words about bringing good news to the poor, releasing the captives and letting the  oppressed go free; but then Jesus said, “TODAY this scripture has been fulfilled.”
We’re OK with lofty ideals of yesterday, but don’t make us actually activate them today!  After all, our community is about what  once was…but once out the door, it’s survival at any cost to our ethic.

This weekend’s preacher will probably announce to her daydreaming flock that there really is a connection between our holy-history and how we’re expected to function with our peers, both within and without the sanctuary walls.  Twenty-first Century America loves to pledge allegiance, even though “liberty and justice for all” are empty words.  We lustily wish God to bless America, although many do not know the real blessings of a divine Presence.  Our coins proclaim, “In God We Trust”, knowing full well that loud talk, bullying and fences are our projected security…  “And who is my neighbor?” asked the scribe of Jesus. God still forms community beyond broken dreams.

God Bless Us, Every One                 Horace Brown King

My thoughts on the lessons for the coming weekend can be found at this spot on Facebook or at horacebrownking

The snows and bluster of January make a wonderful backdrop to our tribal tendencies to hunker down around a jolly fire with friends and family!   It may not show signs of stopping, but I’ve brought some corn for popping…and if we merrily love one another, we can let it snow (let it snow, let it snow).  Parties in the Dark of the Year invite us to hear family stories, old and new, and to toast the mellow friendship of those who travel with us on this strange planet…

Readings for the upcoming weekend involve family stories, important for the community of faith to re-explore as we try to find our way together.  We begin with an oracle of  “Third Isaiah”, that collection of spiritual wisdom gathered as the People of Israel trudged back from their Exile in Babylon.  “For Zion’s sake I will not keep silent,”  says the Lord, “and for Jerusalem’s sake I will not rest, until her vindication shines out like the dawn, and her salvation like a burning torch.” (62:1)  Look, world!  An Important People is being recast, despite the perils and frustrations of rebuilding.  As in days of old, is a People of Faith being built up again…and again?

The spiritual gifts so often referred to by St. Paul are not necessarily for our individual perfection as much as to develop the Body of Christ into a vital group!  “To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit FOR THE COMMON GOOD.” (I Corinthians 12: 7)  There are varieties of gifts and services, and all who confess that “Jesus is Lord” inherit an infilling of this sustaining and imaginative Spirit.  Raewynne J. Whitely avers that “because the gifts have a single source, they are meant to be things that unite the community of faith.”  (FEASTING ON THE WORD, C 1:259)

The Gospel story is found only in John’s narrative, that of “The Wedding in Cana”. (2:1 ff)  Early in Jesus’ public career, he turned water into wine to keep the party going.  Nice of him–or is there more?  We’ve often preached that life before Jesus was, well, watery:  and after his miraculous transformation, sparkling with flavor and richness!   Far from subtle, the transformation was typical Johanine hyperbole:  not one, but SIX jars!  Each holding 20-30 gallons!  Not a mere trickle of water, but filled TO THE BRIM!  And the whole gathering had some, because there’s always plenty with God…

Despite our sentimental and often blasphemous hymns, the Spirit of God seems to prefer a good party!   Jesus spoke of the mutuality of “two or three gathered together”, and Pentecost happened in a crowd during a great festival.   Just as the Lord appeared after the resurrection to the Mary’s, the couple from Emmaus, and the Upper Room club, so the Movement continues as Believers cling together for strength, courage and the warmth of kindred souls.   Hunker down together against the Dark Night, and claim the mutual experiences of the Body of Christ.  Keep the party going!

God Bless Us, Every One                            Horace Brown King

My thoughts about lectionary passages for the coming weekend can be found every Tuesday at this space on Facebook; or at horacebrownking

For those of us in the Northeastern United States,  Winter has arrived!  Big time.  Gusty blasts from the North Wind bend us double and take our breath…and that’s just in the parking lot.  Lucy the Infamous Cat is thoroughly dis-gusted, and pouts at her confinement.  It’s a time to hunker down in our tribal groups and tell the Old Stories about a remembered warm wind of God…

Isaiah of Babylon spoke a holy word to the disgusted remnant of Captive Israel, “Do not fear, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name, you are mine…I will bring your offspring from the east, and from the west I will gather you.” (43:1-5)  In their bleak place, Exiled Israel yearned for a word of community development: if Yahweh really cares, how then are we in this strange land?  How do we remember the Wind of God?

Such a wind must have blown over those Samaritans when they heard the fullness of the Gospel.  Country cousins of the “proper” Jews, they also dwelt in a land where God wasn’t expected.  How welcome would they be within the ranks of the new Church?  Then came Peter and John from Jerusalem itself (Acts 8:14-17) , and a new community was included by the gift of the Spirit.  Here is a turning point:  followers of Jesus were now seeing themselves as more than a Jewish self-help group.  A breath of fresh air validates our experiential faith.

John the Baptizer called people to turn around and re-think who they were with God.  When folks wondered if he were Messiah,  John pointed to Jesus:  “He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.  His winnowing fork is in his hand, to clear his threshing floor and to gather the wheat into his granary…” (Luke 3:16-17)   God’s RUACH (breath) is the agent of cleansing, separating out the trite, the tired and the tawdry.   Robert M. Brearley  reminds, “When the line of downtrodden and sin-sick people formed in hopes of new beginnings through a return to God, Jesus joined them.  At his baptism, he identified with the damaged and broken [ones] who needed God.”  (FEASTING on the WORD, C1, page 236)

Epiphany is the season for receiving signs of Emmanuel, and the Holy Wind is one of them.  Set your sails, and see where it takes you!  It may take your breath away….

God Bless Us, Every One.          Horace Brown King

My thoughts on scripture lessons for the coming weekend can be found every Tuesday at this space on Facebook, or by linking to horacebrownking.