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Readings for the upcoming weekend have to do with living out one’s beliefs.  Those who would make their lives more closely aligned with God’s intentions have a constant wrestling match between what their heart spontaneously says and what their mind rationalizes.  Nothing says that there must be a gap between heart and mind; yet we often find our logic compromising our good intentions.  Certainly my own impulsive generosity often pales in the morning light, and I put off reaching out in love until another time.

For my money, Song of Solomon 2:8-13 is a moving love-poem.  Some commentators, though, want to holify it into a prophecy of the long-awaited Messiah:  at last, the winter rains (the old despair) have gone, and the voice of the turtledove (a new promise) is heard in the land!  Whatever you make of it, it’s a song of new beginnings, an affirmation that things are no longer the same–this is a great wedding text.  Is the poet announcing God’s New Day?  Your hearers are urged to look and listen for a renewed understanding that a new creation is at hand to fill and re-create the prevailing void.

James 1:17-27 is loaded with upstanding exhortions and pithy sayings:  “Be doers of the word, and not merely hearers…”, “Religion that is pure and undefiled before God, the Father, is this:  to care for orphans and widows in their distress, and to keep oneself unstained by the world.”  We’re also constrained to recognize the unmerited generosity of God, and thus be imitation as we pay it forward.  The passage joins together social compassion and personal morality.  Anger and a “rank growth of wickedness” are discarded in favor of community relief and a sharing of blessings.

The Gospel lesson, Mark 7:1-8, 14-15, 21-23, is somewhat damaged by the omission of selected verses.  Yet its core message deals with those who’re so engrossed in “the tradition of the elders” that they fail to appreciate Jesus in their midst.  The cause of the dispute isn’t cleanliness or sanitary habits; it’s the METHOD of hand-washing.  Jesus speaks of what emanates from the “heart”, the core of our real selves as being reflective of evil; then he lists some of these evil intentions, which covers us all at one point or another (vv.21,22).   “If we want to examine the heart of our religious faith, we must be willing to explore honestly whether our attitudes and actions reveal genuine love for God land compassion for others.” (Dawn Ottoni Wilhelm, in FEASTING on the WORD, B 4:23)  How then do we refine our rituals to more successfully integrate with God’s purpose?

I’ve been in a lot of plays.  Rehearsals always begin by my thinking, “I’ll never learn all this stuff!  Why’d I ever sign up for this??”  After a while, I begin to have a tenuous grip on a few lines and dance-moves.  With a few days ’til the curtain goes up, most of the cast is pretty much OK; there’re still some glitches.  But one fine day, hopefully before dress rehearsal, I know my part BY HEART!  Either I’ve owned the role or the role has owned me, whatever.  But I’ve put “today’s mind” in neutral while what’s supposed to be comes out on stage.   Will I ever learn the role of a Christian by heart?

God Bless Us, Every One                    Horace Brown King

My wrestling with scripture passages assigned to the upcoming weekend can be observed every Tuesday at this spot on Facebook; or at horacebrownking.com

There’re lots of options out there.  More than ever, in this “adulterous and crooked generation”, the Church needs to name the God who is over all other gods.  We dream brave dreams about speaking Truth to Power; and sometimes we do.  Readings for this present weekend, though, are aimed at the community of professing believers:  many church-hoppers are hoping for feel-good messages which allow them to worship materialism, patriotism & family along with a passing nod to Yahweh.  Several sources present the uniqueness of our “jealous God” and this God’s claim on our entire being…

Joshua (24:1-2a, 14-18) has called together the leaders of the Hebrews at Shechem, a neutral city in the middle of the Promised Land.  They’re on the brink of establishing communities in this new place, and Joshua’s speech is a pretty good locker room pep-talk:  “Go get ’em!”  It’s a holy-history of God’s covenant with the People, and moves them from yesterday to the present.  Now that Yahweh has brought them triumphantly this far, will they go back to the gods of the ancestors?  “Now if you are unwilling to serve the Lord, choose this day whom you WILL serve, whether the gods your ancestors served in the region beyond the River or the gods of the Amorites in whose land  you are living; but as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord.”  How we long for the gods of the Good Old Days, when June & Ward Cleaver raised a happy family in a nice white neighborhood behind a picket fence…  What are the names of the ancestral gods which Made America Great?  What will happen to our “security” if we cast our lot solely with Yahweh?

If we can get past Paul’s contradictory self-armament (Ephesians 6:10-20, an unfortunate condoning of conflict),  we might look more thoroughly at the powers & principalities.  Here once again are the old gods of the ancestors, dressed in economic contracts for the military and stock in companies which exploit human vices and the environment!  Martin L. Smith reminds us that “It is not enough to imagine that we are immune from their power.  Only actual spiritual practices…have any value in sustaining our distinct identity as members of Christ’s body and pioneers of God’s future.”  (SOJOURNERS, August 2018, page 45)

The Gospel (John 6:56-69) acknowledges that there were many disciples who fell away from Jesus over the difficulty of consuming Body & Blood.  Evidently the gods of the ancestors weren’t as demanding and counter-cultural.  ‘Course, they didn’t provide any eternal benefit, either.  These looooong passages about Jesus being the bread of heaven served to impress John’s readers then & now that it is “MY” body and “MY” blood which differentiates the Christian experience from all others.  Peter provided the necessary affirmation:  “We have come to believe and know that you are the Holy One of God.”

It’s good to realize that God continually seeks relationships with the People, both individually and within community.  None of these lections ends with a brow- beating for abandoning the Yahweh ethic so quickly.  Rather there is a note of commendation for those who stay the course, those who dare the vision of what may yet happen.

God Bless Us, Every One                       Horace Brown King

My thoughts about scripture passages assigned to the upcoming weekend can be found every Tuesday at this spot on Facebook; or at horacebrownking.com

All too many modern  Christians think that they haven’t been faithful enough to earn a seat at the Great Banquet of God’s Kingdom.  Texts to be read this weekend seek to negate this heresy and to assure the listener that God has plenty of steadfast love to go ’round!  Forbears in the faith called this authentic reception of holy joy “sober inebriation”.  Well, why not?  Disciples have often practiced wild abandon in their journey to Perfection, realizing that Eternity has begun at birth rather than death.

Our first stop leads us to the wisdom of the Book of Proverbs, 9:1-6.  Wisdom has set a festive table, and has invited those yet awaiting insight:  “Come, eat of my bread and drink of the wine I have mixed.”  Some prefer to graze their way through the buffet table; but this is instruction to consume enough wisdom-grace to bulge our eyes with sufficiency!  Am I enjoying the depth of wisdom-grace, or am I squandering my days on that which doesn’t really satisfy?  Although we gleefully stray from the immediacy of an abundant God, we’re really never out of God’s sight.

“Be careful then how you live, not as unwise people but as wise…” begins Chapter 5 of the Letter to the Ephesian Church.  Even though Evil is always nearby, those filled with wisdom-grace understand the authenticity of the will of the Lord.  There are lots of distractions (“wine”) to fritter away our moments–“but be FILLED with the Spirit… giving thanks to God the Father at ALL times and for EVERYTHING in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.”  This is what Martin L. Smith calls “a gentle resistance to the addictions that compromise our God-given freedom.” (SOJOURNERS, August 2018, page 45)

John 6:51-58 can be troublesome to those who recoil from the concept of actually consuming human flesh & blood.  Martin Luther (& others) help me by suggesting that the emphasis be place on “MY”:  “MY flesh is true food and MY blood is true drink”.  Jesus differentiates between his gifts and those of the rest of the world; some addictions seem to satisfy our desires, but then become everyday…whereas the Presence of Christ doesn’t lose its shine.  Will Willimon  asserts that “the Fourth Gospel tries to train us limited, modern people in the expectation that now the Word has become flesh, we may expect more.”  (FEASTING on the WORD, B 3:359)  Following Jesus is one thing; CONSUMING Jesus is quite another!  “His truth wants to burrow deep within us, to consume us as we consume him, to flow through our veins, to be digested, to nourish every nook and cranny of our being.”  (Willimon, op.cit., p.361)

This digital age helps us to keep track of our accomplishments; and, perhaps, our shortcomings.  Those in the pews and classrooms hearing these lections are urged to not be intimidated by  lengthy rap-sheets…rather to sit deep and long at today’s Holy Banquet, enjoying Divine Hospitality and consuming until their souls can hold no more!

God Bless Us, Every One                                      Horace Brown King

My thoughts about Scripture passages assigned to the upcoming weekend can be found every Tuesday at this spot on Facebook; or at horacebrownking.com

It’s about the Journey, isn’t it?  Most cultures have tales about the hero–that’s you and me–who undertakes some sort of Quest to find out who they are.  Maybe it’s a search for a long-lost parent (to understand hereditary traits)  or a holy relic (to achieve self-credibility in the community).  Perhaps the task includes killing dragons (to conquer self-doubt) or rescuing a captive city or a damsel in distress (to be relevant and make a difference).  The present Bible lessons address this Journey from sinful brokenness to vitality…all with Divine guidance.

Elijah, after showing up the priests of Baal and slaughtering them, needed to run for his life when Queen Jezebel put a price on his head.  Our story picks up with his Journey (I Kings 19:4-8).  Ready to give it all up, he sat despondently in the meager shade of a broom-bush.  The Journey seemed ready to abort.  “It is enough; now, O Lord, take away my life…”  But God wasn’t done with him:  holy bread and water gave him strength to travel on to Mt. Horeb (Sinai) to encounter Yahweh directly.  Y’know, I can really relate to this; a lot of pew-sitters can, too.

Paul”s Team lists many virtues and vices in the Letter to the Ephesians (4:25-5:1).  “Thieves” are mentioned specifically, but read “all of us” in its place.  “Thieves must give up stealing; rather let them labor and work honestly with their own hands, so as to have something to share with the needy.”  This isn’t the work-ethic of prosperity, but provides for building the community!  All sorts of malicious selfishness are listed as belonging to the Old Place; the traveler toward Perfection imitates God’s active and reflective love through kindness and forgiveness.

John’s Gospel remembrance (6:35,41-51)  spins more on Jesus’ announcement that “I am the Bread of Life.”  Those with a lack of vision took offense:  they were the ones who were resigned to the meager shade of Elijah’s bush.  Before we’re too hard on them we should realize that this Silent Majority has given up on the heroic Journey as just too difficult.  Yet Jesus provides holy sustenance for their quest, agreeing that it’s a demanding trip but that the Father would “draw” them.  (My image is of a bunch of convicts roped together being dragged through a desert.)

Indiana Jones is my favorite crusader!  We’re pretty sure that he’ll succeed in finding the Lost Ark or Jesus’ chalice–but the story is in the Journey!  Here’s where growth and wisdom come about, here’s where the drama unfolds.  Like the wise Dr. Jones, we too are on a similar–probably less exotic–Journey.  John Wesley asked us to “go on to Perfection” recognizing that the richness of discipleship lies in such a Journey.  Give up in the sparse shade?  We all do, some longer than others.  But we’re given provisions, and impelled forward…  “Are we there yet?”  I really hope not!

God Bless Us, Every One                            Horace Brown King

My wandering through the readings assigned to the upcoming weekend can be found every Tuesday at this space on Facebook; or at horacebrownking.com