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My neighborhood, although diverse in cultures, is well-blessed with wreathes on the front doors.  Evidently the wreath–with or without ornamentation–is a beacon of hospitality for many cultures.  The Days of Christmas have long been considered a time to visit friends & family; at the end of a sleighride “there’s a happy feeling nothing in this world can buy When they pass around the coffee and the pumpkin pie.”  Those of Latin heritage may have observed “La Posada”, a pageant about questing for hospitality.  We yearn to come in from the cold, and are blessed by those who will welcome the traveler.   Lessons for this weekend center on “God’s House”, and re-echo the Christmas message of God coming to live with us.

Early in the story of Samuel (I 2:18-20,26)  we learn that this long-awaited son has been placed in the service of Eli, the High Priest.  His parents, Elkanah & Hannah, were delighted to see him “ministering before the Lord”; we don’t know his exact duties, but prime among them was to observe and assimilate the holy functions of God’s House.  Folks at that time thought that God was limited to a specific place.

The Letter to the Colossians (3:12-17) presents a more nimble deity:  “Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly…”  By the first years after the first Christmas, believers began to accept that the Incarnation/Nativity event was to remove God from any human cages and allow Christ some elbow room in our daily lives.  The ChristChild claims precedence in “WHATEVER you do, in word or deed…”

Luke’s Gospel, 2:41-52, is more about Mary than it is about Jesus.  She and Joseph had been looking for Jesus in all the wrong places!  Finally they find him in the Temple, observing and assimilating the holy functions of God’s House–did I say that before?  The narrative says that “when his parents saw him they were astonished”–I bet they were!  Well, of course; where did you expect him to be?  Jesus spent his narrated ministry trying to convince people that his Father’s house was anywhere HE was, and that God really itched to escape popular confinement.

Some you meet today will be starry-eyed from the message of the angels and the richness of Nativity music old & new.  Others may well be glassy-eyed from the hustle of gift-giving and the holiday rituals which have somehow fallen short of what we think we remember…  All of these will be yearning for hospitality, a warm spot where they have permission to unburden their hopes and fears.  The sanctuary, the safe spot, is with US:  I pray that the marvel of Christmas has built an altar within you to focus the prayers and praises of all the world nearby…

God Bless Us, Every One                            Horace Brown King

My encounters with prescribed scripture for the upcoming weekend can be found every Tuesday at this spot on Facebook; or at horacebrownking.com

When I was a teenager I had a morning paper route.  EARLY, and often COLD.  In warmer months I could ride my bike; but in winter, when the traction was poor, I walked.  How I yearned for, craved the sunrise!  Would the half-light of dawn ever yield some warming rays to restore my numb fingers?  Folks in church pews this weekend may be numbed by the Christmas grab-bag or a year-long wrestle with power and possessions.  Cold of heart and weary of spirit, they/we wait with skepticism for any word from God.  Scripture for the Fourth Sunday in Advent presents an attitude of Presence, even as the Dark Side seems to grow without holy restraint.

The prophet Micah seems to have spoken during the Assyrian intimidation of Israel (740-722?) and perhaps even witnessed the devastation of Judah by Sennacherib (701?).  Much of his recorded message is of doom’n’gloom–BUT in today’s reading, 5:2-5a, a ray of hope shoots forth.  “But you, O Bethlehem of Ephrathah, who are one of the little clans of Judah, from you shall come forth for me one who is to rule in Israel….he shall be great to the ends of the earth; and he shall be the one of peace.”  The inheritor of David’s majesty is to come from the smallest, the poorest, the most unlikely backwater–just as David himself was the youngest and perhaps the weakest of other candidates.  The God who is to hallow a feed-trough for cattle will show up where least expected.

We’d have better chance of getting into the reading from Hebrews, 10:5-10, if we were more steeped in the tradition of sacrifice offerings.  Yet the writer does indicate God’s pleasure in taking human form, that is, becoming very man of very man, in order to show that wonderful and eternal things are displayed even & especially in the hopes and fears of one who grows older and eventually dies.  “And it is by God’s will that we have been sanctified through the offering of the BODY of Jesus Christ once for all.”

We preachers can be anarchists, delighting in that which is counter to the prevailing value system.  So we smirk with Mary in the Magnificat, Luke 1:46-55–“…[God] has looked with favor on the lowliness of [God’s] servant….”  God has scattered the proud, brought down the powerful, and sent away the sated, leaving their food for the poor.  This must be threatening and embarrassing to the minions of Law & Order in all ages.  Mary’s song exults that God has turned the world upside-down, and calls those still yearning for the dawn to expect even more than they dare!

Since I’m small of stature and poor of pocket-book, I’ve always been disregarded by society’s bigwigs.  This weekend’s readings help me to find my voice, even as Holy Starburst puts a finer light on that morality which has been discarded as impractical.  May the Child of Christmas be your day-star too.

God Bless Us, Every One                                Horace Brown King

My attempts to explore lectionary passages assigned to the upcoming weekend may be found each Tuesday at this spot on Facebook; or at horacebrownking.com

Most of the faithful gathered for worship on this Third Sunday in Advent will not feel as much Joy as the liturgy recommends.  Perhaps they’re discouraged about the state of the world, or perhaps they’re just tired of Christmas shopping.  The Ghost of Christmas Presents brings lots of guilt and remorse:  a nostalgia for how we remember the Old Days, and a realization that we live mostly in a land of broken dreams.  So the Joy of Gaudete Sunday may come as a welcome oasis in the wilderness of Holiday “Festivity”.  “When Santa Claws, it’s time to pause.”

Perhaps some words from the Prophet Zephaniah (3:14-20)?  “Rejoice and exult with all your heart!…The king of Israel, the Lord, is in your midst; you shall fear disaster no more.”   Zephaniah dares to dream GOD’s dream, to hope GOD’s hope.  Here is an interruption of gloom with a vision of God-With-Us, Immanuel.  Even though we fear that the Dark Side is winning, this Prophet says that our vindication, our salvation “is in your midst”.  “I will remove disaster from you…I will save the lame and gather the outcast.”

The Epistle is but a mere four verses from Paul to the Philippian believers, 4:4-7.  Here is an echo of Zephaniah:  “Rejoice always in the Lord; again I will say, Rejoice!”  But don’t you understand the urgency and chaos out there?  Our motive for Joy is not for a pleasant life, but because the Lord is near.  Dare we believe that?  “Joy snaps us out of our fascination with what is toxic, degrading, ugly and divisive in the world around us and urges us to become witnesses to God’s tenderness, beauty and intimacy…”  (Martin L. Smith, in SOJOURNERS)

Kathy Beach-Verhey introduces us to Luke’s Gospel account of John the Baptizer’s message (3:7-18):  “There is no getting to Bethlehem and the sweet baby in the manger without first hearing the rough prophet in the wilderness call us to repentance.”(FEASTING on the WORD, C 1:69)  We have little benefit in the face of the ChristChild unless we’ve moved beyond our former tawdriness.  The Baptizer made some concrete instructions:  to make unselfish choices, to live within one’s means and to do justice.  Baptism became the mark of God, and those who were so marked have been constrained to a new ethic and a purity of heart.  Remember that YOU were baptized–and be glad!

Cultural Christmas has become a rat-race.  The Sundays of Advent bring a compulsion to offer a counter-cultural Joy to the world which is weary of tinsel.  Angelic admonitions to “Fear Not!” are gladly heard, yet difficult to believe.  A bold prophecy of this weekend’s scriptures may yet buoy the spirits of the jaded in your pews.

God Bless Us, Every One                        Horace Brown King

My encounters with scripture lessons assigned to the upcoming weekend can be found every  Tuesday at this spot on Facebook; or at horacebrownking.com

We of  liturgical bent are savoring the journey through Advent, a season created to acknowledge the need for a soon-coming Savior to exorcise the brokenness within ourselves and our culture.  There are those who will preach this weekend’s texts as a prophet would, challenging that which is trite & tawdry & tarnished.   The job of a prophet, says Norman Podhoretz, is to confront the idol and those who would worship this idol.  Advent is our chance to yet again name the demonic in our midst that would rival God for our affection and allegiance.  But brothers and sisters, if you’re going to use the imagery of a Refining Fire, please be sensitive to those who’ve barely survived the recent infernos of California and other western USA states…

The Old Covenant revisits one of these prophets, Malachi, who reaffirms the hope for a Messiah to straighten things out (3:1-4).  “He is like a refiner’s fire and like fullers’ soap…he will purify the descendants of Levy…but who can endure the day of his coming?”  What in the lives of the worshipers is in need of refining, and will it hurt much?  Advent reminds us that the Savior’s amazing entrance brings Comfort & Joy only after the Junque is removed!  Malachi’s ancient oracle indicates that Creation yet unfolds as we are being carted unto perfection!

Paul anticipates this perfection as he greets the Church in Philippi, 1:3-11.  “In the day of Christ you may be pure and blameless.”  As we stand somewhat removed from the Manger of Bethlehem, we recognize that there’s still a lot of perfection to be achieved, and much of this will be accomplished through “the Refiner’s fire”.  We Philippians yearn for “the wrong to fail and the right prevail”, even if this Peace on Earth comes with a searing price.

The Lesson from Luke, 3:1-6, begins with a laundry list of the powerful, not only for historical context, but also to contrast with the flower-child (John the Baptizer) who comes from the Wilderness to speak a necessary Truth.  The process of making the paths straight and level involves a radical departure from the topography we’ve experienced of economic highs ‘n’ lows, moral disregard and endless mountains of materialism.  Has the landscape changed (and should it)?  Kathy Beach-Verhey  claims, “Our repentance, our turning around, will likely involve us looking at the structures and the systems and the people of the world around us in new and different ways.”  (FEASTING on the WORD, C 1:49)

Julie Polter has an excellent article, “A Whirlwind in a Wildfire”, in SOJOURNERS of December 2018.  She speaks of her/our self-righteous rage at the way things are, and our impulse to burn it all to the ground.  “Revenge fantasies, however justified they may feel, are not the same as God’s righteous anger.  Your fire is not God’s fire….There will be plenty of fire to go around, everyone restored to show-room condition…. When the tumult and ash of Advent settles, we are left waiting and watching–intent on the promise that God will one day make all things new….We put down our matches and look to bear witness to God’s fire instead.”  May your hearts be strangely warmed…

God Bless Us, Every One!                               Horace Brown King

My arsonist tendencies are examined every Tuesday at this spot on Facebook; or at horacebrownking.com