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The Journey is important.  We may never arrive at The Destination, even if we know where that is.  Honest worshipers must admit that they’re somewhere On Their Way, perhaps even a bit further than the last cairn marked; but new adventures and crises are daily fare.  The Season of Lent accentuates our pilgrimage:  called to put our hand in that of God, we step out confidently into the Cloud of Unknowing–just as did those who mentored us.  Scriptures explored this weekend refer to the robustness of the Journey…Come along?

The Hebrews had finally reached the Land of Canaan:  what would this new place hold for them?  Joshua 5:9-12 announces the end of their “Egyptian disgrace” of slavery and desert life, while reminding this People that God isn’t yet done with them.  Indeed, it’s virtuous to remember from whence we came, especially in times of new beginnings.   The journey has been arduous, but now we’re HERE!  But where are we, really?  Wise travelers know that the present earthly haven, no matter how pleasant, is but a base-camp for new vistas and horizons.

Paul has new glasses.  “From now on, therefore, we regard no one from a human point of view; even though we once know Christ from a human point of view, we know him no longer in that way.  So if anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation: everything old has passed away; see, everything has become new!”  (II Corinthians 5:16-17)   Lent directs us away from our previous astigmatism to an appreciation of how God is transforming others–even THEM.  If Christ is the savior of the world, how then can ANYone be outside his reach?  If there’s hope for the villains of our Past, why then should there not be hope for US who are newly arrived at the Promised Land?

The Parable of the Prodigal Son/Father (Luke 15:11ff) may lull us into familiarity–but there are some who are hearing this heavenly grace for the first time.  The narrator can’t improve on the story–it’s well told–but can lean on the idea of a God who yearns for the family to be again complete.  Part of that yearning is an admission of separation, knowing that most disciples have skeletons in their closets which should be wept over from time to time.  See how far we’ve come?  “Perhaps the parable can speak to us now of the joy of God in welcoming back a chastened, humiliated Christian church…to enjoy again the original inheritance of the gospel of grace.”  (Martin L. Smith, in SOJOURNERS, March 2019:49)

Ancient Hebrews and more modern Christians are not tourists:  the wilderness is harsh and brutal.  The Good News is that not only has God provided  daily sustenance, but also a sense of procession towards a Holy Place.  John Wesley spoke of being on the way to perfection:  even though the trail is littered with tarnished treasures,  our Journey approaches a homeland, day by day.

God Bless Us, Every One                                       Horace Brown King

My encounter with bible passages assigned to the upcoming weekend can be found every Tuesday at this spot on Facebook; or at horacebrownking.com

People who’ve come to worship on this Third Sunday in Lent more than likely are bringing baskets of anxieties with them.  They’d like to be closer to God, yet they fear that they’re somehow not worthy of God’s companionship.  Scriptures today attempt to affirm each one’s value as bearing God’s creative image–the mystery is that we are loved no matter what!  God evidently doesn’t measure with human scales.

“Why,” asks Isaiah of Babylon, “do you settle for a Twinky when God has set the table for a full-course dinner?” (55:1-9)   “Why do you spend your money for that which is not bread, and your labor for that which does not satisfy?”  Turning away from God’s bounty–or deferring it to “later”–leads to malnutrition and eventual death.  The Lord’s nearness means that we can call upon the God who likes to be “found”.  The “wicked” and “unrighteous” are those who cultivate cultural idols.  Do we need to list ’em?  Materialism; carelessness with other’s feelings and needs; military might; bullying; disregard of the stranger…

Those addressing I Corinthians 10:1-13 are cautioned against telling those who listen that “God Will Take Care of YOU!”  This could turn into a harangue about God’s list of “Who’s Naughty and Nice”, which seems to greatly dilute the message.  Whatever our idolatries may be, God’s faithful and steadfast love can drown them in a healing stream.  And thinking that I’m strong enough to stand by myself can be my greatest temptation–and greatest idolatry.  John Wesley called spiritual aids “means of grace”, all of them external before we make them our holy habits.

Ah! The parable of the Fig Tree, Luke 13:6-9!  I’ve liked this story, since it relates to my own.  We need to be careful about assigning roles to God/Christ/the Holy Spirit: what really matters is that you & I are each the unfruitful tree, not living up to our potential YET…and that’s where the grace comes in, with Yet Another Year.  Note that this tree isn’t accorded the fickleness of the elements, but gets special attention.  The gardener sees the possibilities, and hopes for Great Figs!  Every year, in my yard and in cracks in my driveway, seeds are planted unbeknownst to me, and by a force which defies all reason, grow wonderful things!   We almost always have a coneflower; some years, tomatoes.  One year we had a bush watermelon!  What will God have wrought THIS year?

According to the headlines, this is a harsh world.  A lot of emphasis is placed upon winning.  When we don’t win, our self-images tank and shame sets in.  Can I ever be really loved, or am I but a Sinner in the Hands of an Angry God??  Ralph C. Wood tells us that “what counts is God’s own faithfulness to us, enabling us to live faithfully for God amid all the chances and changes of our existence”.  (FEASTING on the WORD, C 2:90)

God Bless Us, Every One                                 Horace Brown King

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

In days Long Ago-before there were cell-phones–I was gathered from neighborhood play by my mother’s call from the back porch.  If I were too far afield to hear her and didn’t immediately show up, my Dad’s resonant tenor would pierce the suppertime peace, calling me to join the family.  If it got that far, I’d BETTER show up!  I was happy, because I was wanted and loved… Readings for this Second Sunday in Lent remind us if we’re feeling orphaned that God intends to be a Parent both benevolent and protective.

Abram gathered his family and possessions, painted his wagon, and set off for an unknown but hoped-for horizon.  We find him now in Genesis 15:1-12 lamenting that he’s still childless, without an heir, and running out of time.  God showed him the night sky: “Look toward heaven and count the stars, if you are able to count them….So shall your descendants be.”  And Abram moved from suspicion to belief, even though he was at the end of his rope (he thought).  Here is the human predicament of hope and worry which probably plagues us all.  The passage gives opportunity to again announce God’s audacious promise of unbroken inheritance.

In his letter to the Philippian Church (3:17-4:1) Paul urges them to imitate him, just as he imitates Christ.  Well, we all need a parent-like mentor, especially one who has been mentored by Christ himself.  I like the NIV translation of verse 21, about a savior who “will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like his glorious body”.  We’re reminded that our Family is heavenly, even though we earthly members struggle from time to time to understand our role (“citizenship”) with each other.  More than merely a social ethic, our involvement with each other is as brothers and sisters of an Eternal Parent.

Luke remembers (13:31-35) Jesus’ disgusted and frustrated wail, “Jerusalem, Jerusalem….How often have I desired to gather your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you were not willing!”  God’s ultimate desire is to gather us recalcitrant progeny ever closer for warmth and protection!  We’ve created sanctuaries for those like us–but are ALL welcome under the spread of love’s wings??  Lots of our company upon Spaceship Earth feel as though they’re lost and pelted in the storm…yet are too afraid (and maybe too stubborn) to accept the shelter of indiscriminate Grace.

There’s a spiritual which says in part, “Sometimes I feel like a motherless child, a long way from home.”  Our tendency is to find some sort of mother to snuggle with on stormy days.  Who then are our Mothers?  Ma Bell?  Mother Church?  a branch of the military?  a lodge, or a coven?  Even in Lent, we dare sing “Hail the heaven-born Prince of Peace! Hail the Sun of Righteousness!  Light and life to all he brings, risen with healing in his wings…”  Come, gather–there’s always room for you.

God Bless Us, Every One                                   Horace Brown King

My encounters with Scripture lessons for the upcoming weekend can be marked every Tuesday at this spot on Facebook; or at horacebrownking.com

Martin L. Smith, an Episcopal priest from Washington DC, reminds us that “taking refuge in God means entering into the heart of holy vulnerability:  God’s track is away from immunity into solidarity with the broken and abandoned and leads to being ‘numbered with the transgressors’.”  (SOJOURNERS, March 2019:48)  Our several excursions with The Tempter urge us to forget the despair of yesterday and rejoice solely in our possessions of today–but our thanksgiving is hollow if we won’t recall how deeply we had sunk in the Pit, and how greatly God ventured to extricate us.

Deuteronomy 26:1-11 gives us a formula for worship in the Land of Milk & Honey:  when the priest receives your offering of best produce you must then acknowledge God’s deliverance.  We can’t save ourselves with modern stuff, no matter how educated and technical we are!  So Lent is an intentional camp in the desert, just to keep things in perspective.  Wanderers all, our possible self-satisfaction puts us at risk of squandering our Holy Places.  Those who’ve received asylum are especially enjoined to celebrate the bounty given by God by joining with and embracing “the Levites and the aliens who reside among you”.

The passage from the Letter to the Romans, 10:8b-13, comes from the greater saga of Paul painfully acknowledging that many of his beloved Jewish family were not buying into the Christian experience.  He indicates that a person is overcome with Faith, and thereby justified; and then come various expressions of an ongoing and generous relationship with Christ, which is seen as sanctification.  (Who said that Paul wasn’t a Wesleyan!?)   And to our current Untied Methodist Church, we might paraphrase:  “For there is no distinction between Straight and LGBT; the same Lord is Lord of ALL and is generous to ALL who call on him.  For, ‘EVERYONE who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved’.”   ! ! !

Thousands of good sermons have been given on the Temptations of Christ, this year read from Luke 4:1-13.  To which this poor preacher can only add that our dependence on God is reinforced by a sojourn in places of hunger and despair.  The main danger Israel of the Exodus faced is to forget that YHWH is still needed amid their newly domesticated freedom.  Through the ages, our prosperity dulls our prayer-edge–it surely has for me!–and our Temptation is to forget how God has brought us through.  The devilish whisper of self-reliance pokes at us in so many ways…  Shakespeare wrote, “An evil soul producing holy witness is like a villain with a smiling cheek…”  (MERCHANT OF VENICE?)

Claudia F. Hernaman wrote in 1873,                                                                                  Lord, who throughout these forty days for us didst fast and pray,                                       teach us with thee to mourn our sins and close by thee to stay.

God Bless Us, Every One                           Horace Brown King

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