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Pastor Michelle usually begins prayer time at Central United Methodist by asking, “Where have you seen God this week?”  The task of the preacher or study-leader is to constantly remind us that God is in the business of clearing away those things which may obscure our vision of the ongoing Creation and Incarnation.  God continues to call us to High Places where we can observe the Spirit at work.  Today’s readings have a common thread of new vision and new recognition.

We begin with a pivotal portion of the Acts of the Apostles, 9:1-20, the “conversion” of Saul into Paul.  After the drama of the Damascus road, v.18 tells us that “his sight was restored” through the intercession of one Ananias.  What is the point of renewal that turns on an interior light, that scrapes the barnacles from the eyes of the soul?  Paul speaks often in his letters of the changed vision by which he now views others, even (and especially?) those who’ve somehow fallen off the radar.  Hearers of today are encouraged to understand more deeply how this works in their own lives.

We continue our Easter exploration of the Revelation to John in 5:11-14.  The passage is loaded with recollections of an enthusiastic crowd of  saints singing praise throughout the universe!  Yet I’m drawn to the very beginning, where it says “then I looked…”  When I’m looking for car-keys or a certain book, and I find the object right under my nose, someone is sure to say, “You didn’t look hard enough!”  Is it true that heavenly splendor can be visible if we just look?  Again, our task is to help the visually impaired to eliminate the tawdry filters through which they may now look:  how beautiful are others made in God’s Image!

The Gospel lesson of John 21:1-19 is “one more story” after the climax of the preceding chapter.  In this epilogue, the disciples try to sort things out by going fishing, something they used to do.  You probably remember the incongruity of the Stranger on the Beach finally being recognized by John, and the subsequent net-full of 153 fish.  (Somehow I think of Jesus slapping his forehead and saying, “The other side!  The OTHER side!  Oy!”)  I guess that they hadn’t expected to see Jesus on the beach.  Clouded with cynicism and disappointment, their eyes like ours needed to be re-focused.

Kathleen Norris helps wind us out:  “When a place or time seems touched by God, it is an overshadowing, a sudden eclipsing of my priorities and plans,  But even in terrible circumstances and calamities, in matters of life and death, if I sense that I am in the shadow of God, I find light, so much light that my vision improves dramatically.  I know that holiness is near.”  –AMAZING GRACE, a Vocabulary of Faith, p.31

God Bless Us, Every One                             Horace Brown King

My encounters with lectionary passages for the upcoming weekend can be found every Tuesday at this space on Facebook; or at horacebrownking.com

Rueben P. Jones reminds those who’ve survived Holy Week and Easter, “At this very moment, —you and I are in the presence of the living Christ.  To remember this truth is to be shaped constantly by the presence of God in Christ in our lives.  We often forget this central truth of the Christian faith, and when we do, we are easily overcome by the troubles of the world.”  (A GUIDE TO PRAYER FOR ALL WHO SEEK GOD, p.171. )    Thanks, bishop, I needed that.  I suspect that many of us are a bit drained.

During Eastertide, you remember, we substitute readings from the Acts of the Apostles for the usual Old Covenant lessons.  (“The Old is gone, the New is at hand.”)  Early occasions for ministry led to Peter & Friends being flogged and ordered not to preach Jesus any more (5:27-32).  The nascent community of Christ didn’t set about just to be ornery towards local authorities; but they did prioritize their obedience of God over human law.  They were community organizers of the new world order that sprung from the resurrection of Jesus.

A later affirmation comes from John the Divine, writing to churches of Western Asia Minor from his exile on the Isle of Patmos in the Aegean.  In his Revelation 1:4-8, he calls these congregations to see themselves as “a kingdom [of Christ], priests serving his God and Father.”  “Revelation was written to encourage these persecuted Christians to live in the power of the resurrection when evil seemed to be the only power at work in their world….reminding the reader that God is in charge of the world and God will have the last word….From beginning to end, this text is saturated with words and images of God’s complete dominion.”  (Charles D. Reeb, in FEASTING on the WORD, C 2:393)  “The job of the church is to crash the pity party of evil by announcing that the Lord God is Alpha & Omega.” (ibid.)

The Gospel story is that of “Doubting” Thomas (John 20:19-31), who spoke for all of us in needing more evidence of Easter.  We’ve dissected Thomas much-too-much:  his purpose here is to announce that the Rest of the Gang welcomed him back, even though he was AWOL.  And so, dear readers, does the Christ-bunch welcome each of us after our own certain trips “away”!   Don’t neglect the ruach, the heavenly breath, which empowers The Twelve and those who succeed them to speak of holy things.  Can our words then be enlightened with divine hope?

Bishop Job ties it all together:  “The risen Christ is with us and therefore we need not fear the events of this day or any day that lies in our future.  We know that each day will be lived in companionship with the only One who is able to rescue, redeem, save, keep, and companion us through every experience of this life and the next.”  (op.cit., P.172)

God Bless Us, Every One.                       Horace Brown King

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

When I was a lad, in the last century–h’rumph!–Easter was a really big deal.  There were lilies by the truckload, outsized corsages for mothers, and some kid in the jr. choir who threw up in the middle of the sermon because he’d already plundered his Easter basket.  The sanctuary was full of strangers, and some locals who wouldn’t be caught dead there on any other day….  Probably not this Easter.  Wonderful music, to be sure, and cousins from Peoria; but there’s a new seriousness, now…an awareness of Death and the possibility of coming out the other side?

Isaiah 65:17-25 is an apocalyptic vision of End Times, comparable to the final chapters of Revelation in the New Testament.  The prophet speaks of fairness and restoration in a tormented world, an act which can come only from God.  We struggle to appreciate things not yet realized, yet Easter demands a renewal from the deadly order of greed & anger.  Optimists, we dare to believe that the Spirit of God still blows over the waters of chaos, and that Death doesn’t have the final word.

Acts 10 tells of a high and holy moment in Peter’s spiritual understanding:  hungry, he had a three-fold vision of animals being let down from heaven in a “sheet”.  To his amazement, there were “unclean” creatures among the “clean”!  “Why then do you call ‘unclean’ what I have created?” said a Voice.  And at that moment, some Gentiles appeared to ask his presence at the home of Cornelius the Centurion–a place no practicing Jew would consider entering.  In today’s text, vv. 34-43, we and they receive God’s message of salvation to ALL persons–at this moment, The Way went from Hebrew cult to World Religion.  As Lauren Winner says, “What seemed absurd before Easter is now a real possibility.” (FEASTING on the WORD, C 2:368)  THAT’s why these people are in Church today!

The Easter Story, as always, is the account of John (the Beloved Disciple?) 20:1-18.  Too many will get lost in the romance of it all and neglect the amazement of the three who were met with the obviation of the Resurrection.  After the dew is off the roses, will the enormity of Life after Death sink in?  Did Peter run because he was eager to confess his shortcomings?  Maybe he sensed that there was something amazing even for him, after his disappointing encounter with the rooster…  Don’t shortchange verse 17, where Mary Magdalene and those who come after are commissioned to announce Jesus’ heavenly journey.

And so it’s a New Day.  The People of God’s Creation have been gathered, designed and re-designed, and now empowered to announce that Death is not the final word.  Even when the news is so bleak.  Even though we’re often shackled by our cultural discernment.  Even though we must die in order to be found by Life.  These are world-changing terms, and few will return next weekend to find out what’s happening.  Still, the Lord is Risen!  Indeed.

God Bless Us, Every One.                             Horace Brown King

My close encounters with lectionary passages for the upcoming weekend can be found every Tuesday at this space on Facebook; or at horacebrownking.com

I confess to being overwhelmed by all the possibilities for Palm or Passion Sunday each year.  Most will agree that the core of this observation is the affirmation that life, for Jesus, is drawing swiftly to a climax.  Perhaps those in the pews or chairs of Bible study are not yet willing to consign their own lives to accept the unceasing flow of events which necessarily define them.  I’ve chosen two readings from the “Passion” side, plus the Gospel account of the Entry to Jerusalem.  Some will merely want to watch the parade–but we can’t;  it’s calling us now!

“Who are my adversaries?  Let them confront me,”  says the Suffering Servant of Isaiah 50 (4-9a).  The Servant doesn’t hide away from trouble, nor does he/she go into exile.  The one who enters the stream of life fully is one who boldly goes into the arena, perhaps with no armor but faith in God:  “He who vindicates me is near; who [then] will contend with me?”  There are many who will try to contend, and they’re all represented in the street-crowd of Jerusalem, the Big Apple of its day.

Philippians 2:5-11 has been described as a parabola of the emptying of Jesus in order that God can affirm him as Christ.  Barbara Brown Taylor calls our attention to the space between verses 8 & 9–“While the first half of the passage is full of verbs [about Incarnation], in the second half of the passage, Jesus does nothing.  The verbs all belong to God.”  (FEASTING on the WORD, C 2:171)  What Jesus did best was to present a model of emptying in order that he could be filled with God.  We can make a jump to our individual journey; but what would happen if an entire congregation would empty itself in order to take the form of a slave?   And Richard Rohr tells us that this ancient hymn of the Church, whether Pauline or not, “boldly describes that ‘seecret hour’ when God in Christ reversed the parabola.” (WONDROUS ENCOUNTERS)  “However Christians decide to respond to this Christ hymn, either individually or communally, they die at verse 8.  After that, God takes over.”  (Taylor, op.cit.:173)

Don’t neglect the Bold Entry, this year found in Luke 19:28-40.  So many paintings, dramas & movies…are there folks who don’t know this story?  Just like Christmas Eve, I’m always amazed that there are one or two brave souls who admit that they hadn’t heard that before!  As I grow older, I emphasize the “triumph” less and lean on the “bold” more.  I’m realizing more ‘n’ more that joining the parade isn’t an option:  we’re in it already.

There are so many levels to the Palm Sunday narrative–and just as many dimensions of those on the Journey.  Some are more ready than others to jump into the passage of life, which includes the acceptance of death.  And that’s OK.  Christ has died; Christ has risen; Christ will come again.

God Bless Us, Every One                Horace Brown King

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

What do you say, when you receive an unexpected gift?  “Aw, gee, you shouldn’t have!”  “But I didn’t get YOU anything!” “What did I do to deserve this?”  Especially if it’s a really extravagant gift!  I remember that the bald man responded, when given a comb:  “I’ll never part with it!”  Readings of scripture that folks will hear this weekend describe unimaginable gifts–and the reactions to them.  We can take ’em straight, or we can allegorize them as representative of the Creator’s unrestrained lavishness.

Isaiah of Babylon describes the Lord as one “who makes a way in the sea, a path in the mighty waters.” (43:16-21)  Here is One who will stop at nothing to restore the People of Israel, to give them another chance at their homeland.  These people will not sneak back under cover of night, nor will they straggle along the old river road–no, God is making a direct road through the wilderness, a personal involvement in bringing back the Holy Community.  An exorbitant involvement indeed!

St. Paul reminds us, through his Letter to the Philippians (3:4b-14), just how blessed and gifted he is.  Yet he relegates all these significant trophies to the rubbish-bin in favor of the greatest gift of all, Christ Jesus the Lord.  Paul recognizes that this is an external bestowment, neither earned nor justified.  And he’s just begun to appreciate the magnificence included in it:  “Not that I have already obtained this or have already reached the goal; but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own.”  This extravagance is designed to lead us on through the wilderness to the Promised Land, even through and beyond a Cross.

The Gospel, John 12:1-8, tells of Jesus & Co. at dinner in Bethany, just outside Jerusalem, at the home of newly-resurrected Lazarus and his irrepressible sisters, Mary & Martha.  There are many nuances available:  pre-Passover, Mary’s intimacy with Jesus, the overpowering aroma of perfume, Judas’ worldly reaction, Jesus’ burial…  But the central point, to me, is the extravagance of the gesture which could be a response to the knowledge that in Jesus was God’s greatest gift.  Those who travel with Jesus reflect this generosity in their own compassion and unrestrained giving to the rest of the world.  George W. Stroup affirms, “In the figure of Mary, Christian discipleship is an act of adoration of and gratitude to the one who alone is holy.”  (FEASTING on the WORD, C 2:144)

Charles Wesley wrote, “What shall I render to my God for all his mercy’s  store?                             I’ll take the gifts he hath bestowed, and humbly ask for more.”

God Bless Us, Every One                        Horace Brown King

My understanding of lessons to be read on the upcoming weekend can be found every Tuesday at this space on Facebook; or at horacebrownking.com