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Mother Theresa of Calcutta had some question about her vocation.  Her counselor told her, “If you are happy with the idea that God calls you to serve [God] and your neighbor,this will be the proof of your vocation.  Profound joy of the heart is like a magnet that indicates the path of life.  One has to follow it, even though one enters into a way full of difficulties.”  (A GUIDE TO PRAYER FOR ALL WHO SEEK GOD, ed. by Job/Shawchuck, p.206)  Ideas about “happiness” vary–but the upcoming Sunday’s readings call the worshiper to joy and delight in what God is doing.

The passage from Acts, 16:16-34, is a longish tale about what befell the disciples as they went about in Philippi.  Briefly, it’s about Paul’s exorcism of an alien spirit which enabled a young girl to tell the future.  This greatly distressed her owners, who made much money from her precognition.  So they incited the crowd, and Paul & Co. were jailed.  BUT a midnight earthquake opened all the locks and doors of the prison; the jailer was distraught, but Paul calmed him and baptized him and his family!  What’s as surprising as the earthquake is that the group were SINGING and PRAYING:  could I do that when persecuted?  Here’s an example of turning distress into delight, despite the wounds of being beaten…

We’re still exploring the Easter-newness of Revelation, this time from the 22nd and final Chapter.  Waiting, yearning for some positive news in the midst of all the chaos, the hearer will delight in the last words of scripture:  God Wins!  And as God is on the way, our only requirement is to “wash our robes”/clean up our lives to put our best foot forward into the Eternal Kingdom.  Skip Johnson remarks that “it is an odd directive.  It points us away from sky gazing and orients us toward the everyday work of the faithful.”  (FEASTING on the WORD, C 2:534)  We who wait must be about the possibility of cleaning up the dust and debris around us.

John’s Gospel spends a lot of time in the Upper Room:  the Last Supper must be very important.  Jesus concludes his last instructions with the High Priestly Prayer; we’ll look at 17:20-26.  Hard to read and very metaphysical, in it Jesus blesses the disciples with their equal elevation to Eternity, not through human endeavors but only by Oneness with God.  Here is reason for Believers of all generations to delight, since none of us measure up to Perfection in this world.

Martin L. Smith writes in SOJOURNERS, “It isn’t easy in threatening times to renew our gift of joy.  Confronted by venality, xenophobia, denial, and ideological violence, we tense up and wear our grimness on our face as the badge of Christian moral seriousness. But without joy we are lost.” (June, 2019)  Today I’m wearing a t-shirt with a Disney Dwarf entitled “Grumpy”.  I guess I need to post Martin’s last sentence above my computer desk.  And to put this shirt in the laundry.

God Bless Us, Every One                                 Horace Brown King

My musings on the scripture lessons to be read on the upcoming weekend are found every Tuesday at this spot on Facebook; or at horacebrownking.com

“Charlie Brown, this is an excellent day for lying here on our backs and watching the clouds!”  “I couldn’t agree with you more….what do you see in the clouds, Linus?”  “Well, over there is a representation of Wellington’s defeat of Napoleon at the Battle of Waterloo.”  “Good grief!  I see a bunny and a horsey and a floor lamp…and, of course, the little red-haired girl…”  Scriptures for this upcoming weekend are geared to the dreamers, the visionaries among us.

The first vision is described by Luke in the 16th chapter of Acts, vv. 9-15.  Stymied from doing more ministry in Asia Minor, Paul reports a vision of a “man of Macedonia” asking for his help.  This wasn’t in the original game plan, but they went with all speed to Philippi, the district capital.  There, Paul & Co. found more receptivity from Lydia and her cohort of women than from the “men of Macedonia”.  Was Lydia also a visionary?  She was certainly caught up in the work of the Spirit, and undoubtedly paved the way for a local congregation to grow and prosper.  Notice that the community continues to grow, to become more diverse and world-wide. David G. Forney reminds us that “visions from God are surprising things, for they utterly transform us and alter our course.”   (FEASTING on the WORD, C 2:478)

Vision #2 (Revelation 21:22-22:5) is that of John the Divine, who beholds the City of God pouring out of Heaven: “I saw no temple in the city, for its temple is the Lord God the Almighty and the Lamb.”  The Temple of Jerusalem was considered the world-navel for generations–but now there’s no need to box God in, because in God is the centering of ALL the nations.  To those living in memory of the recent destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem, and to those remembering in holy- history the downfall of previous temples, this seems like a welcome permanence:  at last, the New Jerusalem will be indestructible!  Take THAT, you ruthless empires of the world!

The Vision of the Gospel (for today) is found in John 14:23-29, during Jesus’ long farewell discourse at the Last Supper.  Jesus calls the disciples to envision the coming Advocate, “”who will teach you everything, and remind you of all that I have said to you.”  What?  There’s more?  He knew that any movement wouldn’t survive and prosper without a central source which would be a template for centuries of ethical choices.  This vision deals with permanence, again–a new community is already being formed to be seen with the eyes of the heart.

I gotta confess that my lack of imagination limits me in what I see in the clouds.  I was much better at this sort of thing when I was younger and not so cluttered up with rational doubts and fears.  The trick, I suppose, is to push away world-time cataracts so that my visionary eyes can be renewed.  Help me to do this, Lord:  I’d like to see and be part of the Big Picture…

God Bless Us, Every One                         Horace Brown King

My encounters with the lectionary readings for the upcoming weekend can be witnessed every Tuesday at this spot on Facebook; or at horacebrownking.com

God’s time is not ours.  A thousand generations have come and gone, and still the headlines record our latest idolatrys and selfish incursions into injustice and material gain.  Faithful friends through the centuries have dutifully expected that today would be the day when God would fulfill God’s Kingdom…but the End Times have remained unseeable.  Or have they?  Scripture readings for the upcoming weekend bring the audacious realization that the long-awaited Kingdom is already happening!  Dare we announce this to an already skeptic audience?

Acts 11:1-18 describes the circumcision party of the Christian Jewish sect confronting Peter about going to a Gentile’s house and eating with him/them (Cornelius the Centurion).  This gives Peter opportunity to retell his story about the sheet with “clean & unclean” critters, and the ensuing reproof by God, “What I have designated as clean you must not consider UNclean” (Acts 10:9-18).  So the Holy Spirit came to the Gentiles, too!   “If then God gave them the same gift that he gave us when we believed in the Lord Jesus Christ,” says Peter, “who was I that I could hinder God?”  New and unexpected things are happening despite our stuffy rules.

At almost the conclusion (21:1-6) of the Revelation to John, the Divine tells us that “then I saw a new heaven and a new earth…”  I firmly believe that this passage, although often relegated to pie-in-the-sky futurism, is describing an ongoing building program begun at the Incarnation–or maybe before!  We’re already living in the middle of the story now unfolding.  Christians have authority to speak an alternative to death, greed and warfare:  “See, I am making all things new.”

John’s Gospel account, 13:31-35, is always enigmatic.  The word that springs out at me is “glorified”:  Biblicly, we imagine a bright light of Heavenly Fire which illumines and warms all the dark spots.  The rest of the world talks in terms of honor and distinction:  Milton claims, “for what is glory but the praise of fame?”  Thomas Troeger reminds us that “today’s reading may reveal how the church was continuing to struggle with Jesus’ radically transformed understanding of glory.” (FEASTING on the WORD, C 2:471)  We continue to struggle with this “now”ness as all around us are mired in our own agendas As Time Goes By.

I admit to a great deal of fatigue with the ongoing news of corruption in high places, exploitation of others in not-so-high places, and the seeming lack of compassion in so many.  Now that the high energy level of my ministry and indignation is but a fading memory, I cling (desperately?) to the reassurance that the foundations of God’s Place are already built and are growing day by day.  Perhaps I can still stand in the midst of the chill winds and quaver on about how God is really at work at a minor planet about which God hasn’t forgotten.

God Bless Us, Every One                              Horace Brown King

My thoughts and hopes about lectionary readings assigned for the upcoming weekend can be found every Tuesday at this spot on Facebook; or at horacebrownking.com

We could say that with Social Media & texting we live in community–sorta–and yet there’s something lacking, as we’re insulated within our own homes and not prone to body language or give ‘n’ take.  I myself need a group of flesh-bearing people to sit with, to worship with and with whom to share my hopes and fears.  Our post-Easter readings have concentrated upon building and articulating the community of the Risen Christ.   This weekend we hear the expressions of three leaders–Peter, John the Divine & John the Evangelist–as they affirm and bolster their respective Christian communities.

Acts 9:36-43 continues Peter’s story:  summoned by the community in Joppa which was mourning the death of Dorcas/Tabitha, he went there and raised her in the style of Jesus himself.  But the lesson isn’t so much about the miracle as it is about the group of “saints & widows”, brought together by mutual faith and a holy calling.    Not content with The Way Things Are, the gathered disciples sought instances of conversions, healing and life after death.  Is God’s Spirit still working within a group to repair that which has been broken?  It’s been shown time and again how a faith-partnership can realign that which is sick unto death into life itself!

The second reading is from The Revelation to St. John, 7:9-17.  It’s a vision of a multitude of persons from every corner of the world praising God heartily, even though they’ve “come out of the great ordeal”.  Sometimes persecution and sorrow unite all sorts of folks, a positive spin on admitting that the bumper-sticker is usually right…. It’s good to know that the Ultimate Community of Heaven is peopled by those whose earthly life has been naturally imperfect.

The Gospel, John 10:22-30, allows that the community of Christ–the “sheep”–are those who’ve been grasped by God for eternal life.  Far from being predestined, these are those who know Jesus as the Shepherd and who follow him.  We think of sheep as members of a flock, encouraging  each other in the direction of greener pastures.  John’s purpose in writing seems to be resourcing and building the faith-community to which he ministers.

In all of these instances only the one from Acts names members of each community; even there, Dorcas is remembered for her role within the group.  Otherwise, the actors are listed as “a great multitude of disciples”, reveling in their diversity before the One who makes all humans equal.  Martin L. Smith reminds us in SOJOURNERS, “It takes maturity to realize the more we embrace the revelation that each and every single human being is intrinsically eligible for eternal union with God in the communion of saints, then the more passionately we feel that all deserve living conditions here and now that support and enhance their God-endowed dignity and freedom.” (May 2019:44)  As the liturgy reads, “In life, in death, in the life beyond death, we are not alone.  Thanks be to God!”

God Bless Us, Every One                                  Horace Brown King

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