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It’s all my parents’ fault. Maybe aided and abetted by an Elementary teacher, I was told early on that I “Could Be Whatever I Wanted to Be”. In High School, my guidance counselor tried to dissuade me; but it was too late. The twig had already been bent. Most of us own the human myth of thinking that we’re God-like: that we can grasp, overcome and manipulate the world around us to achieve power & fame & glory. Readings for this Second weekend in Lent remind us that God is God–and we’re not!

Abram & Sarai were old. God came to them again (Genesis 17:1-7, 15-16) with a covenant: no ifs, ands or buts, “I will”. Yet it was God’s expectation that these human archetypes would pursue a path of being right with God, i.e., allowing God to BE God. How will things turn out? They still didn’t know the ending–but it didn’t matter, since a Higher Power was in charge! Their new names indicated a deepening of their trust and their renewed walk with God. Who are we becoming, this Lent?

Paul writes, “For the promise that he would inherit the world did not come to Abraham or to his descendants through the law but through the righteousness of faith.” (Romans 4:13) In the ensuing 21st verse we read that he was fully convinced that God was able to do what [God] had promised. Even the improbable can be handled! Kierkegaard tells of the deer, who realizing he was confined, took a mighty leap of faith into “the free world”. Lent calls us, just as Abraham was called long ago, to take such a leap trusting that who we’re becoming will be according to this ancient covenant spoken by God. Question: did the deer leap OUT OF or INTO?

We glibly speak of self-denial and give up peanut butter for 40 days. This keeps us from looking too hard at Mark 8:311-38, where Jesus countered the temptation offered by Peter. This disciple, you remember, just recently affirmed that Jesus was the Messiah–but what he saw as messiah-hood was the powerful restoration of David’s crown. Certainly not suffering and a cross! The passage challenges our human point of view, and causes us to be punched hard with the earthly horribleness of Life With God. “If any want to become my followers, let them deny themSELVES (ego) and take up their [own] cross and follow me.” This is JESUS’ agenda, not Peter’s. W. Hulitt Gloer writes in FEASTING on the WORD, “All our efforts to make another way are a denial of the one who showed us the way, the way of the cross….As long as self reigns, we will forever be seeking painless shortcuts to the kingdom..” (B 2:73)

So who am I, this Lent? I invite you to join me in a demanding quest: first, to identify who we really are (ego); and then, to stop doing those things which seem to be a glorification of the Self and a denial of the Godly. Is this self-flagellation or some other form of masochism? I trust and expect that this habit will lead me closer to the God-head…

In the process of unfolding, Horace Brown King

You’re invited to join me every Tuesday as scripture for the upcoming weekend peels back my pride on this spot in Facebook; or at horacebrownking.com

In a moving article by Rose Marie Berger in February’s SOJOURNERS entitled, “In Paradise, They Play Jazz” there are some quotes for this First Sunday In Lent from Dave Brubeck:

The temptation to rationalize one’s compromising as a means to gain idealistic ends is the theme of the wilderness dialogue between Jesus and the Devil.

Louis Armstrong later sang Brubeck’s lyrics, “They say I look like God. Could God be Black?….You raised us from the dust and breathed a life with trust and gave man the great choice to be alone on earth or one with Thee….When will that great day come?”

Seems as though these may find a home in our weekend homilies. May you have a Blessed Lent…

In the process of unfolding, Horace Brown King

In his book, WHERE THE WILD THINGS ARE, Maurice Sendak tells of a little boy who’s been naughty and given a time-out in his bedroom. He falls asleep and dreams of a land where strange beasts and critters live. They even make him king! Our Lenten pilgrimage is usually to a strange land where we’re confronted by Wild Beasts, demons and the tempter’s question of “Who do you think YOU are?” This weekend’s readings will affirm that God is/has been there before; indeed, has created these wildernesses and times of quarantine. Would that we had only 40 days to go! What will our culture be like when the Ark finally settles onto firm ground?

When the doors of Noah’s Ark finally opened, God spoke to the newly released inheritors of the earth, “I am establishing my covenant with you and your descendants after you…” (Genesis 9:9) As they escaped their quarantine, God hung his war-bow upside-down as a non-intimidating rainbow, and announced that all life is sacred: the green alligators & long-necked geese, even cats & rats & elephants. Some of these are considered “wild things”, yet they’ve been Created with a holy essence running through their veins. This is a radical alternative to our basic (sinful?) nature to despoil the universe by trying to control it. The passage introduces us to Lent as God binds God’sself to this covenant…and evidently expects us to consider ourselves likewise bound.

So where are the Wild Things in I Peter 3:18-22? The lection is a reprise of the Noah story (without the animals) proclaiming the sacredness of all creatures. Here is a creedal statement, especially about baptism and the role which Incarnate God in Jesus continues to affirm. As we consider Holy Journeys, whether to lands of strange beasts or the wilderness where we are developed, here is our itinerary: to move into desolate places where the familiar and comfortable are only dim memories. Discipleship–especially in Lent–rejects our attempts to retire from the field and reminds us (me) that deserts happen; and that there is still Godly comfort and relief when Wild Beasts question who I am….

“(Jesus) was in the wilderness forty days, tempted by Satan; and he was with the wild beasts and the angels waited on him.” (Mark 1:13) Not much detail, here; we’re invited to imagine our own. Did the beasts of the Ark roar at night for their prey? Did Jesus remember that Adam gave them all names before trying to be God himself? What other demonic forces or hallucinations came to challenge God-made-Man during the sleep-deprived and hunger-filled days of desperation? Jesus too was quarantined and observed social distancing. On an extended solo camping trip to Nowhere, what is essential to bring? and what should we leave behind? What are the nuances between the voices of the Tempter and angels?

It’s too easy to give up potato-chips for Lent. If I were true my calling, my covenant, I would preach to people that just when they’re filled with the Holy Spirit of God, then they’re liable to be sent to the wilderness. I would wait at the desert’s borders to guide other pilgrims across, since I’ve been here before. Pilgrims should be made aware that there ARE demonic questions to answer about who we are: everyone’s demons look different, yet they all have the agenda of wrecking our self-worth. Happy camping! Spring rains and the glories of Easter will be here…in a bit.

In the process of unfolding, Horace Brown King

Come join me in being assaulted by lectionary readings for the upcoming weekend! Every Tuesday at this spot on Facebook; or at horacebrownking.com

The opening music for THE MUSIC MAN finds a bunch of traveling salesmen riding a train car in 1906. They were comparing notes about their business, which was perceived to be declining. They blamed the cracker-barrel becoming obsolete, and the Model-T: “you can say what you wanna, but it’s different than it was.” “No, it aint! No it aint, but you gotta know the territory!” Readings for Transfiguration tell stories of change, and are appropriate for pandemic-saturated hearers who by now are convinced that “it’s different than it was”.

In II Kings 2:1-12 we can read about Elijah’s ascent into Heaven in a fiery chariot, right in front of his mentee, Elisha. Who was transfigured here? Many will say that this is about ELISHA more than his mentor: we’re given this story so that we might remember our own experiences with the Holy and the resultant change. Transfiguration implies growth, a maturing of thought about who we are. We note that Elijah & Elisha visit the sacred places, but do not stop there; the ultimate theophany is met in the unnamed space beyond the Jordan. In this unlikely spot, Elisha is now equipped to take up the mantle and resume speaking for God.

In II Corinthians 4:3-6, Paul equates being changed with seeing the light. He says that “the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ…” There are many distraction, both outside and inside the Church, which keep us too busy to worship or serve in any meaningful way. My bookshelf-lined study is most comfortably protecting me from the snow coming by my window. Paul keeps urging us Corinthians to allow the Creator of Light to shine clearly from our hearts…

Mark’s Gospel (9:2-9) is the familiar story of Jesus taking Peter, James & John up the mountain, where he was changed before them into a brilliant light, along with Elijah & Moses, the Law & the Prophets. Traditionally we think of this excursion as a way for Jesus to be strengthened for the coming conflict and crucifixion. But don’t forget to include the Fisher-Folk in the story, because it was also done for their benefit. Evidently the world and the people therein are capable of Change, and DO change when so encouraged! The voice from the cloud was specifically for the Disciples and the Church which they fathered.

I’ve gotta admit that I’m a charter member of the Flat Earth Society. I’m distressed by change, and prefer that everything would stay the same. Sometimes I chase History to see The Old Way, and am usually disappointed to see the incursions of modernity. But as the salesmen affirmed, “it’s different than it was!” The computer upon which I write this is an improvement from the word-processor, the typewriter and the pencil. My car has turn-signals and a good defroster; in the future I expect to be driving an electric vehicle. Who knew that we’d be carrying our own phones in our pocket? (Sure beats cranking) Wherever we’re going in this crazy time, there’ll be Change. Pray for me, and I’ll pray for you, that we may welcome this Change and grow!

In the process of unfolding, Horace Brown King

Come join me in being changed by Scripture for the upcoming weekend, every Tuesday at this spot on Facebook or at horacebrownking.com

Or has made all things “Whole”. Readings for the upcoming weekend are intended to reassure hearers that God is not only all-powerful but has mercy and compassion on even the least of Creation, even (and especially) the growing things and the young ravens. There’s a definite connection between WHOLENESS and HOLINESS–and completion. When we seek healing we’re really after perfection, a restoration of How Things Should Be. Some of that is a matter of taking our assigned spot, humbling as that may be, and letting God BE God.

Second Isaiah writes from Babylon (40:21-31) that God is beyond our imagination: “To whom then will you compare me, or who is my equal?” Despite this majesty, God is One who renews the strength of the exhausted and the weary, causing them/us to rise up with eagle wings and resume their allotted space in Creation’s scheme. It appears that God will comfort us despite our earthly limitations–if we totally renounce our arrogant desire to control everything…

Paul continues (I Corinthians 9:16-23) what he broached last week, that our “freedom” is limited by our responsibility: we’re not to pull the fire alarm during a crowded basketball game! His desire is to become like even those “outside the law” in order to understand their point of view better. Has not God, in the Incarnation, done the same? Stepped “down” from Heaven’s clouds to be human? This identification with the un-Whole is the real freedom, and from this healing proceeds. V. Bruce Rigdon maintains that “the Gospel envisions freedom as the right of individuals, not to do as they choose, but rather to relinquish their rights for the sake of others.” (FEASTING on the WORD, B 1:33)

After exorcising the demon in the synagogue, Jesus & Co. go to Simon Peter’s house for supper (Mark 1:29-39). But Simon’s mother-in-law was sick in bed! Not to worry: Jesus took her hand, she got better, and served them supper! Sexist, at first view, we see here classic healing: the touch of Jesus restores the sick one to their normal role. There seems to be a need for touch, an intimate knowing of the person and participating in their bodily imperfections. Dr. John Sherwood, a wise physician, told me always to touch the patient in some way, affirming their “touchability” and thus noting their worth. In an important footnote, Jesus isn’t content to stay caged in Capernaum as a resident healer and economic source. He has a wider area in which to teach and heal…

These readings speak kindly to the “lame, the least, and the lost” and the reader will do well to present them clearly and with a sense of “right now”. The quest for Wholeness is an everyday occurrance, especially in the grip of a never-ending pandemic. Many (most?) of us don’t expect to survive, no less return to what we remember as “normal”. Yet in the words of Julian of Norwich, “All is well…”

In the process of unfolding, Horace Brown King

You’re invited to watch me get slapped by Scripture readings assigned to the upcoming weekend every Tuesday at this spot on Facebook; or at horacebrownking.com