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How do you start a firefly race? Line up the participants; then somebody shouts, “Ready…Set…GLOW!” (Boy, is that an old one!) Scriptures to be read this upcoming weekend address the idea that Men Of Old glowed because they looked at the face of God–and so do we! Some folks, then and now, would like to believe this to be a scary experience, an immersion into the Holy that they’d rather avoid. Yet God keeps coming (often in a cloud) to transfigure all who bear a Godly image into a lively reflection of Grace…

EXODUS 34:29-35 tells how Moses, after receiving the tablets of the Law/10 Commandments, came down Mt. Sinai to form the Hebrews/Israelites into a community around these Laws. “The skin of his face shone because he had been talking with God.” Moses was transfigured through his intimacy with God, and so shall ALL be who adhere to these basics. But some couldn’t handle the immediacy of change, so Moses donned a veil out of compassion. People of faith are called to be in intimate proximity to God.

Paul alludes to this occurrence in his Second Letter to the CORINTHIANS 3:12-18: he says that Christ alone can remove the veil which even then shielded the hearts of the Hebrews from the holiness being revealed to them. You may remember that when Jesus died the veil which shrouded the Holy of Holies from profane view was torn in two so that EVERYONE could see God face-to-face. And yet our own transformation into the image of Christ is one of gradual increments as we become more and more involved with the faithful ethics of love and justice. “And all of us, with unveiled faces, seeing the glory of the Lord as if reflected in a mirror, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another.”

The Gospel, LUKE 9:28-43, is the well-known tale of Jesus taking Peter, James & John up the mountain of Transfiguration to pray. While there they saw him aglow as he talked with Moses and with Elijah–the Law & the Prophets–just as a holy cloud enveloped them. Again, not for the first time nor the last, a great Voice told them to pay attention to the holiness in their midst. Are there other voices that we need to block? Even though veiled by this cloud, the disciples still knew that God was present. Despite Peter’s weak attempt to preserve the moment and capture the Holy, they had to descend from the mountain to business-as-usual in the rest of the world, that is, making whole the boy who had convulsions. The passage is to read as a whole, contrasting the intention of God with the brokenness and suffering of Creation still waiting for redemption.

These readings, at face value, remind the hearers that intimacy with God changes our demeanor and disposition. They also urge those who glow only occasionally to get closer, by faith and by action. We once taught Bible-school kids a little ditty (with apologies to Spike Jones and some others): “Glow little Christian, glimmer, glimmer; Shine little Christian, shimmer, shimmer…” And there was probably more to it, but you get the idea! Get close to God, light up the rest of the world!

In the process of unfolding, Horace Brown King

Join me every Tuesday at horacebrownking.com to share the fire and the fear of readings assigned to the upcoming weekend….

Well, I screwed up, last week. Turns out that I sent the scripture lessons for THIS week by mistake. So, with little else to do, I thought we could explore the Psalm of the Day, which is PSALM 37. The Revised Common Lectionary uses only verses 1-11, plus the last two, 39 & 40. What’s with the interior voices, you ask? They’re fine, but rather repetitive; worship planners can still get the gist of the Psalm by using the verses as they appear.

Unlike many of the Psalms, this is neither a prayer nor a “song”: here we have a series of proverbs shared by an elder (or maybe God?) as Wisdom by which the righteous will prosper and the “wicked” will get theirs. “I have been young and am now grown old, and never have I seen a righteous man forsaken.” There are times when, Job-like, we grow impatient for restitution–or is it revenge?–and for the clouds to pass; but this Psalm tells us to be patient, to keep on keeping on.

Is there an incentive, then, for being faithful? “The rich get rich and the poor get children.” Am I convinced of God’s careful intervention when the Military and the Captains of Industry luxuriate with many benefits, while the rest of us campaign for a Living Wage?? Grandma told me that sinful and riotous living will eventually come back to haunt the “wicked”. Zat so?

So the task of the Psalmist is to comfort the reader by reminding said reader that God’s still in charge. Even though the vindication of the righteous isn’t yet in sight (?) God “will make your righteousness shine clear as the day and the justice of your cause like the sun at noon”. We’re told not to get all worked up by the evening news but to view the moral maelstrom with trust and expectant hope.

“Wait for the Lord and hold to [God’s] way….Deliverance for the righteous comes from the Lord, their refuge in time of trouble. The Lord will help them and deliver them; [God] will save them because they seek shelter with [God].”

In the process of unfolding, Horace Brown King

My struggle with Scripture assigned to the upcoming weekend may be enjoined every Tuesday at horacebrownking.com

I know that I feel better when I can just let it go. Holding a grudge for the many times I’ve been criticized (sometimes rightly) or ghosted seems only to make things worse. Much of our prevailing culture is built on revenge or somehow identifying an adversary–readings for the upcoming weekend remind the hearer that forgiveness is “the better way” and that its rewards are freeing us–both complainer and those forgiven–from a prison of guilt which may/probably will eat away at our soul.

The Old Testament story is a familiar one: GENESIS 45:3-11 is the morality tale of Joseph forgiving his “evil” brothers. You may remember that Joseph was the favorite son of Jacob, and he unwisely lorded it over his older brothers, founding fathers of the Twelve Tribes. But now we find him in Egypt, having made it big in the palace of Pharoah. The brothers have come there to beg for aid in the midst of famine, not recognizing Joseph or knowing that he was in charge of the storehouses. Boy, were they surprised! But a generous Joseph said to them, “And do not be distressed, or angry with yourselves, because you sold me here; for God sent me before you to preserve life.” It was necessary for God to preserve Jacob’s family in order to continue the covenant once made with Abraham. Joseph introduces a divine process in maintaining the Hebrew HolyHistory and puts the matter into God’s gracious hands as part of The Plan.

I CORINTHIANS 15:35-38,42-50 continues Paul’s exhortation to this church of diversity and many beliefs about death. He speaks of the “physical body” and then of the “spiritual body”, both of which grow by gracious plan. “Resurrection” puzzles most of the believing world, not just the ancient Corinthians! Paul contrasts the folk-belief about angels and dancing in heaven (see this morning’s obituaries) with the eternal power given even to the weak and invalid. The concept of putting off mortal ills and putting on gracious perfection deals a great deal with whether we can accept that we ARE forgiven….

LUKE 6:27-38 is more of Jesus’ “Sermon on the Plain”, a whole laundry-list of ethical behavior which is quite different from the way the world usually turns. “But love your enemies, do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return. Your reward will be great, and you will be children of the Most High; for [he] is kind to the ungrateful and the wicked.” We are told to go against the prevailing “wisdom”, to row bravely against the currant. It’s not easy, least for me. Yet despite our struggles to love our enemies, God continues to love us, continues to pick us up, dry our tears and dust us off for the next encounter. The “great reward” of which Jesus speaks is not one of material wealth or even personal satisfaction, but rather one of becoming more like Jesus, “going on to perfection”.

Allen Hilton tells us that “in the moment of forgiveness, the wronged one is transformed as a critic of the world as it is to co-creator with God of a brand-new world.” (FEASTING on the WORD, C 1:367) And so is the one forgiven, despite the depth of his/her rancor! Be at peace with others, and may God help all of us to mend our bridges…

In the process of unfolding, Horace Brown King

Join me every Tuesday to examine (and be examined by) Scripture lessons assigned to be read during the upcoming weekend–at horacebrownking.com

Back in The Day, we Jr.-Hi boys would spend all our nickels at Rocky Glen Park on the old Nickelodeon machines, where you’d crank a handle and see a “racy” victorian scene: What the Butler Saw. The machines rarely worked..and were always disappointing. Scriptures read this weekend are intended to help humanity see God–or at least appreciate God’s other-ness. They deal with meeting God in a Holy Place or at the seashore. Seems God is everywhere…

ISAIAH 6:1-8 is a passage well-known to every “professional” minister. It compares the majesty of God with the human realization that we’re small imperfect creatures. Says the prophet on our behalf, “Woe is me! I am lost, for I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips: yet my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts!” But a messenger of the Lord touched Isaiah’s mouth with a hot coal from the altar, burning the sin away. In response, the prophet volunteered to take the divine message to the world: “Here am I; send me!” The story isn’t so much about Isaiah as it is the magnanimity of God’s Grace. The hearer is encouraged to respond in faithful reaction; but God moves first… Isaiah doesn’t heal himself, indeed he cannot; yet he acknowledges God’s might in changing his life, which is more than he can do with any resolutions.

I CORINTHIANS 15:1-11 is one of those Pauline passages emphasizing the divinity and permanence of Christ. Through a litany of Jesus’ post-resurrection appearances, Paul reminds the Church of their dependence upon Grace. This tweaks our ethic of Being Good, for indeed we ARE a people of unclean lips! Our conduct is to reflect our beliefs. We walk the slippery slope leading to perfection only by Grace, realizing that our world still has brokenness, poverty and homelessness. How do we encounter the risen Lord in all of this??

The billboard reads, “You catch ’em, I’ll clean ’em!”–referring, I suppose, to LUKE 5:1-11. And the message about making James, John & Peter “fishers of humans” is indeed worthy. But there’s more to this story: here is Immanuel (God With Us) being recognized by the crowd and needing a better podium from which to teach about the Kingdom of God. Does the immense catch of fish serve as a reward to Peter for the rental of his boat? or is the point of the tale Peter’s confession of his own shortcomings…? Yet another life being changed by the perception of God!

Unlike the balky nickelodeon machines, the vision of the Holy never disappoints. God seems to like being seen, although we rarely appreciate the holy vision until it appears. This season of Epiphany is created to point to the places where we can point to God! Where will the Lord show up today?

In the process of unfolding, Horace Brown King

Every Tuesday I’m privileged to stand in awe of scripture to be read on the upcoming weekend: join me at horacebrownking.com