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I remember in college that a bunch of us middle-class White kids learned this song from PORGY & BESS. Looking back, it seemed rather incongruous. Yet scriptures for the upcoming weekend revolve around an everlasting problem of economic injustice: I was gonna call the blog Too. Much. Stuff. Most of us need to be smacked around for having overflowing closets and garages. Storage units? Acres & acres! Our wallets are fat and so are we–while we give our little bits to the Church and maybe Oxfam or Heifer International… Shame on us! We’re missing God’s Kingdom.

Our reading from the Older Testament comes from the oracles of HOSEA, arranged as Chapter 11, verses 1-11. But this isn’t about humans, it’s about God’s steadfast love. This is a soliloquy of a disappointed parent, remembering how cute the nascent Israel was; and now the child has gone from home and run amok! “My people are bent on turning away from me…” YHWH is practicing his angry-speech in front of the mirror–but he’s not good at this: “I will not execute my fierce anger…For I am God and no mortal, the Holy One in your midst, and I will not come in wrath.” Do we take advantage of God’s leniency?

The Letter to the COLOSSIANS, here 3:1-11, is very Greek in that it divides Creation into “earthly” and “heavenly”, separating God from the dust which God called “good”. The author does, however, speak of ridding ourselves of antisocial habits: “anger, wrath, malice, slander, and abusive language from your mouth”. He rightly accuses us of having too much un-Christly baggage, things we shoulda thrown in the dumpster long ago.

LUKE 12:13-21 continues the long journey of Jesus to Jerusalem, as he’s met with human needs and offers heavenly answers to them, often through parables. This story of his is well-known, though seldom practiced. A successful grower worried about where to stow his bumper crops, his Stuff. But God told him that he couldn’t take it with him… The fellow has two counts against him–a) his barn is overflowing while many are going hungry; and b) having lots of Stuff to care for derails him/us from thinking about and serving God alone. Some folks are “rich in things but poor in soul”.

I’m writing this in my fan-cooled comfortable study, surrounded by books I’ll never read again and my stamp collection. I’ve just finished breakfast where I’ve had a choice of cereal & toast. Before that, I had to choose between three pair of shoes, six sets of slacks and many shirts. Sure, I tithe and a little more, plus give regularly to NGOs. All of which sets my worth at….nuthin’! Who wants our Stuff? It’ll probably just sit here, doing good to no one, until we die and our kids throw it out… Too much baggage to be a disciple.

In the process of unfolding, Horace Brown King

Come with me every Tuesday to be challenged by scripture lessons assigned to the upcoming weekend– horacebrownking.com

J. Philip Newell has commented, “To look to God is not to look away from life but to look more deeply into it.” (LISTENING TO THE HEARTBEAT OF GOD, Paulist Press, p.48) Too many in our pews try to separate the Holy from the Secular; readings for the upcoming weekend seem to address the concept of God in All Things. Our prayer-life is a matter of basking in the holiness in and around us, tasting the joy of the morning blackbird’s song and being at one with the sea crashing “around the old eternal rocks”.

The prophet HOSEA can be a problem to read. Chapter 1 deals with his God-commanded marriage to a promiscuous woman and the ultimate birth of three children, each symbolically named. These represented the tawdry prostitution of the Israelites and their broken covenant, for which evils God planned to destroy them. “Hosea’s marital drama models the emotional life of the Lord’s experience with Israel, in sorrow, anger, and longing.” (Willis Jenkins, FEASTING on the WORD, C 3:270) Nature’s morality can’t be separated from that of YHWH. Gomer’s/Israel’s lovers to compete with God were many; have they changed over these centuries? BUT–verse 10 indicates God’s plan to someday restore these, that they’ll be called “children of the living God”.

I can understand why COLOSSIANS 2:6-19 could be called PSEUDO-Pauline. The passage reflects Paul’s theology of the crucifixion and resurrection, but gives very little instruction for our daily living. The disciple is encouraged, though, to put aside the footnotes of dietary habits and special secular festivals. The bottom line is that Christ Jesus IS in all things and continues a royal presence even in our own backyard!

How then shall we pray? Is there a special formula, a cache of holy words? Must we come at God with sweetness and soft tone (“O Dear Lord” or “I just wanna suggest..”)? Jesus’ disciples saw that other religious teachers taught their followers a learned prayer pattern–so Jesus taught them what we know today as “Our Lord’s Prayer”. Here was a reference to the unity of Creation: “on earth as it is in heaven”. Here also is acknowledgement of our basic needs, our “daily bread” measured out for today. Here too is an admission that the Tempter, the Evil One, continues to prowl around with enticing phrases…

Western (European-rooted) theology insists (durn ya, Augustine) in splitting the earthly from the heavenly. Yet there’s something holy in ALL things–a baby’s face, the morning fire–and these are worthy of being praised. The need, then, is to drop our own agendas and careful plans in order to fully appreciate God-in-all around and within us…”Lord of All, to Thee we raise this our hymn of grateful praise.”

In the process of unfolding, Horace Brown King

Join me at horacebrownking.com every Tuesday as we’re confronted by scripture passages to be read on the upcoming weekend.

You’re probably aware of the Frank Sinatra Syndrome: “do-be-do-be-do”. It often leads to those heavily into a Work Ethic putting down the mystic contemplative ones who choose to bask in the Holiness of Creation all around them. Synods have been called and wars fought over the seeming divide between Faith and Works. Scriptures to be heard this weekend are reminders that the disciple can (should?) be BOTH: there are times to change the world AND there are times to watch the clouds…

AMOS 8:1-12 is an ethical rant against the corrupt business practices of the Northern Kingdom–and also against Israel’s leadership that promotes and passes over such corruption. The root of the problem was that these leaders had so far gotten away with it: “What does God know? We’ve been very successful!” Yeah, so far. But sooner or later, the piper must be paid, and such retribution will be like the ending of a bitter day. In retrospect, we can see how the Assyrians invaded that Northern Kingdom and dispersed the Ten Lost Tribes to the ends of the earth… But can the hearer make the leap from Antiquity to Right Now?

The author of COLOSSIANS 1:15-28 has chosen a hymn that may already be part of that congregation’s liturgy to speak of the riches found in Jesus. These riches are contrasted with the “evil deeds” once done, and the congregation is challenged to make a definitive decision for Christ. This congregation seems to have been named as the poster-boy for world-wise deeds: even the Colossians can find redemption if their hearts keep right! And you?

Which brings us to the Gospel of LUKE, 10:38-42. On their way to Jerusalem, Jesus & Co. stopped at a village nearby (sometimes identified as Bethany) to be the guests of old friends, Martha and her sister Mary. Martha’s OCD got the better of her, and she fussed at Mary for listening to Jesus instead of helping put a meal on the table for all those people. Yet Jesus said that Mary had chosen the good portion; i.e.,kwitcherbellyachin’.

We sometimes beat up on the Martha’s who want to make sure everything is as perfect as possible. Or we grouch at the Mary’s who want to sit in God’s Presence and recognize that all things have been created by God and pronounced “good”. These readings suggest that we can be BOTH hearers and doers and that the world needs both the sky-watchers AND the movers & shakers! F’r goodness sake, go outside and play!

In the process of unfolding, Horace Brown King

Join the conversation every Tuesday as we look together at readings assigned to the upcoming weekend: at horacebrownking.com

Frankly, gentle reader, I have no idea about how this is gonna come out. The weekend’s scriptures present us with three seemingly disparate readings: an out-of-town prophet gets threatened; Paul’s team exhorts the Colossian congregation to not worry about “the rules”, for Christ is all you need; and Jesus’ well-known story about the Good Samaritan. Help me look for a holy thread that may run through the texture of these lessons…

We need a backstory on the Divided Kingdom before adequately hearing AMOS 7:7-17. After David & Solomon, the North (Israel) pulled away from the South (Judah). The tribes of Benjamin and Simeon remained with their capital at Jerusalem (mnemonic device: Judah/Jerusalem), while the other tribes, soon to be known as the “10 Lost Tribes”, established their capital at Shechem and their chief shrine at Bethel. Here is where Amos, the sheep-herder and fig-farmer from Tekoa–SOUTH of Jerusalem!–was sent to call back the Northern Kingdom from its pagan ways. “Go home!” said the high priest, Amaziah. But Amos continued to speak God’s wrath to the leadership of the soon-to-be-overrun Northern Kingdom.

“Paul & Timothy” wrote appreciatively to the COLOSSIANS (1:1-14) about their love for each other and for Christ. Somewhat disturbing to me is the phrase, “for all the saints”. But what about the rest of us? The bulk of the text deals with the sufficiency of Christ, who creates and reconciles all things. The hope of the passage is that knowledge of this Christ will produce spiritual “fruit” to those of this congregation and those whom they touch. “God’s universal reconciliation of the cosmos through Christ becomes visible and embodied in the daily life of the church as it is animated by the word of the gospel.” (Susan Grove Eastman, in FEASTING on the WORD, C 3:245)

Interesting that Jesus, traveling toward his death, is met by one asking about life (LUKE 10:25-37). “Two rules,” replies Jesus, “love God and love your neighbor”. Which led to the story of the kind Samaritan (insert here any nemesis of your own: terrorist? teenager? Proud Boy? Russian spy?) who stopped his own agenda and tended to the discarded wounded traveler. It’s easier to read this in antiquity than to actually DO it in the here’n’now: I can come up with LOTS of excuses to walk by on the other side.

We’d do well to think deeply about whose side we’re on in these stories of contrast. But it’s difficult for me to identify the pagan practices and the beautiful days in the neighborhood of the minority. It’s difficult to really see and appreciate my Neighbor. “Please, won’t you be my neighbor?” Thanks, Fred.

In the process of unfolding, Horace Brown King

Every Tuesday I’m confronted by scripture lessons to be read on the upcoming weekend: please join me at horacebrownking.com