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The Season of Advent–of Not Yet, but Almost–lends itself quite naturally to a comparison of Then & Now. Scriptures that we’ll hear this weekend call us to acknowledge (with pain) the idolatry of current events: militarism, racism and the claws of Santa. Old and contemporary prophets alike attempt to point out both our brokenness and the hope of a new day to come, when Creation will blossom into that society of which God had originally dreamt.

ISAIAH 11:1-10 envisions a “root of the stump of Jesse”, David’s father, come to once again exert righteous strength in the midst of a careless culture. These words declare a hope which is counter-cultural to the prevailing fear of the Babylonians and the ensuing violence. Isaiah foresees a reign of justice and a Peaceable Kingdom where predator & prey will lovingly co-exist. What brings this into our contemporary time is the reluctant admission that our individual and corporate lives crave such a Ruler, such a Paradise. This “new David” doesn’t come from our ranks, but is a gift from an active God! Will the wolf and the lamb within us respond to the leadership of this Child?

St. Paul continues to speak to the Church in the Center of the World about making a difference. ROMANS 15:4-13 becomes the very conclusion of this defining letter: “May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit”. After all the planning is well-defined, after we decide that we can not fix the problem by ourselves, in comes hope. Here is where we trade in our world of judgment and boundaries for something completely different, the hospitable world which God desires.

The Gospel is from MATTHEW 3:1-12, the entrance of John the Baptizer. Most of my ministerial friends love to read this passage aloud, especially the part that says, “You brood of vipers!…Bear fruit worthy of repentance.” John goes on to announce One who is to baptize with the Holy Spirit and with fire. His very costume and diet point out the differences between the spiritual carelessness of the present generation and the humility and trust of God-fearers. N. B.–there may be those in attendance at worship who have dressed their inner persons in camel skin and who eat locusts! Will we of fine raiment allow them to shed their external smiles and be real? Or will WE?

Thomas Merton (in SEASONS of CELEBRATION, p.77) tells us that “The Advent mystery is the beginning of the end of all in us that is not yet Christ”. May this be your perception as well.

In the process of unfolding, Horace Brown King

Meet me at horacebrownking.com every Tuesday to be explored by textual lessons assigned to the upcoming weekend

I can still hear my mother’s voice telling me that 5 AM has come and gone, and that those on my paper route are waiting to read the news of the morning. Once she bought me a wind-up LOUD alarm clock; and after a few non-responsive mornings, she would set it in an aluminum pie-pan… Scriptures for this First Weekend in Advent are something like this. Prophets and evangelists alike are screaming at a dozing world still snuggling under the covers of complacency and acedia (the devil of the noon-day sun). The Good News is that the coming day isn’t all that bad, indeed, it’s very good for those who claim the morning.

We begin with the words of ISAIAH of Jerusalem, 2:1-5: “In days to come…many peoples will come to the mountain of the Lord…that [God] may teach us [God’s] ways and that we may walk in [God’s] paths.” Unencumbered by the Past, pilgrims will be able to ascend to God’s Glory. Unblinded by the Present, these will see and report new horizons. God’s presence and direction will become more compelling. “The text does not scold or admonish; it lifts a gleaming promise of what God will do in days to come.” (Paul Simpson Duke in FEASTING on the WORD, A 1:7) These are the first words heard by the Church at this, the beginning of a new cycle/year.

Paul says to the ROMANS (13:11-14), “You know what time it is, how it is now the moment for you to wake from sleep. For salvation is nearer to us now than when we became believers; the night is far gone, the day is near.” We who tread the dawn are those who continue to expect God’s glorious redemption of the shadows, even the ones at our elbows.

We’ll be following MATTHEW during this year; and he begins at the end of the Gospel, in the teachings of the mature Jesus (24:36-44). He says that no one–even he–knows when the Great Plan will be completed, so be ready. Disciples are encouraged to get their affairs in order, because the bus may be loading at the platform even as we speak. I was once given a bookmark with the slogan, “Be alert. The world needs more lerts.”

Although I grew to hate my seven years as a morning-paper boy, I look back on those chilly mornings as a learning experience for the sunrise. Perhaps they spoiled for me any residual joys of the early riser, yet once I was awake in the dark I recognized a certainty of God’s order. With Annie I could sing, “Tomorrow, Tomorrow, I love you, Tomorrow, you’re only a day away!”

In the process of unfolding, Horace Brown King

I record the expressed Presence of God as presented by witnesses every Tuesday–please pray for/with me during these days of anticipation.

Here we are, at the end of one year and the beginning of the next. For the Christian year begins with the Season of Advent/ expectant coming, and thus this last Sunday after Pentecost/the Reign of Christ, brings us full circle. Scriptures to be heard this weekend remind us that this part of life has to end before another (better) chapter can begin. The Community of Believers, the Church, is the group that stands between Earth and Heaven, celebrating that which was and pointing to our expectation of what is yet to be.

JEREMIAH 23:1-6 speaks of NEW shepherds who will better care for the flock, that there will be no dismay or those missing from the fellowship. These shepherds will gather the dispersed individuals from their sordid pastimes and bring them to a safe spot. To be sure, we know-it-alls have messed up the Garden of our origins and we NEED One in the visage of David to “execute justice and righteousness in the land”. Will we value all of God’s Creation?

The author of COLOSSIANS 1:11-20 contrasts the Old with the New, a fitting take on this Reign of Christ worship. God is transferring us from the Land of the Trite, the Tired and the Tawdry to a renewed venue of redemption and forgiveness in Christ. The “Power of Darkness” is our own fear and insecurity. Specters and demons vanish in this Light of Christ. Here the rules and assumptions are all different. We don’t fit Christ into ourselves, rather we are moved from one state of being to another. (per Neta Pringle in FESTING on the WORD)

Why do we retell the Crucifixion story at this point? LUKE 23:33-43 is included here because it brings the Gospel to fulfillment: we’ve begun–and will again–with hearing the human experience of the anticipated birth; and now, what some perceive to be the “end” of the Jesus-tale. Even here, the Good News extends to the least-valued as shown in the Christly forgiveness of the admittedly guilty thief. Even those who live remotely from God are included in this projection of God’s Reign!

Eberhard Busch reminds us (in FEASTING on the WORD, C 4:336) that “…the coming kingdom of God is the great help and rescue for common people. In this kingdom they are no longer forgotten, but come to light. And still more: this kingdom of God will not come in a remote future; it dawns already, now, “today”. “The days are surely coming, says the Lord, when I will raise up for David a righteous Branch, and he shall reign as king and deal wisely, and shall execute justice and righteousness in the land.”

In the process of unfolding, Horace Brown King

Every Tuesday we examine lessons to be read on the upcoming weekend. Please join us at horacebrownking.com

Martha Sterne reminds us that “at the heart of the Judeo-Christian faith is this Creator who emerges even in the bleakest hour in human history to create anew”. (FEASTING on the WORD, C 4:291) Scriptural texts to be read this weekend celebrate this ongoing Creation, reminding us again that God is God–and we’re not! These messages also bring cheer to steady the spines of the lonely prophets and to carry hope to those who weary of worldly glitz and self-reliance. Attend with me?

ISAIAH 65:17-25 reminds his immediate hearers, those yet living in Israel/Canaan AND us of the Twenty-First Century, that YHWH isn’t by any means “done”. What was originally called “Good” has been constantly messed up by those who embrace Reason over Holy Imagination: the ancient Israelite community and that of the Present (and all in between?) have lost the dream of justice and Godly life. But there is a sure future which Trinto-Isaiah here announces: “But be glad and rejoice forever in what I am creating.”

II THESSALONIANS 3:6-13 is a plea for righteous labor and a farewell to idleness. Paul’s team exhorts that congregation to keep on keepin’ on. The danger here is to place our well-being solely in our productivity, which can also be an idol. Opportunities to work within the Church are not to be disregarded, yet some “leaders” may have done their jobs so thoroughly that they’ve become ingrown and actually believe it when they’re acclaimed as rival gods…. “Brothers and sisters, do not be weary in doing what is right.”

“Just look what the artists and the architects have done”, marveled the disciples. “Sure enough,” said the Lord, “[But] as for these things that you see, the days will come when not one stone will be left upon another; all will be thrown down.” Matter of fact, thirty years after Jesus’ death, the Temple WAS destroyed in order to keep the Jews humble and in line with Rome. Was that part of creating new heavens and new earth? Does God confound our plans when we get too big for our britches? Jesus said that there’d be LOTS of calamities–wars, earthquakes, famines–but this is not The End. However, these occasions will give believers a chance to speak about God’s process of re-creation.

What is God up to NOW?? Can a culture that has drifted into the worship of rockets, guns and football ever be reclaimed by the Holy One? And will the remnant who keep a clear eye yet be able to dream? And to speak this Dream when the rest of the world has forgotten who they are?

In the process of unfolding, Horace Brown King

Join me each Tuesday as we are met by Lessons assigned by the lectionary to the upcoming weekend–at horacebrownking.com

Years ago, at my seminary church, folks asked for a Bible study on Prophecy. I prepared good lessons on Ezekiel, Jeremiah et al–but what they expected was some sort of discourse on Jean Dixon or another astrologer of the day. I suspect that the urge to know what’s gonna happen soon is a universal quest. People in biblical times were concerned with portents and signs; and even in more modern times some soothsayer or another convinces his or her followers to sell their property and wait for the Lord on a hill far away… Scripture to be read on the upcoming weekend addresses this search for ‘knowledge’–and exhorts the faithful hearer to patiently wait for the Lord’s Good Time.

The overall message of HAGGAI (who reads Haggai?) is to urge the remnant remaining in Jerusalem after the Babylonian captivity to get to work in rebuilding the Temple. So what if it didn’t match the glory & majesty of the old one? The message in 1:15 – 2:9 is to live in the Present without wallowing in the Past–or dreaming about the Future. “Yet now take courage…take courage, all you people of the land, says the Lord.” The prosperity of YHWH is at hand!

When II THESSALONIANS 2:1-5, 13-17 was written, the congregation was evidently waiting for (and debating) the Day of the Lord. Some thought it immanent, others thought maybe it had already happened! Were they “Left Behind”? When will God step in to establish a rule of righteousness? In the meantime, how shall we live? I have a poster somewhere that says that “Some people are so heaven-minded that they’re no earthly good.” Not just individuals, but entire communities of Christ! The sky is not falling; don’t run in fear, God’s still in control…

LUKE 20:27-38 begins with the humorous story concocted by the Sadducees, who don’t believe in resurrection or eternal life ; that’s why they’re SAD, you see (thanks Nancy Adams). According to them, Typhoid Mary killed off seven husbands before she died herself. SO–in heaven, whose wife will she be? “Get real, “says Jesus, “in heaven there is no marriage, that’s an earthly or cultural tradition.” He must not have read the Obituaries which describe how the Dearly Departed are greeted by their relatives and pets, and now they’re all dancing together forever. The Sadducees spoke in terms of Death, but Jesus answered in terms of Life. “Now he is God not of the dead but of the living; for to him all of them are alive.” Jesus does not answer all our questions about where/when/how–but he does point us to a God who remains faithfully involved with Children of the Resurrection.

Martha Sterne reminds us that, “the move into the future is not just a repeat of the past and a faint echo of further glory. InGod’s future we are moving toward and cocreating a surge of wonder, grace, beauty, power and love.” (FEASTING on the WORD, C 4:271

In the process of unfolding, Horace Brown King

Please join me every Tuesday to be confronted by scripture texts assigned to be read on the upcoming weekend; at horacebrownking.com