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Even though Christmas goes on (according to the Christian calendar) until Epiphany, January 6, to many people, It’s Over. Some folks who’ve had their tree decorated since Thanksgiving are bored with it, and want to move on. Others, to whom Christmas has become sad, are eager to get the holiday gone… Scriptures to be heard on this Sunday after Christmas announce that God’s presence continues as relief from the surrounding chaos, and as an alternative to our daily scrabbling.

ISAIAH 63:7-9 inserts a word of God’s steadfast love–hesed–into a polemic issued by an angry and disappointed God against the chosen but neglectful People. These had come back to Judah from Babylon expecting life to continue just as their parents had left it; and it wasn’t. Cards recently received at our house pictured the Good Old Days, and expressed nostalgia that unchanged friends “who are dear to us will be near to us once more”… Yet God has come near: “It was no messenger or angel but {God’s} presence that saved them; in love and in pity{God} redeemed them.”

The author of HEBREWS 2:10-18 reminds her hearers that Christ has become one of us through the infant Jesus. To us is born one who will also suffer the slings and arrows of our own painful situations. The believer is not exempt from the reality of each day. But the Good News is that God is there with us! We therefore shan’t fear the return counter for the ugly sweater that wasn’t in our size anyway! Nor shall we be afraid of death & dying, or whatever principality or power arises in our path… The passage concludes, [Jesus] “is able to help those who are being tested”.

MATTHEW 2:13-23 brings reality home in a terrible way: King Herod had all the boys of Bethlehem less than two years of age KILLED! Jesus escaped because his earthly father, Joseph, had the sense to follow his dream, and fled to Egypt. Hardly a solace for “Rachel”, weeping for her children… The reading tells of God’s protection and providential care in dangerous times. After a bit, the family returned to Nazareth, a backwater town largely ignored by the rest of the world. Even here God provides for the growth & nourishment of Christ, in a despicable place surrounded by non-successful people.

Christmas is always complex, isn’t it? We soon leave the fuzzy candlelight of Christmas Eve for the rude wind’s wild lament and the bitter weather of Business as Usual. Have we heard sleigh-bells ringing in the snow? Maybe. Have our children’s eyes been all aglow with excitement? Probably not. Did our grown children and grandchildren show up with Good Cheer? Nope. Has Jesus been born yet again, God With Us, to walk any road or thorny path with us? Most assuredly YES!

In the process of unfolding, Horace Brown King

Every Tuesday we’re confronted by scriptures to be read in worship on the upcoming weekend; join in at horacebrownking.com

One of the people’s common needs is to contact/be contacted by some Force that is beyond our understanding. Myths ancient and modern abound with figures from “the beyond” that unexpectedly enter our lives. Many of the Judeo-Christian tradition call upon angels to represent God. We can read in Genesis 18 how angels appeared to Abraham, and later (in chapter 28) of Jacob’s Ladder and his divine wrestling. Isaiah speaks of angels in the high court of heaven (6:1-8). In later times, the cathedral in Bath, England, features angels–messengers of God–ascending and descending on sculptured ladders. Fr. Andrew Greeley has an excellent book, “Angel Fire”, which I recommend heartily. And you shepherds, recently near Bethlehem–I guess you also saw some angels!

The Old Covenant reading for Christmas (the day after all heaven broke loose) is a picture-story from Third ISAIAH, 52:7-10. Sentinels on the walls of Jerusalem have seen a messenger speeding toward the city with good news: the battle has been won! “In plain sight they see the return of the Lord to Zion…. All the ends of the earth shall see the salvation of our God.” The announced peace is not only the cessation of war, but involves a condition where justice & forgiveness & renewal take place. Even though the surrounding “city” be in ruins, STILL the messenger-angels make this improbable statement. And you, dear reader, get on the walls and watch!

The author of the Letter to the HEBREWS, 1:1-4, expects that as wonderful as angels are, yet the Lord Jesus is more excellent than they, as he is the “exact imprint of God’s very being”. The angels are created by God to be wind and fire, a description of Pentecost and associated with the Holy Spirit. The same writer will later speak of entertaining angels unaware, a preview of Clarence in “It’s a Wonderful Life”. Can you name some phase of your life when you realized in retrospect that an angel–a messenger of God–has touched and re-valued you?

The Prologue to the Gospel of JOHN, vv 1-18, is so full of Creation theology that it could be read EVERY worship event. It is very fitting and appropriate to lift this up on this First Day of Christmas, as we dig ourselves out from under the wrapping paper. Jesus has been born to us as a source of Light–and heaven knows we need it! Where do you need some Christmas Light as you wait for the angels to announce again that God continues to shed glory?

During Advent, I’ve been using a daily devotional by Donna Schaper, called “Stir Up Your Power”. In an attitude of prayer she says, “We pray, as Advent deepens, for the return of angels. In other times past, we have felt barren, without issue, inconsequential, preparing for a joy that seemed never to come. This season wake us up. Make our preparations bear fruit. Make sure we don’t miss the angels You have already sent…” Merry Christmas to all!!

In the process of unfolding, Horace Brown King

Every Tuesday we’re met by scripture texts which are to be read in worship on the upcoming weekend–at horacebrownking.com

Some time ago there was a cartoon of BC, who asked, “Lord, give me a sign”. You guessed it–a portable marquee blew off a hotel and crushed him! Believers and unbelievers alike look for–expect?–signs of a change in systems, changes to our otherwise bland lives. Scriptures for this last Sunday in Advent address this need, hoping against hope that an indulgent Creator will send a star-child to save us from ourselves.

ISAIAH of Jerusalem (7:10-16) lifts up the passage where King Ahaz, petrified by the warlike coalition of Kings Rezin & Pekah, stands by the Upper Pool in Jerusalem to check on the city’s water supply in case of battle. Here Isaiah finds him and offers a sign from God. Ahaz turns this down, but Isaiah gives him a sign anyway. Gospel evangelists try to make this a prophecy of JESUS, but this would be untimely: Isaiah merely says that “life goes on”, and that this child of Ahaz will inherit the throne of David. Are there signs which God continues to give which may remind us of the continuity of life? Advent people, travelers and tourists alike, are reminded by these signs that God is Near.

And so Paul begins his letter to the ROMANS with his statement of belief (1:1-6). This in itself is a sign, not only of the depth which he is about to unpack, but of the nearness of God in Christ. According to Paul, the only appropriate response to the Christ Child, born and matured, is one of Faith: a deep belief that God is still in charge. The audacious message of the Church on Christmas and throughout the year is that despite ugly headlines and brutal behavior God is still in charge.

The Gospel, MATTHEW 1:18-25, is the account of a troubled Joseph trying to decide whether or not to officially marry the pregnant Mary. Heartbroken, dream-shattered, Joseph concludes that it would be best to just “dismiss her quietly”. BUT, as you know, an angel spoke to him in a dream, saying, “Don’t be afraid! This Child will be important and will save the people.” Years ago, when I was in Seminary, Charles Schultz wrote a book called “Savior!? Who Needs a Savior?” The answer, of course, is that we ALL do, each generation and each individual. Perhaps this is the Advent task of the Church, to help our contemporaries see a sign of change. Have we saved ourselves? Or have we trusted that Immanuel is near to fulfill our empty days??

Grace to you, and peace, from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

In the process of unfolding, Horace Brown King

Come join me every Tuesday as the lessons for the upcoming weekend puncture our preconceptions–at horacebrownking.com

Throughout my neighborhood are signs of despair. Some call them “Christmas lights”, a gesture of neighborly appearance; but very few folks really believe that salvation is at hand… “We walk as a people in danger, a people unconvinced that [Jesus’] time is nearly here…” (Donna Schaper, STIR UP YOUR POWER) But this Third weekend in Advent is the recognition of Joy (Gaudete Sunday), in which we celebrate the places and persons who give us Joy… Is the Incarnation event one of them? O, the stress of Santa!

ISAIAH 35:1-10 celebrates the actions of God even as the distressed of Jerusalem are threatened by the Babylonians. “The wilderness and the dry land shall be glad, the desert shall rejoice and blossom….Say to those who are of a fearful heart, ‘Be strong, do not fear! Here is your God…!'” What a good message for the Church to bring to those many who surround us in this season of doubt! Here is a reversal of the norm, a passage that speaks of restoration even in a time of chaos. Some are frustrated by the distances our families have scattered; others of my own generation mourn the friends who have died. But “in Isaiah’s poem, it looks like coming home, and it sounds like singing.” (Stacey Simpson Duke, FEASTING on the WORD A 1:54)

The Epistle comes from the hand of JAMES, 5:7-10. We are urged to “be patient, therefore, beloved, until the coming of the Lord”. This patience is pictured as the farmer/gardener who has planted and who now anxiously awaits the seeds’ germination and growth. The Day of the Lord–a second Christmas?–will come when the desert is ready to receive it. The trick is not to bemoan the current desert as much as to offer a vision of a growing presence as Creation is restored.

The Gospel portrays the mature Jesus as responding to his incarcerated cousin, John the Baptizer: “Go and tell John what you hear and see…” Healing, relief for the poor, and restoration of the dead/dying are all indications that the one for whom we wait has really come. Celebrating this newness in the Bleak Mid-Winter reinforces our concept that God is at work reversing lives and reclaiming systems even in the face of despair and the arid culture it has fed.

Even from this cynic’s corner, there is much to restore our Joy. The music of the Season has played a great part in my spiritual formation; trimming the hearth and setting the table; unpacking tree decorations from friendships long lost–all of these help me to hear the mirthful songs of midnight angels. What do YOU see? What do YOU hear?

In the process of unfolding, Horace Brown King

P.S.– Vestal Community Band offers sounds of Christmas on Thursday, December 8 at Vestal Valley View Alliance Church; and again on December 15 at J C Penney’s at Oakdale Mall. Both concerts begin at 7:00.

Please join me every Tuesday to be met by Scriptures to be read during the upcoming weekend–at horacebrownking.com