But God, Who is Rich in Mercy…

Let’s cut right to the chase: Lent isn’t created to INCREASE our guilt, but to make us AWARE of it. There’s also an announcement here that It’s Never Too Late to regroup, to turn it around, to join in with other struggling saints questing to be right. Fancy theologians can call this “Justification”–but for you and me it’s a matter of going to be with God. Texts to be heard this upcoming weekend include stories which may be puzzling, plus an admonition to let God work in your life.

We begin with a little-read passage from NUMBERS 21:4-9. It seems that on their way to the Promised Land, the Children of Israel have blundered into a hoard of snakes, those old symbols of Evil. What shall they do? Moses was told to make an image of a snake and lift it high on a pole: those bitten would merely look at it, and then recover. This sets up the Crucifixion event, of course; but it also reminds all us pilgrims that there will indeed be gatherings of Evil on the way to the Promised Land. Where shall we look to escape this threat to our lives?

The Epistle is complicated: the Letter to the EPHESIANS 2:1-10. Be careful: this could seem to say that everything that happens is beyond us, that all we can do is live from day to day. It DOES say that everything is beyond us, subject to the forces of Evil and adjusted by the force of Good/Christ. Enslaved as we are by so many external sparkles, God has a better idea for us: “For we are what God has made us, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand to be our way of life.” The 4th verse is a transition: “But God, who is rich in mercy…”

What then shall we do with Jesus’ famous words to Nicodemus in JOHN 3:14-21? I’m a bit uncomfortable with reading v.16 as the Gospel in a Nutshell; I need to add v.17, “God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved [pulled out?] through him.” There follows a polemic of light & darkness, the central theme of John’s stories. He bemoans the fact that the darkness is more satisfactory to many, and calls everyone to embrace the Light. Even you & me.

Lent can be an uncomfortable reminder that the way TO is almost always the way THROUGH. In order to fully live as Easter People, we’ve gotta acknowledge our many detours and move away from them. These are exercises in Trusting in Grace, in looking at the Big Picture. The road to the Promised Land can get really narrow…

In the process of unfolding, Horace Brown King

Every Tuesday we confront the Powers of Darkness by wrestling with scripture texts to be read during worship on the upcoming weekend; at horacebrownking.com