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Whenever a great plan to Change the World (or part of it) would run amock, my dad would say, “Well, their heart is in the right place”. Readings for this weekend after Trinity are to remind us that our hearts need to reflect faithful righteousness, that we are the only Bible that some will ever know. These tales include us within the great movement to offer Creation an ongoing perception–no small task.

Richard Rohr tells us that the signs of growth involve “order, dis-order, and re-order”. So it is with the first three chapters of the Book of HOSEA: the prophet chooses a wife known to be a “harlot”, she bears children which are owned by him, she goes back to public prostitution, and finally Hosea “buys” her in a return to him. The analogy, of course, is how God deals with straying Israel, whose people have run off to worship the Baal(s) of the moment. In 2:14-20, a steadfast God continually provides the People with “a door of hope”, a “renewed” covenant across the whole world and all its beings. The covenant is God’s renewal of righteousness and justice, love and mercy.

II CORINTHIANS 3:1-6 is Paul’s “defense” of his lack of letters of reference. He says that the church-people themselves are his witness to ministries of God’s Work, written “not on tablets of stone, but on tablets of human hearts”. The Baal-im nurtured by the Corinthians were many: careless morality, arguments among factions, mis-using the Lord’s Supper and Baptism, plus a constant pride in spiritual gifts. Yet God still calls them/us back to a refined worship and recast service to the neighbor. “The good news for these disciples is that their ongoing action does not depend on their own strength. It is a gift of God who makes them competent for ministry.” (Clayton J. Schmit, in FEASTING on the WORD, B 3:67)

MARK 2:13-22 deals with the call of Matthew/Levi, and the criticism Jesus got for eating with “sinners”! Jesus told the Pharisees and scribes quite bluntly that feasts celebrate the moment, that when the guest of honor is absent, THEN the people will fast. Here is a divine reinterpretation of the Old Codes of Clean and Unclean into an inclusive sort of discipleship.

Our lives are not static. We constantly grow in our adoration and ministry of caring for the hungry, the sick and the needy. Although we’re often seduced by the glitz of the moment, the sparkle always wears off and we’re discarded by the Baal. But God is waiting for us on the porch with the light on. Our job may very well be to remind a jaded world of this steadfast love.

In the process of unfolding, Horace Brown King

Please come join us every Tuesday, and bring your friends. It’s OK to share this posting with other folks, please do. Comments on the readings to be heard on the upcoming weekend can always be found at horacebrownking.com

The Doctrine of the Trinity was formalized in 325 at the Council of Nicea, called by the Roman Emperor to put out the grass fires that had already sprung up across the Empire. Most of the populace was illiterate, and their versions of Christianity were shaped by “a friend who was the friend of a friend”. The Council was to–and did–solidify What We Believe about God and the created world. This upcoming weekend is given over to the Trinity, Father & Son & Holy Spirit, as preachers try in vain to unpack the mystery of Three Persons and one God.

ISAIAH 6:1-8 depicts the young prophet envisioning himself in God’s Presence, terrified that his impurities would get him into trouble. Many have claimed that the seraphs thrice-articulated “Holy, Holy, Holy” is a forerunner of the Trinity; but I don’t see it. Others have said that the use of “us” indicates the Trinity; yet Queen Victoria is supposed to have said, “We are not amused”, the royal plural. What it DOES say is that God has a place for us, once the impurities have burnt off. Once we actually surrender to God’s direction and not our own.

As I’ve said before, the Epistle to the ROMANS is just loaded with good stuff. Today we’ll look at 8:12-18, in which Paul says that we can do nothing without the guidance of the Spirit; and with it, we’ll inherit the Kingdom as Children of God! And when we see these “others”, we can and should recognize them as OTHER Children of God, established through God’s interest and kindness. Their/our specialness isn’t contingent on a moral or ethical stance (although this may follow later) but only upon the inbreaking Spirit of God. Eberhard Busch reminds us that “when we trust in God and make God the center of our lives, we turn away from the ‘deeds of the body’….We are no longer led by them; we are led by the Spirit of God.” (FEASTING on the WORD, B 3:40)

What can we do with the Nick at Night show, JOHN 3:1-17? Amid all the pop froo-fra, Jesus does speak of the Spirit (according to John, yet to be received). “What is born of the flesh is flesh, and what is born of the Spirit is spirit.” This is the same message of denying one’s SELF in order to receive the grace of God. To be remembered is that John’s faith-community has been plagued with the idea that “we know and you don’t—nonny nonny nu nah”. The author attempts to cast all the players on even ground, disabusing the fleshly differences and equalizing us by the Spirit’s workings. Get out of the way, and let the Spirit be shown!

“Jesus loves the little children, all the children of the world; Red and yellow, black and white, they are precious in God’s sight; Jesus loves the little children of the world.”

In the process of unfolding, Horace Brown King

Every Tuesday we explore the textual lessons assigned to the upcoming weekend; please come, and bring your friends! at horacebrownking.com

Kristin Emery Saldine postulates that “Pentecost sums up the gospel with simplicity and audacity: Jesus Christ offers salvation to all, and the church exists to proclaim it.” (FEASTIING on the WORD, B 3:6) This is the day in which we celebrate the wind of the Spirit blowing freely through the Church, and revel in the inclusiveness brought so forcibly over the Earth. Scriptures to be retold on the upcoming weekend are encouraging and uplifting, setting free any remnants of Lenten guilt or Easter uncertainty.

Luke’s traditional story in ACTS 2:1-21 tells about that day in Jerusalem when the Spirit came on the gathered Apostles and caused them to speak in all the languages of the Eastern Mediterranean.
Those gathered marveled that these “ignorant” Galileans spoke so well in their own language, and many signed up for the Church. They, like us, were eager for the mysterious to break into their hum-drum days; here was an authoritative voice NOT coming from a distant government or a binding tradition. Now the Apostles were equipped with speech-tools they needed to proclaim Good News to all the world.

ROMANS 8 brings many loaded sentences, and vv.22-27 are no exception. Reading these from today’s standpoint, we who are soured by the static cling of the Church can again rejoice in the workings of the Spirit! “For in hope we were saved…”, even though the Kingdom unfolding seems invisible. When we cannot find words–authentic prayer–this Spirit helps our soul cry out to an all-present God. Come what may, God is always there to hear in all languages the needs and joys of the People.

The Gospel is proclaimed in JOHN 15:26-27, describing the Holy Spirit as an advocate, a friend in court; and in 16:4-15, portraying a Spirit who will flesh-out the partial truths about sin, righteousness and judgement. (To John, this table-talk at the Last Supper is of extreme importance; over half of his Gospel is dedicated to Holy Week, and these last instructions to the Disciples are paramount.) There are many things yet to know about God & Jesus–yet the Spirit will guide each of us into the Truth.

Somehow God speaks to each of us. This speech can be a Burning Bush or a Still Small Voice–more often the Holy Spirit speaks over a time, having tenderized our harshness and caught our attention in a readiness to hear. With me, it’s often in retrospect: I look back at Holy Occasions and think, rather stupidly, “Hey! That was the Spirit!” Touched as we are, where we are, the voice of God continues to speak to us in our own terms, our own language.

In the process of unfolding, Horace Brown King

Come along and join the conversation every Tuesday, as we unpack Scriptural texts to be shared on the upcoming weekend; at horacebrownking.com