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We’re on the doorstep of Advent, the beginning of the Church Year. Advent is a time to get ready for the coming of the ChristChild, a time for renewing our hopes for a season, to acknowledge God’s future. Lessons to be read on the upcoming weekend signify our trust in a God who does not yield to the despair and worldliness which seem so prevalent around us. These scriptures–and others–call us beyond a return to The Good Old Days into an active faith that God is still in control.

JEREMIAH was not a popular guy. He found himself in all sort of scrapes for preaching against the surrounding idolatry. YET in 33:14-16 he has the audacity to lift up a hopeful alternative to racism/sexism and corruption in general. Despite the prevailing gloom and social malaise, God DOES have ideas about what the Kingdom will look like. Advent is sacred because it proclaims yearly a confidence that God is interested in how the world and its people develop.

St. Paul tells us in I THESSALONIANS 3:9-13 that Jesus has come/is coming into our world to take away our blame and substitute salvation. Not just “heaven bye & bye”, but the opportunity to live in such a way that will green our planet, trash our military establishment, and proclaim release to those who have been captured by possession and accumulation. Advent tells others that we expect a proactive God to continue to refine Creation.

LUKE 21:25-36 tells a little about the “signs” of the coming of “the Son of Man”. But even if everyone else is cowering in fear, the Believers are instructed to stand up and raise their heads, unfolding ourselves before this Son of Man. Thus we are liberated from business-as-usual and put aside the ever-present notion that Santa Claws. Despite the confusion of “when”, we have an assurance that God is in charge and is acting even among the world’s systems… What signs do we recognize today??

Gary Charles rightly claims that “The stories of Advent are dug from the harsh soil of human struggle and the littered landscape of dashed dreams. They are told from the vista where sin still reigns supreme and hope has gone on vacation.” (FEASTING on the WORD, C 1:3) Still we who worship have come yet again to celebrate how God continues to work on this Eighth Day of Creation, appreciating the Nativity and longing for the ultimately Good Community.

In the process of unfolding, Horace Brown King

Every Tuesday we unpack texts to be read on the upcoming weekend; come along, if you dare, at horacebrownking.com

Acccording to Francis Bacon, a contemporary of Shakespeare, “There is no vice that doth so cover a (person) with shame as to be found false and perfidious”. Scriptures to be heard on the upcoming weekend suggest that the Reign of Christ is a welcome (to some) change from Business as Usual. There are two Empires here at work: the “Roman” (read World Dominant) and that of Christ. How do we live in one without being overwhelmed by the other?

We begin with an excursion into II SAMUEL 23:1-7, often considered the last words of King David. “One who rules over people justly, ruling in the fear of God, is like the light of morning…” Saying good-bye is like returning to God’s Promises and forgetting all the lesser stuff. David claims that the God who so blessed and accepted him will also bless and accept those who are still here. Those who read the earlier part of this book will note that David had his share of terror and suffering, his bad days and his sinful temptations. Yet his final words were a reminder of God’s grace and ultimate redemption.

The Book called the REVELATION to St. John should be read as a symbollic allegory, a spiritual experience which passes our rationality. 1:4b-8 is a sudden acknowledgement that Jesus, the Alpha & Omega (the Beginning and End) is a triumphant alternative to the existing Roman Empire. Here, the leadership of Christ is proclaimed as loving us and freeing us, actually knowing who we are. This is certainly a welcome change from the political machinizations and rejections of the current and traditional “leadership”.

JOHN 18:33-37 tells the story of Jesus before Pilate, the governor of Judea. “Are you a king?” asks Pilate. “YOU say that I am a king. For this I was born, and for this I came into the world, to testify to Truth.” Jesus rejoined. This separation of Church & State is necessarily said, for the Kingdom of God is not of this earth. “Crowns and thrones may perish, kingdoms rise and wane…” Jesus’ encounter here announces to the world-system that the allegiance of his followers is with Heaven and not with Earth. (Can I be a Christian and still say the Pledge of Allegiance to the flag?)

Lucretius says, “It is a pleasure to stand upon the shore, and to see ships tossed upon the sea; a pleasure to stand in the window of a castle, and to see a battle and the adventures thereof below; but no pleasure is comparable to the standing upon the vantage ground of Truth, and to see the errors, and wanderings, and mists, and tempests, in the vale below…” Sort of a dismal way of looking at it; but our Leader gives an alternative to these aberrations in the Eternal Kingdom of Truth.

In the process of unfolding, Horace Brown King

Join us every Tuesday to be confronted by the lessons to be read on the upcoming weekend’s worship; at horacebrownking.com

I dunno about you, but I hate change. I’d like things to be just like they were when we were growing up: clocks had hands, phones had dials, and we had to restore the oil every 1000 miles. Who’m I kidding? I enjoy current medicines, indoor plumbing and the instant knowledge of Artificial Intelligence. Scripture passages heard on the upcoming weekend serve to acknowledge that nothing is permanent, and that God is continually refining and tweaking that which God daily calls Good.

I SAMUEL 1:4-20 tells of Hannah, Samuel’s mother, who wanted a child so badly that she pledged him to the Lord. One commentator, Malcolm Sinclair, suggests that the unseen player in the story is the Sanctuary at Shiloh. Shiloh’s gone, now. Even in Biblical times it vanished, yielding to other Holy Places. But for one brief shining moment , Shiloh was a place to sit quietly with God, to engage God in conversation, to face “the great gap of mystery”. Even though Shiloh is a ruin, we remember it as the territory of Eli & Samuel, and celebrate what God has done there.

The Author of HEBREWS 10:11-25 reminds us that even though places perish, Jesus Christ remains the same. The community can put behind it the adherence to Tradition–with all the guilt it brings–and joyfully take on the promises of a Living God. The Old has passed away, and the Unfinished has opened new days. Who will celebrate God’s Living Presence? Who will cling to the Old Fashioned, even if that means tethering ourself to stone blocks which will ensure that we drown without claiming the Future? Jesus has “perfected for all time those who are sanctified”.

The Gospel is that of St. MARK, 13:1-8. Jesus & Co. have entered Jerusalem and are gawking at the fine buildings. Jesus told them that “not one stone will be left here upon another; all will be thrown down”. And so it has been. Nothing is permanent. Change happens. Our old perceptions have been proven wrong: only God is trustworthy. BUT even as the Old way begins to fade with calamities, the New way waits at the door! Some of us will establish weird calendars to calculate the Day of Jesus’ reappearance; but God tells us to celebrate each day as if it were the Ultimate…

To what, then, shall we look forward? Is there New Life after the birth pangs of calamity and warfare? Yesterday is gone, and tomorrow waits to dawn. Change can be scary (to me, it is) yet we can affirm that the world systems are unfolding with us…What will this day bring??

In the process of unfolding, Horace Brown King

Please join with us every Tuesday to unpack biblical lessons which are to be read on the upcoming weekend; at horacebrownking.com

You would think we would have learned–but the world is yet full of the abused and vulnerable, the Strangers and Aliens, the widows and orphans. Folks who sit in the pews and hear these scriptures CAN MAKE A DIFFERENCE as they go about living within the System! Lessons to be heard this upcoming weekend should speak to the heart of the Church about Godly living and not throwing our lot in with the ones who make a big buck by bleeding the unfortunate.

RUTH (3:1-5, 4:13-17) was an immigrant from Moab. We don’t know if she pushed drugs or ate the neighbors’ cats & dogs. But we do know that she was a faithful caregiver to Naomi, offering all she had–herself–to her mother-in-law and her new community. We could see it as an analogy: God takes care of the poor widows without questioning their background. Martin B. Copenhaver quips, “Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for thereby some have entertained the great-grandmother of a king!” (FEASTING on the WORD, B 4:270) Thank goodness there was no beefed-up security on the border…

Please try to think within the Jewish tradition as you read HEBREWS 9:24-28. We’re still comparing the earthly priest with the eternal priesthood of Christ. Heavenly living isn’t a matter of sinning again and again, knowing that the Day of Atonement will come again this year. There’s no term of renewal for our license to live in God’s Kingdom. Christ has “appeared once for all at the end of the age to remove sin.”

How many times have I heard some well-meaning member say, “Pastor, I just give the widow’s mite”? I was always glad to commend them, cuz the widow in the story gave all that she had! (MARK 12:38-44) What about the earlier-mentioned scribes who wear long robes, get the best seats, and say long prayers full of empty words? I understand that even some of by fellow clergy carry signs that say, “Clergy, Official Business” which they use to park in handicapped or no-parking spots… Depends, I suppose, on whether we like the status quo. (watch out for those Moabites and Mexicans; they don’t deserve grace. Ah, Those Were the Days.) The widow herself was nameless, and probably no one but Jesus noticed. Thank God he did!

These lessons should hit us hard, especially as we consider the events of Voting Week. Are we supposed to go back to the ’50s when we played Cowboys & Indians, when the seat of power resided in white males? Do we tear down the Statue of Liberty which invites “Give me your tired, your poor, your humble masses yearning to breathe free?” God continues to give a call to the People to welcome all Creation.

In the process of unfolding, Horace Brown King

Please join us every Tuesday as we’re confronted by texts to be read during worship on the upcoming weekend; at horacebrownking.com

Please join us every Tuesday as we’re confronted by texts to be read during worship on the upcoming weekend; at horacebrownking.com