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
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