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Transfiguration is the culmination of Epiphany, that Season of “AHA!” This season is to present the holiness of Jesus in the many ways in which he revealed himself to his disciples. Only when we’ve gone to the extremes of the Mountaintop are we ready to embark on Lent, a traditional time of turning our lives around by seeing where we’ve made mis-steps. Stories to be told this weekend deal with the radiance of faces that are glorified in the presence of God.

EXODUS 34:29-35 is the story about Moses’s shining face when he had been with God. His people still in the desert couldn’t take being that close to God, so they made Moses veil his face–not realizing that they too could have shining faces if they just got near the Divine Presence. Proximity to God causes our faces to shine and gives us the aura of friends and creatures of God’s love. With that aura, we can go about our world Doing Good and walking humbly with our God.

Paul, in II CORINTHIANS 3:12-18, tells us that Old Testament folks still have a veil when they hear the Good News of Christ. Those who read only The Law (Moses) will be veiled until they turn to Christ. And he says that those who perceive the glory of the Lord are being “transformed into the same image”! Thus he urges the Corinthians (and us) to welcome those moments of glory, to let our faces be changed. Callista S. Isabelle reminds us that “as we acknowledge our spiritual blindness and turn toward God, Paul assures us that God is present in this very turning.” (FEASTING on the WORD, C 1:450)

LUKE, in 9:28-36, tells the familiar (?) story of Jesus taking Peter, James & John up a mountain, where they saw Jesus’ face and garments changed into glory. They also saw Moses & Elijah–the Law and the Prophets–talking with Jesus, presumably about the end of his earthly ministry & sojourn. Here is God, again & again, STILL trying to redeem God’s world, coming to provide greater & greater moments of revelation. Have our congregations celebrated ways however small in which God has brought glory into tired lives? Where have you seen God today?

Meister Eckhart is reported to have said, “We should not think that holiness is based on what we do but rather on what we are, for it is not our works that sanctify us, but [The One] who sanctifies our works.” (As quoted op. cit.) I’ll try not to veil my shining!

In the process of unfolding, Horace Brown King

Join us every Tuesday as we examine (and are examined by) scripture lessons assigned to the upcoming weekend; at horacebrownking.com

Sometimes I feel as though I’m from Mars, speaking a totally alien language. The Church is meant to be counter-cultural; but I sure do miss the Old Days when everyone claimed an allegiance, or at least went through the motions. Somewhere we learned to again confront the System, preaching still the doctrines of forgiveness, sharing and love. Scriptures heard in worship during the coming weekend reflect the tension between believers and the System.

GENESIS 45:3-15 tells the story of Joseph, now a high muckety-muck in Egypt, receiving his unknowing brothers who were looking for relief from the famine. The irony, of course, is that the brothers once wished to harm Joseph, and now were dependent upon his largess. What goes ’round comes ’round. Could the brothers ever forgive themselves? Is Joseph being God-like in his extreme forgiveness? What part of ego did Joseph and his brothers have to override?

I CORINTHIANS 15: 38ff is one of my favorites to use at funerals: it deals with our questions about what we’ll look like in Heaven. The verse, “If there is a physical body, there is also a spiritual body” always jumps out at me. Everyone believes in the after-life, just read the obituaries. But if we truly believe in the resurrection bye ‘n’ bye, it should change our moral behavior in THIS life. Or should we just go along to get along? Is there something controversial in our attitude that doesn’t kow-tow to business-as-usual?

LUKE 6:27-38 continues last week’s exploration of the Sermon on the Plane: those who still stayed to hear Jesus were given a list of how their behaviors might change to embrace Christianity. (I have my own problems of giving cheerfully to those who ask.) How do we respond to others with kindness, which may be a strange commodity for the downtrodden? Those who embrace this alternative lifestyle are embarking on disaster: the System has no room for those who are sensitive to need or wishing to change the world! These teachings call the hearer to live in a way contrary to human nature–which is impossible without a Holy Presence to undergird and comfort…

It’s scary, and sometimes I regret having a conscience. Thank Heaven we’ve been given these occasions to swim upstream against the current; and also thank Heaven that there have been much more recent demonstrations of faith even though no hope seems secure. Keep on believing! (It may be our only way out…)

In the process of unfolding, Horace Brown King

Join us each Tuesday to be confronted by the holiness of scripture expected to be read on the upcoming weekend: at horacebrownking.com

There’s a song in “Porgy & Bess” in which a guy–Sportin’ Life?–sings, “I God Plenty of Nuthin’ and Nuthin’s Plenty for Me”. I admit to a bit of ambivalence: my Franciscan side tells me that all things are from God, and therefore good; yet this weekend’s scriptures insist that we need to rid ourselves of all things superfluous. Or at least not value them so highly. Ah, NOW we’re getting at it…

JEREMIAH 17:5-10 makes me a bit uncomfortable. It’s a matter of trust, isn’t it? If we trust in God, our roots will find the water of life in the river; otherwise we’re like a dried shrub in a seasonal desert, enjoying–maybe thriving in!–the occasional shower. But in desert days, we grow weak; we have no resources upon which to fall back. Jeremiah calls each of us to ready our hearts for regular searching: our fickleness again demands that we trust the heart of GOD more than our own.

St. Paul goes to great lengths to tell the CORITHIAN Church that Christ has really been raised from the dead (I 15:12-20). Does God really value physical existence when so many people have died from war or starvation or some other malady? For Paul, the resurrection of Jesus (and ourselves) is central to our belief system, otherwise Christianity would be reduced to only a morality suggested by Jesus. Perhaps this is where Martin Luther is coming from when he espouses the doctrine of Sola Fide.

LUKE 6:17-26 remembers some uncomfortable teachings of Jesus, the “Blessings” and the “Woes”. These contrast the attitude of God towards those that have everything and those who have nothing. The passage sees to tell us not just to eliminate things that clutter our lives, but also to devalue and give away things that are important to us! Even my stamp collection? It’s evidently not our THINGS that separate us from God, it’s the value we ascribe to them! “God is turning the world upside down, and taking discipleship far beyond a simple ‘follow me’ to a level of sacrifice that is nothing less than daunting.” (David L. Ostendorf, in FEASTING on the WORD C 1:358)

Therein is our woe. God doesn’t accept our partial housecleaning. How much can I empty myself, turn away from the System and have nothing but God? Do I need anything more?

In the process of unfolding, Horace Brown King

Those wishing to continue a tour of the Biblical passages laid out for the upcoming weekends in the Revised Common Lectionary are invited to join us on Tuesdays at horacebrownking.com

Everyone has something to tell–about themselves, about their family, about what the cat did… Readings for the upcoming weekend are stories about how some of our spiritual forbears met God. We who hear them are reminded of our own encounters with the Holy, whether for the first time or during a continued awareness of God’s Presence.

ISAIAH 6:1-13 tells the story of how Isaiah was accosted in a “vision” of the High Holy Place in the last year of normalcy, the “year that King Uzziah died”. Realizing his mortal imperfection, Isaiah protested his sinfulness. But God’s angel touched his mouth, and now he could prophesy. Some will wish to read beyond the 8th verse, where Isaiah volunteers to go to the people with God’s message: here is a puzzling lack of opportunity to turn it around, an acknowledgement that the world really is going to hell in a handcart.

I CORINTHIANS 15:1-11 gives Paul opportunity to recall his own meeting with God on the road to Damascus. The key verse in this recitation is #10, “But by the grace of God I am what I am, and [God’s] grace toward me has not been in vain.” He’s encouraging the Corinthian folks to tell their stories about God, accepting the idea that our own meeting the Holy is predicated on someone else telling about it. Who told you? Are there persons who not only told the story but lived it out in your background? “Consider the ways in which we are a continuation of the gospel story, the ways in which the risen Christ has appeared to us and transformed our living.” (Jeffrey D. Jones, in FEASTING on the WORD, C 1:331)

LUKE 5:1-11 tells the story about Jesus preaching on the lakeside, and how he moves on to Peter’s fishing boat. Please note that the miracle here isn’t the large catch of fish, but is Peter’s confession, “Go away from me, Lord, for I am a sinful man”. No arguments from Jesus, just the affirmation that from now on Peter would be catching People. And so would James & John. God is moving toward new horizons: the fisher-folk thought that their lives were set, but God called them beyond…

So in my old age, I wonder where I’m going next. I can’t accept that God is done with me; the world still pushes in on us in many ways. Will there be another encounter? For me? or even for you… Just you wait!

In the process of unfolding, Horace Brown King

Come share with you own thoughts as we’re encountered by the Scripture every Tuesday; at horacebrownking.com