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“Are you ready for Christmas?” Well, if you mean sending all my cards and trimming the tree, shopping and hanging my stockings with care… NO, NO, NO! Are we ready for the Christ Child to enter our lives, should be the question! This upcoming weekend is the first of Advent: readings to be heard deal with our preparation for God to do Something New, to restore the dream of perfection where it has been covered by trinkets and busyness…

ISAIAH 2:1-5 is the Prophet’s vision of the days to come: the Temple will be lifted up for all to access, and the Law it proclaims will be universal. He anticipates that the Word of God will be revealed, and that all nations shall make pilgrimage there to receive it. And once having received this Word, Peace will break out, nations turning their swords into plowshares. And a word to the laissie-faire citizens around him, “O house of Jacob, come, let us walk in the light of the Lord.”

Paul’s Letter to the ROMANS, 13:11-14, indicates that the Church should be more than ready to receive Jesus: “…now is the moment for you to wake from sleep….the night is far gone, the day is near.” He calls the Church then and now to glimpse the majesty of God in this Christ Child and to announce through our actions that we, too, have caught God’s dream. (What is your current project of mission to reflect this peace to those yet to hear?)

MATTHEW 24:35-44 is far from jolly, for it warns Believers that the Day of the Lord will happen suddenly. The Jesus Matthew presents is hardly interested in the Incarnation (obviously, this has already happened in him). So will the Day of the Lord be glorious or scary? Don’t sell all your stuff and go up on a mountain to await Jesus’ coming, because no one knows when the world will end. But do be ready to greet Jesus with styles of mercy and worship.

And so we plug along towards yet another Christmas. Yes, I’m gonna do the things I mentioned, and spend too much money. But in the back of all these preparations is the awareness that God is intending to come into our midst. Again.

In the process of unfolding, Horace Brown King

Each Tuesday we unpack the goodies of scripture designed to be read on the upcoming weekend. Come join us, and bring a friend: to horacebrownking.com

Who’s in charge, here? Scripture to be read on the upcoming weekend reminds the hearers that God is still the Big Guy, whatever we call God. Not the so-called president, not the Court system, not even our elected dog-catchers. This is a call to an alternative life-style: while appreciating all our toys, we’re not really supposed to worship them! Our lives are littered with vain attempts to be relevant, to be in tune with the times, to be beautiful. We pew-sitters are told that God is still in charge, no matter what….

We begin with JEREMIAH 23:1-6, the Prophet’s condemnation of the existing “false shepherds” (those appointed by humans), and a promise that God will raise up a Righteous Branch (Jesus?) to do it correctly. Here is an alternative to business-as-usual: in the New Kingdom, the Old Ways of discrimination and power will be overthrown and the power-less will get equal treatment. How shall we live as God’s People?

COLOSSIANS 1:11-20 is Paul’s reminder to the Church that God’s Power is both sufficient and redeeming: “in (Christ) all things in heaven and on earth were created…whether thrones or dominions or rulers or powers…” Can we add those poor in goods, those sleeping under bridges, those hanging around the head-shops? Just as the conquerors in antiquity would move the conquered people to their own land (see the Babylonian Exile), so has the Christ transferred us into a new (and better, more peaceful) Kingdom. Wanna come?

It may seem strange to read about the Crucifixion, LUKE 23:33-43, on the day in which we celebrate the Reign of Christ. But pay attention to the sign: “This is the King of the Jews”. All are called to understand that this Kingship overrides any kings or power brokers or wreckers of the White House who may briefly appear. In this Kingdom the rules are different, each person is appreciated for whomever they are.

“The reign of Christ is the reign of peace. The perennial question for the church is, how do we live faithfully under this reign?” (Mary Eleanor Johns, in FEASTING on the WORD, C 4:29) I won’t say the Pledge of Allegiance: my allegiance is only to God’s Kingdom. I vote. I pay taxes. But I’m trying to be faithful to my Baptismal vows, to let Christ reign in my life. Now, can I meet God’s children as persons of worth?

In the process of unfolding, Horace Brown King

Please join us each Tuesday to be confronted by scriptures assigned by the Revised Common Lectionary to the upcoming weekend; at horacebrownking.com

Lessons for the upcoming weekend are intended to remind the Christian to Hope. They include stories of weariness in waiting for God’s Kingdom to unfold, stories of impatience and a promise that things won’t be easy for the practicing Disciple. This is good for me to remember, because I’m often cynical about the corruption in government and the misuse of power. Will things eventually get better? Someday…

Third ISAIAH 61: 17-25 dreams of the restoration of the Jewish people with the instruction, “Be glad and rejoice forever in what I am doing”, says the Lord. Even in our bleak hours, even with a people who have generally ignored God, the Prophet can speak of a Divine Wholeness. In this new creation the tawdry have been capsized and a whole new fabric of life has been woven. Our sinfulness has been overturned by a loving, hopeful God.

It’s much too easy to read an ethic of hard work into II THESSALONIANS 3:6-13. This passage doesn’t negate the commandment to care for those down-and-out, but it does exhort everyone to do what they do best. The concluding verse is the best: “Brothers and sisters, do not be weary in doing what is right.” What is “right”? The imitation of Jesus and the fulfillment of the Gospel. WWJD? The exhortation is not just about individual exercise, but calls the whole community, the whole church into activity. I know that I feel more a part of things when I’m given something to do…

The Gospel, LUKE 21:15-19, is Jesus’ warning to his followers that the End hasn’t come, but they themselves will find the going tough. There’re always wars and earthquakes, famines and plagues; those who read the heavens will announce that the End is Near…but the followers of Christ will have their own crises and betrayals.

So I guess that the message is that you and I need to keep on doing what we do best. I do get discouraged watching MSNBC, and ask God what’s next. But disciples in every age and generation have had their involvement informed by Hope… As we look to the future Kingdom, we wait patiently(?) for God to direct history. God Will Take Care of You.

In the process of unfolding, Horace Brown King

Come join us each Tuesday as we struggle with the scriptural presentations of the Revised Common Lectionary; at horacebrownking.com

Ahh, everything’s screwed up. Why should I care? Let others build their own skyscrapers; the White House is in shambles… But I have a GreenPeace sticker on my desk which reads, “Resist the Doom: Rainbows Bloom!” Scriptures to be read on the upcoming weekend affirm the positive, encourage us pew-sitters to get up and improve the picture. In these days of corruption and authoritarianism, we need these ancient words to defeat our modern-day malaise.

HAGGAI 2:1-9 was written to the recently released captives from Babylon, encouraging them to build another Temple on the ruins of the one destroyed. The Temple wasn’t merely a nice place to worship, it was a civic-center and a symbol of the Jewish Nation. Some who heard were the old folks who remembered the splendor of the Old Temple, and said, “We’ll never get that back.” Others were the new generation who only heard stories of the Old Temple, and were more interested in their own fields and flocks. Haggai not only wanted the building restored, but also the sense of the family of YHWH. “Take courage…I am with you, says the Lord of hosts….”

II THESSALONIANS 2:1-5, 13-17d is purportedly written by Paul while he was imprisoned in Rome, awaiting execution. He urges the Christians not to give in to the glitz of the world, or even to expect that the Day of the Lord has come. They and we are urged to wait creatively, accomplishing godly work through faith, and not yielding to the Devil of the Noonday Sun. The promise is that Evil shall be put down, eventually, and that the sky won’t fall today.

During Holy Week, various hair-splitters came to test Jesus. LUKE 20;27-28 is one of these occasions: some Sadducees, who don’t believe in resurrection (that’s why they’re sad, you see!) asked Jesus about seven brothers who, according to Jewish law, married Typhoid Mary to get sons. “So in the resurrection, whose wife is she?” Jesus replied that marriage is an earthly standard, and in heaven there are no marriages. (What? I won’t dance with my wife? But we have a gravestone saying “Forever”!) Jesus expects that folks won’t worry about this stuff, and get to work building the “Temple”, a Kingdom of God here on earth… The Sadducees spoke of Death, Jesus speaks of Life.

When I was in tenth grade, our church burned down. Here’s where I sang in the Jr. choir, where I was confirmed, where my buddies mostly attended. The only thing salvageable were the cups and plates. For several years, we worshiped in the high school. But in a few years, a new church was built on the space of the old one. Some said, “it’s not the same”; but the rest of us were overjoyed! Somebody had a vision, and the courage to keep on. “The latter splendor of this house shall be greater than the former, says the Lord.”

In the process of unfolding, Horace Brown King

Bring a friend to be touched by scripture scheduled by the Revised Common Lectionary to be read on the upcoming weekend; at horacebrownking.com