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Don Saliers says, “In complicated times–politically, socially, economically–the yearning for some sign of promise and hope in the form of a new leader is still very much with us”. (FEASTING on the WORD, A1:76) It’s the Fourth Week of Advent, and churches are busier than ever. In the midst of this busy-ness, allow yourself to welcome this new leader in the form of the ChristChild. PEACE is more than good wishes on the cards we send to our friends.

ISAIAH 7:10-16 is often used as a proof-text for the coming of Jesus. As prescient as the Prophet was, he spoke to Ahaz about a regime-change which was to come. Including this confrontation in our Scriptures calls the hearer to question how God is inserting God’s-self into our own fears and inadequacies. What is it like to trust God in all these murky times? Where have you seen a sign of hope on your travels and in the news?

How does Paul greet the ROMANS in 1:1-7? With the announcement of Jesus as the Christ, the One who has given him the apostleship and impetus to nurture the Church, even in places he’s not yet visited. We still hold his words of praise and admonition as meaningful to our daily lives, encouraging us to view the Holy Child as God’s revelation of Good News in a troubled world. Some have understood this letter to be an invitation to a life of faith and hope, even as oligarchs and crooked politicians try to engulf us.

MATTHEW 1:18-25 introduces the Christmas story with the agony of Joseph, who was about to scrap the whole thing–but an angel appeared to him in a dream, telling him not only to accept the Child, but to name him Jesus, “for he will save his people from their sins”. Do we still need a savior? Does our immersion in shiny things separate us from living in the Kingdom? What Christmas announces is One who will show us a different way. Can we trust Jesus enough to follow him?

This blog is full of questions, and maybe that’s appropriate for Advent. “Surely the culminating call of the Advent season is a call to renew our commitment to Christ and his purposes for us in and for the World.” (David J. Wood, op.cit. A 1:88) May Christmas increase your love and hope for Peace on Earth and Good Will to All.

In the process of unfolding, Horace Brown King

Every Tuesday we examine the Scriptures to be read according to the Common Lectionary…Come join us at horacebrownking.com

One of my favorite commercials is for a phone company: a guy is walking down a rural road exclaiming how good the reception is even out there. The end of the shot has him saying, “I really don’t know where I am!” Lessons to be heard on this upcoming weekend–the third one in Advent–remind us that God knows where we are/who we are, even if we feel lost.

ISAIAH 35:1-10 looks forward to the restoration of God’s Kingdom, and advises wannabe pilgrims of the signs to look for: “…the desert will rejoice and blossom….waters shall break forth in the wilderness, and streams in the desert…” Even there–especially there–creation rejoices in God’s glory. Wholeness has become the norm, and the desolate shall be renewed. The Holy Covenant shall be honored again. God yet again has made a way where only brokenness has seemed to triumph.

JAMES 5:1-10 preaches patience. As the farmer waits for the rain to sprout his crops, so we also must wait for the good times of the Lord. Some of us feel as though we’re running out of time–so FIX it, already! Advent is the time when the Church announces yet again the hope that God is not yet finished. We wait on tiptoe.

MATTHEW 11:2-11 presents John the Baptizer again, this time in prison. He questions Jesus, “Are you really the Messiah?” Jesus offers him signs in John’s personal desert: “the blind receive their sight, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the poor have good news brought to them…” Many are confused about who Jesus really is. It’s easier to hope for God to act when the sun is shining. The Advent always remembers John’s prison.

“The good news of Advent is ‘Look! Your God is coming!’….Obstacles will be removed and the covenant restored as people and the created order enter the sphere of salvation.” (Noel Leo Erskine, in FEASTING on the WORD, A 1:52,54) I dunno. It seems like I go to a lot of funerals of my friends, and I know that many families are separated. Some of us risk deportation, and microplastics are in our water. And God still makes a highway in the desert!

In the process of unfolding, Horace Brown King

If anyone is there, please join us every Tuesday to be confronted by scriptures assigned to the upcoming weekend by the Common Lectionary; at horacebrownking.com

For me, it’s hard to find Jesus in a crowd. For sure, he’s not the dorky-looking guy in a striped sweater. Lessons to be read this weekend are about knowing that the Redeemer will come–but where? And how? We pew-sitters are reminded that we’re to expect God to re-enter our lives (despite the tinsel) and also to look actively for the signs of the Holy in our midst.

ISIAIAH 11:1-10 tells us that “a root will spring forth from the stump of Jesse”. When I pastored in Montrose, there was a huge cotton-wood tree growing in the property kitty-corner from the Parsonage. It was a DIIRTY tree: every midsummer would find bushels of “cotton” pouring down in the neighborhood. Finally, to everyone’s relief, the owners decided to take it down. But the next Spring, lines of shoots appeared in our neighbors’ yards, sprung from the roots still remaining in the ground. Even though David’s house had fallen into disrepair, says the prophet, be of good cheer! He will judge justly, and “the nations shall inquire of him…”

ROMANS 15:4-13 tells us about God’s steadfast love and our response to it. Despite our differences–the lion and the lamb–we’re to accept one another with open arms, seeing here the face of God in Christ. The Advent message, then, is to begin again with others (and ourselves) even as we peer into the manger.

John the Baptizer is a strange dude. Here in MATTHEW 3:1-12 we meet him in the wilderness, Where the Wild Things Are. Where the Christmas lights are not. To me, his baptism ministry is secondary to his preachment that the Chosen of God is near, that “his winnowing fork is in his hand, and he will clear his threshing-floor and will gather his wheat into the granary” and will burn the leftovers. It’s a warning to those who think their lives are righteous that God’s expectations demand both confession and renewal.

Thomas Merton has said, “The Advent mystery is the beginning of the end of all that is in us that is not of Christ”. In this Holy Season, “May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.”

In the process of unfolding, Horace Brown King

Every Tuesday in Advent and throughout the year, we meet here to be touched by God through scriptures to be heard on the upcoming weekend. Come join us!