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Scripture to be read this weekend serves to remind us (me) that evil continues to raise its head; or, in this case, the temptation to fall out with God is prevalent among God’s Creatures. It’s easy to say, “The devil made me do it”, but this disregards our own responsibility to choose. These readings deal with our proclivity to point our fingers at others/situations–and shun our ownership of our faults. It’s also easy to laugh at the old foibles of persons or groups long ago–but each reading should cause us to evaluate our own lives…

You undoubtedly remember the conversation between God and Adam & Eve in the Garden of Eden, GENESIS 3:8-15. God has come inquiring of their health & well-being; but they hid themselves (in clothes?) because they were nakedly transparent. (This is one reason why some folks don’t go to church.) “Did you eat the fruit I told you not to?” “Well…the woman YOU gave me…” “Wait a minute, it was the SNAKE!” And since the snake has no fingers, the buck stopped there. From eons later, we could contrast the disorder of Early Man & Woman to how nice things’ll be in Jesus’ Kingdom. Will we really return to this innocence, this naivete? Or will the Ultimate Kingdom incorporate our experience as The Broken?

The apostle Paul speaks to some of the disenfranchised in his Second Letter to the CORINTHIANS 4:13-18. I had an old Welsh friend who would stop at my office regularly on Tuesdays to join my secretary and me in a cup of tea. His parting speech always would include, “Thanks for the next, I’m sure of this one”. So Paul values the coming days more than the current ones; “because we look not at what can be seen but what cannot be seen…” Not double-speak, but a looking forward to that which Jesus has promised. A body, a tent, a building, a garment. But until then, we wait in anticipation and try to live before God in integrity.

And MARK 3:20-35 ties this together: Jesus seems to be out of his mind in the current milieu, and we are also. The temptations and glitz of the present are not worth comparing to what awaits us in the future. Jesus is neither the Lord of the Flies nor Satan, for a house divided cannot stand. Still, the powers of evil tweak at us, daring us to hurt ourselves and others, maybe even GOD.

My favorite sign is a sticker that my acquaintance affixed to her French horn case: “Spit Happens!” As long as we perform in the arena of the earth we’re subjected to the niddling power of temptation: to be stronger, to be better than, to win at all costs… The person On Their Way is one who knows that pitfalls lie ahead, yet holds onto the vision.

In the process of unfolding, Horace Brown King

It’s OK to share this with your friends. Who knows? Maybe they also will look forward to Tuesdays, when we explore lectionary readings for the upcoming weekend; at horacebrownking.com

Whenever a great plan to Change the World (or part of it) would run amock, my dad would say, “Well, their heart is in the right place”. Readings for this weekend after Trinity are to remind us that our hearts need to reflect faithful righteousness, that we are the only Bible that some will ever know. These tales include us within the great movement to offer Creation an ongoing perception–no small task.

Richard Rohr tells us that the signs of growth involve “order, dis-order, and re-order”. So it is with the first three chapters of the Book of HOSEA: the prophet chooses a wife known to be a “harlot”, she bears children which are owned by him, she goes back to public prostitution, and finally Hosea “buys” her in a return to him. The analogy, of course, is how God deals with straying Israel, whose people have run off to worship the Baal(s) of the moment. In 2:14-20, a steadfast God continually provides the People with “a door of hope”, a “renewed” covenant across the whole world and all its beings. The covenant is God’s renewal of righteousness and justice, love and mercy.

II CORINTHIANS 3:1-6 is Paul’s “defense” of his lack of letters of reference. He says that the church-people themselves are his witness to ministries of God’s Work, written “not on tablets of stone, but on tablets of human hearts”. The Baal-im nurtured by the Corinthians were many: careless morality, arguments among factions, mis-using the Lord’s Supper and Baptism, plus a constant pride in spiritual gifts. Yet God still calls them/us back to a refined worship and recast service to the neighbor. “The good news for these disciples is that their ongoing action does not depend on their own strength. It is a gift of God who makes them competent for ministry.” (Clayton J. Schmit, in FEASTING on the WORD, B 3:67)

MARK 2:13-22 deals with the call of Matthew/Levi, and the criticism Jesus got for eating with “sinners”! Jesus told the Pharisees and scribes quite bluntly that feasts celebrate the moment, that when the guest of honor is absent, THEN the people will fast. Here is a divine reinterpretation of the Old Codes of Clean and Unclean into an inclusive sort of discipleship.

Our lives are not static. We constantly grow in our adoration and ministry of caring for the hungry, the sick and the needy. Although we’re often seduced by the glitz of the moment, the sparkle always wears off and we’re discarded by the Baal. But God is waiting for us on the porch with the light on. Our job may very well be to remind a jaded world of this steadfast love.

In the process of unfolding, Horace Brown King

Please come join us every Tuesday, and bring your friends. It’s OK to share this posting with other folks, please do. Comments on the readings to be heard on the upcoming weekend can always be found at horacebrownking.com

The Doctrine of the Trinity was formalized in 325 at the Council of Nicea, called by the Roman Emperor to put out the grass fires that had already sprung up across the Empire. Most of the populace was illiterate, and their versions of Christianity were shaped by “a friend who was the friend of a friend”. The Council was to–and did–solidify What We Believe about God and the created world. This upcoming weekend is given over to the Trinity, Father & Son & Holy Spirit, as preachers try in vain to unpack the mystery of Three Persons and one God.

ISAIAH 6:1-8 depicts the young prophet envisioning himself in God’s Presence, terrified that his impurities would get him into trouble. Many have claimed that the seraphs thrice-articulated “Holy, Holy, Holy” is a forerunner of the Trinity; but I don’t see it. Others have said that the use of “us” indicates the Trinity; yet Queen Victoria is supposed to have said, “We are not amused”, the royal plural. What it DOES say is that God has a place for us, once the impurities have burnt off. Once we actually surrender to God’s direction and not our own.

As I’ve said before, the Epistle to the ROMANS is just loaded with good stuff. Today we’ll look at 8:12-18, in which Paul says that we can do nothing without the guidance of the Spirit; and with it, we’ll inherit the Kingdom as Children of God! And when we see these “others”, we can and should recognize them as OTHER Children of God, established through God’s interest and kindness. Their/our specialness isn’t contingent on a moral or ethical stance (although this may follow later) but only upon the inbreaking Spirit of God. Eberhard Busch reminds us that “when we trust in God and make God the center of our lives, we turn away from the ‘deeds of the body’….We are no longer led by them; we are led by the Spirit of God.” (FEASTING on the WORD, B 3:40)

What can we do with the Nick at Night show, JOHN 3:1-17? Amid all the pop froo-fra, Jesus does speak of the Spirit (according to John, yet to be received). “What is born of the flesh is flesh, and what is born of the Spirit is spirit.” This is the same message of denying one’s SELF in order to receive the grace of God. To be remembered is that John’s faith-community has been plagued with the idea that “we know and you don’t—nonny nonny nu nah”. The author attempts to cast all the players on even ground, disabusing the fleshly differences and equalizing us by the Spirit’s workings. Get out of the way, and let the Spirit be shown!

“Jesus loves the little children, all the children of the world; Red and yellow, black and white, they are precious in God’s sight; Jesus loves the little children of the world.”

In the process of unfolding, Horace Brown King

Every Tuesday we explore the textual lessons assigned to the upcoming weekend; please come, and bring your friends! at horacebrownking.com

Kristin Emery Saldine postulates that “Pentecost sums up the gospel with simplicity and audacity: Jesus Christ offers salvation to all, and the church exists to proclaim it.” (FEASTIING on the WORD, B 3:6) This is the day in which we celebrate the wind of the Spirit blowing freely through the Church, and revel in the inclusiveness brought so forcibly over the Earth. Scriptures to be retold on the upcoming weekend are encouraging and uplifting, setting free any remnants of Lenten guilt or Easter uncertainty.

Luke’s traditional story in ACTS 2:1-21 tells about that day in Jerusalem when the Spirit came on the gathered Apostles and caused them to speak in all the languages of the Eastern Mediterranean.
Those gathered marveled that these “ignorant” Galileans spoke so well in their own language, and many signed up for the Church. They, like us, were eager for the mysterious to break into their hum-drum days; here was an authoritative voice NOT coming from a distant government or a binding tradition. Now the Apostles were equipped with speech-tools they needed to proclaim Good News to all the world.

ROMANS 8 brings many loaded sentences, and vv.22-27 are no exception. Reading these from today’s standpoint, we who are soured by the static cling of the Church can again rejoice in the workings of the Spirit! “For in hope we were saved…”, even though the Kingdom unfolding seems invisible. When we cannot find words–authentic prayer–this Spirit helps our soul cry out to an all-present God. Come what may, God is always there to hear in all languages the needs and joys of the People.

The Gospel is proclaimed in JOHN 15:26-27, describing the Holy Spirit as an advocate, a friend in court; and in 16:4-15, portraying a Spirit who will flesh-out the partial truths about sin, righteousness and judgement. (To John, this table-talk at the Last Supper is of extreme importance; over half of his Gospel is dedicated to Holy Week, and these last instructions to the Disciples are paramount.) There are many things yet to know about God & Jesus–yet the Spirit will guide each of us into the Truth.

Somehow God speaks to each of us. This speech can be a Burning Bush or a Still Small Voice–more often the Holy Spirit speaks over a time, having tenderized our harshness and caught our attention in a readiness to hear. With me, it’s often in retrospect: I look back at Holy Occasions and think, rather stupidly, “Hey! That was the Spirit!” Touched as we are, where we are, the voice of God continues to speak to us in our own terms, our own language.

In the process of unfolding, Horace Brown King

Come along and join the conversation every Tuesday, as we unpack Scriptural texts to be shared on the upcoming weekend; at horacebrownking.com

Our society is addicted to staying within the lines. Remember how your mother told you “Don’t color outside the lines”? No Trespassing. No skateboarding on ramp. Run in your lane. One Way Only. Scriptural texts to be shared this upcoming weekend remind the hearers that they have a unique relationship with Christ–we all do–and that segregating lines are to be overcome by God’s presence.

ACTS 10:44-48 should be read by someone who can share the backstory: Peter was in prayer on the roof of one Simon the Tanner (a TANNER, how low can you go?) when all the animals of Creation were presented to him. Peter, a good Jew, classified them as “clean” & “unclean”. God said, “Wait a minute! How can you call something that I proudly made UNclean??” Just then, two men came to urge Peter to visit Cornelius, an army commander. Softened by this vision, Peter went to see the Gentile Cornelius–a sin to the faithful and segregated Jews, where he presented the gospel of Christ. The Holy Spirit again took over, affirming that God does not red-line God’s World. I guess ALL means ALL. Note well–neither Peter nor Cornelius were able to cross the boundaries without Divine Intervention.

The FIRST LETTER of JOHN includes the word EVERYONE (5:1-6). Twice. And later, “whatever is born of God conquers the world.” We don’t know what conflicts John’s community had, but these are inclusive words. How we elites need to hear them! I suspect that this passage is not only for the ancient peoples of Asia Minor, but includes the street people of Today–you know, the ragged guy begging for food money, the woman who doesn’t smell so good, the kids who look as though they’ve not been washed or dressed… The ones we drive by, and say “Thank God, I’m not like that”.

The Gospel reading continues the long soliloquy of Jesus to his friends at the Last Supper, JOHN 15:9-17. Jesus’ friends were to think of themselves as more than slaves, expected to do the dirty work. We’ve been recruited to form a community, to banish Self and to stick by him through thick and thin. How do we flesh out this relationship with Christ? What borders shall we cross??

At a congregation I served Long Ago, a vacancy came up on a significant committee: the saint who had served there passed on. I suggested a name of a person I thought would be great–but alas! the others hemmed & hawed ’til one brave fella spoke up: “The problem, Reverend, is that ___just isn’t our kind.” Are the pews empty and the committees shackled because we’re fanatic about staying within the lines?

In the process of unfolding, Horace Brown King

Every Tuesday I welcome your company as we’re confronted by the Scriptures to be read on the upcoming weekend. Come along at horacebrownking.com–OR share these blogs with your friends.

Interesting how we say who we are. When two or more guys get together, sooner or later they’ll identify themselves by saying what they do: I’ve always said “I’m a United Methodist minister”, and chuckled as the listeners find different excuses to move away… Church pews are “full” of people who depend upon their surroundings for their identities. Scriptures to be read this weekend speak to those whose purpose for life has waned, encouraging one and all to be identified as Christ-bearers.

A professor once remarked to the class I attended that the book of ACTS was like a pebble dropped into a puddle: the resultant ripples spread until they touched the shore. So we can see that this story–one of my favorites–about Philip and the Ethiopian eunuch (8:26-40) takes the Good News out from Jerusalem to include all the people. (Including me & you) The eunuch could hardly believe that God could love even him! Firstly, he was an official of a foreign power, the Candace of Ethiopia, and an Ethiopian himself; and secondly, he’d been castrated early on to remove any temptation of pilfering royal funds. Cast out from the Jews, who wanted only perfect men; and shunned by the royal court, he had pretty low self-esteem. But here’s a word that Jesus loves him just as he is! “Another man who felt lost and humiliated was found and restored in the wideness of God’s grace in Jesus Christ.” (Thomas G. Long, in FEASTING on the WORD, B 2:458)

I JOHN 4:7-21 urges each one and the community of Christ itself to “love one another”. It doesn’t say to just love God, but urges us to love all that God has created. Wm. Sloan Coffin reminds us that “it is not because we have value that we are loved, but because we are loved we have value.” (THE COURAGE OF LOVE, p.11) This smacks me a good one because I often look through the street-person asking for cash for food, or the guy in the wheel-scooter who hangs out near the Post Office, or you whose job has been terminated. My prayers for my children and grandchildren are that they may find their value and self-worth through those who are around them…

This brings us to the gospel of JOHN, which includes a very meaty exhortation to his friends at the Last Supper. Verses 15:1-8 speak of this love which God has in the metaphor of the Vine and its Branches–that nutrients and other goodness come from the Created Earth through the conduit of Jesus into each leaflet of the Greater Vine. The Vine could be decorative, yet the Gardener expects to harvest good grapes. “Abiding” (used here eight times!) means staying the course, enjoying the reliability of God’s steadfast love. Here is the heart’s true home, a sanctuary from the diddly stuff that grinds us down.

It’s not easy to be part of the Vine of Christ. Pruning does happen, but it makes for better growth. And when the grapes yield their goodness, when the foreign hopeful one is accepted, when the community of Christ throws wide its doors for the disenchanted and the welcome to All is extended–THEN we can know who we are and all Creation can sing, “They’ll know we are Christians by our love!”

So now that you’ve met the Risen Lord on Easter–now what? Will your attitude be expanded to include those around you, especially the disenfranchised and the homeless searchers in the night? Scripture lessons to be read and heard on this Fourth Week of Easter call us (the religious establishment!?) to open our hearts even further to greet the unlikely bearers of the image of God.

We begin by hearing the upshot of the story in ACTS 4 about Peter & John, the Do-er and the Be-er, who have just figured in healing a lame man by invoking the Name of Jesus. Enraged that they’ve helped in healing without a Temple license, the authorities imprisoned them and dragged them before a large council in the morning. “By what power or by what name did you do this?” Peter’s rebuttal was filled with the Holy Spirit, breaking down the System of state religion. The Disciples do not stand alone when questioned. Their heirs–we ourselves–don’t either.

We’re then challenged by I JOHN 3:16-24, exhorted to stand up for the unjustly treated and those whose relationships have hit rock bottom. “Let us love, not in word or speech [only], but in truth and action.” Love is a response to the evils ignored by the System in all ages and places. The love commanded by Jesus is knowable, touchable, even inspiring terror in those daring to leave their comfort zone–unless, of course, we stand in the Spirit and in the Name of Jesus. Must Jesus bear the cross alone?

The Gospel continues to examine the poetic work of JOHN:11-18. “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.” This metaphor my be strange to us urban folks, but look at it as a description of how the Lord identifies with those on the fringes. The words speak of the intimacy developed between the trusted leader and those who will follow. The sheep and the shepherd have lived together and have been rescued often by steadfast love. “There are many voices out there vying for our attention. Many distractions lure us from the path….{but} the sheep feel secure just to hear the voice of the shepherd.” (Nancy R. Blakely, in FEASTING on the WORD, B 2:452)

So where does that leave us? Hopefully as trusting disciples, nibbling our way through the world, and speaking comfortably to those abused by the System. We don’t travel alone. The presence of the Christ shows itself in our exhortations towards cultural holiness (wholeness?); guided by God’s Holy Spirit, the path is before us.

In the process of unfolding, Horace Brown King

We continue to explore texts and lessons to be presented to us during worship on the upcoming weekend. Please join us each Tuesday at horacebrownking.com

“God’s healing and restoring work discloses another world, another reality, another sovereignty shimmering amid the wreckage of a dying culture.” (Thomas G. Long, in FEASTING on the WORD, B 2:410) Scriptures to be read and heard during worship this upcoming weekend continue to announce such newness of post-Easter Christianity. Our chief sin is Idolatry–in this case of ourselves, for we KNOW! Do we?

ACTS 3:12-19 happens just after God heals a lame man through Peter & John as they invoke the name of Christ. People naturally gathered around, giving Peter an audience for this somewhat blunt address. Peter here lays out his fellow Jews for their reluctance to accept Jesus, still giving them opportunity to turn life around and move into God’s Kingdom. He speaks from an entirely Jewish tradition, wondering why they didn’t recognize the Son of Moses as perceived by scripture. This Christ, long-awaited and eternally present, is the source of our safety.

In retrospect, we read I JOHN 3:1-7. The author is calling his community to actually believe that there is God’s righteousness; and that we can together be righteous in Christ! “We are God’s children now…” Thus we’re to affirm greater family relationships, treating all–even the downtrodden and the hopeless–as brothers and sisters. Not driving by the street-person asking for food money; not avoiding certain neighborhoods because the folks there have different skin than we do… “Made like Christ, in him we rise…”

The Gospel–LUKE 24:36b-49–is similar to last week’s: Jesus suddenly is perceived among his Disciples. There was an age in which the physical corpus of Jesus was probably more important than in 2024; yet it’s good to observe that our savior is more than a ghost. We note that Jesus was there “opening their minds” to understanding, just as he did with Clopas & companion at Emmaus. What could they/we believe? We remember that Original Man was molded from the “dust of the ground”, and that the Second Adam also did the whole nine yards of human experience. “Why are you frightened? Touch me and see that is really me!” Why then should we fear when Jesus appears?

We are children of the Enlightenment, we KNOW what is possible and probable. But here we’re called to “a rejection of totalistic systems of thought…that limit the vision of the future to the shape of what seems probable according to current conceptions”. (Steven A. Cooper, ibid., p 428) My vision needs to exceed the narrowness of my academic life and the wisdom of the streets.

In the process of unfolding, Horace Brown King

Come along every Tuesday to explore the lessons to be read & heard on the upcoming weekend; at horacebrownking.com

Alas, my chocolate bunny’s been eaten, beginning with the ears, of course. And the fake grass and old pysanki have been put away until next year. Did it matter? What Now, says the Church. Readings for this coming Sunday of Easter deal with how things have changed with the unfolding Kingdom of God, with the renewed power found among disciples both early and contemporary. Is there life after the re-discovery of God’s Christ? Have there been any changes in attitude or hope?

The first reading is not from the Old Testament, but from the Book of the ACTS of the Apostles, 4:32-35. George Bryant Wirth has identified two post-Easter themes: Unity in the midst of diversity; and generosity in the midst of poverty. How can these things be possible except by the visitation of the Holy Spirit? Do we now identify with all others, ALL others? Wirth quotes Solzhenitsyn, “The line dividing good and evil cuts through the heart of every human being.” While Christians should be exempt from sin, we continue to do so. BUT “With great power the apostles gave their testimony to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and great grace was upon them all.” Message for today: bring on the grace and revel in it!

The Epistle is read from I JOHN 1:1-10: the resurrection urges us to walk in the light. This author once published a workbook called “Light from Darkness: Preaching the Gospel of John.” In it we tried to lift up the active love displayed by God to all the world, recognizing the blackness of separation/sin, but affirming that Jesus keeps bringing Light strong enough to overcome such Dark. The world keeps stumbling on, and many will despair of the Easter message ever breaking through. George W. Stroup reminds us that good intentions often fall flat–and yet “Christians who live in communion with God need not deny that they are sinners, or pretend that shadows do not continue to fall across their journey to the light.” (FEASTING on the WORD, B 2:398) So “we declare to you the eternal life [beginning now] that was with the Father…”

The Gospel is that of JOHN 20:19-31, immediately following the Easter narrative. You probably know well the honest questions of Thomas, unfairly called “Doubting”. But this isn’t really HIS story, as much as it is of the remaining Disciples–and us today. You see, God comes to us where we are, locked doors and all! “It isn’t easy to live into the reality of Easter”, says Gail O’Day (ibid., 403) “Jesus comes again and again to those scared and confused disciples….The point is Jesus’ offer of himself, over and over again…” People empowered by this breathed Holy Spirit are equipped, even today, to bear news of God’s interaction to those still enjoying Darkness.

Many congregations within this benighted Church still hide behind locked doors, away from politics and poverty, away from militarism and racism. But the Christ appears among us, not allowing doors to hide us from Grace. His message for the world is that the Kingdom has come near us, even if we don’t see it; and that God continues to love us, wherever we are on the Journey.

In the process of unfolding, Horace Brown King

Please join us every Tuesday to be challenged by the lessons to be read during worship on the upcoming weekend; at horacebrownking.com