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Probably the question most asked me during my career of ministry is “What will we look like in Heaven?” To which my only answer can be, “Like the Christ”. We humans of physical proportions can’t really imagine being within the presence of God. Texts to be realized on the upcoming weekend share the idea once proposed by Moses as incorporated into Jesus’ teachings of respect and aid for the Others. We can debate this–or we can just DO it.

LEVITICUS is generally overlooked as a system of archaic rules–but in 19:15-18 we have some expectations about our conduct as a worshiper of YHWH which may separate us from the business-as-usual crowd. Let justice be both to the poor and the great. Speak honestly about the Others, and don’t profit from your neighbor’s life. Do not hate or bear a grudge: “you shall love your neighbor as yourself.” Barbara Brown Taylor considers this to be the connection between human behavior and identity, between the relationship with God and the relationship with the Neighbor. (FEASTING on the WORD, A 4:195ff) Note well that God doesn’t expect those in Holy Image to DO good, just to BE good!

Some scholars argue that I THESSALONIANS is the earliest writing in the Christian canon. 2:1-8 speaks about Paul’s accepted apostleship, which always has its source in Christ. We share the Grace which comes from God with all Neighbors as a God-given direction, aware again that we who bear a Holy Image are expected to live up to such an Image. “They’ll Know we are Christians by our Love”, gently sharing ourselves with others.

MATTHEW 22:34-46 describes yet another Holy Week confrontation of Jesus with the Pharisees, who were trying their best to entrap Jesus: “which commandment in the Law is the greatest?” Jesus replied, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind…and a second is like it: you shall love your neighbor as yourself.” The questioner(s) deal here with the centrality of Holy Living; beyond tradition, they seek to know about daily attitude.

Please note that the phrase, “You shall be holy”, is not a REQUIREMENT but a PROMISE! Followers of John Wesley often use the term “GOING ON to Perfection”. We’re not there yet, not in this life, but we have our spiritual eyes set on this goal of being in Christ. Without this Promise we’re stuck shuffling through the daily swamp; but with God’s help, we SHALL be Holy!

In the process of unfolding, Horace Brown King

Join us each Tuesday for a smidgen of the Lectionary readings for the upcoming Sunday; at horacebrownking.com

One of the oldest and most insidious sins is that of IDOLATRY. Whether we worship hunks of wood and gilt or name our god Mercedes or Chevrolet, it’s still with us. Scriptures to be heard this upcoming weekend deal with our proclivity to split our loyalty between YHWH and material objects. (These, of course, include ownership of land, “defending” it, and the conceit of thinking ourselves better than others.)

We first consider ISAIAH 45:1-7–when Cyrus of Persia defeated the Babylonians in 539 BC, he allowed the Judean captives to go “home” and rebuild their Temple. Isaiah of Babylon saw Cyrus as the Champion of the People, the hand of God at work. Why then should we assume that strangers are enemies? Is God in charge even in Persia? “The primary concern of the passage seems to be to deny any limits on God’s power.” (James Burns, in FEASTING on the WORD, A 4:175) “I am the Lord, and there is no other; besides me there is no god.”

I THESSALONIANS 1:1-10 is Paul’s appreciative greeting to his pals in Macedonia. He lauds them for their willingness to be inhabited by the Holy Spirit, and for accomplishing ministries so empowered: evangelism and other labors of love. Here again is the oneness of God celebrated: “the people of those regions report…how you turned to God from idols, to serve a living and true God….” In our waiting for the Christ to be revealed, we become partners in mission, even within “the wrath that is coming.”

MATTHEW 22:15-22 is presented as yet one more Holy Week parable of Jesus, aimed primarily at the System in the Temple at Jerusalem. “Shall we pay taxes/homage to Caesar?” Jesus shows them a coin with the Emperor’s likeness, and famously says, “Return to the Emperor the things that are the Emperor’s, and return to God the things that are God’s.” It’s a fair question: how much can we pledge allegiance to the secular without diluting our dependence upon God? Are taxes used for military might, or to promote racism, legitimate? And shall we withhold the share which isn’t used for relief of the poor, or educating all children? Who’s in charge here?

Norman Podhoretz, in his excellent book THE PROPHETS, reminds us that “the battle will have to be fought first and foremost within ourselves and then in the world of ideas around us.” (page 359) “Hear, O Israel: the Lord our God is one Lord; and you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your might.” –Deuteronomy 6:4

In the process of unfolding, Horace Brown King

You are invited every Tuesday to meet with the Scriptural passages to be read in worship during the coming weekend–at horacebrownking.com

Every so often, Vicki of Nashville, the one who creates the Lectionary readings, throws us some texts that just don’t seem to go together. That’s how it is for the upcoming weekend. I just can’t find the holy thread that knits them together; unless… Unless we find out that all these scriptural passages indicate that God loves the People, no matter what; and that God’s inviting all sorts of folks to the Heavenly Banquet! You and me too!

ISAIAH of Jerusalem usually writes in an “I TOLD you so!” frame–except for some verses. 25:1-9 are among these that glorify YHWH in the midst of exile and battle. “When the blast of the ruthless was like a winter rainstorm, the noise of aliens like heat in a dry place, You subdued the heat with the shade of clouds; the song of the ruthless was stilled.” Isaiah announces a word of hope within harsh times, contrasting God’s steadfast love with the fatalism of the idols. Today’s hearers may well affirm this steadfast love, especially by caring for those who’ve given up hope.

PHILIPPIANS 4:1-9 is St. Paul’s farewell to his friends in the city of Philippi, written from house arrest in Rome. Under the shadow of execution, he can still be joyful, considering that “joy” is a shared feeling. He sees that Joy isn’t predicated on circumstance, but is a spiritual understanding that God’s in heaven, all’s right with the world. Does that mean that we don’t have to save ourselves? That we can trust that God’s in charge even in our exilic battles? Good News indeed! “Do not worry about anything, but in everything by prayer with supplication and thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.”

In MATTHEW 22:1-10 we read about the Wedding Banquet, a story here laced with Matthew’s humanity. He sets this as a parable of Jesus, who in his last days is telling the System that other people are just as important. The meat of this for us today is that the Church is open to both “the good and the bad”: have we been exclusive in our charity and our dress codes? As refreshing as this parable should be to the hopeless and discouraged, it also reminds us not to be too smug: those awful tax collectors have the same entrance as we do, i.e. the love of Jesus.

“I fear no foe, with Thee at hand to bless; ills have no weight, and tears not bitterness. Where is death’s sting? Where, grave, thy victory? I triumph still, if thou abide with me” – ——Henry F. Lyte

In the process of unfolding, Horace Brown King

Come with me every Tuesday as we explore scripture passages that will be heard on the upcoming weekend; at horacebrownking.com

Have you ever gone to a Special Place hoping for top-quality things, but were disappointed? ‘Course you have! Or have you made an extravagant gift, thinking that the recipient would provide stellar service in reaction to this? Scriptures heard on the upcoming weekend describe (?) the feelings of God–in human terms–about the slowness or disregard of the Goodness of Creation. We in the pew could see these instances as interesting observations from archaic times–or we could understand them as symptomatic of our own brokenness.

ISAIAH 5:1-7 is a “love song” about a holy vineyard, the People of Jerusalem and Judah, those left after the Assyrians had destroyed the Northern part of Israel. God has come expecting good grapes, but all God gets is WILD ones. God did everything right: planted choice vines, cleared the stones, even put up a hedge to keep away the riff-raff (the fence around the Torah?)… “What more was there to do for my vineyard that I have not done to it?” And so God allowed it to be wrecked; will he start over? “[God] expected justice. but saw bloodshed; righteousness, but heard a cry!”

Paul’s Letter to the PHILIPPIANS (3:4b-14) expects the New Start, the Road to Perfection. The “planting” of Jesus is considered central to the Gospel; Paul considers everything about his own tradition to be lost: “I regard them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ and be found in him…” This is part of his exhortation to the lifestyle cultivated by Jesus the Christ: to clear the stones, to prepare for God’s coming to rejoice over the Creation. To continue the metaphor–which Paul didn’t–the “hedge” described in the Older Testament could well be the bridle on our actions and words which would exclude the sinful deeds to which we’re all inclined.

In Jesus’ final days, MATTHEW portrays him telling another parable to the Jerusalem priests and other Pharisees. 21:33-46 is the story about the vineyard owner whose tenants take over the place, even to the point of murder. After many tries at reconciliation, the owner comes and evicts the tenants and gives charge of the vineyard to some who are more worthy. This is a pretty bald indictment of the prevailing authorities, telling them that they’re to be thrown out and a new system instituted. But have the current tenants now done all they could do to care for the planting of justice, forgiveness and peace?

We have one grapevine, infamously named by our neighbors as The Vine that Ate West Side. It’s huge! The tendrils are not content with staying in our own yard but have climbed a fence and abused several of our neighborhood maples! And this year it produced TONS of grapes…will they be sour? I’ve often observed in my own conduct the many stones–sometimes pebbles, often times boulders–which hamper the holy growth of the sacred vineyard within. And you??

In the process of unfolding, Horace Brown King

Each Tuesday we confront or are confronted by the Lessons to be heard on the upcoming weekend; join us at horacebrownking.com

The bottom line. When all is said and done. The fat lady sang. We’ve been talking, lately, about who deserves pay (eternal life?) and who doesn’t. But more importantly, recent lections have been about GRACE, the steadfast love displayed by God to ALL creatures! The lessons to be heard on the upcoming weekend continue to remind us that God is God–and that we aren’t.

The prophet EZEKIEL spoke for YHWH around the time of the Babylonian Captivity, BC 597. Verses we look at today, 18:25-32, remind Israel and us that sooner or later we’ll be held accountable for our “sin”: blasphemy, injustice, pride… BUT there’s always a chance to turn it around, to “get right with God”. Current missteps will pass away; what defines us is where we stand at the end of the day. “Cast away from you all the transgressions that you have committed against me, and get yourselves a new heart and a new spirit! Why will you die, O house of Israel? For I have no pleasure in the death of anyone, says the Lord God. Turn, then, and live.” Can’t do it yourself? Read on…

Paul, in house arrest in Rome, continues to exhort the PHILIPPIANS to be imitators of Christ (2:1-13). That is, to reflect the humility of the one they look up to. “Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility regard others as better than yourselves….it is God who is at work in you, enabling you both to will and to work for [God’s] good pleasure.” This COULD be a sudden transformation; but usually is a gradual process. So don’t lose heart!

The parable of Jesus re

Most of us ants who scurry around on the Big Blue Marble consider ourselves to be just and fair people. (There are exceptions.) When an issue of inequity arises, we complain to GOD, instead of doing something about it ourselves! But these readings for the weekend have more to do with GRACE than injustice.

You’re probably familiar with JONAH, the reluctant prophet who wouldn’t go preach to the city of Nineveh; but he did, after a fishing story, and the Ninevites repented! As a patriotic Jew, Jonah didn’t go for this; and besides, he wanted to watch that city get nuked. So the present reading, 4:1-11, finds Jonah pouting at the edge of the city. God caused a shady bush to spring up, giving Jonah some relief from the heat; but the next morning, God sent a cut-worm to destroy that bush, leaving Jonah heat blasted again… It’s a good story, and it appears in the Hebrew Bible to tell about God’s abundant generosity, even towards those formerly pagan Ninevites.

Paul’s letter to the PHILIPPIANS, 1:21-30, finds him ruminating about his own life-threatening situation (he’s under house arrest in Rome), and words of encouragement to those congregations who are besieged by the surrounding ungodly culture, urging them to stand “side by side with one mind for the faith of the Gospel”. There are evidently many injustices happening in Phillipi which are hardly “fair” to the resident Christians. Grace is experienced through these opportunities to Change the World. What does it mean for us to experience Grace in our current culture?

The parable of Jesus told in MATTHEW 20:1-16 is uncomfortable to those of us who have high assumptions. The late-comers got paid just as much as those workers who were diligent in “the burden of the day and the scorching heat.” They’d assumed that they’d get paid more; but the Boss gave them all the whole day’s wages, which was quite generous. What can we say about these deathbed converts and these thieves who share the crucifixion? Are they entitled to as much heavenly Grace as we who have attended worship regularly and volunteered for mission and prayed for others all our lives? God’s generosity far exceeds our own standards–and assumptions.

As my parents often told me, “No one said that the world is fair”. And it’s not: I have so much more than my colleagues in Uganda; or Serbia. Maybe when the Kingdom has drawn near enough we’ll see and experience equity for all people! But in the meantime, God expects us to take in each smidgen of Grace.

In the process of unfolding, Horace Brown King

On each Tuesday we present our understanding of what the weekend’s lessons are about. Come join us– argue with us?–at horacebrownking.com.

Did you ever wish that you could take back your words and do it again? Say it again? Of course you have. I’m constantly amazed that God (and others) keep on putting up with me! Scripture lessons to be unpacked this upcoming weekend tend to re-assure the would-be disciple that they are forgiven, no matter how great their crimes; and would call the gathered community into a restoration of wholeness. This is certainly counter-cultural to the way the world works, as we are reminded daily of the brokenness surrounding us. (I’m gonna quit watching Rachel Maddow, it gets me too worked up.)

We begin with GENESIS 50:15-21. Joseph’s brothers, in a fit of jealousy, had sold Joseph into slavery–but he rose to be the grand poohbah of Egypt! And now come his brothers unknowingly to beg for grain to get them through the famine: omigosh, the shoe’s now on the other foot. So the brothers pleaded for forgiveness, figuring that Joseph still nurtured a grudge; he in his greatness, had long forgiven them, and now arranged for them and their families to settle in Egypt, near the mouths of the Nile. The story is holy because the Past has been erased, or at lest altered. The unspoken question becomes whether or not modern-day disciples will overcome the evils of the Past by forgiving the perpetrators of previous wrongs.

St. Paul says to the ROMANS, in 14:1-12, that there will be differences of practice. “…They will be upheld, for the Lord is able to make them stand….Why do you pass judgment on your brother or sister?” It seems that we’re all in the same boat, that is, doers of evil who desperately need God’s grace. We do God a great disservice by ascribing our human feelings to this God: just because we ourselves suffer from road-rage doesn’t mean that God does also! “Paul is helping persons in the early Christian community [and the current one] to resist demonizing each other…” (Jeanette A. Good, in FEASTING on the WORD, A 4:67)

MATTHEW’s Gospel (18:21-35) is really a continuation of last week’s excursion into telling each other about latent hurts before they become festering sores. So Peter (on our behalf) asks about the Jewish tradition of forgiveness seven times. “Jesus said to him, ‘Not seven times, but, I tell you, SEVENTY-seven times.'” What?! But I believe in the old Three-Strikes-and-yer-out rule. Can the offender really reform? Can I forgive the addict who made a sucker of me? And what about the guy who beats his wife? Can these ever be trusted again, enough to rejoin our group? Jesus used hyperbole in his parable: the first slave could never earn enough to repay “the Master”–but he was forgiven everything!! ‘Twasn’t very nice for him, so great a debtor, to put the screws to the guy who owed him three days wages. The first slave was condemned not for his debt, but for his non-forgiving attitude toward the other guy.

Not mentioned in the Biblical account is the realization that forgiveness brings freedom. Those old grudges become very heavy after a while. Marjorie Thompson has written, “To forgive is to make a conscious choice to release the person who has wounded us from the sentence of our judgment….Forgiveness means the power of the original wound’s power to hold us trapped is broken.” (WEAVINGS, March-April 1992, p.9) Good Luck with that!

In the process of unfolding, Horace Brown King

Please join us every Tuesday as we joust about the Scriptures to be heard on the upcoming weekend: at horacebrownking.com

Polite inhibitions when hard words need to be spoken can be toxic to a community. Scriptures to be heard on the upcoming weekend remind us that love can be best realized by speaking the Truth, as we see it, no matter how much risk that involves.

The prophet EZEKIEL spoke most of his oracles from Babylon’s captivity (589 BC?). Here (33:7-11) he recounts his obligation to speak the word of God with no guarantees of his hearers’ repentance (they didn’t). The “hard words” included led Charles Wesley to write in 1742 an archaic hymn, “Sinners Turn: Why Will You Die?” Please note that if you’re using this as a main text for worship, there needs to be room left for Grace; a post-script, if you please. If you’re really into the Charles Wesley mode, consider singing at the end, “See How Great a Flame Aspires”. What does it involve to be a “sentinel” today, even in the glitz of Babylon?

St. Paul gives us much to think about in ROMANS 13:8-14: “Owe no one anything, except to love one another”. He goes on to exhort us to avoid wronging each other, living “honorably” with each other. Well, yeah; but it’s the old question, Who is my neighbor?? Usually this proactive loving involves naming the enemy, the hard truths that go against our perceived ethic. Read on for how this may play out…

It’s to be remembered that MATTHEW is writing to the Jewish community, hoping against hope for their transformation into the wider Christian lifestyle. In 18:15-20, Jesus appears as the monitor of the Church, giving an orderly process for addressing brokenness: talk about it! The preacher may well mention those times of semi-forgiveness (“Ah, that’s all right”) which can fester for years beneath the surface, only to rear their ugly heads at an opportune moment in the future, thus destroying the communal joy so greatly longed for. A meeting of friends may clear the air; and if the entire group is called to intervene, the process may well be completed in loving respect. Matthew cites Jesus’ hopes for reconciliation, and sees this reconciliation as the true mark of the Christian fellowship.

It’s hard for me to be a “sentinel”, especially when I know the offending ones. I’m reluctant to call out the worldly influences except from the safety of my study. I suspect that your parents and grandparents trained you, also, to be polite and impersonal. So all of us, pulpit and pew alike, can be reminded that God’s community, the Church, needs to be woke and not settle for friction and sniping at each other.

In the process of unfolding, Horace Brown King

Please join us every Tuesday as we are examined by lessons to be heard on the upcoming weekend: at horacebrownking.com

There seems to be something inherent in humans which makes us attempt to make God in our image, not the other way around. We ascribe our own emotions and vengeances to God in some sort of way which may make us feel better about ourselves. Texts to be heard on the upcoming weekend recognize our humanity and provide us with God’s more unfailing way.

JEREMIAH was not a popular guy: he insisted on calling a spade a spade, as opposed to the prevailing culture of “everything’s fine”. In chapter 15:15-21 he spoke his own frustration of being the “only one” to announce the injustice and militarism of Jerusalem & environs. “In your forbearance do not take me away; know that on your account I suffer insult.” How long must he endure this dark night of the soul? Are Christians today likewise put down for painting a picture of God which exceeds our everyday way of viewing things?

ROMANS 12:9-21 is a towering covenant portraying the Christian Life. “Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.” How do we reflect God to the ones hard to love? These “rules” are countercultural: can we “live in harmony with one another” while riots and protests are the rule of the day? Not said here is Paul’s conviction that the community of those who try, the Church, is the sanity in all the disorder; if you will, the Voice of God cutting through the cacophany of Life Today.

In MATTHEW 16:21-28, we see the human side of Peter coming through: just after he had proclaimed Jesus as the Christ, Peter began to cut down the holy side of Jesus. “God forbid it, Lord! This must never happen to you.” To which Jesus replied, “you are setting your mind not on divine things, but on human things”. That’s the core of it, isn’t it? Disciples of every age are reminded that speaking the Gospel will not make them popular, perhaps even leading to suffering and death! Are Ye Able? The struggle of the Church throughout the ages has been to keep “pure”, not to sell out to the surrounding culture. Who’s on board?

Scriptures such as these convict me and embarass me in my quest to be a Man of Today. My moments of holiness are few and far between; much of my life and ministry has not been countercultural. Peter-like, I proclaim Jesus the Christ, but then turn to making the Church more comfortable in the midst of a crying need of materialism and discrimination… Pray for me, and I for you…

In the process of unfolding, Horace Brown King

Please join us every Tuesday to get slapped around by the Scriptures to be read on the upcoming weekend–at horacebrownking.com

Some of the toys my kids let me play with as I watched TV were called Transformers: they seemed like some sort of machinery, but if you twisted them just right, they developed into humanoid figures. Texts to be explored on the upcoming weekend remind us that things are often more than they seem; and that God is at work changing and developing Creation, taking the everyday stuff and making it holy.

The word “prophet” means “one who speaks for God”. Third ISAIAH uses this device in 51:1-6 to tell those recently returned from Babylonian exile that YHWH continues to build them into New Things. The Good Old Days are now past, and the faithful are encouraged to look forward. The Old Times can’t /shouldn’t be forgotten, but can be seen as foundations for the future. God can and will transform glorious futures from an ugly history! Those who “practice righteousness and seek the Lord” are given patience to wait for the “joy and gladness will be found in [Zion], thanksgiving and the voice of song”.

St. Paul continues to build the Church, in ROMANS 12:1-8. “Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your minds…” How then shall Christians live? Can we present an alternative to scrabbling in the dust for prestige and earthly power? Is there a way to advertise to the tired and storm-blown that a new understanding of Success can be spoken here? Eleazar S. Fernandez observes that “nonconformity in relation to the world is the stance that the community of believers must take in light of the life and ministry of Jesus and of the coming new age….The community of believers must live differently, as if the future were already present.” (FEEDING on the WORD, A 3:378)

The Gospel is yet from MATTHEW 16:13-20–“and whom do YOU say that I am?” Here is begun the formal idea of Church: “You are Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church”. Please note that this entire stance is based upon the grace of God through Jesus. Although the Jewish community has been well-established, God his here refining the old values of justice and righteousness. As we ascent to God continuing to work through us, our confession is that of the unfinished holiness in our midst.

This is truly a radical position, one which we’re all called to affirm. May the powers of Heaven bless us, even as we form a branch of loving, welcoming community.

In the process of unfolding, Horace Brown King

Every Tuesday we begin thinking about the Scriptures assigned to the upcoming weekend (common lectionary). You’re invited to come along at horacebrownking.com