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My weird sense of humor always appreciates the stand-up monologue where the comedian is interrupted by a ringing phone. Comedian: “Hello…You don’t say!” and after a few seconds, “You don’t say!” and then again, “You don’t say!” This goes on for a few more times, then you can hear the phone hang up. Voice from off stage shouts, “WELL, WHO WAS IT??” Comedian: “He didn’t say.” Sometimes the Words from God fall on deaf ears. Fortunately, we have scribes who DO hear and pass the message or something like it to US. This weekend we remember the Baptism of the Lord, and notice how holy words do come to those who need to hear…

The first message this day comes in the words of Isaiah of Babylon, ISAIAH 42:1-9. He speaks of the Servant who comes to bring justice to the nations. Although Jesus will quote some of these words later to his hometown synagogue, the message revealed here by the prophet pertains to the whole community of Israel. The People about to be restored to Israel are to be a light to the nations, and to free the prisoners (is this a metaphor for those locked down by hard feelings, anger & grudges?). Even if we’re bruised and our fire is sputtering, the Servant continues to uphold this new commission.

The second reading is from THE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES, 10:34-43. It recounts Peter’s justification for the baptism of some Gentiles: “In every nation anyone who [respects God]and does what is right is acceptable to [God]”. Evidently that’s another difference between human business as usual and God’s divine excess. Peter, who insisted on “Jewishness” for new Christians, now understands the universality of the Servant’s message.

The event of Jesus’ baptism by John is told this year in the words of MATTHEW 3:13-17. The core of it is the image of the heavens ripped open and the dove of the Spirit plunging onto Jesus. And a Holy Voice came to him (them?), saying “this is my Son, the Beloved, with whom I am well pleased.” Not everyone heard the Voice, alas. Worldly ways are still in power, denying justice to Others and excluding righteousness for the oppressed and imprisoned. The five verses can call the hearers to be immersed themselves as God’s People made sacred–again.

As a would-be mystic, I wholeheartedly believe that God speaks to us constantly. I also believe that there are Thin Places where these messages become more clear. Yet even in the traffic’s roaring boom can be heard the steady word that God loves us just as we are, and expects us to respond in our commitment to justice and righteousness.

In the process of unfolding, Horace Brown King

Join me each Tuesday at horacebrownking.com to be confronted by biblical texts intended to be read in worship during the upcoming weekend.

Even though Christmas goes on (according to the Christian calendar) until Epiphany, January 6, to many people, It’s Over. Some folks who’ve had their tree decorated since Thanksgiving are bored with it, and want to move on. Others, to whom Christmas has become sad, are eager to get the holiday gone… Scriptures to be heard on this Sunday after Christmas announce that God’s presence continues as relief from the surrounding chaos, and as an alternative to our daily scrabbling.

ISAIAH 63:7-9 inserts a word of God’s steadfast love–hesed–into a polemic issued by an angry and disappointed God against the chosen but neglectful People. These had come back to Judah from Babylon expecting life to continue just as their parents had left it; and it wasn’t. Cards recently received at our house pictured the Good Old Days, and expressed nostalgia that unchanged friends “who are dear to us will be near to us once more”… Yet God has come near: “It was no messenger or angel but {God’s} presence that saved them; in love and in pity{God} redeemed them.”

The author of HEBREWS 2:10-18 reminds her hearers that Christ has become one of us through the infant Jesus. To us is born one who will also suffer the slings and arrows of our own painful situations. The believer is not exempt from the reality of each day. But the Good News is that God is there with us! We therefore shan’t fear the return counter for the ugly sweater that wasn’t in our size anyway! Nor shall we be afraid of death & dying, or whatever principality or power arises in our path… The passage concludes, [Jesus] “is able to help those who are being tested”.

MATTHEW 2:13-23 brings reality home in a terrible way: King Herod had all the boys of Bethlehem less than two years of age KILLED! Jesus escaped because his earthly father, Joseph, had the sense to follow his dream, and fled to Egypt. Hardly a solace for “Rachel”, weeping for her children… The reading tells of God’s protection and providential care in dangerous times. After a bit, the family returned to Nazareth, a backwater town largely ignored by the rest of the world. Even here God provides for the growth & nourishment of Christ, in a despicable place surrounded by non-successful people.

Christmas is always complex, isn’t it? We soon leave the fuzzy candlelight of Christmas Eve for the rude wind’s wild lament and the bitter weather of Business as Usual. Have we heard sleigh-bells ringing in the snow? Maybe. Have our children’s eyes been all aglow with excitement? Probably not. Did our grown children and grandchildren show up with Good Cheer? Nope. Has Jesus been born yet again, God With Us, to walk any road or thorny path with us? Most assuredly YES!

In the process of unfolding, Horace Brown King

Every Tuesday we’re confronted by scriptures to be read in worship on the upcoming weekend; join in at horacebrownking.com

One of the people’s common needs is to contact/be contacted by some Force that is beyond our understanding. Myths ancient and modern abound with figures from “the beyond” that unexpectedly enter our lives. Many of the Judeo-Christian tradition call upon angels to represent God. We can read in Genesis 18 how angels appeared to Abraham, and later (in chapter 28) of Jacob’s Ladder and his divine wrestling. Isaiah speaks of angels in the high court of heaven (6:1-8). In later times, the cathedral in Bath, England, features angels–messengers of God–ascending and descending on sculptured ladders. Fr. Andrew Greeley has an excellent book, “Angel Fire”, which I recommend heartily. And you shepherds, recently near Bethlehem–I guess you also saw some angels!

The Old Covenant reading for Christmas (the day after all heaven broke loose) is a picture-story from Third ISAIAH, 52:7-10. Sentinels on the walls of Jerusalem have seen a messenger speeding toward the city with good news: the battle has been won! “In plain sight they see the return of the Lord to Zion…. All the ends of the earth shall see the salvation of our God.” The announced peace is not only the cessation of war, but involves a condition where justice & forgiveness & renewal take place. Even though the surrounding “city” be in ruins, STILL the messenger-angels make this improbable statement. And you, dear reader, get on the walls and watch!

The author of the Letter to the HEBREWS, 1:1-4, expects that as wonderful as angels are, yet the Lord Jesus is more excellent than they, as he is the “exact imprint of God’s very being”. The angels are created by God to be wind and fire, a description of Pentecost and associated with the Holy Spirit. The same writer will later speak of entertaining angels unaware, a preview of Clarence in “It’s a Wonderful Life”. Can you name some phase of your life when you realized in retrospect that an angel–a messenger of God–has touched and re-valued you?

The Prologue to the Gospel of JOHN, vv 1-18, is so full of Creation theology that it could be read EVERY worship event. It is very fitting and appropriate to lift this up on this First Day of Christmas, as we dig ourselves out from under the wrapping paper. Jesus has been born to us as a source of Light–and heaven knows we need it! Where do you need some Christmas Light as you wait for the angels to announce again that God continues to shed glory?

During Advent, I’ve been using a daily devotional by Donna Schaper, called “Stir Up Your Power”. In an attitude of prayer she says, “We pray, as Advent deepens, for the return of angels. In other times past, we have felt barren, without issue, inconsequential, preparing for a joy that seemed never to come. This season wake us up. Make our preparations bear fruit. Make sure we don’t miss the angels You have already sent…” Merry Christmas to all!!

In the process of unfolding, Horace Brown King

Every Tuesday we’re met by scripture texts which are to be read in worship on the upcoming weekend–at horacebrownking.com

Some time ago there was a cartoon of BC, who asked, “Lord, give me a sign”. You guessed it–a portable marquee blew off a hotel and crushed him! Believers and unbelievers alike look for–expect?–signs of a change in systems, changes to our otherwise bland lives. Scriptures for this last Sunday in Advent address this need, hoping against hope that an indulgent Creator will send a star-child to save us from ourselves.

ISAIAH of Jerusalem (7:10-16) lifts up the passage where King Ahaz, petrified by the warlike coalition of Kings Rezin & Pekah, stands by the Upper Pool in Jerusalem to check on the city’s water supply in case of battle. Here Isaiah finds him and offers a sign from God. Ahaz turns this down, but Isaiah gives him a sign anyway. Gospel evangelists try to make this a prophecy of JESUS, but this would be untimely: Isaiah merely says that “life goes on”, and that this child of Ahaz will inherit the throne of David. Are there signs which God continues to give which may remind us of the continuity of life? Advent people, travelers and tourists alike, are reminded by these signs that God is Near.

And so Paul begins his letter to the ROMANS with his statement of belief (1:1-6). This in itself is a sign, not only of the depth which he is about to unpack, but of the nearness of God in Christ. According to Paul, the only appropriate response to the Christ Child, born and matured, is one of Faith: a deep belief that God is still in charge. The audacious message of the Church on Christmas and throughout the year is that despite ugly headlines and brutal behavior God is still in charge.

The Gospel, MATTHEW 1:18-25, is the account of a troubled Joseph trying to decide whether or not to officially marry the pregnant Mary. Heartbroken, dream-shattered, Joseph concludes that it would be best to just “dismiss her quietly”. BUT, as you know, an angel spoke to him in a dream, saying, “Don’t be afraid! This Child will be important and will save the people.” Years ago, when I was in Seminary, Charles Schultz wrote a book called “Savior!? Who Needs a Savior?” The answer, of course, is that we ALL do, each generation and each individual. Perhaps this is the Advent task of the Church, to help our contemporaries see a sign of change. Have we saved ourselves? Or have we trusted that Immanuel is near to fulfill our empty days??

Grace to you, and peace, from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

In the process of unfolding, Horace Brown King

Come join me every Tuesday as the lessons for the upcoming weekend puncture our preconceptions–at horacebrownking.com

Throughout my neighborhood are signs of despair. Some call them “Christmas lights”, a gesture of neighborly appearance; but very few folks really believe that salvation is at hand… “We walk as a people in danger, a people unconvinced that [Jesus’] time is nearly here…” (Donna Schaper, STIR UP YOUR POWER) But this Third weekend in Advent is the recognition of Joy (Gaudete Sunday), in which we celebrate the places and persons who give us Joy… Is the Incarnation event one of them? O, the stress of Santa!

ISAIAH 35:1-10 celebrates the actions of God even as the distressed of Jerusalem are threatened by the Babylonians. “The wilderness and the dry land shall be glad, the desert shall rejoice and blossom….Say to those who are of a fearful heart, ‘Be strong, do not fear! Here is your God…!'” What a good message for the Church to bring to those many who surround us in this season of doubt! Here is a reversal of the norm, a passage that speaks of restoration even in a time of chaos. Some are frustrated by the distances our families have scattered; others of my own generation mourn the friends who have died. But “in Isaiah’s poem, it looks like coming home, and it sounds like singing.” (Stacey Simpson Duke, FEASTING on the WORD A 1:54)

The Epistle comes from the hand of JAMES, 5:7-10. We are urged to “be patient, therefore, beloved, until the coming of the Lord”. This patience is pictured as the farmer/gardener who has planted and who now anxiously awaits the seeds’ germination and growth. The Day of the Lord–a second Christmas?–will come when the desert is ready to receive it. The trick is not to bemoan the current desert as much as to offer a vision of a growing presence as Creation is restored.

The Gospel portrays the mature Jesus as responding to his incarcerated cousin, John the Baptizer: “Go and tell John what you hear and see…” Healing, relief for the poor, and restoration of the dead/dying are all indications that the one for whom we wait has really come. Celebrating this newness in the Bleak Mid-Winter reinforces our concept that God is at work reversing lives and reclaiming systems even in the face of despair and the arid culture it has fed.

Even from this cynic’s corner, there is much to restore our Joy. The music of the Season has played a great part in my spiritual formation; trimming the hearth and setting the table; unpacking tree decorations from friendships long lost–all of these help me to hear the mirthful songs of midnight angels. What do YOU see? What do YOU hear?

In the process of unfolding, Horace Brown King

P.S.– Vestal Community Band offers sounds of Christmas on Thursday, December 8 at Vestal Valley View Alliance Church; and again on December 15 at J C Penney’s at Oakdale Mall. Both concerts begin at 7:00.

Please join me every Tuesday to be met by Scriptures to be read during the upcoming weekend–at horacebrownking.com

The Season of Advent–of Not Yet, but Almost–lends itself quite naturally to a comparison of Then & Now. Scriptures that we’ll hear this weekend call us to acknowledge (with pain) the idolatry of current events: militarism, racism and the claws of Santa. Old and contemporary prophets alike attempt to point out both our brokenness and the hope of a new day to come, when Creation will blossom into that society of which God had originally dreamt.

ISAIAH 11:1-10 envisions a “root of the stump of Jesse”, David’s father, come to once again exert righteous strength in the midst of a careless culture. These words declare a hope which is counter-cultural to the prevailing fear of the Babylonians and the ensuing violence. Isaiah foresees a reign of justice and a Peaceable Kingdom where predator & prey will lovingly co-exist. What brings this into our contemporary time is the reluctant admission that our individual and corporate lives crave such a Ruler, such a Paradise. This “new David” doesn’t come from our ranks, but is a gift from an active God! Will the wolf and the lamb within us respond to the leadership of this Child?

St. Paul continues to speak to the Church in the Center of the World about making a difference. ROMANS 15:4-13 becomes the very conclusion of this defining letter: “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”. After all the planning is well-defined, after we decide that we can not fix the problem by ourselves, in comes hope. Here is where we trade in our world of judgment and boundaries for something completely different, the hospitable world which God desires.

The Gospel is from MATTHEW 3:1-12, the entrance of John the Baptizer. Most of my ministerial friends love to read this passage aloud, especially the part that says, “You brood of vipers!…Bear fruit worthy of repentance.” John goes on to announce One who is to baptize with the Holy Spirit and with fire. His very costume and diet point out the differences between the spiritual carelessness of the present generation and the humility and trust of God-fearers. N. B.–there may be those in attendance at worship who have dressed their inner persons in camel skin and who eat locusts! Will we of fine raiment allow them to shed their external smiles and be real? Or will WE?

Thomas Merton (in SEASONS of CELEBRATION, p.77) tells us that “The Advent mystery is the beginning of the end of all in us that is not yet Christ”. May this be your perception as well.

In the process of unfolding, Horace Brown King

Meet me at horacebrownking.com every Tuesday to be explored by textual lessons assigned to the upcoming weekend

I can still hear my mother’s voice telling me that 5 AM has come and gone, and that those on my paper route are waiting to read the news of the morning. Once she bought me a wind-up LOUD alarm clock; and after a few non-responsive mornings, she would set it in an aluminum pie-pan… Scriptures for this First Weekend in Advent are something like this. Prophets and evangelists alike are screaming at a dozing world still snuggling under the covers of complacency and acedia (the devil of the noon-day sun). The Good News is that the coming day isn’t all that bad, indeed, it’s very good for those who claim the morning.

We begin with the words of ISAIAH of Jerusalem, 2:1-5: “In days to come…many peoples will come to the mountain of the Lord…that [God] may teach us [God’s] ways and that we may walk in [God’s] paths.” Unencumbered by the Past, pilgrims will be able to ascend to God’s Glory. Unblinded by the Present, these will see and report new horizons. God’s presence and direction will become more compelling. “The text does not scold or admonish; it lifts a gleaming promise of what God will do in days to come.” (Paul Simpson Duke in FEASTING on the WORD, A 1:7) These are the first words heard by the Church at this, the beginning of a new cycle/year.

Paul says to the ROMANS (13:11-14), “You know what time it is, how it is now the moment for you to wake from sleep. For salvation is nearer to us now than when we became believers; the night is far gone, the day is near.” We who tread the dawn are those who continue to expect God’s glorious redemption of the shadows, even the ones at our elbows.

We’ll be following MATTHEW during this year; and he begins at the end of the Gospel, in the teachings of the mature Jesus (24:36-44). He says that no one–even he–knows when the Great Plan will be completed, so be ready. Disciples are encouraged to get their affairs in order, because the bus may be loading at the platform even as we speak. I was once given a bookmark with the slogan, “Be alert. The world needs more lerts.”

Although I grew to hate my seven years as a morning-paper boy, I look back on those chilly mornings as a learning experience for the sunrise. Perhaps they spoiled for me any residual joys of the early riser, yet once I was awake in the dark I recognized a certainty of God’s order. With Annie I could sing, “Tomorrow, Tomorrow, I love you, Tomorrow, you’re only a day away!”

In the process of unfolding, Horace Brown King

I record the expressed Presence of God as presented by witnesses every Tuesday–please pray for/with me during these days of anticipation.

Here we are, at the end of one year and the beginning of the next. For the Christian year begins with the Season of Advent/ expectant coming, and thus this last Sunday after Pentecost/the Reign of Christ, brings us full circle. Scriptures to be heard this weekend remind us that this part of life has to end before another (better) chapter can begin. The Community of Believers, the Church, is the group that stands between Earth and Heaven, celebrating that which was and pointing to our expectation of what is yet to be.

JEREMIAH 23:1-6 speaks of NEW shepherds who will better care for the flock, that there will be no dismay or those missing from the fellowship. These shepherds will gather the dispersed individuals from their sordid pastimes and bring them to a safe spot. To be sure, we know-it-alls have messed up the Garden of our origins and we NEED One in the visage of David to “execute justice and righteousness in the land”. Will we value all of God’s Creation?

The author of COLOSSIANS 1:11-20 contrasts the Old with the New, a fitting take on this Reign of Christ worship. God is transferring us from the Land of the Trite, the Tired and the Tawdry to a renewed venue of redemption and forgiveness in Christ. The “Power of Darkness” is our own fear and insecurity. Specters and demons vanish in this Light of Christ. Here the rules and assumptions are all different. We don’t fit Christ into ourselves, rather we are moved from one state of being to another. (per Neta Pringle in FESTING on the WORD)

Why do we retell the Crucifixion story at this point? LUKE 23:33-43 is included here because it brings the Gospel to fulfillment: we’ve begun–and will again–with hearing the human experience of the anticipated birth; and now, what some perceive to be the “end” of the Jesus-tale. Even here, the Good News extends to the least-valued as shown in the Christly forgiveness of the admittedly guilty thief. Even those who live remotely from God are included in this projection of God’s Reign!

Eberhard Busch reminds us (in FEASTING on the WORD, C 4:336) that “…the coming kingdom of God is the great help and rescue for common people. In this kingdom they are no longer forgotten, but come to light. And still more: this kingdom of God will not come in a remote future; it dawns already, now, “today”. “The days are surely coming, says the Lord, when I will raise up for David a righteous Branch, and he shall reign as king and deal wisely, and shall execute justice and righteousness in the land.”

In the process of unfolding, Horace Brown King

Every Tuesday we examine lessons to be read on the upcoming weekend. Please join us at horacebrownking.com

Martha Sterne reminds us that “at the heart of the Judeo-Christian faith is this Creator who emerges even in the bleakest hour in human history to create anew”. (FEASTING on the WORD, C 4:291) Scriptural texts to be read this weekend celebrate this ongoing Creation, reminding us again that God is God–and we’re not! These messages also bring cheer to steady the spines of the lonely prophets and to carry hope to those who weary of worldly glitz and self-reliance. Attend with me?

ISAIAH 65:17-25 reminds his immediate hearers, those yet living in Israel/Canaan AND us of the Twenty-First Century, that YHWH isn’t by any means “done”. What was originally called “Good” has been constantly messed up by those who embrace Reason over Holy Imagination: the ancient Israelite community and that of the Present (and all in between?) have lost the dream of justice and Godly life. But there is a sure future which Trinto-Isaiah here announces: “But be glad and rejoice forever in what I am creating.”

II THESSALONIANS 3:6-13 is a plea for righteous labor and a farewell to idleness. Paul’s team exhorts that congregation to keep on keepin’ on. The danger here is to place our well-being solely in our productivity, which can also be an idol. Opportunities to work within the Church are not to be disregarded, yet some “leaders” may have done their jobs so thoroughly that they’ve become ingrown and actually believe it when they’re acclaimed as rival gods…. “Brothers and sisters, do not be weary in doing what is right.”

“Just look what the artists and the architects have done”, marveled the disciples. “Sure enough,” said the Lord, “[But] as for these things that you see, the days will come when not one stone will be left upon another; all will be thrown down.” Matter of fact, thirty years after Jesus’ death, the Temple WAS destroyed in order to keep the Jews humble and in line with Rome. Was that part of creating new heavens and new earth? Does God confound our plans when we get too big for our britches? Jesus said that there’d be LOTS of calamities–wars, earthquakes, famines–but this is not The End. However, these occasions will give believers a chance to speak about God’s process of re-creation.

What is God up to NOW?? Can a culture that has drifted into the worship of rockets, guns and football ever be reclaimed by the Holy One? And will the remnant who keep a clear eye yet be able to dream? And to speak this Dream when the rest of the world has forgotten who they are?

In the process of unfolding, Horace Brown King

Join me each Tuesday as we are met by Lessons assigned by the lectionary to the upcoming weekend–at horacebrownking.com

Years ago, at my seminary church, folks asked for a Bible study on Prophecy. I prepared good lessons on Ezekiel, Jeremiah et al–but what they expected was some sort of discourse on Jean Dixon or another astrologer of the day. I suspect that the urge to know what’s gonna happen soon is a universal quest. People in biblical times were concerned with portents and signs; and even in more modern times some soothsayer or another convinces his or her followers to sell their property and wait for the Lord on a hill far away… Scripture to be read on the upcoming weekend addresses this search for ‘knowledge’–and exhorts the faithful hearer to patiently wait for the Lord’s Good Time.

The overall message of HAGGAI (who reads Haggai?) is to urge the remnant remaining in Jerusalem after the Babylonian captivity to get to work in rebuilding the Temple. So what if it didn’t match the glory & majesty of the old one? The message in 1:15 – 2:9 is to live in the Present without wallowing in the Past–or dreaming about the Future. “Yet now take courage…take courage, all you people of the land, says the Lord.” The prosperity of YHWH is at hand!

When II THESSALONIANS 2:1-5, 13-17 was written, the congregation was evidently waiting for (and debating) the Day of the Lord. Some thought it immanent, others thought maybe it had already happened! Were they “Left Behind”? When will God step in to establish a rule of righteousness? In the meantime, how shall we live? I have a poster somewhere that says that “Some people are so heaven-minded that they’re no earthly good.” Not just individuals, but entire communities of Christ! The sky is not falling; don’t run in fear, God’s still in control…

LUKE 20:27-38 begins with the humorous story concocted by the Sadducees, who don’t believe in resurrection or eternal life ; that’s why they’re SAD, you see (thanks Nancy Adams). According to them, Typhoid Mary killed off seven husbands before she died herself. SO–in heaven, whose wife will she be? “Get real, “says Jesus, “in heaven there is no marriage, that’s an earthly or cultural tradition.” He must not have read the Obituaries which describe how the Dearly Departed are greeted by their relatives and pets, and now they’re all dancing together forever. The Sadducees spoke in terms of Death, but Jesus answered in terms of Life. “Now he is God not of the dead but of the living; for to him all of them are alive.” Jesus does not answer all our questions about where/when/how–but he does point us to a God who remains faithfully involved with Children of the Resurrection.

Martha Sterne reminds us that, “the move into the future is not just a repeat of the past and a faint echo of further glory. InGod’s future we are moving toward and cocreating a surge of wonder, grace, beauty, power and love.” (FEASTING on the WORD, C 4:271

In the process of unfolding, Horace Brown King

Please join me every Tuesday to be confronted by scripture texts assigned to be read on the upcoming weekend; at horacebrownking.com