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Or has made all things “Whole”. Readings for the upcoming weekend are intended to reassure hearers that God is not only all-powerful but has mercy and compassion on even the least of Creation, even (and especially) the growing things and the young ravens. There’s a definite connection between WHOLENESS and HOLINESS–and completion. When we seek healing we’re really after perfection, a restoration of How Things Should Be. Some of that is a matter of taking our assigned spot, humbling as that may be, and letting God BE God.

Second Isaiah writes from Babylon (40:21-31) that God is beyond our imagination: “To whom then will you compare me, or who is my equal?” Despite this majesty, God is One who renews the strength of the exhausted and the weary, causing them/us to rise up with eagle wings and resume their allotted space in Creation’s scheme. It appears that God will comfort us despite our earthly limitations–if we totally renounce our arrogant desire to control everything…

Paul continues (I Corinthians 9:16-23) what he broached last week, that our “freedom” is limited by our responsibility: we’re not to pull the fire alarm during a crowded basketball game! His desire is to become like even those “outside the law” in order to understand their point of view better. Has not God, in the Incarnation, done the same? Stepped “down” from Heaven’s clouds to be human? This identification with the un-Whole is the real freedom, and from this healing proceeds. V. Bruce Rigdon maintains that “the Gospel envisions freedom as the right of individuals, not to do as they choose, but rather to relinquish their rights for the sake of others.” (FEASTING on the WORD, B 1:33)

After exorcising the demon in the synagogue, Jesus & Co. go to Simon Peter’s house for supper (Mark 1:29-39). But Simon’s mother-in-law was sick in bed! Not to worry: Jesus took her hand, she got better, and served them supper! Sexist, at first view, we see here classic healing: the touch of Jesus restores the sick one to their normal role. There seems to be a need for touch, an intimate knowing of the person and participating in their bodily imperfections. Dr. John Sherwood, a wise physician, told me always to touch the patient in some way, affirming their “touchability” and thus noting their worth. In an important footnote, Jesus isn’t content to stay caged in Capernaum as a resident healer and economic source. He has a wider area in which to teach and heal…

These readings speak kindly to the “lame, the least, and the lost” and the reader will do well to present them clearly and with a sense of “right now”. The quest for Wholeness is an everyday occurrance, especially in the grip of a never-ending pandemic. Many (most?) of us don’t expect to survive, no less return to what we remember as “normal”. Yet in the words of Julian of Norwich, “All is well…”

In the process of unfolding, Horace Brown King

You’re invited to watch me get slapped by Scripture readings assigned to the upcoming weekend every Tuesday at this spot on Facebook; or at horacebrownking.com

“The demonic is a way to talk about the reign of sin in our society and our lives, a system of sinfulness that rejects what is good for our neighbor and us. Sin is a power around us, invading our lives, possessing us, holding us captive, imprisoning all of us in a cage the size of the world.”–writes Isaac S. Villegas (SOJOURNERS January ’21:49) Lessons for the upcoming weekend are not just about the demonic but the authority of God and God’s Spokespersons to banish such brokenness and to restore right relationships with the divine. Hearers who may be overwhelmed by negative systems within themselves and the world in which they live are encouraged to rejoice in the nearness of God’s Kingdom. Even now.

The Hebrew Testament gives us words purported to have been issued by Moses, as he was ready to move on (Deuteronomy 18:15-20). He reminded the People of Wandering that “the Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet…” This/these person(s) would not only speak for God, but would become a window through which the light of God would shine. St. Francis is attributed with saying, ” Preach constantly. Use words when you must.” The prophets among us are those whose actions point the disgruntled towards the Holy.

St. Paul’s First Collection of words to the Corinthians, 8:1-13, deals only superficially with the gastric habits of the Corinthian congregation. Perhaps there was a question–did someone tattle?–about the propriety of reusing “sacrificed” food; but the larger question raises about the “reality” of idols. “Nonsense,” we read between the lines, “there are no other gods”. Well, yeah–but there are plenty of DISTRACTIONS! If not food regulations, what other traditions are standing between us and Godliness? “Everything is legal,” of course; but if our pleasures and vices cause someone else to mis-read Righteousness, then we should listen to our scruples. How does the Church respond to the surrounding culture? Can we who’ve succumbed to the glitz & glory of capitalism/materialism/nationalism hope to center back? Only through Christ.

Mark’s Gospel is always very concise. After calling some fisher-folks, Jesus attended synagogue at Capernaum and “taught them as one having authority”. And of course there was a man “with an unclean spirit” there, and Jesus called the demonic out of him. (Self confession: this happens to me almost every worship service.) Mark presents the cosmic confrontation of the Creatures of Darkness vs. the Authority of Light–which is really the Gospel in a nutshell. When Jesus walks into the room, the powers recognize that the boundaries between Heaven & Earth have again been shattered…and lives are transformed.

Meanwhile, we plod long our way, step by step, groaning about the trials & temptations with which we put up. Ah, where is God? Perhaps nearer than we think or appreciate; and the everyday prophet is calling, Amos-like, to banish our idols and allow this proactive God to rearrange the furniture in our hopeful houses…

In the process of unfolding, Horace Brown King

The record of my encounter with Scripture assigned to the upcoming weekend can be found every Tuesday at this spot on Facebook; or at horacebrownking.com

In the process of unfolding, Horace Brown King

My observations of lessons to be read this upcoming weekend can be found every Tuesday at this spot on Facebook; or at horacebrownking.com

Since I’m deaf as a post, an alarm clock does me no good whatsoever. However, I can count on it waking Marie, who elbows me into a foggy state of awareness. I suppose that I represent most of the known world, at least America, which is too sleepy or deaf to hear the alarms all around. Scripture read this upcoming weekend gives three occasions for waking earth “from its haunted sleep”–reminding sleepers then and now that God’s Presence is all around.

Our Hebrew experience is a quixotic tale of “Jonah”, the Good Jew who didn’t want to go to the sewer called Nineveh–the Assyrian capital–and so he ran the other way. Unsuccessfully. After his fishy adventure, God told him to get on with it; and so we find Jonah (3:1-5) in the streets of Nineveh shouting God’s message: “40 days until calamity!” Now here’s the miracle: the Ninevites BELIEVED Jonah! This unwilling prophet turned out to be the Assyrian alarm clock: they repented, and God didn’t destroy them! I guess that Divine Will includes for us to talk to our “enemies”…

St. Paul cuts right to the chase with the Corinthians (I, 7:29-31). “The appointed time has grown short….For the present form of this world is passing away.” Some have read this as an invitation to expect an immediate advent of Christ, the escahaton. Many generations later, I’d rather think that God has already re-worked Creation daily to move past our human scrambles for power & prestige, to announce that there’s already a new system in place if only people would wake up and participate in it! Paul is reminding the church to put aside earthly customs in order to prioritize Christ’s mission and to concentrate their vision on a new horizon quietly unfolding. In fact, Paul says, the present system just doesn’t work any more.

Near the beginning of Mark’s Gospel, 1;14-20, we hear Jesus’ call to discipleship, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near”. Another alarm. The Old is past, and the New has come–Happy New Year! “The King is Dead; Long Live the King!” Simon, Andrew, James & John all follow him “immediately” (Mark’s operative time-frame) Their allegiance to the family business and support has changed to participating in this new system of the kingdom of God. Theirs was a holy moment (Aha! an Epiphany!) of recognizing eternal values, even if this was a game-changer. Did they remember this holy heartburn during the hard times of being persecuted, reviled and martyred? What will happen to people who get caught up in the awareness that the kingdom of God system is really working?

These Scripture lessons could degenerate into theological speculation, or a nostalgic trip into Antiquity. Yet they’re fresh as this morning’s donuts to people who’ve caught the gleam of the Kingdom, those who’re on the brink of re-arranging their lives and priorities to defer to Eternity in our midst. Isaac S. Villegas reminds us that “the question for us is how we will love our neighbors as the present order passes away.” (SOJOURNERS, January ’21:49)

“We do not fully sense the divinity around us,” writes Lawrence Wood in FEASTING on the WORD (B 1:243). “Exhaustion has so dulled our hearts, minds and souls that we can work all day in the temple but never hear God.” Yep. The air around me is filled with words that are angry, resigned or nostalgic. My senses are over- stimulated with the wasteland of political demise and celebrity overkill. Readings for this upcoming weekend honor our guilty rat-race while reminding us that a spoken and lively Word can come to resource us and draw us onward to our next spiritual plateau.

Young Samuel was the apprentice to Eli, the chief priest at Shiloh, the principle worship-center of the Jewish people before Jerusalem. In the middle of the night, when all the earth was quiet, God’s Voice came to Samuel (I Samuel 3:1-20) telling him to tell Eli that his (Eli’s) family was to be quenched because of their careless attitude towards the Holy. Troubled by this rarely-heard Voice, Samuel later claimed this moment as his own epiphany: “As Samuel grew up, the Lord was with him and let none of his words fall to the ground.” Seems to me that God wasn’t observed because everyone was too busy and preoccupied, sometimes even with good stuff. As Isaac S. Villegas has written, “[Meaningful dialogue with God] is patience in the darkness of night, listening for a voice.”(SOJOURNERS, January 2021, page 49)

The Epistle is Paul’s cautionary words to the Corinthians, 6:12-20–and to us, their cosmopolitan heirs. The passage could be simplified into a polemic against commercial sex, but it seems as though there’s a deeper meaning: don’t profane what God has created to be wonderful! In an allegory, Paul speaks of a lasting relationship being much superior to a momentary gasp. If divinity is all around us, why trade off seeing and reveling in this for a peep-show? Here is the issue with what’s “lawful” versus participation in a sense of Ongoing Creation. Our insistence upon individual “freedoms” has sheltered our eyes from the appreciation of God’s Work all around us.

So why has Jesus traveled to Bethsaida? Just to pick up a couple of disciples? According to John 1:43-51, Jesus saw Nathaniel “under the fig tree”, a figure of speech for a place/attitude of introspection. In other words, Nathaniel was ready! “But you don’t know the half of it,” the Lord replies. “Good” can come not only from Nazareth, but from the slums of Tehran/old tenements of Lower East Side/the Fort Apache of your own neighborhood. Creation’s glory exceeds both what we know and what we hopefully imagine. Nathaniel’s “lack of guile” may well reflect the “you get what you see” presentation of the person touched by Christ.

Perhaps these cold days of January are good for hunkering down–at a socially safe distance–by our campfires to tell the tales of God’s ongoing Creation. In the words of Pastor Michelle, “where have you seen God at work this week?” Contemplative people can affirm that divinity exists all around us; we’re called to hear and see and participate in the many gifts that God has brought.

In the process of unfolding, Horace Brown King

Biblical texts for the upcoming weekend slap me in the face every Tuesday at this spot on Facebook; or at horacebrownking.com

During my first year at seminary, I had opportunity to baptize a baby–my first such experience. Being pretty anxious about this, I practiced all week on the cat. The cat did not like this. This upcoming Sunday is considered the Baptism of Christ–a time not just to consider the mysteries of this sacrament, but to affirm God’s presence in our own “rescue” from deep waters. “…the Spirit of God swoops down–the Holy Spirit like the dove who returns to Noah on the ark with an olive leaf, a sign of life. This Spirit is like a bird at the beginning of Genesis who hovers over the waters, who broods over the oceans.” (Isaac S. Villegas, SOJOURNERS, Jan. ’21: 49)

Genesis 1:1-5 begins us, literally. “A wind from God swept over the face of the waters.” Remember that Palestine was landlocked, and our earliest ancestors feared the “chaos” of the sea. Creation stories included Tiamet and Leviathan, sea-monsters of disorder; and relied upon the super-human (God?) to put them in their places and thus make Creation safe for humanity and “lesser” creatures… The Deep represents all that would drown our direction or wreck the harbors of our safety from terror. The waves are seen as “natural” forces, as opposed to a holy order. In Baptism, the Believer submits to this ritual capsize in order to live out the redeeming salvation of being brought through the storms by God.

In Acts 19:1-7, we find Paul traveling into Ephesus, a major port in Asia Minor. There he meets a dozen or so disciples who’re familiar with John the Baptizer’s immersion for cleaning away sins and turning from them; but they hadn’t actively known the Holy Spirit. Paul baptized them in the name of Jesus and “the Holy Spirit came upon them…” with attendant signs. These signs would seem to indicate to the rest of us that when the Spirit hits, we have little option but to proclaim God’s grace by word and action.

Which brings us to the actual account of Jesus’ baptism as remembered by Mark in the First Chapter of his gospel, verses 4-11. For the first time in Mark’s gospel, Jesus appears “from Nazareth” (quite a hike!) and is baptized by John. “And just as he was coming up out of the water, he saw the heavens torn apart and the Spirit descending like a dove on him. And a voice came from heaven, ‘You are my Son, the Beloved…'” Was this dove and Voice for Jesus alone, to reinforce his conviction of Messiahood? Matthew’s Gospel account makes this more public. Whatever, this was a further stage in the redemption story of God’s great care for humans: what was begun when the Spirit originally calmed the chaos has now been personalized in the individual of Jesus and those who bear his message of grace. He saw the heavens torn apart–“The baptism of Jesus tears through the border between heaven and earth. The Greek verb here is SCHIZOMENOUS, having to do with gashing something open, ripping apart. God slashes through the sky.” (Villegas, op.cit. page 48)

Who can define this mystery? The more I write, the more muddy my words seem to get. Perhaps it’s best to bask in its wonder, to remember our own baptism and be glad.

In the process of unfolding, Horace Brown King

My brooding on passages of Scripture assigned to the upcoming weekend can be enjoined every Tuesday at this spot on Facebook; or at horacebrownking.com

“Whadja get fer Christmas?” we asked our friend who came to the door. “C’mon in and see my tree”, was the nine-year-old’s response. So we’d all troop into the family room to admire holiday decorations and check out the trophies of our pal. This happened around the neighborhood until all the guys’ homes were covered–and we may have codged some hot chocolate from their mothers…. Some of this was done out of genuine affection, and some of it called forth our honest curiosity. But really the annual exercise was done to affirm once again that Santa loved me best. Scriptures for almost-Epiphany speak of gift giving and receiving, and will hopefully remind each hearer that God’s abundance generously pours Good Things on the “meek souls who receive him still”.

We begin with an exciting oracle of Third Isaiah, 60:1-6. This should be read BIG: “your light has come!!” Even though there may be darkness over the lands, God’s glory has appeared over YOU! This glory draws the nations as a streetlight draws moths, and the abundance of the sea and the wealth of the peoples will be brought, even gold and frankincense… What a reversal! Instead of the usual tribute being exploited from Israel, now the powers and principalities will be bringing treasures back! How will they be received, as tribute or homage? And will the Nations of Darkness today notice the glory and stream to it?

The fairly long Epistle reading is “Paul”‘s reminder to the Ephesus Church–a bunch of Gentiles–that he saw his mission as bringing the gifts of grace which had long been celebrated by Israel to these fellow heirs of Christ. It becomes a lesson for Epiphany because the author is celebrating the showing forth of the Christ Child to the world. (Even, and especially, to the waiting believers in Asia Minor.) Paul sees the Church as the means of telling a darkened society that there really IS Light–and that God wants to illumine them as well.

And so come the Magi. Their symbolic message is important enough to give them their own Day, removing them from their role as extras in the Christmas Pageant. Matthew (2:1-12) works diligently to relate them to the Isaiah passage; and tradition has cooperated by giving them camels and star-glory. Whatever, it’s still a good story! And their gifts represented earthly honor, heavenly dedication and life-ending embalming, indicating that they had visions of just who this Baby is. A good part of the lesson for the Church is that these Magi were looking for and anticipating a holy signal; how then does the Church respond to current stars? And will the way home be different?

Shelley D. B. Copeland writes, “The magi did not come to study Jesus. They came to worship a newborn king by following a special star. Sacrificing time and comfort, they brought gifts to a baby who demonstrated no outward signs of prophetic confirmation. They held no assurance of how the story would end. All they had was prophetic knowledge of a star and a coming messiah.” (FEASTING on the WORD, B 1:207) Our childhood question could be answered (with a little maturity) with the addition of a hope of starlight…

In the process of unfolding, Horace Brown King

My ruminations on Scripture assigned to the upcoming weekend can be observed every Tuesday at this space on Facebook; or at horacebrownking.com

Marie’s cousin Bonnie says that she’s gonna stay up until midnight on New Year’s Eve just to make sure that 2020 really goes! Most of us will be glad to turn our calendar to a blank page, appreciating the chance to make a new start. Perhaps THIS year… Scriptures of this coming weekend will affirm that God’s intent is to constantly change things for the better–“see, I am making all things new”–even though we fuss about the long time this takes. Somehow the greeting of “Happy New Year” seems more real, this time around…

We begin with words from Third Isaiah (62:1-3) addressed to a “renewed” faith-community only recently returned to Israel from exile in Babylon. Be of Hope, he advises, for hope is holy even in depressing situations. “You shall be called by a new name that the mouth of the Lord will give.” Separation is painful, whether it be an exile from the homeland or a lingering death unattended by family except through a window. Yet inside each heart a vision speaks! Isaiah reminds his disgruntled hearers that new life is symbolized by a renewed, rebuilt Jerusalem. From the debris of what was once considered stable is raised a NEW stability, a ‘city’ of hope. Can we who stand on the doorstep of a New Year be cheered by this holy action?

Paul’s Letter to the Galatians, 4:4-7, is an affirmation that these Gentiles from mid-Asia Minor are children of God, heirs to the renewal of salvation. By transfer, then, WE dwellers in mid-Earth have this hope of a spiritual second birth as well. “In the fulness of time…” is when we say goodbye to the Old and welcome the New, when we can move on to new resolutions and put off the political paralysis, when we can affirm that a new normal is really possible. The New Year finds us not only wealthy, but free.

The Gospel, Luke 2:22-40, needs to be heard because usually the reading thereof is drowned in tinsel. Simeon and Anna need to be included in the Christmas narrative in order to complete this story of who the Baby Jesus was: “My eyes have seen your salvation….” I like to picture Old Simeon in the robes of Father Time, the Old ready to toddle off now that the New has arrived. Here at last is seen the light for the Gentiles and for the glory of the people of Israel. Simeon and Anna had stayed faithfully at their posts, sustained by God’s Spirit, until their shift was over–that is, until they had seen that God’s Eighth Day of Creation was well underway in the shape of the ChristChild.

We can’t erase 2020, nor should we; times of crisis are important to the Story of the People. Like the Panic of ’73, or the Great Depression, or the horrific wars we’ve endured, the narrative must include How Bad It Was just so we can compare the Bad Old Days with what we now have… Rejoice! Enjoy a Blessed (and thus Happy) New Year!

In the process of unfolding, Horace Brown King

My encounters with readings assigned to the upcoming weekend can be found every Tuesday at this spot on Facebook; or at horacebrownking.com

So many of our Christmas songs talk about Home during the Holiday Season. When the daylight grows short and the rude wind’s wild lament groans around the corners of our lives, we remember with some nostalgia how we think Home used to be… Our Christmas cards picture trees being brought Home to a well-lit house, often by horse-drawn sleigh. Flannel-robed children, dogs & cats by the blazing hearth, all speak to our wishes of Home. “Home,” (said who, Robert Frost?) “is where they have to take you in.” So welcome to the never-land of how we wish things were. Scripture lessons for the upcoming weekend may speak to the jaded and disappointed, even to those whose noses are pressed to the window-pane.

King David sat back in his padded throne, kicked his sandals off, and breathed a sigh of belonging (I Samuel 7:1-11). “y’know”, said David to his right-hand prophet Nathan, “I live in a better house than YHWH does. I think I’ll build God a house.” But that night God said to Nathan that He’s doing fine–but don’t forget that I the Lord took you (David) from a shepherd to a warrior to a king, “and I have been with you wherever you went”. And there’s a verse added: “YOUR HOUSE and your kingdom shall be made sure forever before me; your throne shall be established forever.” David’s House is his dynasty, his heritage. Is that what we hope for when we “go home for Christmas”?

The Epistle seems to be full of benedictions, lately. Romans 16:25-37 is another one–“to the only wise God, through Jesus Christ, to whom be the glory forever.” Its purpose on this Fourth Sunday of Advent, is to notice the transcendent presence of God even in the middle of holiday stress, political despair and economic insecurity. It is a response to the startling interventions of the Holy within our vale of secularity. The coming of Christ is news that breaks human-made boundaries and barriers, and sets the world back to innocence and the Voice of God calling in the Garden.

The Gospel, Luke 1:26-38, is the Story of the Annunciation: the angel Gabri-el comes to teen-aged Mary and makes amazing promises about the baby she shall have. “How can this be?” said she. And the answer comes to all of us, “Nothing will be impossible with God.” But don’t forget Joseph, the guy played by the tall kid in the oversize bathrobe in the Christmas pageant! Joseph is in the story for credentials: after all, he IS of the House of David. Even though the turning of the years has blunted the history of that House, we still remember with nostalgia the perfectness of those wondrous days. And now this House is to rise again! O, do we hope for relief from occupation, from taxes, from the secularity we bemoan all around us… Will God break into our lives again?

“Advent is a season of hopeful anticipation, but it begins with the acknowledgement of human despair….We prepare again to welcome the Prince of Peace amid a world filled with war, terrorism, poverty, disease and natural disasters.”–Cathy F. Young writes in FEASTING on the WORD, B 1:90. Even so, I and my house wish you a blessed Christmas!

In the process of unfolding, Horace Brown King

My musings on Scripture assigned to the upcoming weekend can be found every Tuesday at this spot on Facebook; or at horacebrownking.com

And brother, do we need it! W. C. Turner, writing in FEASTING on the WORD, say that “Advent is a time for the tongue to be loosed and the mercies of God proclaimed”. (B 1:67) We feel more ‘n’ more like the Voice in the Wilderness speaking Truth to Power and pointing out a need to turn it around amid the commercial and bluster of “the Season”. Scripture passages this Third Sunday of New Beginning remind the pew-sitters and the COVID-struck that God is acting to renew Creation despite the craziness. “Joy is based in God–not in what’s happening around you.” (Valerie Bridgeman’s mother, page 49 of December’s SOJOURNERS)

Isaiah has written wonderful words of comfort to the Faith-Community (61:1-4,8-11). But more than comfort for the afflicted, they proclaim mercy for all and serve as reminders that God has not forgotten them. They fell on ears which were used to the power of money and the shiftiness of Those In Charge. “Along the backdrop off war, injustice, poverty and greed, the word of the prophet taunts a nation that has grown rich in things but poor in soul.” (Cynthia A. Jarvis, FEASTING…op.cit. 52) “The Year of the Lord’s Favor” hearkens back to the supposed Jubilee year when the slaves are freed, and each part of the economy returns to base-line. God is One who can build up ancient ruins–even your life–and repair the thoroughly devastated cities. “So the Lord God will cause righteousness and praise to spring up before all the nations.”

Even though the Epistle reading is brief–I Thessalonians 5:16-24–don’t overlook it. This benediction sums up the Christian stance in and against the prevailing ethic: “Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances…” Paul attributes being made holy to the workings of God: “the one who calls you is faithful, and [God] will do this.” Advent challenges us to recognize the Spirit as it moves through the surrounding culture.

The Gospel, John 1:6-8, 19-28, is the account of one John who was called to prepare the way of the Lord: not the Messiah, not Elijah, not a prophet, his only stated credentials are as the Voice shouting out in the wilderness. Is this not the role of the Church in Advent? To shout out that the Lord is at hand even in the bright lights of rockin’ Christmas trees, even above the ching-ching of registers at Walmart? The question of the year, each year, is how much we can demonstrate a radical trust that God IS at hand despite our quest to do it ourselves…

Tired of COVID masks, tired of quarantine, I admit to a great deal of personal revelry in the brightness of the hoped-for Christmas, this year. So I’m glad for these words which call me beyond the glitter to again pick up the Voice of justice and holy living! I pray that each of us might tell the Stranger, the Homeless and the Hungry that God continues to love them…and back up our message by prayerfully welcoming and feeding those who’ve fallen through the cracks. AND I pray for courage to confront The System with a reminder that God needs its affluence to pave the wilderness road.

In the process of unfolding, Horace Brown King

My acknowledgement of the power of Scripture readings assigned to the upcoming weekend can be found every Tuesday at this spot on Facebook; or at horacebrownking.com