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On some Summer days, a few of us would bike to a nearby “deserted” farm.  A lane led from the road to an old barn where hay was stored.  Although the fence was pretty decrepit, there was a nice white wooden gate–and sometimes it wasn’t locked, merely latched.   An invitation to swing, either singly or in twos; and we did!  A couple of times the farmer would drive up in his battered pick-up and yell,  “Hey, you kids!  You’ll pull the hinges off!”  And we’d beat it outta there…  I’ve been wondering, lately, about the purpose of that gate.  There was very little of value behind it, although it did seem to keep the predators out.  Scripture readings for this upcoming weekend speak about guarding The Flock, or at least The Truth.  Will we find safe passage here, or will this merely separate further the In People from the Out People?

We revisit the early Church in Acts 2:42-47, where “all who believed were together and had all things in common; they would sell their possessions and goods and distribute the proceeds to all, as any had need.”  Seems as though sheep see each other as equal and living together in the same corner of the pasture!  Some preachers say that this is a vision of how things’ll be in the Ultimate Kingdom.  I don’t notice any reference to gates which divide the Wealthy from the Needy.  This may be a worthy message during these times in which we’re reminded so often that “We’re All in This Together”.

It takes a bit of time-travel to appreciate I Peter 2:18-25.  Acknowledging the unfairness of slavery, the author contrasts earthly suffering with the obedient suffering of Jesus.  Is there a way to insert a compassionate quality into the obvious abuse of the lesser by the greater (in worldly terms)?  What are the gates which we’ve erected, even with the best of intentions?  Verse 25 speaks of the aimlessness of wandering sheep looking for Something Better, and then being recalled to the relative safety of the Shepherd whose voice they know…

There’s much we can look at in the Gospel, John 10:1-10.  Loaded with imagery, here’s the main passage of Jesus saying “I am”–have we forgotten “the gate”?  John’s perceived audience was the community of True Believers in the midst of a pagan world, and he emphasizes the Gate as protection against predators.  More, the Shepherd chooses by name those who’ll follow; others will evidently settle for remaining where they are.  Today is full of competing shepherds:  better cars & roof gutters, national security & the economy of warfare, big houses with their own gates to keep out the riff-raff…  Does Christ as gate keep the community from being polluted by The World?

My first experience with a Gated Community was as a student pastor near the ski area of Elk Mountain.  The new chalets of the Village of Four Seasons were impressive; but the final one was the gatehouse in which stood a stern-faced guard who kept the huddled masses out.  Nobody without a pass could enter.  No way.  No how.  We live in a world of gates and fences.  The Church celebrates the (only) one who can wreck wrath’s walls!

In the process of unfolding,                      Horace Brown King

My encounter with lessons prescribed for the upcoming weekend can be enjoined every Tuesday at this spot on Facebook; or at horacebrownking.com

Shannon Michael Pater asks, “Who among us have not felt blindsided in times of distress and wondered if even God can see what is around the bend?” (FEASTING on the WORD, A 2: 420)   Scriptures read on the upcoming weekend will give permission to the religious traveler to be unrecognizing of the Presence of God–with the understanding that this is a transitory dimness of sight, and that God’s expectation is that sooner or later even the blind will have an AHA! moment.

Acts 2:36-41 continues on with Peter’s sermon to the formerly ignorant of the Godliness of Jesus.  As the light finally dawned on them, they were “cut to the heart” for their neglect of holiness nearby.  Peter advised them to stop in their tracks and draw into Christ through baptism; and they too shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.  And the important verse is for right now, “For the promise is for you, for your children,  and for all those who are far away, everyone whom the Lord our God calls to him.”  This force of the Spirit, so recently felt at Easter, continues to pervade through today and into the future.

We also hear from the First Letter ascribed to St. Peter, 1:17-23.  Written to exiles from Judaism in Asia Minor during the early days of the Church, it exudes a parallel to that of current-day people exiled from “normalcy” and feeling separated from society.  By the time of this publication, news of the Resurrection had spread far beyond Jesus’ neighborhood, and a corps of believers had established themselves in many centers.  A couple of generations had passed, yet still no “second coming”…or was there?  What WAS this light spreading across the Mediterranean world?  This, says Peter, is the mutual love resulting from a new life from “imperishable seed”.

The Gospel is Luke’s oft-told tale of the Walk to Emmaus, 24:13-35.  Many would-be disciples have remained in the garden at Jerusalem, or perhaps even at the foot of the Cross on Golgotha.  Luke invites each one of us to become that un-named companion of Cleopas, journeying away touched by the sacred events.  These travelers have heard the rumors, but haven’t yet embraced the Story.  Yet.  We are directed by this story to own this road as ours and to aid those “scavenger angels [who]  sweep over the road searching for signs of spiritual life among the fragments.” (Pater, ibid.)  What are the conversations we might have had before we had holy sight?  When did the grim memories of death turn to the hope of life?

Those of us of a certain age can remember a series of movies called “The Road to ______”, with Dorothy Lamour,  Bob Hope & Bing Crosby.  There were always exotic adventures and silly mishaps on the journey; but it always came out right.  I was also reading Kipling’s old chestnut from 1890 about the Road to Mandalay, the lament of a former soldier who compared the tediousness of the London streets to the delicious air of Burma…as he thought he remembered it.  “An’ I’m learning ‘ere in London what the tenyear sodger tells:  ‘If you’ve ‘eard the East a-callin’, why, you won’t ‘eed nothin’ else.'” Road-warriors all, we journey deeper into the revealed presence of Christ, wherever leads the road of today.

In the process of unfolding,                       Horace Brown King

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

“Faith is a mystery of the heart that the mind wants to solve”, says Clayton J. Schmit in FEASTING on the WORD  (A 2:395).  Too many contemporaries have missed the might of Easter’s Resurrection because they’ve been taught only the STEM curriculum without a balance of poetry.  The Easter story is purely a right-brain exercise:  like most of our faith-journey,  the stories we tell completely omit the “How” and concentrate on God’s “Why”.   Post-Easter readings appeal to our hearts, and affirm that we, also, can experience a joyous dependence on God’s choice of Life.

In Acts 2: 22-32,  Peter draws on Messianic hopes to rally his cosmopolitan hearers on the feast of Pentecost:  although from many diverse cultures and languages, what unites them is the common denominator of Belief in God.  Using this singleness of faith, Peter is able to persuade them that the audacious tale of a Resurrected Christ fits right into God’s plan for making all people whole. If death has no power over us from now on, those who intimidate others have lost their weapon!

The writer of I Peter speaks of the transitory rewards of earthly inheritances–money is easily spent, real estate may soon be appropriated for development, heirlooms grow dusty with age.  But God’s inheritance is imperishable (1:4), and is kept in trust for all who will accept it!   “By [God’s] great mercy he has given us a new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.”  Here is a reason for life which isn’t dependent upon property or status, arranged for us because God WANTS to.

The Gospel is again from John, 20:19-31, the story of “Doubting Thomas”, unique to this writer.  In true Classic style, these well-developed stories of John demand an “other” to ask all the proper questions–and often this lot falls to Thomas.  He seems to be the one appointed to speak the doubts of all the others, including me.  Remember the nerdy kid in class who would interrupt the prof with the observations we all wanted to make, but were afraid of the master’s wrath?  We were glad for this brave kid, and so am I glad for Thomas:  he’s the one who gave Jesus opportunity to display his physical wounds and thus refute those who claimed mass hysteria or complete reliance upon a disembodied ghost.  Please note that Jesus breathed the Spirit into the disciples at this time, a fitting finale to this Gospel which was written so that all may believe that Jesus is the true Messiah, the Christ–“and that through believing you may have life in his name”.

It’s hard to preach Easter.  Everything about the Resurrection goes against our knowledge of physics or medicine.  But it’s just in this otherness that the story has its  power.  Best of all, our Lord knows our puzzlement and kindly works with it as we grow into acceptance and gladly–eventually—relinquish our desire to control Creation.

In the process of unfolding,                               Horace Brown King

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

Alas!  One of Marie’s friends on Facebook wrote, “They’ve taken away our Easter!”  I suspect she means the Easter of brass quartets and special anthems, the Easter of lilies and hyacinths and jelly beans.  But no–Easter comes anyway, for the Word of the Lord endures all things; even quarantines.  Sometimes despairing of ever returning to normal (?), I’m amazed–again and again– that God is still in charge, and once again changes the gloom of Crucifixion into an unexpected Resurrection!  I guess that Jesus DID know what he was about…  Easter readings take us through death and shortsightedness into life and divine knowledge, beyond Long Ago into the Always Now.

There seems to be several options for the First Lesson; United Methodists will be looking at Acts 10:34-43.  Read publicly what you will, but this should be introduced by a synopsis of the entire chapter, Peter’s vision of the “clean and unclean” especially.  Here’s where Creation had been missed due to Peter’s limited expectations, where the eyes of his soul were opened to see God right here.  Then, only then, could he preach eloquently of the Easter message to newcomers on the scene, Cornelius and his family/friends.

The Epistle is that written by Paul or one of his assistants to the Colossians, 3:1-4.  He’s expecting that the audience has already tasted of resurrection, “Since you have been raised with Christ…”  Here is the imagery of dying and rising, important for those of us who’ve shunned Holy Week’s roller-coaster:  the disciple’s life has been “hidden” (buried) in Christ ’til now.  “Made like him, like him we rise; Ours the cross, the grave, the skies.”  (Charles Wesley, 1739)

John’s Gospel, 20:1-18, is a warm, human account of not only the Resurrection, but of Mary Magdalene’s misplaced recognition.  Who expected that Jesus, last seen as a very dead corpse, would be up and walking around?  Quick to blame the government, the economy or the prevailing status quo, she wailed to the angels, “THEY have taken away my Lord, and I do not know where they have laid him.”  Had grave-robbers taken away Easter?  Persistent Jesus helped her see through her tears,  reclaimed an Eternity which was almost missed due to limited expectations.

Peter and Mary were persons who had traveled with Jesus long enough to know that God works in unexpected ways.   Yet they weren’t primed to see holiness staring them in the face!  For would-be disciples like you and me, this is good to know.  May those who’ve been buried in quarantine and its associated worries rise to life again with clearer vision and a restored hope!  Charles Wesley writes again, “And are we yet alive, and see each other’s face?  Glory and thanks to Jesus give, for his almighty grace!”

In the process of unfolding,     Horace Brown King

My wrestling with scripture assigned to the upcoming weekend can be watched at this spot on Facebook; or at horacebrownking.com

One of my favorite stories, probably learned during my Catholic kindergarten year, is about a big hulking guy whose main purpose in life was to carry travelers across the raging river which flowed by his house.  Day or night, winter or summer, the man put travelers upon his back and carried them across the turbulence.  Late one night, a little boy knocked on his door:  “Please, sir, I must get across the river tonight.”  The man grumbled a bit, for the hour was late; but he put the little boy on his back and began to wade in.  You probably remember that the passenger seemed to grow heavier as they progressed across the current.  And when the courier put down the traveler, he found that the little boy had turned into a man–and not just any man, but the Lord!  From then on the man was called Christopher, because he had brought Christ over…

From the Hebrew tradition, on Palm Sunday, we read from the 118th Psalm, especially verses 19 through 29.  It’s a liturgy for entrance to the Temple and even to the Presence of the Holy wherever that is to be found.  The 22nd verse seemed to jump out at me:  “The stone that the builders rejected has become the chief cornerstone.”  This, of course, has been interpreted by Christians as being the recognition of Jesus as the Christ, the cornerstone of our life with God.  It also seems like a second chance, a transformation in our lives which is “the Lord’s doing”, not of our own volition or by our adhering to the virtuous life.

This psalm thus becomes a metaphor as we read Matthew’s account of the triumphal entry of Jesus into Jerusalem, 21 :1-11.  We recall this second-chance verse as we see that Jesus and his message was rejected by Those In Charge, yet the crowd sensed something special–the coming Resurrection–in this Messianic acclamation.   The crowds (don’t we wish!) at worship this weekend need also sense that here is a transformation of how we perceive Life, an awareness that the Lord doesn’t intend to “leave the ways of the world as they were”.  (James O Duke, FEASTING on the WORD, A 2:156)

Of interest is the little story-in-a-story of Jesus sending disciples to bring a donkey (and/or a colt?):  “Say ‘The Lord needs them’.”  How shall we transport Jesus?  If God is all-powerful, what’s our role in the unfolding of the Kingdom?  Does that “little boy” really need our help in crossing the raging river?  One of the neat things about being a disciple is that the Lord always lets us help, though our hands tremble and our song may be out of key.

In the Lackawanna Valley of Pennsylvania, near where I grew up, several ethnic congregations held an annual competition wherein teams of four husky athletes carried platforms which held holy statues around a prescribed course.  Large crowds would gather to cheer on the progress of their special saint or member of the holy family.  It was considered a great honor to be chosen to “carry Christ”!  Did these emulators of St. Christopher get a medal, too?  Hosanna in the highest!

An idea in the mind of God,   Horace Brown King

My encounter with lessons for the upcoming weekend can be observed every Tuesday at this spot on Facebook; or at horacebrownking.com

Every so often I think that it might be good to be an ascetic, a hermit; these past few weeks of intentional isolation have really disabused me of that notion!  I miss the people of the Church, and singing in the choir.  And Sunday School.  I’m lonely for those others in Vestal Community Band and the Madrigal Choir; how good it is to be out with friends and make loud noises.  I’d even like to wait in line at restaurants.  One day looks like the others–has the sky fallen?  Those of us fortunate to hear the Bible read, this weekend, will be glad to hear a pre-Easter message that “It’s not over yet!”  I’ve been sustained by the words of Henry F. Lyte’s old (1847!) hymn–“When other helpers fail and comforts flee, Help of the Helpless, O abide with me…”

Our first reading is from Ezekiel 37:1-14, the famous Dry Bones allegory.  Ezekiel was probably in one of the early groups deported to Babylon.  The world as they knew it was turned upside-down:  food laws, the entire Torah, family ties–all were held in derision.  Was even GOD in this strange place?  We might as well curl up and die…Can these bones ever live again?  But comes God’s promise, a HOLY commitment to the renewal of Life!  Death will not have the last word, though the bones be very dry. “Change and decay in all around I see; O Thou who changest not, abide with me.”

St. Paul addresses this in his powerful Eighth Chapter of the Letter to the Romans.  I like the verse that assures his audience, “…if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you,  [God] who raised Christ from the dead will give life to your mortal bodies also through the Spirit that dwells in you.” (v.11)  (What is this “if”?  And what is life to our mortal bodies?  We can talk about this some other time…)  This Spirit seems to be the same RUACH which blew breath into dried-up Israel in Ezekiel’s story, and the same divine breath which restored Jesus on Easter morning.  Why stop there?  Can these bones live again?  “Who, like thyself, my guide and stay can be?  Through cloud and sunshine, Lord, abide with me.”

Ah, it’s traditional to visit the house and grave of Lazarus, just before Easter (John 11).  This well-told  story of John is the final meeting of Jesus with the outcast, in this case his dead friend Lazarus.  It also paves the way for Jesus’ own resurrection, the message being that “Yes, these bones CAN live again!”   John explores the pathos of sisters Mary & Martha, the terminal despair of other mourners, and the resultant faith of witnesses.  “I am the resurrection and the life.  Those who believe in me, even though they may die, will live.”  “Where is death’s sting, where, grave, thy victory?  I triumph still, if thou abide with me.”

The vision is one for every day, with it’s own share of death.  We who’ve been mainly pampered are face-to-face with isolation and fear of “getting it”.  Some around us have endured poverty and disdain for generations.  Some have decided against the message, and are hedging their bets on Today’s  crime & mayhem, or legally (?) grabbing power and material goods from the needy and already despairing.  Into the Valley of Broken Dreams echoes an unrelenting question, Can These Bones Live?  But “Heaven’s morning breaks, and earth’s vain shadows flee; in life, in death, O Lord, abide with me.”

God Bless Us, Every One                                 Horace Brown King

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

When I was younger (so much younger than today), I needed to sleep with a night-light.  If the bulb burned out, or someone inadvertently switched out the light, I might waken in total darkness, knowing that I was blind.  I still am a bit out of control on those few occasions that my eyes don’t function right away.  But non-seeing isn’t just a physical condition:  some folks are chronically short-sighted, others don’t really want to see any brokenness because that might disrupt their own self-worth in their own kingdom.  Scripture assigned to the upcoming weekend addresses blindness, both literally and metaphorically.   I thank the late William A. Highfield for his notes on these passages.

I Samuel 16:1-23 tells the story of the Prophet Samuel being directed by YHWH to anoint a new king of Israel, since Saul hadn’t followed directions.   Samuel knows that one of the many sons of Jesse is to receive this anointing–but which one?  So all the likely candidates are paraded before him and YHWH–“Nope”; “Not this one”; “Nor this one”.  “Is that all the sons you have?”  “Well, there’s the kid who’s keeping the wolves from the sheep.”   Long story short, Samuel’s eyes were opened and delighted with young David, who was then anointed to save Israel from the ravages of surrounding nations.  Insight and recognition are evidently prime in holy history.

The Ephesians text, 5:8-14, reflects that “Christians are called to live in the light which all share–the light of Christ”. (Highfield)  When we become sighted, we recognize “what is pleasing to the Lord”.  Further, we’re urged to move in full disclosure:  “Rise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you.”

John 9: 1-41 is a real gem!  The Story of Jesus and the Man born Blind is another unique tale employed by the author to lift up the Godly relationship with the outcast or misfit: this man was undoubtedly excluded from Temple worship due to his handicap–either he or his parents must be atrocious sinners.  The mud with which Jesus anointed the man’s eyes was “holy” because of Jesus’ spit.  Is this reminiscent of an early Creation story where God made similar mud to make humanity?  And was Jesus’ application a way of making the incomplete Whole?  Some will say that this also was a reference to Baptism/ cleansing.  NOW who can see?  Touched by Jesus, we all are perfected and enabled to both see and know Eternal Truth.  Note that the Blind Man’s description of Jesus progresses from “the man” (v.11) to “a prophet” (v.17) to “Son of Man” (v.35).  It often takes a season of exposure to realize just what we’re seeing…

Like the water we never miss ’til the well goes dry, sight is something we take for granted and rarely think much about.  Yet the ravages of inner blindness are a curse on contemporary culture:  do we marvel at a sunset and weep for the under-nourished  of Africa?   Can I stand for long minutes drinking in the palette of an Old Master and pass by the young woman with all her possessions in a shopping-cart?  Perhaps I can yet be shaken from my selective sight…

God Bless Us, Every One                         Horace Brown King

My encounter with lessons prescribed for the upcoming weekend can be enjoined every Tuesday at this spot on Facebook; or at horacebrownking.com

A big consideration for people on the move is to find a source of drinkable water.  Homesteaders or entire civilisations need to pitch camp where the water flows free.  Much has been written about the quest for fresh water, and of the battles which sometimes ensue as competing forces claim springs, wells and lakes.  With global warming encroaching much faster than we expected, water has often appeared where it hasn’t for millennia–and has dried up in familiar places.  “Thirst” can be symbolic of dusty souls and arid dreams:  readings for this upcoming weekend attempt to address the dryness of daily life.

The Exodus passage, 17:1-7, presents the People of the Hebrews wandering in the Sinai wilderness, and rations are getting low.  “Are you trying to kill us, Moses?” they said.  “WE HAVE NO WATER!”   Directed by God, Moses struck a boulder with his sacred staff, and a spring gushed forth!  Did this make ’em happy?  Only for a little while; then the Back to Egypt committee convened again…  Fact is, we Chosen/Frozen People are never happy:  we continue to search for that which may or may not sustain us, pilgrims through this barren land.

We can and probably should explore the many directions and theological wisdom found in Romans 5:1-11.  The verse which jumped out at me is the very first, where Paul says that “we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have obtained access to this grace in which we stand”.  Not specifically mentioning “water”, it speaks of the fullness which comes to the believer as he/she traverses the dry spots of life.  Whoever’s designated to interpret this verse needs to help the rest of us to sort through the symbols of need in order that we can claim Jesus as the author of hydration.

The Gospel is John’s unique account of Jesus  and the Woman at the Well of Jacob, deep in the heart of Samaria (4:5-42).  No righteous Jew should even BE here, no less talking to one of Them, and a WOMAN, fer goodness sake!  The key to this narrative is that Jesus offers Living Water to the “worst” person he encounters, v.10. In Sunday’s sermon, I’m gonna try to urge the hearers to join the Lord in offering satisfaction to the least of those they may encounter in the work-place or market-place.  AND to remind those who’re dry and dusty themselves that Jesus continues to be the Source of refreshment even in the encroaching wilderness!  Whatever the outcast may have done or been, the Good News is that God loves her, warts ‘n’ all!

Richard Rohr sums it up–“The ego does not know how to receive things freely or without logic.  It prefers a worldview of scarcity, …where only the clever win.  It likes to be worthy and needs to understand in order to be able to accept things.  That problem, and its overcoming, is at the very center of the gospel plot line.  It has always been overcome from God’s side.  The only problem is getting us in on the process!”  (THINGS HIDDEN, pp. 156-157)

God Bless Us, Every One                            Horace Brown King

The ongoing story of how I’m wrestling with the Scripture lessons assigned to the upcoming weekend can be found every Tuesday at this spot on Facebook; or at horacebrownking.com

I saw a commercial on TV the other day that promised me  “everything I’d ever need” if I would invest my poor savings with them.  Then they listed all these things I don’t really need:  new car,  McMansion with inground pool, sunny vacations, first class air travel, beautiful women and handsome guys crowding around me at the tables of Las Vegas…. Sorta like James Bond.  Readings for this last Sunday of Epiphany/Transfiguration Sunday  address our wish-lists and hopefully remind us that being with God through Jesus is the real core of what we need.

Exodus 24:12-18 tells of Moses going up Mt. Sinai to receive the laws that would unite the Desert Wanderers into a practicing community under YHWH’s direction.  Up there he looked at the glory of God, to the point that his own face glowed when he finally came down after 40 days, a reminder of the Noah story.  The chosen people are now ready to embark to a place unknown, following a God that they’re just beginning to appreciate.  Although Moses was the direct recipient of glory, this experience was meant for the whole people of God:  holy-history would remember and honor this place between heaven and earth.

The Epistle, II Peter 1:16-21, can be a challenge because of its busy-ness.  VV. 14-17 do affirm the centrality of Jesus in the mountain-top experience, as the voice came out of the cloud, “This is my Son, my Beloved, with whom I am well pleased”.  Christopher Grundy writes, “The witness of Jesus’ luminous life is an essential way that God continues to reframe our present-day activities in light of God’s priorities–like ‘a lamp shining in a dark place'”.  (FEASTING on the WORD, A 1:447)

Which brings us to Matthew’s version of the Transfiguration, as found in 17:1-9.  The author is eager to insert figures of Moses & Elijah–the Law & the Prophets–to convince his Jewish audience that Jesus is the valid continuation of that which God had already begun.  The disciples’ leadership team  thought they knew Jesus pretty well, by now–and here they see him in an entirely different light!  It was important to the community of the growing church for them to see this, for them to be overwhelmed by Glory, and to hear a loving Voice affirming the holiness of Jesus yet again.  “For all (Jesus’) obvious humanity, something radiated from him  that spoke of ineffable and eternal truth.”  (Douglas John Hall, ibid., p 454)  And to all those paralyzed by the moment, Jesus says, “Get up, and do not be afraid.”

The early Hebrews needed Moses’ shining presence as they prepared to enter the Promised Land, full of giants and ungodly cultures.  As the Christian Church prepares to enter Lent, we also cower before the ungodliness and problems seemingly too big to handle.  We plunge into these 40 days, fearful of meeting death and destruction, yet glad for the transfiguration of our Leader, who tells us, “Get up, and do not be afraid.”

God Bless Us, Every One                                  Horace Brown King

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

I’m not good at fasting, although many folks find it a useful spiritual means of grace.  When I miss a meal, or skimp a bit, my body complains loudly and occasionally drops me into a need for medical care.  But there are many ways of fasting:  not so much as a denial of self as an appreciation of God’s presence beyond our material ownership.  My overstuffed self isn’t good at foregoing comfort; readings for the upcoming weekend challenge me to share God’s gifts of life with those who need.

Isaiah 58:1-12 is LONG, but worth it.  I’m sorry that I’m not preaching this week, because I’d use this as my sermon notes!  Theprophetic reader is encouraged to point out to the People their hypocrisy:  They expect to be included in holy ways, “AS IF they were a nation that practiced righteousness and did not forsake the ordinance of their God.”  We serve our own interests, we quarrel and oppress our workers even as we look the part by dressing in sackcloths and ashes.  “Will you call this a fast?”  The real fast that God expects is to break away from injustice, to loose the prisoners, to share our food & clothes & living space with the poor, and to make a solid relationship with our families.  “THEN your light shall break forth as the dawn…”   If you do these things, then the Lord will guide you continually, and you shall be known as blessed, a conduit of living water and a restorer of living space.

For the life of me, I can find very little to preach in I Corinthians 2:1-12, ‘cept maybe the idea that we’re called to appreciate God’s gifts.  Paul says that it’s “us & them” when it comes to holy understanding:  “Now we have received not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit that is from God, so that we may understand the gifts bestowed upon us by God.”  Careful, here: don’t get involved in the Innies vs. the Outies game; I see very little godliness in that.

The Gospel is that ascribed to Matthew, chapter 5:13-20.  The salt & light analogies are good; is the bit about covering over the lamp about fasting?  Perhaps the strong emphasis is on v.17, “Do not think that I have come to abolish the law or the prophets;  I have come not to abolish but to fulfill.”  And a few sentences later, “unless your righteousness (godliness, justice, mercy) exceeds that of the scribes and the Pharisees (those who claimed to adhere to the letter of the Law), you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.”   Evidently we can be too heavenly minded without being much earthly good.

These readings remind us that there’s often a gap between what we say and what we do–and that God’s quite aware of it.  “True fasting,” says Carol J. Dempsey, “involves dealing with those conditions, situations, and people that are ethically corrupting and corrupted, for the sake of the oppressed individual and for the common good….Fasting (is) a means of freeing one’s self to receive the gifts of God.”  (FEASTING on the WORD, A 1:318)

God Bless Us, Every One                                Horace Brown King

My thoughts about scriptural passages assigned to the upcoming weekend can be found every Tuesday at this spot on Facebook; or at horacebrownking.com