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The Journey is important.  We may never arrive at The Destination, even if we know where that is.  Honest worshipers must admit that they’re somewhere On Their Way, perhaps even a bit further than the last cairn marked; but new adventures and crises are daily fare.  The Season of Lent accentuates our pilgrimage:  called to put our hand in that of God, we step out confidently into the Cloud of Unknowing–just as did those who mentored us.  Scriptures explored this weekend refer to the robustness of the Journey…Come along?

The Hebrews had finally reached the Land of Canaan:  what would this new place hold for them?  Joshua 5:9-12 announces the end of their “Egyptian disgrace” of slavery and desert life, while reminding this People that God isn’t yet done with them.  Indeed, it’s virtuous to remember from whence we came, especially in times of new beginnings.   The journey has been arduous, but now we’re HERE!  But where are we, really?  Wise travelers know that the present earthly haven, no matter how pleasant, is but a base-camp for new vistas and horizons.

Paul has new glasses.  “From now on, therefore, we regard no one from a human point of view; even though we once know Christ from a human point of view, we know him no longer in that way.  So if anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation: everything old has passed away; see, everything has become new!”  (II Corinthians 5:16-17)   Lent directs us away from our previous astigmatism to an appreciation of how God is transforming others–even THEM.  If Christ is the savior of the world, how then can ANYone be outside his reach?  If there’s hope for the villains of our Past, why then should there not be hope for US who are newly arrived at the Promised Land?

The Parable of the Prodigal Son/Father (Luke 15:11ff) may lull us into familiarity–but there are some who are hearing this heavenly grace for the first time.  The narrator can’t improve on the story–it’s well told–but can lean on the idea of a God who yearns for the family to be again complete.  Part of that yearning is an admission of separation, knowing that most disciples have skeletons in their closets which should be wept over from time to time.  See how far we’ve come?  “Perhaps the parable can speak to us now of the joy of God in welcoming back a chastened, humiliated Christian church…to enjoy again the original inheritance of the gospel of grace.”  (Martin L. Smith, in SOJOURNERS, March 2019:49)

Ancient Hebrews and more modern Christians are not tourists:  the wilderness is harsh and brutal.  The Good News is that not only has God provided  daily sustenance, but also a sense of procession towards a Holy Place.  John Wesley spoke of being on the way to perfection:  even though the trail is littered with tarnished treasures,  our Journey approaches a homeland, day by day.

God Bless Us, Every One                                       Horace Brown King

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

People who’ve come to worship on this Third Sunday in Lent more than likely are bringing baskets of anxieties with them.  They’d like to be closer to God, yet they fear that they’re somehow not worthy of God’s companionship.  Scriptures today attempt to affirm each one’s value as bearing God’s creative image–the mystery is that we are loved no matter what!  God evidently doesn’t measure with human scales.

“Why,” asks Isaiah of Babylon, “do you settle for a Twinky when God has set the table for a full-course dinner?” (55:1-9)   “Why do you spend your money for that which is not bread, and your labor for that which does not satisfy?”  Turning away from God’s bounty–or deferring it to “later”–leads to malnutrition and eventual death.  The Lord’s nearness means that we can call upon the God who likes to be “found”.  The “wicked” and “unrighteous” are those who cultivate cultural idols.  Do we need to list ’em?  Materialism; carelessness with other’s feelings and needs; military might; bullying; disregard of the stranger…

Those addressing I Corinthians 10:1-13 are cautioned against telling those who listen that “God Will Take Care of YOU!”  This could turn into a harangue about God’s list of “Who’s Naughty and Nice”, which seems to greatly dilute the message.  Whatever our idolatries may be, God’s faithful and steadfast love can drown them in a healing stream.  And thinking that I’m strong enough to stand by myself can be my greatest temptation–and greatest idolatry.  John Wesley called spiritual aids “means of grace”, all of them external before we make them our holy habits.

Ah! The parable of the Fig Tree, Luke 13:6-9!  I’ve liked this story, since it relates to my own.  We need to be careful about assigning roles to God/Christ/the Holy Spirit: what really matters is that you & I are each the unfruitful tree, not living up to our potential YET…and that’s where the grace comes in, with Yet Another Year.  Note that this tree isn’t accorded the fickleness of the elements, but gets special attention.  The gardener sees the possibilities, and hopes for Great Figs!  Every year, in my yard and in cracks in my driveway, seeds are planted unbeknownst to me, and by a force which defies all reason, grow wonderful things!   We almost always have a coneflower; some years, tomatoes.  One year we had a bush watermelon!  What will God have wrought THIS year?

According to the headlines, this is a harsh world.  A lot of emphasis is placed upon winning.  When we don’t win, our self-images tank and shame sets in.  Can I ever be really loved, or am I but a Sinner in the Hands of an Angry God??  Ralph C. Wood tells us that “what counts is God’s own faithfulness to us, enabling us to live faithfully for God amid all the chances and changes of our existence”.  (FEASTING on the WORD, C 2:90)

God Bless Us, Every One                                 Horace Brown King

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

In days Long Ago-before there were cell-phones–I was gathered from neighborhood play by my mother’s call from the back porch.  If I were too far afield to hear her and didn’t immediately show up, my Dad’s resonant tenor would pierce the suppertime peace, calling me to join the family.  If it got that far, I’d BETTER show up!  I was happy, because I was wanted and loved… Readings for this Second Sunday in Lent remind us if we’re feeling orphaned that God intends to be a Parent both benevolent and protective.

Abram gathered his family and possessions, painted his wagon, and set off for an unknown but hoped-for horizon.  We find him now in Genesis 15:1-12 lamenting that he’s still childless, without an heir, and running out of time.  God showed him the night sky: “Look toward heaven and count the stars, if you are able to count them….So shall your descendants be.”  And Abram moved from suspicion to belief, even though he was at the end of his rope (he thought).  Here is the human predicament of hope and worry which probably plagues us all.  The passage gives opportunity to again announce God’s audacious promise of unbroken inheritance.

In his letter to the Philippian Church (3:17-4:1) Paul urges them to imitate him, just as he imitates Christ.  Well, we all need a parent-like mentor, especially one who has been mentored by Christ himself.  I like the NIV translation of verse 21, about a savior who “will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like his glorious body”.  We’re reminded that our Family is heavenly, even though we earthly members struggle from time to time to understand our role (“citizenship”) with each other.  More than merely a social ethic, our involvement with each other is as brothers and sisters of an Eternal Parent.

Luke remembers (13:31-35) Jesus’ disgusted and frustrated wail, “Jerusalem, Jerusalem….How often have I desired to gather your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you were not willing!”  God’s ultimate desire is to gather us recalcitrant progeny ever closer for warmth and protection!  We’ve created sanctuaries for those like us–but are ALL welcome under the spread of love’s wings??  Lots of our company upon Spaceship Earth feel as though they’re lost and pelted in the storm…yet are too afraid (and maybe too stubborn) to accept the shelter of indiscriminate Grace.

There’s a spiritual which says in part, “Sometimes I feel like a motherless child, a long way from home.”  Our tendency is to find some sort of mother to snuggle with on stormy days.  Who then are our Mothers?  Ma Bell?  Mother Church?  a branch of the military?  a lodge, or a coven?  Even in Lent, we dare sing “Hail the heaven-born Prince of Peace! Hail the Sun of Righteousness!  Light and life to all he brings, risen with healing in his wings…”  Come, gather–there’s always room for you.

God Bless Us, Every One                                   Horace Brown King

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

Martin L. Smith, an Episcopal priest from Washington DC, reminds us that “taking refuge in God means entering into the heart of holy vulnerability:  God’s track is away from immunity into solidarity with the broken and abandoned and leads to being ‘numbered with the transgressors’.”  (SOJOURNERS, March 2019:48)  Our several excursions with The Tempter urge us to forget the despair of yesterday and rejoice solely in our possessions of today–but our thanksgiving is hollow if we won’t recall how deeply we had sunk in the Pit, and how greatly God ventured to extricate us.

Deuteronomy 26:1-11 gives us a formula for worship in the Land of Milk & Honey:  when the priest receives your offering of best produce you must then acknowledge God’s deliverance.  We can’t save ourselves with modern stuff, no matter how educated and technical we are!  So Lent is an intentional camp in the desert, just to keep things in perspective.  Wanderers all, our possible self-satisfaction puts us at risk of squandering our Holy Places.  Those who’ve received asylum are especially enjoined to celebrate the bounty given by God by joining with and embracing “the Levites and the aliens who reside among you”.

The passage from the Letter to the Romans, 10:8b-13, comes from the greater saga of Paul painfully acknowledging that many of his beloved Jewish family were not buying into the Christian experience.  He indicates that a person is overcome with Faith, and thereby justified; and then come various expressions of an ongoing and generous relationship with Christ, which is seen as sanctification.  (Who said that Paul wasn’t a Wesleyan!?)   And to our current Untied Methodist Church, we might paraphrase:  “For there is no distinction between Straight and LGBT; the same Lord is Lord of ALL and is generous to ALL who call on him.  For, ‘EVERYONE who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved’.”   ! ! !

Thousands of good sermons have been given on the Temptations of Christ, this year read from Luke 4:1-13.  To which this poor preacher can only add that our dependence on God is reinforced by a sojourn in places of hunger and despair.  The main danger Israel of the Exodus faced is to forget that YHWH is still needed amid their newly domesticated freedom.  Through the ages, our prosperity dulls our prayer-edge–it surely has for me!–and our Temptation is to forget how God has brought us through.  The devilish whisper of self-reliance pokes at us in so many ways…  Shakespeare wrote, “An evil soul producing holy witness is like a villain with a smiling cheek…”  (MERCHANT OF VENICE?)

Claudia F. Hernaman wrote in 1873,                                                                                  Lord, who throughout these forty days for us didst fast and pray,                                       teach us with thee to mourn our sins and close by thee to stay.

God Bless Us, Every One                           Horace Brown King

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

Weary of the headlines, I welcome the personal side of Lent.  On this last Sunday of Epiphany, the Season of AHA!, we glimpse the Holy amid us in these readings about Transfiguration.  Granted, our world is trying to crawl back into the Dark Ages by distrusting the neighbor and building greater castles.  Granted, my own United Methodist denomination is on the doorstep of chaos as we argue about whether “all persons” allows us to exclude those not like “us”:  the LGBTQ seekers and other believers who dare hope that John 3:16 really is true.  For me, then, this weekend’s readings about how God’s glory changes our outlook and our persons gives a respite of stepping away from daily scrabbling in the dust.  Come along?

Towards the end of the book of Exodus (34:29-35), we read about Moses’ descent of Mt. Sinai:  not only did he carry the Ten Commandments, but his face was “shining” from being with God.  This glory (KABOD in Hebrew, “loaded down with riches”) lasts for quite a while, until it fades with the cares of everyday life.  Here is a foretaste of the promise to all believers that they, too, will glow by proximity to YHWH.  The story says that Moses veiled his face so as not to offend everyday mortals; others claim that the veil maintained the mystery, even after this began to fade.

Paul recalls this occasion in his Second Letter to the Corinthian Church, 3:12-4:2.  “When [the people of Israel] hear the reading of the old covenant, that same veil is still there, since only in Christ is it set aside…when one turns to the Lord, the veil is removed.”  It’s evidently OK to have a sunny countenance, a nice contrast to the scowls of darkness all about!  (“If you’re happy and you know it, then your face will really show it…”)  Moreover, as we welcome the near presence of the Lord, we also are transformed/transfigured into the Holy Image “from one degree of glory to another” through the manipulations of God’s Spirit.

All three synoptic writers include the Transfiguration account, which gives an idea of it’s centrality to the Gospel.  This year we read Luke’s version, 9:28-36.  We’re glad for the reminder that God is pouring Light into a gloomy world marred by convulsions, nuclear one-upmanship and border fences.  Jesus is here “revealed as the culmination of the story of a God who comes, again and again, to rescue God’s people….here shines the one in whom there is power to overcome death”  of heart and soul.  (Kimberly Miller VanDriel, in FEASTING on the WORD, C 1:455)

“Little Willy, full of glee, Poured radium in Grandma’s  tea–                                        Now he thinks it quite a lark To see her shining in the dark!”                                       May the rich power of Christ enable YOU to shine in the dark and transfigure both the mountains and valleys…

God Bless Us, Every One                     Horace Brown King

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

Martin L. Smith, an Episcopal priest from DC, uses this phrase to describe how God brings non-expected results to those who tune in to the Holy Presence all around us.  Fr. Smith says that “the Holy One’s family business is reconciliation, risky solidarity, and love that is unconditional and generous–a business that is indifferent to profit or even breaking even.”  (SOJOURNERS, Feb. 2019:45)  Those present to readings for this weekend may be reminded of God’s pleasant surprises, receiving more than they had dreamt of in all their wildest hopes!

Joseph’s brothers never expected to see him again.  They had spent several decades dealing with their father’s heartbreak and their own guilt for selling him into slavery in Egypt.  But in Genesis 45:3-11 we hear of an unexpected reunion: seeking relief from the famine back home, they traveled to Egypt–to be interviewed there by the Head Honcho, Joseph himself!  And so they lived happily ever after?  “In the moment of forgiveness, the wronged one is transformed from critic of the world as it is to co-creator with God of a brand-new world.”  (Allen Hilton, FEASTING on the WORD, C 1:367)

The controversy about Resurrection raged on in the Corinth of Paul’s time:  “It’s against all the laws of Nature!”  “Does Jesus’ resurrection guarantee our own?”  “With what kind of body do they come?”  To all of this, Paul replies, “Just as we have borne the image of the man of dust, we will also bear the image of the man of heaven.” (I Corinthians 15:35-38, 42-50)  This gives me great comfort, and I hope it also does to people at a funeral where it’s often read.  The Resurrection and all it entails is a completely unNatural expectation, exceeding our wildest dreams!

The Gospel, Luke 6:27-38, is a continuation of the Sermon on the Plain, introduced last week.  Nine or ten good sermons about Christian Ethics can be extracted here– more, these exhortations to love and kindness represent the surprising generosity of the Ruler of All who is “kind to the ungrateful and the wicked”.  “We go right to the radical core of the ethics of the reign of God, the onset of God’s future, learning from Jesus what it means to live under the authority of God, not the mores of the past.”  (Smith, ibid.)

In my own dark hours, I confess that the World is Too Much With Us.  I shake my head at Rachel Madow and toddle off to the security of my maps or postage stamps.  So it’s a wake-up call for me to again see that my God is full of surprises:  as we learned in seminary, “In the end, God wins!” What a strange business…

God Bless Us, Every One                           Horace Brown King

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

A couple of times each year I send some money to THE ARBOR DAY FOUNDATION.  In return they send interesting tips about trees: how to nurture them, how to trim them, how to recognize them…   No matter what, to establish a young tree in your yard you have to have plenty of water available.  Their roots will dig deep to search out an aquifer for nourishment, even in dry periods.  Scripture for this upcoming weekend recognizes that there are desert spots in our souls, and announce God’s deep digging provision for our survival and growth.

Jeremiah 17:5-10 speaks of an alternative to “worldly” dryness:  “Cursed are those who trust in mere mortals….Blessed are those who trust in the Lord…”  He uses the analogy of a scraggly desert shrub as opposed to a mighty tree near a stream:  “in the year of drought it is not anxious, and it does not cease to bear fruit.”  The prophet dangles such hope before those who’ve followed the strong-man du jour and who now feel incomplete or maybe even betrayed.  Psalm 1 is a continuance of the great comparison between the superficial chaff of our materialistic and xenophobic society and the endurance of God’s presence.

It’s well nigh impossible to find a common thread in the Epistle, I Corinthians 15:12-20.  Unless it comes as a comparison between those who scoff at the resurrection of Christ (and themselves) and those who believe in and welcome the Easter event.  This resurrection power enables the disciple to accept eternal values and ethics, unlike those who may merely be living for this day only.  “Belief in Christ’s resurrection provides reason to have faith in our own.”  –Jeffrey D. Jones, FEASTING on the WORD, C 1:354)

Luke’s Sermon on the Plain (6:17-26) is a reprise of Mary’s Magnificat, which he earlier reported in Chapter 1 (“God has brought down mighty kings from their thrones, and lifted up the lowly…”).  Again, the core of this is a holy alternative between the Blessings and the Woes, a radical acceptance of God’s plan which will turn the world upside down.  Our popular culture equates wealth and possessions with sharp dealing and crafty attachments; here are the words of Jesus telling exactly the opposite…!

These readings challenge us to define what it is we value, and how does that exclude some behaviors and beliefs which are here today and blown away tomorrow.  God’s kingdom embraces riches different from today’s world, and calls the disciple to ascend to a greater vision.

God Bless Us, Every One                        Horace Brown King

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

OMG, did I really just say that?  I’m always dismayed when the conversation goes silent when I join the group at a table.  People who know that I’m a clergy person suddenly clam up, ostensibly not to offend(?) me.  I’m sorry to say that I sometimes attempt to put them at ease by telling a story that’s even more racy than that which I interrupted.  One of the boys, y’know; pip-pip.  Scriptural stories today are about three saints who’ve been confronted by The Holy, and are embarrassed by their worldliness.  Just like people in the pew or study-group, I guess.

Isaiah of Jerusalem tells about a vision (dream?) in which he finds himself in God’s presence (6:1-8).  In the process, he realizes his own profane nature, as well as that of his culture.  Yet God provides a healing, having an angelic being touch his lips with a hot coal and burning away his perceived unworthiness.  Martin L. Smith, an Episcopal priest, brings us up to modern times:  “It is impossible to represent God in any way without undergoing a searing operation by the divine physician to restore our passion for truth-telling and heal our complicity in a culture of lies.”  (SOJOURNERS, February 2019:44)

Our second story is what Paul tells the Corinthians about himself (I,15:1-11).  He’s speaking to a congregation divided over trivialities, trying to remind them of the common denominator of their faith, the centrality of Christ.  He speaks of the Christian holy-history:  how the risen Christ appeared to the Disciples and others of his following.  And then to Paul himself!  (See his theophany on the road to Damascus as told in Acts 9.)  “For I am the least of the apostles, unfit to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God.”  Presumably the Corinthian Church knew this story, and were to use this example as one of gracious purging of profanity within those to whom God has appeared.

Luke’s Gospel recalls the encounter between Simon & Co. at the Capernaum seashore (5:1-11).  The well-told narrative describes the compliance of the fishermen in allowing Jesus to speak from their boat; as a “reward”, they immediately take in more fish than they can process–nets began to break, boats began to sink!  Peter recognizes the Holy One in front of him:  “Go away from me, Lord, for I am a sinful man!”  But Jesus speaks the old words of assurance–“Don’t be afraid”–and calls Peter, James & John to fish for People.

Each of these saints who recognized their earthiness in the Presence of God–Isaiah, Paul, Peter–were cleansed and empowered for a purpose:  to tell God’s story.  They came face-to-face with their limitations, yet they received  a revelation of their potential.  Each changed his vocation, not to mention their understanding of God’s grace.  May those who read and hear this loving message see themselves as worthy of service, by God…!

God bless Us, Every One                           Horace Brown King

My thoughts about lessons for the upcoming weekend can be found every Tuesday at this spot on Facebook; or at horacebrownking.com

I especially admire the DOCTORS WITHOUT BORDERS.  These folks go all over the world with their medicine and skill, even to places where unrest and tribal bickering make life dangerous.  They seem to have caught the message that “borders” are strictly human measurements created to separate “them” from “us”.  Readings that you may hear this weekend deal with borders and tribal boundaries, both geographic and cultural.  We who live in the shadow of The Wall may take some solace from the message of God who basically ignores our limits and borders.

Jeremiah was just a kid, “too young to be a prophet” (1:4-10).  I mean, who’s gonna listen to or believe the admonitions of a child?  Culture has drawn lines of separation between those who are too young to vote, too young to drink, too young to drive…  “But the Lord said to me, ‘Do not say I am only a boy; for you shall go to all to whom I send you, and you shall speak whatever I command you.  Do not be afraid of them, for I am with you to deliver you…”   Experience?  “Often just a code word for initiation into the [cynical and grasping] values of an unjust order.”  (Martin L. Smith, in SOJOURNERS, February 2019: page 44)

Note this:  I Corinthians 13 is NOT about lace & bouquets and drunken uncles!  The love which is expressed here is the mutual affection called forth by knowing that God is involved with ALL Creation.  This, Paul claims, is the antidote for all the jealousies bothering the Church at Corinth.  He’s provoking them to graph their lives against this model of Perfection.  If you can follow this ideal, then you’ll grow in appreciation of others touched by Grace.  Pretty radical stuff, especially for those who fence off their virtue from being contaminated by Those Outside.

Luke’s Gospel is a continuation of the story about Jesus’ rejection as a HomeBoy (4:21-30).  Let the Reader begin with a brief synopsis of Part 1.  The congregation’s ire was sparked when he recalled God’s grace to the gentile widow of Zarephath and to the (awwk!)  Syrian general Naaman.  Do we former playmates of Jesus get special attention; I mean, we SHOULD!  Can we share our specialness with THEM?  Has the Messiah inaugurated a new age ending oppression and injustice for even those others?  Is Yahweh only a tribal deity??

James C. Howell writes, “No good life from God can grow without our dying to our old self, as old bogus priorities are tossed aside, the house of cards cast down.”  (FEASTING on the WORD, C 1:295)  Evidently the Creator of the Universe is going for the whole nine yards, trampling our lines in the sand.  Andrew Greely reminds us that God draws straight with crooked lines…

God Bless Us, Every One                         Horace Brown King

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

“GOOD MORNING!”, chirps the breezy radio guy.  “IT’S A BEAUTIFUL DAY!”  Don’t shout at me, especially before Eleven.  Besides, what’s there to be happy about in the morning?  My Dad was one of those who could sing in the bathroom while getting ready for work…  I  guess there’re those who can greet each new day with optimism, which has always been my short-suit.  So, for me and my fellow grouches, this weekend’s readings from scripture challenge us to sit up and take notice:  is this the first day of the rest of our lives?  Yawn…

Nehemiah’s passage (8:1-3, 5-6, 8-10) calls for a bit of back-story.  The reader needs to explain that those exiled to Babylon have finally come home, due to the munificence of Cyrus the Persian ruler.  But nothing was the same:  cities were ruined; and worse, the Temple of Solomon was a shambles.  Nehemiah, the new governor, and Ezra, the chief priest instigated a program of renovation and renewal.  Could the Jewish state and People reclaim their identity?  When they had gathered into the largest place available, Ezra read to them from the previously lost book of Deuteronomy.  Many were ashamed of their ignorance:  they realized that the Commandments and footnotes had been passed over in the daily turmoil.  But Ezra & Nehemiah called them beyond their grief to see this occasion as a New Start:  “This day is holy to the Lord your God; do not mourn or weep.”  Reclaim the Community, the heart of the deuteronomic message!  Take responsibility for “those for whom nothing is prepared”.

Paul is desperately trying to unite the fragmented Corinthians into a community.  Their diversity is legend, a more cosmopolitan group didn’t exist in the Roman Empire.  Ethnic background, philosophical difference and moral/ethical customs worked against these new Christians as they struggled with a bottom-line of belief.  In his Letter (I, 12:-12-31), Paul uses the image of a human body–one unit with many parts and functions.  This is not a Vision of Heaven, or Pie In the Sky; “NOW you are the body of Christ and individually members of it.”  Freedom TODAY?

O Lord, did you get yourself in hot water when you jolted the homefolks out of the past and into God’s immediacy!  First you read about the  Believers’ duty to bring good news, recovery of sight and freedom for the prisoners (Isaiah 61, as remembered by Luke’s Gospel, chapter 4:14-21).  Then you told ’em, “TODAY this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing!”  Next week we’ll talk more about their sourpuss reaction to this challenge–for today, let’s just say that most didn’t take kindly to the urgency of the Holy Call…

I suppose many, no, most of us have an altruistic component which intellectually affirms that doing God’s Work is to nurture the poor and reconcile those who’ve been excluded from the community.  The church I attend is a Reconciling Congregation, which means that we welcome LGBTQ persons and treat them as equals.  But Lord, it’s hard to live Today being present to your embrace…  What?  Morning already?

God Bless Us, Every One                  Horace Brown King

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