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It’s Winter in New York state, and the dreary days of January creep on through the cold and the snow.  Most of the Christmas trimmings have been put away for another year; the Magi have traveled back home by a different way.  We’ve all–mostly–peered into the Manger, and some have been changed by the view of the ChristChild.  Lessons for the upcoming weekend try to keep the Hope spinning, reminding us that the Light keeps growing.

Isaiah 62:1-5 is a post-Exilic paen shining with good news of an undeserved Grace:  God is delighting in restoring the lost exiles to their place among the nations, who “shall see your vindication”.  Present-day hearers are reminded here that they too have great worth in the eyes of God, that a whole new relationship of intimacy is made public.  Have we expected that God would change things?

There’s great wealth in I Corinthians 12:1-11–every verse yields a treasure of spiritual gifts to ponder as we tackle the Dark Days of January.  One that popped out at me is verse 7, “To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit [of God] for the common good”.  These gifts of grace are evidently for the Light of the Nations, not just to make us feel good.  In all of our diversity, these gifts of the Spirit each have their source in a single-purposed God as revealed in Jesus Christ.  Given freely and without dependence upon our merit, they aim at uniting the community of faith.

The Gospel lesson is the story of Jesus first public miracle, turning water into wine at the wedding in Cana (John 2:1-11).  It’s most fitting that this display of lavish excess begins the instances where God breaks into business-as-usual.  Why do we read this only in John’s Gospel?  Martin L. Smith comments, “Imagery of excess, of divine surplus and overflow, is essential for the proclamation of God’s reign.”  (SOJOURNERS, Jan.2019:45)  An abundance of good wine has been a prophetic symbol of a restoration of God’s new age (Amos  9:13, Joel 3:18).  This age is again a beacon to the community of faith, as the wine is shared with everyone!

The comforting message for me is that there are graciously given gems which sparkle in God’s Light, especially in these leaden days after Christmas.  January in these parts calls us to hunker down around the hearth and tell again the events of holy-history, especially of how God has broken into our ennui to change things.

God Bless Us, Every One              Horace Brown King

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

The Sacrament of Baptism is observed differently across the Church.  Some consider the application of water–sometimes by total immersion–as a cleansing from sin.  Others see Baptism as a sign of what Jesus is doing/ has already done in the life of an infant.  The unanswerable question remains:  is participation in this rite done by human choice for repentance?  or is this an occasion of God’s inbreaking, a confirmation of prevenient Grace already doing marvelous things?  We don’t presume to offer extensive studies of Baptism here; we do acknowledge that Baptism carries different freight, albeit central to discipleship.  The upcoming weekend is our remembrance of the Baptism of Jesus.

The Israelites of Babylon to whom Isaiah 43:1-7 is addressed felt not only the loss of their paternal homeland but the quickly eroding Community of the Faithful as new generations became Babylon-ized.  Isaiah urged the remnant not to give up hope for physical AND spiritual restoration:  “When you pass through the waters, I will be with you…”  Deep water recalled the terrors of both the Ark and the Exodus, when water stood between the People and the Land of Promise.  These stories turned out well, they also remembered, when God sent a dove to announce familiar land once more; and when the enemies were drowned after God has made a path through the water…  And Psalm 29 exults, “The voice of the Lord is over the waters; the God of glory thunders…”

There are probably better Baptismal texts than Acts 8:14-17.  But here’s the unnamed Dove of the Spirit, again, plummeting not on Noah or Jesus, but on new Christians in (aaack!) Samaria.  This was one more instance of the restoration of the Lost Community mourned by the Exiles and envisioned by Isaiah.  It also marks a realization among the Jewish disciples that the message of Jesus is for all who will hear, beyond the old boundaries.  Thunder indeed!

The Baptism of Jesus is seen as important to the Gospel, since all four (!) Evangelists lift it up.  It’s questionable that Jesus saw this as a cleansing from Sin; but his participation solidified his humanity AND (according to our reading, Luke 3:15-17, 21-22) reinforced his self-understanding of his Christhood.  As the Dove descended, God spoke: “YOU are my Son…”  Jesus was born into a system of broken faith, and now he knew his mission of reconciliation.  So it is that our traditional rite of Baptism includes a naming of the recipient of such Grace, now with an important identity.

In most of these services, a lay leader or the pastor presents the baptized to the congregation–and the congregation is introduced to the special blessedness of this new Brother or Sister in Christ.  Then the pastor sprinkles (or sometimes splashes!) the congregation and says, “Remember YOUR baptism–and be glad!”  Remember that YOU are baptized as God’s Beloved!  Was that thunder?

God Bless Us, Every One                                  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

We’ve been to Christmas, and have stood on tip-toe to peer into the manger.  And then back to the darkness of the sheepfold, with only memories of angelic light…with a few shiny feathers as tokens of Divine Visitation.  As people of conscience, we often despair at the darkness which we see in daily headlines and local social imbalances.  But we’ve been to Christmas!  That should count for SOMEthing…?  So, in this brand-new year, we yearn for the brightness of re-creation–and are yet a bit bashful to claim that we ourselves are now bearers of the Light, reflectors of the Face of God.

Scripture lessons for Epiphany–the Season of AHA!–open with words from post-Exilic Isaiah, vv. 1-6 of Chapter 60.  The speaker announces a renewal of the People of God, with a great homecoming which includes the abundance of the sea and the wealth of nations, camels bringing gold & frankincense!  “The [leader’s] goal is to get the people to notice God’s rising glory and join in the throng that is streaming toward it….to keep reminding the people that what we do in worship has cosmic significance.”  (Stephens G. Lytch, in SOJOURNERS c 1:195)   The pathos is done:  Arise, shine, for your light has come.

The Epistle reading is Ephesians 3:1-12.  This speaks heavily of “mystery”, which could be translated as “sacrament”.  The writer emphasizes the unexpected (?) breaking-in of God, not as Plan B but just at the right time in the unfolding order of Creation.  An interesting note for Epiphany:  the Gentile magi come to seek Jesus, bringing the world’s riches, while this author lifts up God in Christ who seeks out the Gentiles, partnering with the Church to bring them the riches of Christ.  “Through the church the wisdom of God in its rich variety might now be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly places.”

Even though it’s familiar, don’t neglect the Gospel story of the Wise Men (Matthew 2:1-12).  These seekers of the Light are set up as role-models for witnesses everywhere:  whoever/how many they were, their story has been incorporated to illustrate the world-wide magnetism of the ChristChild.  Attracted by a heavenly light which sliced through darkness, the magi are an analogy of following holiness through dark deserts of ugliness to the Source of Goodness, Wholeness and Hope.  By what light do you travel toward God?

An old story tells of King Herod, old and sick, who believed that he had eliminated any rivalry to his dark-sided kingdom by the Slaughter of the Innocents.  Taking to his bed, he asked that the curtains be opened–“I want see the Star go out”.  It hasn’t!  Carry the news to all the world…

God Bless Us, Every One                          Horace Brown King

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

My neighborhood, although diverse in cultures, is well-blessed with wreathes on the front doors.  Evidently the wreath–with or without ornamentation–is a beacon of hospitality for many cultures.  The Days of Christmas have long been considered a time to visit friends & family; at the end of a sleighride “there’s a happy feeling nothing in this world can buy When they pass around the coffee and the pumpkin pie.”  Those of Latin heritage may have observed “La Posada”, a pageant about questing for hospitality.  We yearn to come in from the cold, and are blessed by those who will welcome the traveler.   Lessons for this weekend center on “God’s House”, and re-echo the Christmas message of God coming to live with us.

Early in the story of Samuel (I 2:18-20,26)  we learn that this long-awaited son has been placed in the service of Eli, the High Priest.  His parents, Elkanah & Hannah, were delighted to see him “ministering before the Lord”; we don’t know his exact duties, but prime among them was to observe and assimilate the holy functions of God’s House.  Folks at that time thought that God was limited to a specific place.

The Letter to the Colossians (3:12-17) presents a more nimble deity:  “Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly…”  By the first years after the first Christmas, believers began to accept that the Incarnation/Nativity event was to remove God from any human cages and allow Christ some elbow room in our daily lives.  The ChristChild claims precedence in “WHATEVER you do, in word or deed…”

Luke’s Gospel, 2:41-52, is more about Mary than it is about Jesus.  She and Joseph had been looking for Jesus in all the wrong places!  Finally they find him in the Temple, observing and assimilating the holy functions of God’s House–did I say that before?  The narrative says that “when his parents saw him they were astonished”–I bet they were!  Well, of course; where did you expect him to be?  Jesus spent his narrated ministry trying to convince people that his Father’s house was anywhere HE was, and that God really itched to escape popular confinement.

Some you meet today will be starry-eyed from the message of the angels and the richness of Nativity music old & new.  Others may well be glassy-eyed from the hustle of gift-giving and the holiday rituals which have somehow fallen short of what we think we remember…  All of these will be yearning for hospitality, a warm spot where they have permission to unburden their hopes and fears.  The sanctuary, the safe spot, is with US:  I pray that the marvel of Christmas has built an altar within you to focus the prayers and praises of all the world nearby…

God Bless Us, Every One                            Horace Brown King

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

When I was a teenager I had a morning paper route.  EARLY, and often COLD.  In warmer months I could ride my bike; but in winter, when the traction was poor, I walked.  How I yearned for, craved the sunrise!  Would the half-light of dawn ever yield some warming rays to restore my numb fingers?  Folks in church pews this weekend may be numbed by the Christmas grab-bag or a year-long wrestle with power and possessions.  Cold of heart and weary of spirit, they/we wait with skepticism for any word from God.  Scripture for the Fourth Sunday in Advent presents an attitude of Presence, even as the Dark Side seems to grow without holy restraint.

The prophet Micah seems to have spoken during the Assyrian intimidation of Israel (740-722?) and perhaps even witnessed the devastation of Judah by Sennacherib (701?).  Much of his recorded message is of doom’n’gloom–BUT in today’s reading, 5:2-5a, a ray of hope shoots forth.  “But you, O Bethlehem of Ephrathah, who are one of the little clans of Judah, from you shall come forth for me one who is to rule in Israel….he shall be great to the ends of the earth; and he shall be the one of peace.”  The inheritor of David’s majesty is to come from the smallest, the poorest, the most unlikely backwater–just as David himself was the youngest and perhaps the weakest of other candidates.  The God who is to hallow a feed-trough for cattle will show up where least expected.

We’d have better chance of getting into the reading from Hebrews, 10:5-10, if we were more steeped in the tradition of sacrifice offerings.  Yet the writer does indicate God’s pleasure in taking human form, that is, becoming very man of very man, in order to show that wonderful and eternal things are displayed even & especially in the hopes and fears of one who grows older and eventually dies.  “And it is by God’s will that we have been sanctified through the offering of the BODY of Jesus Christ once for all.”

We preachers can be anarchists, delighting in that which is counter to the prevailing value system.  So we smirk with Mary in the Magnificat, Luke 1:46-55–“…[God] has looked with favor on the lowliness of [God’s] servant….”  God has scattered the proud, brought down the powerful, and sent away the sated, leaving their food for the poor.  This must be threatening and embarrassing to the minions of Law & Order in all ages.  Mary’s song exults that God has turned the world upside-down, and calls those still yearning for the dawn to expect even more than they dare!

Since I’m small of stature and poor of pocket-book, I’ve always been disregarded by society’s bigwigs.  This weekend’s readings help me to find my voice, even as Holy Starburst puts a finer light on that morality which has been discarded as impractical.  May the Child of Christmas be your day-star too.

God Bless Us, Every One                                Horace Brown King

My attempts to explore lectionary passages assigned to the upcoming weekend may be found each Tuesday at this spot on Facebook; or at horacebrownking.com

Most of the faithful gathered for worship on this Third Sunday in Advent will not feel as much Joy as the liturgy recommends.  Perhaps they’re discouraged about the state of the world, or perhaps they’re just tired of Christmas shopping.  The Ghost of Christmas Presents brings lots of guilt and remorse:  a nostalgia for how we remember the Old Days, and a realization that we live mostly in a land of broken dreams.  So the Joy of Gaudete Sunday may come as a welcome oasis in the wilderness of Holiday “Festivity”.  “When Santa Claws, it’s time to pause.”

Perhaps some words from the Prophet Zephaniah (3:14-20)?  “Rejoice and exult with all your heart!…The king of Israel, the Lord, is in your midst; you shall fear disaster no more.”   Zephaniah dares to dream GOD’s dream, to hope GOD’s hope.  Here is an interruption of gloom with a vision of God-With-Us, Immanuel.  Even though we fear that the Dark Side is winning, this Prophet says that our vindication, our salvation “is in your midst”.  “I will remove disaster from you…I will save the lame and gather the outcast.”

The Epistle is but a mere four verses from Paul to the Philippian believers, 4:4-7.  Here is an echo of Zephaniah:  “Rejoice always in the Lord; again I will say, Rejoice!”  But don’t you understand the urgency and chaos out there?  Our motive for Joy is not for a pleasant life, but because the Lord is near.  Dare we believe that?  “Joy snaps us out of our fascination with what is toxic, degrading, ugly and divisive in the world around us and urges us to become witnesses to God’s tenderness, beauty and intimacy…”  (Martin L. Smith, in SOJOURNERS)

Kathy Beach-Verhey introduces us to Luke’s Gospel account of John the Baptizer’s message (3:7-18):  “There is no getting to Bethlehem and the sweet baby in the manger without first hearing the rough prophet in the wilderness call us to repentance.”(FEASTING on the WORD, C 1:69)  We have little benefit in the face of the ChristChild unless we’ve moved beyond our former tawdriness.  The Baptizer made some concrete instructions:  to make unselfish choices, to live within one’s means and to do justice.  Baptism became the mark of God, and those who were so marked have been constrained to a new ethic and a purity of heart.  Remember that YOU were baptized–and be glad!

Cultural Christmas has become a rat-race.  The Sundays of Advent bring a compulsion to offer a counter-cultural Joy to the world which is weary of tinsel.  Angelic admonitions to “Fear Not!” are gladly heard, yet difficult to believe.  A bold prophecy of this weekend’s scriptures may yet buoy the spirits of the jaded in your pews.

God Bless Us, Every One                        Horace Brown King

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

We of  liturgical bent are savoring the journey through Advent, a season created to acknowledge the need for a soon-coming Savior to exorcise the brokenness within ourselves and our culture.  There are those who will preach this weekend’s texts as a prophet would, challenging that which is trite & tawdry & tarnished.   The job of a prophet, says Norman Podhoretz, is to confront the idol and those who would worship this idol.  Advent is our chance to yet again name the demonic in our midst that would rival God for our affection and allegiance.  But brothers and sisters, if you’re going to use the imagery of a Refining Fire, please be sensitive to those who’ve barely survived the recent infernos of California and other western USA states…

The Old Covenant revisits one of these prophets, Malachi, who reaffirms the hope for a Messiah to straighten things out (3:1-4).  “He is like a refiner’s fire and like fullers’ soap…he will purify the descendants of Levy…but who can endure the day of his coming?”  What in the lives of the worshipers is in need of refining, and will it hurt much?  Advent reminds us that the Savior’s amazing entrance brings Comfort & Joy only after the Junque is removed!  Malachi’s ancient oracle indicates that Creation yet unfolds as we are being carted unto perfection!

Paul anticipates this perfection as he greets the Church in Philippi, 1:3-11.  “In the day of Christ you may be pure and blameless.”  As we stand somewhat removed from the Manger of Bethlehem, we recognize that there’s still a lot of perfection to be achieved, and much of this will be accomplished through “the Refiner’s fire”.  We Philippians yearn for “the wrong to fail and the right prevail”, even if this Peace on Earth comes with a searing price.

The Lesson from Luke, 3:1-6, begins with a laundry list of the powerful, not only for historical context, but also to contrast with the flower-child (John the Baptizer) who comes from the Wilderness to speak a necessary Truth.  The process of making the paths straight and level involves a radical departure from the topography we’ve experienced of economic highs ‘n’ lows, moral disregard and endless mountains of materialism.  Has the landscape changed (and should it)?  Kathy Beach-Verhey  claims, “Our repentance, our turning around, will likely involve us looking at the structures and the systems and the people of the world around us in new and different ways.”  (FEASTING on the WORD, C 1:49)

Julie Polter has an excellent article, “A Whirlwind in a Wildfire”, in SOJOURNERS of December 2018.  She speaks of her/our self-righteous rage at the way things are, and our impulse to burn it all to the ground.  “Revenge fantasies, however justified they may feel, are not the same as God’s righteous anger.  Your fire is not God’s fire….There will be plenty of fire to go around, everyone restored to show-room condition…. When the tumult and ash of Advent settles, we are left waiting and watching–intent on the promise that God will one day make all things new….We put down our matches and look to bear witness to God’s fire instead.”  May your hearts be strangely warmed…

God Bless Us, Every One!                               Horace Brown King

My arsonist tendencies are examined every Tuesday at this spot on Facebook; or at horacebrownking.com

I’ve had quite a few church members and friends who’ve had various cardio-related problems.  Part of their recuperation was in going to rehab centers or gyms to swim, lift or engage in other heart-strengthening exercises.  The hopeful season of Advent is big on heart strength:  many of us affirm that God has come to bind up the captives and to set the prisoner free.  There are daily reminders that, despite the perceived chaos, the Lord of Life has come to renew our hearts  for kingdom citizenship.  Lessons for this First Sunday of Advent are designed to help the disciple acknowledge society’s brokenness AND to move beyond this into a hopeful expectation that God is already unfolding redemption all about us…

Jeremiah 33:14-16 can stand without too much explication:  the promise is even now being fulfilled, a Righteous Branch will spring up, and this Messiah shall preside over a golden age of justice.  “You must be joking, Jeremiah,” scoff the people.  “Can’t you see what a mess we’re in?”  Even though the Temple, that bastion of God’s Presence, is crumbling–and with it, all Judaism–Jeremiah calls the terror-stricken of all ages to see the future, to appreciate GOD’s future.  I yearn for his confidence.

Paul’s Epistle, I Thessalonians, is filled with the Good Speech so often called a Benediction.  I especially like 3:13,  “And may [the Lord] so strengthen your hearts in holiness that you may be blameless…”  The Advent-watcher recognizes that the gems of holiness amidst the sawdust of human glory are heavenly inspired.  The salvation we claim to crave comes by allowing our hearts to be exercised from beyond ourselves.

What signs are recognizable today?  Luke’s sources remember that Jesus spoke about the powers of the heavens…those things that are ALWAYS stable…being shaken (Luke 21:25-36).  Some social and political structures NEED to tumble before the New Age of God’s Kingdom can be ushered in. The appropriate response of the Believer is to “stand up and raise your heads, because your redemption is drawing near.”  To “stand before the Son of Man” involves unfolding from our fetal position, to stop hiding and to skip forward into the cosmos!

Reuben P. Job has some good thoughts about this potentially exciting Season:  “We do get another chance!  The Season of Advent gives the church the opportunity to begin again.  Once more the full story of God’s grace is awaiting our discovery.  Once more we shake off the failures and victories of the past, and we get a clean page on which to write the story of our companionship with God in Christ….Advent marks the beginning of the church year and lays before us the pathway of faith for the year ahead.”  (A GUIDE TO PRAYER FOR ALL WHO SEEK GOD, p.20)  “The stories of Advent are dug from the harsh soil of human struggle and the littered landscape of dashed dreams.  They are told from the vista where sin still reigns supreme and hope has gone on vacation.”  (Gary W. Charles, in FEASTING on the WORD, C 1:3)  Yet may they strengthen your hearts…

God Bless Us, Every One                        Horace Brown King

My encounters with scriptural passages assigned to the coming weekend can be found every Tuesday at this space on Facebook; or at horacebrownking.com

We Americans have gone for almost 245 years without a King; and officially, we don’t want one.  And yet we’ve been glad to hand over authority to Drill Sergeants, Football Coaches, Godfathers and egocentric Presidents.  We admire their absolute power, and nod sagely about their tyrannical actions.  So with mixed feelings we observe this coming weekend as the proclamation of Christ the King, or in more republican terms, The Reign of Christ.  This is the last weekend of the Christian Year, the celebration and acknowledgement that God has already accomplished the fulfillment of God’s Kingdom–even if we can see only glimpses here ‘n’ there….  So relax and give thanks!

Bernhard Anderson reminds us that Yahweh (according to Samuel) didn’t want Israel to have a king. “Israel was not a nation, but a PEOPLE–distinguished from the [other] nations….In becoming like the nations, Israel would be ‘secularized’ and thus no different from any other nation….Israel was not allowed to identify a human kingdom with the Kingdom of God, for Yahweh alone was king.”  (Understanding the Old Testament, pp.124-125)  Nevertheless, the people persisted; and suffered through the madness of Saul until “good” King David appeared, the pinnacle of the Israeli prosperity.  Thus in II Samuel 23:1-7 we have what are remembered as The Last Words of David:  “One who rules over people justly, ruling in the fear of God, is like the light of morning, like the sun rising on a cloudless morning, gleaming from the rain on the grassy land.”  Well, he tried; but his grandchildren screwed things up.  Royally.

Flash ahead about eleven centuries:  people still were subject to absolute power, this time seen in the Roman Empire (after some side-trips to Babylon & Syria).  John’s Revelation polemic (1:4b-8) includes v.6, “and made us to be a kingdom, priests serving {Christ’s} God and Father…”  Thus the Lord’s dominion exudes ultimate authority over all the “lesser” nations & empires, even in every-day matters.  But “Christ is not a tyrant; he is a lover.  He is not a power-mad despot we are forced to serve or else…”  (Peter M. Wallace, in FEASTING  on the WORD, B 4:331)  Our fealty is admiration and participation in faithful service.

The Gospel, John 18:33-37, is an archetypal intersection of the Kingdom of God and the Kingdom of Humans.  Pilate asks leading questions of Jesus, “So you are a king?”  Jesus tells him that his kingdom is not one of political terms; the world doesn’t understand this.  So a long time before Elvis, the King of Rock ‘n’ Roll, or the Lion King, the Empire Strikes Back with overwhelming power and intimidation.  Has the Dark Side won??  “‘What IS truth?’, said jesting Pilate, but would not stay for an answer.” (Francis Bacon)  Lucretius adds, “no pleasure is comparable to the standing upon the vantage ground of Truth, and to see the errors, and wanderings, and mists, and tempests, in the vale below…”

Pete Peery concludes, “On this Sunday, the church proclaims Christ the King.  The church announces that it bows only to Jesus the Christ.  The church declares that it does not give allegiance to any other person, principality, or power [or flag?–HBK] claiming to be sovereign.”  (FEASTING, etc., p.335)  In all of this civil disobedience, as we continue to speak Truth to Power, we may be passionately patient as we receive God’s actions!

God Bless Us, Every One!  “…and be ye thankful”              Horace Brown King

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

There seem to be two concepts of the End of the World.  Some will say that the “signs of the times”–war, poverty, a general overturn of the common good–are playing out right now, so get ready!  Others think that the End will never come, that God’s gone on vacation and that business will grind on as usual.  Scriptures looked at this weekend call the faithful to look beyond What Seems to Be to affirm that God is yet in control, however our human calendars try to confine the process of Creation.

The Old Testament is LONG, I Samuel 1:4-20-2:1-10.  Many lectionary schemes suggest that the second part, the Song of Hannah, replace the Psalter.  However you do this, each is important in seeing the usual order of things overturned.  In the first chapter, Eli the Priest sees Hannah’s spoken prayer for a child as drunkenness.  (Besides, everyone knows she’s “too old”.)  However, Samuel (“Asked of God”) is born, and the normal order of things is overturned.  And then, in a song copied by Mary in the Magnificat (Luke 1:46ff), Hannah announces this turnabout: “bows are broken, but the feeble gird on strength….[God] raises up the poor from the dust; [God] lifts the needy from the ash heap, to make them sit with princes and inherit a seat of honor.”  The Kingdom continues to grace-fully unfold.

The reading from the Letter to the Hebrews (10:11-25) continues to emphasize the permanence of Christ’s saving power.  “For by a single offering he has perfected for all time those who are sanctified.”  We can assume that the readers of this letter were quite sure that the Second Coming/End of the World was literally tomorrow.  Even if there’s a delay, “Let us hold fast to the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who has promised is faithful….all the more as you see the Day approaching.”  Look beyond appearances and trust God.

Although Mark’s Gospel (13:1-8) sets this scene in Holy Week, it pertains to almost any time.  The Disciples from the rural North are impressed by the apparent durability of the Temple, but Jesus cautions them that even that massive pile can soon be rubble.  There will be a lot of charlatans trying to cash in on the Second Coming scare–can you say “Jonestown”?  Jesus displays much less concern about the Last Days than some believers who crave the gnosis of “I know something you don’t know!”  He urges us, though, to look beyond appearances, “wars & rumors of wars”, to that which is unfolding in God’s Good Time.

Michael Pasquarello III sums it up nicely:  “As we near the end of the Christian year, God’s people are given a fresh vision of the new world that is on its way, a world that is not dependent up[on human efforts, plan, or strategies, but a world that is God’s gift.” (FEASTING on the WORD, B 4:299)  Today is not Doomsday, but another instance of God’s durability ‘midst the scrabble of human dust!  Thanks be to God!

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 space on Facebook; or at horacebrownking.com