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Readings for the upcoming weekend have to do with living out one’s beliefs.  Those who would make their lives more closely aligned with God’s intentions have a constant wrestling match between what their heart spontaneously says and what their mind rationalizes.  Nothing says that there must be a gap between heart and mind; yet we often find our logic compromising our good intentions.  Certainly my own impulsive generosity often pales in the morning light, and I put off reaching out in love until another time.

For my money, Song of Solomon 2:8-13 is a moving love-poem.  Some commentators, though, want to holify it into a prophecy of the long-awaited Messiah:  at last, the winter rains (the old despair) have gone, and the voice of the turtledove (a new promise) is heard in the land!  Whatever you make of it, it’s a song of new beginnings, an affirmation that things are no longer the same–this is a great wedding text.  Is the poet announcing God’s New Day?  Your hearers are urged to look and listen for a renewed understanding that a new creation is at hand to fill and re-create the prevailing void.

James 1:17-27 is loaded with upstanding exhortions and pithy sayings:  “Be doers of the word, and not merely hearers…”, “Religion that is pure and undefiled before God, the Father, is this:  to care for orphans and widows in their distress, and to keep oneself unstained by the world.”  We’re also constrained to recognize the unmerited generosity of God, and thus be imitation as we pay it forward.  The passage joins together social compassion and personal morality.  Anger and a “rank growth of wickedness” are discarded in favor of community relief and a sharing of blessings.

The Gospel lesson, Mark 7:1-8, 14-15, 21-23, is somewhat damaged by the omission of selected verses.  Yet its core message deals with those who’re so engrossed in “the tradition of the elders” that they fail to appreciate Jesus in their midst.  The cause of the dispute isn’t cleanliness or sanitary habits; it’s the METHOD of hand-washing.  Jesus speaks of what emanates from the “heart”, the core of our real selves as being reflective of evil; then he lists some of these evil intentions, which covers us all at one point or another (vv.21,22).   “If we want to examine the heart of our religious faith, we must be willing to explore honestly whether our attitudes and actions reveal genuine love for God land compassion for others.” (Dawn Ottoni Wilhelm, in FEASTING on the WORD, B 4:23)  How then do we refine our rituals to more successfully integrate with God’s purpose?

I’ve been in a lot of plays.  Rehearsals always begin by my thinking, “I’ll never learn all this stuff!  Why’d I ever sign up for this??”  After a while, I begin to have a tenuous grip on a few lines and dance-moves.  With a few days ’til the curtain goes up, most of the cast is pretty much OK; there’re still some glitches.  But one fine day, hopefully before dress rehearsal, I know my part BY HEART!  Either I’ve owned the role or the role has owned me, whatever.  But I’ve put “today’s mind” in neutral while what’s supposed to be comes out on stage.   Will I ever learn the role of a Christian by heart?

God Bless Us, Every One                    Horace Brown King

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

There’re lots of options out there.  More than ever, in this “adulterous and crooked generation”, the Church needs to name the God who is over all other gods.  We dream brave dreams about speaking Truth to Power; and sometimes we do.  Readings for this present weekend, though, are aimed at the community of professing believers:  many church-hoppers are hoping for feel-good messages which allow them to worship materialism, patriotism & family along with a passing nod to Yahweh.  Several sources present the uniqueness of our “jealous God” and this God’s claim on our entire being…

Joshua (24:1-2a, 14-18) has called together the leaders of the Hebrews at Shechem, a neutral city in the middle of the Promised Land.  They’re on the brink of establishing communities in this new place, and Joshua’s speech is a pretty good locker room pep-talk:  “Go get ’em!”  It’s a holy-history of God’s covenant with the People, and moves them from yesterday to the present.  Now that Yahweh has brought them triumphantly this far, will they go back to the gods of the ancestors?  “Now if you are unwilling to serve the Lord, choose this day whom you WILL serve, whether the gods your ancestors served in the region beyond the River or the gods of the Amorites in whose land  you are living; but as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord.”  How we long for the gods of the Good Old Days, when June & Ward Cleaver raised a happy family in a nice white neighborhood behind a picket fence…  What are the names of the ancestral gods which Made America Great?  What will happen to our “security” if we cast our lot solely with Yahweh?

If we can get past Paul’s contradictory self-armament (Ephesians 6:10-20, an unfortunate condoning of conflict),  we might look more thoroughly at the powers & principalities.  Here once again are the old gods of the ancestors, dressed in economic contracts for the military and stock in companies which exploit human vices and the environment!  Martin L. Smith reminds us that “It is not enough to imagine that we are immune from their power.  Only actual spiritual practices…have any value in sustaining our distinct identity as members of Christ’s body and pioneers of God’s future.”  (SOJOURNERS, August 2018, page 45)

The Gospel (John 6:56-69) acknowledges that there were many disciples who fell away from Jesus over the difficulty of consuming Body & Blood.  Evidently the gods of the ancestors weren’t as demanding and counter-cultural.  ‘Course, they didn’t provide any eternal benefit, either.  These looooong passages about Jesus being the bread of heaven served to impress John’s readers then & now that it is “MY” body and “MY” blood which differentiates the Christian experience from all others.  Peter provided the necessary affirmation:  “We have come to believe and know that you are the Holy One of God.”

It’s good to realize that God continually seeks relationships with the People, both individually and within community.  None of these lections ends with a brow- beating for abandoning the Yahweh ethic so quickly.  Rather there is a note of commendation for those who stay the course, those who dare the vision of what may yet happen.

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

All too many modern  Christians think that they haven’t been faithful enough to earn a seat at the Great Banquet of God’s Kingdom.  Texts to be read this weekend seek to negate this heresy and to assure the listener that God has plenty of steadfast love to go ’round!  Forbears in the faith called this authentic reception of holy joy “sober inebriation”.  Well, why not?  Disciples have often practiced wild abandon in their journey to Perfection, realizing that Eternity has begun at birth rather than death.

Our first stop leads us to the wisdom of the Book of Proverbs, 9:1-6.  Wisdom has set a festive table, and has invited those yet awaiting insight:  “Come, eat of my bread and drink of the wine I have mixed.”  Some prefer to graze their way through the buffet table; but this is instruction to consume enough wisdom-grace to bulge our eyes with sufficiency!  Am I enjoying the depth of wisdom-grace, or am I squandering my days on that which doesn’t really satisfy?  Although we gleefully stray from the immediacy of an abundant God, we’re really never out of God’s sight.

“Be careful then how you live, not as unwise people but as wise…” begins Chapter 5 of the Letter to the Ephesian Church.  Even though Evil is always nearby, those filled with wisdom-grace understand the authenticity of the will of the Lord.  There are lots of distractions (“wine”) to fritter away our moments–“but be FILLED with the Spirit… giving thanks to God the Father at ALL times and for EVERYTHING in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.”  This is what Martin L. Smith calls “a gentle resistance to the addictions that compromise our God-given freedom.” (SOJOURNERS, August 2018, page 45)

John 6:51-58 can be troublesome to those who recoil from the concept of actually consuming human flesh & blood.  Martin Luther (& others) help me by suggesting that the emphasis be place on “MY”:  “MY flesh is true food and MY blood is true drink”.  Jesus differentiates between his gifts and those of the rest of the world; some addictions seem to satisfy our desires, but then become everyday…whereas the Presence of Christ doesn’t lose its shine.  Will Willimon  asserts that “the Fourth Gospel tries to train us limited, modern people in the expectation that now the Word has become flesh, we may expect more.”  (FEASTING on the WORD, B 3:359)  Following Jesus is one thing; CONSUMING Jesus is quite another!  “His truth wants to burrow deep within us, to consume us as we consume him, to flow through our veins, to be digested, to nourish every nook and cranny of our being.”  (Willimon, op.cit., p.361)

This digital age helps us to keep track of our accomplishments; and, perhaps, our shortcomings.  Those in the pews and classrooms hearing these lections are urged to not be intimidated by  lengthy rap-sheets…rather to sit deep and long at today’s Holy Banquet, enjoying Divine Hospitality and consuming until their souls can hold no more!

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

It’s about the Journey, isn’t it?  Most cultures have tales about the hero–that’s you and me–who undertakes some sort of Quest to find out who they are.  Maybe it’s a search for a long-lost parent (to understand hereditary traits)  or a holy relic (to achieve self-credibility in the community).  Perhaps the task includes killing dragons (to conquer self-doubt) or rescuing a captive city or a damsel in distress (to be relevant and make a difference).  The present Bible lessons address this Journey from sinful brokenness to vitality…all with Divine guidance.

Elijah, after showing up the priests of Baal and slaughtering them, needed to run for his life when Queen Jezebel put a price on his head.  Our story picks up with his Journey (I Kings 19:4-8).  Ready to give it all up, he sat despondently in the meager shade of a broom-bush.  The Journey seemed ready to abort.  “It is enough; now, O Lord, take away my life…”  But God wasn’t done with him:  holy bread and water gave him strength to travel on to Mt. Horeb (Sinai) to encounter Yahweh directly.  Y’know, I can really relate to this; a lot of pew-sitters can, too.

Paul”s Team lists many virtues and vices in the Letter to the Ephesians (4:25-5:1).  “Thieves” are mentioned specifically, but read “all of us” in its place.  “Thieves must give up stealing; rather let them labor and work honestly with their own hands, so as to have something to share with the needy.”  This isn’t the work-ethic of prosperity, but provides for building the community!  All sorts of malicious selfishness are listed as belonging to the Old Place; the traveler toward Perfection imitates God’s active and reflective love through kindness and forgiveness.

John’s Gospel remembrance (6:35,41-51)  spins more on Jesus’ announcement that “I am the Bread of Life.”  Those with a lack of vision took offense:  they were the ones who were resigned to the meager shade of Elijah’s bush.  Before we’re too hard on them we should realize that this Silent Majority has given up on the heroic Journey as just too difficult.  Yet Jesus provides holy sustenance for their quest, agreeing that it’s a demanding trip but that the Father would “draw” them.  (My image is of a bunch of convicts roped together being dragged through a desert.)

Indiana Jones is my favorite crusader!  We’re pretty sure that he’ll succeed in finding the Lost Ark or Jesus’ chalice–but the story is in the Journey!  Here’s where growth and wisdom come about, here’s where the drama unfolds.  Like the wise Dr. Jones, we too are on a similar–probably less exotic–Journey.  John Wesley asked us to “go on to Perfection” recognizing that the richness of discipleship lies in such a Journey.  Give up in the sparse shade?  We all do, some longer than others.  But we’re given provisions, and impelled forward…  “Are we there yet?”  I really hope not!

God Bless Us, Every One                            Horace Brown King

My wandering through the readings assigned to the upcoming weekend can be found every Tuesday at this space on Facebook; or at horacebrownking.com

Every Sunday, before the pastoral prayer, Pastor Michelle asks, “Where have you seen God at work recently?”  Most answers have to do with grandchildren and flower-beds, although some describe turnabouts in their faith-life or other new insight.  There are those who claim that they haven’t seen God…yet prodded with the witness of others will admit to seeing Divinity without being able at the moment to name it as such.  Scriptures this week will recall stories of how God has given a “sign” of Grace, and how those around are slow to recognize the Holy in their midst.

The reading from Exodus (16:2-4,9-15) tells about how the Back to Egypt Committee complained to Moses about the slim pickings in the Wilderness.  “If only we had died by the hand of the Lord in the land of Egypt, when we sat by the fleshpots and ate our fill of bread; for you have brought us out into this wilderness to kill this whole assembly with hunger.”  God heard, and provided flaky stuff for them to eat.  “When the Israelites saw it, they said to one another, “Manna? (What is it?)”  Moving from bondage to the Promised Land can spur a faith-crisis, especially when the would-be believer is hungry!  We’re instructed that the barren places can reveal the glory of the Lord, and that this sudden Grace affirms God’s presence and compassion.

There must be at least 20 good sermons in this passage from the Ephesian Letter, 4:1-16.  This week, verses 11-13 stand forth for me:  that Christ’s gifts were assorted talents to create various church leaders, “to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, until all of us come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God…”  Is it too much of a leap to think that these gifts are bread in the wilderness?  Like earlier pilgrims, the grace-hungry Ephesians may well have asked, “So what is it?”

There’s an Appalachian carol with the line, “Sweet Little Jesus Boy, we didn’t know who you was”.  This was the condition of those who wanted another lunch of bread & fish (John 6:24-35).  Jesus told them, “Do not work for the food that perishes, but for the food that endures for eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you.”  Jesus then calls himself the Bread of Life, the ultimate gift of God.  The Crowd had limited vision, and had difficulty grasping Jesus’ counter-cultural demeanor:  “Sir, give us this bread always.”  But what is it?

I marvel that I’ve been so dense when confronted by Grace.  There have been so many times when I’ve had an epiphany that what I experienced as “small” has really been life-changing!  Perhaps it’s our humanity (some would say “Original Sin”) which diverts us from appreciating the richness of Holy Gifts?  The assorted deserts of my life have been blessed all this time with tokens which have pointed me to the Promised Land!  I’ve been richly sustained on my journey even though I’ve been slow to recognize the Bread of Life.  The unknown has been scattered before me–so what is it?

God bless Us, Every One                        Horace Brown King

My wanderings through the scripture readings assigned to the upcoming weekend can be observed every Tuesday at this spot on Facebook; or at horacebrownking.com

Since I grew up in a poor household, I rarely had the luxury of feeling full.  Even the substantial meals in college left me a bit unsatisfied.  In grad school, I ate honey and saltines and not much else!  Early marriage?  Forget it!  It’s been only in recent times that I’ve felt full at the end of a meal.  Sometimes I bemoan the loss of my “starving poet” days…but not for long.  The scripture readings we’ll look at today acknowledge the constant hunger of humanity for “enough” God.

The brief story recounted in II Kings 4:42-44 is one of four miracles which certified Elisha as a worthy successor to Elijah.  Here, a huge crowd is fed to satisfaction with a few barley loaves and a handful of other grain.  Some commentators will say that this demonstrates God’s abundance in a time of scarcity (Kristin Saldine) and others will add that this is another parable of life in the midst of death (Terence E. Fretheim).  The servant (world-view) sees the inadequacy of the resources, but Elisha (God’s Person) continues to pronounce the abundancy of God.  Will there be enough of God to go ’round?

Paul’s team offer the same message to the Ephesian disciples, not as a miracle story but as a blessing.  “I pray that you may have the power to comprehend, with all the saints, what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, so that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.” (3:18-19)  This is really a benediction, although in context it appears in the middle part of the Ephesian letter.  We continue to picture God as generously concerned about our well-being, enough to overflow the capacities of our souls.

John’s Gospel remembrance, 6:1-14, is the classic story of the Feeding of the Multitude.  The crowd kept following Jesus around; they’d seen the marvels of wholeness bestowed on others, and now they wanted this for themselves.  Jesus recognized their hunger and decided to provide Holy Food.  Here we have the hyperbole of the smallest of provisions–five cheap barley loaves and a couple of fish–and a huge crowd, five thousand.  But still everyone had as much as they wanted, until satisfied!  Once again, the Vision of Abundance proved the skeptics too limited in their world-view.  Will there be enough of God to go ’round?

The readings for some weeks are filled with Challenge, but this set of lessons has to do with Hope–a welcome relief in the midst of worldly chaos.  A shrinking world rightly has concern about inequity and unequal distribution:  my mailbox brings me handfuls of worthy appeals every day!  It’s good for me to hear that God has dealt charitably with those overwhelmed by scarcity in previous crises, thus to project that God will be present to contemporary needs.  Will there be enough of God to go ’round?

God Bless Us, Every One                 Horace Brown King

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

While talking about this blog with my wife, she reminded me that sheep are notorious for following the leader–any leader.  Marie grew up on a farm, and the wool from her sheep provided a significant portion of her undergraduate tuition.  Readings for this weekend deal with “sheep” and their need for a wise and loving leader.   (So you already see where I’m going with this?)  When these paragraphs were originally written, the speakers could see a clear analogy with the people of their day; preachers & teachers must not be shy about bringing these scriptures into contemporary understanding!

Jeremiah complained (Jeremiah 23:1-6) that the shepherds of Judah had sold out to the Establishment and not attended to the well-being of their flock.  The royal house and its sycophants have chosen greed and oppression over justice and righteousness, and God is dismayed.  But all is not lost!  “The days are surely coming, says the Lord, when I will raise up for David a righteous Branch, and he shall reign as king and deal wisely…”  Even though God’s People may soon be scattered, says the prophet, we are not utterly forsaken.  Dare we proclaim that better days are coming, even though we fear that our leaders seem to have bailed out on us?

“Remember,” says the writer of the Letter to the Ephesian Church, “that at one time…you were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world.” (2:11-22)   It’s useful to remember these periods of crises in our holy-history, because greed and injustice seem to be endemic to humanity; each generation must deal with them.  The passage goes on to affirm Christ as savior and dispenser of peace to Jew and Gentile alike, and that everyone is joined together in the holy temple of God.

Two similar Gospel stories present themselves–Mark 6:30-34 and 53-56.  Jesus & Co. were trying to get away to catch their breath, even to Gennesaret, a town in a foreign country.  BUT people recognized them, and came for healing, feeding and comfort.  “As [Jesus] went ashore, he saw a great crowd; and he had compassion for them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd…”   Who’s in charge, here?  Anybody home?  When a Messiah, a Savior or a charismatic politician show up, folks begin to Feel the Bern and realize both that they’re just drifting around AND that God cares about their wholeness.

If I were preaching this weekend, I’d create a sermon which points out the wide difference between the Wholeness of the Kingdom of God and the current preoccupation with military safety and bottom-line profits, irregardless of who gets hurt in the process.  The Church is an alternative to selfishness and power:  we’re to reflect the teachings of Jesus about unconditional love, tolerance and peace.  There’s always a choice–between the adherence to the virtues of God or going along with the wickedness of one who only THINKS he’s God!

God Bless Us, Every One                                     Horace Brown King

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

Readings for the upcoming weekend are quite harsh:  two spokesmen for God, Amos & John the Baptizer, are meanly rejected and put aside.  But many pew-sitters will crave words of acceptance, assurances that they are of worth within the greater picture.  What to do?  As leaders and interpreters we’re entrusted with honest presentation of what God’s Presence is directing; are there ways to include worshipers as Beloved of God even though the dragons of politics and religion spit their invective?

Around the year 760 BC, Amos, a pastoral herdsman from Tekoa, a village in Judah –the SOUTHERN kingdom–appeared in prosperous Israel–the NORTHERN kingdom– to speak against their military might, their social inequality for the poor, and their empty words of piety.  In our present text (Amos 7:10-15), the priest of Bethel (remember, house of God?) Amaziah has had enough of this “foreigner”, and tried to send him back to Judah.  Amos stubbornly remained to speak truth to power.  He’s been revered by activists ever since for condemning not the People of God, but their practices.  Is there a place in our contemporary culture for this prophet?

St. Paul, or some amanuensis writing in Paul’s name, spoke to the Church in Ephesus about the specialness of being children of God through Christ (1:3-14).  “[God] has made known to us the mystery of [God’s] will…as a plan for the fullness of time, to gather up all things in [Christ], things in heaven and things on earth.”  This puts us directly in the mode of being “in the world, and not of it”.  Prophets are commissioned to confront the idols.  Some of these may be carved of wood or stone, but most are attitudes of selfish hearts.

John the Baptizer pops in and out of the Gospel narratives.  Here in Mark 6:14-29, we have a flashback of how John was done in as a reward to a dancing-girl.  Here again was a prophet who spoke truth to power, accusing Herod of misusing his carte blanche to steal his brother’s wife.  Herod guiltily associated Jesus’ teaching and healing with the ghost of John the Baptist, recognizing at least to himself the extremes between God’s Word and his own.  Evil inflicts its chaos–to Mark, there’s little neutral ground, little gray area between the Ultimate Goodness of Jesus and his group and the Total Depravity of the Herodian culture.  The prophetic voice in the wilderness was sent to confront this idolatry.

About now, most congregants are day-dreaming of high surf and hot sand, or of dozing in a rowboat on some shady Adirondack lake.  They may take exception to a call to confront today’s idols.  Our challenge is to announce this vigorous mission on a sleepy midsummer day!

God Bless Us, Every One                        Horace Brown King

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

Years ago, I thought that it would be fun in retirement to live on a houseboat, to navigate the Intercoastal Waterway north in Summer, south in Winter.  But age brought a need for stability:  an address, a regular neighborhood with regular friends and church and social structure.  After many years as an itinerant United Methodist preacher, a home base seemed desirable.  This is an age of abrupt social change; many folks are quite comfortable in their usual pew as a refuge from the maelstrom.  Scripture readings for this weekend will challenge most of us to become less sedentary in our faith…

Young Ezekiel was commissioned by Yahweh (2:1-5) just as the aristocracy of Israel was being marched off to Babylon, circa 597 BC.  “Mortal, I am sending you to the people of Israel,to a nation of rebels…impudent and stubborn…and you shall say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord God'”.  There was no guarantee that this sleeping congregation would hear the message, or even welcome the messenger.  Even if we couch-potatoes (pew-potatoes?) use our strongest denial mechanism, we’ll still have to grudgingly acknowledge that there has been a prophet among us.

II Corinthians 12:2-10 is full of Paul.  It would be easy to get lost in this recitation of virtue and miss the centrality, which I think is vv.7b-9.  Here we encounter the “thorn in the flesh” which may have been Paul’s perceived epilepsy.  Though Paul appealed for healing, God responded, “My grace is sufficient for you, for power is made perfect in weakness.”  To mission-travelers On the Road, it’s good to know that God has made provision despite the lions and jackals that may lurk there.

Which brings us to Mark’s Gospel, 6:1-13.  For me today, the second part is my focus– disciples are sent On the Road to preach repentance, to cast out the demonic and to cure the sick.  Some houses will be welcoming, others not so much:  so don’t carry the dust of yesterday’s rejection with you to slow your steps into tomorrow!  Most importantly, take only what you have; live off the land and the hospitality of your hosts, and remember that God’s grace is sufficient.  (Insert here my usual rant against Stuff.)  It’s really important to make this a message for Today, to affirm that disciples are actively being sent out, often to communities which are “rebellious, impudent and stubborn”.

At last evening’s book study it was noted that Jesus was training his followers to be Activists.  Some of us cringed a bit, thinking that the term “activist” brought images of wild-eyed sign-bearers with but one central interest.  Well, yeah…perhaps early disciples COULD be seen as such.   Perhaps we followers of Jesus need to BE more wild-eyed, more focused on  God’s message as we go On the Road Again.

God Bless Us, Every One.                   Horace Brown King

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

William Sloane Coffin writes, “No church should ever dismiss, demean, or in any way deny the awesomeness of death, nor the fear of it that eats away at the heart of each of us.”  (CREDO, p.172)  As uncomfortable as it is, the readings for this weekend speak not only about dying but try to give a divine view of how death fits into a lively Creation.  We can’t deny death, for its part of life–but will Christians be obsessed with death and  paralyzed by it?

We turn to the Wisdom of Solomon (1:13-15, 2:23-24), part of the Old Testament apocrypha.  Immediately we hear, “because God did not make death, [God] does not delight in the death of the living…and the dominion of Hades is not on earth.”  Penned by a hellenistic Jew, perhaps a resident of Alexandria, the text harkens back to the Genesis account of a Creator who breathes Life.  “God created us for incorruption, and made us in the image of his own eternity”–but the devil made death in a fit of spite!  Ernest G. Clarke adds, “The writer was striving to prove that there is more to living than this mortal, restrictive life which all [persons] live.  He was impelled to discuss immortality while acknowledging that by nature [we] are mortal.” (CAMBRIDGE BIBLE COMMENTARY :11)

What in the world can we do with the Epistle, II Corinthians 8:7-15?  It’s about Paul’s collection for the relief of the Jerusalem Church, and “a fair balance between your present abundance and their need”.  I suppose that we could make a sermon about economic equality:  when death knocks on the door, we can’t take it with us.  Other than that, I can’t find much of a thread.

Mark’s Gospel account, 5:21-43, tells the story of two women that were healed–one by touching Jesus’s cloak, and the other by a direct touch by Jesus.  You may want to use this as comparison, which would be quite appropriate.  I think that I’ll address the main story of Jairus’ daughter:  giving her up for dead, the neighbors assumed the worst, and wanted no part of Jesus’ intercession.  They, like us, have left God out of the equation.  Jesus’ message here (and ours) is that there is yet life in the midst of death!

The first thing I read in the paper is the column of obituary.  They died, and I didn’t!  Some of those folks are old, and full of years; others are yet young, and I hope that they didn’t give up on life too soon.  It’s pretty audacious for the Church and its teachers to speak about God’s desire for Life when so many are dying!  An old adage says that a river is shallow until it knows its limits at the shoreline.  “In life, in death, in life beyond death, we are not alone.  Thanks be to God!”

God Bless Us, Every One                           Horace Brown King

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