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Only a few lilies remain.  Some may discern an echo of brass, a linger of handbells.  And is that a sigh of relief from the Church  Office??  Some of us are delving the depths of the famous sermon barrel, while a privileged few have already departed for a week in sunnier climes…  What shall we say to the faithful remnant, the week after Easter?  As the original disciples waited for further instruction, today’s Church needs these reflective days to develop Faith.  Scriptures for these worship times allow the hearers to sift their own experiences, hopes  and fears in the light of the Risen Christ.

The Acts of the Apostles is intended to be Volume 2 of Luke’s Gospel.  In this reading, 4:32-35, the post-Easter crowd is caring for one another as they explore their mission.  Verse 33 is central:  “With great power the apostles gave their testimony to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and great grace was upon them all.”  Here is the powerful Source in which ministry through the centuries has been rooted. Here is that “great grace”  which sustains our abiding and unfolding vision.

The First Letter attributed to John can be daunting, especially to us who crave form and logic.  The assigned reading is Chapter 1 to Chapter 2:2.  I’m gonna focus on the first four verses, which seem to me as a working Confession of Faith:  “we declare to you what we have seen and heard so that you also may have fellowship with us…”  Supposed to be written late in the First Century, this passage is far enough removed from the historical Jesus that various concepts have emerged about his presence.  Some have already left the “official” Church, rejecting the bodily resurrection and claiming that Jesus was pure spirit.  Despite Luke’s Incarnation tradition, to them Jesus transcends normal human anxieties.  John’s Letter affirms the revelation of a physical Jesus, and urges his readers to so believe.

The Gospel reading is familiar: the story of “doubting” Thomas (John 20:19-31).  To me, Thomas’ validation is in his honesty!  He was John’s anointed foil to ask the hard question the rest of us wanted to ask–“is it really you?”  The answer demonstrates who JESUS is, not Thomas.  “It is here…that we find the real point of the Gospel narrative–a tale about God’s coming to us, wherever we might be.”  (Serene Jones, in FEASTING on the WORD, B 2:402)  Two preaching points present themselves: first, that it’s really OK to ask honest questions without castigation; and second, that Jesus continues to trivialize locked doors of all kinds in order to invite us to believe.

“Low” Sunday is supposedly named because it shouldn’t compare with the glories of Easter–but most of us think that it refers to the sudden drop in worship attendance.  Even so, there may well be some there whose souls were illumined on Easter, and who seek to know more.  It’s these who can be our target-audience, for these especially will receive that “great grace” and “great power”.  May we all be so blessed!

God Bless Us, Every One                          Horace Brown King

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

Easter, the Sunday of Resurrection, is the centrality of the Christian faith.  This event is that which differentiates us from other belief-systems.  The resurrection of Jesus calls us to new levels of thinner air, where our credulity and acceptance of Mystery approach naivete.  Nearly all of those around us reject the story as “anti-scientific” –like Thomas, they need physical evidence.  All we can do is let the scripture tell the story.

The reading from Isaiah (25:6-9) is apocalyptic: the “mountain” is that high-place of destiny for “all peoples” where an exotic banquet has been prepared.  AND the shroud of death will be removed, the Lord of hosts “will swallow up death forever”. This is an amazing step beyond the often-noted exclusiveness of the House of Israel!  Here is an acknowledgement of an ultimate realization that humanity is an idea in the mind of God, in the process of unfolding.  This goes far past a prevalent idea of reward for Being Good; tears will be wiped from ALL faces.  This is far more than we had expected!

Acts 10:34-43 should be prefaced with the reminder that Peter was speaking to the household of Cornelius, a seeker who was a Gentile officer in the Roman army.  Peter had just had a vision of  “clean & unclean” critters, accompanied by a Voice telling him that God never made anything to be unclean, not even those –shudder!– Gentiles.  What follows is a very condensed synopsis of Jesus’ ministry, featuring his death & resurrection, but no Christology as such.  According to Peter, “all the prophets testify about him that everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins through his name.”

The Gospel is that of John’s account found in 20:1-18.  Mary Magdalene came to the tomb expecting to find it as she had left it–but it wasn’t.  Then Peter & John bumbled their way to the tomb, checked it out–and went home!  “Well, I didn’t know WHAT to expect.”  Faithful Mary hung around, though, met some angels and even Jesus!  Mary was still in corpse-mode, and didn’t expect the Risen Christ.  Well, would you?  Do you?

I’m interested in scientific discoveries, and delight to see new incidences of Creation unveiled daily.  Yet we who’ve been spawned by the Age of Reason have often tried to explain away what needs to remain a Good Mystery.  Easter is one of those occasions when churches are full of those desperate to hear a word of God’s love amid the noisy gears of the cosmos.  Will they return to their homes with a secret smile, happily thinking, “Well, that’s not what we had expected!”?

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

The preacher/worship leader always has a choice on Palm (Passion) Sunday: shall we adhere to the Triumphal Entry story,  or shall we confront those who ignore Holy Week with at least a scent of the aroma of terror leading to the Resurrection?  I’ve chosen to explore the liturgy of the Palms, simply because I expect to participate in Maundy Thursday and Good Friday events.  The occasion melds both Hebrew tradition and that unique expression of  in-breaking soon to be canonized by the nascent Christian movement.

The Old Testament reading comes from Psalm 118, an affirmation of the unwavering steadfast presence of an ultra-loyal  God.  It’s a psalm of pilgrimage, music for the journey from worldly pursuits to and through the “gates of righteousness”.  The pilgrim is expected to give thanks for the steadfast love of God extended to an undeserving humanity.  On this special day which the Lord has made, God continues to visit and restore those who’ve been in deep despair, those who’ve feared that their lives have been ruined.  “Blessed is the One who comes in the name of the Lord.”

The Gospel is Mark’s version of the Triumphal Entry (11:1-11).  Passover processions were probably common.  THIS Passover was different because Jesus entered the procession as an ALTERNATIVE to the “prayers & thoughts” shallowness of both priests and politicos.  Those noticing the greater picture of Mark’s narrative will see the event as a pivot:  up to now, Jesus has been gathering and instructing disciples, healing and teaching in Galilee, and warning his close friends that the Kingdom of Heaven is born through human pain.  And now God comes as near as possible:  “Blessed is the One who comes in the name of the Lord.”

As a preacher of habit, I’m always looking for three points for my sermons.  If I were to craft a sermon this week, I think that segments I & II would explore, respectively, these texts from the Old and the New.  Segment III should bring steadfast love home to those sitting in the pews:  that God continues to support even those undeserving of Holy Inclusion (all of us).  Also we need to be reminded that those near to us who’re thrashing around in life may be looking to US (who, me?) for words & deeds of mercy and kindness.  “Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord.”

I love a parade!  I mastered few survival skills as a Boy Scout, but could I march!  Later, in High School, my summers were filled with marching in the band, sometimes twice per week, in Firemen’s Parades.  And later still, in college, I spent four cold Autumns learning football band formations–8 steps to the next 5-yard line–on VanNorman Field at Mansfield.  But I still like parades.  Avery & Marsh have a song about joining the Great Parade, celebrating the long line of Christians marching through the centuries.  Perhaps some little boy will point and shout, “Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord.”

God Bless Us, Every One                         Horace Brown King

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

The full title of Walter Wink’s 1992 book is “Engaging the Powers: Discernment and Resistance in a World of Domination” (Fortress Press).  I’m often confused about John’s term “The World”:  is this the Creation which God loves enough to enter personally in the person of Jesus (John 3:16), or is this the System which Jesus warns us to avoid?  Wink maintains that the kosmos “is not synonymous with God’s creation, but is rather the fallen realm that exists in estrangement from God and is organized in opposition to God’s purposes.”  Readings this weekend address the Otherness of God –and those who follow this God.

The prophetic passage from Jeremiah 31:31-34 recounts the renewed covenant with Israel:  “I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts”.  More recent students of soul-ethics call this “conscience” (which may actually be a cultural term).  However it’s seen, this action is a sacramental inbreaking which demands our yielding to a Greater Power.  Yet this is the essence of freedom, “to be who one truly is, knowing that one’s true character is what is most pleasing to God and therefore reflects the best of what the law requires.” (Woody Bartlett, FEASTING on the WORD, B 2:125)

Hebrews 5:5-10 can be an awkward read.  Jesus is compared to the mist-wrapped high priest of legend, Melchizedek, an archetype given credence specifically because he DOESN’T have human credentials.  The writer likens Jesus to the traditional high priest who bears to God the most intimate human need–not gaining access once a year, but each day “offering up prayers and supplications, with loud cries and tears”.  All the World-System’s oppressed, those with reason for tears & loud cries, are privileged through Christ to thus daily engage the powers.

“Now is the judgment of this world; now the ruler of this world will be driven out”, says Jesus at the Passover festival  (John 12:20-33).  The Gentile seekers represent the entirety of Creation:  Jesus sees this occasion as confirmation that “all people” will be drawn to him, even through the Cross.  “In this text the crucifixion is interpreted as an exorcism, in which the System is judged and its driving force is cast out” (Charles L. Campbell, FEASTING etc.,ibid, page 143)   Once we see the System for what it is, we’re on the way to liberation from its demands!   The Cross exposes the System as selfish and shallow, judging it and rejecting its ruler.

Walter Wink’s book introduces us to the “myth of redemptive violence” which maintains the System.  Imperial soldiers (storm troopers?) enforce the PAX ROMANA.  Popeye restores order by beating up Bluto.  War is Okay, because we can’t trust those ____ (fill the blank with the enemy-du-jour).   Our guides down the path of death have many names: consumerism, exploitation, selfishness, arrogance, false patriotism…  I often have difficulty imagining anything else:  we’re numb, sheep going to the slaughter-house.  Will these passages enable us to more readily Engage the Powers?

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

Many on their Lenten journey have attempted all sorts of acrobatics as they make a big thing about denial.  Some have fasted from things which they’ve perceived as vices, only to count the days ’til Easter, when they can go back to harming themselves.  Others have tried an attitude adjustment, refraining from anger or arrogance, yet still counting the days…  The problem is that these maneuvers  all stem from a conscious Act of Will, essentially bypassing a recognition of our own inadequacy and neglecting an external Grace.  Readings for the upcoming weekend address this ongoing sin of self-reliance.

The People of God described in Numbers 21:4-9 were desert wanderers seeking a home.  The writer claims that poisonous snakes were God’s answer to their griping: this could be a good debate about the Origins of Evil; my own take is that I can get into enough trouble by myself without blaming God for sending it! More important, God through Moses provided a way out by making an image of the offending snakes: the sources of trouble weren’t banished, but now there’s a way to live again despite them.  To be healed from Evil, we must look at it and name it.

Paul describes God’s transforming power to the Ephesians (2:1-10): from death to being made alive to sitting with Christ in glory.  “This is not your own doing; it is the gift of God”.  The “passions of our flesh” which have kept us zombie-like are acts of rebellion against God, and putting our trust in anything less than God.  BUT Christ alone yanks us not only into new life, but Royalty no less!

The danger within the Gospel, John 3:14-21, lies in its familiarity.  Many of us memorized John 3:16 in Confirmation class or before, and now think that we know everything.  For me, the following verse, “God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him”, brings a lot of assurance.  The connection with the serpent mentioned in Numbers has been used to presage Jesus’ crucifixion–but even more powerful is the idea about seeing the Evil for what it is…and knowing that here again is God’s initiative for salvation.

Lent is our opportunity to once again contemplate the mystery of a God who loves so passionately that he/she breaks into our wandering in a sacramental entrance which transforms us “from glory to glory”.  This is not of our own doing, despite our well-meant exercises.  Thanks be to God!

God Bless Us, Every One                          Horace Brown King

My subservience to the power of the Scripture lessons for the upcoming weekend can be found every Tuesday at this spot on Facebook; or at horacebrownking.com

The Rev. Lea Harding began her sermon by asking,  “Do you have a pet peeve?”, and then humorously suggesting some which involved grocery check-out lines and traffic foibles.  But then she asked, “Is there an issue that you care about so much that you’ll take action?”  Since I’m a passive grumbler, this caught my attention.  Many of us are timid about wading into a justice or ethical situation.  Readings for the weekend’s worship lift up some community standards and remind the traveler that responsibility leads to real freedom.

The Ten Commandments (Exodus 20:1-17) are “common”, but don’t tune ’em out:  they’re a basic constitution for the Hebrew-Christian experience.  The Desert Wanderers needed some by-laws, and this is what the Lord sent via Moses the Law-Giver.  You probably remember that the first four have to do with our relationship with the Divine; and that the remaining six deal with our relationship with each other.  (Read the Priestly footnotes in the books of Leviticus and Deuteronomy.)  Many have been enslaved by trying to keep each letter–have you watched “Living Biblically” on CBS?; Jesus freed us up with his statement that everything depends upon “loving the Lord your God…and your neighbor as yourself”.

Paul also goes for simplicity.  To the diverse cultures of the Church in Corinth he offers Christ’s Cross as the final word to the signs/miracles beloved by Jews and the sophistication of rational knowledge as claimed by the Gentiles.  (John Wesley had much to say about Scripture/ Tradition/Experience/Knowledge as being the litmus-test for our holiness issues.)  “Day by day,” says Jeff Paschal, “we are a people being saved from cramped little lives of selfishness and saved for the broad, roomy, loving discipleship of the cross.” (FEEDING on the WORD, B 2:89)  God’s “foolishness” in the cross demands that we respond by naming what we value.  “The cross speaks God’s peculiar power and wisdom.” (ibid.)  In the shadow of the cross, what’s driving you?

Whether it occurs at the beginning of Jesus’ ministry (John’s gospel) or at the end, during Holy Week (the synoptics), the Cleansing of the Temple seems of tremendous importance to each one telling the story.  This year’s version is told by John (2:13-22), and is remembered gleefully (?) in retrospect.  You know how it goes:  a passionate Jesus rids the Court of the Gentiles of both unnecessary sacrificial animals AND those guys who were getting rich by gouging devout worshipers trading Caesar’s image for acceptable Jerusalem money.  My imagination pictures the money-tables not just tipped over but upside-down, a symbol of how the Church has met the rest of the world and left it topsy-turvy!  This is not a polemic against commerce, but a zealous expression of maintaining space for worship.  Even for Gentiles.

Well, how secular can the Church afford to be without losing itself?  When do we stop saying, “boys will be boys” and speak up for justice? The Ten Articles of Holy Living give a basis, and they’re summed up nicely by Jesus.  Paul lifted the Cross of Christ out of the rubble of  holy confusion, and Gospel writers rejoice that Christian enthusiasm defined the boundary again between the Community of God and business as usual.  So today, what’s driving YOU?

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

It took me quite a while to discern a common thread in this weekend’s lectionary passages–and your hearers will likewise flounder along unless you spell it out for them.  This thread, to me, is the element of Faith:  an uncompromising trust that God can and will do the impossible for those who’ll risk, for those who don’t hedge their bets.   This could be a lesson of smiling platitudes; or it could be a gut-shaking loss of all that we count valuable in order to see Christ’s possibilities more clearly.

Abraham, you remember, wanted children in the worst way, in order to pass along his revelation of God.  He had already shown his willingness to rely on holy direction when he loaded his ox-cart and set off for WhoKnowsWhere.  (The bumper sticker read, “Don’t follow me, I’m lost too!”)  Having done all this, it still looked as if his genes were about to evaporate.  BUT God steps in again, “As for me, this is my covenant with you:  You shall be the ancestor of a multitude of nations.” (Genesis 17:4)  During Lent we may well take some time for star-gazing and imaging what our own covenant with God may yield.

Most of Paul’s writings invite the non-Jews to step into God’s covenant–but this passage from Romans (4:13-25) is definitely geared toward those familiar with Hebrew holy-history.  Abraham, the ‘father of all of us’ is an example of tenacious trust, for he ‘did not weaken in faith when he considered his own body, which was already as good as dead…’  He was fully convinced!  Abraham, like all the saints, had his moments of despair; his life is lifted up as a reminder that he hung in there despite his frustration with aging.

Jesus told the crowd to risk their comfort in order to get closer to God.  “Let them deny themSELVES and take up their (own) cross and follow me.  For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake,and for the sake of the gospel, will save it.” (Mark 8:34-35)  Despite the good intentions of those who give up chocolate or peanuts for Lent, this is a stronger call to give up our Ego and imitate Jesus.  Within the hard terms is a gentle promise, that our risk of what we think valuable will lead to fulfillment/salvation.

Lent is always an enigma, and often causes us some discomfort as the Gospel tweaks our complacency.  Jeff Paschal reminds us that “God is calling forth a courageous church that rakes risks and trusts, rather than living the spiritually immobile life of simply trying not to make any mistakes.” (FEEDING on the WORD, B 2:67)   It’s tough to risk all my toys!  May we all be encouraged to puncture our Egos…

God Bless Us, Every One                         Horace Brown King

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

Water, especially as snow & ice, seems to be on everyone’s mind and in everyone’s driveway.  We’d miss it if it suddenly dried up.  Water flows through the Scriptures for the upcoming weekend, mostly as a symbol of Grace offered abundantly to pilgrims through a barren land.  Some of you may wish to re-explore The Baptism of Christ, if you opted as I did for an Epiphany visit from the Wise on the first Sunday of the year.

Genesis 9:8-17 expounds on the theology of Noah’s Flood, a story found in many cultures of antiquity.  What’s unique is that God here makes a covenant surrendering God’s prerogative to destroy through water, and seals it with the Sign of the Rainbow.  New to this story is the concept of God’s nature to save, and to re-create.  God is no longer a far-off manipulator, but has revealed holiness as bound up in humanity–ah, an introduction to Lent!  Portrayed here is a God now subject to the hopes and dreams, griefs and disappointments of those made in Divine Image!  Can we have a God big enough to be self-limited by the profanities of the children of dust?

The Epistle, I Peter 3:18-22, can be pretty complicated at first reading.  The author suggests that The Ark was sacramental, that it was the salvation which God provided during the cleansing flood.  The floodwaters themselves, then, can be claimed as means of Grace, for this over-abundance separated the Righteous from the Children of Chaos (v.20).   In the next verse, he/she says that this prefigured Baptism;  the Church now announces regularly that in the newly-baptized the Holy Spirit has yet again flown over the waters.

The Gospel lesson is Mark’s amplified remembrance of Jesus’ own baptism, 1:9-15.  The core of these few verses is the Voice from Heaven which supports Jesus by saying, “You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased.”  Compare this with other Gospel accounts which indicate that the Voice was to the CROWD, directing them to the Otherness of Jesus.  Here again we see God getting involved with Creation–God just can’t stay away, thank you Lord!

Some preachers/teachers will want to segue immediately to the 40 days in the wilderness (vv.12-13), which is OK…but somehow seems to diminish the intimacy of the covenant and baptism.  Whichever road is taken, Lent is introduced as a season of God’s embrace to the wanderer and the profligate alike.

God Bless Us, Every One                               Horace Brown King

My explorations of the Scriptures for the upcoming weekend can be found every Tuesday at this spot on Facebook; or at horacebrownking.com

I don’t watch much TV, but I do enjoy MIDSOMER MURDERS and FATHER BROWN.  Evidently there are many who like a good mystery!  We root for the detective to solve the case–and always try to figure out Whodunit.  And the best ones are those which have no solutions:  we can mull over “the facts” for a long time, postulating possibilities.  No reason (!) that lots of Biblical stories can’t be in this category of ongoing mystery; our very lives (and deaths) are open-ended to our need to know.  Lessons for this weekend tell some good mysteries that should remain unfathomable and will remind the hearer of The Otherness of God.

We open with II Kings 2:1-12, the tale of Elisha walking with his mentor Elijah, who’s preparing to die.  After the mandatory offer and rejection to part has been made three times, Elijah is taken up to heaven in a chariot of fire, passing his mantle on to Elisha.  This is a demonstration of God’s Otherness–a theophany–and doesn’t depend whatsoever on either prophet’s faith or witness.  It’s told as holy-history to remind Children of God that there’s a power beyond their own control which breaks into daily life and surprises us.

St. Paul nicely wraps up Epiphany,  the Season of Light,  by reminding the Corinthian Churches “For it is the God who said, ‘Let light shine out of darkness,’ who has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.” (II Corinthians 4:6)  And John Wesley famously spoke of his heart “being strangely warmed”.  It’s these theophanies, great and small, which become mile markers on our spiritual journey; they acknowledge that God is God, and that we aren’t.

Every year at the end of Epiphany, just before Lent, we tell the story of the Transfiguration:  Jesus and Peter, James & John went up “a high mountain” where Jesus appeared as unearthly and dazzling.  As they watched wide-eyed, Moses (the Law) and Elijah (the Prophets) conversed with him, symbolizing Jesus’ role as perfecter of that which God was already doing.  The story is repeated annually (this year in Mark 9:2-9) to make the hidden (?) identity of Jesus knowable and public.  Again, the revelation occurs in God’s own schedule, not ours or theirs.  We rejoice that God is Other, and not dependent on our own myopia.

I was gonna call this, “Ready; Set…GLOW!”–but I scrapped the idea, ’cause it sounds too human-driven.  And I was gonna include the doggerel which begins, “Little Willy, full of glee, poured radium in Grandma’s tea..” but that also is on the cutting room floor.  However, we’re glad for the holy fire which fills our hearts and enlivens even our faces:  we could sing, “May your days be merry and bright, and may all your theophanies be Light…”

God Bless Us, Every One             Horace Brown King

My commentary on Scripture passages for the upcoming weekend can be found every Tuesday at this spot on Facebook; or at horacebrownking.com

“…What its signs of promise are.  Traveler, O’er yon mountain’s height  See that glory beaming star!  Watchman, doth its beauteous ray   Aught of joy or hope foretell?  Traveler, yes; it brings the day,  Promised day of Israel.”  The language is a bit archaic, that’s why it’s not in the current hymnal:  but it’s a good Advent thought, or even for late-Epiphany when world-clouds keep our vision from the Daystar.  I suspect that I’m not the only traveler weary of racism & injustice, materialism & distrust of the stranger.  This weekend’s scriptures offer comfort in affirming that there is Light in the Darkness, and challenge for those striving to see to point this out to most of the world still looking at the ground.

“Have you not known?  Have you not heard?  The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth.” (Isaiah 40:28)  The Prophet continues to remind us that God “gives power to the faint, and strengthens the powerless…those who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength, they shall mount up with wings like eagles…”  I wish I’d said that!  Richard A. Puckett acknowledges that “the apparent power of the nations and their rulers is temporal and inconsequential compared to the power of the one who created the universe itself.”  (FEEDING on the WORD, B 1:317)  Dare I believe that?  Do I care enough to tell others about it?  Bring a lunch, folks:  this may be a long sermon.

St. Paul tells his soul-friends in Corinth, “…woe to me if I do NOT proclaim the gospel!  For if I do this of my own will, I have a reward; but if not of my own will, I am entrusted with a commission.” (I 9:16b-17)  The preacher/teacher could here ask us to name points in our lives where we DO feel a passion, enough to do something about it.  Karl Barth is reported to have commented that preaching is impossible, for we have not the words of heaven–yet our duty, our passion compels us to somehow make the attempt!  And St. Francis is credited with  “Preach constantly; use words when necessary”.

Jesus could’ve stayed around Capernaum and been acclaimed as a beloved healer and pillar of the community–a nice safe occupation.  BUT, as he told Simon after a bout of prayer, “Let us go on to the neighboring towns, so that I may proclaim the message there also; for that is what I came out to do.” (Mark 1:38)  Mark considered the dual role of healing and preaching as restorative of wholeness:  preaching exists in order that demonic spirits might not.  Those of us who have a healing ministry are first to confess that any wholeness originates in God alone, that we are but conduits to announce what God has done, what God is doing.

I’m not big on “triumphalist” hymns:  they usually imply the negation of others of God’s choosing while cheering “Hooray for Our Side!”  But do you remember                 “O Zion, haste, thy mission high fulfilling, To tell to all the world that God is Light…    Publish glad tidings, Tidings of peace; Tidings of Jesus, Redemption and release”?   In this cultural gloom, I celebrate the Daystar which cuts the clouds.  Will I keep watch?

God Bless Us, Every One              Horace Brown King

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