My Blog

It surely is a period of Change:  many of our long-held cultural and social expectations no longer have the same values as they once did.  The current American political scene demonstrates the crunch between those who cling to the Old (and often imaginary) Ways and want to Make America Great (?) Again; and those who celebrate the process of diversity in race, religion and gender-understanding.  Nostalgia fails to recognize the dark side of injustice and intolerance, as many will soon be disappointed to find out.  During this adjustment of the mythos–the AmericanDream–we cynics are prone to claim that our Land has been abandoned by God.  Our faith-crisis craves hearing these words during worship this weekend:

“But there will be no gloom for those who were in anguish,” says Isaiah of Jerusalem (9:1).  “In the former time he brought into contempt the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, but in the latter time he will make glorious the way of the sea….”  Why were these lands contemptible?  They’d been the buffer between ancient super-powers: their economies and political loyalties seemed always to be on the wrong side.  Maybe this land is cursed!  But “those who lived in a land of deep darkness–on them light has shined.” (v.2)  Finally!  The end of bleakness is foreseeable, for the Light of the World is indeed drawing near!  God is taking action in Creation, if only we could see.

St. Paul continues his remonstrance to the Corinthian believers, who could scarcely believe that this Light included them (1:10-18).  So cut out the quarreling and posturing, already!  “You [are to] be united in the same mind and the same purpose.”  Was God really interested in reclaiming this strange and God-forsaken seaport?  Paul’s prayer was actually for discernment:  that the people who’d gotten used to walking in darkness could make out a Holy Presence there, even there.  Who’da guessed?

Matthew’s Gospel (4:12-23) is mostly about the discernment of those whom Jesus had called to be with him, as he walked nearby.  But don’t ignore v.13, “[Jesus] left Nazareth and made his home in Capernaum by the sea, in the territory of Zebulun and Naphtali…”  Matthew’s purpose was to impress his Hebrew audience with the fulfillment of Isaiah’s words examined earlier.  And “from that time Jesus began to proclaim, ‘Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near.'” (v.17)

It’s a moral tale, isn’t it?  In the bottom of the year, Epiphany brings a light which gradually dawns into an AHA!  The lands of Zebulun and Naphtali are being blessed as Jesus comes to live there.  Why, then, would OUR land (which I cynically consider as God-forsaken)  not also be enlightened as well?  And where can I look, this week, to discern a Holy  Presence, a Divine Intervention?  Come quickly, Lord Jesus…

God Bless Us,Every One                     Horace Brown King

My comments on scripture passages assigned for the upcoming weekend can be found every Tuesday at this space on Facebook; or at horacebrownking.com

Even before I hung up my coat on Sunday, I heard Sean warming up at the piano with CWM RHONDA.  I’m not sure which text he was envisioning, but what sprang to my mind was the verse which prays, “Save us from weak resignation to the evils we deplore…”  I suppose that this was my subconscious pinching me to remember that it’s not lost yet!  I confess:  I’m tired of speaking about ethics into a me-first culture.  Evidently Isaiah of Babylon, St. Paul & John the Baptizer also felt as if they were pushing string through a keyhole:  this weekend’s lections bear their witness.

“But I said, ‘I have labored in vain, I have spent my strength for nothing and vanity;  yet surely my cause is with the Lord, and my reward with my God.'”  (Isaiah 49:4)  And God responds that raising up Jacob & Israel is only the beginning!  “I will give you as a light to the NATIONS, that my salvation may reach TO THE END OF THE EARTH!” (v.6a)  The Servant has been equipped with both authority and state-of-the-art tools–sharp sword and polished arrows–to convince all nations of God’s steadfast and compassionate justice.  The exiles to whom Isaiah spoke are us, who wonder how to be in relationship with a diverse world without losing our own distinctive reality.

The Church in Corinth can be our model:  wide-open, raunchy and unburdened of moral constraint, Corinth could be Mission Impossible for the message of Jesus.  Yet Paul reminds believers there “…for in every way you have been enriched in him, in speech and knowledge of every kind…so that you are not lacking in any spiritual gift as you wait for the revealing of our Lord Jesus Christ.” (I Corinthians 1:5-7)  Here as much as anywhere, Grace has been effective in the strangest of places.  Maybe this is my reminder to Stay Real?  (Read the rest of the Corinthian letters to fully appreciate Paul’s lover’s quarrel with these strange people.)

The Gospel of John recounts how some who sought Reality were pointed to Jesus. (1:29-42)  Philip & Andrew had been following John the Baptizer:  he was a moral and fiery proclaimer of ethical justice.  And as Jesus came near, John told them, “Look!  Here is the Lamb of God!”, knowing that they wanted the very best.  Could this be the Anointed One?  Here?  Even in the backwaters of the Roman Empire, the Real Thing passes nearby…

Harry Emerson Fosdick writes,                                                                                                         Lo! the hosts of evil round us scorn thy Christ, assail his ways!                                         Fears and doubts too long have bound us; free our hearts to work and praise.               Grant us wisdom, grant us courage, for the living of these days.

God Bless Us, Every One                           Horace Brown King

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

A loose Christian translation of EPIPHANY is “the revealing of Jesus the Christ”.  And such revealing is done by seeing a mystery in a new light.  So we begin a season called Epiphany which carries us to Ash Wednesday and Lent, unfolding further vistas of divinity each week of scriptural reading.  “Light” is rightly celebrated in the darkness here at the bottom of the year; and also in the darkness of careless and insensitive social interaction which clings unmercifully to differences of race, culture and belief.  Those who worship during this season of unveiling will be confronted by an urge to slash the curtains which darken their own space.

Isaiah encourages this with his directive, “Arise, shine; for your light has come, and the glory of the Lord has risen upon you.” (60:1)  Even though darkness covers the earth and all its people, the Source of Renewal has dawned!  Some will attribute a Messianic prophecy here–yet I’d rather think that Isaiah is speaking for the remnant of God’s Faithful who acknowledge a holy fire even from The Beginning.  He goes on to tell the reader to “look around”:  sons & daughters, kings of the nations of the world will bring their riches, their gold and frankincense.  This holy brightness knifes through the mists of error, clouds of doubt which dull our vision and our spontaneous joy.

St. Paul’s letter to the Ephesian believers includes the phrase, “In former generations this mystery was not made known to humankind, as it has now been revealed to his holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit.” (3:5)  Paul is trying to include Gentiles within this light, an early Liberation Theology which tells them that they’re just as illuminated as anyone else.  The passage goes on, “…that 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.” (3:10)  These are the same who’ve been attracted to the brightness of God’s working, especially as revealed in the ChristChild.

And of course the Gospel is that uniquely in Matthew, the story of the Three Wise Men/Kings.  Matthew, well-trained in Isaiah’s message, includes this to confirm the Ancient Dawning with the peripatetic Star of the East.  They, also, had been drawn by a Holy Light to represent the Nations of Earth with their pilgrimage and their presentation of gold, frankincense and myrrh.  These gifts, opulent as they were, paled beside the Gift of God which always takes precedence…even when the darkness seems especially invincible.

“Sometimes a light surprises the Christian while he sings;                                                    It is the Lord, who rises with healing in his wings.                                                           When comforts are declining, he grants the soul again                                                           A  season of clear shining to cheer it after rain.”  –William Cowper

My wish for each of you in this New Year is for peace, joy…and LIGHT!

God Bless Us, Every One                   Horace Brown King

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

The bitter lessons read to us this week remind us that Christmas is more about God than it is about us.  Gary W. Charles reminds me that “congregations hear far too little about the God who cares deeply enough for the world to enter the human fray and to be encountered by the horrors of Herod.” (FEASTING on the WORD, A 1:148)  Now that those nice shepherds have gone, and the friendly beasts returned to their pasture, the surrounding Evil seems much more pressing.  Herod has trained many Apprentices to continue his threat to peace through the intervening centuries.

Even though verses 7-9 are the reading, attention should be given to all of Isaiah 63.  Here is a holy-history of Yahweh’s unilateral redemption of an errant People, ending with a lament that this People is still far from faithful righteousness.  After a welcome breath of fresh air, we go back to our flocks and far countries fatigued and vaguely disappointed with the whole holiday business.  Is God likewise frustrated with holiday-keepers who turn away from a covenant fidelity, detracted by seemingly unconquerable social evil?

Hebrews 2:10-18 give us three insights into the holy mystery which has recently been bestowed upon us:                                                                                                                                *God has become one of us.  Instead of seeing our differences, Jesus dares to see us as        beloved creatures sharing a spark of Divinity.                                                                       *God With Us, Emmanuel, shares in all of our human angers and tears.                            *God has freed us from the fear of death.  As Jesus has pioneered the way through the          valley, so we may travel with confidence.                                                                           “Since, therefore,the children share flesh and blood, he himself likewise shared the same things….Because he himself was tested by what he suffered, he is able to help those who are being tested.”

Matthew 1:13-13 is a hard reading, and many will omit it as being too gloomy for Christmastide.  But here it is, a reminder that Evil does awful things; and we need to acknowledge this.  Joseph was just like his ancient namesake in that he acted on his dreams, according them heavenly origin.  Their hurried self-exile was just in time, as Herod unleashed his extermination of infants.  But were there no angels to warn THEIR parents?  The narrative is ugly, yet important to the whole flow of God’s actions in the midst of horror.  The Christchild, a speck of light in the desert of careless ignorance, is now preserved to become an alternative to corruption, greed and self-importance.  The Church, the Body of Christ, preserves the light that shines in darkness.

Christmas has invited us to assume a new posture of prayer and a new attitude within a system given to ugliness and severity.  We return to Isaiah’s confession in the midst of a perceived melt-down of God:  “I will recount the gracious deeds of the Lord, the praiseworthy acts of the Lord, because of all that the Lord has done for us…according to the abundance of his steadfast love.”(63:7)  Greet every morning with this affirmation, and Christmas will last…and last…and last!

God Bless Us, Every One!                        Horace Brown King

My ideas about prescribed scripture for the coming weekend can be found every Tuesday at this spot on Facebook; or at horacebrownking.com

Christmas!  At last.  Just in time, too, ’cause I really need an attitude adjustment.  The Dark Side seems to have won the universe–and the election.  Despite the bushels of motivational rants that appear in my email, I mostly just want to quit.  “I will fight no more forever.”  Are there others just as discouraged in the pews with me?  We all need to hear the lessons for Christmas Day, which audaciously speak about a Holy Presence amid the swirling chaos.

Isaiah of Babylon must have caught a spark of heavenly audacity when he wrote, “How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of the messenger who announces peace, who brings good news, who announces salvation, who says to Zion, ‘Your God reigns.'” (52:7)  The messenger indicates that the battle has been decided, that the Force triumphs!  “Break forth together into singing, you ruins” of all we hold sacred, our hopes, our visions for our children.  Sing, you trash-heaps where once alabaster cities rose, undimmed by human tears!  Sing, you putrid slums of sub-human scrabblings, you wrecked metropoli of days gone by!  Sing, you aging, bald fat-man whose once- clarion voice has grown hoarse, whose virility has been replaced with pipe-stem legs!  Into the Winter of Our Discontent breaks a Living Light which comforts and redeems.

Angel-gazing is one of our favorite seasonal occupations:  there are yet a few feathers in the air after last evening’s extravaganza when all Heaven broke loose.  The writer of the Letter to the Hebrews makes sure to position these angels as subordinates of the ChristChild; again, the messengers.  Messiah is described as “the reflection of God’s glory and the exact imprint of God’s very being.” (1:3)  The day after the incarnation calls believers to look beyond the angels to the unfolding sustenance of all things.

The Prologue to John’s Gospel (1:1-14)  uses the image of Light to announce the function of the ChristChild.  “What has come into being in him was life, and the life was the light of all people.  The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it.” (vv.3-5)  I need to hear this message about the Light’s tenacity.  Living as I do in the winter’s solstice of life, I cling to every glimmer.  I’d like to again have the outlook of R L Stevenson: “Then pealed the bells, both loud and deep, God is not dead, nor does he sleep!  The wrong shall fail, the right prevail, with Peace on Earth, Good Will to Men!”

“So we need a little Christmas, right this very minute:  candles in the windows, carols         on the spinnet…”  May you be blessed with Tidings of Comfort and Joy! And may you have some personal moments to bask in The Light…

God Bless Us, Every One!                       Horace Brown King

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

“Won’t you ever grow up?” she asked.  “No, ma’m.  I’m having too much fun as a child!”  And I do, ‘speshully at Christmas:  I’ve written my letter to Santa and got some Macy’s Bucks; I’ve sampled cheese & sausage at Hickory Farms; I’ve set all the alarm clocks in Mapes’ auction to go off five minutes apart; and I’ve squeezed the “try me” buttons on seven talking santas at CVS… Simultaneously.   And the readings for this Fourth Sunday in Advent announce the Presence of the Holy One who became a newborn–vulnerable, dependent and full of potential.

King Ahaz of Jerusalem was scared beyond reason.  Syria and Israel had allied themselves to destroy Judah.  So in what we now call 743 BC, the prophet Isaiah went to assure Ahaz that God is still in charge.  Ahaz didn’t pay much attention, nor would he seek a “sign” –so Isaiah told him of a young woman’s pregnancy; “…and shall bear a son, and shall name him Immanuel. [God With Us]” (Isaiah 7:14)  “The sign is frustratingly ambiguous.  Perhaps this very ambiguity can serve a purpose:  to summon us to trust in …the promise that God is with us.”  (Patrick W. T. Johnson, FEASTING on the WORD, C 1:77)   What signs of faithfulness is God giving today?  And, Ahaz-like, we probably dismiss them…

St. Paul’s Letter to the Romans begins with a long and heavy sentence (1:1-7) which prepares us for the solid dogmatics which this important book contains.  This is a greeting with news of a Holy Child, one who is special & unique within the religious scene where most power has so far been ascribed to gray-bearded elders and world-molded sages.  This greeting is a prologue to seriously consider a vocation of involvement with the ChristChild and all he is to be on earth and in the Ultimate Kingdom of God.

Matthew’s Gospel begins with a dry geneology by which he attempts to prove that Jesus can really be the Messiah–and then continues with a more interesting passage (vv.18-25) which is today’s reading.  Joseph knew the ways of the world, and couldn’t think that Mary’s pregnancy was of Holy Origin.  Fortunately, he believed in his dreams (childlike, again!)  and received the angelic affirmation of Divine Parenthood.  He married her despite the cat-calls of his friends, and nurtured the ChristChild as his own.

The sense of these lessons is to remind the hearer again that Divine Presence usually shows up when more sophisticated reason has branded the situation as impossible.  Will these “call forth faith in God’s presence with us even when all the details are not clear[?]  What is it like to trust in God’s living presence in murky and sometimes frightening situations?”  (Johnson, ibid.)

God Bless Us, Every One                   Horace Brown King

My thoughts on the prescribed scripture lessons for the upcoming weekend can be found each Tuesday at this space on Facebook; and at horacebrownking.com

It’s beginning to look a lot like Advent, everywhere you go…  Everywhere you go, people are eagerly waiting for the ChristChild!  Not really?  Our dreams are of a White Christmas, of other-worldly visions of peace and good will, of bucolic Bethlehem and alien star-gazers.  Scriptures for this Third Sunday in Advent help span the tinseled canyon between nostalgic dreams and a solid promise of God’s New Age.

Whoever reads Isaiah 35:1-10 needs to be your most dramatic dream-spinner.  No monotone can do justice to “Say to those who are of a fearful heart, ‘Be strong, do not fear!  Here is your God….'”  For THEN the blind, the deaf, the lame and the stammerer will be made whole!  Arid lands will be abundantly watered, and no wilderness will restrain the pilgrim.  The approach of God’s ultimate plan will be visible and audible.

James’ message speaks to our cultural need for immediate gratification:  “Be patient, therefore, beloved, until the coming of the Lord.  The farmer waits for the precious crop from the earth, being patient with it until it receives the early and the late rains.” (5:7)  It takes a whole long summer for my tomatoes to finally ripen; but that’s never stopped me from telling all ‘n’ sundry about how the vines are stretching up, and the burgeoning number of flowers.  Tenders of God’s garden can and should talk about what’s growing, about promises of harvest!

John the Baptizer was pretty sure; but he just had to know!  “Are you the one who is to come, or are we to wait for another?”  (Matthew 11:2ff)  Jesus sent his crowd, saying, “Go and tell John what you hear and see: the blind receive their sight, the lame walk, lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the poor have good news brought to them.”  Glad you asked, John!  We were all wondering, even though few of us are still looking.  Mark E. Yurs muses, “It is easy to believe in God in the bright sunlight when all is joyful and free, but let the iron doors of difficulty slam shut, and doubt is there in the darkness.” (FEASTING on the WORD, A 1:71)  What’s to be seen today?  Pastor Michelle always begins our formal time of prayer by asking the congregation, “Where have you seen God at work this week?”

I’m challenged, this Advent, to keep my eyes open.  I find this very hard:  born a cynic, I forget to bleed when Santa Claws.  Lord, help me to see and marvel at what’s growing in your garden!   “My gracious master and my God, assist me to proclaim, to spread through all the earth abroad the honors of thy name.”

God Bless Us, Every One                Horace Brown King

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

Futurists are often gloomy, cherishing destruction and despair in whatever kind of apocalypse they’re selling.  The Church has yet another opportunity to be counter- cultural, this Advent, as we proclaim Hope & Harmony in end times.  We cannot deny world hostility and famine, exploitation of persons and resources, abuse and greed:  the beasts have not yet been de-clawed.  But we can paint pictures of an involved and steadfast God whose unfolding presence shelters and encourages those who wish to keep walking.  Readings for the Second Sunday of Advent offer alternative images to the doom ‘n’ gloom guys.

Isaiah of Jerusalem spoke to a people fainting with fear of the Assyrians who would eventually (721 BC) overrun the Northern Kingdom and disperse those 10 tribes to who-knows-where.  Verses 1-10 of Chapter 11 is a hinged pair of paintings, one looking for a Messianic bud from the stump of Jesse, and the other portraying a Peaceable Kingdom impossible but for the change God is making.  This Messiah will intercede for the vulnerable–the lambs, the oxen, the children–and harmonize all things in divine care.

Paul begins to wind down his doctrinal Epistle to the Romans with the restatement of his conviction that Gentiles are also part of God’s People (15:4-13).  He bookends this inclusiveness with two sentences of Hope:  “For whatever was written in former days was written for our instruction, so that by steadfastness and by the encouragement of the scriptures we might have hope….May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that your may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.”  This hope, then, is not of our own cultivation, but rather the Gift of a gracious God.  Although not yet seen, the Messiah and the new order are a gleam in God’s Eye–and also in ours!

Matthew reminds us that John the Baptizer appeared out in the wilderness (3:1-12).  Some will say that the harshest wilderness is that within the hearer:  behind the plastic smiles of “organized worship” are thorns of loneliness and gusty winds of fear.  This Gospel is to acknowledge that we DO walk in emptiness–more times than we like to admit.  Even those who talk a good game, Pharisees & Sadducees, are confronted with their wilderness–and reminded that they too can Turn It Around.  If they “bear fruit worthy of repentance”, will these usher in the Messianic Kingdom?

Hope is an over-used word for a revolutionary idea.  To be sure, it’s more than “the sun will come out tomorrow”.  Somewhere beyond the rosy glasses must be a steadfast Creator who deals out both Justice and Mercy, and thus introduces and begins to build a world where enemies can trust, where appetites will be satisfied, and where innocence will be a norm.  Come quickly, Lord Jesus!

God Bless Us, Every One                       Horace Brown King

My audacious musings on the assigned lectionary readings for the upcoming weekend can be found every Tuesday at this spot on Facebook; or at horacebrownking.com

My son Steve’s family recently owned Callie, a very smart dog.  Among her tricks was the one where Steve would set a treat on her nose and say, “Wait…wait for it”.  When the dog heard “now”, she’d snap it up.  Well, OK, lots of dogs do this.  But when Christmas is so close that we see it cross-eyed, it’s a real trick to wait!  The Church adopts a counter-cultural stand as we insist on a four-Sunday period of anticipation.  The assigned lessons for this First Week of Advent may help the worshiper to focus on the actuality of the ChristChild, even as we wrap him in lights & tissue paper.

What, exactly, are we looking for?  Isaiah of Jerusalem begins us with some promises (2:1-5).  He speaks of the centrality of the New Zion, where the pilgrim may hear God “teach us his ways and that we may walk in [God’s] paths.”  This Supreme Judge will re-balance world affairs; and as a result, the nations will be able to “beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks”.  There will be no reason to learn war anymore!  Implements for taking life are transformed into implements for SUSTAINING life….individuals, too.

Wake up! says Paul to the Christians in Rome (13:11-14).  Not necessarily a prediction of an immanent apocalypse, the message is one of alertness.  If the believer lives in a constant state of expectation, a Holy Presence may be seen all around.   Why look for the Future, since the Advent is already here?  Get on with it, says the Apostle.  Put on some serious ethics:  we’re already citizens of the new age.

The Gospel of Matthew is introduced for this Christian Year:  Jesus reminds his group that no one really “knows” the Day of the Lord–so keep awake! (24:36-44)  Lives and relationships will be changed…and are they not already?  The Disciples have asked the foil-question:  “So where IS God; and why don’t we notice more?”  The answer is one of developing faith; and in the process, becoming faithful.  Jesus turns the conversation away from the temporal to the eternal, once again transcending human measurements and boundaries.

The Advent Season does us a major favor by insisting that Good Things get even Better after we process them in a waiting period.  This concept is quite foreign to our current desire for instant gratification. But Advent is more than a parlor trick for doting relatives; we’re plunged into a period of changing our minds, again and again, about where to put the ChristChild.

God Bless Us, Every One       Horace Brown King

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

Twenty-First Century People rarely speak of kingdoms, at least in the present tense.  Our recent trip to Central Europe yielded thousands of statues of nobility–all dead.  Who has “Kings” anymore?  But what does rule your life?  To what systems belong your allegiances?  And how do we live with ourselves while living within these mortal systems, although offering vassalage to God?  The Christian Year is completed with Reign of Christ Sunday:  dare I walk hopefully through these fearful times?

Jeremiah, speaking about 600 BC, condemned the last kings of Judah for neglecting the people and pilfering their wealth for themselves.  But “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, and shall execute justice and righteousness in the land.” (23:5)  So many aspects of our culture seem out of control–homelessness, racism and fear of the stranger cloud our national image.  What if the King has been here all the time, but we’ve forgotten the way to the throne?  Our hopeful trail of breadcrumbs has been gobbled by vultures of selfish materialism, and we tremble in the shadow of the Forest.  Hearers of this text may ask, “What little power have I?  And in whose interest do I use it?”

The author of the Letter to the Colossians writes, “[God] has rescued us from the power of darkness and transferred us into the kingdom of his beloved Son…” (1:13)  The Greek is “methistemi”, the ancient practice of the conquering general/emperor to carry off the  populace of the vanquished area.  The image is that of a Supreme Ruler who pulls out the perishing to a new land…whether or not they knew themselves as previously enslaved.  It is we ourselves who give power to darkness through our own fear and insecurity.  Specters and demons turn to dust in the Light of Christ.

And so the “Good Thief” hopefully prayed, “Jesus, remember me, when you come into your kingdom.” (Luke 23:42)   The unfolding Kingdom of God rescues us common folk, announcing that we are no longer forgotten.  Minions of materialism live in ordinary time, but the Good Thief lives already in the Reign of Christ.   “…the ruler of the kingdom of God is already with you, in your life and in your dying, and with you even in damnation by sin.  Indeed, he close to you even in your distance from God.”  (Eberhard Busch, U. of Gottenburg, in FEASTING on the WORD, C 4:336)

The prim and overdressed matron was standing in the rowboat, trying to get onto the dock.  With one foot on the pier and the other in the boat, whatever would happen next was probably wrong.  Who was the Unknown Hero who grabbed her elbow and pulled her safely ashore, thus retaining her dryness and acerbity?

God Bless Us, Every One…                        Horace Brown King

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