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Well, I WAS thinking about “Lord & Tailor”.  I’m always overdressed, somehow obsessed with being able to afford “nice” clothes.  The guys I hung with in college were fussily careful about how we dressed, and would critique each others’ apparel for appropriateness.  Scriptures for this weekend have an underlying thread (!) about garments: do we hide in them?  or do they identify us with our faith and integrity?

The prophet Elijah was on the lam.  He had done in Jezebel’s prophets of the Baal, and was she ever mad!  “Where can I hide?  I’m all alone!”, said he.  Where else but back to the origins, Mt. Horeb/Sinai.  When he at last got there, God asked, “What are you doing HERE, don’t you have an assigned place?”  (I Kings 19:9)  “Let me show you something that may give you courage,” said the Lord…and so there came a windstorm; and an earthquake!; and then a mighty fire–and finally, a sound of sheer silence which overwhelmed Elijah so that he wrapped his face in his famous mantle.  Clothed in God at last!

Some have said that the Third Chapter of Galatians contains “Paul in a nutshell”.  He effectively  wrecks wrath’s walls by declaring all are equal in Christ.  I especially like verse 27: “As many of you as were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ.”  Paul’s letters are full of references to being identified by our togs, sometimes specialized items such as the whole armor of God.  In another place, we’re exhorted to shed our old rags of sinfulness to don our gay apparel.  In a period in which a person would wear the same old clothes for years (that’s all they had), thoughts of a new wardrobe were pretty welcome!  Ah, the first Easter parade….

Luke’s Gospel, chapter 8, tells about a guy on The Other Side of the Sea of Galilee who lived naked in the tombs because he had a legion of demons.  No one could control him until Jesus removed his demons into a herd of pigs–which immediately drowned themselves in the lake, to the outrage of their Syrian owners.  “Then people came out to see what had happened, and when they came to Jesus, they found the man from whom the demons had gone sitting at the feet of Jesus, clothed and in his right mind.” (v.35)  From Adam ‘n’ Eve to the young man with Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane to the host of white-robed saints in heavenly places, it seems that clothing (or lack thereof) gives opportunity for personal conversation with One who is both Beyond yet EverNear.

In the summer of my tenth year, I was proud to burst when I was handed my Little League uniform!  I wasn’t very good–but I was On the Team!   In Jr. High, I got to wear a scrumptious band uniform:  red, with a shiny gold braid on the coat and a big red stripe running….  When I visit the hospital I almost always wear a clerical collar:  the staff and patients know why I’m there and who I represent.  Despite the temperature, I prefer to robe and wear an elder’s stole, when I lead worship.  Yet I’ll shuffle off this mortal coil naked as the day I was born…and not as cute.

God Bless Us, Every One             Horace Brown King

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

I’ve always thought myself a law-abiding person.  Well, with a 5 mph margin for speed limits.  I don’t bounce checks intentionally, nor do I jay-walk…most often.  I play by the rules, ‘cept for occasions which would benefit me.  I’m aghast by society’s willingness to create mayhem against tribes and nations far away; and I say “boy’s will be boys” when my friends admit to harmless (?) and anonymous pranks.  In short, I revere and uphold all law that doesn’t pinch me too much!

This weekend’s scriptures address the absolutism of The Law, as seen both civilly and morally.  I Kings 21 tells the story about how Ahab seized the vineyard of Naboth, his neighbor, by falsely accusing him of treason & blasphemy–punishable by stoning to death.  The prophet Elijah, one of the only perceived voices of Godly ethic, called him to accountability for his evil; and Ahab, taking a page from Adam of old, blamed his wife!  (Cherchez la femme)   Besides, as she said, Ahab was The King!

The passage from Galatians 2:15-21 is a very wordy musing of St. Paul about ethics and the law.  “We ourselves are Jews by birth and not Gentile sinners [!!!]; yet we know that a person is justified not by the works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ.”  ‘Twas hard for this Pharisee to move from the absolutism of the Jewish law into a situational morality where Right was that action/belief which showed the greatest love.  We need to read  the paragraphs before these to appreciate the ongoing disagreement between Paul–who extended Grace to the non-Jews–and Peter & Co., who upheld the Jewishness of the Christian movement.

The Gospel is Luke’s remembrance of the fancy dinner where a “woman of the city” poured perfume all over Jesus’ feet, and wiped them with her hair!  Simon, the prissy host, was offended, as were all the “good” people.  After all, convention (and MAYBE the law) discriminated because she was a woman, and a fallen one at that.   Hearers are now left to judge for themselves between Jesus and The Law, a common demand of the gospels.

Back in the last century, we seminarians debated Joseph Fletcher’s concept of Situational Ethics.  In the 50 ensuing years, I’ve found that “doing the right thing” isn’t very simple–and can be immensely frustrating.  These readings will undoubtedly lift more questions than answers: thanks be to God!

God Bless Us, Every One           Horace Brown King

A personal note:  as I returned from Annual Conference on Saturday, I mused that 50 years ago, in 1966, I exited a similar Conference newly appointed to a student pastorate at the small yet vital Methodist congregations of Clifford& Lenoxville PA.  I celebrate the journey, and what God has done with me during the intervening years!

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

Several of my acquaintances have become enamored with the TV programs about Small Houses.  It’s an interesting and hopeful commentary on American culture, which until now has been obsessed with BIGGER.  The “Dream” of earlier generations included expansive lawns & high ceilings,  separate bedrooms and walk-in closets.  As I was growing up (?), new cars had to have longer fins and wider hoods.  I’m seriously thinking of buying a SmartCar when my Hyundai no longer runs…

The scripture readings for this weekend reinforce our understanding that God doesn’t ignore the people even in out-of-the way places.  I Kings 17:8-24 tells how Elijah was sent during a severe and widespread drought to Zarephath,  a minor city of the Phoenicians, half-way between Tyre & Sidon in what’s today Lebanon.  Here, among the Gentiles, Elijah miraculously fed a poor widow and her son; and later revived the son from death!  Widows, non-Jews, hapless children and residents of a backwater–all were visited with God’s Presence.    Who says Big is Better?

It’s hard to know what to do with Galatians 1:11-24.  Paul seeths with self- righteousness as he maintains that his call is directly from Jesus, not from the Insiders at Jerusalem!  (He almost sounds like “outside” candidates for office who pride themselves on their ignorance of how politics works.)  Rescue, for me, comes as he refers to his Wilderness Years in “Arabia”, some desolate spot where one doesn’t expect God; especially a non-traditional God for this ultra-Jewish Pharisee.  Wendy Farley writes, “This letter….is good news for those outside systems of power who might see more clearly ways in which Christianity has cut off some of its own limbs in the name of tradition.  It is good news for all those oppressed by the church:  women, slaves, the poor [the LGBT community].  It is good news for all those lovers of Christ whose wisdom about the Divine is distorted or repressed by leaders of the Church.” (FEASTING on the WORD,  C 3:114)

Luke’s Gospel (7:11-17) tells the story of Jesus restoring a widow’s son in the Galilean town of Nain–again, a dusty non-descript one-horse place where you wouldn’t think God would bother.  Again, the miracle is of New Life; but more, New Life even in Nain!  Who’da thunk it?  For Jesus’ contemporaries, this gave him the credentials of a prophet, “just like Elijah”.  But for later Christians, New Life became a guarantee when Jesus passes through!

I know you’d be disappointed if there weren’t a “small” comment from one of my stature (or lack thereof).  Seems like I have an automatic answer for the panhandler downtown:  “Sorry, I’m a bit short today!”  (rim-shot, please) Yet amazing things happen in Small Places, far from the madding crowd!  Perhaps these readings will encourage and lift up some folks who’re feeling kinda insignificant just now.

God Bless Us, Every One              Horace Brown King

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

A friend was reminiscing about “All In the Family”, where Archie was talking with Mike/Meathead about heavenly matters.  “Edith, get in here!” Archie shouts.  “I’m having to defend God all by myself!”  Scriptures for this coming weekend address the alone feeling some of us have when Everyone Else seems to be running after other gods– gods of the Ego, or gods of the Old Way.  Most prophets, those who dare speak heavenly images in human words, feel that there’s no one else; and that they alone are the surviving remnant of the True Faith.

So there’s danger when we recall the story about Elijah and the prophets of Baal (I Kings 18:20-39).  We’ve all heard it in Sunday School:  the followers of the Baal (the Phoenician gods/goddesses of fertility and good harvest) set up their sacrifice and tried their best to get the gods’ attention–to no avail.  Then Elijah erected the old “True” altar, laid out the wood and meat, even soused it with water…and voila!  A major conflagration ensued, demonstrating that Yahweh WAS there.  It’s best to leave the story with the congregational assent: “The LORD indeed is God.”   DON’T read any further, we have enough ethnic genocide without ascribing it to God!!   The preacher or class leader presenting this saga needs to beware of saying, “Hoorah for Our Side”:  the core message here is of Elijah’s faith in the midst of community apostasy.

The reading of Galatians 1:1-12 reflects an indignant Paul who is “astonished that you are so quickly deserting the one who called you in the grace of Christ”!  Seems that the congregations of what’s now central Turkey were adopting paths & practices utterly at odds with Paul’s earlier teachings.  We don’t know the exact details of these; which allows backsliders from every generation to name their own heresies and blasphemies against the Good News of God’s Steadfast Love.  Gregory H. Ledbetter writes, “There is little ‘good news’ in a system of belief that reverses the freedom of Christ, saps the strength of the Spirit, and re-locks the shackles of the law.” (FEASTING on the WORD, C 3:89)  From a distance, Paul worries that he’s the only one who can heal these wanderers.

The lesson from Luke’s Gospel (7:1-10) doesn’t immediately uncover lonliness.  Here a centurion–a Gentile, but he’s OK  ’cause he built the synagogue–asks Jesus for a proxy healing of a beloved slave (!)…and it happens.  Jesus tells the bystanders that this Gentile has more faith than any of the Jews he knows!   If there’s a common thread with the Old Testament and the Epistle, it’s that this episode has worth in its comparison with the surrounding culture.  Like the Elijah story, some believed Jesus could, most believed that he couldn’t.  (And a slave? a Gentile??)   It’s fierce to wade against the current…

There are some days when, like Tigger, I selfishly think that I’m the Only One: as an alien, I have answers for this puny humanity into which I was sent; and no one listens a bit.  Thank goodness for scriptures like these which remind me that I’m merely one of the crowd, and that we’re surrounded by a great cloud of witnesses.

God Bless Us, Every One                               Horace Brown King

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

This coming Sunday is Trinity Sunday, a day to explore the mystery of God who can be understood and experienced in three, though united, ways.  Mysteries are impossible to explain in words, so we turn to analogies.  St. Patrick used a three-leaved shamrock.  St. Augustine used a hard-boiled egg.  Are there some images you know which might trigger an appreciation of our three-in-one God?

An image from Proverbs 8 portrays Wisdom (a pre-Christian form of the Holy Spirit?) popping up on the hilltop, next to the highway, at the intersections, greeting the traveler.  “She” keeps beckoning us to Something Better, that is, the Love of the Creator.  Wisdom is the playful, dancing side of God–an entity who paints large scenes of How Sweet It Is!  Wisdom is that lavish and constant source of providence that pours over Creation “morning by morning”.

We also turn to Paul’s letter to the house-churches in Rome (5:1-5).  Made right with both Creator and Creation through faith in Jesus the Christ, “we have peace with God.”  This frees us from worrying about our public image, for we are not disgraced.  (Once we know we’re  Graced, we cannot be dis-Graced!)   “God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us.”  “We are washed, cleansed, in fire water, and henceforth we drip the holy stuff wherever we go.  We track it into every room of our lives and out into the world.”  (Michael Jinkins, FEASTING ON THE WORD, C3:42)

John’s Gospel (16:12-15) acknowledges a bit of Jesus’ frustration, as he remarks that “I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now.”  However, the coming Holy Spirit-Counselor-Advocate will guide us into ALL the Truth.  Relying on this Spirit, the community then & now will be lead where it needs to go.  (Even at General Conference)  This Spirit of Truth is the agent of transformation which molds us daily into a more holy shape.  This, I believe, is what Wesley meant by “going on to perfection”.

My own image, then, for Trinity Sunday?  I like to picture the visit of an itinerant potter, who sets up her wheel in my study.  Whirling me around dizzily, she tweaks and shaves and mends…until God says, “That’s enough for today!”  And Jesus, peering over the potter’s shoulder, says, “Yes, that’s a LITTLE closer…”  Come, Holy Spirit, shape your Church in Heaven’s blueprint!

God Bless Us, Every One                  Horace Brown King

My thoughts on lectionary readings for the upcoming weekend can be found every Tuesday at this spot on Facebook, or at horacebrownking.com

“Why can’t the English teach their children how to speak?” fumes Henry Higgins in MY FAIR LADY.  “Little Swedes speak Swedish, little Greeks speak Greek…In France, it doesn’t matter much what you DO, as long as you pronounce it correctly!”  This coming Sunday is the annual observance of Pentecost, when Christians of all cultures and lingos recognize a Holy language which is a central common denominator.

The Genesis reading (11:1-9) is from pre-history, an attempt to explain why people speak so strangely.  It appears that “the whole earth had one language and the same words.”  So the people tried to “make a name for themselves” by building  a tower into the heavens.  (Pyramids can be found all over the ancient world, human mountains to meet the gods of High Places.)  God saw that this was a work of the Ego (original sin), and confused their language so that they couldn’t communicate.  “God’s promise is that our ultimate value does not depend upon our building gleaming cities and towers of achievement but upon God’s dazzling and soaring love.”  (Jeff Paschal, in FEASTING ON THE WORD, C3:7)

A traditional reading for Pentecost is Acts 2:1-21, the mystical account of the Apostles, at sea and confused after Jesus’ departure.  “Suddenly from heaven there came a sound like the rush of a violent wind…..All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other languages, as the Spirit gave them ability.”  Grace has crossed out the difference between ethnic cultures (and generations?), and has united the Christian movement into a singleness of understanding!  Finally the original sin of Babel has been answered with a Divine Intercession.  Fiery and ecstatic words met even “those foreigners” (refugees? immigrants?) with a Good News message of challenge and release…  No need to build a Tower to Heaven:  Heaven has met us where we are.

Where is this Golden Thread to be found in John’s LONG narrative of the Last Supper?  Our reading is from 14:8-17, and Jesus is assuring his folks that his impending death won’t end their mission–rather, says he, “I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate [the Spirit of Truth], to be with you forever.”  Language and translations shouldn’t be a problem:  “The words that I say to you…” become much clearer as we think back on the forgoing stories.

How does the 21st Century Church make connection between the old familiar words and the vocabulary of new reality?  Those of us with grandchildren experience this when we ask about a computer app and are given an eye-roll which asks if we’re from an alien planet.  Yet there’s a central message of mercy and piety which calls our spirit-community to congeal around its core, whether expressed in mod or archaic terms.  Help teach your children how to speak!

God Bless Us, Every One                 Horace Brown King

My thoughts about lectionary scriptures for the upcoming weekend can be found every Tuesday at this space on Facebook, or at horacebrownking.com

Some good folks, alas, spend ‘way too much time and psychic energy trying to decide who’s In and who’s Out.  Humans’ limited imaginations are afraid that if everyone gets God’s Love, there won’t be enough to go around!  Scriptures for this Last Sunday before Pentecost try to spread the affirmation that the Risen Christ of Easter is the plenteous Savior who passionately loves every iota of Creation…

The Acts of the Apostles is Luke’s presentation of the people who were changed as the Christ intersected with them.  Today’s reading comes from Chapter 16:16-34, which tells of Paul & Silas being imprisoned in Philippi after exorcising a soothsayer.  An earthquake hit in the middle of the night, springing the cell doors and yanking fetters from the wall.  The jail-keeper thought that his charges would escape, but Paul shouts out, “We are all here”.  For a shaky moment, community had formed; they were all in it together.  Not some, not a few selected ones, but All.  Even those criminals!

The second reading is selected verses from the very end, the Revelation to St. John.  At first, these seem but random; but there is a thread of inclusion here.  Part of verse 17 seemed to jump out at me:  “And let everyone who hears say, ‘Come’.  And let everyone who is thirsty  come.  Let anyone who wishes take the water of life as a gift…”  Anyone!  The final word of recorded scripture is one of grace.

The gathering for the Last Supper in the Upper Room must have been terribly central to John, for so much of his Gospel is filled with it.  Here Jesus is acknowledged as the enduring High Priest, bearing our intentions before the High God.  Chapter 17 intensifies again and again the premise that Jesus and his Father are One.  He prays that all may be one, “as we are one”.   See if you can get your musicians to sing, “All God’s Children have a Place in the Choir:  Some Sing Low, others Sing Higher.”

The congregation in which Marie and I usually worship, Central United Methodist of Endicott NY, just formally passed a resolution affirming that all are welcome to become involved, whatever their race, gender, economic status OR sexual preference.  I joyfully back this–although I’m a bit disappointed that any group that reads the Bible should need to make this clear.  John earlier told us that “God loves the world so much…”  The whole world!  Bit by bit, we’re getting the message.

God Bless Us,Every One                         Horace Brown King

My thoughts on the lectionary readings for the upcoming weekend are found every Tuesday at this spot on Facebook, or at horacebrownking.com

During my college days–back in the Last Century–we used to call our friends who majored in Home Ec, “HomeWreckers”.  To my limited knowledge, none of them engaged in building deconstruction.  ‘Fact, most of us lonely students longed to find or build a home of our own:  in the Wedding liturgy, “a haven of blessing and a place of peace.”  Five decades later, I can affirm that the concept of “home” is much more than a shelter from the weather.  Scriptures for this upcoming weekend recognize this yearning:  written to sojourners and aliens in different times and places, they may also speak to those even now anticipating acceptance and nurture.

Acts of the Apostles is a post-Easter book recounting the adventures of Apostles living forth the Resurrection of Jesus, the Lordship of Christ.  In Chapter 16:9-15 we’re told of Paul’s vision for Macedonia, and the disciples’ foray there–the first time Christ’s message had reached Europe.  In Philippi they sought out “a place of prayer” and found a home-base with Lydia, a local entrepeneur.  Wesley says that there are no coincidences, just connections. Home is where you hang your heart, someone said.

We also explore the very end of our Bible, John’s vision of the Ultimate Home (Revelation 21:22-22:5).  No need of sun or moon there, for the Glory of the Almighty makes everything bright!  A river of living water springs from the throne of God, and along it grow sacred trees whose leaves heal the world!   Homeless travelers must find this promise a welcome refuge from the daily grind of slammed doors and exclusion.

The Farewell of Jesus in the Upper Room at the Last Supper takes up a great portion of John’s Gospel.  The passage read today is Chapter 14:23-29, beginning with “Jesus answered [Judas], ‘Those who love me will keep my [Presence], and my Father will love them, and we will come to them and make our home with them.'”  To build a home could be translated to “craft or fashion” a home.  When John wrote down this Gospel, the community of faith which he pastored were looking for a home, now that the synagogues were no longer  sheltering or welcoming.  “Do not let your hearts be troubled…” N. B.– Jesus is talking about NOW, not necessarily a Future Coming; this is about a spiritual indwelling within the lives of the Believers…

It’s now up to our congregations, folks, to embrace the Homemaking skills given by God!  Our preaching is shallow if it ends without a reminder that church members are indeed the purveyors of Godly Welcome!  Greeting and caring for the “different”–the LGBT, the bi-polar, those in wheelchairs, the addicted, even those disguised as normal–should be an automatic reaction to what’s been heard.  It’s difficult, but required.

God Bless Us Every One                            Horace Brown King

My ruminations on Lectionary readings for the upcoming weekend can be found every Tuesday at this spot on Facebook, or at horacebrownking.com

A few years ago, scientists announced the confirmation of a “new” galaxy, ‘way in Deep Space.  The spokeswoman for the group excitedly told us that “It’s bigger and brighter than we had thought!”  Readings for this Fifth Week after Easter are geared to encourage us post-Christian Christians to consider the length & breadth of God’s Presence, still probing the hitherto dark recesses of our tattered Selves.

In the Acts of the Apostles (11:1-18), we’re told of the Jerusalem Believers calling Peter on the carpet for going to Cornelius, a (gasp!) GENTILE!  And besides, they heard that those Gentiles had accepted the news of Jesus AND had been gifted by the Holy Spirit! OMG!  Is the Gospel for everyone, then??  Peter figured, “If then God gave them the same gift that he gave us when we believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I that I could hinder God?”  And all responded, in a way, “Then it’s bigger and brighter than we had thought!”

Easter has brought us a new confidence, so we smugly read the Revelation to St. John.  Our passage today–21:1-6–is familiar from services of Death & Resurrection.  It gives an ultimate vision of the “new” Jerusalem, so big & bright that it spills out of heaven so that God may dwell among mortals.  I’m happy for the image of Final Grace which cannot be confined or restricted:  the Crucifixion was for the sin of ALL the World.  Some will say that this is an event for “by & by”–but I think that it’s already been happening…  Our response  to this Lesson is to begin to look for this encroaching City.

So what is this “Glory”?  Recalling part of The Last Supper (John 13:31-35), we read that Jesus said after the departing Judas, “Now the Son of Man has been glorified…”  Artists of the Middle Ages tried to paint Glory by appending halos, a holy aura.  Poets have called up a blinding, dazzling light, reminiscent of Saul’s conversion.  The AMERICAN HERITAGE DICTIONARY OF THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE says that it’s “exalted honor, praise, or distinction accorded by common consent.” Is “Glory” dependent upon earthly renown?  Jesus wasn’t after renown, but the Godly.  When does the infamy of marching to a different drummer yield to the acclaim of those who finally get it?  “It’s bigger and brighter than we had thought!”

Marie says that I inherited a worry-gene from my Mother.  I worry about the economy, I worry about open-carry of firearms, I worry about the real or imaginary walls going up all over the world.  I worry that I have no friends, I worry that I’m over- or underdressed , I worry about my breath.  Hearing these snippets of scripture on Sunday may encourage me to see that God At Work has it all under control irregardless of my fussing.  This Holy Presence?  It’s bigger and brighter than we had thought!

God Bless Us, Every One                        Horace Brown King

My thoughts about lectionary reading for the upcoming weekend can be found every Tuesday at this space of Facebook, or at horacebrownking.com

An unmarried seminarian was sent to be a Student Pastor.  He soon found that every maiden between 3 & 45 in the parish sought out his counsel and company.  Overwhelmed by all the attention, he told his Superintendent that he wanted out.  “Well,” joked the Superintendent, “you know that there’s safety in numbers!”  “Maybe”, replied the fella, “but I’d rather find it in Exodus!”  (Our hero soon solved the “problem” by marrying his college sweetheart.)  Readings for this weekend are about the community of mutual love and respect which has developed around Christ:  maybe I’m not as alone as I sometimes feel…

The story from the Acts of the Apostles recounts the death of Tabitha of Joppa, a sweet lady whom every one loved for her charity and joyful faith. (9:36-43)  Her friends sent for Peter to stand by them and give comfort to their grief.  When he arrived, he prayed over her body–and she recovered!  (And people believed in the power of Jesus)  But the tale is not so much about Peter as it is the hopeful and healing community.  “The emphasis of this text is not upon a return from death, but upon a community honing all of its spiritual strength and resources passionately upon life and wholeness.”  (Stephen D. Jones, FEASTING on the WORD, C 2:431)

The Revelation to St. John is a post-Easter doxology, inviting us to see “a great multitude that no one could count” (7:9-17) singing of the ultimate fulfillment of Creation.  This has gotta be good news to those of us who’re half-afraid that Creation has been messed up beyond repair.  “John summons us to look beyond our own fearful conditions and circumstances to behold the glorious completion of God’s saving promises.” (Michael Pasquarello III, ibid. page 439)  What unifies this diverse and scarred remnant of worldly battle?  The Lamb who has taught God’s People to pray that a Holy Will and purpose is being done on earth as it is in heaven…

John’s Gospel leads us into a discussion of sheep, especially those who’re seen to be of the Flock of Jesus. (10:22-30)  A community of sheep flock together for protection, and bet their wooly lives on the wisdom and care of their shepherd.  The question of the Shepherd’s credentials arises:  some inquirers really want to know more, others are trying to discredit him.  Sometimes we in the Community have our own sheepish ambiguities about Who This Is–and it’s OK to admit this and explore it further!  But we can also see that Jesus makes us his sheep; we do not make him our shepherd…

My friend had an adolescent son who had serious questions about the Church:  Is it relevant?  or useful?  Or is it an archaic museum?  Typical questions of a seeker, and I credit him for articulating them.  My friend put the young man in the car, and they drove around the town to see church buildings.  “People have some reason for gathering here,” he said.  “All of these people can’t be wrong!”   Not deep theology, but an acknowledgement  that we are part of a continuum of Friends on Earth, and Friends Above.   “Lord of all, to Thee we raise This our hymn of grateful praise!”

God Bless Us, Every One                     Horace Brown King

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