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“The skies are bright on this brisk Spring morning in Old Jerusalem, and the street crowds are more excited than usual for this Passover holiday.  Our correspondent passes on the rumor that one Jesus, from either Nazareth or Bethlehem, will be making a major statement about the current state of Roman occupation.  Some of his followers claim that he’s the new Messiah, a reincarnation of David, ready and able to seize the crown and establish a righteous Jewish nation again!  But they’re from Galilee, hardly a center of political understanding…

“This Jesus has made quite a reputation for himself as a teacher and healer, working many amazing miracles in the name of God.  The Pharisees accuse him of blasphemy, and of circumventing the ancient Law.  Sadducees and Temple Officers have also considered him dangerous to the Temple grounds, although he and his disciples have made several visits there to observe the Jewish holy days and festivals.  So this morning his retinue has gathered on the Mount of Olives, the traditional site where the Messiah  is said to appear.  We expect him to be at the Jerusalem gates at any moment…                                                                                                               

“And look!  Now I believe that something is happening!  A large company of street-people are shouting “Hosanna!  God has saved us!”, and they’re making a way of coats and palm branches for his horse and chariot.   This may get unwelcome attention from the Roman Legion, since palm branches have been outlawed since other revolutionaries used them as symbols of insurrection.  Wait…there’s no chariot, but Jesus is astride a colt!   Hardly what we would expect from a would-be King and challenger to the Roman might…

“Sir, what do you expect of this Jesus?…..a leader for the zealots who will make our life better?

“And you, miss?  ….someone who’ll bring prosperity and break the yoke of slavery?

“Many are quoting Psalm 118, ‘Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord.  We bless you from the house of the Lord.  The Lord is God, and he has given us light.  Bind the festal procession with branches, up to the horns of the altar.’  Will this poor man meet the expectations of the People, or is he just one more pretender to holiness?  For today, the street-crowd expects a shift in power… and tomorrow?

“This is Eli ben-Smuel, reporting from the Old City of Jerusalem.”

Followers have been tortured and killed, others of us shunned for our stance on justice, equality and acceptance.  Neighbors snicker when they see us en route to worship.  Jesus said to expect these things, even as the Kingdom of Heaven unfolds.

This may be a week when your own expectations of Jesus shall be changed: may the turmoil of the City be yours as well, and may you ask “Who Is It?”….until the Sign of Jonah, Easter Sunday….

God Bless Us, Every One                       Horace Brown King

Sometimes I’m speechless.  Often I’m breathless–such as when carrying a  load of laundry from the basement to the second floor.  Or after singing an especially fast and rambunctious show-tune.  Or when treading upon Lucy, the cat, in a dark hallway.   Sunday’s readings are well-told stories which talk about some people who’re REALLY breathless!

Most of us are familiar with Ezekiel’s vision of the Field of Dry Bones (37:1-14).  Zeke thought there was no way for these lifeless skeletons to be Real People again; but God called a Holy Wind (ruach”/spirit) to put breath into them — and they lived again!  The praise band will now sing, “the toe bone connected to the…foot bone, the foot bone connected to…now hear the Word of the Lord.”  It’s an analogy, said The Lord.  God’s People felt dried up, hopeless and cut off.  “I will put my spirit within you, and you shall live, and I will place you on your own soil; then you shall know that I, the Lord, have spoken and will act, says the Lord.”

St. Paul reminds the Roman Believers and us, their descendents, that even though Death and Despair are to be seen all around, God’s Spirit provides an alternative: Life!  Change and decay have you discouraged and hopeless?  “If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will give life to your mortal bodies also through his Spirit that dwells in you.” (Romans 8:11)

The wonderful story about Lazarus and New Life (John 11) is full of suspense and a final resolution.  It has fully human characters — Mary, Martha and even Jesus weep over Lazarus’ death — and sympathetic neighbors.  And,of course, it’s a preview of Easter’s resurrection.   The preacher or teacher needs to spell out the Good News: that just as Lazarus (and later, Jesus) were given Life-after-Death, so each Believer shall ALSO receive this newness of life!

I’ve heard these stories so many times that I’ve almost forgotten how to marvel over their promise.  But many are hearing these for the first time, and need to catch a glimpse of awe-filled excitement.   Certainly all of us have yearned for the dawn.  These readings invite us to consider the promise of resurrection even in the daily scrabble for sustenance and meaning.

God Bless Us, Every One        Horace Brown King

When the boys were little, they naturally didn’t want to go on auto trips with Mom & Dad.  Once in the car (after they asked, “Are we almost there?”) the next bored question was, “What are we gonna see?”  This usually inspired me to sing, “The Bear Went Over the Mountain” until threatened with bodily harm by the others in our little red VW.  Without dealing with the eschaton or future theology — the Other Side of the Mountain — Sunday’s readings center on New Vision in God’s Love…

Just as the old prophet Samuel had worried, King Saul wasn’t working out.  He listened to God only part of the time.  So we find Samuel coming to Bethlehem to check out the sons of Jesse, since God told him to anoint one of these as the New King.  But which one of the eight?  Son Number One, Eliab, stood up before Samuel, and Samuel thought him surely to be the one!  Yet the Lord said, “Do not look on his appearance or the height of his stature, because I have rejected him; for the Lord does not see as mortals see; they look on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart.” (I Samuel 16:7)  You probably remember that all seven sons were called; but God chose the youngest, David.

St. Paul speaks to his friends in Ephesus about this Inner Sight:  “For once you were darkness, but now in the Lord you are light….everything exposed by the light becomes visible.” (Ephesians 5:8 & 13)   The human condition, he says, is shortsighted and stumbling in the “unfruitful works of darkness”.  But God’s light calls the believer to see more clearly: ” Sleeper, awake!  Rise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you.”

John’s Gospel alone contains the wonderfully told story about Jesus healing the man who was born blind. (9:1-41)  Jesus anointed his eyes with mud made from the dust of the earth (see Genesis), and after washing, the fellow came back seeing!  BUT…it was the Sabbath, and the Holy People fussed.  They quizzed the man and his parents, finally inducing the guy to shout in desperation, “One thing I do know, that though I was blind, now I see.”   Again, the presence of God refines our limited vision into seeing the dimensions of heaven and claiming the sight of eternity…

I was 15 when I first got glasses.  Just like most of us, my eyes had weakened imperceptably  over the years, and I was amazed and delighted with how much more dimension I now had!  Lights on the Christmas Tree and other seasonal decorations just burst with new definition, and I could see individual trees instead of just “the woods”.   My new specs were marvelous, and my teenage days were immensely brightened…   Is the light of your soul dim?  Come see what God is doing!

God Bless Us, Every One                            Horace Brown King

As a grade-school kid, I was fascinated by  stories of the Gobi Desert, a huge expanse of wilderness which (they claim) has a great untapped reservoir of water beneath it!   With a capitalist gleam in my eye, I asked why this water couldn’t be tapped and used to develop the Gobi into Las Vegas East, or some profit-making enterprise.   If I couldn’t buy a swamp in Florida, maybe I could buy a desert in Mongolia!  Later I learned about California’s Imperial Valley, about irrigation–and about draining the Colorado River dry to corner the market on celery.  Water is Gold.  This weekend, our Scriptural lessons reinforce this.

Some folks are just never happy.  Having escaped slavery in Egypt, having eluded the Army of the Nile, now the Hebrews wanted WATER.  “…the people complained against Moses and said, ‘Why did you bring us out of Egypt, to kill us and our children and livestock with thirst?”” (Exodus 17:3)  So Yahweh told Moses where to strike the rock, and a spring gushed forth:  living water, and in never-ending supply.   Sometimes you’ve gotta go to the wilderness to be refreshed.  You’ve gotta go to the Holy Place to drink deep.  The analogy says that Grace is pure and ever-abundant — and it’s right at your feet…..

St. Paul continues to tell the Romans, “Therefore, since we are justified [made right] by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have obtained access to this grace in which we stand; and we boast in our hope of sharing the glory of God.” (5:1,2)   Does this have anything to do with Water?   I think it does in the phrase “obtained access to this grace”.  Just as Moses the Lawgiver became a conduit of God’s Presence to a pilgrim people, so does Jesus the Redeemer.   Our Becoming Right [justification] is because our ancestors followed Moses, and because we ourselves are following Jesus.  We have believed that they will lead us to God.

The Gospel story is familiar:  Jesus & Co.are traveling through Samaria (!) and they stop for lunch at Jacob’s Well–hearing any connections, yet?  A woman, whose reputation is so slutty that she has to avoid other women by getting her water at midday, is engaged in conversation by Jesus, who asks her to get him a drink. (John 4:5-42)  Jesus tells her that he has Living Water, but she doesn’t get it:  “You have no bucket, and the well is deep.  Where do you get that Living Water?”  The Lord responded, “…those who drink of the water that I will give them will never be thirsty.  The water that I will give will become in them a spring of water gushing up to eternal life.” 

Our Holy Writings begin with a story about land arising from the waters, and they close with the scene of a garden made alive by the river of the water of life.   Land-locked habiru (desert wanderers) were a bit scared of the ocean which they believed surrounded them; yet they reverently came before the Holy One who provided the Water of Life for them.  Rivers were important to Jacob and Naaman, to Joshua and the Babylonian Exiles.  Lent is usually a season of dryness of the soul.  Come see that God has arranged to bring renewing water close to where you live….!

God Bless Us, Every One!                                            Horace Brown King

“Faith”, we learned in seminary, “is the human response to Divine Grace.”   Straightforward as that sounds, faith and belief are difficult  to describe–and to practice.   John Wesley acknowledged their elusiveness when he reportedly told his preachers to “preach faith until you HAVE faith.”  My friend Jan Clark (Rev. Red) says that Lent is “Spring training for Disciples”.   Before the Season starts in earnest with Easter, Believers are requested to examine their journeys to express how Faith guides them.  This Sunday’s readings explore our response to God’s grace-filled guidance.

“Now the Lord said to Abram, ‘Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you.'”  (Genesis 12:1)   As he loaded his ox-cart, neighbors may have gathered, singing, “Where are you going?”  “I don’t know”  “When will you get there?”  “I ain’t certain.  All that I know is I am on my way.”   If there’s a valid way to practice Faith, this must be it!   The story doesn’t detail all of Abram’s doubts and questions, it merely says “So Abram went, as the Lord had told him.”  (v.4)  Rumor has it that there was a bumper-sticker on the back of the wagon, “Don’t follow me; I’m lost too”.

St. Paul was pretty impressed:  “For what does the scripture say?  ‘Abraham believed God, and it was reckoned to him as righteousness.'” (Romans 4:3)  Those brave enough to read this chapter need to allocate enough time to chew on every word, and to savor the wisdom.  The Apostle is making his case for SOLA FIDE, “faith alone”, as the route to life and abundance.  He says that Abraham received the promise and believed it, enough to follow trustingly wherever it took him.  “But also to those who share the faith of Abraham…in the presence of the God in whom he believed, who gives life to the dead and calls into existence the things that do not exist.” (v.17)

Nicodemus, who really wanted to believe in Jesus, came to see him one night.  He thought Jesus was a gifted Rabbi, an inspired teacher; but couldn’t yet confess Jesus to be Messiah.   Jesus spoke about Spiritual Birth, even though Nicodemus couldn’t understand beyond the physical nature of humanity.  Neither could Abram envision the New Land to where he was being led.  Let the reader understand that these mysteries are not easy to describe in human words–and that they call Nicodemus (who is really US) to embrace them solely by faith…  “Everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life.”  (John 3:16b)

When I was 4 or 5, my Dad would take me on evening rambles around the neighborhood of Scranton in which we lived.  We’d often visit someplace Mom didn’t approve–a railroad bridge,  or a construction site.  Was I ever worried?  Nah–Dad was holding my hand!  As a timid adult, I often find consoling lessons in those old memories–and in the journeys of Abraham and Nicodemus.  Lent brings us down the mountain from the signs and wonders of Epiphany:  the fog down here is daunting, but I’m still not scared….!

God Bless Us, Every One                                         Horace Brown King

Flip Wilson gained a lot of fame with his line, “The devil made me do it.”  We’ve all used this excuse, or a variant thereof.  It takes the onus off our own responsibility and places it on an outside agency:  the Force of Evil was too strong, even though our spirit was sound.  But really, in my honest moments I have to admit to being a willing accomplice.  Come, whisper in my ear!

Readings for this First Sunday in Lent address the spiritual pulls we all feel.   The Old Testament takes us back to the Story of the Beginning, Genesis 3.  The serpent said to Woman, “Did God say….?”  Is that for real, or just rhetorical?  What were his actual words?  “You will not die…”  You know the rest:  they ate of the Fruit of Knowledge, and thought they could be their own gods.  This, then, is Original Sin–that we humans think we know as much as God…and die for our presumptions.  A serpentine inner voice is always there to whisper, “Try it, you’ll like it!”

Paul tells the Church at Rome that “death exercised dominion from Adam to Moses, even over those whose sins were not like the transgression of Adam, who is a type of the one who was to come.” (5:14)   But here’s the Good News, the core of our Lent:  “If, because of the one man [Adam]’s trespass, death exercised dominion through that one, much more surely will those who receive the abundance of GRACE and the FREE GIFT OF RIGHTEOUSNESS exercise dominion in life through the one man Jesus Christ.” (5:17, emphasis mine)   Christopher Grundy asks, “What might it mean to live a life in which death does not exercise dominion?”

Feeling very holy after his baptism, Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil.  (Matthew 4:1-11)  Ain’t it the truth!   Here, you remember, Jesus was offered three gifts:  to be relevant (stones turned to bread), to be spectacular (dive off the Temple), and to be powerful (all the kingdoms of the world).  Sounds pretty good:  who wouldn’t want to feed the poor forever with a bunch of rocks?  who wouldn’t want to have his message noticed and published?  and who wouldn’t want  to be King of the World and eliminate war and other chicanery?   Here, though (unlike our Genetic ancestors), Jesus recognized these temptations to be substitutes for GOD’s power and grace.

Lent is important because it demands that we acknowledge that the Cosmic Battle rages around us and within.  We are also reminded of the nearness of Christ and the Holy news that God’s Steadfast Love will not abandon us on our way back to the Garden.     O let me feel thee near me!  The world is ever near;  I see the sights that dazzle, the tempting sounds I hear;
       my foes are ever near me, around me and within; but Jesus,draw thou nearer, and shield my soul from sin.–John E. Bode

God Bless Us, Every One!                           Horace Brown King

Mystics and spiritual pilgrims may be familiar with The Cloud of Unknowing, that stormy weather of the soul in which the fog-bound traveler can do nothing except put her hand in God’s and take one step at a time.  Tech-savvy users are aware of The Cloud, some cyber-space place where good little bytes are stored until retrieved for further use.  This Sunday is Transfiguration Sunday, where we’ll hear again the awesome story of Jesus in holy conversation with the bright glory of the Father.

“Now the appearance of the glory of the Lord was like a devouring fire on the top of the mountain in the sight of the people of Israel.”  This reading from Exodus (24:17) speaks of  God coming to The Pilgrim People journeying to the Promised Land.  Volcanic Mt. Sinai (or Horeb) was where God had intercepted Moses before the Exodus, and where now Moses brought his extended faith-community for further instructions.  “Moses went up on the mountain, and the cloud covered the mountain….Moses entered the cloud, and went up on the mountain…[and he] was on the mountain for forty days and forty nights.”  (vv. 15, 18)  What would he experience?

The Second Letter ascribed to St. Peter tells a bit in retrospect about his own eyewitness trip with Jesus to a mountain-top. (1:16-21)  “For (Jesus) received honor and glory from God the Father when that voice was conveyed to him by the Majestic Glory, saying, ‘This is my Son, my Beloved, with whom I am well pleased.’   Peter considers this to be a prophecy of the eternal validity of Christ, a sign of the Holy Spirit speaking for the world’s edification.  “You will do well to be attentive to this as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts.”

Matthew’s account of the Transfiguration (17:1-9)  continues his argument about the fulfillment of the Messiah-promise to the Jewish community.  They of course remembered the Exodus story, especially the segment about Moses conversing with Yahweh face to face.  Here is the Divine Glory, wrapped in the cloud for mystery, including Jesus along with Moses & Elijah–the Law and the Prophets!  To faithful Jews, this was blasphemy; but to early Believers, it became an affirmation to dispel doubt.  Here Jesus the rabbinic teacher was acclaimed as the Eternal Christ, God’s Beloved.  Therefore it was correct to build a community of faith on him.

As we prepare to enter the roller-coaster of Lent, we do well to contemplate both the Cloud of Mystery and the Thunder of Spoken Glory.  There are new horizons of an unfolding Kingdom to glimpse — and the rifts in the cloud come few and far between.  “I’ve looked at clouds from both sides, now….I really don’t know clouds at all.”  But listen for the thunder!

God Bless Us,Every One                                           Horace Brown King

“Holy” isn’t a word that’s used much nowadays.  Outside Church, I doubt if ANYone says it; and inside Church, we’re all too busy assuring each other that we’re Good Enough.  “Holy” implies strict standards and high hurdles.  Some people train to jump higher and higher, but most of us just say that it can’t be done.   There’s a recognizable fear that we can’t maintain our pampered-child lifestyle if we get too holy….which, of course, this week’s lessons address.

Leviticus?  Are you kidding?  Isn’t that the book with all the prohibitions about eating bacon and getting tattoos?  Today’s text, 19:1,2, 9-18, reminds its hearers, “You shall be holy, for I the Lord your God am holy….”, then gives some f’rinstances:  leave some of your harvest for the poor; don’t lie or cheat; don’t take advantage of your employee or the physically challenged; neither slander nor attack others; “love your neighbor as yourself:  I am the Lord.”   Like any parent, God expects us to do our best work!

Paul begins the Epistle reading well:  “According to the grace of God given me…” (I Corinthians 3:10).  Train as hard as we can, we’ll still have a “holiness ceiling” which can only be surpassed by such grace.  No saints have realized their potential due to their human exertions, they had to have Divine Help.  The key is to acknowledge this Help and thus to align their aspirations to it.  Oft-quoted are verses 16 & 17, “Do you not know that you are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in you?  …For God’s temple is holy, and you are that temple.”  Lord, help me to know what you’ve created me to be!

And we continue to explore the Sermon on the Mount, this time in Matthew 5:38-48.  Jesus contrasts the Old Way with God’s Way:  don’t retaliate like kids on the playground, but gain the respect of the bully by going one better.  Don’t question the beggar’s worth, but share what you can.  Go outside your comfort zone to love the unlovable and those from other cultures and religions.  And then, right between the eyes, “Be perfect, therefore, even as your heavenly Father is perfect.”  Omigosh.

The Methodist movement was built around this concept of holiness for everyone.  At Oxford, John & Charles Wesley and some other students met “methodically” in what they called “the Holy Club” to study scripture and inform their lives around its integrity.  They became convinced that holiness involved taking food to the slums, standing by those in hospital and the drunk-tank, and offering hope to the prisoners.  As Methodism spread to America, Wesley instructed his missionary preachers to “spread scriptural holiness throughout  the land”.   As a preacher this Sunday, I hope to inspire others to know themselves as Children of God’s Perfect Creation:  sustained by Grace and taking their Holiness as an amazing gift!

God Bless Us!  Every One!                                               Horace Brown King

“Would you like to see a menu?”, she asked as I slid into a booth.   And then she produced a large document which well could have been the latest Tax Code, or perhaps an illustrated version of “War & Peace”.    Too many choices!   I liked it better when it was between a BLT or a burger without a cute name.   Vanilla or chocolate.  Baked or mashed.   Readings for this weekend help us to navigate the complex menu which Life hands us.

Moses gave The People a pep-talk as they stood on the doorstep of the Promised Land:  “See, I have set before you today life and prosperity, death and adversity.”  (Deuteronomy 30:15)   If they stay with Yahweh’s ordinances and commandments (The Law), then they’ll be blessed in their new land.  BUT if they turn away towards other gods–what foresight!–then calamity will ensue.  “Choose life so that you and your descendants may live, loving the Lord your God, obeying him, and holding fast to him….”  Just then, the menu seemed pretty simple, with its binary choices.

Yet humanity can always come up with the “What If…?” clauses.  What situations define our ethics?   Paul reminds the Corinthians that their faith still has too many loose ends, for they are trading in their allegiance to God in favor of following specific leaders.  “For when one says, ‘I belong to Paul,’ and another, ‘I belong to Apollos’, are you not merely human?” (I Corinthians 3:4)  [Apollos was the missionary who led the Corinthian church after Paul’s departure.]   The vital choice was not between the styles & preaching of various leaders, but between the relationship with God as opposed to imperfect wisdom.

The portion of the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5:21-37) brings home this Holy Choice:   “you have heard it said…but I say to you…”   Jesus acknowledges the conventional wisdom, and sets against it God’s Plan.  Believers are called to be counter-cultural, to stand over and against business-as-usual — which can be really painful.   Here are four instances:  in God’s plan, anger towards another brings judgment just as murder does; lustful fantasies are just as severe as physical adultery; divorce is neither expected nor condoned; in the New Order, there’s no need to take an oath, since commitment  is the  order of the day.

In the 1970’s, Thomas Oden wrote that  “choice demands negation”,  an affirmation that a person cannot be in Boston AND Atlanta at the same time!  Oden says that when we make a choice, we are automatically discarding all the other possibilities.  My grandma put it this way:  “You can’t have your cake and eat it, too.”  To this citizen of the 21st Century, another choice can be made tomorrow, or at least when the video-game is played again.   But how many lives do I get?

God Bless Us, Every One.                                   Horace Brown King

It’s almost an archaic term, isn’t it?  Who thinks much about being “Righteous” today?  We try to be “Good enough” for the boss, and a satisfactory lover/spouse or grandparent.   Performers all, we gear ourselves to the applause and care little about what may happen off-camera.  In Biblical terms, “righteousness” meant being square with God.  In current jargon, “righteousness” means merely being square.

Isaiah the Prophet lays it squarely on the line:  “Announce to my people their rebellion, to the house of Jacob their sin(s).” (58:1)   Then comes God’s contention with those who claim Godliness yet practice it not:  attending to your own interests on fast days, and oppressing your workers; quarreling and fighting; abuse and intimidation.  “Such fasting as you do today will not make your voice heard on high.”   But “is not THIS the fast that I choose?….to loose the bonds of injustice, to undo the thongs of the yoke, to let the oppressed go free…to share your bread with the hungry, and bring the homeless poor into your house…?”  “THEN shall your light rise in the darkness, and your gloom be like the noonday.”   Now THAT’s a sermon!

St. Paul almost buries Holy Living under a wordy discourse to the Corinthian churches. (Ist, 2:1-16)   I think what he’s getting at is that Righteousness/Being Square with God isn’t something that we do, but something we receive.  Having been warmed by the Spirit of Christ, it becomes our desire to express justice and compassion to God’s Creation.  “Now we have received not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit that is from God, so that we may understand the gifts bestowed on us by God.”  (v.12)

The Gospel lesson continues our brief foray into the Sermon on the Mount, remembered by Matthew in the Fifth Chapter, vv.13-20.   “You”, Jesus said, “are the salt of the earth…the light of the world.”   Now go and season our understanding of God, go shine so that others can get their bearings!   Adhere to God’s expectations, he says, “for I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.”

Scribes and Pharisees were nice enough folks, but they thought they were Doing Enough by fasting in sackcloth, dust and ashes.  Yet the Holy Word puts more emphasis on demonstrating the new reality which God coaxes out of those touched by the Spirit.   In “My Fair Lady”, Eliza sings to Freddy, “If you’re in love, then show me!”     In this Season of Signs, the Believer is obviously changed, having been to the Manger.

God Bless Us, Every One!                 Horace Brown King