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Less than a month ago, we encountered the familiar story of the Wise Men who brought the ChristChild gifts of gold, frankincense & myrhh.   Gift-giving seems to be a staple of every culture, honoring a birth, marriage or other important milestone.  Most of us fret about giving a gift that’s Just Right, and we spend time and thought in selecting our gifts.  Readings for this coming Sunday question us about what we’re willing to bring to GOD!

Micah’s famous oracle (6:1-8) continues the question:  “With what shall I come before the Lord, and bow myself before God on high?…. burnt offerings?….yearling calves?….thousands of rams?…. ten thousand rivers of oil?….my firstborn?”   What could possibly be good enough for the Holy One?  Does God need anything?   “He has told you, O mortal, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?”   So the gift most suitable has to do with revering those whom the Lord has created, and treating them as also Holy…

The good gift isn’t our wisdom and insight, say St. Paul. (I Corinthians 1:18-31)  “Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world?”  Not many of us were wise, nor have we been powerful and of noble birth.  So evidently these don’t cut much ice with God, since he chose to live with us despite the lack of such virtues!   God’s choice is what seems low and despised, the Simple Gifts of song.
We come as we are, warts & all — which is what the Lord really wants.  We’re reminded that God “is the source of your life in Christ Jesus, who became for us wisdom from God, and righteousness and sanctification and redemption…”  If God needs nothing more, then why should we?

The Gospel lesson is The Beatitudes, found only in Matthew’s account at the beginning of what we call Chapter 5.

Righteous and devout people –nice people– just don’t live up there.  “There”, to the orthodox Jews, was Galilee, “the territory of Zebulun & Naphtali”,  which was the furthest north the sons of Jacob traveled when they settled the Promised Land under Joshua.  Capernaum, a busy fishing port on the Sea of Galilee, was the predominant town.  Through this area came marauding armies from Assyria & Babylon, and a major trade-route stopped there for water & supplies.  When the Ten Lost (Northern) Tribes were disbursed some six centuries before the birth of Jesus, some intermarried with nearby Gentiles, thereby sullying the purity of the Faith.  To be sure, these were the Badlands!

Isaiah of Jerusalem looked for Great Things!  On Sunday, we’ll read that “there will be no gloom for those who were in anguish. In the former time [God] brought into contempt the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, but in the latter time [God] will make glorious the way of the sea, the land beyond the Jordan, Galilee of the nations.” (9:1)   He speaks of heavenly light to those in deep darkness, and the new freedom for the enslaved and persecuted.  Having seen God At Work, we who are the caretakers of a Holy Message are encouraged to point to this light and to be part of the newly redeemed.  Even in the Badlands.

Paul doesn’t waste any time getting to the point, as he begins his letter to the Corinthian congregations!   Beginning at verse 10 of the first chapter of the first book, he makes an appeal for unity in love and belief: “That there be no divisions among you, but that you be united in the same mind and the same purpose.”  This was expecting a lot.   Corinth was a major seaport, with all the apps:  hard living, hard drinking, multi-cultural, diverse; probably with a whole range of understanding about sexuality and human worth…  Nice people wouldn’t go to your churches, Paul  –it’s the Badlands, y’know.

Nazareth was a nice enough, quaint little town when Jesus lived there.  On County Route 1147, I think.  But Jesus knew that he had to move to Capernaum-on-the-Interstate.  Matthew’s short commentary (4:12-17) helps his Jewish readers to recall Isaiah’s Messianic words from long ago: the land of Zebulun & Naphtali, “on the road by the sea”, would host Divine Light in that “region and shadow of death.”   And Jesus told those Badlanders, “Repent, for the Kingdom of Heaven has come near”!

When I Googled “Badlands”, I found that it can be a geographic term for places where the topsoil & vegetation are thin, quite scenic yet useless for farming.  Badlands exist not only in the National Park in South Dakota, but in Canada, Argentina and parts of China.  This is also a code-word that urban realtors use for troubled neighborhoods where their clients –nice people– shouldn’t live.  Our readings remind us that in the Badlands is exactly where the Lost Tribes would carry their Faith, where St. Paul would establish congregations…and where Jesus himself would live.   And we??

God Bless Us, Every One……                             Horace Brown King

Epiphany could be seen as the Forgotten Season, a wasteland between the euphoria of Christmas and the intensity of Lent.  I’ve always liked to emphasize this time as an expansion of the Gospel to the ends of the earth, a time to enjoy the AHA moments.  What began with the visit of the Three Kings continues the sacred journey  as they returned home by another road.  The Church is invited to remember these stories about pushing back the frontiers of God’s Kingdom, and to become engaged in pointing to the Holy Signs still unfolding all about us. 

Isaiah  caught the universality of God’s Reign as he wrote to the Exiles in Babylon, where they thought that they were far from God’s Country.  “It is too light a thing that you should be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob and to restore the survivors of Israel; I will give you as a light to the nations, that my salvation may reach to the end of the earth.” (49:6)  Before this, the Hebrews thought of Yahweh as a REGIONAL God, sovereign over a few hundred square miles of rocks and scattered oases.  Could it be that Yahweh is Lord of other places, too?  Even (yecchh!)  Babylon??

We often neglect or skip completely over the salutations of Paul in his letters to the churches.  Yet there’s where a lot of his understanding tells us how he views God, before plunging into his long sentences and weighty thoughts.   Don’t ignore any of this Sunday’s reading, which includes “To the church of God that is in Corinth, to those who are sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints, together with all those who in every place call on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, both their Lord and ours…” (I Corinthians 1:2)   What?  ALL those who in EVERY place?   This surely sounds as if God is universal, and that there’s no hidin’ place down here!  It also expands the mission duty of the Church in the 21st Century to bear light and vision beyond our comfort zone…

“The next day [after Jesus was baptized] he (John the Baptizer) saw Jesus coming toward him and declared, ‘Here is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!'” (John 1:29)  Linger here, for a bit, before continuing with the narrative about Jesus and his first disciples.  Too often we read this as the SINS of the world:  separate and personal errors and misdeeds.  But here The Sin is singular and the world is everyone!  What then IS The Sin of the World?  I believe that we’re talking of self-directed arrogance, just as when the First People thumbed their noses at the Creator back in the Garden of Eden; or when later generations tried to build a tower to claim the heavens for themselves.  This is the brokenness that Jesus came to fix, to take away the world’s prideful rebellion against the King.  Believers are to stand with John and point:  “Here is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!”

there’s a Woody Allen movie — was it “Sleeper”? — where the girl asks Woody’s character, “Do you believe in God?”   And he replies, “Well, yes, I think there’s a Divine Being who regulates the world….except maybe for New Jersey.”   Being in seminary in that state at the time, I thought the line riotously funny!   Readings for this weekend will again remind us that a restorative and saving God is truly omnipresent in ALL the world.   Even New Jersey.

God Bless Us, Every One.                          Horace Brown King

Slightly, ever so slightly, the daylight is getting longer.  Today’s sky is January Blue, and sunshine pours into my study window so much  that it’s difficult to see the screen upon which I write.  The Weather Service tells us that the temperature is frigid, and I claim pathos for those who are less comfortable than I.   There will be many more weeks of Winter–but they’re endurable with the gradual return of the light.  People gathered in their communities of faith this weekend will receive gifts of light–and the commission to be active bearers of that light.

Isaiah of Babylon wrote to exiles mourning their homeland and traditions. “Their call to live as a family of faith within the family of nations was a distant echo.” (Richard F. Ward)  They sat in darkness; was there no one to scratch a spark of hope?  But “HERE is my servant, whom I uphold, my chosen, in whom my soul delights;  I have put my spirit upon him; he will bring forth justice to the nations” (42:1)   And later, “I have given you as a covenant to the people, a light to the nations…” (v.6b)  What is this justice, this light?  In the original, these seem to indicate “the true way/ how things ought to be”.  Luke’s Gospel story tells that Jesus opened his public ministry by reading this passage in his hometown Nazareth synagogue, and telling the world, “TODAY this is fulfilled…”(Luke 4:18-19)

The reading from the Acts of the Apostles (10:34-43) is Peter’s baptismal sermon after baptising Cornelius, a Gentile Roman.  We read it today to lift up the universality of God:  “I truly understand that God shows no partiality, but in every nation anyone who fears him and does what is right is acceptable him.”  Anyone, it sez right here.   Illegal immigrants, LGBT, convicts…even bigots and red-necks!    Doing “what is right” is a phrase which could get lost, so we’d better refer back to the Isaiah passage about justice and light, “the true path” brought by Jesus….

The Gospel for the day is Matthew’s account of Jesus’ baptism, 3:13-17.   “Suddenly the heavens were opened to him and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting on him.  And a voice from heaven said, ‘This is my Son, the Beloved, with whom I am well pleased.'”   The author writes to the Jews, well-steeped in the Hebrew tradition, including Isaiah’s concept of the Servant.  Here in this Season of Signs, we gladly receive both the Dove and the Voice as affirmations of our expectations.  During this liturgical year we’ll be regularly examining “proofs” of Jesus being the Messiah…and the greater inclusion of “those others” in God’s loving care as well.

The people sitting next to you in church are yearning for the Light, more than you know.   The Servant brings Justice and Light, and expects those called in righteousness to bear it throughout all the world: “to open the eyes that are blind, to bring out the prisoners from the dungeon, from the prison those who sit in darkness.”

God Bless Us, Every One!                                   Horace Brown King

“Little Willie, full of glee, poured radium in Grandma’s tea:  now he thinks it quite a lark to see her shining in the dark!”

Many congregations will observe Epiphany this Sunday, a day early.   But as one obsessively liturgical, I’m thinking about the Second Sunday after Christmas, often unvisited due to the quirks of the calendar.  These lessons certainly are pre-Epiphany, since they speak about Light and Revelation.  No star-lit travels of Magi, yet they guide our journey with Wisdom and Bright Living.  Even as we turn away from the Manger into the surrounding dark, they provide intelligence for our path.

From Between the Testaments we read from the Book of Sirach (!) 24:1-12; and from The Wisdom of Solomon (!!) 10:15-21.  Very similar in their message, they lift up the role of Wisdom (Sophia) both in Creation and in the Holy History of Israel’s escape from Egypt.  “Wisdom” is more than making Righteous Choices, and more than “knowing” the special languages of the kabbal and Gnosticism.  Wisdom is part of God, and brings divine light to those who pray (like Solomon) and see here a holy partnership.  (Remember those awful “God is My Co-Pilot” bumper stickers?)

The Epistle is full of long sentences of Paul to the Ephesians, chapter 1, vv.3-14.   Don’t get hung up on “destined”, you Calvinists, but see v.13-14 about being marked through faith with the seal of the promised Holy Spirit: “this is the pledge of our inheritance toward redemption as God’s own people, to the praise of [God’s] glory.”   This could take all of Epiphany to unpack!  For me, I’m going to list it as one more reading about God imposing Holy Wisdom and Light upon the darkened world.

Who needs to preach when the Gospel is the wonderful Prologue to John  (1:1-18)?  As those who’re extra–sensitive to the Gathering Gloom, we need desperately to hear about God’s initiative in bringing the Light, one which the Devilish Darkness can’t overcome!  Pew-warmers, in withdrawal from the phony glitz of holidays, need to hear about a REAL light that will bring hope through the long winter’s night. 

This could stand by itself as an exercise in Holy Beauty.  Yet it’s our duty to point out the real terror that Darkness instills in us, even to the point of paralysis.  Suicide bombings, fear of immigrants, distrust of other religious systems…(for my latest rant, see the note below)   And then we should speak of those groups & individuals like Willie’s Grandma, who shine in the dark!  Not of course by their own endeavors, but because they’ve ingested the Source of Light, Immanuel, God With Us.  Ready?…Set?…Glow!

God Bless Us, Every One                                         Horace Brown King

FOOTBALL!  personifies everything currently wrong with America!  Trash talk & bullying.  Win at any cost, even if you have to maim another “player”.   Cover up the sodomy in the locker-room or the rape at parties, so The Program won’t get hurt.  Violence and smash-mouth hitting.  Public irresponsibility, stabbings & DUI, glorified profanity.   I’m sick of it, aren’t you??

As I walked in to Sunday School at the last minute, as is my custom, my friend Bill assigned me a seat:  “You’re to sit between Millie & Marcia, so we can have a thorn between the roses.   All roses need thorns.”   This sounded like a fine topic for further perusal–and so it shall be, this Sunday after Christmas!   These days of Christmas are my favorites:  the immediacy of glitz and tinsel have ceased on Christmas Eve, the frenzy has subsided and families can bask in the glow of the tree and remember those who gave them each ornament in years past….  Here at the bottom of the year we prepare to slide into January’s hibernation; but only after a last round of merry-making.    Sunday’s worship reflects this diversity, honoring the wonder of the ChristChild AND acknowledging that the paths from the manger are expected to be thorny.

The Old Testament reading, Isaiah 63:7-9, seems at first glance to be peaceful and pastoral:  “In [God’s] love and in his pity [God] redeemed them; he lifted them up and carried them all the days of old.”  And so it is!  Yet the Lector should also read the surrounding verses to recognize the disgust of the Lord at the shallow fidelity of the people, and the darkness which brings us terror even as we have known Divine deliverance.

The writer of the Letter to the Hebrews rambles along (2:10-18), but does lift up the concept of the Suffering Servant, here equated with Jesus.  Only through his own death does Jesus destroy the slavery of those who fear death!  “Because he himself was tested by what he suffered, he is able to help those who are being tested.”   Thorns for the Rose.

Matthew’s Gospel remembrance (2:13-23) tells of the Flight to Eqypt:  Joseph, warned of Herod’s paranoia in a dream, immediately packs up Mary & Jesus to get out of Dodge quickly.  None too soon, either, for royal troops soon come to slaughter all the infants and toddlers in and around Bethlehem!  (Here sing “the Coventry Carol”)  Already Jesus is bringing a two-edged sword to the House of Israel.  Even after the Tyrant’s death, Joseph (being warned in another dream) moved to the Gallilean hinterland.

We have a very old and tough rosebush at the corner where the back porch joins to the house.  Left without trimming, its stems would grow several feet during the spring and summer!  A trellis and some bungee cords keep it more or less upright, for it’s very topheavy.  Through the summer, it bears literally hundreds of deep crimson flowers, and is a source of joy to all.   Did I mention that it has thorns?  Big ones.  May your days be merry and bright–but watch where you grab ‘hold….

God Bless Us, Every One!                                Horace Brown King

On this Fourth Sunday of Advent, just before the Great Christmas, the readings take a heady turn.  The commentaries I’ve read say that this is a fine time to discuss the Virgin Birth, or at least the sign of the Pregnant Young Woman.  Or the fans of St. Paul could debate whether “all the Gentiles” means the whole world or just the Elect.  The socially concerned may engage in conversation about the kindness of Joseph when he found his bride-to-be Great With Child.   But most of us in the pews — and the pulpit — are on this day in a more sensory frame of worship!  Candles and choirs lead us beyond conjecture and ancient nuance to a warm rumor of angels and a preparation for Immanuel, “God With Us”.

When Isaiah met doubtful King Ahaz and told him of God’s continued favor to Judah, he did mention a baby:  “…the young woman is with child and shall bear a son, and shall name him Immanuel.”  [“God With Us”, remember]  (7:14)  Matthew will later claim this baby as the Messiah, which is his way of selling Judaism on Jesus.  To Ahaz, his choice is laid out:  believe in God or continue to pursue a political strategy which would prove to be tragic.   What does he really want?

Paul begins the Letter to the Roman Congregations by introducing his credentials as a bonafide Apostle to the Gentiles, breathlessly calling down the Gospel, the resurrection and the work of the Holy Spirit in a six-verse long sentence!  [Readers, it’s OK to pause at the commas]  But look at verse 7:  “To all God’s beloved in Rome, who are called to be saints (!): Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.”  Now that’s what I want for Christmas, Grace and Peace!  This is the message needed for the saints and the not-so-saintly,  Those who rest beside the weary road to hear the angels sing crave to know more Grace and Peace.

Matthew wrote to the Jewish segment of the early Church, attempting to make sense of the ancient Messianic oracles which his audience knew so well.  And so he was compelled to introduce the Virgin Birth as a fulfillment of Isaiah’s ancient political promise.  This holy conception is important to later creed-builders who insisted upon the Son as “very God of very God, very man of very man”.  It also solidifies the sacredness of mother/nurturer and father/protector, recognizing that even the ChristChild needs a supportive family during the formative years…  What did Mary and Joseph want for Christmas?

It’s good to gather with a few friends to debate the finer points of the Incarnation — during the bleakness of January or February, with the winds of Winter whistling around our torch-lit towers.  But in the hope of late Advent, still waiting by the empty manger, I need to bask in the warm promise of Unlimited Grace and Invincible Peace, really all I need or want for Christmas!               Let Christians all, with joyful mirth, both young and old, both great and small,                                                                         
                Now think upon our Saviour’s birth, who brought salvation to us all.        –medieval canto

God Bless Us, Every One!                                  Horace Brown King

I really admire Pope Francis for calling his segment of the Church Universal to react against the prevailing culture of self-indulgence.  He has said that human life has more value than making lots of money and the power that goes with it.  Already under criticism from those who worship at the altars of Mammon, his message trumpets forth like Isaiah or John the Baptizer, preparing the Way of the Lord across the neon desert.  Perhaps the Season of Advent is our most strident opportunity to publicly affirm the disenfranchised, the poor and lonely, and those in the shadows who’ve given up hope.  Let this Sunday’s lessons be read at full voice, declaimed dramatically with a spark in the eye of the reader!

The Advent Promise is spoken so well in the 35th Chapter of the writings of the Prophet Isaiah: “The wilderness and the dry land shall be glad, the desert shall rejoice and blossom.”   Bruce C. Birch, of Wesley Seminary, says that “the transformed way through the wilderness is also the sign of God’s impending new age, when all that is less than whole is restored and made new.  Broken creation becomes new creation….the coming of God’s kingdom is signaled by reversals in the world’s priorities and understanding….the weak are given strength, the fearful given courage.  The feeble are made firm, and the coming of the Lord brings salvation.”  Come with singing, for sorrow and sighing shall flee away!

But is this happening?  Why is there yet so much pain?   James encourages the Believer, “You also must be patient.  Strengthen your hearts, for the coming of the Lord is near.” (5:8)   A major part of our Advent message to the weary world is, “Hang In There, God’s in Charge!”

Matthew’s Gospel tells the story of John the Baptizer, wearied and discouraged in prison, sending to Jesus to ask the same question that we do:  “Are you the one who is to come, or are we to wait for another?”   To which Jesus points to signs of the Kingdom: “…the blind receive their sight, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the poor have good news brought to them.” (11:2-5)   The very real presence of Jesus is the consummation of the Advent Promise!  From this day forward, we see the needy, the disabled and the oppressed through Holy Eyes…

How then shall we live the Advent Promise in the midst of international distrust, drones and phone tapping, and environmental neglect?  What is different in the attitude of Church People when met by cuts in aid to the poor and ill?   And how do we ourselves meet the bigoted and uninformed folks who shout their fears of not having enough to go ’round?   May the Scriptures of this Season form us into the People of God’s Image, announcing God’s ubiquitous Presence!

God Bless Us, Every One!                    H   B   King

On this Second Sunday in Advent, we again meet the audacity of the Hebrew and Christian Bible in these readings daring us to believe that God is still doing a New Thing.   The scene proposed by these lessons seems so alien to the surrounding Winter Dark, already being dotted with lights of forced gaiety and manufactured nostalgia….   Will the multitude of the heavenly host burst onto our chilly hillside ever again?   Can we believe the rumor of angels told in our faith communities?

Isaiah of Jerusalem calls words of hope to those about to enter the train wreck of the late, great Israel.  Even though the Old Splendor has long expired, “a shoot shall come out from the stump of Jesse” [David’s father, remember] with “the spirit of the Lord”. (11:1-2)   Not only will this be the Righteous Judge, but he will introduce a time of sublime peace when enemies will exist together and not devour each other.  “They will not hurt or destroy on all my holy mountain….on that day the root of Jesse shall stand as a signal to the peoples; the nations [even the Gentiles!] shall inquire of him, and his dwelling shall be glorious.” (vv. 9-10]

The Roman letter of St. Paul re-visits this counter-cultural message of the Peaceable Kingdom (15:4-9),   Not one for symbolism,  the author avoids lions ‘n’ lambs to come straight to the point:  “May the God of steadfastness and encouragement grant you to live in harmony with one another, in accordance with Christ Jesus, so that together you may with one voice glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.”  He successfully makes the link to the Hebrew writings:  “….Isaiah says, ‘the root of Jesse shall come, the one who rises to rule the Gentiles; in him the Gentiles shall hope.'” 

In our Wednesday lectionary group, we routinely ask, “Where’s the Grace?  Where’s the Good News?”   And well may we ask, in the Gospel reading of Matthew 3:1-12.   John the Baptizer minces no words in calling the religious establishment a “brood of vipers”, and calling even (especially!) them to repentance.   Turn around now, he says, for the barren trees and the left-over straw will be burned, even as the olives and barley are stored away!  This must be Good News for the faithful; but who are they??

The neighbor across the street from our Parsonage in Montrose PA had a giant cottonwood tree, which I valued for its shade,  But it did shed lots of “cotton” in the late summer, and the owner had it cut down.  Completely.  Even the top of the stump was buried.  But come Spring, many of the nearby yards sprouted lines of little cottonwoods, bursting upwards from the sprawling roots!   A symbol of the Creator’s tenacity?  Shoots springing from the stump of Jesse?  Advent brings the audacious Good News that despite human meddling, God hasn’t given up on building a Peaceable Kingdom!

God Bless Us Every One!                                   H   B   King

There’s a timeless moment at the end of the night and the break of the day — and I’m usually awake.  Not for very long, but of sufficient time for me to squint at the clock radio’s  display and wonder what day it is.  The same clock radio will soon produce an annoying beeping to tell me that time passes too swiftly  and that I’m already behind in my plans.  The Season of Advent is such a timeless moment, the sudden hush just before the conductor raises the baton.  What do we seek?   We seek the promised savior, the one who will redeem us from all evil.   How will we know him?   Ah, that’s the question!

Isaiah of Jerusalem brings us current, right off the bat. (2:1-5)  “In days to come…”, he begins.  And then  we  hear about the centrality of Zion as the world-navel of wisdom and righteousness.  But then God enlarges the horizons to instruct and guide ALL the nations, who respond by shaping “their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more.”  Come, o people of God, let us watch for and “walk in the light of the Lord!”

Paul exhorts the churches in Rome, “you know what time it is, how it is now the moment to wake from sleep.” (13:11-14)   (What, already??)  Like it or not, says he, a New Day is at hand, and the Lord is doing marvelous things!  So get dressed and move on from the debauchery — love that word! — of last night.  Where will God encounter us in this New Day?   Not in quarreling and jealousy; your little snits don’t help anyone….

During this Christian Year (year “A”), the Gospel reading will be from the remembrance of Matthew.  He gives us words of Jesus about The Last Times (24:36-44): only the Father knows WHEN, so keep ready.  Those near Bethlehem at the time of the Nativity weren’t much ready.   Those who were fed and healed by Jesus weren’t particularly ready.   Those around the Cross certainly weren’t ready!  Even the disciples in mourning weren’t ready….  

Oversaturated by daily history which seems to have run amok, we ask if there’s any real significance to our lives.  Advent can be that hushed moment on the cusp of a New Day when the community of faith can respond to the Claws of Santa by affirming personal worth of all our fellow-travelers.  Yes, there is a flow of history, and a knowable Presence which comes to reunite Earth with Heaven!