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No, this isn’t about marriage — but guess what.   If you think you can get in the Last Word with God, you’ve got things a bit askew….to put it mildly.   Readings for this Sunday upcoming are sort of like parables, that is, they tell a moralistic story.   I like to picture what’s being described as a way of entering into the scene.  Join me?

The Old Testament portion is most of Chapter 21 of the First Book of Kings.  We’re still following Elijah in his relentless crusade to drive idolatry from Israel, especially going up against vapid King Ahab and his conniving Queen Jezebel.  One Naboth owned a vineyard which was in the family since the resettlement of Canaan; he wouldn’t sell it to Ahab, who wanted a cucumber patch.   Ahab went home to pout; Jezebel wasn’t put off so easily.  To make a long story shorter, she had false charges of blasphemy brought against Naboth, and he was stoned to death.  “Grow your cucumbers, dear,” she told the King.   BUT Elijah found Ahab in his new plot, and told him, “in the place where dogs licked up the blood of Naboth, dogs will also lick up YOUR blood.” ( v,19 )  Nice folks.

Well, Paul’s writing to the Galatians 2:15-21) isn’t really a Parable.  But I can paint a picture in my mind when he says “it is no longer I who live, but it is Christ who lives in me.” (v.20)  In my picture, I see a transparent, shadowy figure of Paul enclosing a quite firm image of Jesus.  This combination certainly makes me think about my ethics as I carry about such a Divine Presence…

Luke tells stories so well!   Here in chapter 7 of his Gospel account we see Jesus at a formal dinner when a Woman of the Streets barges in weeping, bathing his feet with her tears and drying them with her hair.  Simon, the host, is appalled; but Jesus forgives her sins.  This, again, is God’s Last Word:  :”forgiveness” goes beyond her errors to restore her into the synagogue, the community, and the culture.  The Old is gone, the New has come!

Elijah delivers God’s Last Word to Ahab as a reminder that his immoral living will catch up to him soon.  Paul says that God’s Last Word is constantly unfolding within him, changing and re-forming him.  And Jesus announces to the outcast woman of shady background that her life has re-started from this moment on, a loving Last Word from God.

A long-lived refrigerator magnet in our house was a styrene “peanut” caterpillar with inked eyes and segments.  Around the cardboard circle to which he was glued was the motto, “Please be patient:  God isn’t through with me yet”

God Bless Us, Every One                  H   B    King

I’ve been there.  Have you?   When you’re at the bottom of the barrel, when the money or food or life itself give out?  Readings you may hear this weekend tell some heroic stories and affirm a Holy Presence even when gloom seems to have snatched away any reason for living.   They won’t give a glib answer, a “buck-up, shake it off” sort of advice which means so little to the hurting.  They DO address God’s sharing of our mortal pain, and remind us that there are moments of grace even when the shadows are deep.

Begin, please, with the prophet Elijah (I Kings 17:8-24).   To set this up, Elijah was on the lam from Queen Jezebel:  remember how he had shown Yahweh’s power greater than the Ba’al, and had slaughtered all the Ba’al  priests when their barbecue wouldn’t light.  Very angry, Jezebel promised Elijah that he’d be dead meat by sunset!   “Better hit the road,” God said.

So now we find him at Zarepath, outside of the Queen’s domain, penniless & starving.  His one hope was that the Lord had told him about a widow who would help him.  Sure ‘nuf, said widow was gathering one last stick to make one last fire to bake one last Jonny-cake before she & her son died of starvation.  Elijah promised that her jar of meal and her cruze of oil never would become empty ’til Good Times came again… and so they remained full enough.

Then the son of the widow, her only son, died.  Elijah prayed for the child to revive; and he did!  Another happy ending!   So here’s Elijah, exiled from home–was he beyond Yahweh’s territory?–and at the bottom of the barrel.  And a destitute widow and a dead son, all at the bottom of THEIR barrels….but God wasn’t through yet.

Paul’s biographical statement to the Church(es) of Galatia (1:11-24) shares how God has worked in his life to get him to be an Apostle of Christ.   Not exactly the bottom of the barrel, but such a radical change!  “The one who formerly was persecuting us is now proclaiming the faith he once tried to destroy.” (v.23)

Luke’s Gospel presents a story about Jesus going to the town of Nain. (7:11-17)  There he encountered a funeral procession:  a young fellow, his widowed mother’s only son (!) had died.   Jesus said, “Young man, I say to you, rise!” (v.14)  And as he did, the people glorified God.  Just when one would say, “This is the bottom of the barrel for sure,” God makes things different….

A caveat, here:  some of you may be saying, “but I’VE had a child die, too!”  Or maybe you’ve come to your last meal.  Or maybe you’re running for your life in a foreign and alien place.  Where was Elijah when you needed him?  or Jesus??  These lessons have nothing at all to do with rewarding the righteous or comforting the faithful. What they are is an acknowledgement of God’s grief with ours, a reminder that pain has existed across the ages and that the Creator hates it just as much as we do ourselves.

The individuals in these readings were met by God and changed in some way.   How shall we receive the Presence of the Holy when the Bearer of the Flame comes near?

God Bless Us, Every One                 H    B    King

“Give me a sign,”  begs the lover, desperate to have his passion confirmed.  “Give me a sign,” cried ancient Gideon, when he thought he was being told to vanquish the Moabites.  “I’m looking for a sign,”  I grumble to Marie when my destination eludes me once again.  Readings for this coming Sunday tell about signs — and also about God’s grace, the origin of our connections.

We begin with the prophet Elijah berating those purveyors of idolatry, the Priests of Baal — and the Israelites who are “limping” in their faith with one foot depending on the Lord and the other on fertile homes & fields. (I Kings 20:21)  Talk about relevance!  Read this story with drama, enjoy the fireworks!  Here’s grace, and a major sign of Yahweh’s involvement.  No longer must we limp between Enduring Faith and Cultural Wisdom….

The Apostle Paul likewise berates the congregations in Galatia for “deserting the one who called you in the grace of Christ and are turning to another gospel.” (1:6)   He goes on to say that his message is indeed of God’s Grace, a sign for the Gentiles of being included within the divine family.  “I did not receive it from a human source, nor was I taught it, but I received it through a revelation of Jesus Christ.” (v.12)

Luke’s narrative shares another sign, that of physical healing, to the Jewish community still unsure about God’s care for “outsiders”.  (7:1-10)   Jesus commended the unswerving faith of the centurion, and said that “not even in Israel have I found such faith.” (v.9)  No “limping” here! 

Elijah, Paul & the centurion all were sure that the sign was sure and without waiver.  The central message in these occasions isn’t so much in the asking for a measurable indication of God’s involvement as it is in the knowledge that such connection has already occurred.   And why not?  Are we not the People of God?   Where in our neighborhood, where in our congregation is this connection being played out as we speak?  Who is being changed?  or healed?

God Bless Us, Every One       H   B   King

In many churches, the Sunday after Pentecost is called Trinity Sunday:  a time for special welcome to the Holy Spirit which has now stepped forth along with the Creating Father and Redeeming Son.   The doctrine of the Trinity separates Christianity from most other world religions:  some will erroneously understand us as worshiping 3 deities.   St. Patrick used a shamrock to illustrate the idea of three leaves on one central stem.

How does this Holy Spirit make a difference?  The writer(s) of Proverbs suggest a Divine Wisdom emanates from Creation, which then calls out joyful wonder to humans. (8:1-4, 22-31)   I have no problem equating this Old Testament spiritual visitation with the New Testament Advocate–but some will differ.  If I think of the role of God’s Spirit as bearer of Wisdom, I’m glad for some Presence which can give me a nudge or a clout when my very limited insight can’t solve the Puzzle.

The Epistle, Romans 5:1-5, can prove problematic if we try to bend it to the theme of Spiritual Wisdom.  So don’t.  What Paul is saying here is that faith in Jesus the Christ is the doorway to the storehouse of grace which God loves to share!  This is, of course, a Trinitarian doctrine which delves deeply into the Holy Wholeness in which we walk…..  “Justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.”

“When the Spirit of truth comes”, says Jesus, “he will guide you into all the truth.”  (John 16:13a)   Through the centuries, we’ve paid soothsayers and oracles of all types to tell us All the Truth.   Consulting stars and crystals, tarot cards and lines in my palms, seers have made a good dime pretending to advise us about love, war and the weather.  (If you call the Psychic Hot-Line and they ask your name, hang up!)  The Wisdom of God goes beyond  sideshow gimmicks to deal with the Big Picture, that is, God’s Glory and exclusive sovereignty.

Is Wisdom a good thing?  Sure!  Bring it on!   Ah, but is that what you really want?  They say that “Ignorance is Bliss”.   And when we start to see God’s Wisdom, we’re setting ourselves up to be constrained by it!   Knowing the speed-limits and rules of culture means that we’re expected to live by them.  Touched by the Spirit, we can no longer in good conscience turn away from the poor and the homeless, can no longer ignore those who menace and intimidate with firearms, can no longer sit back while the selfish impale the vulnerable on swords of higher profit.  What hath God wrought??

God Bless Us, Every One!       H    B    King

Sterling Drake, the old gentleman who lived next door as I was growing up, had a favorite expression:  “say what?”  Sometimes this was because he was quite hard of hearing, and sometimes because he pretended to be incredulous about what one of his many grandchildren were telling him.  On this Pentecost Sunday, both reasons seem to be in order as I think about my grizzled neighbor…   The Lectionary suggests several readings:  these three are useful for my thoughts.

Genesis 11:1-9 is the story of the Tower of Babel.  The People of the Earth got too uppity and tried to reach heaven by building a tower/ziggurat/pyramid.  Sensing a loss of control (again), God confounded their communication by creating several differing languages.  Unable to resolve their speech, the project failed, and various tribes became enemies one of another.

the second of the readings is the traditional story of Pentecost (Acts 2:1-21).  Fifty days after the Resurrection, the Holy Spirit bathed the gathering of Apostles with wind and fire!  What’s more, they could now speak in foreign languages to tell the Gospel message to Jewish folks from all over the Mediterranean region who lived in Jerusalem.  This is just opposite the Tower of Babel experience, for now language wouldn’t make a difference and the community of faith would be re-gathered.

How often, in a new phase of life, do we need a friend to walk with, someone who knows the path and who speaks the language?   In his farewell discourse in the upper room on Mournful Thursday, Jesus reassured his folks that they wouldn’t long be leaderless.  “But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you everything, and remind you of all that I have said to you.”(John 14:26)  This Advocate, whose coming we celebrate on Pentecost, comes to gather up the loose ends of the Church by teaching and reminding us about what Jesus said about righteousness, mercy, forbearance and justice.

In the almost-two millennia since that occasion, the Church continues to need these reminders — not ’cause we’re overly stupid, but we’re up against a barbaric culture which holds ethics and morality in low esteem and disavows the sacredness of human life.  Roland McGregor, a United Methodist pastor from Out West, says of Pentecost, “The new age was to knit back together the human fabric that had been shredded on the Tower of Babel.”

“The intent of John 14 is to form a community of believing and obedient people,  a community that is confident in the disclosure of God that has come in the person of Jesus and that depends upon the leadership of the Spirit of truth to keep it obedient and productive in its life.”   –Eugene C. Bay, in FEASTING ON THE WORD

God Bless Us, Every One           H    B    King

The Gospel according to St. John introduces Divine Light in its prologue:  “In him (Jesus} was life, and the life was the light of the world.  The light has shined in darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.” (1:4,5)  That’s not in the readings for Sunday, and yet it becomes the thread which weaves through them.  Bear it in mind as you listen….

Luke tells an interesting tale in Acts 16:  in Philippi, Paul & Co. are met by a young woman who was a mantic, a seer of the “future”.  Annoyed by her constant badgering, Paul exorcised the demon (in Greek, a “Python”!) and the girl’s agents saw she could no longer fleece the gullible for their private wealth.   So they had Paul & Silas beaten and jailed.  You may remember about the earthquake that sprung all the doors of the jail, how the jailer almost killed himself in despair, and about how he & his family believed in Jesus and were baptized.  Jailhouse Rocked long before Elvis.  But the sentence that leaped out at me was verse 29, “The jailer called for lights…”  Darkness was near-death, but affirmation came with the light.

And one last foray into Revelation, for a while:  chapter 22, where Jesus names himself “the bright morning star” (v.16)  Even when it’s darkest before the dawn, there’s one final celestial gleam which tells the ardent watcher that a New Day is really at hand!  When I delivered the Scranton Tribune in the pre-dawn blackness, when the shadows were hostile and the earth had died, I came to search for the Morning Star…  Maybe, said I, “maybe today will be better.”

John devotes almost half of his Gospel to Holy Week, and a large chunk of that to the Last Supper.  In his long “high priestly” prayer, the Lord says, “the glory that you have given me I have given them, so that they may be one, as we are one.”   (v.22)  And then again, “I desire that those also, whom you have given me, may be with me where I am, to see my glory…” (v.24)  Is not this glory the Holy Light of which we heard back in the Beginning??

Allegories are always difficult:  how far shall we spin it without compromising its roots?  My own discomfort in deep darkness is cheered to know of the Light in the Garden at the end of the tunnel which is our faith-journey.  May the gathering dark not frighten you, nor the gloom of those who oppose Mercy, Justice and Truth.   Step in the Light–nay, DANCE in it with the glory of its Source, the Lord Jesus Christ!

God Bless Us, Every One                   H    B    King

As a member of the “itinerant” United Methodist clergy, I know lots about new places.   During my 40-some year career, we’ve moved nine times, each move worse than the one before.   It’s not fun to say farewell to friends and familiar haunts, nor to find new medical and mechanical services.  There is, though, a certain adventure in getting to know a New Place, all in the hopes that God really has a Plan.

The Church centers itself on this fluid drive.  Sunday’s scriptures not only honor this Divine Flow, but challenge us not to grow moss!   In Acts 16 comes the story of Paul & Co.moving in response to a dream: a man from Macedonia asking them to come to them.  “When he had seen the vision, we immediately tried to cross over to Macedonia, being convinced that God had called us to proclaim the good news to them.” (16:10)  This was the Church’s first foray into Europe, beyond the comfort-zone of those travelers.

John the Divine also had a series of visions, which he wrote into the Revelation.  After the terrors, a new peace came over Earth & Heaven, and a holy garden was seen, reminiscent of the original Eden.  Eternal Light from God’s Presence continually floods the place, and a grove of the Trees of Life are watered by a clear river flowing from the Throne of God.  Has the Creator written a happy ending  to the Human Journey?

During the Last Supper, Jesus assures his closest friends that his departure is necessary for the Newness of God’s Design to move forward.  Firstly, his going will send the Holy Spirit to teach “everything, and remind you of all that I have said to you.” (John 14:26)   And also, Jesus goes to prepare a place for us — so rejoice that he is going to the Father! (v.28)

Seems to me that the common thread here is that of envisioning a New Place full of hope and possibility — just like the UM clergy!   (Actually, this is the only way to survive the itinerant system.)   So where do the Church and its members see a new venue of challenge and glory?  How do we prepare ourselves for such creative dreaming?   What places await, by God’s decree? 

I am an idea in the mind of God, in the process of unfolding….

God Bless Us, Every One!             H   B   King 

I’ve always liked the idea of a God who takes the initiative–beginning at Creation, intervening with Prophets and Seers, “at the right time” coming as Jesus…and introducing a Holy Spirit just when the Church needs encouragement the most!   Eastertide is the season when we specially acknowledge this proactive Other, who reaches from beyond the black frontier of Death to burst again into Life.   The word is “Sacrament”, isn’t it?  Readings for this Sunday embody this in-breaking of an abundant and overflowing cup.

We begin with Peter’s fantastic story in Acts, Chapter 11:  fasting on the roof-top, he had a vision of many animals, Kosher and non-, letting down from heaven on a sort of sheet.  As a proper Jew, he rejected some of these as “profane”.   But a Greater Voice told him, “What God has made clean, you must not call profane.” (v.9)  Peter rightly understood this as an affirmation that Jesus came to both Jew AND Gentile, a great overflowing of Grace to All.

We again dip into the Revelation for one of my favorite passages:  found near the happy ending of the book (chapter 21)  we find another vision, this time of the Holy City, New Jerusalem spilling out of heaven to flow over the Earth.  (Remember the Sherwin-Williams paint logo, “We Cover the Earth”?)     The Christmas Carol sings, “Our God, Heaven can not hold him, nor earth sustain; heaven and earth shall flee away when he comes to reign.”  This is the ultimate Sacrament of Grace, an announcement that despite terror and tribulation, a final love prevails.

John’s Gospel reprises the Last Supper, where Jesus commands love for one another as the Church/Body of Christ congeals and forms. (13:31-35)   This comes in greater context of the passage which introduces the Holy Spirit, the Unsought Gift flowing from the Cross to once again flood the earth…..

Reading between the lines, the hearing Church has responsibility to point out where these Sacraments are re-visited in our contemporary life.   Believers are the keepers of the stories AND required to lift up the Sacramental healings and other occasions of Grace.  Let the visions continue!

God Bless Us, Every One                H   B   King

I’ve conducted 613 funerals in my ministry, so far.  And just last week I saw “again” the rubric I’ve used so much at cemeteries:  “In the midst of life, we are in death; from whom can we seek help?….Our help is in the name of the Lord, who made heaven and earth.”  One of the specific tasks of the Church is to audaciously speak Life even as –especially as –we are confronted and overwhelmed by our mortality.  Eastertide is a splendid season to wrestle together with the Powers of Death as met and defeated by the Resurrected Christ.

St. Luke’s second volume (aka The Acts of the Apostles) tells about the spread of the Jesus-story in ripples from Jerusalem.  This week’s episode (Acts 9:36-42) takes us to Lydda, a suburb of Joppa, the seaport of Jerusalem on the Mediterranean, a rather cosmopolitan place.  Here resided one Tabitha, or Dorcas:  a devout disciple who lived her faith by making clothes for the poor.  But illness and death play no favorites; and the congregation mourned.  Peter was sent for, and after prayer, Tabitha came back to life!  “Then calling the saints and widows, he showed her to be alive.” (v.41)

In the 23rd Psalm, one who has walked in the shadow of death/the darkest valley says that “(the Lord) restores my soul”.  And here he is to tell about it!

What?  Another reading from Revelation?!  Yes, ’cause this is the season for unbridled visions!   The seer tells of the Great Multitude, all-inclusive, who have gathered in the Presence to shout out, “Salvation belongs to our God who is seated on the throne, and to the Lamb.”  (7:10)   These have come successfully through of the great ordeal, and now in renewal of life they will hunger and thirst no more….  Let’s tell it!

John’s Gospel account is a rather testy encounter of Jesus with the Jewish religious leaders, a meeting between Old and re-Newed.  “No one,” says Jesus, “will be able to snatch (my sheep) out of my hand.” (10:28)  He continues, “I give them eternal life, and they will never perish.”

Cynics will say that we ARE in the midst of death.  Those who slept through history class will say that things are worse than they’ve ever been.  This weekend’s worship is but only one occasion to respond with a message of Life:  in our preaching and study, to be sure, but also in imitating Dorcas who clothed the poor; and so many other visible proclamations of God’s care through justice, compassion and mercy.

God Bless Us, Every One — as we live the Resurrection!          H   B   King

Readings from the Common Lectionary during the Sundays after Easter centralize the obligation of the Church to not only recognize the Risen Christ, but to point him out to the rest of the world, waiting fussily for some Good News (for once).   Lessons to which we’ve attended lately acknowledge the amazement and delight of Believers when holy encounters occur.  Scriptures for this Third Sunday continue to commission the congregation to herald what God is doing, even Today!

Perhaps the passage(s) from the Acts of the Apostles could be read at the top of the order of worship, a sort of vision statement, or a reason for us to be in attendance in the first place.  This week we hear the famous story of the Conversion of St. Paul (Acts 9:1-6), where a blinding glimpse of Glory shut off his limited sight in order to prepare him for a more heavenly vision.  “He asked, ‘Who are you, Lord?’  The reply came, ‘I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting.'”(v.5)  Full of the world’s traditions and expectations, most of us have come with the same question:  “Who are you, Lord?”

What a quantum leap to Revelation 5:11-14!  Here John the Divine/today’s observer sees the Christ just where one expects, on the Throne of God in the midst of adoring angels and saints.  Even the eagles and the fish in the sea are singing his praise!   Michael Pasquarello III says that this kind of attention “is the work of the whole church,which, drawn by the Spirit in response to the living Word, the risen Lord, offers itself in prayer and praise  and so constitutes itself… as the body of Christ.”   Also, “worship is central to our identity and mission as God’s people, since it is worship that shapes the human community in response to the God of Jesus Christ.”

And then one of the best tales in the Gospels, John’s account of Peter’s fishing trip! (21:1-14)   Not knowing just what to do, some of the Disciples went fishing, a familiar job.  You remember how they saw Jesus on the beach in the morning mist, and how he told them to be successful they had to fish on the Other Side. (“Oy vey, don’t these guys ever learn?”)   With the huge catch again comes recognition for Peter & Co.:  “Now none of the disciples dared to ask him, ‘Who are you?’ because they knew it was the Lord.” (v.12)

After the Resurrection, Jesus keeps coming back.   Sometimes we see him just as we expect, in power and glory–but more often where we least expect him.  The task of the Church, then, is to put aside the Old Sight in order that we may know the Christ more completely; and then to aid the rest of the short-sighted world in discerning Justice and Mercy where they make their brief appearances.

God Bless Us, Every One!                 H   B   King