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During this Season after Pentecost — some traditions call it “Kingdomtide” — we hear readings concerning God’s Steadfast Love toward the hungry, the homeless, the rogues and the wanderers.  Since most of us are, or recently have been, this is a time of comfort and nurture, of finding a home when the cold winds blow.

God took care of Ruth (chapters 3 & 4) even though she was from Moab (gasp!).  God used Naomi, the mother-in-law as a vehicle of wisdom:  “go sleep with Boaz, and he’ll marry you.”  Boaz was mature and rich; we know of his kindness, since he allowed the poor to glean his field.   Not only was Ruth cared for materially, but delivered a son who was to be King David’s grandpa!

We continue to read in the Letter to the Hebrews (9:24-28) about the sole efficacy of Christ to be our Ultimate High Priest.  Contemplating the Kingdom, we are directed there, shepherded, through Christ’s giving of himself.

And a double reading from Mark’s Gospel (12:38-44:  Jesus cautions against the obviously Righteous and self-assured, whose spirits are shallow despite all their fancy clothes.  Instead, look at this poor widow, who quietly put her last penny into the Temple treasury!   This isn’t necessarily a lesson about giving, but an exercise in how radically we dare trust God to care for us in our poverty.  Truth to tell, we can’t take our fancy clothes with us; so enjoy ’em now, before we’re required to put all of what’s left into God’s hands…  Lord, have mercy.

God doesn’t play “How Much Do You Love Me?”   Yet there’s a Divine conviction that the Lover is satisfied even more than the Beloved!  

God Bless Us, Every One                   H    B    King

Scriptures you may hear on Sunday address the journey between Business As Usual and the Promised Land.  Never a one-way trip, this journey criss-crosses a median land which is both/and, yet neither….  At the risk of double-speak, those who inscribed these passages have embraced the complexity of Godly Living, and help us — comfort us? — in our travels.

Ruth and Orpah, widowed along with their mother-in-law, Naomi, concluded that a New Life awaited them in Naomi’s homeland in the area of Bethlehem.  Knowing full well the Exodus tradition, they set out from Moab to change everything.  At the frontier (that median land of which we spoke), Orpah turned back, but Ruth insisted on adventuring on:  “your people shall be my people” (Ruth 1:16-17).  Read ahead to find out how this’ll set up Advent and the Incarnation.

Psalm 146 contrasts earthly leadership and that of God.  “Do not put your trust in princes….their plans perish….{but} happy are those whose help is the God of Jacob.”  (verses 3 – 5)  Unlike the politically astute, who court the well-off, Yahweh seeks out the oppressed, the hungry, the blind, the orphan, the widow… even that rogue Jacob!  Praise the Lord!

The writer to the Hebrews is still busy  comparing an earthly (fallible) high priest with Jesus, who by his death purified the Believer from dead works of a previous “land”. (9:11-14)

St. Mark remembers the occasion when Jesus discussed the “greatest” commandment with the local lawyers. (12-28 – 34)   “Love the Lord your God totally ( the shema, as in Deuteronomy 6), and your neighbor as yourself.”:   The first four commandments, then the following six.  No more neglect of the community surrounding you, but getting right into it!

Can one ever turn back?   How ya gonna keep ’em down on the farm once they have seen Paree?   And what was Orpah’s story?  Did she remarry and have a passel of little Moabites?  Did she regret not staying the course?  It’s not that simple:  some days are better than others.  Perhaps she made the journey to Bethlehem as an old woman — better late than never.  Are we there yet?

God Bless Us, Every One                 H   B   King

Countercultural.  The Book is full of these episodes and wise sayings which turn the world upside down.  From the beginning, faith-life is seen as expressing Something Different than the rest of the world usually dishes out.  Joseph, the poor kid from the desert, gets to run all of Egypt.  Gideon the timorous overcomes oppression.  Mary foretells that the poor will be filled with good things, while the rich will have had their day.  The readings many of you will hear this Sunday continue this theme of unexpected notice.

The Book of Proverbs rambles on and on, but closes with an almost surprising paen to The Ideal Woman –or any woman (31:10ff)  This ancient Martha Stewart does everything right, making her husband the envy of all the other guys!   Is this a check-list for the Perfect Wife, or a fella shopping for one?  What’s surprising is that this unsolicited testimonial comes from within a male-centered culture, and is considered Holy.   Telford Work, a professor at Westmont  College in California, says that “preaching (this passage) in the midst of the pitched gender politics of our age is like stomping through a minefield.”

Psalm 1 offers happiness/blessedness to those who delight in the law of the Lord, who don’t follow the crowd.  But as Kermit the Frog says, “It’s not easy being green”.

Ah, James!   More Wisdom decrying envy & selfish ambition, materialism & conflict over turf.  Written to the early Church, perhaps in underground congregations, James urges a unique ethic of gentleness, “full of mercy and good fruits, without a trace of partiality or hypocrisy” (3:17)  What a change fro the daily business of those times!  Between the lines, he writes that this is a by-product of our faith, and concludes, “Draw near to God, and (God) will draw near to you.” (4:8)
Mark’s Gospel remembers the time when the Jesus Gang  argued among themselves as to who was the Number One Disciple.  (9:33-37)  “Whoever wants to be first must be last of all and servant of all.”  Whoever takes care of the helpless and the innocent gives true service to the Lord  What could be more expendable than a street urchin?

In these days of power and calling corporations people, this alternative word must be heard.  My Yahoo homepage exalts the famous, the expensive and the arrogant.  But the Church resonates with women, children and gentle creatures who’re submerged in a swamp of selfishness!   A  guy I knew in college told me, “Nice guys finish last”.   But that’s not what it says here.

God Bless Us, Every One

Horace Brown King, Binghamton NY

Helen Street turned busy, this week:  school busses and impatient parents made steady pilgrimage to West Middle School, just up the street.  A few walkers, resigned to a new school year, trudged by with clean but downcast faces.  Everyone’s a year older!  And the search for Wisdom continues……

The Book of Proverbs begins with a reproach to the foolish from Wisdom (1:20-33).  She’s EVERYwhere — on the streetcorner, in the market, at the gates of the city.  “You have ignored all my counsel….I will laugh at your calamity.”   Remember the stuff our parents used to tell us?   “You’ll shoot your eye out!”   “Just shut your mouth and eat!”   And the ever-popular, “When you chop your foot off with that axe, don’t come running to ME!”   And now we hear, “the complacency of fools destroys them, but those who listen to me will be secure.”

James tells those who would teach to be very careful with their words (3:12).   He notes that the tongue is difficult to tame, and is the little rudder by which the entire ship sets its course.   “No one can tame the tongue, a restless evil, full of deadly poison.”   If you’re going to praise God, he says, be careful not to pollute your words with unkindness and gossip.

The Gospel continues from St. Mark (8:27-38).  Jesus asks, “Who does society say that I am?  And who do YOU say that I am?”   Gotta be careful with this: St. Peter answers rightly that Jesus is Messiah — then blows it by denying that the Messiah must suffer & die!   Jesus’ wisdom is that that’s a selfish escape, and that to be whole with God we’re all to take a counter-cultural risk….

How do these tie together, and is there a common link?   Seems to me that if there’s a common denominator, it’s a verbal one: what’s said.   God must often feel as though there’s only an echo coming back, that messages of Wisdom and Christ-like suffering fall on non-hearing ears.   As a Preacher, as one given to Disciple-speak, I often think I may be conversing in Martian!

Last Saturday, I had a high-school class reunion  — number 51 (sheesh, am I a geezer!)  Not surprised, but tickled that so many there spoke of their involvement in church, and what their faith had led them to do!   My old classmates, with whom I laughed & tussled, took tests, squabbled over basketballs, danced and disrupted study-halls!  And we came out (eventually) with a taste of Godly Wisdom….

I guess all those First Days of School were worth it after all.

God Bless Us, Every One

           Horace Brown KIng

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