Psychotherapists say that screaming is good for you.  Not to scream trash at other people, but to shout out against the Powers and Fates that mess up your world.  "Aaarrrrgh!", we cry, falling down the cellar stairs.  "Oh my goodness, that  hurts!" we announce when we hit our thumb with a hammer.   It may not solve the problem, but it sure feels good!  We enter this world with a cry, and often exit it the same way.  Is this an act of faith, to believe that Someone Somewhere is listening?   and caring?

Job, at the end of his saga (chapter 42) finally stops theologizing and arguing his case.  Subdued, he is now ready for God's final word--and for his fortune to be restored.  After the ultimate scream, things get better!  And there's a new appreciation, a new perspective.

We'll also be looking at the 34th Psalm:  acknowledging that even the Righteous are afflicted by disappointment and injury, the writer can still affirm a listening and present God.  And it is only in taking refuge in this God, after the screams, that our fortunes can be restored.

Not being Jewish, we have only a cerebral knowledge of the importance of the High Priest.  The High Priest was the keeper of the Temple and the Supreme Judge of the liturgical Law of the People.  More importantly, he was the go-between between the profane lives of the community and the impossibly Holy and Glorious Yahweh.  The writer of the Hebrews epistle (7:23-28) speaks of the permanence of Christ as the ONLY High Priest:  one who keeps worship proper and who intercedes for the sins of the world.  Each of us now has the privilege of wailing, because this High Priest is always on duty!

The Gospel is Mark's story of Bar-Timaeus, a blind beggar on the road from Jericho to Jerusalem (Mark 10:46-52)   Hearing that the famous Rabbi from Galilee was passing by, he shouted--"Jesus!  Son of David!  Have mercy on me!"  Jesus was evidently listening for the cries of the poor, for he stopped and healed the man.   A miracle to all the nice people:  God responds to our screams!

When I baptize an infant, I always tell the parents not to stay away from worship, even if the baby gets fussy.  "I can scream louder than HE can!"  Is the Church a place where the anguish of the world can be expressed?   Is the sanctuary a safe place to weep away our grief?  "There's no crying in Baseball!", Tom Hanks said.  But it's OK in the Family of God.

Please let your prayers be with the moans of the sick and hurting:  Gladys Hughes had a knee replacement today; Dick Wiser is rehabbing at General Hospital; Dot Briggs fell at home and broke her wrist; we also pray with Steve Szwala, Brian Hayes, Chuck Cincebox, Theresa Andrews, Linda, Audrey Underwood, Todd Miller, Laura, Annie, L G Minor, John Fako, Caroline Stone, William Clauson, Loretta McGlynn, Guy Manning, Rebecca Kresge, Kristen Seamans, Rick McKane, Helen Wells, Denise Mann, Peggy Randall, Bill Krommes, Ruth Page, Kathy Case, Leo & Betty Heffernan, Shirley Banes, Ken Cook, Harold & Phyllis Gates, Rick Caufield, Nadine, Albert & Marge Hebbard and Bernice Price.

Staff notes:  today is/was Carolyn Blake's birthday, don't forget to wish her "many happy returns" -- and our new sexton, Jonathan Hall, has been on the job, this week; please greet him when you see him, and introduce yourself........

My singing voice is pretty average; but I've always found it therapeutic to join a choir or chorus, so as  to regularly make loud noises with my friends!

God Bless Us, Every One!         

H    B    King

My favorite opera star of all-time was only a few inches high!  Actually, he was a mouse.
The operas never varied much:  just when the citizens of Terrytown were in the most awful straits, besieged by corrupt and hungry cats, out of the sky came  Mighty Mouse, to clean up corruption and ensure that his fellow mice would have a happy life until the next time.....  The shows were completely sung--the villain was a basso profundo, and MM himself was (ahem!) a tenor.

The passages that we'll read on Sunday announce that against all odds, our God comes to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat.  Anti-Semitic Haman, grand potentate of Persia, planned to exterminate all Jews from the Empire.  Mordecai, patriarch of the Jewish community got word of this, and went to his niece, Esther--who just happened to be Queen.  After some drama, Esther had Haman himself executed, uncovering his slimy plot and saving the Jews.  You can read all about it in the Book of Esther.

Sunday's foray into the Letter of James reminds the broken & hurting that small prayers make the difference between suffering and release.  "The prayer of the righteous is powerful and effective."  (5:16)  The early Church undoubtedly felt overwhelmed by the Roman Empire; James' letter was to assure them of God's continuing power.  Against all odds.

Mark's Gospel can be a bit strange, seen from a distance of 20 centuries.  I think the salient point is about Credentials.  The Twelve encountered "others" healing and casting out demons  ("Who ARE these people?  They're not in OUR club.")  Jesus told them, however, that "whoever is not against us is for us." (9:38-41)   Grace is extended, then, to the small and mousy who are the Imitators of Christ.

The Church, itself tiny against the flab of the every-day malaise, learns to cherish the little acts that save the day.  It takes a little longer than Mighty Mouse's half-hour--but just at the right time, God steps in with a mustard-seed to grow a tree of Faith!

We pray for Dick Wiser, who had serious surgery yesterday; for Betty Heffernan who broke bones in her neck; both are at Wilson; for Don Shelley, now home from the hospital; for Carol Phillips & Bob Reynolds, doing therapy after joint replacement; for John Fako, Caroline Stone, William  Clauson, Loretta McGlynn, Guy Manning, Rebecca Kresge, Kathy Selarno, Kristen Seamans, Rick McKane, Helen Wells, Denise Mann, Peggy Randall, Bill Krommes, Ruth Page, Kathy Case, Leo lHeffernan, Shirley Barnes, Ken Cook, Harold & Phyllis Gates, Rick Caufield, Nadine, Albert & Marge Hebbard, Bernice Price.   Thank God for this awesome time of year!

Wasn't the kids' choir superb last Sunday!  Please bring all your friends & neighbors to the pork barbeque on the front lawn on Saturday...

Our help is in the name of the Lord, who made and redeems heaven and earth.

God Bless Us, Every One                    

   H   B    King

Back in the 1960s, J B Phillips wrote a best-seller titled "Your God Is Too Small".  He wrote of the various ways we confine God, usually in order to manage God and keep him away from our daily affairs.  An ongoing heresy is the idea that God is limited, that God can't possibly have "time" for us or for our needs.  Can God be Everywhere at once?

In Sunday's reading of the Old Testament, I Kings 8:27-30, Solomon has finally finished the Jerusalem Temple which his father David wanted to build.  God finally has a house better than the dusty tent/tabernacle of the nomadic desert.  And what a house it was!  Fine woodwork, gold & jewels, expensive curtains and hangings....Yahweh was changed from a traveling tribal deity into a civilized and established Ruler of a Leading Nation, a wannabe World Power!  If people want to deal with Yahweh, they'll have to come to Jerusalem.  (And spend their money)

And it WAS lovely (Psalm 84)!  Even the least of the birds, the sparrow, could nest there and find sanctuary!   Some said that it was better to be a doorkeeper in this House of God  (the civilized city) than to dwell in the TENTS of ungodliness (in the desert).  How ya gonna keep 'em down on the farm, after they've seen Paree??

ST. Paul writes to the Ephesian Church about putting on the whole armor of God (6:10-20).  In uncertain times, the Believer needs some kind of sanctuary--and if buildings prove frail, at least one can be relatively safe in a defensive bubble of armor.  Like the turtle, one can carry their sanctuary upon their back; and pull in, when necessary.

The Gospel (John 6:56-69) dwells yet again upon Jesus as Bread of Life.  (Do you think John is trying to make a point, here?)  Jesus seems to be speaking about being fortified by taking on his Essence (Flesh & Blood), enshrining the Holy Presence within the Believer and the Church.

So we make place for God:  in the Sanctuary, behind the veil of the Holy Place; encased in armor, to withstand the arrows of evil; and within our Selves, the physical body becoming a holy cathedral for the exchange of the profane for the sacred.  Good theology, to be sure; now how can I present this from the pulpit without it being a boring lecture??

While we ponder this, pray with me:  for Lucille Rhodes, who fell and broke her leg; for Brian Gates, our custodian, who has surgery this week; for Rebecca Kresge, Richard Blake's sister, with complications from a dog-bite; for Pearl Kipp, now at Bridgewater; for Guy Manning, Kathy Selarno, Rayleen Kie-sidoran, Todd Hayes, Fran Welden, Kristen Seamans, Rick Harrison, Rick McKane, Helen Wells, Denise Mann, Daniel Dickinson, Peggy Randall, Bill Krommes, Ruth Page, Kathy Case, Lillian Oakley, Leo & Betty Heffernan, Shirley Barnes, Jane Thomas, Ken Cook, Harold & Phyllis Gates, Rick Caufield, Nadine, Albert & Marge Hebbard, Bernice Price.

We celebrate last weekend's wedding of Nicole Decker & Ken Bidwell; and the 60th anniversery/marriage vow renewal of Hazel & Jack Corey.  We're proud that Carolyn Blake wrote this week's Fellowship Meditation which went as email all over United Methodism!

As you worship this week, come & see how lovely is the dwelling-place of God!

God Bless Us, Every One                  

   H   B    King

My sixth grade teacher, Mr. Lukas, would often check on my academic development:   after I had engaged in class participation, he would sometimes ask, "What are you, a wise guy?"  At about the same period, I studied under Professors Larry, Moe & Curly--they would exclaim, "Oh, a wise guy, eh?"   I spent a lot of time practicing to be a Wise Guy, assured that it would benefit me someday.

In the Old Testament (I Kings 3:3-14) we read about young Solomon, still a boy when David died and left the throne of Israel to him.  In a dream, God asked him what he wanted most.  Solomon replied, "Wisdom to govern this people".   God was pleased to grant him this, plus riches and world esteem.  (So is it wise to have 300 wives and 700 concubines??)

Paul's graceful advice to the Ephesian Believers is to try to find out what's the will of God. (Ephesians 5:15-20)  He maintains that this is the root of true wisdom:  to participate in the plans and desires of a living and Real Presence.  "The days are evil," he maintains; there was little care for human life or common sense about society.  Despite expanding frontiers and technology, most humans were pretty barbaric and uncouth.

St. John's Gospel remembers how Jesus continues on about being the Bread of Life, divinely appointed and eternally blessed.  (6:51-58)  Again, the Real Presence is the source of wisdom; we are directed to internalize this Presence as the substance of God and all that God is.  "We are what we eat", the wise-man said.

We could easily consign this concept to individuals as they travel the Spiritual Journey.  Yet there's more:  this Wisdom-idea applies to the community--Israel, the Ephesian Church, and the Church Eternal!  One

Our prayer-list includes Brian Clark, who's having his tonsils removed tomorrow (Wednesday); also Todd Hayes, Fran Weldon, Kristen Seamans, Rick Harrison, Rick McKane, Helen Wells, Denise Mann, Daniel Dickinson, Peggy Randall, Bill Krommes, Ruth Page, Kathy Case, Lillian Oakley, Leo & Betty Heffernan, Shirley Barnes, Jane Thomas, Ken Cook, Harold &Phyllis Gates, Ann Beasley, Rick Caufield, Nadine, Albert & Marge Hebbard, Bernice Price.  Pray for our college students, ready to head back; and other travelers....of our hallmarks should be that Wisdom can be found here in our midst, that ours is an assembly of the Wise!

Wisdom is the highest virtue, and it has in it four other virtues; of which one is prudence, another temperance,  the third fortitude, the fourth justice." -- Boethius

God Bless Us, Every One  -- 

Tiny Tim and

H    B    King

Johnny Carson used to have part of his routine where he talked of some object he'd seen:  "...and boy, was it BIG!"   Someone in the audience would then shout out, "How big WAS it?"  Which gave Johnny opportunity to say, "It was SO big.... that 40 people could go in at once!" (or something like that).  This Sunday's scriptures talk about the immensity of God's Love.

The Old Testament has been following David, boy wonder, poet & artist, wise King....and cad??   Freud probably loved it:  David, feeling his youth leaving, didn't go out to battle with the rest of the guys, but hung out around the palace moping for the Old Days.  How to prove to himself he was still virile and OK?  His next-door neighbor was lookin' mighty good, lately; and Uriah, her husband, was away at the battlefield....well, who would know?   When David found out that he got her pregnant, he thickened the plot by having Uriah killed!  Worthy of a plot for "The Young & the Restless", wasn't it?  Lust, midlife crisis, adultery, murder, trespass, abuse of power.....could God still love a lout like that?   Is God's love big enough to work with this?  Read the whole story in II Samuel 11.

Paul's good wishes for the Ephesians included his desire that they might see the Big Picture of God's Love--"what is the breadth and length and height and depth"  (3:18)  And the benediction that concludes this section (v v.20-21)  affirms that God is able to accomplish "far more than all we can ask or imagine"!  This love must be pretty big!

John's Gospel story (6:1-21) is that of the Feeding of the Multitude.  Lots of nuances can be found here to inform our spiritual journey; but the one that leaps out at me this week is the phrase, "when all were satisfied", verse 12.  Look!  There's enough to go around, isn't that great news??  Now that's BIG.

All of this isn't to condone David's bad judgement, nor to waft the Ephesian congregation into heaven on a bed of roses.  It doesn't really describe fish & bread.  But it DOES tell about a Lord who has given even the trespassers more love than they/we deserve.  Come what may, our God never abandons us--although he retains the right to shake his head and say, "Oy Vay!"

This immense love is why we can and should pray.  Fran Welden had surgery on Monday, will remain at Lourdes for a few days. Leslie will be back to the office soon.  We also remember Kristen Seamans, Rick Harrison, Lucille Tew, Rick McKane, Helen Wells, Denise Mann, Mary Wasson, Daniel Dickinson, Peggy Randall, Jim Winters, Bill Krommes, Ruth Page, Kathy Case, Lillian Oakley, Leo & Betty Heffernan, Shirley Barnes, Jane Thomas, Ken Cook, Harold & Phyllis Gates, Ann Beasley, Rick Caufield, Nadine, Albert & Marge Hebbard, Bernice Price.             

 I pray that as you travel, you'll have a sense of God travelling with you........  It's that big!

God Bless Us Every One   

H    B    King