This Sunday’s lectionary reading from 1 Kings 3 allows us to overhear the pious prayer of King Solomon. His prayer? He asks God for understanding and discernment. Seems timely.

Everything Solomon does up to the moment of his prayer makes his prayer seem ironic, if not absurd. Read 1 Kings 1-3 if you don't believe me.

George R.R. Martin, who wrote the series upon which HBO's Game of Thrones was based, can barely hold a candle to 1 Kings. The Bible's more interesting game of thrones has a dizzying cast of characters: Barzillai the Gileadite, Shimei son of Gera, Adonijah son of Haggith, and Benaiah son of Jehoiada. Picking the wrong house, just as in Martin’s saga, is deadly business.

The lectionary would like you to look away. It is rather embarrassed by the sordid details, the casual executions, the violation of sacred space. So it blithely skips over a few choice details, handily cuts out some offending verses, and patches together a nice passage for the lay reader on Sunday morning. I would rather we look at the text than look away.

Solomon’s accession to the throne is built on the unattested claim of his mother, spoken to the ears of the frail and morally compromised King David. Bathsheba says, so to speak, Hey, don’t you remember promising that my son Solomon will be king? We don't remember because the Bible never narrates Bathsheba's claim. David doesn't remember either. We are left to wonder if this is Bathsheba’s power play or Solomon’s machinations.

No matter. David is too frail and preoccupied with the company of Abishag the Shunammite to interrogate Bathsheba’s claims. He is having trouble staying warm, so his advisors think it wise to supply him with Abishag. An odd solution, that. I would have thought a blanket or two would suffice.

David at least has enough sense to cynically orchestrate the political murders of two rivals: his former hitman Joab and a man named Shimei who had uttered curses against the King years ago. David's memory only extends to grudges, it would seem. Solomon knows enough about the secret code of power to hear other unuttered commands. His half brother Adonijah must be killed too. No one will get in his way.

I linger for a moment on Joab's last moments. You'll recall that Joab was David's enforcer in the Uriah tale. He had a long body count. Now he finds the tables turned. Knowing he is being hunted, Joab retreats to the sanctuary where the Ark is kept, gripping the horns of the altar for dear life. His hands will soon be prized off by Benaiah, only the latest hit man to find service in the king's court.
It is a telling narrative detail that Joab's only resort to religious piety is a cynical use of a sacred space to save his own life. He cannot call upon a God he never served. The God of Israel is the kind of God who would answer such a call, but this is a tragedy, remember? Joab's thinking seems to be: Surely you wouldn't kill in this space? He should have known better. Benaiah kills Joab. Solomon keeps his hands clean, and with that, all rivals to the throne are erased.
Where God might find entry to such a Machiavellian tale is unclear. But God does make an appearance, one that is loaded with incredible generosity. Appearing in a dream to Solomon, God says "Ask what I should give you." Would that we mere mortals get such an opportunity. No doubt we'd squander it like Solomon.

What Solomon asks for is noble enough: a discerning heart to tell the difference between good and evil. That he does so immediately after an orgy of violence is a tip-off that irony is the dominant register for interpretation. He will be king, and all who oppose him will die, and we must accept that God appears to him in dreams. And that is that.

To the victor go the spoils, as the saying goes. I wonder if Solomon thought Yahweh was simply another spoil of battle. A local deity he could claim as his own. The king will not be denied, and the king controls the narrative, and the king employs the historians who give the official account.

And yet, a close reading allows us to see beyond the pious and facile claims about Solomon's greatness. What is there in the tale of Solomon that confirms the claim made in 1 Kings 3:3 that "Solomon loved the LORD, walking in the statutes of his father David"? Was it the murder of Adonijah, his half brother? The murder of Joab in the tent of meeting? The murder of Barzillai on a flimsy pretext? The alleged brilliance of his judicial decisions, the sole case study of which is his preposterous demand that a baby be cut in half in order to reveal which of two prostitutes was its mother?

The tragic denouement to the king's tale comes in chapter 11. It is a Solomonic verse, for it splits the narrative and our understanding in two. We are given a litany of crimes. And then this striking judgment: His heart was not true to the LORD his God.

After a close reading, we can now say: We knew that all along.

Daniel Headrick, Associate Pastor
Dear Congregation,
After over four years of deeply meaningful ministry at Northside Drive Baptist Church, I write to inform you that I am resigning as your Associate Pastor. In recent weeks I have gained clarity that this season of my ministry with the loving people of this congregation is ending. I have notified the Personnel Committee of my resignation, effective September 24. I have also notified the Pastor Search Committee of my resignation and of the withdrawal of my candidacy for Senior Pastor. 
Jenney, Mary Frances, Joseph and I have been so well loved by this church over these significant years. Know of our deep gratitude and love. When we first came, I was fresh out of seminary, Jenney was starting a brand new adventure in her beloved profession, and the kids were both in elementary school. Our family has flourished here in Atlanta. NDBC has taught me more about ministry and life than I ever dreamed. You have allowed me to express myself in ways I know would have not been embraced at other churches. I have cherished the ways in which you have entrusted me with the privilege of preaching from time to time, of giving pastoral care, and of offering administrative leadership to the church in the many facilities challenges we have. 
When I first came to NDBC, it was with the express understanding that James Lamkin would mentor me as a young minister. He mentored me in ways that are so deeply meaningful I cannot put them in words. You are the place that helped James become James, that helped Daniel become Daniel, and that will soon call a new Senior Pastor with the same opportunities for growth and love. 
As I gain peace about this transitional movement in my life I have plans to return to the practice of law and am taking appropriate steps to do so by taking the Georgia Bar Exam. I will be working closely with the Personnel Committee to make sure that a transition to interim leadership happens as smoothly and as comprehensively as we can manage. I am grateful to my colleagues who will be instrumental in carrying on the ministries of NDBC. 
Having served on a Pastor Search Committee before, I know how difficult and time consuming that work is. They have my full support, and I am praying for them today, along with the various candidates and their families discerning the future. As the Search Committee does their work, the Church is called to be the unified body of Christ in times of anxiety and interim alike. I want to be a deep part of that unity with my words and actions as I reach the end of my ministry here. I pray that you’ll join me in that direction of unity.
 
It has been a deep privilege to be your Associate Pastor. I love you, and the Lord loves you. 
Grace and peace,
Rev. Daniel Headrick
Associate Pastor
Over the last year, the Missions Team has been sharing information about our mission partners. Another of our long-time partners is the Baptist Peace Fellowship. Scattered across Canada, Mexico, Puerto Rico, and the U.S., the Baptist Peace Fellowship (BPF) is a movement of individuals and congregations from a wide variety of cultures and Baptist heritages, who share a common call to witness to God’s Peace — peace rooted in justice, worldly peace “on earth as it is in heaven.”

Since its inception as the Baptist Pacifist Fellowship in 1939, the organization has sought to build a culture of peace rooted in justice. As the Baptist Peace Fellowship, it continued to address issues of war and injustice in the years following World War II. The current organization, headquartered in Charlotte, N.C., was formed in 1984 with the desire to provide international perspectives on peace and justice concerns by bringing together Baptist Peacemakers from the original four nations. Today, the organization brings together people from around the globe for peace camps, friendship tours, training programs and other activities. BPF provides resources and tools on a variety of social justice issues such as racial justice, justice for migrants and refugees, climate/environmental justice, justice for indigenous and native peoples and LGBTQ issues. The organization also has small grant programs to help fund local and global peacemaking initiatives. Most members are involved in churches through the Alliance of Baptists, American Baptists Churches USA, or the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship.

BPF is committed to prayerful and equal partnership with Baptists who share their concerns around the world in alliance with those of other traditions and faiths who seek peace rooted in justice. Organization members strive to follow Jesus’ teachings, to listen with openness, receive hostility and return love, break silences which harm, practice healing, mend creation’s wounds, offer hospitality to the refugee and the sojourner, and love friend and stranger, ally and enemy.

Nancy Hall, Missions Chair
August 15: Daniel Headrick
August 22: Nikki Hardeman
August 29: Daniel Headrick
September 5: Daniel Headrick
September 12: Daniel Headrick
September 19: Daniel Headrick
September 26: Steve Sheeley
October 3: Karen Massey
October 10: Larry McSwain
October 17: Daniel Headrick
October 24: Priscilla Eppinger
August 13 - Reid Milligan
August 14 - Will Bell
August 15 - Terrell Kilgore
August 15 - Eliza Molina
August 21 - Brooks Bell
August 22 - Sydney Johnson
August 23 - Ann Grant
August 24 - Jo Hunter
August 27 - Jack Guynn
August 27 - Curt Tucker
August 27 - John Davis
August 29 - Melinda Clark
August 31 - Elizabeth Sheeley
Wednesday Bible Study

Wednesday Pastor's Morning Bible Study - 10:30 am via Zoom
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NDBC Staff
Daniel Headrick daniel@northsidedrive.org
Keith H. Walker keith@northsidedrive.org
David Vaughns
Nick Bonner
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