onewhoponders

Daily Office Readings for Thursday of the 4^th Week in Lent: Year 1

Morning, Psalm 69:1-23 and 31-38; Evening, Psalm 73;   
Jeremiah 22:13 to 23; Romans 8:12 to 27; John 6:41 to 51

“Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we ought, but that very Spirit intercedes with sighs too deep for words.  And God, who searches the heart, knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God.” (Romans 8: 26 and 27)

I think chapter 8 of Romans is special. In our reading for today Paul, with God’s guidance, relates to us how we should let go and let God.  Our Book of Common Prayer is full of beautiful prayers. I have committed many to memory. But nothing compares to the prayers stirring up in us by the Holy Spirit when we need them. I have prayed extemporaneously at sick beds and dying beds in my priesthood. I let go of the Book of Common Prayer and use the words given to me by God’s Holy Spirit. I must admit, I am always amazed.

God gives us the words and answers we need when we need them. As Paul says, “with sighs too deep for words.”  But Paul also says that God “searches the heart and knows what is the mind of the Spirit.” I think the mind of the Holy Spirit of God is like an expensive cologne, the fragrance is different in each of us according to our individual chemistry, but always good for the community in which we live.

Sometimes we just need to sit in silence and reflect and ponder about God and how God is acting in our everyday lives. Remember Blaise Pascal’s words, “All of humanity’s problems stem from man’s inability to sit quietly in a room alone.”  Prayer, real prayer, is not something we produce. We are prayed through by God. The good news is that we get to hear what God is saying in our own voice. We just need to trust in God, and let go and let God. 

Please keep up your thoughts and prayers and hopes for Ukraine and Russia.

As we listen to what the Spirit of God is saying to us, let us live to love and serve, and to teach others to love and serve, while pondering anew what the Almighty can do. John

Daily Office Readings for Wednesday of the 4^th Week in Lent: Year 1

Morning, Psalms 101 and 109:1 to 4 and 20 to 30; Evening, Psalm 119:121 to 144;
Jeremiah 18:1 to 11; Romans 8:1 to 11; John 6:27 to 40

“If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will give life to your mortal bodies also through his Spirit that dwells in you.” (Romans 8:11)

Thank you Paul for these words to ponder. While I often find myself filtering out of Paul’s words, what is from God, and what is from Paul, it is sometimes hard to tell.  With this bit of insight however, I feel this is definitely from God, through Paul, and to us. It may even explain God’s co-existence with the man we call Jesus. That is, God, personified in Christ Jesus, knows how to implant God’s Spirit into the human soul.

God’s presence dwelling in us reconciles us back to God and is key to us being raised into the next, and, eternal life.  Along with God’s indwelling Spirit, we must also believe.” For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life. (John 3:16)

 So God is within each one of us. This Spirit of God raised our Lord Jesus as the first fruits of eternal life. You are next. God is already in you. Do you believe?  It takes both. God has done God’s part.  If you believe in the love of our Lord Jesus and the love of God that Jesus showed us, how is it made manifest in your words and deeds? Live what you believe.

Today we remember James De Koven, Priest and Teacher, 1879: De Koven was born in Middletown, Connecticut, on September 19, 1831, ordained by Bishop Kemper in 1855, and appointed professor of ecclesiastical history at Nashotah House. In addition, he administered a preparatory school and assisted at the Church of St. John Chrysostom in Delafield, Wisconsin; (From Great Cloud of Witnesses for March 22).

Please keep up your thoughts and prayers and hopes for Ukraine and Russia.

As we listen to what the Spirit of God is saying to us, let us live to love and serve, and to teach others to love and serve, while pondering anew what the Almighty can do. John

Daily Office Readings for Tuesday of the 4^th Week in Lent: Year 1

 Morning, Psalms 97 and 99; Evening, Psalm 94;
Jeremiah 17:19 to 27; Romans 7:13 to 25; John 6:16 to 27

“And do not carry a burden out of your houses on the Sabbath or do any work, but keep the Sabbath day holy, as I commanded your ancestors.” (Jeremiah 17:22)

According to Rabbi Joshua Heschel, the Sabbath is a gift from God. It is an offering of time that we should observe and be thankful for. The “time” of Sabbath is more holy than any “place” on earth. I fully understand that we must stay vigilant during our Sabbath time while watching and caring for the sick, and being prepared in case of fire or human violence, or aggression from foreign countries. However, as much as possible, we should set aside the seventh day, Saturday, the Sabbath day, for rest (which does not necessarily mean worship).  God knows that we need a day of pure rest so that we can “come to ourselves.”  Medical people, fire fighters, police and the military should also work in such a way as to be afforded at least every other Sabbath day off when and if possible.

There are important and valuable lessons handed down to us in the Hebrew Testament. As Christians we should not ignore them. The Sabbath Law still applies to us as Christians today. Let us prepare early in the week in anticipation for a Holy Sabbath. Is there a way we can look forward to loving the Sabbath? The isolation we have experienced during the pandemic as surely shown us that we can in fact stay home and be at rest.  Perhaps we can keep the idea of some quiet time, post pandemic.

I take this time to write about this because the God of Israel is the Christian God also. Jeremiah was told by God to give this message at the People’s Gate, “and in all the gates of Jerusalem, and say to them: Hear the word of the Lord, you kings of Judah, and all Judah, and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem, who enter by these gates. Thus says the Lord: For the sake of your lives, take care that you do not bear a burden on the Sabbath day or bring it in by the gates of Jerusalem. And do not carry a burden out of your houses on the Sabbath or do any work, but keep the Sabbath day holy, as I commanded your ancestors.” (Jeremiah 17:19 to 22)  So, where it says; “and in all the gates,” I am thinking that over time, and metaphorically speaking, one of those gates is our Christian Gate. We only have one God who is the same then as God is now and will be forever.

We don’t have time to decide what is Jewish and what is Jesus. Jesus himself kept the Sabbath. Therefore, so should we who profess to follow Him.  In fact, we should live and learn to love the Sabbath as God’s gift to all people no matter our socio-economic status or branch of worship.

Today, those of us in the Anglican Communion remember Thomas Cranmer; Archbishop of Canterbury and Martyr, 1556. “Thomas Cranmer was born at Aslockton in Nottinghamshire, England, on July 2, 1489. At fourteen, he entered Jesus College, Cambridge, where by 1514 he had obtained his BA and MA degrees and a Fellowship. In 1526, he became a Doctor of Divinity, a lecturer in his college, and examiner in the University. During his years at Cambridge, he diligently studied the Bible and the new doctrines emanating from the continental Reformation. During the reign of Edward VI, Cranmer had a free hand in reforming the worship, doctrine, and practice of the Church. Thomas Cranmer was principally responsible for the first Book of Common Prayer of 1549, and for the second Book, in 1552. But at Edward’s death he unfortunately subscribed to the dying King’s will that the succession should go to Lady Jane Grey. For this, and also for his reforming work, he was arrested, deprived of his office and authority, and condemned by Queen Mary I, daughter of Henry VIII by Catherine, and a staunch Roman Catholic. He was burned at the stake on March 21, 1556.”  (From Great Cloud of Witnesses for March 21)

Please keep up your thoughts and prayers and hopes for Ukraine and Russia.

As we listen to what the Spirit of God is saying to us, let us live to love and serve, and to teach others to love and serve, while pondering anew what the Almighty can do. John

Daily Office Readings for Monday of the 4^th Week in Lent: Year 1

Morning, Psalm 89:1-18; Evening, Psalm 89:19-52 ;  
Jeremiah 16:10 to 21; Romans 7:1 to 12; John 6:1 to 15;

“Our ancestors have inherited nothing but lies, worthless things in which there is no profit.” (Jeremiah 16:19)

I feel very strongly that some of our Biblical teachings, even Christian teachings, have been tainted to suit those teachers whose purpose is to shape their respective communities into beliefs that would support racist and misogynistic codes of  community conduct. Such biblical teaching taught that slaves should obey their masters, and that wives should be subservient to their husbands.

I believe there should be no slaves at all, and that marriage is an equal partnership where either partner may lead in family life depending on the individual strengths, not their gender or sex. God says through Jeremiah, “I am now sending for many fishermen, says the Lord, and they shall catch them; and afterwards I will send for many hunters, and they shall hunt them from every mountain and every hill, and out of the clefts of the rocks.” (Jeremiah 16:16)

This is perhaps the first time that the use of fishermen and hunters are used to go do the Lord’s work.  Of course, we hear of fishermen called into the service of the Lord on the shores of Capernaum in the Gospels. These callings are very different. The fishermen and hunters of Jeremiah are called to find and bring in those who, through their iniquity and promotion of idols, are an abomination to God.

The fishermen of Capernaum, and Paul, the hunter of the faithful, are those sent to evangelize the world in the way of God through our Lord Jesus. John and James, Peter and Andrew as well as Paul are among the first saints who speak to us about the truth of who Jesus is and about what God wants for us.  However, even with some of the letters supposedly from Paul, we must be careful.

Too much of the Bible story has been twisted to suit the bigotry and misogynistic rhetoric of self-serving and racist males to suit their own narcissist desires. These are worthless things in which there is no spiritual profit. For the most part (with some exceptions) John, James, Peter and Andrew along with Matthew, Mark and Luke tell the Gospel truth. When the Gospel is read in Church, the whole congregation re-orients itself in turning to face the words therein. The Gospel then changes us in ways that point us to the inclusive truth about God. This is done through living a life of love and listening to the loving saints of God. Love is most important.

Today we remember Joseph the earthly father of Jesus. For me, Joseph is the patron saint of fatherhood. We have no words from Joseph and any of the Gospels, yet, He hears and silently obeys the will of God. So should all fathers everywhere.

Please keep up your thoughts and prayers and hopes for Ukraine and Russia.

As we listen to what the Spirit of God is saying to us, let us live to love and serve, and to teach others to love and serve, while pondering anew what the Almighty can do. John

Eucharistic Readings for the Fourth Sunday in Lent: Year A

1^st Samuel 16:1-13;  Psalm 23;  Ephesians 5:8-14;  John 9:1-41:

“But they kept asking him, “Then how were your eyes opened?” He answered, “The man called Jesus made mud, spread it on my eyes, and said to me, ‘Go to Siloam and wash.’ Then I went and washed and received my sight.” (John 9:10 – 11)

Each line of the above Gospel reading can be the basis of a homily. The healed man said, “The man called Jesus, (through whom all things were made) made mud, put it on my eyes (used God’s earth to cure those made of God’s earth) and said to me, ‘Go to Siloam and wash (Go and be baptized), therefor, he had a responsibility to co-create with God. The message is, we must obey God in receiving God’s blessing. He said, “I washed and received my sight (I obeyed and was able to receive my sight”; – sight I never had before, ever!  And because of our Lord Jesus, we now see as we have never seen before.

Often those who refuse to see and understand what they witness right before them, are hard-hearted in their stubbornness.  You and I can’t fix hard-hearted stubbornness. Many people of our modern world will not let themselves have real sight today.  They want to hear your story over and over again in order to find, or create, so-called reasons for your joy, while not excepting it for themselves. We can’t fix them. We can only acknowledge what God in Christ Jesus is doing.

The man said,  “Here is an astonishing thing! You do not know where he comes from, and yet he opened my eyes. We know that God does not listen to sinners, but he does listen to one who worships him and obeys his will. Never since the world began has it been heard that anyone opened the eyes of a person born blind.” In a way, I was born blind. I was taught from my childhood to see the world in a certain way, through race, upper and lower class, and all without regular church attendance. I was blind as far as what God was showing me, save my time at Catholic School.

 Continuing with the Gospel, “If this man were not from God, he could do nothing.”  This man given his sight (for the first time) told them off.  But they rebutted with insecurity: “They answered him, “You were born entirely in sins, and are you trying to teach us?” And they drove him out.”  Frankly, I would rather be driven out than to stay among unbelievers.

The Incarnate Word through whom all things were made, made medicine, applied it to the eyes, ordered the man to go and rinse with water as in baptism, requiring his participation in healing. Our Lord Jesus is the Way, the Truth and the Life. Yes, there are many little homilies in this passage. But all are very important lessons.  We too must believe, ask, accept, obey with our own participation and receive joy.  Thank You Lord Jesus.

Please keep up your thoughts and prayers and hopes for Ukraine and Russia.

As we listen to what the Spirit of God is saying to us, let us live to love and serve, and to teach others to love and serve, while pondering anew what the Almighty can do. John

Daily Office Readings for Saturday, of the 3^rd Week of Lent: Year 1

Morning, Psalms 87 and  90; Evening, Psalm 136;  
Jeremiah 13:1 to 11; Romans 6:12 to 23; John 8:47 to 59: 

“Then the Jews said to him, ‘You are not yet fifty years old, and have you seen Abraham?’^*  Jesus said to them, ‘Very truly, I tell you, before Abraham was, I am.’ So they picked up stones to throw at him, but Jesus hid himself and went out of the temple.” (John 8:57 to 59)

Our Lord Jesus has always said that He is God’s Presence among us. We interpret that as Son of God. We are truly limited in our language. Incarnate literally means, personified or in material form. From the Gospel of Saint John we learn the God is Spirit, (John 4:24). God being Spirit means that God has always been. God was with Abraham and called him from Err. God was with Moses at the burning bush where God declared God’s name to be “I AM.” This is what God in Christ Jesus said to those who challenged him. He said, as God said to Moses at the burning bush, “God said to Moses, “I am who I am.” He said further, “Thus you shall say to the Israelites, ‘I AM has sent me to you.” (Exodus 3:14)

This is the same “I AM,” that speaks to his challengers in our Gospel reading of John for today, who then wanted to stone him.  What a shame. Couldn’t they just believe? Can’t we today, just believe?

Full disclosure, I am more a student of the teaching and healing Jesus than a Jerusalem crucified Jesus. Having been to the Holy Land, I was really fascinated with the walk of Jesus in Galilee, northern Israel, the Galilee area.  It is in Galilee that our Lord Jesus healed the sick, cast out demons, changed water into wine, raised the dead in Nain, taught the Beatitudes, walked on the waters of Lake Galilee, and called his disciples to follow him. And, Galilee is where our Lord Jesus arranged to meet them after His Resurrection. (Matthew 28:6)   Galilee is also where we Christians received the Great Commission. (Matthew 28:19 and 20)

We are still in Galilee, and our Lord Jesus is still calling you to service. Our Lord Jesus, the Great I AM, is calling you through the scriptures, and through your prayers, and through the Saints of God.

Please keep up your thoughts and prayers and hopes for Ukraine and Russia.

As we listen to what the Spirit of God is saying to us, let us live to love and serve, and to teach others to love and serve, while pondering anew what the Almighty can do. John

Daily Office Readings for Friday of the 3^rd Week of Lent: Year 1

Morning, Psalms 95 and 88; Evening, Psalms 91 and 92;
Jeremiah 11:1 to 8 and 14 to 20; Romans 6:1 to 11; John 8:33 to 47;

I know that you are descendants of Abraham; yet you look for an opportunity to kill me, because there is no place in you for my word.” (John 8:37)

I consider myself a spiritual descendant of Abraham. My prayer is that I do indeed have a space in my heart and mind for the Word of our Lord Jesus. Jesus preached the love of God  in order that we might all be the children of God and in fact call on God as Abba, Father. In this way we may recognize ourselves as children of God and spiritual children to Abraham. Abraham was a strong man of faith who would even destroy his own biological son in his spiritual obedience to God. However, Jesus said to his critics, “If you were Abraham’s children, you would be doing what Abraham did, but now you are trying to kill me, a man who has told you the truth that I heard from God. This is not what Abraham did;” (John 8:39 and 40). Abraham had a place in him for God’s Word.

Abraham left his father’s home and followed the voice of God and believed the promises of God about who he would become. He was blessed, and in this blessing he blessed the nations, and he blesses us today. The blessings we receive are not all for us. We too are blessed only in order to bless others. We bless others with some of our money, some of our time and some of our counsel. We should not take what God has blessed us with and hoard it for ourselves. God has given us that that belongs to those who are out there, some of whom, do not believe in the love of God. But God loves them anyway, and God loves them through you.  Keep, and maintain a place for the Word of God in you, and then, go and be a blessing.

Today we remember Patrick, Bishop and Missionary of Ireland, 461

“Tradition holds that Patrick landed not far from the place of his earlier captivity, near what is now known as Downpatrick (a “down” or “dun” is a fortified hill, the stronghold of a local Irish king). He then began a remarkable process of missionary conversion throughout the country that continued until his death, probably in 461,” (From Great Cloud of Witnesses for March 17).

Please keep up your thoughts and prayers and hopes for Ukraine and Russia.

 “Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all their multitude. And on the seventh day God finished the work that he had done, and he rested on the seventh day from all the work that he had done” (Genesis 2:1 and 2). So, for this evening and tomorrow day my friends, Shabbat Shalom. 

What is Shabbat? Intro to the Jewish Sabbath – YouTube

As we listen to what the Spirit of God is saying to us, let us live to love and serve, and to teach others to love and serve, while pondering anew what the Almighty can do. John

Daily Office Readings for Thursday of the 3^rd Week of Lent: Year 1

Morning, Psalms 42 and 43; Evening, Psalms 85 and 86;   
Jeremiah 10:11 to 24; Romans 5:12 to 21; John 8:21 to 32

“Everyone is stupid and without knowledge; goldsmiths are all put to shame by their idols; for their images are false, and there is no breath in them.  They are worthless, a work of delusion; at the time of their punishment they shall perish.” (Jeremiah 10:14 and 15)

To me, the words of Jeremiah which says, “Everyone is stupid and without knowledge,” simply means that no one is pondering about God and real life. We are often enslaved by the imaginations of artists.  Artists have given angels a pair of wings but nowhere in the Bible, when it speaks of angels specifically, do they have wings.  Leonardo DaVinci has the apostles seated at a long table in such a way that we can see our Lord Jesus centered, and all the apostle’s faces can be seen, as in a photo op.

Jeremiah reports that goldsmiths have poisoned the minds of the community with their craft of golden gods made with human hands that have no power at all. They are a work of delusion. To buy into the imaginations of craftsmen is to not use our skills of reason which God has given to us all.  We do have knowledge, we are not without knowledge. We are not really stupid, but we don’t use our God-given reasoning ability to prayerfully examine Biblical text. If we did, we would not let the imaginations of a few, lead us down roads that are not validated by the ancient stories handed down to us from before Christ, and since Christ.

I love art. I love technological achievements that make life nice. However, I keep a clear distinction between what is nice and what is necessary. God, and worship of God, happens to be both for me, nice and very necessary. I can do without phones, devices and even this laptop that I am typing this on right now. I cannot however do without reaching out to God through my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.  Daily pondering in prayer and meditation is a matter of holy habit now.  I don’t believe we are really stupid and without knowledge as Jeremiah reports. I think we don’t take the time to sit quietly in a room alone. This is the recommendation of Pascal, “All of humanity’s problems stem from man’s inability to sit quietly in a room alone,” Blaise Pascal. Each of us has the responsibility to form for ourselves the pattern of life we want. We get to decide how and when art and technology participate in our lives. We decide the habits we have. We are the habits we keep, good or bad. What holy habits do you keep?  What holy habits would you like to start? Find a quiet space and ponder this.

Please keep up your thoughts and prayers and hopes for Ukraine and Russia.

As we listen to what the Spirit of God is saying to us, let us live to love and serve, and to teach others to love and serve, while pondering anew what the Almighty can do. John

Daily Office Readings for Wednesday of the 3^rd Week of Lent: Year 1

Morning, Psalm 119:97 to120; Evening, Psalms 81 and 82;
Jeremiah 8:18 to 9:6; Romans 5:1 to11; John 8:12 to 20

“We also boast in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not disappoint us, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us.” (Romans 5: 3 to 5)

I imagine suffering, but not dying does lead to some kind of endurance. I mean we have all been in tight spots.  Sometimes it gets down to actually watching the secondhand of a clock tick by and saying to yourself, I got through that second; after second, after second, over and over again. This is the very basics of endurance.

I suppose there is a certain amount of maturation that comes with “getting through” difficult times. Such maturation morphs into character. And somewhere in our character is hope. I know that I hope a lot. Paul will come to say that we hope for what is not seen.  We don’t know how God will act in our lives. God is always so full of surprises. The two biggest surprises that I like to recall is the parting of the sea so that the Israelites could escape capture; and, the birth of our Lord Jesus, the Savior of the world. But before these surprising acts of God happened, there was a tremendous amount of hope. This hope was in a people who were oppressed, be it escaping slaves or occupied Palestinian Jews by Rome. For all of these, and like us today, “God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us.”

I find it amazing that these words about God’s love being, “poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit,” appear today in our reading. Our Women’s Bible Study has been moved to Wednesdays since my retirement and these words of Noon Day Prayers are always prayed at our opening service. The surprise is that these words are appointed for today, the day of the week that I will meet with our faithful women’s group. God is still full of surprises, great and small. Thank You Lord Jesus.

I ask you who read these words, to please try and be aware of the places where God is acting, even in very small ways in your life, because, in fact God is.  I tell people all the time that I can’t always see where God is, in my life, but in reflective pondering, I can always see where God was, and has acted in my life. And I am thankful.

Please keep up your thoughts and prayers and hopes for Ukraine and Russia.

As we listen to what the Spirit of God is saying to us, let us live to love and serve, and to teach others to love and serve, while pondering anew what the Almighty can do. John

Daily Office Readings for Tuesday of the 3^rd Week of Lent: Year 1

Morning, Psalm 78:1 to 39; Evening, Psalm 78:40 to 72;   
Jeremiah 7:21 to 34; Romans 4:13 to 25; John 7:37 to 52;

“No distrust made him [Abraham], waver concerning the promise of God, but he grew strong in his faith as he gave glory to God, being fully convinced that God was able to do what he had promised.”  (Romans 4:20 and 21)

I feel that I share a lot of conviction with Abraham, that is, no distrust about what God is doing among us and with me in particular. I have come a long way. I was a high school dropout who was blessed enough to join the United States Marine Corps in 1972. I left my father’s house in Nashville, Tennessee and have followed a life of duty, service and faith. The faith part occurred when I followed a fellow Marine to St. Anne’s Episcopal Church in Memphis, Tennessee, and was Baptized into God’s one holy Catholic and Apostolic Church in 1980. I have been following God ever since through the bread crumbs of Communion left by our Lord Jesus Christ.

Marines have an old poster that comes from a Lynn Anderson’s song, “I never promised you a rose garden.”  I attached it here:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6sWW0nxi9bw. (Hint, you might want to skip the ad at the beginning)

It is an old, old video ad for the Marines. But the Marine Corps was my Godly invitation to leave Nashville and explore the world.  I had been around the earth six times and thought I was done. But then I underestimated God. As an Episcopal Priest now and a member of the Masonic Knights Templar, God once again took me on a trip. This time to Israel to visit the Holy Land. I loved Galilee. I didn’t realize that God was already guiding my life in ways that I did not realize. Abraham was a better man than me. He never doubted or questioned but always believed. I, on the other hand, am still a work in progress. I don’t know where God will take me next but I have a good idea that it will be pleasing to me and to God. but most importantly, to God.

How about you?  Do you not realize that God has been on the periphery of your life for all of your life? St. Paul goes on to tell you that, “Now the words, ‘it was reckoned to him’, were written not for his sake alone, but for ours [yours] also. It will be reckoned to us who believe in him who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead, who was handed over to death for our trespasses and was raised for our [your] justification” (Romans 4: 23 to 25).   My beloved of the Lord, this is real, not just idle dreams or superstition. Faith in God will save you from eternal death. In fact, faith will bring you to eternal life where you will never cry or feel sad again. Thank You Lord Jesus.

Please keep up your thoughts and prayers and hopes for Ukraine and Russia.

As we listen to what the Spirit of God is saying to us, let us live to love and serve, and to teach others to love and serve, while pondering anew what the Almighty can do. John