onewhoponders

Eucharistic Gospel Reading for the 5^th Week of Easter: Year A

John 14:1-14:

“In my Father’s house there are many dwelling places. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, so that where I am, there you may be also.”  (John 14:2 – 3)

There are few things that can compare with a well thought-out plan. One of the lessons I am still learning is to have a place for things before I get them. It is really upsetting to order and have delivered a new gym apparatus and no where to put it in an already crowded garage.   I’ve gotten to the point that when I am asked to move something for someone, I ask where do you want me to move it to?  If there is something already occupying that space, then the question becomes, where does that item then go? and on and on.

For our eternal home, this work has already been done by our Lord Jesus. Jesus says he has gone to prepare a place for us. This “preparing” that Jesus speaks of, may even be to “create” a space for us. The good news is that there is a space, a dwelling place for us. You have heard that there should be a place for everything, and everything in its place, right?  We are co-creating a space in our eternal home right now as we go about believing in, and following our Lord Jesus.

In what I used to call my mancave were many photos, plaques, and memorabilia I have collected over the years. It’s not much, it’s just me. Jesus is decorating a room for you with the good works you have done, and hopefully, will do, as you await his call to your eternal home. So how about you my friends?  What personal souvenirs or memorabilia is our Lord Jesus preparing your space with? The good news is, if you are hearing these words now, you still have time to forward some good works or fruits of the spirit forward to our Lord Jesus as he prepares your space. For as he says, “If I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, so that where I am, there you may be also.” Let me be clear, this is not “works righteousness,” but rather, “living the dream.”

Jesus tells us to believe in God and to believe also in Him. As Christians we share the same good God who is the same God of other faith traditions. To this understanding we also recognize God walking with us in the person of Jesus, our Savior. All other traditions will admit that God can, and is able to do such a thing, we Christians however, proclaim that God has already done so.  We believe in God, we also believe in our Lord Jesus.

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

Let us pray: Fifth Sunday of Easter (BCP p.225)

Almighty God, whom truly to know is everlasting life: Grant us so perfectly to know your Son Jesus Christ to be the way, the truth, and the life, that we may steadfastly follow his steps in the way that leads to eternal life; through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord, who lives and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

Daily Office Readings for Friday of the 4^th Week of Easter: Year 2

Morning,  Psalm 40 and 54; Evening, Psalm 51;

Exodus 34:18 to 35;  1^st  Thessalonians 3:1 to 13; Matthew 5:27 to 37:

“Great things are they that you have done, O Lord my God! how great your wonders and your plans for us! there is none who can be compared with you.” (Psalm 40:5)

Psalm 40 is wonderful. While it does have some verses that try to move God to deal with problem people, most of it is giving thanks to God for God’s wonderful care of us.

I have been in tight spots where I didn’t see a good outcome. I don’t know if I consciously prayed during such times, but deep within me I was aware of the presence of God. While actively praying or not, God is aware of our situations, and the situations of our communities. “Great are God’s wonders and God’s plans for us.” We must always trust in the Lord and remember to be so thankful when God has acted. God is good, all the time.

Today we remember Philip and James, Apostles (May 1: NT), and their information may be found at Philip and James, Apostles

“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 to serve, and to teach others to love and to serve, while pondering anew what the Almighty can do. John

Let us pray:

Oh, All mighty God, giver of all good gifts and graces, You know our needs before we ask and provide them for us when we need them. Your plans for us exceed anything we could ask or imagine. Dear Lord God, help each of us to be better participants in Your plan for humanity and this planet our island home. Teach us to be coworkers with You in Your divine plan as it pleases You. In Your most gracious Name we pray: Amen.

Daily Office Readings for Thursday of the 4^th Week of Easter: Year 2

Morning, Psalm 50;  Evening, Psalm  60;

Exodus 34:1 to 17; 1^st Thessalonians 2:13 to 20; Matthew 5:21to 26:

“We also constantly give thanks to God for this, that when you received the word of God that you heard from us, you accepted it not as a human word but as what it really is, God’s word, which is also at work in you believers.”  (1 Thessalonians 2:3)

We are the vessels of the Word of God! God speaks of love.  This means we, as we carry out the Word of God, we present love in word and deed to all whom we encounter.  We are the cup of Christ.  This is the Baptism that brought us into the Christian faith. 

Please remember and fully accept that, “In the beginning was the Word,” (John 1:1). The Word came to us for hearing and believing. Many times I have said that we are people of stories. God is in your story no matter who you are.  You are God’s own.  Therefore, God’s Self is in you. I give thanks for you knowing and believing that you are continuing the Word of God by telling your own truths about how God has acted, and is acting, in your life.  Thank You Jesus.

Today we remember Sarah Josepha Buel Hale, Editor and Prophetic Witness, 1879, and her information may be found at Sara Hale.

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

Let us pray:                                                           

Almighty God, Who gifts us with faith that we might believe in our Creator; help us, we pray, to joyfully receive Your Word inside our hearts and souls, and then help us further to live out our lives, fortified by Your Word, in order that we will think, say, and  do those things which are pleasing in Your sight. This we ask in the Name of the Incarnate Word, our Lord Jesus; Amen

Daily Office Readings for Wednesday of the 4^th Week of Easter: Year 2

Morning, Psalm 119:49-72; Evening, Psalm 49;

Exodus 33:1 to 23 ; 1^st Thessalonians  2:1 to 12;  Matthew 5:17 to 20:

“For the Lord had said to Moses, “Say to the Israelites, ‘You are a stiff-necked people; if for a single moment I should go up among you, I would consume you. So now take off your ornaments, and I will decide what to do to you.” (Exodus 33:5)

I guess “stiff-necked” is a good way to describe our arrogance toward people who differ from us or our ungratefulness towards God, forgetting all that God has done, and is doing, for us..  Moreover, God lets them (and us) know that the pureness, goodness and immediate presence of God would be detrimental to our physical, and spiritual, well-being if we are not on a path to God’s purity.

This reminds me of a Russian priest (I forget his name), who said that when we die, our soul gravitates towards God. And as our souls get close to the Divine, whatever it has about us that is not good and loving begins to disintegrate. This could happen to the point that there is nothing of us left. This journey of our soul could be our destruction, in whole or in part, depending on what we can rid ourselves of now while we still have time. This may even explain the innocence of babies and young ones who make it to God. They haven’t had time to be corrupted yet.

So, my beloved in the Lord, we, like the Israelites in the wilderness, are on a journey.  Whatever it is that makes our necks stiff, let’s rid ourselves of it now so that when our souls are on their journey home, only a little of us (if any) will be lost on the Way. And we didn’t need that part of us anyway.

Today we remember Catherine of Siena, and her information may be found at Catherine of Siena.

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

Let us pray:

Dear Holy God, as you are pure love, for us to be near you could shake us back to nothing and destroy us. Purify us Lord as You are pure. Continue making us a holy people as You are holy. Please help us in our daily lives to cleanse ourselves of all that is unsightly to You, You who loved us into being. Amen.

Daily Office Readings for Tuesday of the 4^th Sunday of Easter: Year 2

Morning, Psalm 45; Evening, Psalms 47 and 48;

Exodus 32:21 to 34;  Thessalonians 1:1 to 10;  Matthew 5:11 to16:

“They said to me, “Make us gods, who shall go before us; as for this Moses, the man who brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him.”  (Exodus 32:23)

There are so many problems going on in the theology of this reading that we should be made aware of.  First, Aaron is weak.  He is intimidated by a vicious mob. Second, Aaron tries to convince Moses of the “sensibility” of his weakness.  Third, we can’t “make” gods.  The very nature of a god is that such a one is well beyond our existence.  Of course, it is possible to make representative images of what we believe such gods to look like. But our God has a strict Commandment against that. Here’s a hint; if we can make it, it cannot really be a god, especially not our God.  We ourselves were created by God our Parent. Lastly, if we do not know what happened to someone, we should always assume they are still alive until otherwise shown. They should never have given up on Moses.

Now for me, there is sadness in this reading because it tells of mass murder from Moses and the Levites.  I leave it to you to think what you will about that. The point here is that there is only one God, and God is not made with our hands or anything of us.  God always was and always will be.  And this is true before we existed and will be true long after we exist no more. God does not need us to be God.

While we are ordered not to make anything to resemble God, we can, and should, use the earth provided materials of art to help, and aid us in the worship of God. In fact in Chapter 35 of Exodus God begins to give Moses specific instructions about how to craft a worship space and worship items. Today, using our God-given skills, we have continued in making items that assist us in our worship of God.  Today we have stained glass windows, paintings and icons, music, candles and incense, our Book of Common Prayer and the Bible itself, which are not items to worship, but rather, to assist us in our worship of God.

Without doubt, prayer is the most powerful source for worship. Prayer is something that all humans can produce even if a person has no hands or discerned gifts of art.  To just sit quietly and opening one’s self to God is the greatest worship practice anyone can do. Aaron could have used this advice to strengthen him against the insistence of the people to make a calf.  We too must be diligent in prayer.  There are always anxieties around from some kind of fear that tries to move our loyalty from God to something human made.

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

Let us pray:

Oh Holy and Creating Spirit of God, who gifts us with faith and reverence for Your loving creation, be with each of us in our prayers in order that we will find the strength to remain steadfastly loyal to You, Who lives and reigns for ever and ever. Amen.

Eucharistic Gospel Reading for the 4^th Sunday of Easter: Year A

John 10:1-10:

“Very truly, I tell you, anyone who does not enter the sheepfold by the gate but climbs in by another way is a thief and a bandit.” (John 10: 1)

In my youth I worked with my dad in the long distance moving business. My dad painstakingly loaded his moving van.  I thought it was a lot of work that could be done a lot easier. But as I learned, there were two good reasons for loading household items tightly.  First, the tighter they were packed the less likely anything was going to be broken. Second, by loading one household tightly there could be more space to pick up another household.  My dad said, “No short cuts.”

There are no short cuts to being who God made us to be.  I began my journey to the priesthood asking my then bishop to let me just read for orders.  We called it “Canon 9″ in those days.  It was a way of accelerating the ordination process and filling the need of parishes needing priests. The bishop listened patiently. After my detailed presentation the bishop gave me a piece of paper with the names of three seminaries on it. There will be no short cuts, he said.

There are three words to remember here, and they are, “awareness,” “will,” and “ability.”  Ability should be the least of our concerns. First and foremost is awareness.  Awareness means that you know about the situation or problem.  Next is the will.  Are you willing to act to resolve the situation? If you are even thinking about your “ability,” you begin to eliminate God working with you.  David took on Goliath without hesitation because he trusted that God is with him.  David, a shepherd, entered the sheepfold by the gate. Later, his son Solomon, assuming leadership of all Israel, was aware of the huge responsibility he had, and willing to do the work, he prayed to God to “enable” him to do the work.

There is only one proper way to enter the sheepfold and that is by the gate.  The gate today may be the proper procedures set up for whatever that sheepfold might look like in your particular situation. It may be education and the proper training in how to do the work.  The gate may be licensing as in the medical or law field. The first Gate for Christians is our Lord Jesus Christ.  Jesus tells us that He is the Gate. The gate is the proper way to enter whatever sheepfold you want to enter. If we, as Christians, can’t see our Lord Jesus as the Gate of our vocation, then we are looking at the wrong sheepfold.

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

Let us pray: Fourth Sunday of Easter (BCP p. 225)

O God, whose Son Jesus is the good shepherd of your people: Grant that when we hear his voice we may know him who calls us each by name, and follow where he leads; who, with you and the Holy Spirit, lives and reigns, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

Daily Office Readings for Friday of the 3^rd Week of Easter: Year 2

Morning, Psalm 105:1 to 22; Evening, Psalm 105:23 to 45;

Exodus 24:1 to 18; Colossians 2:8 to 23;  Matthew 4:12 to 17:

He left Nazareth and made his home in Capernaum by the lake, in the territory of Zebulon and Naphtali.”  (Matthew 4:13)

I can still remember looking from our tour boat to the coast of Israel, in particular, Capernaum.  This is the first place our Lord Jesus went of his own free will and accord.  He was taken by his parents; to Bethlehem to be born; to Egypt to be saved,  to Nazareth to be raised, to Jerusalem to be dedicated, back to Nazareth, to Jerusalem again at age 12, and even to a wedding in Cana by invitation and always back to Nazareth.  But now, he left Nazareth and made his home in Capernaum by the lake. I took a picture of Capernaum and Galilee of Israel and was so impressed with it that I made it the representation or icon of this blog page.

It is around Capernaum that our Lord Jesus walked along the shore and said to John and James; and to Andrew and Simon Peter; “follow me.”  Capernaum then was his preaching and teaching area.  Our Lord Jesus bloomed where he planted himself.  We too, in our very transitional world, move around a lot. I think now however we are beginning to see that we can pretty much live wherever we want to because we can reach out, or bring the world to us through our laptops or phones wherever we are.  The stay- at- home; work from home, Corona virus, a few years ago, showed us this.  We too can bloom from right where we are.  Our home town can, and should, become our “preaching and teaching area” for the Church and for the sake of the Gospel.

None of us knows where our Capernaum will be.  None of us knows where our lives will end on earth. We must always do the best we can wherever we are today, and let tomorrow take care of itself.  Wherever you are right now, it is your Capernaum! Do the Lord’s work.

“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 to serve, and to teach others to love and to serve, while pondering anew what the Almighty can do. John

Let us pray:

Dear Lord Jesus, as You are the Way, the Truth and the Life, help us to anchor our lives in Your goodness so that wherever we make our home, we will promote and present Your loving Gospel to the whole earth. Help us to do this in our work and in our rest. Amen.