January 2020 – Page 3 – onewhoponders

Pondering for Saturday, January 11, 2020

Daily Office Readings for Saturday, Week of the Second Sunday after Christmas: Year 2

Psalm 148, 150 Psalm 91, 92 Isa. 55:3-9 Col 3:1-17 John 14:6-14

“Hallelujah! Praise the Lord from the heavens; praise him in the heights.” (Psalm 148:1)

Today being Saturday, I can’t help but compare the similarity of Psalm 148 with the recommended canticle for today, Canticle 12; A Song of Creation Benedicite, omnia opera Domini Song of the Three Young Men, found on pages 88 to 90 of the Book of Common Prayer. (BCP)

It starts out with the Incarnation: “Glorify the Lord, all you works of the Lord, * praise him and highly exalt him for ever. In the ﬁrmament of his power, glorify the Lord, * praise him and highly exalt him for ever.”

And just like Psalm 148 Canticle 12 takes us through the mystery and magic and love of God.

They both start with The Cosmic Order. This is about God creating the universe and all that is in it.

Then they both speak of The Earth and its Creatures. I can’t help but recall that “At [God’s] command all things came to be: the vast expanse of interstellar space, galaxies, suns, the planets in their courses, and this fragile earth, our island home.” (p. 370 BCP)

Then both Psalm 148 and Canticle 12 talk about The People of God. I recall that it was after God brought this earth into being that we were put here as caretakers of this place. Maybe God was upset that the dinosaurs went extinct, so God placed “managers” here to ensure that kind of thing doesn’t happen again.

At this writing koala bears and other marsupials of Australia are suffering from horrible fires ravaging the continent. There are koala bears actually coming to people to get water and other forms of care in order to survive. That’s why we are here, to care for God’s creatures. Thank You Lord Jesus.

Then the Canticle closes with the Doxology: Let us glorify the Lord: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit; praise him and highly exalt him for ever. In the ﬁrmament of his power, glorify the Lord, praise him and highly exalt him for ever.

Let us hear what the Spirit is saying to and through the saints of God and then ponder anew what the Almighty can do. John

Pondering for Friday, January 10, 2020

Daily Office Readings for Friday, Week of the Second Sunday after Christmas: Year 2

Psalm 138, 139:1-17(18-23) Psalm 147 Jer. 23:1-8 Col. 2:8-23 John 10:7-17

“I have other sheep that do not belong to this fold. I must bring them also, and they will listen to my voice. So there will be one flock, one shepherd. ” (John 10: 16)

Our Lord Jesus informs them (and us) that there are more than one path to the Jesus movement. While Christianity is good it is necessary for all Christians to “taste and see that the Lord is good.”

Several times our Lord Jesus identifies himself as the I AM. He says I AM the Gate. And he says I AM the Good Shepherd. This is how God identified God’s Self to Moses: I AM. Our Lord Jesus is both the Way in, and the Way out, of this world. He is this as the Gate, the Gate to eternal life.

But also, Our Lord Jesus is our Guide as the Good Shepherd. Our Lord Jesus leads us through the difficulties of life. He does not always remove them or get rid of them, but rather he accompanies us through them. My dad used to tell me that when the going gets rough, the rough get going. Jesus is rough enough to get us to and through the rough places in our lives. And he does this in all loving paths of the Christian life.

We must all keep our Methodist brothers and sisters in our prayers as they go through a rough time in the life of their Church. We Episcopalians have been there. We are all the “other sheep” that will be part of the same flock under One Good and Wonderful Shepherd. Thank You Lord Jesus.

Let us hear what the Spirit is saying to and through the saints of God and then ponder anew what the Almighty can do. John

Pondering for Thursday, January 9, 2020

Readings for Julia Chester Emery, Lay Leader and Missionary (9 January 1922)

Psalm 67 Romans 12:6-13 Mark 10:42-45

“Let your ways be known upon earth, your saving health among all nations.” (Psalm 67:2)

Surely these words were imbedded in the heart of Julia Chester Emery whom we remember today. She “was born in Dorchester, Massachusetts, on September 24, 1852. In 1876 she succeeded her sister, Mary, as Secretary of the Woman’s Auxiliary of the Board of Missions, which had been established by the General Convention in 1871. During the forty years she served as Secretary, Julia helped the Church to recognize its call to proclaim the gospel both at home and overseas. Her faith, her courage, her spirit of adventure, and her ability to inspire others combined to make her a leader respected and valued by the whole Church.” (Great Cloud of Witnesses for January 9, 2020)

We never know what our Christian dedication will amount to as we live into letting God’s ways being known upon the earth. “Through her leadership a network of branches of the Woman’s Auxiliary was established which shared a vision of and a commitment to the Church’s mission. An emphasis on educational programs, a growing recognition of social issues, development of leadership among women, and the creation of the United Thank Offering are a further part of the legacy Julia left to the Church when she retired in 1916. In 1921, the year before she died, on January 9, 1922, the following appeared in the Spirit of Missions: “In all these enterprises of the Church, no single agency has done so much in the last half-century to further the Church’s Mission as the Woman’s Auxiliary.” Much of that accomplishment was due to the creative spirit of its Secretary for forty of those fifty years, Julia Chester Emery.” (Great Cloud of Witnesses for January 9, 2020)

So those little blue UTO boxes were brought into existence from the heart Julia Emery. I doubt this is what she set out to do. She just allowed the Holy Spirit to lead her. The same is true for all of us. We don’t have to be from a strong religious biological family. If we are Christian, we are members of a strong spiritual family. All we need to do is listen and follow. And you too can make this world a better place.

Let us hear what the Spirit is saying to and through the saints of God and then ponder anew what the Almighty can do. John

Pondering for Wednesday, January 8, 2020

Readings for Harriet Bedell: January 8

Romans 16:1-2 Psalm 96:1-7 Matthew 5:1-12

“I commend to you our sister Phoebe, a deacon^* of the church at Cenchreae, so that you may welcome her in the Lord as is fitting for the saints, and help her in whatever she may require from you, for she has been a benefactor of many and of myself as well.” (Romans 16:1-2)

Today we remember the Reverend Harriet Bedell, Deacon in God’s one holy catholic and apostolic Church. Paul shares his appreciation of the work of Phoebe, a deacon in his time. The work of a deacon too often goes unappreciated.

“Harriet Bedell was born in Buffalo, New York, on March 19, 1875. Inspired by an Episcopal missionary, she enrolled as a student at the New York Training School for Deaconesses, where she was instructed in religion, missions, teaching, and hygiene. She then became a missionary-teacher among the Cheyenne at the Whirlwind Mission in Oklahoma. In 1916, Bedell was sent to Stevens Village, Alaska, where she was finally set apart as a deaconess in 1922. She also served as a teacher and nurse at St. John’s in the Wilderness at Allakaket, just 40 miles south of the Arctic Circle, from which she sometimes traveled by dogsled to remote villages. During her last years in Alaska, Bedell opened a boarding school.” (Great Cloud of Witness for January 8)

I have come to realize that the way you can tell a call is from God is that it is often inconvenient, will cost you your time and money and makes you uncomfortable. It will benefit someone or persons outside of your group and you will receive no observable reward. Thank You Jesus. But you will know without a doubt that it is what God wants of you.

“In 1932, hearing about the plight of the Seminoles in Florida, Bedell used her own salary to reopen a mission among the Mikasuki Indians. There, she worked to revive some of their traditional crafts: doll making, basket-weaving, and intricate patchwork designs…..Active into her eighties, Deaconess Bedell drove an average of 20,000 miles per year during her ministry.” (Great Cloud of Witness for January 8)

“Bedell emphasized health and education rather than religious conversion in her work with the Seminoles; their spiritual and physical comfort was more important to her than religious conversion, and her work and friendship with the Seminoles of Florida reflected those values.” (from the Florida Memory Project http://www.satucket.com/lectionary/Bedell.htm)

Let us hear what the Spirit is saying to and through the saints of God and then ponder anew what the Almighty can do. John

Pondering for Tuesday, January 7, 2020

Daily Office Readings for Tuesday: Week of the Second Sunday after Christmas: Year 2

Psalm 103: Psalm 114, 115: Deut. 8:1-3: Col. 1:1-14: John 6:30-33,48-51

“I am the living bread that came down from heaven. Whoever eats of this bread will live forever; and the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh.” (John 6:51)

From the Gospel of John we learn of God’s plan through Jesus is to give us eternal life through a human body which is the very Word of God. It sounds confusing.

Perhaps this fulfills the prophetic word of our Deuteronomy reading; for today where we are told, “He humbled you by letting you hunger, then by feeding you with manna, with which neither you nor your ancestors were acquainted, in order to make you understand that one does not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord.” (Deuteronomy 8:3)

So we can feed on the material food of this world to fortify our material bodies. But the material world is a transient world, not an eternal world. Jesus, born of a material woman, made manifest by the eternal Holy Spirit, makes possible our eternal life through the same. It sounds confusing, but I want it.

Let us hear what the Spirit is saying to and through the saints of God and then ponder anew what the Almighty can do. John

Pondering for Monday, January 6, 2020

Eucharistic Readings for the Epiphany

Isaiah 60:1-6 Psalm 72:1-7,10-14 Ephesians 3:1-12 Matthew 2:1-12

“Where is the child who has been born king of the Jews? For we observed his star at its rising, and have come to pay him homage.”

So in these words we hear the Magi say that they are looking for a child born king of the Jews (not king of Israel). I find it interesting that this will also be the words placarded over his head on the cross, “Jesus king of the Jews.” So Jesus is king not of a specific land mass but of a One God faith – a faith that he invites all people to share – to be grafted into his very own body and blood. There is a specialness about this child.

The Magi say, “We observed his star.” Wait, What! He has a star! If a child or any person has a dedicated star, that child or person is recognized by the heavenly bodies as an entity unique in all creation. No one before, or since, has ever had a celestial body as an indicator of their presence. From outside the child’s community, the specialness of this child is made known to those who study the heavens.

It takes a certain amount of acceptance to acknowledge not being the chosen one of God and that a person from another culture has been chosen. But here is the deal, we have this blessed assurance, that whomever God picks, it is not just for that person, or group, or nation, or clan, or family only. Moses was blessed not for himself but for the liberation of Israelites. And in this particular case the Son of God is born for the salvation of all humanity.

The Magi put their own ethnicity, culture and race aside and looked at what the heavens were doing, and so should we. God’s plan is so much larger than any group of us. We too need to see the light.

Let us hear what the Spirit is saying to and through the saints of God and then ponder anew what the Almighty can do. John

Pondering for Sunday, January 5, 2020

This is the Twelfth Day of Christmas

Eucharistic Readings for the Second Sunday after Christmas Day: Year A

Jeremiah 31:7-14 Psalm 84 or 84:1-8 Ephesians 1:3-6,15-19a Matthew 2:13-15,19-23 or Luke 2:41-52 or Matthew 2:1-12

“Where is the child who has been born king of the Jews? For we observed his star at its rising, and have come to pay him homage.” (Matthew 2:2)

The Magi put race and ethnicity aside and looked at what the heavens were doing, and so should we. Paul says, “I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in his holy people.” (Ephesians 1:18) Merry Christmas: Day 12

Let us all strive to maintain the light of Christ in the world. Merry Christmas: Day 11

Let us always listen, learn, love and lead with the mind of Christ. Merry Christmas: Day 10

I pray that you may use your God-given gifts to the best of your ability and to our well being. Merry Christmas: Day 9

May your Christened name be blessed forever. Merry Christmas; Day 8

We thank you Lord Jesus for being born like us, for us, and saving us. Merry Christmas: Day 7

If being forgiven is the greatest gift we can ever receive from someone, then it is also the greatest gift we can ever give to someone. Merry Christmas: Day 6

It is an extraordinary gift we have, to believe. All Christians need to live into what we believe. Merry Christmas: Day 5

We are never to hurt or harm children, only help them, teach them, save and love them. This is what Christmas is all about. Merry Christmas: Day 4

The testimony of John the apostle about our Lord Jesus is true; Believe. Merry Christmas: Day 3

Let us not take our hate or ill will for another with us to our mortal death. Merry Christmas: Day 2

Our being saved has as much to do with the birth of Jesus as it does his Resurrection from the dead. Merry Christmas: Day 1

Let us hear what the Spirit is saying to and through the saints of God and then ponder anew what the Almighty can do. John

Pondering for Saturday, January 4, 2020

This is the Eleventh Day of Christmas

Daily Office Readings for Saturday following the First Sunday after Christmas: Year 2

AM Psalm 85, 87; PM Psalm 136 Joshua 3:14—4:7; Eph. 5:1-20; John 9:1-12,35-38

“As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world.” (John 9: 5)

The Gospel of John opens with words explaining that Jesus, the Logos of God, is the light of the world. This light is more than just visual illumination. It is moral insight into right behavior. Ii is as the Christmas song says, being good for goodness sake.

Let us all strive to maintain the light of Christ in the world always. Merry Christmas: Day 11