Daily Office Readings for Friday of the 1st Week of Epiphany 2021: Year 1
Morning, Psalms 16 and 17; Evening, Psalm 22;
Isaiah 42:1 to 17; Ephesians3:1 to 13; Mark 2:13 to 22
“Of this gospel I have become a servant according to the gift of God’s grace that was given to me by the working of his power.” (Ephesians 3:7)
For some reason the words, “Of this gospel I have become a servant,” has caused me to ponder. I ponder that the word Gospel literally means, “Good News.” So Paul has become a servant of the Good News.
Normally to receive Good News on the television, by people who bring us the news, I have to watch it to the very end, and if I am lucky, the anchor will share something, something charming or wonderful, good news. Such anchors are servants of whatever news that they are given to report. Paul, on the other hand, has volunteered to be a servant of the Good News of God in Christ Jesus.
So how would you or I go about being the servant of the Good News? Such servanthood requires us to bring positivity to people who may not see anything to be happy about. And we must remember, we are not necessarily the servant of the people to whom we are bringing the Gospel to, but the Gospel itself. We then are servants of the Gospel – the Good News.
This means we must be servants of an idea, a faith, a hope. We are called to be servants of the idea of love and forgiveness. We are servants of the idea of our Lord Jesus bringing us into eternal life. It is this Gospel which we escort to people as our master, There is the ideal and the real. But you and I can align the real with the ideal in our Gospel of love and hope, and faith, and Good News. It’s hard work. Some people don’t want to be happy. But we are not servants to them; we are servants to the Gospel. We take the Gospel to them. God then takes it from there. Paul says, this is “the gift of God’s grace that was given to [us] by the working of his power.”
Please keep up your thoughts and prayers and hopes for Ukraine, Iran and China.
“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 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
onewhoponders 
Thank you, Fr. Frazier……was great speaking with you recently. As I mentioned in our conversation; I’m resettling into the Fayetteville area after over a deade of of teaching in Daegu, S. Korea. It would be a privilege to reconnect to the St. Paul’s and St. Joseph’s community and serve. While in S. Korea I worshipped regularly with a Philippino community and communities at the American base of Camp Walker. Presently, I working on getting relicensed to drive in NC so and secure transportion. Shabbat shalom!!!
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Being a Servant of The Good News rather than our earthly clients readjusts the perspective of our humanism. Thanks, Richard
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