Author: John Thomas Frazier

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

Daily Office Reading for Monday of the 3^rd Week of Lent: Year 1

 Morning, Psalm 80; Evening, Psalm 77:
Jeremiah 7:1 to15; Romans 4:1 to 12; John 7:14 to 36:

“Restore us, O God of hosts; show the light of your countenance, and we shall be saved.” (Psalm 80)

This verse shows up three times in Psalm 80. It asks for restoration and the light of God’s countenance.

It appears in different English verbiage depending on which Bible translation you read.  But the message is the same; we Christians need restoration, but this can only be accomplished if we receive the light of God’s countenance. Such a light is revealed to us only as God wishes to do so. We can’t figure it out, or achieve it. But we can show God that we believe, by the way we live out our lives.  I have observed that God has blessed those who discipline themselves with the light of God’s countenance as God did with Moses at the burning bush (Exodus 3). God also walked with Abraham before that and revealed many signs to him.

“He [Abraham] received the sign of circumcision as a seal of the righteousness that he had by faith while he was still uncircumcised. The purpose was to make him the ancestor of all who believe without being circumcised and who thus have righteousness reckoned to them, and likewise the ancestor of the circumcised who are not only circumcised but who also follow the example of the faith that our ancestor Abraham had before he was circumcised.” (Romans 4: 11 and 12).  This is Paul reflecting on the importance of following in faith, and how important it is.  So for me, circumcision was never necessary, and therefore, God’s inclusiveness was always open to women. This is the long way around the elbow in order to reach my point, and that is, God finds us if we prepare a place to receive God and live our lives open to accept the hints and nudges from God, and to see the burning bush in our own lives. God even went to Saul/Paul, not because Paul figured everything out; in fact, Paul was wrong about what he thought God wanted.  He thought he was doing what God wanted until God, in the Risen Lord, stepped into his life and changed him, and Christianity everywhere, forever.

The message is clear. The light of God’s countenance will restore us if we walk in the light of God’s countenance in prayer and love. I would also recommend studying the lives of the saints of God. We have such wonderful examples in our Church history. Such study is not “figuring it out,” but rather, creating a space, a steppingstone for God to enter your life and change you forever.

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 3^rd Sunday of Lent: Year A

Exodus 17:1-7;  Psalm 95;  Romans 5:1-11;  John 4:5-42:

“They said to the woman, “It is no longer because of what you said that we believe, for we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this is truly the Savior of the world.” (John 4:42)

This story in the Gospel of John about Jesus meeting the Samaritan woman at the well is a curious one.  It appears that they were the only two there. How did we get the dialogue that took place between them?  Did Jesus take the time to share the step-by-step exchange between them to his returning disciples?  I guess he did.

She comes to the well in the heat of the day, noon. She hates her life and responds to Jesus’ ability to never be thirsty again with the words, “Sir, give me this water, so that I may never be thirsty or have to keep coming here to draw water.” This tells us about her life as one abandoned by her community, one who probably has a history of being with many men, perhaps a husband thief. She is shunned by her neighbors. So, she makes her necessary trek to the well when she thinks no one is at the well. She can’t face them. This is where she meets God Incarnate.

Our Lord Jesus asks her for water.  The Creator of  water, asks this, also created woman, for what is already his. I am pondering that this was not a chance meeting. I am pondering that our Lord Jesus intentionally arranged this meeting, not just for her, but through her for the benefit of the community in which she lived. After her encounter she goes and faces down her community and proclaims  “Come and see a man who told me everything I have ever done! He cannot be the Messiah, can he?” Yes my dear, He Is!

Jesus tells her, “God is spirit, and those who worship God must worship in spirit and truth.”  After her encounter with our Lord Jesus, she goes and changes the lives of her village. They come and see just as Peter and John did when Mary Magdalene told of the Risen Lord. And to this they told her; They said to the woman, “It is no longer because of what you said that we believe, for we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this is truly the Savior of the world.” How sad, if it had not been for her, they would never have met their Creator.

I am always amazed at the number of unnamed persons in the Bible who made a significant difference in the lives of the people of their community, and in our shared Biblical history.  The unnamed woman at the well is like many of us today.  Folks may not know our names, but we are still being sent out to tell the life-changing, and lifesaving story of our Lord Jesus, and how he has told us everything we have ever done. We don’t have her name, but she is Moses to the Israelites; she is Jonah to Nineveh; she is you to your community. Proclaim to those who shun you that your Lord Jesus has visited you, and made you well, at the well.

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 2^nd Week of Lent: Year 1

Morning Psalms 75 and 76; Evening Psalms 23 and 27;
Jeremiah 5:20 to 31; Romans 3:19 to 31; John 7:1 to13:

“For we hold that a person is justified by faith apart from works prescribed by the law.  Or is God the God of Jews only? Is he not the God of Gentiles also? Yes, of Gentiles also, since God is one; and he will justify the circumcised on the ground of faith and the uncircumcised through that same faith. Do we then overthrow the law by this faith? By no means! On the contrary, we uphold the law.” (Romans 3:28 to 31)

So Paul says we are justified by faith apart from works prescribes by the law. I think one of those laws is to remember the Sabbath and keep it Holy. Paul does not annul the law, only says that works are apart from, separate from, but in addition to the faith requirement, and still viable. Sometimes I think Paul needs balance..

He also asks if God is concerned for people outside the “Law People?”  The answer is, “Yes.” God is very concerned for all people. Nobody is wasted. He, Paul, also points out that this faith we have is the same faith of both Jew and Gentile. There is no “them,” or “us.” We are both and, not or. God loves us all.

For us who are Christian, our Lord Jesus has summed up the Law into “Love God with all that we are,” and this is shown by both private prayers and public worship, the latter not to be confused with keeping the Sabbath; and, to love one another. This is the Law handed down to us from our Lord Jesus. So none of us should think that we can just do away with the law to love God and to love one another, and all the faith works that the Lord’s Law requires.

The saints since the time of Jesus have all had the quality of prayer, charity and journaling.  It is this last quality that informs us today about what it means to be a follower of our Lord Jesus. From Perpetua to Mother Teresa, we should all read the words of the saints of God. I think they give St Paul balance and gives us direction.

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