Author: John Thomas Frazier

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

Daily Office Readings for Friday of the 2^nd Week of Lent: Year 1

Morning, Psalms 95 and 69; Evening, Psalm 73;
Jeremiah 5:1 to 9; Romans 2:25 to 3:18; John 5:30 to 47

“Rather, a person is a Jew who is one inwardly, and real circumcision is a matter of the heart—it is spiritual and not literal. Such a person receives praise not from others but from God.” (Romans 2:29)

I’m going to run the risk of offending some of you today.  I truly hope that I do not. Some Christians do not like Jews. Such attitudes make me sad. They claim to love the Jew named Jesus, who kept all the Jewish traditions, but at the same time, the same Christians refuse to give his tradition an honest look.

I see Judaism as a faith not a race. I don’t believe in race. Sorry, it’s just me. The Jewish people were the displaced Israelites who escaped bondage under the Pharaoh of Egypt.  They were probably mixed with Egyptian blood as well, after all, Joseph, son of Jacob (Israel), married the daughter of an Egyptian and had two sons, Ephraim and Manasseh.  They became Tribes of Israel even though they were half Egyptian.  My whole point is that we are what we practice, not who we claim as biological ancestors, but rather, who we claim as our spiritual ancestors.  Abraham himself came from the place that is now known as Iraq.  So what is being a Jew inwardly as Paul tells us?

Being a Jew at heart for me really means practicing the faith and worship of one God, the Creator of all that is, and lover of life, all life.  Further, I see Christianity as a path within Judaism, not a totally different way of honoring God. I am a U.S. Marine (retired) but I don’t get upset when people reference my connection of Marines with the U.S. Navy. Marines come under the Department of the Navy.  We Christians try to follow Jesus the Jew, in all that he commands us.

There is one caution about the word Jew I feel I must remind us. When we read “the Jews” in the Gospel, especially, the Gospel according to John, let us be advised that that the evangelist is really talking about the Temple authorities, not the regular Jewish people. Too many Christians have taken the wrong use of this word to sanction anti-Semitism.

Mad at me yet?  I hope not. If we aspire to be a people of love we can’t harbor any hatred or malice towards those who differ from us. We must strive to love all people. Thank You Jesus.

“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 2^nd Week of Lent: Year 1

Morning, Psalm  71; Evening, Psalm 74;
Jeremiah 4:9 to 10 and 19 to 28; Romans 2:12 to 24; John 5:19 to 29:

“When Gentiles, who do not possess the law, do instinctively what the law requires, these, though not having the law, are a law to themselves.  They show that what the law requires is written on their hearts, to which their own conscience also bears witness; and their conflicting thoughts will accuse or perhaps excuse them on the day when, according to my gospel, God, through Jesus Christ, will judge the secret thoughts of all.” (Romans 2:14 to 16)

This just goes to show that all humanity, Jew or Gentile (the Non-Jew Nations), all have a sense of what is right and what is wrong. And according to earlier writings in Jeremiah which says, “But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the LORD: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.  No longer shall they teach one another, or say to each other, “Know the LORD,” for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, says the LORD; for I will forgive their iniquity, and remember their sin no more.” (Jeremiah 31:31to 34)

God, in Christ Jesus, has written this on the human heart, whether we know it or not. I think we do know it however.  We don’t need a list of written laws for right and wrong to obey, or enforce. We already have an innate sense of the right thing to do or say. It has been given to us by God. It is called our conscience. We all have it or we perhaps suffer from some kind of anti-social psychosis which may have been known as demonic possession in the day of Jesus.

We truly should let our conscience be our guide. I think too that we all have secret thoughts. These secret thoughts will be judged by our Lord Jesus at our judgment day.  Personally, I think we will be judged on whether or not we carried out our dark thoughts, or subdued them as demons trying to possess us. It is possible to subdue our passions but it might take being a part of a society greater than one’s self: a church family or a benevolent fraternity or sorority bent on doing good; perhaps a combination of both church and fraternity or sorority or other benevolent associations.

But as our reading from Romans points out, all of us have some God-given sense of what is good and right so to do.  Let us remember the caution from St Paul, “Conflicting thoughts will accuse or perhaps excuse [us] on the day when, according to my gospel, God, through Jesus Christ, will judge the secret thoughts of all.”

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