Author: John Thomas Frazier

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

Morning Psalm 72; Evening, Psalm 119:73 to 96;
Jeremiah 3:6 to 18; Romans 1:28 to 2:11; John 5:1 to18:

“Or do you despise the riches of his kindness and forbearance and patience? Do you not realize that God’s kindness is meant to lead you to repentance?” (Romans 2:4)

At one point in my life I was training to be a machine shop operator.  After our school training was completed, places of employment were found for us. I was hired at a printing machine company. My supervisor’s name was Clyde Hampton, (I don’t know if he is still with us), and he was very patient and kind with me at a time when I had low moral values.  I had a poor work ethic even though my dad had raised me to work for what I needed.  I was in my late teens, rebellious and thought I could outsmart Mr. Hampton. It was later in life that I realized how patient and kind Mr. Hampton was with me. He never threatened me with firing me even after I had been repeatedly late for work. His kindness and patience I remembered later in life and was truly sorry for not being a better worker for him. Lent is a time of spiritual maturation.

I think if my machine shop supervisor tried to use intimidation on me it would have resulted in an adversarial employee relationship, one which would not have favored me and I would have been fired. As it turned out, albeit much later, I repented of my callous ways and begin to take work responsibilities more seriously. I matured both morally and spiritually.

God brings us in with kindness and patience. Wrath may be in store for some, but we have choices. Let us not behave only to avoid wrath, rather, let us be brought to our knees in tearful sorrow and the need to amend our lives. Sadly, we can learn a lot about ourselves through experiences we can’t go back and change. However, we can learn from them and make a real change in the way we go about our lives moving forward. I have learned this from my dad, from Clyde Hampton and from the stories of our saints in Christ 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 Tuesday of the Second Week of Lent: Year 1

Morning, Psalm 61 and 62; Evening, Psalm 68;
Jeremiah 2:1 to 13; Romans 1:16 to 25; John 4:43 to 54:

“The father realized that this was the hour when Jesus had said to him, ‘Your son will live.’ So he himself believed, along with his whole household. Now this was the second sign that Jesus did after coming from Judea to Galilee.” (John 4: 53 and 54)

Jesus has just complained about the people not believing unless they saw signs and wonders. In fact, he had just said this to this royal official and father of a dying child. I find it strange that the word faith is not mentioned in the Gospel of John in any English translation, at least not one that I have seen. My thought is that faith was too mild a word as a noun. The tellers of the Gospel of John wanted an action word, a verb. Faith is something you have, or don’t have. Believing is something you do, or do not do. What you believe is made manifest in your action or inaction; or is should be.  

I know that for me, I try hard to live into what I believe, which is based on my faith and I also have hope, a lot of hope.  Today we do not get to talk to a human Jesus. We do however, get to talk to a Risen Jesus. It’s the same Jesus. The signs and wonders still happen today.

The father in today’s reading verified his so-called belief by inquiring about the time the healing happened. When he got proof, he felt more comfortable in his belief. Perhaps this is not the way it should be. Maybe we first believe and then let science catch up. This is what Arch Bishop of Canterbury Anselm (1109) said: “I first believe in order that I might later understand.”  Faith, belief, trust and love must be first. Understanding comes later, in this life, or the next.

Sometimes however, science disputes what the ancient writings and what our predecessors have said, to wit: the earth is not flat, nor is it the center of a universe that revolves over it. But then I remember, the father in this story didn’t base his belief on the ancient writings but rather on the very word of our Lord Jesus. I pray too that I first believe and then let science substantiate my faith, hope, trust, love and belief. Thank You Lord Jesus.

Where are you in this story?  Do you believe first no matter what?

Today we remember Perpetua, Felicity and their Companions Martyrs at Carthage, 202.

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 Monday of the Second Week of Lent: Year 1

Morning, Psalms 56 and 57; Evening, Psalms 64 and 65;
Jeremiah 1:11 to 19; Romans 1:1 to 15; John 4:27 to 42

“The reaper is already receiving wages and is gathering fruit for eternal life, so that sower and reaper may rejoice together. For here the saying holds true, “One sows and another reaps.” I sent you to reap that for which you did not labor. Others have labored, and you have entered into their labor.”  (John 4:36 to 38)

I must have read this passage containing the story about the woman at the well at least a hundred times, and yet, I am getting a whole new message now. 

I study the saints of God. Many of them are my spiritual heroes. They were the sowers of my faith. They labored in the spiritual fields. I read their works and benefited from their labors. I am so thankful.

Jesus talks about eating the instructions of God as his food.  He lives to obey God. It seems Jesus and the saints eat to live; I, on the other hand, too often, live only to eat my next meal. I can, and will, do better.

I like thinking that I have entered into the labor of those holy people I have read about, and there are many. They planted, I harvested. I entered with them in their labor, in the work God has assigned “us” and this pleases me. I look through “A Great Cloud of Witnesses: A Calendar of Commemorations; by Church Publishing;” everyday.  It is a starting point that I use to go deeper with other sources.

Whose spiritual shoulders have you stood on?  Do you alter your life on the words of Evelyn Underhill, or Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. or Bede, or Richard Hooker, or Anselm as do I? If so, you have joined with them in their labor. You are one with them in Christ Jesus. What an honored place to be. Listen to their testimony, their words, their life. Hear what these saints are telling you. They have planted, they have sown, you are now reaping. But if you listen to them and amend your life with their help you are with them as one in Christ Jesus. What a wonderful place to be.

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 Second Sunday of Lent: Year A

Genesis 12:1-4a;  Psalm 121;  Romans 4:1-5, 13-17; and John 3:1-17:

“He came to Jesus by night and said to him, “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher who has come from God; for no one can do these signs that you do apart from the presence of God.” (John 3:2)

Why then do we need to go any further?  If we can see clearly that someone is doing things that only a person whom God is working through can do, why ask any further questions regarding proofs?  And if God is the source of the “what” that is being done, we already know the answer to why.  It is because God loves us.

Nicodemus comes to our Lord Jesus “by night.”  This darkness of night may also allude to his ignorance. He comes to Jesus in his not-knowing and his not believing even though, self-admittedly he says “we know that you are a teacher who has come from God.”  Nicodemus and his cohorts do regard Jesus, knowing, as he says, “for no one can do these signs that you do apart from the presence of God.”  Some theologians will say it is not about doing.  But even Nicodemus recognizes the signs that Jesus is “doing.”  But the doing is from God. Yes God made us human being, not human doing. I have said that many times.  Our doing however must come from God acting through us, using our hands and feet and minds and words to the glory of God.

God is God of heaven and earth. Nicodemus (and we today) ought to know this.  Jesus tells of things earthly and heavenly.  And he says, “If I have told you about earthly things and you do not believe, how can you believe if I tell you about heavenly things?” (John 3:12)  Our Lord Jesus’ mission is to save the world.  Perhaps the most famous statement in the New Testament is  John 3:16; “For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life.” Our Lord Jesus makes us aware of an invitation from God to live joyfully in eternity, to have life and have it abundantly.   We do this by believing.  But believing in this sense means living out our lives in truth and love. 

I really liked the words of the Reverend Helen Van Koevering, rector of Saint Raphael the Archangel Episcopal church in Lexington, Kentucky as she writes in Forward Day by Day for (March 8, 2020), “When we follow Jesus we learn to respond to life with generosity, reconciliation, acceptance, compassion, and encouragement.  GRACE.”  Thank you Helen. Being our Lord Jesus’ hands and feet and mouth and mind is more than just saying what we believe; we must demonstrate what we believe through acts of caring, hospitality, and doing for others, putting others before ourselves.  In living this way we accept the invitation from God to join the company of heaven in eternal life as promised by God.  For those who believe and live it out in godly ways may not perish but have eternal life.

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 First Week of Lent: Year 1

Morning, Psalm 55; Evening, Psalms 138 and 139:1-17;  
Deuteronomy 11:18 to 28; Hebrews 5:1 to 10; John 4:1 to 26 

“God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.”  (John 4:24)

For me, this verse is the most profound in all Scripture, and that is, that God is Spirit, not male or female. God is not only beyond any human identifier, God is beyond anything we can begin to understand. Anselm, (Archbishop of Canterbury 1109), rightly proclaimed, “God is that than which nothing greater can be thought.” Anselm is so correct. I think we are so proud of God’s creation of us, that we began to think God was looking in a mirror in creating us. I don’t think so.

I believe the Spirit of God was patient enough to see how the God-Spirit host would evolve and then, in the fullness of time, God would come among us regardless of what we look like, or how many variations we are. It’s weird I know. And while none of us can capture the concept of God, as Anselm informs us, that also means none of us can be refuted. First and foremost, “God is Spirit, and those who worship [God] must worship in spirit and truth,” to the very best of our ability.

I read many different daily readings from the Saints of God. One such is “Readings fro the Daily Office from the Early Church” by J Robert Wright (1991)  For yesterday, Friday, He featured “A reading from a commentary on the Song of Songs by Gregory: Bishop of Nyssa [c. 394]. The opening of  this article reads:

“No one who has given thought to the way we talk about God can adequately grasp the terms pertaining to God.  “Mother,” for example, is mentioned [in the Song of Songs 3:11] instead of “father.” Both terms mean the same, because there is neither male nor female in God.  How, after all, could anything transitory like this be attributed to the Deity, when this is not permanent even for us human beings, since when we all become one in Christ we are divested of the signs of this difference along with the whole of our old humanity?”  (p. 132)

You have no idea how good it feels when a person of strong faith and intellect, from so long ago, shares my exact beliefs about our Creator. I will never cease from pondering.

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 First Week of Lent: Year 1

Morning, Psalms 95, 40, and 54; Evening, Psalm 51; 
Deuteronomy 10:12 to 22; Hebrews 4:11 to 16; John 3:22 to 36: 

“Indeed, the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing until it divides soul from spirit, joints from marrow; it is able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart. And before him no creature is hidden, but all are naked and laid bare to the eyes of the one to whom we must render an account.” (Hebrews 4:12 and 13)

I can remember being counseled, while still a seminarian, about using language like “being naked before God’s scrutinizing gaze.”  I was told that such language might be very uncomfortable to some parishioners. Now I say, “Let the shoe fit.” 

The writer to the Hebrews is trying hard to let the reader know that God breaks us down to the intentions of our hearts.  What we end up saying or doing is one thing. What we intend to say or do makes all the difference.  God will get at what is in our hearts. And God, through God’s experience in the person of Christ Jesus, has fully experienced what it means to be one of us. “For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who in every respect has been tested as we are, yet without sin.” (Hebrews 4:15)

My beloved of the Lord, we are not able to fix our own hearts. God has made us dependent on God alone. So we can, and should, pray. When, not if, we feel we are spiraling down a negative or hateful path, we must stop and petition God to change us. I guess the big decision is, do we want to let go of deceitfulness and hate? If we find ourselves thinking or saying, “I wish I was different,” this then is the time to pray, “Almighty God, to you all hearts are open, all desires known, and from you no secrets are hid: Cleanse the thoughts of [my] heart by the inspiration of your Holy Spirit, that [I] may perfectly love you, and worthily magnify your holy Name; through Christ our Lord. Amen. (BCP 355; modified to first person)

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 First Week of Lent: Year 1

Morning; Psalm 50; Evening; Psalms 19 and 46:  
Deuteronomy 9:23 to 10:5; Hebrews 4:1to 10; John 3:16 to 21:

“So then, a Sabbath rest still remains for the people of God; for those who enter God’s rest also cease from their labors as God did from his.” (Hebrews 4: 9 and 10)

Today is Thursday, but the gift of God’s Sabbath begins tomorrow evening. This has not changed, and even our Lord Jesus observed it.  Worshiping on Sunday is fine and proper for Christians, but I don’t feel we are excused from resting from Friday evening to Saturday evening. Rest is not worship, it is rest.

Sometimes I think the human need to micro-manage one another required us to meet together in order to ensure no one was “working.’  However, the  worship team, (clergy and laity) are technically working. No, I feel we need to have time to ourselves, un-monitored, unsupervised, self regulated, and trusted to truly rest and ponder about God.

I am still working on this shift in my spiritual life.  I’m getting there.  I must remember that our Lord Jesus said on many occasions that it is okay to do the necessary things even on the Sabbath: things like comforting the sick, putting out fires, standing guard against bad people and so forth. We go against the idea of Sabbath rest when we spend time with household chores, organizing get-togethers, and running errands; even participating in public worship.  None of these are God’s idea of Rest. “For those who enter God’s rest also cease from their labors as God did from his.” 

The Sabbath should be a time of meditation and perhaps small informal gatherings of family or very close spiritual friends for prayer, light food and drink, and the sharing of blessings. It is not a time of detailed preparation.  It is a time of contemplative reflection, a time to do nothing. Every Sabbath is a gift of time from God. Let us not refuse, or reject such a loving present. This sharing is in no way an attempt to undermine our Christian worship traditions. But I don’t believe we are excused from obeying God’s instruction to observe the Sabbath Day, the seventh day, which is still understood to be Saturday.

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 First Week of Lent: Year 1

Morning Psalm 119:49 to 72; Evening Psalm 49;
Deuteronomy  9:13 to 21; Hebrews 3:12 to 19; John 2:23 to 3:15 

“So I took hold of the two tablets and flung them from my two hands, smashing them before your eyes.” (Deuteronomy 9:17)

Moses has again interceded for the wayward Israelites.  God planned to destroy them and then began again with Moses as their ancient Patriarch instead of Abraham.  But Moses declined and asked God to let him go to the people to bring them back to God.  However upon finding them creating an idol, a false God, Moses broke the stone tablets, symbolizing the Israelites braking covenant with God. Moses remained steadfast in his resolve to bring the Israelites back to God, not just to the promised land, but also their hearts to the ways of God. I think God really liked Moses advocating for the Israelites.

God knows what is in the heart of every person, just as our Lord Jesus does.  This is brought out in our Gospel reading for today.  “But Jesus on his part would not entrust himself to them, because he knew all people and needed no one to testify about anyone; for he himself knew what was in everyone;” (John 2: 24 and 25).  Remember,  Jesus already knew what was in Nathanael when Philip brought him to Jesus. When Jesus saw Nathanael coming toward him, he said of him, “Here is truly an Israelite in whom there is no deceit!”  Jesus also already knew what was in the heart of Judas, his betrayer.  We can fool each other, but we can’t fool God in Christ Jesus, ever.

We get lost and we break covenant and we seek after the things we make with our own hands so much so that they somehow become idols, the focus of too much of our attention.  We must remember that God in Christ Jesus knows whereof we are made and what’s on our hearts and minds.  We should always pray for our Lord Jesus to cleanse the thoughts of our hearts in order that we might become a more faithfully focused people.

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 First Week in Lent: Year 1

AM Psalm 45; PM Psalms 47 and 48;
Deuteronomy 9:4 to 12; Hebrews 3:1 to11; John 2:13 to 22:

“It is not because of your righteousness or the uprightness of your heart that you are going in to occupy their land; but because of the wickedness of those nations that the Lord your God is dispossessing them before you, in order to fulfill the promise that the Lord made on oath to your ancestors, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob. (Deuteronomy 9:5)

Today’s readings give us food for “ponder.”  In Deuteronomy we learn that God was upset with the people occupying the land promised to the descendents of Abraham. The greater learning curve is to learn that God had a relationship with people other than Israel, but they failed to do what was righteous in the sight of God.

From the Prophet Amos we learn the same thing as we can read, “Are you not like the Ethiopians to me, O people of Israel? says the LORD.  Did I not bring Israel up from the land of Egypt, and the Philistines from Caphtor and the Arameans from Kir?” (Amos 9:7)  So it becomes clear that God tried to have leadership relationships with others but was able to maintain this relationship with the descendents of Abraham; and through our Lord Jesus, with us Christians today.

So what happens to such untrusting people?  I think the Holy Spirit teaches us about what happens when we become stiff-necked in our own egos, when we harden our hearts to truth and love. Today we read from the writer of Hebrews, “Therefore, as the Holy Spirit says, ‘Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion, as on the day of testing in the wilderness, where your ancestors put me to the test, though they had seen my works for forty years. Therefore I was angry with that generation, and I said, “They always go astray in their hearts, and they have not known my ways.” As in my anger I swore, “They will not enter my rest.” (Hebrews 3: 7 to 11)

To be denied access to earthly land is one thing.  But to be denied entrance into the “Rest of God, that is the comfort of God” is life ending. God loves us, and even more so if we show that we are also loving in return; loving both to God, and to one another.  This is what Jesus’ ministry is really all about. We must learn to listen to the loving leadership-relationship of God in our lives.

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 Monday of the 1^st Week in Lent: Year 1

AM Psalms  41 and  52; PM Psalm 44;   
Deuteronomy 8:11 to 20; Hebrews 2:11to18; John 2:1to12

“His mother said to the servants, ‘Do whatever he tells you.” (John 2:5)

Let’s be with Mary the mother of Jesus for all of his earthly life.  And, although she is never named in the Gospel of John, the writer of this Gospel is dependent on his readers to have read the Synoptic Gospels in order to fill in all such details.

While not wealthy by any means, Mary and Jesus probably did not ever go to bed hungry. As we know, our Lord Jesus has a knack for multiplying food. Mary puts forth her request at the wedding and turns to face the servants of our Lord Jesus, (this includes us). If you consider yourself to be a servant of our Lord Jesus, then she looks beyond, and through the pages of your Bible right into your eyes.  She says to them and to you, “Do whatever he tells you.

When she made this request, Jesus mumbled something about His time has not yet come; but Mary has already turned from him fully knowing that he will take care of the situation. She has perhaps never been denied by him.  As far as she is concerned, it is a done deal.

This is also a lesson to us.  We should make our needs known to our Lord Jesus and then proceed in life fully confident that Jesus will take care of the situation. Let us not forget the “do” part.  After all, she did say “Do,” whatever he tells you.  There is a participation part that we have to do.  In Jesus’ day, filling the barrels was not a matter of turning on a faucet or water hose. It was hauling water from its source to the barrels. It probably took time and sweat.  There is always a “do” part in our partnership with our 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