Author: John Thomas Frazier

Daily Office Readings for Tuesday of the 4^th Week of Advent: Year 1

Morning, Psalm 66 and 67; Evening, Psalm 116 and 117;
Isaiah 11:10 to 16; Revelation 20:11 to 21:8; Luke 1:5 to 25

The angel replied, ‘I am Gabriel. I stand in the presence of God, and I have been sent to speak to you and to bring you this good news. But now, because you did not believe my words, which will be fulfilled in their time, you will become mute, unable to speak, until the day these things occur.” (Luke 1: 19 and 20)

The angel Gabriel lost his patience with Zechariah because he doubted.  So he made Zechariah mute until an appointed time. I’m guessing that was okay with God since angels have the blessing and authority from God. It seems angels and other beings from the court of heaven have some latitude as far as we mortals are concerned. We’d best be careful. But being mute may not be such a bad thing.

When I am silent, my mind opens.  I am then able to realize more about what is going on in the world, and with me personally, than when I am running my mouth. It seems that God engineered our faces such that when we close our mouths, our ears open.

Meditative prayer is so important. Many of the saints that I have studied, like St. John of the Cross and Evelyn Underhill for example, were muted with imprisonment or sickness (respectively), when they created their greatest works of writing.

So how about you and me volunteering to be muted in order that we too might receive divine inspiration? About angels; they never come or go.  They are revealed and then they are hidden. But they are always with us, even if not seen, and even while with us, they stand in the presence of God.  And having divine authority from on high, they watch us closely. Perhaps it is from them, angels like Gabriel, that we too receive our revelations from God. But let us not be forced into quietness.  Rather, let us make a few moments of quiet resolve a part of our natural daily rhythm. Zechariah was probably angry when muted. But let’s look at what Zechariah gleaned from his quiet time.

Please keep up your thoughts and prayers and hopes for Ukraine, Iran and China.

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

Daily Office Readings for Monday of the 4^th Week of Advent: Year 1

Morning, Psalms 61 and 62; Evening, Psalms 112 and 115:
Isaiah 11:1 to 9; Revelation 20:1 to 10; John 5:30 to 47

“God has spoken once, twice have I heard it, that power belongs to God.”  (Psalm 62: 11 or 13 depending on the translation)

There are two ways to interpret this verse.  First, it could mean that God has said it once but to two peoples, once in the Hebrew Testament, and once in the Christian Testament.  Therefore, if we are Christians, we hear God’s Word twice, once in each Testament.

The other way to understand this verse is that from God’s mouth we have heard it in both ears, therefore, twice.

Yet another way to understand this verse is that Power itself (that Power, all power) belongs to God, no matter who uses the power, even if it is misused, it is God’s power.  So we move from the number of times we have heard it to what it is that is being heard. Has God told us in the Hebrew Testament that power belongs to God, and then again in the Christian Testament, that power belongs to God, and we have heard it in both ears?

In today’s Gospel reading we see where Jesus tells them that Moses of the Hebrew Testament has already written about eternal life.  But they didn’t believe it and he said to them, “Do not think that I will accuse you before the Father; your accuser is Moses, on whom you have set your hope. If you believed Moses, you would believe me, for he wrote about me. But if you do not believe what he wrote, how will you believe what I say?’ (John 5: 45 to 47) 

We, as Christians, have the Hebrew and Christian Testaments (Old and New).  This is God speaking to us through the two Books of the Bible.  Truly such power really does belong to God. Our Lord Jesus reminds us of the ancient words of God in our New Testament. God does not speak it twice, but rather, it reverberates through the Old Testament to the New Testament from the prophets to the saints. And so we hear it twice. We should be reading the whole Bible.

The truth is, it makes no difference how many times we hear God’s word if we are not going to change our ways.  Hearing it twice, or one hundred times, makes no difference if we are resistant to the message of love that God wants us to have.  We need to listen to, and respond to the prophets and saints that carry God’s message, in both scriptures and in personal spirit. “God has spoken once, twice have I heard it, that power belongs to God.”

Please keep up your thoughts and prayers and hopes for Ukraine, Iran and China.

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

Eucharistic Readings for the 4^th Sunday of Advent: Year A:

Isaiah 7:10-16; Psalm 80:1-7, and16-18; Romans 1:1-7; Matthew 1:18-25:

“But just when he had resolved to do this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, “Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife, for the child conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will bear a son, and you are to name him Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.”” (Matthew 1: 20 – 21)

So God is preparing to walk with people on earth.  And God decides to start as all humans start, as a baby.  Of all the earth, and specifically, the people of the earth, Joseph and Mary become the new Adam and Eve.  This is not about original sin but a new place to begin.  This is not even about marriage as the scripture makes clear.  This is about the best parents for raising God Incarnate. 

Joseph goes to sleep with a heavy decision to make: to keep or not to keep Mary.  He decided not to keep her but even that was burdensome. This is why an angel from God came into his life and in a dream none the less.  This is not the first time God visited us in this way.  In the first beginnings, in Genesis, God visited Jacob as he slept (Genesis 28: 12 – 13).

For me, Joseph is the patron saint of fatherhood. He is a silent listener and obeyer of God. We have no words from Joseph. He is told to take the baby and mother to Egypt, and later to bring them back to Israel. He hears and obeys. He is told that he is not to back away from marriage to Mary because he is not the father of the baby.  Joseph is told by the angel of God that this is not about him, it is about saving all humanity from our sins, then and now.

Do you believe God, or the angels of God, really did this?  If yes, do you believe God can, and still does, do this?  I do.  Like Joseph and Jacob, we too get so burdened with fear or conflicts of the norms of our day that we need help in doing what God wants.  It is during these times that God acts. God’s dreams enter our troubled and tired minds, something we resist when we are awake.

This is the Holy Spirit of God.  This Holy Spirit always acts for the benefit of the human race and this earth, our fragile, island home. The Holy Spirit continues today preserving us in eternal life by  saving us from our sins.  And, like Joseph, we too are called to silent obedience.

Please keep up your thoughts and prayers and hopes for Ukraine, Iran and China.

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

Daily Office Readings for Saturday of the 3^rd Week of Advent: Year 1

Morning, Psalm 55; Evening, Psalms 138 and 139:1 to 17;
Isaiah 10:20 to 27; Jude 17 to 25; Luke 3:1 to 9:

“In the fifteenth year of the reign of Emperor Tiberius, when Pontius Pilate was governor of Judea, and Herod was ruler of Galilee, and his brother Philip ruler of the region of Ituraea and Trachonitis, and Lysanias ruler of Abilene, during the high-priesthood of Annas and Caiaphas, the word of God came to John son of Zechariah in the wilderness.”  (Luke 3: 1 and 2)

I think these first two lines of Luke in chapter 3 informs us about what we really need to know about God, and who of us God can use.  Look at the human hierarchy of the day.  Both governmental, as well as the spiritual leaders, were established to honor, serve, and protect the people while in their lofty positions. But they were all so full of themselves, that there was no room in them for God.

Therefore, the Word of God found its way to one who emptied himself, John, son of Zechariah, in the wilderness.  We live in a different kind of wilderness today. Today we live in a spiritual wilderness.  In many ways we still live under people, both political and cleric, who are too often so full of themselves. There is little, if any, room for the word or love of God to be put in them. How about you?  Do you have, within you, room for the Word of God?

I have heard or read somewhere that a full cup is no longer a cup because it has no potential to hold water or any beverage. Only the empty cup should properly be called a cup.  John emptied himself and was therefore useful to God. John spoke truth to artificial human power. It cost him his earthly life, but he has a new life now, in the realm of God because God keeps those who prove useful to the purposes of God.

We should emulate John in how he emptied himself.  God is still in need of cups. God is still in need of people who aren’t full of themselves.  We too, without fear of what may happen to us in this life, must speak truth to artificial human power. As God’s cups we can be used over and over again. And finally, God will keep you in that heavenly cabinet where God keeps all the cups; we will be placed right there next to John and many others, forever. Halleluiah!

Please keep up your thoughts and prayers and hopes for Ukraine, Iran and China.

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

Daily Office Readings for Friday of the 3^rd Week of Advent: Year 1

Morning, Psalms 40 and 54; Evening, Psalm 51;
Isaiah 10:5 to19; 2^nd  Peter 2:17 to 22; Matthew 11:2 to 15:

“They promise them freedom, but they themselves are slaves of corruption; for people are slaves to whatever masters them. For if, after they have escaped the defilements of the world through the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are again entangled in them and overpowered, the last state has become worse for them than the first. For it would have been better for them never to have known the way of righteousness than, after knowing it, to turn back from the holy commandment that was passed on to them.” (2^nd Peter 2:19 to 21)

I think most of us truly are slaves to whatever masters us. What masters us today is varied. Some of us are mastered by the calendar, some by information technology and social media, some by a lover, some by the desire to achieve or maintain power, and even some by a false sense of divine call to judge and condemn others. If we are to be true Christians, the only Master we should have is our Lord Jesus and His call on our lives. We should be empting ourselves in order to let him enter us and continue His works here on earth.

Adults should be seen praying, going to church, performing acts of charity and so forth, all in the Name of our Lord Jesus. That’s a big difference. When we as adults live out our faith heritage by prayer and practice we show who our Master is.  Young folks and others are always watching us.  We teach by prayer and practice.  We also pray that we don’t fall away from sacred practices.  It truly is harder to come back, but is definitely possible.

We don’t master our Lord Jesus or dismiss Him as we mature: we surrender to him. He masters us and we find pleasure and delight to do His will, always.

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

Daily Office Readings for Thursday of the third Week of Advent: Year 1

Morning, Psalm 50; Evening, Psalm 33;
Isaiah 9:18 to 10:4; 2^nd Peter 2:10b-16; Matthew 3:1-12

“Do not presume to say to yourselves, “We have Abraham as our ancestor”; for I tell you, God is able from these stones to raise up children to Abraham.” (Matthew 3:9)

This just goes to show us that God loves all humanity, regardless of ethnicity or so-called race.  The Pharisees and Sadducees felt safe and protected in their supposed direct genetic link to Father Abraham. But God doesn’t care about that.  God cares about Abraham’s faith, not his biology.

God is able to raise up loving and faithful servants from any population on earth. It really doesn’t matter about their genetic make-up.  We are all one species.  If you have read my blog for any length of time you will know that I don’t believe in race. Race is a human construct created to discriminate, mostly for the advantage of one group over another, primarily based on outward appearances and language differences.

As Jews and Christians and Muslims, we are faith descendants of Abraham. Personally, I decided long ago, even long before becoming ordained, that I would first identify as an Anglican-Episcopalian. Being American, African-American, Free Mason, U.S. Marine, male, and heterosexual, would all be a distant second identifier of who I am.  First and foremost, I am on the Episcopal path of the Jesus movement keeping in mind that my spiritual ancestor is Abraham regardless of who he was genetically.  This realization really helps me know myself when I see myself through the Scriptures of the Bible.

All of this reminds me of an Easter Vigil prayer which really captures the spiritual heritage left to us from Father Abraham.  It is found on page 289 of our Book of Common Prayer.

Let us pray.

“O God, whose wonderful deeds of old shine forth even to our own day, you once delivered by the power of your mighty arm your chosen people from slavery under Pharaoh, to be a sign for us of the salvation of all nations by the water of Baptism: Grant that all the peoples of the earth may be numbered among the offspring of Abraham, and rejoice in the inheritance of Israel; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.”

Please keep up your thoughts and prayers and hopes for Ukraine, Iran and China.

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

Daily Office Readings for Wednesday of the Third Week of Advent: Year 1

Morning, Psalm 119:49 to 72; Evening, Psalm 49;
Isaiah 9:8 to 17; 2^nd  Peter 2:1 to 10a; Mark 1:1 to 8

“He proclaimed, ‘The one who is more powerful than I is coming after me; I am not worthy to stoop down and untie the thong of his sandals.  I have baptized you with water; but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.” (Mark 1: 7 and 8)

Just so you know, touching anything on, or about another’s feet, two thousand years ago in Palestine, was considered among the most disgusting things one person can do, to or for another, in the time that Jesus walked the earth.

When I went to Saudi Arabia for the Liberation of Kuwait, in 1991, we were taught that even sitting with our legs crossed such that people could see the bottom of our boot, was offensive. I have also seen video where an angry Arab man threw his sandal at then President Bush (43). The President ducted and it missed him.  The point is, that the footware, while not very lethal, carried with it a humiliation beyond its ability to inflict physical harm.  It was, and to a certain degree, still is, some Mid-eastern people are loath to do. 

Personally, I will often drop down and tie the shoes of a child or an elderly person whenever I notice the need.  However, I would struggle to attend to the personal need of a sick person who had an incontinent issue, or threw up on themselves. Such cases make me sick. I am so thankful for nurses and first responders who do provide this care.  Would I do this care for our Lord Jesus?  Would you? I pray that I would.

Here is the deal. Our Lord Jesus comes to us through the people in our lives.  He or she is standing among us every day.  As Christians we are taught that when we feed the hungry, give drink to the thirsty, clothe the naked, and visit the sick or incarcerated, we do such holy work to, and for, our Lord Jesus. (Matthew 25:31 to 46) 

It goes without saying then, that when we care for our brothers and sisters beyond our personal comfort zone we are living out the shepherd life we are intended to live. We are called to do some things we don’t think we are worthy to do, or able to do.  But we must press on with God’s help.  With God, we can go beyond our perceived limitations.  For with God, all things are possible and my beloved of the Lord, you are so worthy.

Please keep up your thoughts and prayers and hopes for Ukraine, Iran and China.

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

Daily Office Readings for Tuesday of the 3^rd Week of Advent: Year 1

Morning, Psalm 45; Evening, Psalms 47 and 48:
Isaiah  9:1 to 7; 2^nd Peter 1:12 to 21; Luke 22:54 to 69

“For we did not follow cleverly devised myths when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we had been eyewitnesses of his majesty.  For he received honor and glory from God the Father when that voice was conveyed to him by the Majestic Glory, saying, ‘This is my Son, my Beloved, with whom I am well pleased.’  We ourselves heard this voice come from heaven, while we were with him on the holy mountain.”  (2^nd Peter 1:16 to 18)

Peter must have had a heavy heart as he framed his letters. He had to be burning with shame being fully aware of his denial of Jesus as told in our Luke Gospel reading for today. But he presses on.

Simon Peter’s testimony of God recognizing our Lord Jesus as the Messiah is one of the most compelling witnesses we have in the Bible. We hear of the Transfiguration in the Gospels of Matthew, Mark and Luke. But then this repeat of the event outside the Gospel is the icing on the cake. The voice from heaven declaring that our Lord Jesus “is the Son of God in whom God was well pleased to dwell,” was first proclaimed at the Baptism of Jesus in the Same Gospel accounts.  However, at the Transfiguration, the words, “Listen to Him,” were added. What more do we need?

Peter, and the others, did indeed not follow cleverly devised myths about who God was, and is, and is doing, and neither should we today. It was no myth.  Our faith heritage is the most precious gift we could ever receive.  Since reading “Sabbath” by Abraham Heschel, I am convinced that the Transfiguration itself, is more important than being on a holy mountain. Heschel says it is not places that make events significant, but rather, events that make places significant. Our Lord Jesus could have shown his true Self anywhere; and when that happens, it is the Sabbath. Our Lord Jesus will still do this today and wherever it happens, it will be Holy Ground and a Sabbath time.

 Our Lord Jesus can invite you to follow him into a certain place in your own home and reveal who he really is to you and how you are to go forward from that point on.  Are you ready for that? Our Lord Jesus is no made up story.  And, it is not so much that he “was” real, It is that He “IS” Real! Funny how the English words “Is Real,” sounds like the Hebrew word, “Israel,” don’t you think? He is Risen, and working through us, for the benefit of us, and will still reveal himself to us in our prayers and through the saints of God. 

Please keep up your thoughts and prayers and hopes for Ukraine, Iran and China.

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

Daily Office Readings for Monday of the 3^rd Week of Advent: Year 1

Morning, Psalms 41 and 52; Evening, Psalm 44:
Isaiah 8:16 to 9:1; 2^nd Peter 1:1to11; Luke 22:39 to 53

“Thus he has given us, through these things, his precious and very great promises, so that through them you may escape from the corruption that is in the world because of lust, and may become participants in the divine nature. For this very reason, you must make every effort to support your faith with goodness, and goodness with knowledge, and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with endurance, and endurance with godliness, and godliness with mutual affection, and mutual affection with love.” (2^nd Peter 1:4 to 7)

The people of the world are full of lust for personal desires.  Such lust ranges from the desire for power, money, fame, and many other such self-serving intentions. From Genesis we learn, “Then God, seeing that the wickedness of men was great upon the earth and that every thought of their heart was intent upon evil at all times,” (Genesis 6:5). We must be careful not to fall into the traps of this world.  I think the lesson from Peter’s second letter should be well studied.

We must first have faith and then support our faith with good works believing in the good Lord.  We must study the holy writings in order to acquire the knowledge needed for self-control. Passions will come but we must keep control over them. The only way to do this is through religious practices like regular prayer and worship. We must do this daily, and as Peter says, with endurance. There are no excuses. What I tell people all the time is that we first have to have what we want to do, or be, in our minds.  If we don’t first determine in our minds and hearts where we are going, we will never get anywhere. And we must be consistent, we must control the self.

It is no surprise that Peter ends his progression with love.  Peter has experienced the love of our Lord Jesus who forgave him and loved him even through Peter’s denial of him.  This is the kind of love that will get us to where we want to be.  If who we want to be is not based on love that is made manifest by mutual affection, then who we want to be may be based upon evil as is God’s criticism of humanity from Genesis above. Much, but not all, of Saint Peter’s words are definitely words we should read and heed.

Please keep up your thoughts and prayers and hopes for Ukraine, Iran and China.

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

Eucharistic Readings for the 3^rd Sunday of Advent: Year A

Isaiah 35:1-10;   Psalm 146:4-9;   James 5:7-10;  Matthew 11:2-11:

“When John heard in prison what the Messiah was doing, he sent word by his disciples and said to him, “Are you the one who is to come, or are we to wait for another?”” (Matthew 11:2 -3)

Waiting is an art.  Today we should be so adapt at it. We wait for everything; we wait for our turn in various lines at checkout counters or bank teller windows; we wait in traffic, we wait for someone to finally make it to a meeting that was supposed to start 10 minutes ago.  Waiting is both active and challenging.   We can’t stop being because we have to wait.  We must live through it.  We can try to distract ourselves while waiting, like playing with our phones, but it still means we are not there yet, the message we give to the impatient kids in the back seat.

Our Lord Jesus assures the disciples of John the Baptist that their wait and ours is over, at least for the initial coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. But it seems that John had such developed waiting skills that he was willing to keep waiting if Jesus was not the one.  For him it was a way of life. On this third Sunday of Advent, we may even learn of the joy of waiting as we light the pink or rose-colored candle on the Advent Wreath.  I think there was some joy in it for John. He loved waiting so much he wanted to know if he could wait still further.  And I think it should be this way for us as well.  In Chapter 5 of the Reading for James we are asked to wait as the farmer waits in anticipation for the rain.

 “Be patient, therefore, beloved, until the coming of the Lord. The farmer waits for the precious crop from the earth, being patient with it until it receives the early and the late rains. You also must be patient. Strengthen your hearts, for the coming of the Lord is near.” (James 5:7 – 8)

Yes, Jesus’ first appearance was the early rains.  His second coming will be the late rains. We need to hone our waiting skills so that we too are comfortable, even joyfully waiting. We need to strengthen our hearts for the coming of the late rains. 

We should not let our waiting make us expect certain looks or human signs for the prophet of God or the coming of the Lord.  A broken reed, or someone dressed for success may not be the sign God is sending. We are created to be a people of patience. Which means we are a people gifted with the art of waiting.  I really have more to say, but let’s wait!

Please keep up your thoughts and prayers and hopes for Ukraine, Iran and China.

As we listen to what the Spirit is saying to us, let us live to love and to serve, and then, to teach others to love and serve, while pondering anew what the Almighty can do. John