Author: John Thomas Frazier

“When they heard this, all in the synagogue were filled with rage.” (Luke 4: 28)

The people in the synagogue did not know Jesus as well as they thought they did and most certainly did not know the God of love. We can never say what God will do or who God will use in bringing the glory of heaven near.

As Paul tells us what love is in 1^st Cor. Chapter 13, he also tells us what love is not.  Love is not envious or boastful or arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful.

When we feel rage coming, we need to stop and breathe.  We need to ask ourselves what’s going on?    It is just as important to resist anger as it is to acquire compassion. There is a study of psychology around anger management. It deals with the whys and associated behaviors. It is important. Anger impedes compassion and understanding.  One of the first Biblical examples of anger out of control comes from Genesis Chapter 4 where Cain kills his brother Abel. In that chapter we have God asking Cain “Why are you angry? Why is your face downcast?  If you do what is right, will you not be accepted? But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at your door; it desires to have you, but you must rule over it.” (Gen 4: 6-7)

The people in the synagogue were filled with rage.  The proper response is to learn to do better, to correct whatever has been brought to their attention and try to be a better people. The same goes for us today.  Anger based action causes regrettable consequences.

Let us hear what the Spirit is saying through and to God’s people.

I love to go a pondering #2019.003:

Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. (1John 4: 8)  God is love. So from 1^st John we learn what it means to be a godly people.  It is not power or great intelligence, it is simply love. And as our Presiding Bishop says, love is the answer to everything.  I think that is because God is the answer to everything.  Bishop Curry is not alone in this opinion. St Paul in closing his definition of love says, “And now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; and the greatest of these is love.” (1^st Cor. 13:13) The greatest of all things in heaven and on earth is love.  Wow! What a valuable secret, Pssst, pass it on.

“Ponder anew what the Almighty can do.” (From the 3^rd verse of Praise to the Lord)

“Look to Abraham your father and to Sarah who bore you; for he was but one when I called him, but I blessed him and made him many.” (Isaiah 51:2)

I think we Christians forget or deny the fact that we are Judeo Christians.  Jesus was a Palestinian Jew.  His first followers were Jews all of whom understood Abraham as their ancestral father.  And what was it about Abraham that made him so special?  His listened to and obeyed God.  Abraham left what is now Iraq and went west following God’s leadership. 

It was Abraham’s faith and obedience that God so loved and wanted to spread among all people. His was a faith so strong that he would follow God even in committing the death of his son. The Israelite people are from the tradition of Abraham whose children went down to Egypt and were later taken out by Moses.  But the die of faith and belief was cast.  So we pick up from Paul to the Galatians where he says, “And if you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s offspring, heirs according to the promise.” (Galatians 3:29)

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. (BCP p. 289)

Let us hear what the Spirit is saying through and to God’s people.

I love to go a pondering #2:

What can God do and what did God do? 

I ponder about God’s ability. I have understood Jews, Muslims and Christians to be children of Abraham:  fine.  So my question to all of us is this, Is God able to come among us as one of us?  Can God be human if God wanted to?  I think all faith traditions would agree that an all powerful God can do this.  So the big standout concern that really separates Christians from those who came before and those who came after is “Did God Do This.”  I think that whether God did or did not should not be a reason to build walls of separation dividing us. We all believe in One All Powerful God who is the Alfa and the Omega.  God will do what God will do, Thanks be to God.

“Ponder anew what the Almighty can do.” (From the 3^rd verse of Praise to the Lord)

“He put a new song in my mouth, a song of praise to our God; many shall see, and stand in awe, and put their trust in the Lord.” (Psalm 40:3)

I hope and pray that people will look at me and have hope for themselves.  I even hope that they will see me and stand in awe of what God can do and put their trust in the Lord.  I don’t say this because I am a priest; I say this because I am a believer.  My life is not perfect.  But God is merciful and loving and works with me every day.  I have had all kinds of failures in my life; yet, here I am, healthy, double retired, loving and loved. I did not cause this of my own accord.  I listened to God and to the people God sent to talk to me, and I don’t think God is done with me yet.  I truly am a work in progress.

The same is true with you.  You are not perfect.  But by believing in God and living the best life you are able to God will meet you more than half way and will bless your efforts.  Please know this one truth, God will send you messages through others regarding the path you should take. Listen to the message! Obey the message! Life will turn around for you.  Then others will see what God is doing in your life and draw others near to God through you. God blesses us and gives us a “pay-it-forward blessing also.  God is Good, All the Time.

Let us hear what the Spirit is saying through and to God’s people.

I love to go a pondering #1:

I ponder and I work.  Aside from sleep, ponder and work is all I do.  And with everything I do I fit conveniently into either ponder or work. For example; sitting at meditation, or a desk with lap top or pen and paper, or in church at worship, or at table with friends or family eating, I ponder.

Work takes place when I get physical, when I do exercises, or cleaning the house, or repairing something, or driving, or gardening or golf or cabinet making, or playing music, or running. It’s all physical therefore (to me) it’s all work. Some work is more pleasurable than others but it is still all work as I see it.

This journal blog is about pondering because even the physical work was first pondered at its conception. I think God pondered creation before God got physical. 

“Ponder anew what the Almighty can do.” (From the 3^rd verse of “Praise to the Lord”)

AM Psalm 50; PM Psalm [59, 60] or 118 Isa. 49:13-23; Gal. 3:1-14; Mark 6:30-46

Mark

“After saying farewell to them, he went up on the mountain to pray.” (Mark 6: 46)

Jesus has just fed the five thousand and sent his disciples off in a boat.  It has been a hard day’s work and now he goes to the Father in prayer.  This whole episode started with prayer as he gave thanks for the few loaves and fish before passing it out to the multitude.

This is what I call a sandwich prayer.  Jesus prays to start the activity and then closes it with prayer at the end. So often we pray and pray for God to do something for us.  When God resolves the situation for us (as may be best for us) we take it and go.  Maybe God doesn’t hear from us again until the next crisis. But in this case with the feeding Jesus was praying for the work he has done, not for any new favors or life improvements or the next big thing but for the welfare of others that they might be truly fed with the Spirit.  This too is a misunderstanding we sometimes make.  When we receive unexpected opportunities like the chance to help somebody we should do it in a prayer sandwich.  Pray to ask for God’s help at the start.  Do the task, and then give God thanks for the opportunity just received.  This is a perfect sandwich.  Yum  Yum!

Let us hear what the Spirit is saying through and to God’s people.

Part 2 of 3

Marcella had Jerome Wednesday Night Healing Service for January 30 2019

Readings for Marcella of Rome

1 Kings 17:8–16 Psalm 124 Mark 12:41–44

1Kings “Elijah said to her, “Don’t be afraid. Go home and do as you have said. But first make a small loaf of bread for me from what you have and bring it to me, and then make something for yourself and your son. ^For this is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: ‘The jar of flour will not be used up and the jug of oil will not run dry until the day the Lord sends rain on the land.’” (1 Kings 17:13 -14)

Marcella (325–410) is known primarily for her role in the founding of monasticism. After the death of her husband, she commenced a life of abstinence and many other women in Rome at the time followed suit. (Wikipedia)  Marcella’s day is actually tomorrow, January 31 but I use what I call preacher’s privilege and scan the week to see who I want to lift up on Wednesday night.

Summoned by Pope Damasus I (who arranged lodging at Marcella’s hospitality house), Jerome arrived in Rome in 382. It was an exhilarating time for Marcella, a woman of letters who had immersed herself in both Greek and Hebrew, to be entertaining one of the great minds of the age. Jerome spent the next three years in what he called her “domestic church,” translating the Bible into Latin. She learned under his teaching even as she critiqued his translation. He spoke and wrote of her Christian devotion and scholarship Indeed, his admiration of Marcella was unbounded, not only for her intellectual acumen but also for her deference to men who might be threatened by her vast store of knowledge. (Wikipedia).

The relationship of Marcella and Jerome closely resembles that of Elijah and Elisha as introduced in 1Kings 19: 19 – 21. Elisha gave up everything and followed Elijah.  So, at the risk of redundancy, we all need someone who could advise us, console us, someone we like to listen to.  Such a person should be honest and a good listener who wants to console and not control. Your mentor should be someone you like to listen to. And someone you want to emulate. I believe that by maintaining this mentor-protégé relationship we grow into being part of the person leading us and keep them with us long after they have gone on. Keep the good ones alive forever.

Let us hear what the Spirit is saying through and to God’s people.

Part 3 of 3

Galatians

“And it is no longer I who live, but it is Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.” (Galatians 2:20)

I don’t really think it would be hard to let Jesus live in us.  We know so much about Jesus.  He would not hurt anybody.  He would feed people and it seems he really loved being at the table with friends. He was not impressed with money and could be found praying at any time of day. He would listen to anybody and only gave loving advice. 

These are traits that we can emulate: don’t hurt, feed people, be company, don’t let money rule you, listen quietly, and pray regularly.  Let’s do this starting right now.

Let us hear what the Spirit is saying through and to God’s people.

Let us hear what the Spirit is saying through and to God’s people.

Part 2 of 2

Mark

“And he was amazed at their unbelief” (Mark 6:6)

This is so much like the Paul episode above. Jesus went to Nazareth, the place where he was raised, but because his old friends would not let go of their old understanding of who he was there was little to no healing.  Belief is everything.  Jesus works with the faith we have. 

Perhaps the most difficult thing we can do is change what we believe.  We have had to change what we believed about the earth being the center of the universe and the little hot sun rotating around us.  We’ve had to re-think the earth being flat.  Currently we are, or should be, re-believing the issues of race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, mental illness and even politics.  In these areas we become so polarized that no healing can take place because we are so tribal we won’t allow it.

The love that Jesus models is one of compassion.  It is a love of listening. But when we fear that we might change our minds and believe the earth is round we put up guards so that no matter what, we won’t allow it.  There are some developing countries today that will not receive medicines from the West because they believe its poison.  How do we open our minds to see what God is doing in our very midst today?  Jesus is always brand new!  He is so much more than the little Sunday School Jesus of our childhood.  We all should approach Jesus with new expectation to see what God is doing through him today, and believe so that Jesus can do his work.

Let us hear what the Spirit is saying through and to God’s people.

Mark

“He said to her, ‘Daughter, your faith has made you well; go in peace, and be healed of your disease.” (Mark 5:34)

This is the story of Jesus on his way to Jairus’ home to attend to Jairus’ daughter.  And while this story begins and ends with the little girl, on the way a sick woman gives Jesus an unexpected opportunity.

She has been bleeding for 12 years.  She has tried everything and every doctor for help to no avail. Now she puts her hopes and faith in Jesus.  She self talks and says that if she could just touch his clothes she would be made well. And she was.  When Jesus approaches her about what she did, she confesses. And Jesus says to her, “Daughter, your faith has made you well; go in peace, and be healed of your disease.

So once again, God in Christ is using the faith already in us to fix us. It is amazing that God puts this faith in us from the beginning and then waits patiently until we ask for help.  Then God reaches in and activates the medicine in us to fix us.  We keep the medicine fresh by regular prayer, study and worship.  Faith not used is faith lost. 

Let us hear what the Spirit is saying through and to God’s people.

Part 2 of 2

Readings for St Thomas Aquinas Priest, Friar, and Theologian (28 JAN 1274)

Psalm 119:97-104 Wisdom 7:7-14 Matthew 13:47-52

Wisdom

“Therefore I prayed, and understanding was given me;
I called on God, and the spirit of wisdom came to me.” (Wisdom 7”7)

In the thirteenth century, when Thomas Aquinas studied the works of  Aristotle, such study caused him grief within the church but he remained steadfast.

Aquinas framed a method of argument that still works today but it requires patience.  Aquinas insisted that we listen very closely to the other’s argument. Further, that we should listen close enough to repeat the other’s point of view using their supporting reasons.  He would teach that, until we can do this, we can’t fully refute the other’s evidence. We may even take up the other’s position.  Which I feel is an evolving process.  We shouldn’t argue just to win.  We should argue to get at the truth, and let that truth make us free.

I can remember also from Seminary that St Thomas Aquinas argued for the existence of God as the Prime Mover of all things in motion, that God is the changer of all things and yet is the Changeless One; and other such descriptors of Deity.  One professor told us that of the volumes of books by Aquinas, one little revelation of the Holy Spirit can give us far more insight into the Being of God.  So as the writer of Wisdom says, “Therefore I prayed, and understanding was given me; I called on God, and the spirit of wisdom came to me.” (Wisdom 7”7)

Let us hear what the Spirit is saying through and to God’s people.

Nehemiah 8:1-3, 5-6, 8-10:  Psalm 19: 1Corinthians 12:12-31a: Luke 4:14-21

1^st Corinthians

“For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ.” (1^st Cor. 12:12)

Paul demonstrates that our Church is multifaceted. While we are made up of diverse  peoples, Jews, Greeks, slaves, free, blacks, whites, males, females, old, young, gays, straights, rich and poor; all participating in Christ in non-tribal ways.  People of different cultures and languages are coming together within the Christian Church and bringing their unique perspectives with them.  Any move that promotes sameness among its members fosters the antithesis of the principles of Christianity. Be us by being different.

In addition to the wide invitation to all walks of humanity, we are also called to many functions within the Church. The shortest list of needs is the formally ordained, the deaconate, the priesthood and bishops. If we only had these three we wouldn’t have a church.  We need people who do the heavy lifting of Altar Guild, Choir, Music, Ushering, Cleaning, Stewardship, Money Handlers, Mission and Outreach, Cooks, Office Management, Building Repairers, Folks who can just move stuff, and the list goes on.  The needs of the Church are perhaps more divers than the limited channels of human diversity that feed into the Church.

With Jesus’ movement through Paul to have him include other cultures, the Christian Church is perhaps the first multi-ethnic organization to come together for the benefit of the whole community.  This is who we are and who we are called to be by God in Christ Jesus. We are called to be a collection of different people who come together to employ the various gifts given to us by God for the good of all people.  Let’s get with somebody different and do something good.

Let us hear what the Spirit is saying through and to God’s people.

Part 2 of 2

Luke

 ^“When he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up, he went to the synagogue on the sabbath day, as was his custom.”  (Luke 4:16)

And I guess we should say “back” to Nazareth, given that he was raised there.  I like to catch the little seemingly unimportant phrases like “as was his custom.”  That’s a big deal!  It’s a custom that Jesus modeled that too many professing Christians (followers of Jesus) fail to follow.

I love telling the story of when I was in Desert Shield/Desert Storm in Saudi Arabia and went to our little church service every Sunday in the sand.  Some of my junior Marines asked me, “Gunny, why do you go to church?” Of which I answered, “Because it’s Sunday.”  That’s it – straight forward, simple.  Even now I don’t give long theological pontifications about The Resurrection and Church History.  I understand that when I accept Jesus and Sunday comes, I go to church as was Jesus’ custom.  Let’s follow Jesus to Church.

Let us hear what the Spirit is saying through and to God’s people.

Part 1of 2

AM Psalm 30, 32; PM Psalm 42, 43
Isa. 46:1-13; Eph. 6:10-24; Mark 5:1-20

“You brought me up, O Lord, from the dead; *
you restored my life as I was going down to the grave.”  (Psalm 30:3)

We are going to read about the healing of the man with many demons in part 2.  But let us look at what we have here.  The Psalmist praises God for lifting him up from his apparent path to death. His life was given back to him. Life is not just watching time go by so that we can hurry up and get to the end of the stress we are experiencing.  If we want to see what life is we only have to watch a young child as she learns how to play with a new toy or as she taste a new food for the first time and see the excitement in her face.  That’s what life is, experimentation and exploring!

I think any number of us can sometimes consider our life trajectory as a spiral downward into the abyss. The mundane becomes the slow construction of our tomb.  There is no experimentation or exploring.  There is only routine boredom at best, routine aggravation at worst.

But when God brings you up to experience a new craft, or new studies and most especially when God puts in your path new people in your life, God is restoring your life, restoring it as you were trying so hard to be ever going down to the grave. Examine your life intently.  What new skills, new studies and new people has God placed in your life?  Do not live going down to the grave, live being restored by God.  It is not so much that God created us, but rather, that God is creating us.

Let us hear what the Spirit is saying through and to God’s people.

Part 2 of 2

Ephesians

“But Jesus refused, and said to him, ‘Go home to your friends, and tell them how much the Lord has done for you, and what mercy he has shown you.’  And he went away and began to proclaim in the Decapolis how much Jesus had done for him; and everyone was amazed.”  (Ephesians 5: 21 – 20)

This an interesting experience.  The man was relieved of the evil spirits that possessed him.  He then asked Jesus if he could join the group.  Jesus said “no.” Perhaps there are several reasons for Jesus denying him the privilege of joining the group. Let’s look at a couple of them.

None of the men who followed Jesus were people who were healed of anything. Also, all of the apostles were Israelites.  Maybe a healed Gentile could be better used among the Gentiles proclaiming the mercy and goodness of God. Maybe this healed man would never turn away from Jesus if Jesus allowed him to follow.  This could be problematic if Jesus fully intends to be arrested without injury to those who followed him. No, Jesus needed those sheep who would flee when the Shepherd was struck.

The whole point of this lesson is that when we are thankful to God for what God has done and is doing for us, we don’t have to fit in.  We can go among those who thought they knew us and show them the change, the improvement God has made, and is making in us.

Let us hear what the Spirit is saying through and to God’s people.

Part 1of 2

Acts 26:9-21 Psalm 67 Galatians 1:11-24 Matthew 10:16-22

“But the one who endures to the end will be saved.” (Matt. 10:22b)

Today we remember the Conversion of St. Paul.  Some Church friends and I went to see “Paul the Apostle.”  It was a really good movie. The best part for me was the ending, wherein we saw Paul’s reward.  I’m not going to go any further.  I would like for you to see it for yourself.  The movie reminds me that we live our Christian lives for the reward, that is, to be saved. I think too many of us forget that.

 I think we get so wrapped up in this life we begin to feel that this is it and that this is all there is.  We must remember that this life is not eternal.  For those of us that lead hard or painful lives, this is good news.  But even for us that don’t have it so bad there is still a better life to come if we persevere, if we endure to the end.  We must remember that it is not what people think about us, rather it is what God knows about us.  But thanks be to God, God is loving and merciful. A decision that cost us time and money here in this life, for the benefit of someone else, that they might be taken care of, is pleasing in Gods sight. Some of the blessings we have here are for us to pass on. It was never ours to keep. Like Abraham, we are to be blessed and bless.

Let us hear what the Spirit is saying through and to God’s people.

Part 2 of 2

Acts of the Apostles

“After that, King Agrippa, I was not disobedient to the heavenly vision, but declared first to those in Damascus, then in Jerusalem and throughout the countryside of Judea, and also to the Gentiles, that they should repent and turn to God and do deeds consistent with repentance.”   (Acts 26: 19 – 20) 

Today we remember the Conversion of St. Paul.  He was met by the resurrected Jesus on his way to Damascus. It was on that road that turned his life around, and ours too. Saul was serious about how people should believe in, and worship God.  And there were no deviations as far as he was concerned.  But then he encountered Jesus and was asked “Why?” 

 Once we know, we can’t UN-know.  Once we have been made to know and feel the loving nature of God by meeting Jesus, it is a life changing experience and we too like Paul will have been changed, and the change is forever. How has the Jesus experience changed you? Live the conversion!

Let us hear what the Spirit is saying through and to God’s people.