onewhoponders

Daily Office Readings for Tuesday of Proper 7: Year 1

Morning, Psalms 97 and 99; Evening, Psalm 94;
1^st  Samuel 6:1to 16; Acts 5:27 to 42; Luke 21:37 to 22:13:

“So in the present case, I tell you, keep away from these men and let them alone; because if this plan or this undertaking is of human origin, it will fail; but if it is of God, you will not be able to overthrow them—in that case you may even be found fighting against God!” (Acts 5: 38 and 39)

A Pharisee in the council named Gamaliel gave the council two examples of how uprisings settled themselves when they are not from God.  However, he asks them, and us, to be patient with this Jesus movement. He says if it is from human origin it will be made evident. But if it is from God, we have no choice but to obey.  Smart words I think.

In all my undertakings I ask if it is of God, or, where do I see God in it?  If I can’t see God in it anywhere, it is time to move on to something else.  Also, I must remember that God is love.  So, I must ask if there is love in the undertaking that I am pursuing. If no love, no God, then I go no further.  I have always said that I can’t see where God is at this present moment in my life, only where God has been in my life. What I am saying now is not counter to what I have always said. 

While God is illusive, and can’t always be seen, God’s presence as love is readily revealed if we look for it. And if there are conflicts between the call of God and what the unloving among us are saying, then we must remember what Peter and the apostles said, “We must obey God rather than any human authority:” (Acts 5:29).  We can tell if God is in it, if love is in it.

God has no plan B for us.  The seed of Jesus is growing more and more every day. In the end we will learn to truly love one another. In so doing, we will make heaven manifest right here on earth where God’s will, will be done.

Please keep up your thoughts and prayers and hopes for Ukraine, Russia, and our schools.

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 Proper 7: Year 1

Morning, Psalm 89:1 to 18; Evening, Psalm 89:19 to 52;
1^st Samuel 5:1 to 12; Acts 5:12 to 26; Luke 21:29 to 36:

“Be alert at all times, praying that you may have the strength to escape all these things that will take place, and to stand before the Son of Man:” (Luke 21:36).

Jesus has just told his followers about the certainty of the end of the age and to expect the unexpected. How does one do this? How does anyone prepare themselves to expect the unexpected?

I have met people who seem to be calm no matter what happens.  At first these calm people seem cognitively slow or even autistic. More observation will reveal that they are very much aware of their environment and all that is taking place; they just aren’t rattled by the supposedly unexpected happenings that take place.  I want to be like that.

I do believe the older I get, the more I am able to remain calm. Also, the more I get into meditation, the more I seem to be able to calm myself and remain calm when stuff happens.  This is being alert and also praying that we have the strength, the resolve, to avoid panicking and reacting without thought. I not only want to keep myself calm, I want to be a calming presence to those who might not be able to handle the unexpected.  I pray that our Lord Jesus uses me as a calming presence in my family, my neighborhood, my parish, and in all places where I may be with others.

I just need to keep telling myself that God is God and all things will be in accord with God’s will. Therefore, I shall not be afraid but rest in God’s doings. I also pray to God to use me Lord as you see fit for the benefit of all, and quiet my soul when anxiety attempts to come upon me. Thank You Lord Jesus.

Please keep up your thoughts and prayers and hopes for Ukraine, Russia, and our schools.

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 Sunday of Proper 7: Year A

Jeremiah 20:7 to 13;  Psalm 69: 8 to 20; Romans 6:1 to 11; Matthew 10:24 to39:

“Do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul; rather fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell.” (Matthew 10:28)

There was a time that I did not understand this phrase.  I initially thought it meant, fear those humans who can cause us to be destined for hell. You know, the ones that make us loose our religion.  But I have later come to realize that no human can really do this.  Humans can, and sadly, do kill our bodies.  But only the One who gave us our souls can take it back. There is a resurrection, and it is God alone who decides where our souls go, or not go.

Just as every Sunday, for Christians, it is about the Resurrection. So too, most, if not all Sunday sermons should reflect the Resurrection, it’s about the Gospel. However, we learn from our Romans reading for today, “The death he died, he died to sin, once for all; but the life he lives, he lives to God. So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus.

We have learned through these past readings, especially for Sundays, that human constructs like race, political affiliations, nationality, language and even our marriages, are not passed on in the resurrected life, that is, in what we call heaven. Let us not be sad about this, but rather, let us establish eternal connections amongst our souls that will prevail for all eternity, if God permits.

I often tell certain people, family and close personal loves in my life, that I want to re-connect with them on the other side of this life. I want to know them for all eternity. How much we believe in the Resurrection shapes how we live our lives now, in this temporal life.

We just lost five people in an imploded submersible. This is very sad, but God did not lose them. Therefore; “Do not fear anybody or anything that kill the body but cannot kill the soul; rather, let us have love and respect for the Lord our God with great expectation for what’s next.

Please keep up your thoughts and prayers and hopes for Ukraine, Russia, and our schools.

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 Proper 6: Year 1

Morning, Psalms 87 and 90; Evening,  Psalm 136;
1^st Samuel 4:1 to 11; Acts 4:32 to 5:11; Luke 21:20 to 28:

“The span of our life is seventy years, perhaps in strength even eighty; yet the sum of them is but labor and sorrow, for they pass away quickly and we are gone:” (Psalm 90: 10).

I am well into my 70’s now. While I have been walking around on this earth for what seems like a long time to me, it is nothing to God who knows no time. I tell people that as we live, we are living in our “dash.”  The dash is that time that begins at our birth and ends with our death.  What’s important in our dash time is not what we can do for ourselves. What is important is how close we can attach ourselves to the eternal God.

What is most important during our dash time is our ability to be open to God’s loving-kindness every day, and sharing it.  The Psalmist says, “Satisfy us by your loving-kindness in the morning; so shall we rejoice and be glad all the days of our life:” (Psalm 90:14).  We all have challenging days but perhaps with God’s help we can have better days, most days. 

Some of our daily rejoicing is dependent on us.  I don’t think of the sum of our lives necessarily as to only labor and sorrow, that pass away quickly and we are gone.  We must apply an effort in our rejoicing. If we take one step in love and happiness, God takes two.  When we use our hearts and hands in the service of God, and in the service of those among us who are distressed, we will have a loving and memorable dash time, and it will be noticed by God. The Psalmist concludes, “May the graciousness of the Lord our God be upon us; prosper the work of our hands; prosper our handiwork:” (Psalm 90:17).

Please keep up your thoughts and prayers and hopes for Ukraine, Russia, and our schools.

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 Proper 6: Year 1

 Morning, Psalm 88; Evening,  Psalms 91 and 92;
1^st  Samuel 3:1-21; Acts 2:37-47; Luke 21:5-19

“But Eli called Samuel and said, ‘Samuel, my son.’ He said, ‘Here I am.’ Eli said, ‘What was it that he told you? Do not hide it from me. May God do so to you and more also, if you hide anything from me of all that he told you.’ So Samuel told him everything and hid nothing from him. Then he said, ‘It is the Lord; let him do what seems good to him:” (1^st Samuel 3: 16 to 18).

This is what I meant when I said on Monday, the 19^th of June, that “Such negligence will come back to bite him later.”  Eli had sons who did not follow in Eli’s ways.  In fact they blasphemed God and Eli did not correct them.  We must remember Father Abraham who would slaughter his son Isaac, who was without sin, only to obey what he perceived to be the will of God. Eli was still learning what it means to be a father when he took custody of Samuel. He may have been a better father to Samuel that he was to his biological sons.

As we remember Father’s Day past I pray that fathers everywhere will ponder their parental responsibilities and at least coach their young ones into their faith tradition. I believe that while we are not to go out and demand anyone to follow our Christian path, all people, and fathers in particular, should have a guiding light that leads them on a moral path. As we fathers walk our paths, we should invite, or even insist, that those for whom we are responsible for, accompany us as we traverse life’s expedition.

Eli, and later, even Samuel himself, will fail in their responsibility to guide their young ones in their faith paths.  I hold up Joseph, the earthly father of Jesus, as the model of fatherhood.  We don’t have any words from Joseph. What we have is his silent obedience to the will of God.  We have the example of his unconditional love for his non-biological son and his son’s mother.  Love conquers all. But indeed, sometimes that love has to be tough love.

Please keep up your thoughts and prayers and hopes for Ukraine and Russia, and our schools.

 “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 Proper 6: Year 1

 Morning, Psalm 34; Evening, Psalms  85 and 86;
1^st  Samuel 2:27 to 36; Acts 2:22 to 36; Luke 20:41 to 21:4:

“For David himself says in the book of Psalms, “The Lord said to my Lord, ‘Sit at my right hand, until I make your enemies your footstool.’ ” (Luke20: 42 and 43); and;  “For David did not ascend into the heavens, but he himself says, “The Lord said to my Lord, ‘Sit at my right hand, until I make your enemies your footstool.’ ” (Acts 2: 32 and 35)

It should not be surprising that the same words are found in both Luke and Acts given that it is the same writer.  However we can also find the same quote of Psalm 110, verse 1, in Matthew 22: 43 and 44; and Mark 12: 36.  The point that Jesus is making is that the followers of David should realize that even David was aware of the coming of our Lord Jesus. The people loved David but they must have only read the Book of Chronicles regarding David where he comes out looking pretty good.

We must remember that there is a dark chapter in the life of King David.  It is 2^nd Samuel, chapter 11.  David commits adultery with the wife of his subordinate military officer and then has him put in harm’s way in order that he would be killed. I loved the story of David and Goliath, it was a childhood favorite of mine.  The truth is that all of us have at least one dark chapter in our lives.  Some of us may have more than one. But we have a merciful Savior who will forgive as He did David.

Every biblical hero has hiccups in their past but God takes them, blesses them, brakes them and gives them to us in ways that blesses us.  Thank You Lord Jesus; take me, bless me, brake me and give me. Amen.

Please keep up your thoughts and prayers and hopes for Ukraine, Russia, and our schools.

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 Proper 6: Year 1

Morning, Psalm 119:97-120; Evening,  Psalms 81 and 82;
1^st  Samuel 2:12 to 26; Acts 2:1 to 21; Luke 20:27 to 40:

“Indeed they cannot die anymore, because they are like angels and are children of God, being children of the resurrection:” (Luke 20:36).

We humans so often try to project our own existence on life beyond our known world. We try to make God in our image rather than accept that some part of our existence is patterned after God. We also try to make our resurrected life like life on this side of the resurrection. It simply doesn’t work. We have to be open minded. For one thing, as Jesus points out to the Sadducees, we are done with the idea of death after our resurrection. Marriage too, like racism, war and money are all human constructs that don’t exist in that “next generation.”

There are two things that I believe about the resurrection. The first is that while we will not die again, we might tend to cease to exist if we can’t let go of human constructs that don’t work in heaven: that is, we will return to the nothingness from whence God brought us in the beginning.

The second is that there will be some accountability at our resurrection. This is why we should practice some sense of morality in this life. For me, it means giving all human constructs the low level of priority they deserve. It also means giving love the high priority that it deserves; that Godly construct which eternally exist in the resurrection, that house not made with hands eternal in the heavens. 

My personal living creed is; “I trust in the Creating Word through the Holy Spirit of the Incarnate Word, in whom we live and move and love and have our being, and to whom we must give an account.”  Our lord Jesus says that at our resurrection we will be like angels and children of God, being children of the resurrection. I pray the crafters of Luke’s Gospel got this right. I am living my whole life in these words. Thank You Lord Jesus.

Please keep up your thoughts and prayers and hopes for Ukraine, Russia, and our schools.

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 Proper 6: Year 1

Morning, Psalm 78:1 to 39; Evening, Psalm 78:40 to 72;
1^st Samuel 1:21 to 2:11; Acts 1:15 to 26; Luke 20:19 to 26:

“So they watched him and sent spies who pretended to be honest, in order to trap him by what he said, so as to hand him over to the jurisdiction and authority of the governor. So they asked him, ‘Teacher, we know that you are right in what you say and teach, and you show deference to no one, but teach the way of God in accordance with truth.  Is it lawful for us to pay taxes to the emperor, or not?’  But he perceived their craftiness and said to them, ‘Show me a denarius. Whose head and whose title does it bear?’ They said, ‘The emperor’s.’ He said to them, ‘Then give to the emperor the things that are the emperor’s, and to God the things that are God’s:” (Luke 20: 20 to 25)

My history sources inform me that the use of coin money predates the appearance of our Lord Jesus by about five thousand years, that is, about the year five thousand B.C. There were, and are good reasons for money. Foods and other needed products have short shelf lives. Coin money maintained its serviceability for a long time, but not forever.  Money quickly became the great tool for the establishment of the rich and the poor – the haves and the have-nots.

I have the highest admiration for people who live well within their means.  Let me say that another way: I have the highest admiration for people who, while not rich, do not wish to be.  They have learned to maintain themselves and have some enjoyment in life on the money they have coming in from month to month.  They don’t want  more money because they don’t need more money.  If they had more money, they would just become more charitable. They live happily within their means.  They have not turned to worshiping money.

Money worked its way into our relationship with God, albeit without God’s approval.  God does not want our money.  God wants our hearts, our love.  Love then is what we should give to God as our Lord Jesus teaches us in this Gospel account. Neither metal money, nor paper money or even our plastic money of today, is eternal; but love is.  Thank You Lord Jesus.

Please keep up your thoughts and prayers and hopes for Ukraine, Russia, and our schools.

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 Proper 6: Year 1

Morning, Psalm 80; Evening, Psalm 77;
1^st  Samuel 1:1 to 20; Acts 1:1 to 14; Luke 20:9 to 19:

“Then Eli answered, ‘Go in peace; the God of Israel grant the petition you have made to him; (1^st Samuel 1:17).

This opening of 1^st Samuel is important as it opens for us the beginnings of the prophet Samuel. But there is a lesson here about parental responsibility.  Hannah is distressed because she has not given birth to a child.  While her husband’s other wife has given birth to a few children.  So she prays for the ability to become pregnant. Eli, the priest also had sons but his sons did not follow the pattern of the parent, they were rude and gluttonous and disrespectful.  Eli did not hold them accountable. Such negligence will come back to bite him later.

While Hannah is devoted to God in her inmost self, the priest, Eli, doesn’t know her well enough to see that she is a pious woman. He assumes the worst, and he is wrong. To his credit however, when he sees his mistake, he works with God to grant her petition.

Our Church today is wrong when it takes part in judging people.  We forget that we, the Church, are not called to judge, we are called to love, and to love unconditionally. But even our Church must hold parishioners accountable less they too become rude and gluttonous and disrespectful.

As each of its members are the Church, we each must maintain accountability for how we conduct ourselves. We must listen past the surface of what we see or hear in others, and in ourselves.

Please keep up your thoughts and prayers and hopes for Ukraine, Russia, and our schools.

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 Sunday Proper 6:  Year A

Genesis 18:1-15; Psalm 116:1, 10-17; Romans 5:1-8; Matthew 9:35 to 10:23.

“When they hand you over, do not worry about how you are to speak or what you are to say; for what you are to say will be given to you at that time; for it is not you who speak, but the Spirit of your Father speaking through you. Brother will betray brother to death, and a father his child.” (Matthew 10: 19 and 20)  

It is very difficult to talk about a father betraying his child, especially on Father’s Day.  But it is good to remember that it is our Father in heaven that will speak through us in our time of trial.

We all face times of trial. It stresses us out.  As Father John, I am often called to be the spiritual father of many who cannot deal with the stresses of life on their own.  I have had some troubled people in counseling sessions to just stop, breathe and concentrate on a clock, or their watch.  I had them to specifically focus on the seconds.  As the seconds ticked by, I would remind them that they survived those seconds successfully.  When a minute was reached it seemed almost appropriate to celebrate, just a little.  Maybe even silently saying the Lord’s Prayer, which begins with “Our Father.” This prayer given to us by our Brother Christ helps to pass the seconds and minutes. But don’t stop noticing the seconds and minutes that tick by.  And maybe an occasional “Help Me Jesus” would fit in between prayers; tick, tock, tick tock.

On Father’s Day I am reminded of our Saint Joseph, the earthly father of our Lord Jesus.  We cannot talk about fatherhood without mentioning Joseph. Only in this Gospel according to Matthew, and Luke, do we hear the history of Jesus being born and raised. Joseph, the husband of Mary, the Mother of Jesus, is the best example of fatherhood there is. And even though Matthew and Luke tell the story of Joseph, neither have any words that come from the mouth of Joseph.  Joseph keeps his silence. Yet he is obedient to any and all instruction that comes from above. “Do not worry about how you are to speak or what you are to say; for what you are to say will be given to you at that time; for it is not you who speak, but the Spirit of your Father speaking through you.”

If we look, we will find that while Joseph was planning to discretely dismiss Mary because she was already pregnant, an angel spoke to him and explained the that his fatherhood of Jesus was God’s plan for the salvation of all humanity, (Matthew 1). And later Joseph was told to take the baby to Egypt, and then even later return to Israel, (Matthew 2). All this Joseph did in silent obedience to God. As fathers today we are distressed but we are not to worry about how we are to speak or what we are to say. We follow Joseph’s example until the Lord gives us words.

Please keep up your thoughts and prayers and hopes for Ukraine, Russia, and our schools.

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