onewhoponders

Daily Office Readings for Friday of Proper 3: Year 1

Morning, Psalm 31; Evening,  Psalm 35;
Deuteronomy 5:1 to 22; 2nd Corinthians. 4:1 to12; Luke 16:10 to17(18)

“Observe the Sabbath day and keep it holy, as the Lord your God commanded you. For six days you shall labor and do all your work. But the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God; you shall not do any work, you, or your son or your daughter, or your male or female slave, or your ox or your donkey, or any of your livestock, or the resident alien in your towns, so that your male and female slave may rest as well as you. Remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, and the Lord your God brought you out from there with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm; therefore the Lord your God commanded you to keep the Sabbath day.” (Deuteronomy 5: 12 to 15)

The book “The Sabbath” by Abraham Joshua Heschel is one of the books that has permanently changed my life.  This book has made me realize that we did not create the Sabbath, God did and has given it to us as a gift. Rabbi Heschel has also made me realize that things and places are not as important as time.  Time is something we all share. Time then, and most especially, the Sabbath is a time that we should stop and ponder about our relationship with God. “It is a day of praise, not a day of petitions:”  (page 30 of The Sabbath).

We Christians must remember that we are Judeo-Christians. Our Lord and Savior, Jesus, was a Jewish Rabbi, which means Teacher.  Jesus has taught us, but have we learned anything?  I believe as Christians that we should worship on Sunday.  But as recipients of God’s Holy Sabbath, we should individually calm ourselves on the Sabbath (Saturday), and be thankful for what God is still doing in our midst.  I am aware that not all of us can do this at the same time.  First responders, doctors and health care providers, police, the military, fire fighters and others must work through the Holy Sabbath.  But time should be made whereby they too can praise God in thanksgiving for what God continues to do for us.  God is love and has created us in love, to 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 3: Year 1

Morning, Psalm 37:1 to 18; Evening, Psalm 37:19 to 42;
Deuteronomy 4:32 to 40; 2^nd Corinthians 3:1 to 18; Luke 16:1 to 9:

“And I tell you, make friends for yourselves by means of dishonest wealth so that when it is gone, they may welcome you into the eternal homes.” (Luke 16: 9)

I’ll be honest, this Luke reading is not one I wanted to tackle, I would much rather take the cowardly way out and go to an easier reading. But I decided to take it on anyway.

After prayer concerning this Luke reading I have pondered, or reasoned that this lesson is about putting people before profit. There are some business practices that sometimes have to be relaxed in order to help those in real need.  It is perhaps better to just let a customer have some bread and milk rather than refuse them because of their lack of money. Compassion for the needs of those who are in need but do not have our manmade money, secures us an eternal home for us with God, God who made us before we ever thought about creating money.

It may be that this shrewd manager only reduced the debtor’s bills by what his take was in the dealings with the rich owner’s customers. Desperation made him rethink his priorities.  This Luke writing teaches that when we betray some standard business practices regarding profit in order to help the poor, we put away something for ourselves more valuable than money. We store up for ourselves treasures in heaven. There are times when each of us will appreciate a hand up, rather than a hand out. While profit is fine, people are the priority as far as God is concerned, and so it should be for us as well.

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 3: Year 1

 Morning, Psalm 38; Evening, Psalm 119:25 to 48;
Deuteronomy 4:25-31; 2^nd Corinthians 1:23 to 2:17; Luke 15:1to 2 and 11 to 32;

“But when he came to himself he said, “How many of my father’s hired hands have bread enough and to spare, but here I am dying of hunger!”  (Luke 15:17)

These words from the wayward son express deep insight for all of us. It is only when we “come to ourselves” that we can fully appreciate how blessed we are.  For me, coming to myself often means slowing down.  I believe we all have a set speed in which we should live, move and have our being.  It may not be the same pace as everybody else, and that’s fine.

I can remember that back in my military service days when I worked on diesel powered generators with analog meters.  When I got the voltage output correct, I also had to adjust the frequency to 400 hertz.  The frequency had to match the aircraft to which it would provide electric power.  We are like this equipment in many ways.

We must discover our God given frequency and then maintain our own proper pace in life. This is coming to, or just being who, we are intended to be.  It is only when we “come to ourselves” that we might see ourselves as we really ought to be, in our family, in our Church, and in community and in our quiet times.  And like the prodigal son, we too need to do the self-talk about how we will repent, and go back to God and being who God has made us to be.  This is how we come to ourselves. For some of us, it may be for the first time.

Today, May 31, we remember the Visitation of Mary, pregnant  with Jesus, at the home of Elizabeth her relative, pregnant with John the Baptist. (Luke 1:39 to 56)

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 3: Year 1

Morning, Psalms 26 and 28; Evening, Psalms 36 and 39;
Deuteronomy 4:15 to 24; 2^nd  Corinthians 1:12 to 22; Luke 15:1 to10;

“Rejoice with me” (Luke 15: 6 and 9)

“Rejoice with me” are the words articulated when we find ourselves restored back to where we were before we lost what we had.  It is said when the shepherd found the lost sheep, and again when the woman found the lost coin.  It is meant by me (if not actually said) when I find my keys, or glasses, or sermon notes.  We were whole, and all of a sudden, we lost something!  Then we were lost. We can’t hide it.  People who know us can tell.  They can see our confusion and worry.  We have to find what we are missing.

While these two “lost” stories of Luke 15 leads to the lost son, it explains a lot about us. We don’t celebrate how wonderful it is to not have lost anything, to be glad about what we have before anything is lost. We can’t count our blessings that haven’t happened yet but we should be very thankful and glad about what we have before it is lost, if it gets lost.

As I alluded to earlier, I lose stuff all the time. I try to have a place for everything, and everything in its place. But inevitably something will get misplaced. I can’t hide my frantic search for something missing. Secretly, there is something energizing about the search for the missing – about waiting for something lost to return to where it belongs.  I even get involved in the search for things that others have lost. When the item is found, it’s rejoicing time! 

Maybe the hardest thing to find is our lost faith.  If we have it and it is lost, it shows.  We were whole, and all of a sudden, we lost something important!  Then we were lost. We can’t hide it.  People who know us can tell.  They can see our confusion and our worry.  We have to find our missing faith. We should be happy to help anyone find their lost faith. After all, it is not really lost, rather, it is misplaced, maybe somewhere in your mind. We will find it and put it back where it belongs, in your heart. Stop thinking and start loving.  And then we will rejoice!

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 3: Year 1

Morning, Psalm 25; Evening, Psalm 9 and 15;
Deuteronomy 4:9 to 14; 2^nd  Corinthians 1:1 to 11; Luke 14:25 to 35:

“You approached and stood at the foot of the mountain while the mountain was blazing up to the very heavens, shrouded in dark clouds. Then the Lord spoke to you out of the fire. You heard the sound of words but saw no form; there was only a voice.”  (Deuteronomy 4:11 and 12).

It is arrogance on our part to reduce God to human form, except in the person of our Lord Jesus Christ.  God is Holy Spirit, God just is. God made us to be. We live at God’s pleasure.

I treasure Moses’ experiences with God.  I like the burning bush experience.  On the mountain of God, God was a flame of fire that restrained itself from destroying the bush.  God was ever-living bush, a plant product of earth. And, God was voice, a voice that called Moses by name, “Moses, Moses,” (Exodus 3).

We still stand at the foot of the mountain. Our spiritual mountains are still ablaze with the holiness of God. God is a flame of light and warmth in the darkness and coldness of our lives, and God is the spiritual smoke we need in the light of day to lead us through troubled waters. We need, and very much depend, on the Voice with no form, who formed us and loves us.

In my contemplative moments I am moved to light a little candle. A little flame, “This little light of mine,” is representative of the light of God in my life.  I pray and ponder in the presence of this little light and listen for the still small, but powerful voice of God. Some days are clearer than others.  But God leads me and guides me. And I am thankful.

I have found that I am moving too fast in my day to day doings.  I need to slow down.  I sometimes speak too quickly, and too fast. I don’t know why.  I just need to slow down.  This is the kind of message I am receiving from my little light during these days.  I will heed this insight. 

I very much recommend to you as you read these words, to develop your own contemplative practice where the God with a Voice but no form will join you for your own benefit, and the benefit of the community in which you live.  Our God with a Voice and no form is a God of love. And we, you and I, are on a journey with God, from the “Horeb” of our lives, with instructions for how to live our lives in a place promised to us by God – a place where we will thrive, a place where we will tell our children, and their children, about the great and loving deeds of God. This place may be more about your spiritual self than a physical location; more about dimension than destination.  What is the Voice of God saying to you right now?  Be still and listen; ponder.

Today is Memorial Day; we remember the brave men and women who paid the ultimate sacrifice for our continued freedom. May God receive them into paradise.

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 the Day of Pentecost: Year A

Acts 2:1-21 or Numbers 11:24-30; 1 Corinthians 12:3-13; John 20:19-23 or John 7:37-39;  Psalm 104:25-35, 37; 

“Then everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved” (Acts 2:21)

I’ve been noticing the prophecies from the Hebrew Testament; Jeremiah, Isaiah, and now Joel as made manifest in Peter’s proclamation. Peter speaks from Joel of the Hebrew Testament (That history is all he had in his day).  He says;

“In the last days it will be, God declares, that I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh, and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams.  Even upon my slaves, both men and women, in those days I will pour out my Spirit; and they shall prophesy.”  Such days are upon us now as we read this.

We have suffered, and in some cases are still suffering from the Coronavirus pandemic and on top of this we are suffering from out-of-control gun violence brought on by what I believe is our failure to see and care for mental illness. To this latter suffering there are, and have been, people among us whose words we should listen to.

“Blaise Pascal was a French mathematician, physicist, inventor, writer and Catholic theologian. Pascal said, “All of humanity’s problems stem from man’s inability to sit quietly in a room alone.” Each of us has a soul that is in conversation with God. Too many of us would rather listen to the rhetoric of others who are also not listening to their souls and thus we have soulless reactions to whatever happens to us. We need God involved and we don’t know how to ask for it.

I have tried to teach people over these last 17 years that you don’t need a priest to be in contact with God. Perhaps you do as a Celebrant in the Church, but God, as revealed through the prophets of the Hebrew and Christian Testament, has already written love on our hearts. And God wants to talk with you. Once, as a preacher, I have told you this, I have done my job as your preacher. Each of us needs to go to God for help; not as a mob, but as God’s loving child, perhaps even in a room alone.

This day we remember the coming of the Holy Spirit.  The Holy Spirit is with us and speaks to us. We just need to call on the Lord for help. Joel, through Peter, repeats this wisdom as he says, “Then everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.”

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 the 7^th Week of Easter: Year 1

Morning, Psalm 107:33 to 108:6; Ezekiel 43:1 to 12; Hebrews  9:1 to 14; Luke 11:14 to 23;

Eve of Pentecost: Psalm 33; Exodus 19:3 to 8 and 16 to 20; 1^st Pet. 2:4 to 10; 

“Now therefore, if you obey my voice and keep my covenant, you shall be my treasured possession out of all the peoples. Indeed, the whole earth is mine, but you shall be for me a priestly kingdom and a holy nation. These are the words that you shall speak to the Israelites:” (Exodus 19: 5 and 6).

These are some of the words we read for the Eve of Pentecost, which tomorrow is Pentecost, the Day we remember as the Day the Holy Spirit descended upon us to be with us and guide us.

The Holy Spirit can be heard as the Voice of God speaking in our hearts and minds. This Voice is heard by our souls. Our souls are in dialogue with God.  Then our souls try to lead us, if we will listen and heed its guidance.

The whole world, and all the people that walk the earth, belong to God, but too few believe, or follow the connection that our souls make with God. For those of us who do, we are a priestly kingdom and a holy nation.  The path to becoming a part this kingdom and holy nation, is believing. Believing in God and what God wants of us, changes the way we live our lives.

We are commanded to love God and then to love our neighbor.  It has to be in that order. If not, we tend to put God on the back burner. But it is only through God that we have our very existence; the One in whom we live and move and have our being.  If we didn’t exist we couldn’t love at all. But please know this: God is God even if we never existed.  So let’s be thankful, trusting and loving: thankful to be here, trusting that God wants what’s best for us and loving back to God and all who God has made, including yourself.

My own personal 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.”  What do you believe?  Write a short statement about what you truly believe. It may evolve over time. Don’t be afraid to capture your faith in your own words. You don’t have to share it. But it’s a start in your own spiritual development. Do you believe in God? What path to God are you on?  Go ahead, write something down. Then, revisit it from time to time and examine how you have moved, or not

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 the 7^th Week of Easter: Year 1

Morning, Psalm 102; Evening, Psalm 107:1 to 32; 
Ezekiel 34:17 to 31; Hebrews 8:1 to 13; Luke 10:38 to 42:

“This is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord: I will put my laws in their minds, and write them on their hearts, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.  And they shall not teach one another or say to each other, “Know the Lord”, for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest.” (Hebrews 8:10 and 11)

This quoting of Jeremiah 31: 31 to 34, and repeated by the writer to the Hebrews, is affirmation for me as it has been one of my favorite quotes of the Bible.  It basically says that after the presence of our Lord Jesus in the midst of humanity, we all “know the Lord.”  We may pretend like we don’t, but Jesus has made an indelible mark on our eternal souls, and, it’s there forever. We just need to listen to our souls.

I am having a hard time with the writer to the Hebrews where he says, “In speaking of ‘a new covenant’, he has made the first one obsolete. And what is obsolete and growing old will soon disappear:” (Hebrews 8:13).  What does the writer mean by “disappear”?  I like, and hold on to, these ancient words of the Hebrew, (Old), Testament. There are very valuable lessons within these precious writings.  I think even the writer using the Jeremiah text indicates that he does too.

The main point to ponder here is that God has planted in EVERY human heart and mind an awareness of God. We don’t, (and can’t), figure God out.  The awareness of the presence of God is God’s free gift of grace to human kind. Personally, I don’t think human beings are the only creatures in God’s creation that has an awareness of God. Some creatures are among the “infants” within creation and are very aware of God’s presence.

We humans however, must try to prove everything so that we will believe. According to Anselm, (Archbishop of Canterbury, 1109); that’s not the way to live into our faith. Anselm says about his own belief, He writes, “I do not seek to understand that I may believe, but I believe in order that I may understand. For this, too, I believe, that unless I first believe, I shall not understand.” (Great Cloud of Witnesses for April 21)  We truly do have to “Let go and let God.”  

Let us take some time this Sabbath time and ponder the presence of God in our lives.  All of us have God in our lives. We just have to quiet ourselves and listen.  Thank You Lord Jesus.

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 the 7^th Week of Easter: Year 1

Morning, Psalm 105:1 to 22; Evening, Psalm 105:23 to 45; 
Ezekiel 18:1 to 4 and 19 to 32; Hebrews 7:18 to 28; Luke 10:25 to 37:

“Now by chance a priest was going down that road; and when he saw him, he passed by on the other side. So likewise a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side.”  (Luke 10: 31 and 32)

This is the story of the Good Samaritan. It is in response to a lawyer who asks, “Who is my neighbor?” and answered by our Lord Jesus.  Jesus begins by showing the un-neighborly acts by persons thought to have compassion, but, in truth, did not.

Passing by on the other side seems to be the ancient way of avoiding difficult situations. We still pass by difficult situations today.  We don’t want to have the difficult conversations about the sins of racism, or mental illness, or reconciliation with those who have been wrongly incarcerated, or even those who have differing opinions than ourselves.  Too many of us would rather have no contact or communication than to do the hard work of unraveling a tangled set of Christmas lights. We do this knowing that once done, the results will be beautiful, but only after some initial pain.

Human language is a beautiful thing. We have ways of reasoning through the spoken and written word that other forms of life do not have.  However, we fail to use dialogue in the best ways, ways that will bring us together in more loving relationships.  But the truth is, we must want the virtue of compassion for ourselves first. We must want to be able to live in harmony with others. There should be nothing, no subject, that we cannot talk about. Such conversation requires discipline. We must have in place rules of respect and tolerance.  But like the Good Samaritan, we must start with compassion. We have been passing by on the other side for far too long.

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 the 7^th Week of Easter: Year 1

Psalms 101 and 109:1 to 4 and 20 to 30; Evening Psalm 119:121 to 144; 
Ezekiel 11:14 to 25; Hebrews 7:1 to 17; Luke 10:17 to 24:

“At that same hour Jesus rejoiced in the Holy Spirit and said, ‘I thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and the intelligent and have revealed them to infants; yes, Father, for such was your gracious will.”  (Luke 10:22)

There are several phrases within our readings for today that jump out at me as I observe human nature and compare us today with our ancient writings.  I notice that our Lectionary excludes verses 5 through 19 of Psalm 109. These verses wrap any kind of justice up in revenge, for example; “When he is judged, let him be found guilty, and let his appeal be in vain:” (Psalm 109:6).  Today, when I hear people call for justice I hear revenge in their voice and in their heart. This is sadness for me.  I’m glad we have the opportunity to skip such verses.

The Hebrew Testament offers some relief where Ezekiel reports, “I will give them one heart, and put a new spirit within them; I will remove the heart of stone from their flesh and give them a heart of flesh, so that they may follow my statutes and keep my ordinances and obey them. Then they shall be my people, and I will be their God:” (Ezekiel 11:19 and 20) Perhaps it is with a heart of stone that we have lost all compassion. We need the heart of flesh – the heart of compassion so that we shall be God’s people and God will truly be our God. Such as this is better than sadness.

In the Gospel reading for today, after the seventy returned from doing the Lord’s work, “At that same hour Jesus rejoiced in the Holy Spirit:” This is from our Gospel reading for today as printed above. It is not often that we can contemplate a happy Jesus, and even less is it talked about. This is a move away from sadness. I believe we were made to be a happy people.

If we pay close attention to this Luke verse we will notice that our Lord Jesus is actually praying in his rejoicing.  He prays, “I thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and the intelligent and have revealed them to infants; yes, Father, for such was your gracious will.”  He is not praying from a state of sadness. How often do we seriously pray in our rejoicing?  I know that personally, I like to give out a big “Thank You Jesus,” whenever something good happens in my life.  It just feels good to say it out loud.  I also like looking at these words on the sign posted in my front yard, “Thank You Jesus”. A happy Jesus makes me happy too. We are happiest when we pardon or forgive one another and not carry the burden of hate, jealousy, racism, and revenge under the veil of so called justice. Give it a try; be happy!

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