onewhoponders

Daily Office Readings for Thursday of Proper 4: Year 1

Morning, Psalm 50; Evening,  Psalms  8 and 84;
Deuteronomy 16:18 to 20 and 17:14 to 20; 2^nd Corinthians 8:1 to 16; Luke 18:1 to 8:

“When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars you have set in their courses, what is man that you should be mindful of him? the son of man that you should seek him out?” (Psalm 8)

When I look up at night and gaze upon the stars and how even the planet we live on, revolves through space, I am amazed. The Great Creator of the universe is so awesome. We humans give created things names so that we might learn about them and pass such knowledge on to our children and our children’s children. As we do this we must also keep the Creator in the teaching. Without God there is nothing.

And then there is us, you and me.  Why would the Creator of all things and all life itself take notice of us?  We have come into being through the will and love of God.  And while all universal creation seems to keep to its designated assignments, we, the human being, seem to want to argue, fuss and fight rather than to move with grace as does the suns, moons, stars and other planets.

God even came to us as one of us to model for us how to live in peace and harmony.  Yet, we not only killed the Author of life, even our church has a history of killing others because of what they believe about our Lord – our Lord who would never kill anyone. We have enslaved our brothers and sisters, misused them, abused them; and yet, God is patient with us.

So why is God mindful of us?  I think there is still hope.  In spite of our sins, we are better than we used to be. Our Jewish ancestors developed a beautiful history of telling their story, their long relationship with God. We have it in the Hebrew (Old) Testament.  This is an example for us now.  Our Lord Jesus was very good at telling us the stories about His relationship with God.  We must follow this Jewish – Jesus example and tell our stories also, the good and the bad.

Since God has hope for us and is mindful of us, we must not give up on ourselves.  We must live the stories we want to tell. We may not look like heroes in our stories, we may not even live through them and the stories might have to be told by those who knew us. But it’s still our story. Our story must be about unwavering love, no matter what.  I really love Psalm 8. It makes me ponder and appreciate God in Christ Jesus even more. Don’t give up on us Dear Lord.

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 4: Year 1

Morning, Psalm 119:49 to 72; Evening, Psalm 49;
Deuteronomy 13:1 to 11; 2^nd  Corinthians 7:2 to 16; Luke 17:20 to 37:

“Once Jesus was asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God was coming, and he answered, ‘The kingdom of God is not coming with things that can be observed; nor will they say, “Look, here it is!” or “There it is!” For, in fact, the kingdom of God is among you:’” (Luke 17:20 and 21).

I think this is the greatest secret of all time; the kingdom of God is taking incremental steps more and more right here on earth, it is the evolution of the kingdom of heaven; it is “Thy kingdom come, on earth as it is in heaven.”

We are not to wait until we get to heaven.  We are to bring heaven here. Yes, we have a long way to go. And this place can’t be heaven for some and not for others. We are already citizens of heaven but far too many of us have not been acting like it. 

I see heaven as a place where we all love each other.   The step by step process of making this place heaven is simply each of us learning to listen to each other more intently.   We would normally think that language would be a barrier, but we fail to listen to our brothers and sisters who speak our own tongue. Listening requires being able to “be” the other.  It requires us to perhaps not return speech at all.  Heaven then, is a listening space, and then a speaking space for some.  Jesus says “the kingdom of God is not coming with things that can be observed.”  I think the kingdom of God is coming with things that can be heard.  It is not coming with things that can be seen and therefore there will be no need to say “Look, here it is,” or, “There it is.”

We were not created when God saw us into being.  We were brought into being when God spoke, “Let there be…”  Even nothingness listened. While listening is important, it must be managed. We jam our ears with noise all day.  Our phones, TV’s, radios and devices take over our minds and block out the kingdom of God. We need listening downtime.  We need to listen to our neighbor face to face and mouth to ear.  This then is heaven right here, right now.  Listening leads to learning, learning leads to loving, loving brings us the kingdom of God, which is already here if we would but listen. 

The next time you are conversing with someone take note of how much time the other gives you to really organize your thoughts and then speak with compassion.  Take note of how much time you give the other to organize their thoughts and then speak with compassion. The kingdom of God is speaking with compassion.  The kingdom is already among us.  We just need to listen

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 4: Year 1

Morning, Psalm 45; Evening, Psalms 47 and  48:
Deuteronomy 12:1 to 12; 2^nd Corinthians 6:3 to 7:1; Luke 17:11 to 19:

“Then one of them, when he saw that he was healed, turned back, praising God with a loud voice: (Luke 17:15)

This is the story of the ten lepers whom Jesus healed. He had compassion for them and told them to go to the priests and show themselves to be clean.  Within this healing lesson is the requirement to obey, that is, they are to go to the priests to show them.

However, we learn that one of the ten is a Samaritan.  He, would most probably, not be well received by the priests. But he was loved, and healed by Jesus.  So, here once again, we have an example of persons outside of Israel having more gratitude than the so-called chosen ones.  It was  only the Samaritan who turned back to give thanks and it caught the attention of Jesus. “Was none of them found to return and give praise to God except this foreigner?” (Luke 17:18) 

Then it is revealed that our Lord Jesus manipulated the belief, (the faith), that was already in the Samaritan and this is was what saves him. Jesus uses different language from the word “cleanse.” “Then he said to him, ‘Get up and go on your way; your faith has made you well.”

The bottom line here is that there is an implied difference between having an earthly healing cancer or Covid,  and being “made well” as in being saved in eternal life.  In either case, faith is key.  Faith, or trust in God, can do both, heal our infirmity as well as save our souls. We must believe, and when we do, our Lord Jesus takes over and uses our faith, our trust in God in ways that we are not able to. But we must first have faith.

Full disclosure, I will take salvation over the healing of bodily sickness every time.  It is nice to have both, but eternity in the courts of heaven is my greatest desire. I want to live in love, to love, and for love, forever. 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 4: Year 1

Morning, Psalms 41 and  52; Evening,  Psalm 44;
Deuteronomy 11:13 to 19; 2^nd  Corinthians 5:11 to 6:2; Luke 17:1 to 10:

“So you also, when you have done all that you were ordered to do, say, “We are worthless slaves; we have done only what we ought to have done!”  (Luke17:10)

I don’t consider myself a worthless slave.  But I do have a sense of decency and duty. If I work for someone or even a large organization, whereby I am compensated in agreement with what was negotiated, I feel an obligation to fulfill my legal and agreed upon duties.  But more than that, If in a strange situation and I witness what I suspect is wrong-doing, I feel I have a moral obligation to stand up for whoever is victimized, that is, to stand up for decency.

As a military enlisted man I was taught that if and when we captured prisoners of war, once we have reduced their ability to be combatants, we were to imprison them and care for them. We were not to torture them or in any way mistreat them.  I believe the same is true for our police personnel today.  We need the police because we have bad actors in our communities.  But police have a responsibility for decency in duty also.  I think harassment of citizens is wrong for police persons who are sworn to “protect and serve.”  Protect and serve sure sounds like decency and duty to me.

Whether we are store clerks, accountants, doctors, school teachers, trash collectors, welders, farmers, priests, or any vocation, we have the call of decency in duty.  We are not slaves and we are not worthless.  I don’t think Luke meant this in the way that we might interpret it today.  Understanding gets lost in translation.  But there are things that we ought to do, and not do. First of all, we need to recognize that as we interact with people, we must see them as brothers and sisters in Christ Jesus and therefore children of God. Whether a person is being arrested or taken prisoner of war, we need to stand them up, look them in the eyes in our search for the Spirit of God.  Yes, we put ourselves at risk if we are not careful.  But if we are afraid of people because they differ from us then maybe to protect and serve is not our call. 

I think we should do what we have agreed to do within loving reason.   I know of a young man, Doug, who was much sought after by delivery men because he could be counted on to be on time and proficient in his duties.  He was sought after on a daily basis because he was on time and worked hard. When compared to other workers who were often late and lazy, the driver – delivery men wanted Doug.  Doug would always say, I have only done what I am supposed to do, nothing more, and nothing less.  I thank God for the Doug’s of the world.

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 Trinity Sunday: Year A

Genesis 1:1 to 2:4a; Psalm 8; 2nd Corinthians 13:11 to13;  Matthew 28:16 to 20:

“And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age.” (Matthew 28:20)

Our Lord Jesus is handed down through the generations, parent to child, to child to child.  He has been handed down master to apprentice and leader to follower for more than 2000 years. Being a follower of our Lord Jesus re-identifies us.  It has re-identified me.  I now hold, being a Christian, my most important understanding of who I am. It is not being a so-called African American, or even an American or even a man. No, for me it is first and foremost about being what I will always be, A Christian. Jesus being with me to the end of the age is Emanuel.

This Emanuel is God with us. Our Lord Jesus says “I am with you always, to the end of the age.”  Jesus has made a commitment to us.  He is of the Father and sends to us the Holy Spirit and never leaves us orphaned. We must respond by keeping this Trinitarian life alive in thought, word and deed. We must all sing the hymn: “I bind onto myself today the strong name of the Trinity, by vocation of the same, the Three in One and One in Three.”  (Hymn 370 of the 1982 Hymnal)

We don’t have to understand the Trinity, just understand that it exists.  And it exists for our sake. Some of us live our lives historically.  We have to know how we got this way.  Such folk I call the Genesis people.  They want to know how we came to be.  They want to know how the races were divided.  They ask how police got started and then ask how police brutality started. They want to know the genesis of everything.  This is like the Creator story of who made the Clock, wound it and walked away; and will come back one day. Knowing the story may help us be ready for the return.

The Christian story is the story of the Son.  This is God Incarnate. This is the story of a beloved friend who will never, never, never leave our side, no matter what.   Jesus’ last words to us are that he will be with us, even to the end of the age. We have, in the same hymn, words that reflects this message: “Christ be with me, Christ within me, Christ behind me, Christ before me, Christ beside me, Christ to win me, Christ to comfort and restore me.” (Hymn 370 of the 1982 Hymnal) We are never without our Lord Jesus, never.

Finally, we have the Holy Spirit that resides in our Church. This is the Holy Spirit of God Whom our Lord Jesus said He will send to us, the Church. Jesus Sends us the Holy Spirit, that we remembered last Sunday, Pentecost, to our Church, to lead us and guide us in the way of truth and love.

We need all three.  We need to know, live and tell our faith stories. We need to see our Lord Jesus in the faithful faces of the friends we have as we worship together.  And we need to listen to what the Holy Spirit is saying to us and abide in that holy leadership.  Happy Trinity Sunday!

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 3: Year 1

Morning, Psalms 30 and  32; Evening, Psalms 42 and  43;
Deuteronomy  5:22 to 33; 2^nd Corinthians 4:13 to 5:10; Luke 16:19 to 31:

 “Yes, everything is for your sake, so that grace, as it extends to more and more people, may increase thanksgiving, to the glory of God;” 2^nd Corinthians 4: 15).

This is so true, we need the Lord’s grace in order to show more and more people that they only have their being through God in Christ Jesus.  In this way, hopefully, more and more people will be thankful for that forgiving, and merciful grace.

I often ponder about life after death.  I know that I didn’t have to be.  But I am, I do exist. I have come to realize that I have an invitation to live on past this mortal state of being.  From my understanding as a Christian, what I believe and trust in, has a great deal to do with being received into a resurrection life. 

In our Luke reading for today we have the story of the rich man and Lazarus.  They both die and enter into an unequal after-life divided by a “great chasm.” This Gospel lesson as well as other text of the Bible lead me to believe that all people will rise beyond this life, at least, initially.  Personally, I don’t believe a loving God will keep us in some kind of eternal torment. I think that if we are inconsistent with the love of God at our individual awakening we just cease to exist. I don’t want that. I want to enjoy living and loving for all eternity on the comfort side of the great chasm.

Paul refers to our present life as a life living in a tent, a tent that will wear out eventually. He says, “For we know that if the earthly tent we live in is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.” (2^nd Corinthians 5:1)

My personal and informal creed is a belief statement I wrote for myself. It is an elevator statement that can be quickly delivered about what I believe. Here it 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.” 

I don’t know what it is like to not exist and I don’t want to know. I am thankful that I have life and I want it for all people “so that grace, as it extends to more and more people, may increase thanksgiving, to the glory of God.”

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 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