onewhoponders

Daily Office Readings for Friday of Proper 15:Year 1

Morning, Psalms 140 and 142; Evening, Psalms 141, 143:1- 11;
2^nd Samuel 19:24 to 43; Acts 24:24 to 25:12; Mark 12:35 to 44:

“Now if I am in the wrong and have committed something for which I deserve to die, I am not trying to escape death; but if there is nothing to their charges against me, no one can turn me over to them. I appeal to the emperor.’ Then Festus, after he had conferred with his council, replied, ‘You have appealed to the emperor; to the emperor you will go:” (Acts 25: 11 and 12).

Paul is not afraid of death because he believes in the resurrection.  Perhaps he does not want to give his Jewish brethren the joy of killing him.  He uses his Roman citizenship to appeal to the emperor and it works.  Festus says, ‘You have appealed to the emperor; to the emperor you will go.’

No matter how good we might feel today, death is inevitable. It can be a matter of days, weeks, months, or years.  But inevitably, we will die.  Whom then do we appeal to?  The final Judge is the one who gave us life in the beginning. Let us recall the words from the Gospel according to John; “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things came into being through him, and without him not one thing came into being. What has come into being in him was life,and the life was the light of all people.”  (John 1:1 to 4)

Our citizenship is with our Creator and Word through Whom all life came into being. We must know that our appeal is to our Creator. The author of life will decide our fate after death has delivered us to the Holy Presence.  At least one way to sway the Creator is to be found with genuine love in our hearts.  Such love cannot be faked. It truly must be truly genuine.

“Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all their multitude. And on the seventh day God finished the work that God had done, and God rested on the seventh day from all the work that God 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

Please keep up your thoughts and prayers and hopes for Ukraine, Russia, and our schools and the families of those who perished in Maui, Hawaii.

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 15: Year 1

Morning, Psalms 131, 132, and 133; Evening, Psalms 134 and 135;
2^nd Samuel 19:1 to 23; Acts 24:1 to 23; Mark 12:28 to 34:

“I have a hope in God—a hope that they themselves also accept—that there will be a resurrection of both the righteous and the unrighteous:” (Acts 24: 15).

After his accusers use their smooth talk by buttering up Felix the Governor, trying to persuade him to execute Paul, Paul now speaks and states his case about how he has not changed the Hebrew Law and still believes in what they believe, to include the resurrection.

Paul proclaims that there will be a resurrection of both the good and the bad – the righteous and the unrighteous.  And just as he stood before Felix then, all humanity will stand before the Great Throne of God where the Judge with gaze upon the content of our hearts.

I believe what is found in our hearts will state our case far more than whatever our earthly actions were. Our earthly witnesses may have seen us do or say something that they considered sinful, or even evil. But God looks upon us and loves us and sees the “why” of our ways. Back when Paul was Saul, he went about doing what he thought in his heart, was what God wanted of him.  It was not until our Risen Lord Jesus met him on the Road to Damascus that he was changed forever.

Our Lord Jesus teaches us that God knows our hearts and has mercy on us.  Our only hope in the resurrection is that God in Christ Jesus has mercy on us, forgives us, and accepts us into eternal glory. But like Saul to Paul who stands before Felix, we stand before our Lord. We can’t fix ourselves. We need our Maker to fix us but we have to want it first. 

If we want it, we must pray our Opening Collect as seriously as we can.  “Almighty God, to you all hearts are open, all desires known, and from you no secrets are hid: Cleanse the thoughts of our hearts by the inspiration of your Holy Spirit, that we may perfectly love you, and worthily magnify your holy Name; through Christ our Lord. Amen.” (1979 Book of Common Prayer; page 355)

We must understand that we will be raised from the dead.  Of course, I don’t know what that will be like. I haven’t been there.  It doesn’t really make any difference how we die or how our end of life is remembered, be it cremation, traditional burial, drowned at sea or blown to smithereens.  God will bring us before the Great Throne. There we will be judged. It is important that we believe this and in believing it, we conduct our lives now in accordance with a righteous heart. We do this with the help of our Lord. And the Lord of lords will help us if we just try to love one another.

Please keep up your thoughts and prayers and hopes for Ukraine, Russia, and our schools and the People of Maui, Hawaii.

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 15: Year 1

Morning, Psalm 119:145 to 176; Evening, Psalms 128, 129 and 130;
2^nd Samuel 18:19 to 33; Acts 23:23 to 35; Mark 12:13 to 27:

“And they came and said to him, ‘Teacher, we know that you are sincere, and show deference to no one; for you do not regard people with partiality, but teach the way of God in accordance with truth:” (Mark 12:14)

Our Daily Office Lectionary Reading of Mark is long for today and has two components. There is the issue of whether or not they, or we, should pay the tax.  Then there are the Sadducees who do not believe in the resurrection. This is why they are “SAD U SEE?”  I will try to deal with both.

Jesus walks into human history several centuries after we have been using money.  Money, especially metal coins, have a pretty infinite shelf-life, the coins will last several human lifetimes and therefore can be handed down from generation to generation. And pretty much as long as we have had money, we have had public servants who do not work fields or ply the craftsman’s trades.  Such public officials are teachers, trash collectors and our governing body, from Cesar himself right down to the lowest soldier enforcing Roman, or whatever national law or constitution, he or she is instructed to enforce.  We need these public servants. We would be hard-pressed to have a community life without them. We also need a reserve for those who have no income.  So yes, we should pay the tax.  However, our Lord Jesus is right; God does not want the tax.  God wants our hearts and souls to be with God for all eternity; which brings us to the next issue, the Resurrection.

Jesus refuses to use the example put before him by the Sadducees regarding the woman who married brothers, all of whom died and finally she died.  The question put before Jesus is, “Whose wife will she be in the Resurrection?”  Jesus informs them that they don’t understand the scriptures.  Life in the Resurrection is independent of human traditions and laws. We are all God’s  own in the Resurrection without having the limitations of our mortal restrictions. Jesus uses God’s words about being the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.  God does not say He “was” the God of them, but rather, IS, the God of them.  They still Live!

I think they spoke correctly when they approached Jesus in the beginning. “And they came and said to him, ‘Teacher, we know that you are sincere, and show deference to no one; for you do not regard people with partiality, but teach the way of God in accordance with truth:”  There was no need to go any further after saying that.  Since Jesus teaches the Way of God in accordance with the truth; then they, and we, should be done with any further questions. There should be nothing further to discuss. We should just listen to him and obey the commands to love God and neighbor.

Please keep up your thoughts and prayers and hopes for Ukraine, Russia, and our schools and the people of Maui, Hawaii.

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 15: Year 1

Morning, Psalms 120, 121, 122, and 123; Evening, Psalms 124, 125, 126 and 127;
2^nd Samuel 18:9 to 18; Acts 23:12 to 24; Mark 11:27 to 12:12:

“What then will the owner of the vineyard do? He will come and destroy the tenants and give the vineyard to others:” (Mark 12:9).

Reading Marks version of this vineyard parable is somewhat confusing.  Let us review Matthew’s version of the same parable.  In Matthew we read Jesus saying, “When therefore the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those tenants?” They said to him, “He will put those wretches to a miserable death and let out the vineyard to other tenants who will give him the fruits in their seasons:” (Matthew 21:40 and 41).  We can clearly see in Matthew’s version of this parable that it is the chief priests, the teachers of the law and the elders who are saying that God will destroy those who killed the son of the owner of the vineyard.  Why does our justice, in too many cases, have to have others suffer? I fully support incarceration of those deemed too dangerous to allow to go free. But I am totally against abusing people in some kind of retribution.

I ponder much from this lesson. First, why is it that too many of us want to bring violent judgment on those we find guilty? This is especially troubling when we remember that all of us have some guilt even if only a little.  If we live long enough perhaps we will grow up and never sin again. So not only do we want to wreak havoc on those we find guilty, we want to justify it by saying “[God] will come and destroy the tenants and give the vineyard to others:” Could we not just say, “God will come and give the vineyard to others?

But even after hearing the parable and passing judgment on the people of the parable, the chief priests, the teachers of the law and the elders now want to harm Jesus for telling the parable against them.  Do we ever learn? If we hear something, perhaps a story wherein we can see ourselves in the story in an unflattering way, perhaps this then is the opportunity to repent and change.  This is what pondering does for me. It opens me up to seeing myself in the parables and other stories, not only of the Bible, but in any story.  I want to be the good guy, but it takes work; it takes pondering about love; love even for those who are undoubtedly guilty, just as I have been. We should take retaliation and revenge off the table of how to respond to unpleasant acts done by others and ourselves.

We need to replace retaliation and revenge with love, compassion and mercy, even as we acknowledge that some of us must be restrained for the safety of our communities.  It is the loving care of our vineyard that produces the fruit that the owner wants when he returns.

Please keep up your thoughts and prayers and hopes for Ukraine, Russia, and our schools and the people and families of Maui, Hawaii.

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 15: Year 1

Morning, Psalm 106:1 to 18; Evening,  Psalm 106:19 to 48;
2^nd  Samuel 17:24 to 18:8; Acts 22:30 to 23:11; Mark 11:12 to 26:

“When Paul noticed that some were Sadducees and others were Pharisees, he called out in the council, ‘Brothers, I am a Pharisee, a son of Pharisees. I am on trial concerning the hope of the resurrection of the dead.’ When he said this, a dissension began between the Pharisees and the Sadducees, and the assembly was divided. (The Sadducees say that there is no resurrection, or angel, or spirit; but the Pharisees acknowledge all three.)” (Acts 23: 6 to 8)

Perhaps our Risen Lord Jesus selected Saul/Paul because he was born and raised a Pharisee. The Pharisee believed in the resurrection, in angels, and in the Holy Spirit.

The scribes of the Pharisees then asked a very important question; we read, “Then a great clamor arose, and certain scribes of the Pharisees’ group stood up and contended, ‘We find nothing wrong with this man. What if a spirit or an angel has spoken to him?” (Acts 23:9).  This is what we all should be asking ourselves today if and when we hear someone witnessing an experience beyond what scripture reveals, and beyond our limited understanding of what God wants of us, and what God is doing in our very midst.

Even the asking of the question by the scribes is some evidence that the Holy Spirit of God is at work in the human situation. But the stubbornness of some will not make room for the Spirit to work. The dissension became violent and the soldiers had to intervene. Even the intervention of the tribunes might have been a way in which God was acting.

I found that when I went to The Church of the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem in 2018, there was dissension among the various Christian Churches about how to divide up the times each would have for worship in this sacred Church building. They gave authority to a Muslim family to manage which Christian Church would worship and when. So for just over 500 years now descendants of a Muslim family still manages which Christian Church worships at what time.  An outside family acts as God’s regulatory hand amidst the dissension.

Please keep up your thoughts and prayers and hopes for Ukraine, Russia, and our schools and the people of Maui, Hawaii.

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

New Testament Eucharistic Readings for Sunday of Proper 15: Year A

Romans 11:1-2 2 and 29 to 32; Matthew 15: 10 to 28

“She said, “Yes, Lord, yet even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their masters’ table.” Then Jesus answered her, “Woman, great is your faith! Let it be done for you as you wish.” And her daughter was healed instantly.” (Matthew 15: 27 and 28)

Prior to this incident (and part of our Gospel Reading for today) Jesus had just explained about what defiles a person.  He said it is not what goes into a person (certain foods considered unclean) but rather it is what comes out of a person, sinful acts and words that defile a person.  I know for myself, when I have said or done something revengeful or retaliatory, I feel sad about it.  I am still a work in progress.  Pray for me please.

And then we have this Canaanite woman with words of requests for her daughter’s cure coming out of her mouth.  This is intercessory prayer. This is coming to our Lord Jesus of whom she did not know, but needed anyway.  This is about Jesus himself learning truly who he is. (The Gospel according to Matthew is only concerned with the people of Israel.) But here we are shown the world-wide intention of God’s Salvation.  God loves, and wants all people to be saved.

The very nature of God is inclusiveness, all people; period.  I know that all people are not baptized.  But we, who follow our Lord Jesus, continue to insist on this soul saving practice of grace. There is no exclusion from the love of God.  Canaanite or Israelite, black or white, rich or poor, democrat or republican, boy or girl, bald or with curls, Jesus loves the little children of the world. All are precious in his sight.

This is again, another example where Jesus informs us about the faith that is already in us; the faith in the mother that was the source of her daughter’s healing.  So it is with us today.  We must first believe.

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

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 14: Year 1

Morning, Psalm 107:33 to 43 and 108:1 to 6; Evening,  Psalm 33;
2^nd Samuel 16:1 to 23; Acts 22:17 to 29; Mark 11:1 to 11:

“The tribune answered, ‘It cost me a large sum of money to get my citizenship.’ Paul said, ‘But I was born a citizen:” (Acts 22:28)

You and I are citizens of heaven and the price of our citizenship was paid by our Lord Jesus. Jesus tells us that we too must be born again into this citizenship from above by water and the Spirit: (John 3:3 to 7). Personally, I now understand the “born again,” as born into love and service to others. In no way are we, as citizens of heaven, to mistreat others or use others in demeaning ways.

I don’t understand “examining” with a whip, as it seems to be the normal way of interrogation in our Acts reading for today.  It’s like beating a person until they say what you want them to say.  It’s wrong. I seem to recall that Pilate did the same thing to our Lord Jesus even though he was going to have him crucified. Why?  If we truly become the other, we would feel what they feel, and therefore, not be mean and cruel to them.

You and I should be examining ourselves daily by the plumb line of Christ with which we measure our thoughts and actions on a daily basis. It is only when we see the straight and moral correctness of our Lord Jesus, and how we are not so straight when compared to him, that we correct ourselves and strive to be better. While we understand that we will never be our Lord Jesus, we should be devoted to a life of trying to be the best Jesus we can be. I’m not there yet but I haven’t given up on me.

I will strive everyday to not yield to, returning evil for evil, name calling, one-upping, racial, religious, political, or national prejudice, and other sinful practices that seem to be the norm for this world of separation and indifference. I will strive to not behave in these ways because I realize that it is not who I am as a citizen of heaven.

Jesus’ citizenship took precedence over ours for our benefit.  But we are no less citizens of heaven now because he has paid the price that God the Creator has accepted. Our citizenship is through our Lord Jesus. Therefore, we are no longer citizens of this world, but rather citizens of that heavenly country where there is life eternal, and from whence, no traveler returns.  Thank you Lord Jesus.

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

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 14: Year 1

Morning, Psalm 102; Evening, Psalm 107:1-32;
2^nd  Samuel 15:19 to 37; Acts 21:37 to 22:16; Mark 10:46 to 52:

“So throwing off his cloak, he sprang up and came to Jesus.” (Mark 10: 50)

At some point when teaching a young child to ride a bicycle, we must take off the training wheels, those added security wheels that reminds them of the days of the tricycle. What then is to be done with the old training wheels? 

When I taught my granddaughter to ride a bicycle, after many hours of walking alongside her, holding her up, we stopped for a rest; at least for me. After a few minutes, she said to me, Grandpa, let me ride it by myself.  To which I said, go ahead, but be careful.”

She rode and rode up and down our driveway again and again, without me, without training wheels. She just needed me to get out of the way. She just needed to be released from both me, and the training wheels.

Bartimaeus needed to be released from his cloak. If one is blind it is so important to either hold on to personal things or put a lot of attention in where things are laid in order that the item may be found again when needed. So throwing off his cloak and springing up to meet Jesus demonstrates his strong faith in what Jesus will do for him. He let go of his safety in order to gain sight.

We too must let go of whatever hinders our path to the healing of our Lord Jesus. And yes, there will be some folks trying to prevent us from being with Jesus alone.  They have become our cloak or our training wheels. They too must be removed in order to fully absorb the life changing love of our Lord Jesus.

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

 “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 14: Year 1

Morning, Psalm 105:1 to 22; Evening, Psalm 105:23 to 45;
2^nd  Samuel 15:1 to 18; Acts 21:27 to 36; Mark 10:32 to 45:

“So Jesus called them and said to them, ‘You know that among the Gentiles those whom they recognize as their rulers lord it over them, and their great ones are tyrants over them. But it is not so among you; but whoever wishes to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wishes to be first among you must be slave of all. For the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life a ransom for many.” (Mark 10: 42 to 45)

Our Lord Jesus has just explained how he is to go up to Jerusalem and be humiliated and killed. He is doing this willingly for the sake of the world.  Yet, even after hearing his testimony, James and John ask for glory in the next life. Jesus further explains that he serves people and wants us to do the same. James and John were looking for glory.

 In some kind of reverse psychology our Lord Jesus pushes them to seek glory in their humility.  But I think the greater point is to not seek glory at all. But rather, just be comfortable in serving others. I believe service to others is the Christian calling.  Such service includes teaching about decency, compassion, and courtesy as we live in community, as well as, about the love that God has for us.  This is not glory seeking, but rather, being of service to others for their own benefit, and being comfortable doing it.

This way of living and leading is very different from the way of the world.  The world leads with intimidation, threats, and negative consequences for people who do not please those over them. Our Lord Jesus says of them, and of our system today, “those whom they recognize as their rulers lord it over them, and their great ones are tyrants over them.”  This kind of employee abuse has been made manifest in having people work “off the clock,” sexual intimidation or abuse, working in hazardous environments, and so forth. It seems the higher up the chain we go, the more corrupt it becomes. There is too often a severe lack of love in our chains of command. Our Lord Jesus teaches us that love should be a thread within every fabric of our societal cloth.

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

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 14: Year 1

Morning, Psalms 101 and 109; Evening,  Psalm 119:121 to 144;
2^nd  Samuel 14:21 to 33; Acts 21:15 to 26; Mark 10:17 to 31:

“Jesus, looking at him, loved him and said, ‘You lack one thing; go, sell what you own, and give the money to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; then come, follow me.” (Mark 10:21)

There are several points to ponder in this exchange between our Lord Jesus and this unnamed potential apostle. 

First, the article “the.” is not in the Greek version of this reading. This is at least an English interpretation of how to understand this writing.  Pondering further will ask us to look at what the message might be if the “the” was not there.  We would read, “and give money to the poor.”  The implication is that perhaps some money might be retained for himself, or as community money for the followers of our Lord Jesus who were at the mercy of whoever could help them, very often it was women who had money.

Another point to ponder is that this individual was given the invitation to “follow me,” by our Lord Jesus.  Had he accepted this invitation we would have his name.  This is how we have Levi’s name, (Also known as Matthew). Levi was collecting the tax when he was asked by Jesus to follow Him and he dropped everything and followed our Lord Jesus; (Mark 2:13 and 14). This rich man could have done the same thing. He didn’t have possessions, possessions had him; beware!

There are some revealing words in the request of the man with wealth.  He wanted to know what he had to do to “inherit” eternal life. Perhaps this is how he acquired his earthly wealth and wanted the same for eternal life.  Also, our Lord Jesus goes through relational questions about how he responds to the needs of his neighbors; that is ‘Do not murder, Do not commit adultery, Do not steal, Do not bear false witness, Do not defraud, Honor your father and mother.’”  Jesus goes through the last six of the Ten Commandments, the Commandments dealing with how we respond to one another.  To which the man says he has done since his youth.  It seems he had a check list of how to gain eternal life. He was working on the premise of works righteousness.  But we can’t earn our way into heaven.  We love our way into heaven.

Perhaps the most important words in this passage are “Jesus, looking at him, loved him.”  And our Lord Jesus is asking the same thing of us.  If we love our neighbors we won’t have to worry about a checklist of what to do and what not to do. Our Lord Jesus says we only have really two Commandments, to love God with all that we are, and to love our neighbors as He loves us. Love for God and neighbor is the whole message of the Bible. Let us hear it and apply it.

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

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