onewhoponders

Daily Office Readings for Wednesday of Proper 29: Year 2

Morning, Psalm 119:145-176; Evening, Psalms 128, 129, 130;
Zechariah  12:1to10; Ephesians  1:3to14; Luke 19:1to10: 

“He was trying to see who Jesus was, but on account of the crowd he could not, because he was short in stature.” (Luke 19:3)

I am aware that Luke is speaking of a physical “short in statue.”  But many of us (tall or short) strive to see who Jesus really is.  But we are short in faith. Too many of us refuse to just believe.

Also, too often the direction of the crowd prevents us from seeing who Jesus is.  We tend to wrongly get on board with a crowd moving in an un-Jesus-like manner.  When ill-willed charismatic influencers take hold of the lead, we too easily tend to follow and go down roads that our Lord Jesus would never travel.

In this story, Jesus, without giving any clues that he was aware of Zacchaeus in the tree, stopped just below him and looked up and invited himself to supper with Zacchaeus.  ( I use this example as a way of inviting myself to a parishioner’s home for dinner.  No, just kidding.)  But Jesus was aware of Zacchaeus in the tree and met him “where he was.”

In just seeing Jesus, Zacchaeus repented and made right all the wrongs he had committed. Now Zacchaeus was a “Chief” Tax Collector.  Being a tax collector was bad enough, but a chief tax collector was even further removed from any welcome to the Temple and seen as a Roman sympathizer by the Israelites. 

But after hearing him explain his forgiveness and giving back to any he had wronged, Jesus proclaims that Zacchaeus too, “is a child to Abraham”, which pre-empts and supersedes the Temple and all it stands for.  Jesus has put Zacchaeus back in the household of God.  And, Jesus does not hold his wealth against him. Zacchaeus is still a chief tax collector, and is still rich, but now he is a believer in our Lord Jesus.

Sometimes we are too spiritually short to see Jesus.  We must climb into the pews of a church in order to see him.  If we do, He will self-invite himself into our homes and our hearts.  And when he does, we will be changed forever and made children to Abraham. Thank You Lord Jesus.

Please keep up your thoughts and prayers and hopes for Ukraine and Iran.

As we listen to what the Spirit is saying to us, let us live to love, to serve, and to teach others to live, love and serve, while pondering anew what the Almighty can do. John

Daily Office Readings for Tuesday of Proper 29: Year 2

Morning, Psalms [120], 121, 122 and 123; Evening, Psalms 124, 125, and 126;
Zechariah 11:4to17; 1 Corinthians 3:10to23; Luke 18:31to43

“I was glad when they said to me, “Let us go to the house of the Lord.” (Psalm 122:1)

This is what Christian faith is all about: that is, our final, and forever passage into the house of the Lord.  We long to hear the words, “Come beloved of the Lord, and enter into the joy of your Lord as expressed in the words of the twenty fifth chapter of Matthew, where servants worked to improve on the talents left to them by their master, save the one who only had one talent and buried it. Also in chapter twenty five of Matthew, the invitation extends to those who were placed on the right-hand side of the Lord because they cared for the hungry, the naked, the infirmed and those in prison.

As I have said before, I have been blessed to be present in hospital rooms when a parishioner or other patient was dying.  At some point, the person, who was unconscious, will open their eyes and stare at a space in the room where no one was sanding.  In most cases, an expression of joy or wonder is reflected on the dying person’s face.  It is at this point that I believe the gates of heaven opened in that hospital room, even though I could not see it, nor could anyone else in the room see it.  And at that point, the invitation is extended to the dying person to come into the house of the Lord.  Perhaps these are the very words that the dying says to him or her self, “I was glad when they said to me, “Let us go to the house of the Lord.”

I know that I would be glad to enter into the house of the Lord.  Many people, when asked how they are doing, will answer, “Well, I’m above ground and I’m still here.”  The implication is, that they are doing well and consider this earthly life as the best there is.  But I ponder what the afterlife is like.  Maybe being here in this life is not something to celebrate so much, but rather, it is the Christian work that we should be doing and celebrating. It is using the talents – gifts, that God has given us to the best of our abilities for the building up of the church, and showing the love that God wants to be in every heart, that we should be doing and celebrating. This is the time to feed the hungry, clothe the naked, visit the infirmed, and imprisoned; thus preparing ourselves for that invitation into the house of the Lord.

Please keep up your thoughts and prayers and hopes for Ukraine and Iran.

As we listen to what the Spirit is saying to us, let us live to love, and to serve, and to teach others to live, love and serve, while pondering anew what the Almighty can do. John

Daily Office Readings for Monday of Proper 29: Year 2

Morning, Psalm 106:1to18; Evening, Psalm 106:19to48:
Zechariah 10:1to12; Galatians 6:1to10; Luke 18:15to30:

“My friends, if anyone is detected in a transgression, you who have received the Spirit should restore such a one in a spirit of gentleness,” (Galatians 6:1).

Each and every one of us are in need of forgiveness.  And God, in God’s all knowing wisdom, has given each of us the Spirit to restore a neighbor who, having been found in transgression, the power to restore a brother or sister, back into the fold.

I need it, and you, reading this message, also need it. None of us are beyond needing restoration.  God made us this way on purpose. This is why our Lord Jesus taught us to pray, “Forgive us our sins as we forgive those who sin against us.”

Sometimes those who sin against us do not ask for forgiveness.  This can be for one of two reasons. First, maybe they are in a bad place and were intentional about what they have done to you. Second, perhaps they didn’t realize that they have actually sinned against you.  I’ve experienced both.  In these situations I like to use the word “pardon.”  I can pardon a person without them even knowing it. When I pardon someone I can move on with my life and not sit and simmer about an insult or injury. 

While I am not opposed to informing someone that they have offended me, (in case they didn’t know it), I do not believe in asking someone for an apology.  I feel that once they are made aware that I felt hurt by something they have said or done (or not done), it’s up to their conscience as to what follows. Sadly, I have even seen whole countries insist on an apology from another country for some sad misdeed perpetrated on it.  I think, be it a country or a person, once the sin or any kind of violence has been made known, the apology should be forth coming and in all sincerity.

Once a transgression has been detected, you and I have been given the Spirit that will restore us all to a spirit of love and gentleness with one another.  All we have to do is use it and be thankful.

Please keep up your thoughts and prayers and hopes for Ukraine and Iran.

As we listen to what the Spirit is saying to us, let us live to love, to serve, and to teach others to live, love and serve, while pondering anew what the Almighty can do. John

Eucharistic Readings for Last Sunday of Pentecost Proper 29: Christ the King Sunday: Year C

Jeremiah 23:1-6;   Psalm 46;  Colossians 1:11-20;  Luke 23:33-43:

“There was also an inscription over him,“This is the King of the Jews.”  (Luke 23:38)

Wait, what? How did this come to be?  It started roughly a thousand years before the birth of Our Lord Jesus. This was during the time Israel wanted a king for themselves even though God had told them not to be like the other nations.

Here is how it started: “Then all the elders of Israel gathered together and came to Samuel at Ramah, and said to him [Samuel], “You are old and your sons do not follow in your ways; appoint for us, then, a king to govern us, like other nations.” But the thing displeased Samuel when they said, “Give us a king to govern us.” Samuel prayed to the Lord, and the Lord said to Samuel, “Listen to the voice of the people in all that they say to you; for they have not rejected you, but they have rejected me from being king over them.  Just as they have done to me,from the day I brought them up out of Egypt to this day, forsaking me and serving other gods, so also they are doing to you. Now then, listen to their voice; only—you shall solemnly warn them, and show them the ways of the king who shall reign over them.” (1 Samuel 8:4 – 9)

From this we arrive at the end of the kings of Israel in John’s Gospel:

“Now it was the day of Preparation for the Passover; and it was about noon. He, Pontius Pilate, said to the Jews, “Here is your King!”  They cried out, “Away with him! Away with him! Crucify him!” Pilate asked them, “Shall I crucify your King?” The chief priests answered, “We have no king but the emperor.”  (John 19: 14 – 15) How sad this statement must have been for God to hear.

Our Lord Jesus was crucified between two criminals. “One of the criminals who were hanged there kept deriding him and saying, “Are you not the Messiah? Save yourself and us!” (Luke 23:39)  I am aware that this writing in Luke guides us into seeing this first crucified criminal as a harasser of our Lord Jesus.  But we don’t know this until we hear the second criminal rebuke him.  In defense of the first speaker, I remind us that he is the first to say, “save yourself, and us.”  It is the “and us” part that stands out for me. None of the other mockersbothered to ask Our Lord Jesus to save them as well, not the Israelites and especially not the soldiers.  Jesus is the One who forgives even those who harm him, not knowing what they are doing.  Sometimes we fit in that category.  So Jesus tells not only that man on the cross but us too, that, “Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in Paradise.” (Luke 23: 43)

Let us not be too quick to limit our understanding of scripture only by the way we are guided by the author. If we have the words, then let us ponder beyond the page.

As we listen to what the Spirit is saying to us, let us live to love, to serve, and to teach others to live to love and serve, all while pondering anew what the Almighty can do. John

Daily Office Readings for Saturday of Proper 28: Year 2

Morning, Psalms 107:33-43, and 108:1-6; Evening, Psalm 33;
Malachi 3:13to4:6; James 5:13to20; Luke 18:9to14

 “But the tax-collector, standing far off, would not even look up to heaven, but was beating his breast and saying, “God, be merciful to me, a sinner!” (Luke 18:13)

I had to mail something to Raleigh the other day that was very important to me. So I went to a local post office to make sure if was correct.  Raleigh, being the capital of North Carolina, I wanted to make sure my U.S. mail was properly sent by a method of tracking.

So I approached the postal clerks with all humility.  And when I heard the next customer called to the next available clerk, I went, when called, with all humility.  I actually said, “I need mercy and patience to help me properly mail this package.” The clerk smiled and told me what I needed to do, and even after I misprinted the “to-from” spaces, she just smiled again and helped me straighten it out.  I could not have moved on in any sense of accomplishment had it not been for the wonderful and compassionate postal worker.

I know that many people approach sales reps and clerks with arrogance and a sense of superiority. They like saying who they are and what they have accomplished, sort of like the Pharisee in our Luke reading for today; but not me.  I knew that if I was going to get anywhere close to what I wanted, it was going to be at the mercy of the postal clerk whom I stood in front of.

So too it is with eternal salvation.  We must ask God to be merciful to us, a sinner. And pray God saves us so that we may get to our eternal homes justified. Justification, in my postal experience, was made manifest in going back to my home with routing numbers and a tracking code on the web.

Arrogance and self promotion has no place in God’s Kingdom.  We must follow the tax collector’s lead in doing the will of God.

Please keep up your thoughts and prayers and hopes for Ukraine, they need us.

As we listen to what the Spirit is saying to us, let us live to love, and to serve, and to teach others to live, love and serve, while pondering anew what the Almighty can do. John

Daily Office Readings for Friday of Proper 28: Year 2

Morning, Psalm 102; Evening, Psalm 107:1to32.
Malachi 3:1to12; James 5:7to12; Luke 18:1to8:

“Above all, my beloved, do not swear, either by heaven or by earth or by any other oath, but let your ‘Yes’ be yes and your ‘No’ be no, so that you may not fall under condemnation.” (James 5: 12)

This advice sounds good but rarely do I see it practiced. This is especially true when I witness someone on television being asked a simple “yes or no” question.  I find that after they are done responding, I still can’t figure out whether their response was yes, or no.

James is repeating the same advice given in Matthew where Matthew says, “All you need to say is simply ‘Yes’ or ‘No’; anything beyond this comes from the evil one” (Matthew 5:37). I think the real challenge is deciding where we are inside ourselves.  And we should remember that whether we are a “yes” or a “no,” we are only yes, or no, temporarily. We may change the next minute or the next year.  And even this yes to no; or no to yes, shift, doesn’t mean that we are wishy-washy, but rather, as we are more informed, our perspective changes.

I have great admiration for people who can “up front” respond with a yes or a no, and then explain the why’s. Sometimes they explain only when asked.  Sometime they immediately fill in the why’s so as to explain their position.  But at least they are clear about where they stand at the moment. I think we first have to deal with where we are about any subject deep within ourselves.  And, it’s okay to be unsure. And it’s okay to say, I don’t know. 

To practice the yes or no quick response we might want to start with ourselves.  We can start out by simply asking ourselves easy questions like, “shall I get out of bed now? or, “do I want cereal for breakfast?” Then we can graduate to the more difficult questions like “do I support capital punishment; and how about abortion?”  We might change over time. And that’s alright.  But let us take a stand about where we are right now as for as yes, or no, is concerned, and do it without fear of feeling weak, only open to change if our inside perspective changes.

“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

Please keep up your thoughts and prayers and hopes for Ukraine, they still need us.

As we listen to what the Spirit is saying to us, let us live to love, and to serve, and to teach others to live, love and serve, while pondering anew what the Almighty can do. John

Daily Office Readings for Thursday of Proper 28: Year 2

Morning, Psalm 105:1to22; Evening, Psalm 105:23 to 45.
Malachi 2:1to16; James 4:13to5:6; Luke 17:20to37:

Come now, you who say, ‘Today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a town and spend a year there, doing business and making money.’ Yet you do not even know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. Instead you ought to say, ‘If the Lord wishes, we will live and do this or that.’ As it is, you boast in your arrogance; all such boasting is evil.” (James 4:13 to 16)

None of us know what tomorrow will bring.  The best we can do is to live the best life we can for this day. By the best life I mean, to the benefit of our community, not to the enhancement of one’s self.  We should never say to ourselves that “I will go and do this or that,” without praying that such an act will be done only if it is the Lord’s will.  Remember the prayer, “Your kingdom come, your will be done.”

Writing this blog has changed my life and the prospect of being a traveler.  I now don’t ever want to be in a place that doesn’t have a good Wi-Fi connection.  I need to be able to get my next day’s blog out, if it is the Lord’s will to do so. So I am content to stay here in Raeford, North Carolina, studying the Word, learning more and more about the World Wide Church that I love, writing the Good News to all who will read it.

How about you?  What is it that the Lord has blessed you to do?  I have read somewhere that where your passion, and your community’s needs meet, is where God wants you to be, and what God wants you to do.  Your passion, if it is a noble vocation, is your ministry.  Pursue it.  We are truly only here for a little while.  But while we are here, we have the Lord’s work to do.

Please keep up your thoughts and prayers and hopes for Ukraine, they need us.

As we listen to what the Spirit is saying to us, let us live to love, and to serve, and to teach others to live, love and serve, while pondering anew what the Almighty can do. John

Daily Office Readings for Wednesday of Proper 28: Year 2

Morning, Psalms 101 and 109; Evening, Psalm 119:121to144;
Malachi 1:1,6 to14; James 3:13 to 4:12; Luke 17:11to19

“For where there is envy and selfish ambition, there will also be disorder and wickedness of every kind.  But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, willing to yield, full of mercy and good fruits, without a trace of partiality or hypocrisy.” (James 3: 16 and 17)

Envy, or in its most sinister form, jealousy, always brings about bad relations among people.  If we are different in any outward way, it is only magnified in a negative way by envy or jealousy.  It will occur among people of the same ethnicity as well.  But when there are differences of any kind, the differences take on, as James says, disorder and wickedness of every kind.

But James assures us that in the end, or as we like to say today, “at the end of the day,” It will all be better if we prayerfully regain our moral composure. But this only happens if we learn from wisdom.  He teaches us that wisdom is pure, then peaceable, gentle, willing to yield, full of mercy and good fruits, without a trace of partiality or hypocrisy. 

Although James confronts Paul in the, faith versus works arena, he sounds like Paul’s 1^st Corinthians letter when he defines wisdom as Paul defines love: that is, pure, peaceable, gentle, willing to yield and so forth.  Paul says of love that “love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.  Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away,” (1^st Corinthians 13: 4 to 8).  There seems to be a difference between knowledge and wisdom. There seems to be a difference between knowing something and good judgment.

Maybe there is a strong correlation between love and wisdom.  Perhaps the path to wisdom is love, or the other way, the path to love is wisdom.  What do you think?

Please keep up your thoughts and prayers and hopes for Ukraine, they need us.

As we listen to what the Spirit is saying to us, let us live to love, and to serve, and to teach others to live to serve, all while pondering anew what the Almighty can do. John

Daily Office Readings for Tuesday of Proper 28: Year 2

Morning, Psalms 97 and 99; Evening, Psalm 94;
Habakkuk 3:1to18; James 3:1to12; Luke 17:1to10

“Not many of you should become teachers, my brothers and sisters, for you know that we who teach will be judged with greater strictness. For all of us make many mistakes. Anyone who makes no mistakes in speaking is perfect, able to keep the whole body in check with a bridle. If we put bits into the mouths of horses to make them obey us, we guide their whole bodies” (James 3:1 to 3).

James’ words suggest that we, at some level, ought to practice what we are taught. Teachers then are probably the most important service providers in any community..  Over the years I have taught many classes and counseled many people with various concerns.  I pray that my words to them are what I also practice, but more than that, it helps them to live better, more faithful lives. 

James is not original in using the metaphor of a bridle as an example of holding the attention of those we are trying to teach. This example appears in the Psalms. “Do not be like a horse or a mule, without understanding, whose temper must be curbed with bit and bridle ,else it will not stay near you; (Psalm 32: 9).

Our very first teachers are our parents. But even school teachers depend on parents to have taught the children the local language and behaviors.  On the very first day in school the child must understand simple instruction such as “sit here,” or “come here,” or “what is your name?”  From there the teacher takes hold of the bit and bridle, the reins, if you will, and guides us into more productive citizenry. 

Another very important person in teaching, and in particular the behavior of a community, is the pastor.  The pastor teacher is a special gift given to some in each community by God as a guide to righteous living.  “And He gave some as apostles, and some as prophets, and some as evangelists, and some as pastors and teachers” (Ephesians 4:11).  The pastor teacher gift is a combined vocation implanted in some of us for the purpose of comforting and guiding the people of God in righteous living.  And as James says, such people will be judged with greater strictness.

All parents are pastor teachers.  Parents are called by God to comfort and guide their children in ways that promote harmony in the family, in their church, in their community, and in the world. Perhaps even bit and bridle is better than leaving them idle.

Please keep up your thoughts and prayers and hopes for Ukraine.

As we listen to what the Spirit is saying to us, let us live to love, and to serve, and to teach others to also live to love and to serve, all while pondering anew what the Almighty can do. John

New Testament Eucharistic Readings for Sunday of Proper 28: Year C

2^nd Thessalonians 3:6 to 13 and  Luke 21:5 to19:

“They asked him, “Teacher, when will this be, and what will be the sign that this is about to take place?”  (Luke 21:7)

This is an apocalyptic (or revelation) sharing about things to come that Jesus is telling them. It is also seen in Mark chapter 13 and Matthew chapter 24. The End Times (Eschaton) is coming.  The time is in Kairos, God’s time, not Chronos, our calendar time.

Sometimes it is not so much about what Jesus says, but what we ask in the first place, that really says what’s important to us. In the case of the End of all things (Eschotology), the question is, when, not if.  There is some sense that if it is not soon, weeks, months or even a few years, we have time to make things right, being the procrastinators that we are. But I think we miss the point.

The real point is not waiting to start, but to start now.  I can remember when I was asked to do something that required physical movement; I would jokingly say that I have already started moving in ways that couldn’t be observed by the human eye.  I would say that my feet have already started shifting in my shoes in preparation for standing.  I was trying to assure the person that I was starting to do the task even though I could not be seen moving; funny me.

The truth is that any step to improve our spiritual lives, no matter how small, is a step toward being prepared for the End Times of which, we have no idea of when.  All we have to do is believe it is coming and then act accordingly. When the End Time comes, acceptance is not so much a matter of what you “have done,” or “did not do,” but rather, where your heart is at that time. 

We must start now, right now, even with tiny, almost indiscernible steps, that inch us ever closer to being saved. And no matter how impossible it seems we must never give up; because while it is impossible for us, nothing is impossible for God. We just have to keep on keeping on.  Jesus says that, “It is by our endurance that we will gain our souls.”

We should never ask Jesus “when.”  We just need to start right now making ourselves better every day.  We do a little bit at a time.  It’s not setting a goal.  It’s just adding more and more righteousness as we go.  When the eschaton (the end of all things as we know it) comes, a new Promised Land comes as well. This is where (and when) not a hair of our heads will be lost. This takes perseverance. And it takes prayer.  So as the profit Malachi says, “But for you who revere my name the sun of righteousness shall rise, with healing in its wings,” (Malachi 4:2). I can’t help it.  Let me play with these words. “But for you who revere my name the “Son” of Righteousness shall rise, with healing in His hands.”  Forgive me Malachi, it’s the Christian in me.  

As we listen to what the Spirit is saying to us, let us live to love and to serve, and to teach others to live and to serve also, while pondering anew what the Almighty can do. John