onewhoponders

Daily Office Readings for Wednesday of Proper 10: Year 2

Morning, Psalm 38; Evening,  Psalm 119:25-48;

Joshua 3:1-13; Romans 11:25-36; Matthew 25:31-46:

“All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats, and he will put the sheep at his right hand and the goats at the left.” (Matthew 25: 32 – 33)

 This sheep – goat metaphor gives the goats a bad look.  It seems particularly unfair to me as it makes it seem as if the simple appearance of the animal, being a sheep or a goat, is all the justification necessary. It is perhaps easy for God to look upon the human heart and make this distinction however.  God in Christ Jesus can see clearly who we are, and much of who we are seems to be determined by how we act or respond to the needs of others.  Let those who have ears hear.

The bottom line here is that there is a judgment day.  There is a resurrection for the goats and the sheep among us where there will be accountability and apparently some kind of separation.  The good news is that unlike real goats and sheep, we have a choice.  We can live the lives of the sheep by stretching out our hearts in such a way that we feel the pain and neglect of those who are hungry, those who are sick, and those who are incarcerated.

I think the real difference between the sheep and the goats is the concern, (or lack of concern), we might have for our neighbor.  This is about compassion versus self serving. Some acts of self serving can even be seen as hostile to those who are in need, whom we choose to ignore.   Can we not all help one another at least to just be okay?  Our Lord Jesus wants us to be his sheep in this metaphor.  We can choose to be sheep in so far as it means being kind to others.  Not ba a a a ad, huh?

Please note that the sheep and goats were not separated based on what they professed with their lips, but rather, what they did with their time, hearts, hands and steps.  They were separated based on how they responded, or not responded, to the needs of others, without regard to their belief or non-belief, of themselves, or others. We don’t necessarily need to change what people believe, but we necessarily must love and care for those in need.

Let us also love and care for the people of Ukraine. They are in real need right now.

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

Daily Office Readings for Tuesday of Proper 10: Year 2

Morning, Psalms 26 and 28; Evening, Psalms 36 and 39;

Joshua 2:15 – 24; Romans 11:13 – 24; Matthew 25: 14 – 30

“Do not vaunt yourselves over the branches. If you do vaunt yourselves, remember that it is not you that support the root, but the root that supports you.  You will say, ‘Branches were broken off so that I might be grafted in.’ That is true. They were broken off because of their unbelief, but you stand only through faith. So do not become proud, but stand in awe.  For if God did not spare the natural branches, perhaps he will not spare you.  Note then the kindness and the severity of God: severity towards those who have fallen, but God’s kindness towards you, provided you continue in his kindness; otherwise you also will be cut off.”  (Romans 11: 18 – 22)

I can remember telling a priest who is a dear friend of mine, that I identify myself by the Church to which I belong.  I told him long ago that I don’t care about being black, or male, or straight, or American.  I am Anglican!  It has been a long process but one that redefined me for who I truly am in Christ Jesus.

Paul’s metaphor of the root, the trunk or a tree and its branches, natural and grafted, really clarify for me my own “grafted” status.  I was not really brought up in any particular religious faith tradition. I did attend a Catholic school which formed a deep spirituality in me.  Little did I know in the mid 1950’s that the Episcopal Church would pick up where the grade school of St Vincent DePaul left off some twenty years later and graft me into its Anglicanism.  Paul is so correct when he says; “it is not you that support the root, but the root that supports you.”

The Spiritual tree of God has many grafted-in branches and many that have always been connected. All are good paths to, and nurtured by, God. God is the root of all faith.

Beyond worship traditions and into global humanity, let us keep Ukraine in our prayers. All of us are nurtured from the same root, which also includes the Russian people.

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

Daily Office Readings for Monday of Proper 10: Year 2

Morning, Psalm 25; Evening, Psalms  9 and 15;

Joshua 2:1-14; Rom. 11:1-12;  Matt. 25:1-13

“But the woman took the two men and hid them. Then she said, ‘True, the men came to me, but I did not know where they came from.  And when it was time to close the gate at dark, the men went out. Where the men went I do not know. Pursue them quickly, for you can overtake them.’  She had, however, brought them up to the roof and hidden them with the stalks of flax that she had laid out on the roof.”  (Joshua 2: 4 – 6)

Is it ever ok to lie?  As I study our ancient writings, I have to say, yes!  And it is not just in this case.  In chapter 27 of Genesis, Jacob, (who later became Israel), was blessed based on a lie!  Jacob, participating with his mother Rebecca, fooled Isaac with a lie into believing that Jacob was Esau, who was technically the first-born son. Therefore, the name of Israel came to be based on a lie that God was aware of. This was a lie that God sanctioned. 

It seems that God reads the human heart.  If the heart is good and loving, God will pardon a multitude of sins.  So I ponder about the six social laws of our ten commandments. The first four are about honoring God; have no other God, don’t use God’s Name in vain, make no image of God and remember the Sabbath.  The last six however have to do with how we relate with one another. Of these last six, along with lies, which, if not all, can be sanctioned by God when necessary?

Does the war in Ukraine warrant killing in self-defense?  I think it does and there are plenty of stories in scripture where God approved of wars.  It seems that God reads the human heart.  If the heart is good and loving, God will pardon a multitude of sins, if they are sins at all. 

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

New Testament Eucharistic Readings for Sunday of Proper 10: Year C

Colossians 1:1-14 and Luke 10:25-37

“Which of these three, do you think, was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of the robbers?” He said, “The one who showed him mercy.” Jesus said to him, “Go and do likewise.” (Luke 10: 36 and 37)

This is the parable of the Good Samaritan. It is a well known, but rarely followed, example of expected Christian behavior.

Jesus explains that not just regular Israelites passed the injured man by, but indeed a Levite (the tribe from whom priest come); but also a priest himself passes without even getting close to the injured man.  Then a Samaritan, those who the Jews disowned, puts forth both medical aid and financial support.

I have heard the argument that if the cleansed passersby touched the man who might have been found to be dead, they would have defiled themselves and not be able to enter the temple. I would argue that by not even checking the man they have already defiled themselves.

There is no inquiry about the Samaritan’s faith or belief.  What he believes is expressed in his behavior.  Rather than getting into theological debates with people about different beliefs, we, who call ourselves Christians, should just follow our Lord Jesus’ instruction to, “Go and do likewise.”

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

Daily Office Readings for Saturday of Proper 9:Year 2

Morning, Psalms 20 and 21:1-7; Evening, Psalm 110:1-5 and Psalms 116 and 117;

Deuteronomy,  34:1-12; Romans 10:14-21; Matthew 24:32-51:

 ^“But how are they to call on one in whom they have not believed?  And how are they to believe in one of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone to proclaim him? And how are they to proclaim him unless they are sent? As it is written, “How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!”  But not all have obeyed the good news; for Isaiah says, “Lord, who has believed our message?” So faith comes from what is heard, and what is heard comes through the word of Christ.”  (Romans 10:14 – 17)

Paul really narrows it down in his words to the Church in Rome as he moves through the logic of reason to drive home the point of “hearing the word.”  This Word is something we believers are supposed to articulate to the world in deed more than word, in order that more people might believe.  Paul repeats the word of the Prophet Isaiah as Isaiah the Prophet declares, “How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of the messenger who announces peace, who brings good news, who announces salvation, who says to Zion, “Your God reigns” (Isaiah 52:7).  We have a Cursillo song that goes, “Our God Reigns.”  And God really does reign, indeed.

Let us always keep the people of Ukraine in our prayers.

Today I believe we, who truly believe in God through Christ Jesus, have those beautiful feet that carry us out into the world, in order to preach, in both word and deed, the Good News, (the Gospel) of God in Christ Jesus. Thank You Lord Jesus. 

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

Daily Office Readings for Friday of proper 9: Year 2

Morning, Psalms 16 and 17; Evening, Psalm 22;

Deuteronomy 31:7-13 and 24 to 32:4; Romans 10:1 to13; Matthew 24:15-31:              

“Brothers and sisters,my heart’s desire and prayer to God for them is that they may be saved. I can testify that they have a zeal for God, but it is not enlightened.  For, being ignorant of the righteousness that comes from God, and seeking to establish their own, they have not submitted to God’s righteousness. For Christ is the end of the law so that there may be righteousness for everyone who believes.”  (Romans 10: 1 – 4)

Let me just cut to the chase right now.  This is about letting go and letting God.  Paul, in this Letter to the Church in Rome, speaks from firsthand experience.  He knows about zeal and being ignorant of the righteousness of God.  Remember, he was on the road to Damascus when he had his encounter with our Lord Jesus who redirected his zeal and informed his ignorance.

Today many of us still put God in our own small box where we personally decide what God wants.  We have falsely declared that God created some people inferior to others.  We have falsely declared that God does not like gay people.  We have falsely declared that God intends for men to rule over women.  The small box that some of us have put God in, favors the box holder and prevents the box holder from seeing the real God. Such folk “have not submitted to God’s righteousness.”

Jesus was, and is, all about doing what he sees the Father doing. As he says in the Gospel of John, “I can do nothing on my own. As I hear, I judge; and my judgment is just, because I seek to do not my own will but the will of him who sent me,” (John 5:30).  All of the real leaders of faith put themselves out of the way so that God could do the real work of healing and reconciling.  From Moses leading the Israelites, to John the Baptist baptizing and announcing the coming of the Messiah, they let go and let God.  It was their getting out of the way so that God could do the Holy Work that was needed that made them distinguished .

With what apostolic success is God trying to accomplish through you?  Can you, like Moses, and John the Baptist, and Paul, get out of the way and let your zeal to do what God wants, that is to be used for the righteousness of God?

May we never give up or lose sight of the suffering in Ukraine. Keep Ukraine in prayer.

“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 is saying to us, let us live to love, to serve, and to teach, while pondering anew what the Almighty can do. John

Daily Office Readings for Thursday of Proper 9: Year 2

Morning, Psalm 18:1-20; Evening, Psalm 18:21-50;

Deuteronomy 3: 18 -28; Romans 9:19-33; Matthew 24:1-14

“When he was sitting on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to him privately, saying, “Tell us, when will this be, and what will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age?”” (Matthew 24:3)

Our Lord Jesus gives his listeners cautions about all the people and situations that will try to lead them (and us) away from righteous and faithful living. Twice our Lord Jesus uses the words “led astray” and he warns about steadfast attention to right living and inclusive loving, and not being led astray.  And he ends with, “But the one who endures to the end will be saved.” (Matthew 24:13)

Enduring to the end and being saved means never giving up our personal faith habits.  We have many ways to keep our faith practices going. We have our Daily Office from our Book of Common Prayer, from which this meditational blog is based. We have the Forward Day by Day publication, and we have prayer beads and other personal prayer practices using the Bible and Christian writings to keep us steadfast in our commitment to prayer and adoration to God. Being saved means joining our Lord Jesus in eternal life.  We must never give up our personal prayer practices.

I will never give up praying for Ukraine while they are suffering at the hands of Russia.  I may move on to other concerns if they indeed reclaim their sovereignty.

Today’s message is not about waiting for “when” to begin.  Today’s message is about NOW!  It is about staying the course no matter what.  It is about everyday prayerful living.  Yes, we might slip occasionally, being led astray, but when it happens, there is no time to lose sulking.  We must get back to doing our personal worship habits. This means individual Christian study and prayer until the end of this age arrives. If this becomes our daily practice, “when” really makes no difference because when “when”  happens, we will be found praising God.

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

Daily Office Readings for Wednesday of Proper 9: Year 2

Morning, Psalm 119:1-24; Evening, Psalms 12, 13 and 14;

Deuteronomy 1:1-18; Romans 9:1-18; Matthew 23:27-39:

“Because the needy are oppressed, and the poor cry out in misery,”  I will rise up,” says the Lord, “and give them the help they long for.” (Psalm 12: 5)

It seems that most of our readings for today talk about the cruelty of human kind. Perhaps even the Psalms do as well.  But this verse of Psalm 12, verse 5 caused me to stand back and try to take a look at us from God’s point of view.  God sees the oppressed, the poor, and the disenfranchised.

How do you think God does the heavenly work of restoration?  My beloved of the Lord, God helps the oppressed and the poor who cry out in misery through us who believe in God.  God works through us, for us. I pray God works through us for the peace and benefit of Ukraine.

God works through people who sometimes don’t even realize that their own souls believe in God.  I have met them.  They have good hearts and are full of loving kindness.  These people give children from broken homes hope and love.  They are friends to those who are alienated from so called “normal” people.  Many agnostics are open to the movement of God and provide apostolic success for God in people by providing “them the help they longed for.”  While God will sometimes work through people with little or no faith, God prefers to work through those of us with acknowledged faith.

In part, because of some bad preaching and dogmatic church doctrine, many have been turned away from what God wants them to do – that is to make a positive and loving difference in the world.  God’s plan was revealed in the readings we have for today. Leaders picked for Moses tells the Israelites to brace themselves for what lies ahead in the reading from Deuteronomy; Paul reminds his listeners about their ancestry and that the blessings they have comes from the mercy of God.  And our Lord Jesus continually rebukes religious leaders in our Matthew reading with the words, “woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites.”  Spiritual leaders must truly believe and walk the example of faith no matter what.

Too few us are doing the loving will of God. Beyond all this, our own Church History is filled with wars and murders as it proclaimed a loving leader who even forgave the man who nailed him to the cross.  What happened?  Where is God today?  God is watching the poor and oppressed, and God is watching you and me.  Are we going to rise up with God and give the oppressed the help they long for?  I pray that we turn and really listen to the Holy Spirit and do the work of the Lord.

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

Daily Office Readings for Tuesday of Proper 9: Year 2

Morning, Psalms 5 and 6; Evening, Psalms 10 and 11;

Numbers 35:1-3,9-15 and 30-34; Romans 8:31-39; Matthew 23:13-26

“For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.”  (Romans 8: 38 and 39)

This is such a powerful statement from Paul.  And, while some of Paul’s rhetoric comes from his own somewhat vague personal understanding, there are moments like Corinthians 13: 1 – 13, and this one for today, that I believe come straight from God as made manifest in our Lord Jesus Christ.

Let’s break it down.  First of all, Paul is “convinced.”  This means that his mind has been set, it is a revelation from God.  This kind of revelation is from God and not only to Paul but to us today as well.  And for all of us, once we know, we can’t “un-know.” We too are convinced.

Second, the love that God has for us overcomes all obstacles outside of ourselves.  I say outside of ourselves because it will be our deliberate and stubborn refusal to listen and learn from our Lord Jesus that hinders us from following our life path, and eternal path, God has placed before each person.

I read once from a Russian priest that as we transition from this life to the next, as we all will, we begin our ascent to the divine.  As we approach the purity of heaven whatever is amiss in us begins to diminish us. Whatever hate, or jealousy, or any unloving way we have about us will hinder us from our approach to God.  God will not stop us. According to the priest, the toxic baggage we attempt to bring with us will reduce us and may completely eliminate us. So it is nothing outside of ourselves that will hinder us from the love of God.  But any continued sinfulness within us will.

So where is the proof of such teachings shown in the faith and practices of those Russians today who wreak havoc on innocent Ukrainians today? Do they not know that the hate they hold today will be a stumbling block on their path to eternal life?  This kind of evil is true for all of us.

It is therefore of the utmost importance then, that we work on ridding ourselves of all such maliciousness now, so that we will be unimpeded as we approach the throne.  Nothing outside of ourselves in all creation will impede our journey to God.  And nothing outside of us will separate us (whatever is left of us), from the love of God.

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

Eucharistic Readings for the 4th of July

Deuteronomy 10:17-21;  Psalm 145;  Hebrews 11:8-16;  Matthew 5:43-48

“But as it is, they desire a better country, that is, a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God; indeed, he has prepared a city for them.” (Hebrews 11: 16)

I decided to use our National Hymn verses for this Fourth of July blog.  What I take from our Hebrew reading is God’s will for this planet to have, as President Reagan once said, a “City shining on a hill.” In the years to come, Winthrop’s “city upon a hill” sermon would become “the shining city on a hill” of President Reagan: a celebration of individual freedom, material prosperity, and American power—above all, a call for Americans to renew their optimism and believe in themselves again.”  “Beginning in the 1970s, Ronald Reagan placed that line, from that sermon, at the center of his political career. Tracing the story of America from John Winthrop forward, Reagan built a powerful articulation of American exceptionalism—the idea, as he explained, “that there was some divine plan that placed this great continent between two oceans to be sought out by those who were possessed of an abiding love of freedom and a special kind of courage.” (https://www.neh.gov/article/how-america-became-city-upon-hill)

So let us sing: “O say can you see, by the dawn’s early light, what so proudly we hailed at the twilight’s last gleaming, whose broad stripes and bright stars, through the perilous fight, o’er the ramparts we watched, were so gallantly streaming?  And the rockets’ red glare, the bombs bursting in air, gave proof through the night that our flag was still there.  O say does that star spangled banner yet wave o’er the land of the free and the home of the brave?”

I never realized that 2 questions were asked in the first verse of our national anthem.  The answer to both however is “Yes.”   Did you know there is a second verse, and in my humble opinion, a more powerful verse?  It too asks a question, but it makes a declaration also.  Here it is;

“O thus be it ever, when free men shall stand between their loved homes and the war’s desolation! Blessed with victory and peace, may the heaven rescued land praise the Power that hath made and preserved us a nation?  Then conquer we must, when our cause it is just, and this be our motto, “In God is our trust.”  And the star spangled banner in triumph shall wave O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave.” (Francis Scott Key: Hymn 720 of the 1982 Hymnal)

I pray Ukraine holds fast to our example of determined freedom, and that we support them.

I am a black man as racist see me, but standing proudly, I say, “I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands, One Nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.”  

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