onewhoponders

Daily Office Reading for Monday of the 3^rd Week of Lent: Year 1

 Morning, Psalm 80; Evening, Psalm 77:
Jeremiah 7:1 to15; Romans 4:1 to 12; John 7:14 to 36:

“Restore us, O God of hosts; show the light of your countenance, and we shall be saved.” (Psalm 80)

This verse shows up three times in Psalm 80. It asks for restoration and the light of God’s countenance.

It appears in different English verbiage depending on which Bible translation you read.  But the message is the same; we Christians need restoration, but this can only be accomplished if we receive the light of God’s countenance. Such a light is revealed to us only as God wishes to do so. We can’t figure it out, or achieve it. But we can show God that we believe, by the way we live out our lives.  I have observed that God has blessed those who discipline themselves with the light of God’s countenance as God did with Moses at the burning bush (Exodus 3). God also walked with Abraham before that and revealed many signs to him.

“He [Abraham] received the sign of circumcision as a seal of the righteousness that he had by faith while he was still uncircumcised. The purpose was to make him the ancestor of all who believe without being circumcised and who thus have righteousness reckoned to them, and likewise the ancestor of the circumcised who are not only circumcised but who also follow the example of the faith that our ancestor Abraham had before he was circumcised.” (Romans 4: 11 and 12).  This is Paul reflecting on the importance of following in faith, and how important it is.  So for me, circumcision was never necessary, and therefore, God’s inclusiveness was always open to women. This is the long way around the elbow in order to reach my point, and that is, God finds us if we prepare a place to receive God and live our lives open to accept the hints and nudges from God, and to see the burning bush in our own lives. God even went to Saul/Paul, not because Paul figured everything out; in fact, Paul was wrong about what he thought God wanted.  He thought he was doing what God wanted until God, in the Risen Lord, stepped into his life and changed him, and Christianity everywhere, forever.

The message is clear. The light of God’s countenance will restore us if we walk in the light of God’s countenance in prayer and love. I would also recommend studying the lives of the saints of God. We have such wonderful examples in our Church history. Such study is not “figuring it out,” but rather, creating a space, a steppingstone for God to enter your life and change you forever.

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

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

Eucharistic Readings for the 3^rd Sunday of Lent: Year A

Exodus 17:1-7;  Psalm 95;  Romans 5:1-11;  John 4:5-42:

“They said to the woman, “It is no longer because of what you said that we believe, for we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this is truly the Savior of the world.” (John 4:42)

This story in the Gospel of John about Jesus meeting the Samaritan woman at the well is a curious one.  It appears that they were the only two there. How did we get the dialogue that took place between them?  Did Jesus take the time to share the step-by-step exchange between them to his returning disciples?  I guess he did.

She comes to the well in the heat of the day, noon. She hates her life and responds to Jesus’ ability to never be thirsty again with the words, “Sir, give me this water, so that I may never be thirsty or have to keep coming here to draw water.” This tells us about her life as one abandoned by her community, one who probably has a history of being with many men, perhaps a husband thief. She is shunned by her neighbors. So, she makes her necessary trek to the well when she thinks no one is at the well. She can’t face them. This is where she meets God Incarnate.

Our Lord Jesus asks her for water.  The Creator of  water, asks this, also created woman, for what is already his. I am pondering that this was not a chance meeting. I am pondering that our Lord Jesus intentionally arranged this meeting, not just for her, but through her for the benefit of the community in which she lived. After her encounter she goes and faces down her community and proclaims  “Come and see a man who told me everything I have ever done! He cannot be the Messiah, can he?” Yes my dear, He Is!

Jesus tells her, “God is spirit, and those who worship God must worship in spirit and truth.”  After her encounter with our Lord Jesus, she goes and changes the lives of her village. They come and see just as Peter and John did when Mary Magdalene told of the Risen Lord. And to this they told her; They said to the woman, “It is no longer because of what you said that we believe, for we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this is truly the Savior of the world.” How sad, if it had not been for her, they would never have met their Creator.

I am always amazed at the number of unnamed persons in the Bible who made a significant difference in the lives of the people of their community, and in our shared Biblical history.  The unnamed woman at the well is like many of us today.  Folks may not know our names, but we are still being sent out to tell the life-changing, and lifesaving story of our Lord Jesus, and how he has told us everything we have ever done. We don’t have her name, but she is Moses to the Israelites; she is Jonah to Nineveh; she is you to your community. Proclaim to those who shun you that your Lord Jesus has visited you, and made you well, at the well.

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

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

Daily Office Readings for Saturday of the 2^nd Week of Lent: Year 1

Morning Psalms 75 and 76; Evening Psalms 23 and 27;
Jeremiah 5:20 to 31; Romans 3:19 to 31; John 7:1 to13:

“For we hold that a person is justified by faith apart from works prescribed by the law.  Or is God the God of Jews only? Is he not the God of Gentiles also? Yes, of Gentiles also, since God is one; and he will justify the circumcised on the ground of faith and the uncircumcised through that same faith. Do we then overthrow the law by this faith? By no means! On the contrary, we uphold the law.” (Romans 3:28 to 31)

So Paul says we are justified by faith apart from works prescribes by the law. I think one of those laws is to remember the Sabbath and keep it Holy. Paul does not annul the law, only says that works are apart from, separate from, but in addition to the faith requirement, and still viable. Sometimes I think Paul needs balance..

He also asks if God is concerned for people outside the “Law People?”  The answer is, “Yes.” God is very concerned for all people. Nobody is wasted. He, Paul, also points out that this faith we have is the same faith of both Jew and Gentile. There is no “them,” or “us.” We are both and, not or. God loves us all.

For us who are Christian, our Lord Jesus has summed up the Law into “Love God with all that we are,” and this is shown by both private prayers and public worship, the latter not to be confused with keeping the Sabbath; and, to love one another. This is the Law handed down to us from our Lord Jesus. So none of us should think that we can just do away with the law to love God and to love one another, and all the faith works that the Lord’s Law requires.

The saints since the time of Jesus have all had the quality of prayer, charity and journaling.  It is this last quality that informs us today about what it means to be a follower of our Lord Jesus. From Perpetua to Mother Teresa, we should all read the words of the saints of God. I think they give St Paul balance and gives us direction.

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

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

Daily Office Readings for Friday of the 2^nd Week of Lent: Year 1

Morning, Psalms 95 and 69; Evening, Psalm 73;
Jeremiah 5:1 to 9; Romans 2:25 to 3:18; John 5:30 to 47

“Rather, a person is a Jew who is one inwardly, and real circumcision is a matter of the heart—it is spiritual and not literal. Such a person receives praise not from others but from God.” (Romans 2:29)

I’m going to run the risk of offending some of you today.  I truly hope that I do not. Some Christians do not like Jews. Such attitudes make me sad. They claim to love the Jew named Jesus, who kept all the Jewish traditions, but at the same time, the same Christians refuse to give his tradition an honest look.

I see Judaism as a faith not a race. I don’t believe in race. Sorry, it’s just me. The Jewish people were the displaced Israelites who escaped bondage under the Pharaoh of Egypt.  They were probably mixed with Egyptian blood as well, after all, Joseph, son of Jacob (Israel), married the daughter of an Egyptian and had two sons, Ephraim and Manasseh.  They became Tribes of Israel even though they were half Egyptian.  My whole point is that we are what we practice, not who we claim as biological ancestors, but rather, who we claim as our spiritual ancestors.  Abraham himself came from the place that is now known as Iraq.  So what is being a Jew inwardly as Paul tells us?

Being a Jew at heart for me really means practicing the faith and worship of one God, the Creator of all that is, and lover of life, all life.  Further, I see Christianity as a path within Judaism, not a totally different way of honoring God. I am a U.S. Marine (retired) but I don’t get upset when people reference my connection of Marines with the U.S. Navy. Marines come under the Department of the Navy.  We Christians try to follow Jesus the Jew, in all that he commands us.

There is one caution about the word Jew I feel I must remind us. When we read “the Jews” in the Gospel, especially, the Gospel according to John, let us be advised that that the evangelist is really talking about the Temple authorities, not the regular Jewish people. Too many Christians have taken the wrong use of this word to sanction anti-Semitism.

Mad at me yet?  I hope not. If we aspire to be a people of love we can’t harbor any hatred or malice towards those who differ from us. We must strive to love all people. Thank You Jesus.

“Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all their multitude. And on the seventh day God finished the work that he had done, and he rested on the seventh day from all the work that he had done” (Genesis 2:1 and 2). So, for this evening and tomorrow day my friends, Shabbat Shalom. 

What is Shabbat? Intro to the Jewish Sabbath – YouTube

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

Daily Office Readings for Thursday of the 2^nd Week of Lent: Year 1

Morning, Psalm  71; Evening, Psalm 74;
Jeremiah 4:9 to 10 and 19 to 28; Romans 2:12 to 24; John 5:19 to 29:

“When Gentiles, who do not possess the law, do instinctively what the law requires, these, though not having the law, are a law to themselves.  They show that what the law requires is written on their hearts, to which their own conscience also bears witness; and their conflicting thoughts will accuse or perhaps excuse them on the day when, according to my gospel, God, through Jesus Christ, will judge the secret thoughts of all.” (Romans 2:14 to 16)

This just goes to show that all humanity, Jew or Gentile (the Non-Jew Nations), all have a sense of what is right and what is wrong. And according to earlier writings in Jeremiah which says, “But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the LORD: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.  No longer shall they teach one another, or say to each other, “Know the LORD,” for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, says the LORD; for I will forgive their iniquity, and remember their sin no more.” (Jeremiah 31:31to 34)

God, in Christ Jesus, has written this on the human heart, whether we know it or not. I think we do know it however.  We don’t need a list of written laws for right and wrong to obey, or enforce. We already have an innate sense of the right thing to do or say. It has been given to us by God. It is called our conscience. We all have it or we perhaps suffer from some kind of anti-social psychosis which may have been known as demonic possession in the day of Jesus.

We truly should let our conscience be our guide. I think too that we all have secret thoughts. These secret thoughts will be judged by our Lord Jesus at our judgment day.  Personally, I think we will be judged on whether or not we carried out our dark thoughts, or subdued them as demons trying to possess us. It is possible to subdue our passions but it might take being a part of a society greater than one’s self: a church family or a benevolent fraternity or sorority bent on doing good; perhaps a combination of both church and fraternity or sorority or other benevolent associations.

But as our reading from Romans points out, all of us have some God-given sense of what is good and right so to do.  Let us remember the caution from St Paul, “Conflicting thoughts will accuse or perhaps excuse [us] on the day when, according to my gospel, God, through Jesus Christ, will judge the secret thoughts of all.”

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

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

Daily Office Readings for Wednesday of the 2^nd Week of Lent: Year 1

Morning Psalm 72; Evening, Psalm 119:73 to 96;
Jeremiah 3:6 to 18; Romans 1:28 to 2:11; John 5:1 to18:

“Or do you despise the riches of his kindness and forbearance and patience? Do you not realize that God’s kindness is meant to lead you to repentance?” (Romans 2:4)

At one point in my life I was training to be a machine shop operator.  After our school training was completed, places of employment were found for us. I was hired at a printing machine company. My supervisor’s name was Clyde Hampton, (I don’t know if he is still with us), and he was very patient and kind with me at a time when I had low moral values.  I had a poor work ethic even though my dad had raised me to work for what I needed.  I was in my late teens, rebellious and thought I could outsmart Mr. Hampton. It was later in life that I realized how patient and kind Mr. Hampton was with me. He never threatened me with firing me even after I had been repeatedly late for work. His kindness and patience I remembered later in life and was truly sorry for not being a better worker for him. Lent is a time of spiritual maturation.

I think if my machine shop supervisor tried to use intimidation on me it would have resulted in an adversarial employee relationship, one which would not have favored me and I would have been fired. As it turned out, albeit much later, I repented of my callous ways and begin to take work responsibilities more seriously. I matured both morally and spiritually.

God brings us in with kindness and patience. Wrath may be in store for some, but we have choices. Let us not behave only to avoid wrath, rather, let us be brought to our knees in tearful sorrow and the need to amend our lives. Sadly, we can learn a lot about ourselves through experiences we can’t go back and change. However, we can learn from them and make a real change in the way we go about our lives moving forward. I have learned this from my dad, from Clyde Hampton and from the stories of our saints in Christ Jesus.

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

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 the Second Week of Lent: Year 1

Morning, Psalm 61 and 62; Evening, Psalm 68;
Jeremiah 2:1 to 13; Romans 1:16 to 25; John 4:43 to 54:

“The father realized that this was the hour when Jesus had said to him, ‘Your son will live.’ So he himself believed, along with his whole household. Now this was the second sign that Jesus did after coming from Judea to Galilee.” (John 4: 53 and 54)

Jesus has just complained about the people not believing unless they saw signs and wonders. In fact, he had just said this to this royal official and father of a dying child. I find it strange that the word faith is not mentioned in the Gospel of John in any English translation, at least not one that I have seen. My thought is that faith was too mild a word as a noun. The tellers of the Gospel of John wanted an action word, a verb. Faith is something you have, or don’t have. Believing is something you do, or do not do. What you believe is made manifest in your action or inaction; or is should be.  

I know that for me, I try hard to live into what I believe, which is based on my faith and I also have hope, a lot of hope.  Today we do not get to talk to a human Jesus. We do however, get to talk to a Risen Jesus. It’s the same Jesus. The signs and wonders still happen today.

The father in today’s reading verified his so-called belief by inquiring about the time the healing happened. When he got proof, he felt more comfortable in his belief. Perhaps this is not the way it should be. Maybe we first believe and then let science catch up. This is what Arch Bishop of Canterbury Anselm (1109) said: “I first believe in order that I might later understand.”  Faith, belief, trust and love must be first. Understanding comes later, in this life, or the next.

Sometimes however, science disputes what the ancient writings and what our predecessors have said, to wit: the earth is not flat, nor is it the center of a universe that revolves over it. But then I remember, the father in this story didn’t base his belief on the ancient writings but rather on the very word of our Lord Jesus. I pray too that I first believe and then let science substantiate my faith, hope, trust, love and belief. Thank You Lord Jesus.

Where are you in this story?  Do you believe first no matter what?

Today we remember Perpetua, Felicity and their Companions Martyrs at Carthage, 202.

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

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 the Second Week of Lent: Year 1

Morning, Psalms 56 and 57; Evening, Psalms 64 and 65;
Jeremiah 1:11 to 19; Romans 1:1 to 15; John 4:27 to 42

“The reaper is already receiving wages and is gathering fruit for eternal life, so that sower and reaper may rejoice together. For here the saying holds true, “One sows and another reaps.” I sent you to reap that for which you did not labor. Others have labored, and you have entered into their labor.”  (John 4:36 to 38)

I must have read this passage containing the story about the woman at the well at least a hundred times, and yet, I am getting a whole new message now. 

I study the saints of God. Many of them are my spiritual heroes. They were the sowers of my faith. They labored in the spiritual fields. I read their works and benefited from their labors. I am so thankful.

Jesus talks about eating the instructions of God as his food.  He lives to obey God. It seems Jesus and the saints eat to live; I, on the other hand, too often, live only to eat my next meal. I can, and will, do better.

I like thinking that I have entered into the labor of those holy people I have read about, and there are many. They planted, I harvested. I entered with them in their labor, in the work God has assigned “us” and this pleases me. I look through “A Great Cloud of Witnesses: A Calendar of Commemorations; by Church Publishing;” everyday.  It is a starting point that I use to go deeper with other sources.

Whose spiritual shoulders have you stood on?  Do you alter your life on the words of Evelyn Underhill, or Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. or Bede, or Richard Hooker, or Anselm as do I? If so, you have joined with them in their labor. You are one with them in Christ Jesus. What an honored place to be. Listen to their testimony, their words, their life. Hear what these saints are telling you. They have planted, they have sown, you are now reaping. But if you listen to them and amend your life with their help you are with them as one in Christ Jesus. What a wonderful place to be.

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

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

Eucharistic Readings for the Second Sunday of Lent: Year A

Genesis 12:1-4a;  Psalm 121;  Romans 4:1-5, 13-17; and John 3:1-17:

“He came to Jesus by night and said to him, “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher who has come from God; for no one can do these signs that you do apart from the presence of God.” (John 3:2)

Why then do we need to go any further?  If we can see clearly that someone is doing things that only a person whom God is working through can do, why ask any further questions regarding proofs?  And if God is the source of the “what” that is being done, we already know the answer to why.  It is because God loves us.

Nicodemus comes to our Lord Jesus “by night.”  This darkness of night may also allude to his ignorance. He comes to Jesus in his not-knowing and his not believing even though, self-admittedly he says “we know that you are a teacher who has come from God.”  Nicodemus and his cohorts do regard Jesus, knowing, as he says, “for no one can do these signs that you do apart from the presence of God.”  Some theologians will say it is not about doing.  But even Nicodemus recognizes the signs that Jesus is “doing.”  But the doing is from God. Yes God made us human being, not human doing. I have said that many times.  Our doing however must come from God acting through us, using our hands and feet and minds and words to the glory of God.

God is God of heaven and earth. Nicodemus (and we today) ought to know this.  Jesus tells of things earthly and heavenly.  And he says, “If I have told you about earthly things and you do not believe, how can you believe if I tell you about heavenly things?” (John 3:12)  Our Lord Jesus’ mission is to save the world.  Perhaps the most famous statement in the New Testament is  John 3:16; “For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life.” Our Lord Jesus makes us aware of an invitation from God to live joyfully in eternity, to have life and have it abundantly.   We do this by believing.  But believing in this sense means living out our lives in truth and love. 

I really liked the words of the Reverend Helen Van Koevering, rector of Saint Raphael the Archangel Episcopal church in Lexington, Kentucky as she writes in Forward Day by Day for (March 8, 2020), “When we follow Jesus we learn to respond to life with generosity, reconciliation, acceptance, compassion, and encouragement.  GRACE.”  Thank you Helen. Being our Lord Jesus’ hands and feet and mouth and mind is more than just saying what we believe; we must demonstrate what we believe through acts of caring, hospitality, and doing for others, putting others before ourselves.  In living this way we accept the invitation from God to join the company of heaven in eternal life as promised by God.  For those who believe and live it out in godly ways may not perish but have eternal life.

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

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

Daily Office Readings for Saturday of the First Week of Lent: Year 1

Morning, Psalm 55; Evening, Psalms 138 and 139:1-17;  
Deuteronomy 11:18 to 28; Hebrews 5:1 to 10; John 4:1 to 26 

“God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.”  (John 4:24)

For me, this verse is the most profound in all Scripture, and that is, that God is Spirit, not male or female. God is not only beyond any human identifier, God is beyond anything we can begin to understand. Anselm, (Archbishop of Canterbury 1109), rightly proclaimed, “God is that than which nothing greater can be thought.” Anselm is so correct. I think we are so proud of God’s creation of us, that we began to think God was looking in a mirror in creating us. I don’t think so.

I believe the Spirit of God was patient enough to see how the God-Spirit host would evolve and then, in the fullness of time, God would come among us regardless of what we look like, or how many variations we are. It’s weird I know. And while none of us can capture the concept of God, as Anselm informs us, that also means none of us can be refuted. First and foremost, “God is Spirit, and those who worship [God] must worship in spirit and truth,” to the very best of our ability.

I read many different daily readings from the Saints of God. One such is “Readings fro the Daily Office from the Early Church” by J Robert Wright (1991)  For yesterday, Friday, He featured “A reading from a commentary on the Song of Songs by Gregory: Bishop of Nyssa [c. 394]. The opening of  this article reads:

“No one who has given thought to the way we talk about God can adequately grasp the terms pertaining to God.  “Mother,” for example, is mentioned [in the Song of Songs 3:11] instead of “father.” Both terms mean the same, because there is neither male nor female in God.  How, after all, could anything transitory like this be attributed to the Deity, when this is not permanent even for us human beings, since when we all become one in Christ we are divested of the signs of this difference along with the whole of our old humanity?”  (p. 132)

You have no idea how good it feels when a person of strong faith and intellect, from so long ago, shares my exact beliefs about our Creator. I will never cease from pondering.

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

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