onewhoponders

This is the First Day of Christmas

Eucharistic Readings for Christmas Day

Isaiah 9:2 to 7; Psalm 96; Titus 2:11 to 14; Luke 2:1-20:

“While they were there, the time came for her to deliver her child.  And she gave birth to her firstborn son and wrapped him in bands of cloth, and laid him in a manger, because there was no place for them in the inn.” (Luke 2:6 – 7)

No room at the inn, BALDERDASH!  I would like to think that you or I would have given up our room for a pregnant woman, any pregnant woman or at least shared it, if we only knew about her.  We are not unique in this regard.  There have always been compassionate people like us in the world.  But we have to know about the need of the pregnant woman.  No, I think this lack of compassion rests clearly on the managers of the inn.  They didn’t want to upset the paying guests, This lack of compassion is more accurately termed “inconsiderate.”

There would have been room in the inn for Herod; there would have been room for Caesar, today there would be room for the Governor, there would be room for the President.  But there was a lack of compassion for this pregnant girl on the part of management. 

Jesus is born in Bethlehem at the corner of Ignorance and Inconsiderate. In Dickens “A Christmas Carol” the ghost of Christmas Present shows two children whose names are “Ignorance” and “Want.”  The ghost additionally says; “beware of them both but more especially of Ignorance.”  I’m thinking ignorance can be fixed with some good teaching and preaching.  That is what Jesus came to do, to inform the ignorant among us. This has always benefited and changed me.

Do you think that when ignorance is informed, such a one will become more considerate?  There are some examples in the life of Jesus.  In chapter 3 of the Gospel according to John Jesus meets Nicodemus in darkness (another word for ignorance), and explains how one must be born again from above to be saved. Later, in chapter 19 of that same Gospel, after Jesus has died and was taken down from the cross, Nicodemus brings fragrances to anoint the body.  He changed from being inconsiderate to being very compassionate through being informed and taught, and was brought out of his darkness.

This baby Jesus born this day teaches us and brings us out of our darkness also. Jesus teaches us so that we too may be open to those who need our help, or a shared use of our room in the inn of light. In this way we are saved.  Our being saved has as much to do with the birth of Jesus as it does his Resurrection from the dead.  Merry Christmas

Please keep up your thoughts and prayers and hopes for Ukraine and Russia, Israel and Palestine, and our schools.

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

Today is Christmas Eve!  So I have decided (as is my custom) to break from the normal readings, even this Fourth Sunday of Advent, in order to again share my poem written in 2006.  Ponder and enjoy:

The First Night Before Christmas

It was me and my buddies out watching our sheep,

The night was quiet, not one of them bleeped.

It was so quiet in fact, we were about to sleep,

When we noticed someone out by the sheep.

Then all at once it became very clear,

No ordinary person was visiting us here.

We were all afraid, but he said “Fear Not.”

And then there were more, and their numbers wouldn’t stop.

He said go to Bethlehem and see the Baby,

He is the Word of God, there is no maybe.

He said the baby’s in Bethlehem, lying in a manger,

He can save you all, from permanent danger.

Then they all left, praising God for this birth,

Just like they came, they were all gone from the earth.

Then I and my friends said, let’s go if we’re able,

To Bethlehem there, and straight to the stable.

And there we were on a cold winter’s night,

We saw Mary, Joseph and Baby, what a sight!

We told them everything right from the start,

But Mary just smiled, kept our words in her heart.

So we left there then in the thick of the night,

Asking you to thank God with all of your might.

(Luke 2: 8 – 20; The Reverend John Thomas Frazier: 2006)

Please keep up your thoughts and prayers and hopes for Ukraine and Russia, Israel and Palestine, and our schools.

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

Daily Office Readings for Saturday of the 3^rd Week of Advent: Year 2

Morning, Psalm 55; Evening, Psalm 138 and 139:1 to 17;
Zechariah 8:9 to 17; Revelation 6:1 to 17; Matthew 25:31 to 46:

“Lord, you have searched me out and known me; you know my sitting down and my rising up; you discern my thoughts from afar.” (Psalm 139:1)

The writer of Psalm 139 assures us that God knows us, through and through. And while God can discern my thoughts from afar, I have trouble discerning my own thoughts, and they originate in me. God then knows me better than I know myself.

I just want to be a good and decent person. And I believe to be good, is to do good.  In the end, I believe God will judge me by the deeds that come from my faith rather than by my thoughts which range from good to not always good. At least that’s what I get from our Gospel for today – Matthew 25, 31 to 46, about the sheep and the goats.  I notice that the sheep-people are not separated by what they believe only but by their active compassion generated by their faith, their care for one another.

What then does God know about me, my sitting down and my rising up? What does God know about you, your sitting down and your rising up?  While I don’t like the negative goat metaphor, I understand that we should be more like the caring sheep than the careless goats. Our Lord Jesus set that example for us as he healed, taught, fed and served those who were not even of his own people. He is leading us. We should follow Him.  In Verna Dozier’s book, “The Dream of God,” she points out that we are called to follow Jesus more than worship Him.  Jesus always pointed to God, his Father, rather than himself. We too should follow the will of God who has searched us out and knows us. Let us ponder this, this Sabbath Day.

Please keep up your thoughts and prayers and hopes for Ukraine and Russia, Israel and Palestine, and our schools.

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

Daily Office Readings for Friday of the 3^rd Week of Advent: Year 2

Morning, Psalms 40 and 54; Evening,  Psalm 51;  

Zechariah 7:8 to 8:8; Psalm 121; Revelation 5:6 to 14; Matthew 25:14 to 30:

“For it is as if a man, going on a journey, summoned his slaves and entrusted his property to them;to one he gave five talents, to another two, to another one, to each according to his ability. Then he went away.” (Matthew 25: 14 – 15)

This is a very familiar parable.  It is about using whatever gifts we have to the best of our abilities.  In this parable, the one servant who gets only one talent, decides not to use it.  He buries it until the return of the master. Bad move.

I ponder about the relative effects of this parable.  The man who receives the one talent witnessed the others receiving more before he got his; one gets 5, the next gets two, and finally he, the third servant, gets only one. The only way this could have possibly been worse is if the order of giving the gifts was reversed; that is, the servant receiving one talent then the saw the other two getting two and five respectively. He probably would have had an emotional fall even worse.

What I want to bring to the forefront here is the responsibility we all have to do the best we can with what God has graced us with.  Whatever gift (or gifts) we have, it is what our family, or community, or the world needs.  God does not waste gifts.  Some of us have gifts of mathematics; some of us have gifts of voice as in singing; some of us have gifts of extraordinary compassion; some of us have gifts of agricultural cultivation and some of us are blessed with more than one; maybe four or two or just one like our servant above. 

I try not to focus on our feelings of a neglected state due to unexplored gifts. The saddest part for me is that we too often suffer from a false sense of the lack of what we should be enjoying.  God does not waste gifts. Has God gifted you with something we need or want in our lives right now?  Please make use of it, we need it.  Remember, what the world needs, and what you enjoy doing, is where God enters our world. We are all a work in progress and we are all still being created, even after a Sabbath rest.

“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, Russia, Israel, Palestine and our schools.

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

Daily Office Readings for Thursday of the 3^rd Week of Advent: Year 2

Morning, Psalm 50; Evening, Psalm 60;

Zechariah 4:1 to 14; Revelation 4:9 to 5:5; Matthew 25:1 to 13:

“The angel who talked with me came again, and wakened me, as one is wakened from sleep.”  (Zechariah 4:1)

Our readings from Zechariah and Revelation speak of angels and their ongoing relationship with us as they carry out God’s will.  Zechariah, like Jacob and Elijah and Joseph were awakened by angels as one is wakened from sleep.  It occurs to me that sleep may just be a metaphor for ignorance.

I believe God still allows angels to be made known in our lives to move us or shift us in the direction that God wants us to travel.  Sometimes such angels may be two or three people away. For example, an angel may influence a friend of yours to ask you something that in turn causes you to act or respond in a way that is pleasing to God.  In such a case we waste time, and God’s blessing, if we judge the message by who is bringing it.  We must be attentive to what the question or message is, not the messenger.  Or, maybe we should, could be an angel after all!

There are several places in the Bible where the one who is helpful is not named but makes all the difference in the outcome. I will share two, both from Second Kings where we read, “Now bands of raiders from Aram had gone out and had taken captive a young girl from Israel, and she served Naaman’s wife.  She said to her mistress, “If only my master would see the prophet who is in Samaria! He would cure him of his leprosy.”” (2 Kings 5: 2 – 3)  And again, “Naaman’s servants went to him and said, “My father, if the prophet had told you to do some great thing, would you not have done it? How much more, then, when he tells you, ‘Wash and be cleansed’!” (2 Kings 5: 13).  In both cases unnamed persons intervene to assist in curing Naaman of his leprosy.  Are they angels?  Only God knows.

In the reading from Revelation today we have an angel asking the question. “And I saw a mighty angel proclaiming with a loud voice, ‘Who is worthy to open the scroll and break its seals?” (Revelation 5:2)  Angels always seem to be connecting with us in our thin places, that is, as we are in prayer, or dreaming, or otherwise letting go of business.   The angel in the Revelation that John received speaks for the “One sitting on the throne.”  Angels are both messengers, and when necessary, correctors of the human experience as may be best for us and is pleasing to God. Angels don’t arrive, they appear. They are already here!  Do you know whether or not you have had an encounter with one? Don’t expect wings; thank you artists, but scripture doesn’t support wings.

Please keep up your thoughts and prayers and hopes for Ukraine and Russia, Israel and Palestine, and our schools.

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

Daily Office Readings for Wednesday of the 3^rd Week of Advent Year 2

Morning, Psalm 119:49 to 72; Evening, Psalm 49;

Zechariah 3:1 to 10; Revelation 4:1 to 8; Matthew 24:45 to 51:

“Who then is the faithful and wise slave, whom his master has put in charge of his household, to give the other slaves their allowance of food at the proper time?  Blessed is that slave whom his master will find at work when he arrives. Truly I tell you, he will put that one in charge of all his possessions.”  (Matthew 24: 45 – 47)

I think the first thing to do is to clarify the word slave, or in the Biblical Greek, “δοῦλος.”   In English it is pronounced “Dulas” and it means servant as well as slave. Personally, I prefer the term servant as we Americans know it today. 

So now let’s go back and listen to what is being asked. “Who is the faithful and wise servant?” Hmm, makes me ponder.  Can we find wisdom and servitude in the same person?  Sometimes we “wise” our way right out of serving anybody, including God.  Once, when I was young, and not very bright at all, I worked at a major hospital in Nashville, Tennessee.  I saw a coworker filling an ice chest.  I had just worked my way up to a less physical requirement at the hospital and I arrogantly lied to that young man saying, “I wouldn’t do that for anybody.”  To which he quickly responded, “Would you do it for yourself?”  As you can see, I never forgot that important lesson. I don’t like sharing these details about myself but it helps me to see how far I have come.  I still have a long way to go.

In our Matthew passage we are reminded that the reward for hard work is more hard work.  When the faithful servant does all that is expected, that servant is given even greater responsibility.  But I think the wisdom lies in the training of one’s self to enjoy holding things together.  We too can learn to enjoy making sure that people receive their allowance of food, or education, or transportation, or medication, or anything they need at the proper time.  The good news is that when we learn to enjoy filling the ice chest for whoever needs it, we will be blessed when our Lord Jesus arrives. “Blessed is that slave whom his master will find at work when he arrives.”

Please keep up your thoughts and prayers and hopes for Ukraine and Russia, Israel and Palestine, and our schools.

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

Daily Office Readings for Tuesday of the 3^rd Week in Advent Year 2

Morning, Psalm 45; Evening, Psalms 47 and 48;  Zechariah 2:1 to 13; Revelation 3:14 to 22; Matthew 24:32 to 44

“Listen! I am standing at the door, knocking; if you hear my voice and open the door, I will come in to you and eat with you, and you with me.  To the one who conquers I will give a place with me on my throne, just as I myself conquered and sat down with my Father on his throne.  Let anyone who has an ear listen to what the Spirit is saying to the churches.” (Revelation 3: 20 – 22)

This picture of Jesus knocking at a door is a known in the Christian world, that of our Lord Jesus knocking at our door.  There are many paintings of it. It is a reminder that it is our Lord Jesus who is seeking us well before we even thought about trying to find him.  Many people will say after they have turned their lives around for the better that they “found Jesus.”  It would be more correct to say that they finally began to follow Jesus after He found them.

No human salesperson knocks on your door, or calls you on the phone, or advertizes on your computer for your complete happiness as their number one priority.  They want your money.  They are in it for themselves. Most of them will say that the quality, or your safety, is their first priority. However, if they didn’t make a profit they wouldn’t have a business at all. So profit is really their first priority.  

Our Lord Jesus is truly looking for you for your benefit. He will never abandon you when life challenges you.  He may not make whatever is happening to you go away but he will stay with you through it.  And it may be that whatever hell you are going through will end this life, and if so, our Lord Jesus will accompany you and continue to lead you on the other side. We must never give up.

This is what it means to conquer.  And “To the one who conquers I will give a place with me on my throne, just as I myself conquered and sat down with my Father on his throne.  Let anyone who has an ear listen to what the Spirit is saying to the churches.”

Please keep up your thoughts and prayers and hopes for Ukraine and Russia, Israel and Palestine, and our schools.

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

Daily Office Readings for Monday of the 3^rd Week of Advent: Year 2

Morning, Psalms 41 and  52; Evening, Psalm 44;  Zechariah,  1:7 to 17; Revelation 3:7 to13; Matthew 24:15 to 31

“Because you have kept my word of patient endurance, I will keep you from the hour of trial that is coming on the whole world to test the inhabitants of the earth.  I am coming soon; hold fast to what you have, so that no one may seize your crown.  If you conquer, I will make you a pillar in the temple of my God; you will never go out of it. I will write on you the name of my God, and the name of the city of my God, the New Jerusalem that comes down from my God out of heaven, and my own new name.  Let anyone who has an ear listen to what the Spirit is saying to the churches.” (Revelation 3:10 – 13)

Let us remember that the Book of Revelation is a Revelation from the Risen Jesus Christ to his apostle John.  This Revelation speaks of a patient endurance that will keep us from the hour of trial and that we will have new names and live in a New Jerusalem. 

I am reminded that in Luke’s version of the Lord’s Prayer, we say, “And do not bring us to the time of trial.” (Luke 11:4)  I once got a traffic ticket for running a stop sign, (I earned it), but through many apologies, agreeing to attend a Department of Motor Vehicle (DMV) safety course, and a friend in the court system, I was excused.  My friend told me that my name is no longer on the docket.  Full disclosure, I went on the appointed day anyway only to see that in fact my name was never called.  It is nice to have someone who can excuse you from judgment. 

Our apologies are our repentance, our church groups  are our DMV safety courses and Jesus is our friend who removes our names from the docket and “keeps us from the hour of trial.”  However, we must keep the lesson of patient endurance in order for this to happen. Patient endurance is something we can achieve and become pillars in the temple of God. This is just another way of saying joyful waiting.  Believe me, there is joy in knowing you have been “excused” from judgment.

Jesus also reveals to John that we will have new names, holy names. This is not new, Jesus often gives us new names as God did with Abram to Abraham and Jesus did with Simon to Peter.  Some names stick however as did Mary’s and others.  I guess the other big thing I will be looking for is that we will have a better Jerusalem, a New Jerusalem. Our current Jerusalem is built on an arid mountain.  I often wonder how water was provided in the old days.  Maybe a New Jerusalem in a valley would be better, a land flowing with milk and honey.  I’m just pondering here, joyfully pondering.

Please keep up your thoughts and prayers and hopes for Ukraine and Russia, Israel and Palestine, and our schools.

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

Eucharistic Gospel Reading for the Third Sunday of Advent: Year B

John 1:6-8 and 19-28:

“There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. He came as a witness to testify to the light, so that all might believe through him. He himself was not the light, but he came to testify to the light.” (John 1: 6 to 8)

These verses kind of break through in the prolog of the Gospel according to John. This Gospel account was speaking about Jesus, the actual word of God when this introduction of John the Baptist just bursts in.  However, I find it to be another layer of the “In the Beginning,” voice. John dedicates himself to be the connection between the Hebrew and Christian Testament. The voice of Isaiah, which is indirectly the Voice of God, speaks through him. John the Baptist breaches the distinction between prophet and saint. He becomes both.

When they, the priests and Levites, asked John, “What do you say about yourself?” He said, “I am the voice of one crying out in the wilderness, ‘Make straight the way of the Lord,’” as the prophet Isaiah said,; (John 1:22 and 23).

In the beginning of our Bible we have the words, “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. And the earth was a formless and desolate emptiness, and darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the surface of the waters. Then God said, Let there be light”; and there was light;(Genesis 1:1 to 3.)  To me, this our prayer from God bringing about our creation. So, Isaiah, and John the Baptist echo our historic creation in order that these Holy words might take root in our souls.

As we come to realize that we didn’t have to be, we should become humbled creatures of creation giving thanks to God that we even exist.  And more than that, through our Lord Jesus we, all humanity, are presented an invitation to pass from mortality to immortality through the same Jesus Christ by making straight our lives in order that that same Holy Spirit of God that passed over the waters in the beginning, might also be our bridge to eternal life. Most bridges (not all) are straight structures that connect two bodies of land. Even those that are curved do the same. The word for us today is to clear the path for God to act in our lives. We clear this path by prayer and repentance.

Today, this Third Sunday of Advent, is marked as a day of joyful thanksgiving for the opportunity accept the invitation from God to receive our Lord Jesus into our lives that we might repent and rebuild our lives as a welcome place to the coming of our Lord.  Thank You Lord Jesus.

Please keep up your thoughts and prayers and hopes for Ukraine and Russia, Israel and Palestine, and our schools.

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

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

Morning, Psalm 31; Evening, Psalm 35;

 Haggai 1:1-15; Revelation 2:18-29; Matthew 23:27-39:

“Then Haggai, the messenger of the Lord, spoke to the people with the Lord’s message, saying, I am with you, says the Lord.  And the Lord stirred up the spirit of Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and the spirit of Joshua son of Jehozadak, the high priest, and the spirit of all the remnant of the people; and they came and worked on the house of the Lord of hosts, their God.” (Haggai 1:13 and 14)

Today it still takes the Spirit of God to work in people in order that they might honor their houses of worship.  All places of human assembly require due vigilance in order that they are properly maintained.  The Church is the sure sign of how important God is in the lives of the community.

I have read stories where people in some neighborhoods will occasionally help out with various projects in and around a Church even when they themselves do not attend it. Often it is because they recognize the need for the food pantries or social events that lift the self esteem of people and they want to be a part of it.   

This care for houses of worship is God’s doing.  And “unless the Lord builds the house, the builders’ labor in vain” (Psalm 127:1).  We are moved then by the hand of God to support the efforts of those who want to respect and honor God.  This power of God is not concerned with denomination or a particular faith.  It is concerned with people admitting that God exist and that God is good,  (All the time).

King Darius was not of the Hebrew people, he was Persian. But he went to great lengths to ensure the house of God was properly rebuilt.  So too, in all of our neighborhoods, any of us can, and should, support godly works as we recognize them to be such. None of us can claim God for ourselves only.  God only is God and loves ALL people.  As long as the faith tradition is not hostile or preaching hate but rather doing good works in the community, we should listen to what the Holy Spirit is saying to us in terms of what they might need. And then do it as we are able. 

“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, Russia, Israel, Palestine and our schools.

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