Today's Readings and Stuff -- Monday, 23 December 2013

prett' near Christmas Day, eh?
Yesterday;s high temp here neared 60 degrees, today's high is projected to be around 32.  Welcome to what is now officially Winter here in the midwest.  Much different that our friends down in the Deep South.  Flooding here as well, some serious.  And all the other "stuff" that seems to happen more, or perhaps to be more visible, during this time.  And not just here.  In New York City, a man throws his child off a 50 story building (or so) and then jumps as well.  Both die.  Here in Ohio, a woman with dementia wanders off and is found, dead, in a pond several miles away.  Or the one also nearby in which a man bludgeons his sister to death.  Or the one who shot his own sister to death.  Or the one who stabs someone to death outside a bar.  Or the two teens in Selma, Alabama, near where we had been living, now looking at capital murder charges. Or, .... but you get the point.  The Big Four sins: Pride, Greed, Lust, and Envy, and often "assisted" by heavy doses of alcohol.  The above list is highly abbreviated, and does not at all include the deaths and injuries that are occurring, and will continue to occur, as people go out to practice their drunk driving in order to "have a good time" which is somehow related to the birth of Jesus.  I can't make the connection there, and have ceased to try.

Dear Wife is next door, "watching" the beloved grand-niece.
Meanwhile, I have something going.  My sister and her husband, and my middle brother are planning a brief visit here in the early afternoon.  I have not really had opportunity to sit down with them for more than 20 years.  I am not counting the high stress episodes in the last few years where we met to bury our mother and dad.  Not the best of times, as those who've been through that can attest.
So we will spend a couple hours sucking coffee and tea or whatever and trying to reconnect.  We are not the same people that we were when Wife and I moved out of the area nearly 22 years ago.  Sister and her husband got married about a year before we left the area, were living a great distance off in eastern Pennsylvania and then moved later to central Virginia.  Both a long way from wherever we were living.  Middle brother got married shortly after we did.  He supported his wife and her kids from a previous marriage, right up to when the last one graduated.  She then filed for divorce and took him to the cleaners.  The case was, by all accounts, truly ugly: it appears that she had been engaged in extramarital affairs through the time of the marriage but got a good judge and a good lawyer and made out nicely.  He's living in a rented 2nd floor apartment near his work - she kept the house.  So there has been a lot going on.  Youngest brother is not coming -- his current wife has declared us to be persona non grata, a suitable status for those of us whose life does not revolve around heavy drinking.  Not quite the life our parents had planned for us half a century ago.  Stuff happens.  So it should be an interesting meetup.  I need it and I think the others do as well.

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The Old Testament reading for today is the very short book of Habakkuk.  Much "why, Oh Lord?"

Habakkuk 1

1	The burden which Habakkuk the prophet did see.
2	O LORD, how long shall I cry, and thou wilt not hear! even cry out unto thee of violence, and thou wilt not save!
3	Why dost thou shew me iniquity, and cause me to behold grievance? for spoiling and violence are before me: and there are that raise up strife and contention.
4	Therefore the law is slacked, and judgment doth never go forth: for the wicked doth compass about the righteous; therefore wrong judgment proceedeth.
5	Behold ye among the heathen, and regard, and wonder marvelously: for I will work a work in your days which ye will not believe, though it be told you.
6	For, lo, I raise up the Chaldeans, that bitter and hasty nation, which shall march through the breadth of the land, to possess the dwellingplaces that are not their's.
7	They are terrible and dreadful: their judgment and their dignity shall proceed of themselves.
8	Their horses also are swifter than the leopards, and are more fierce than the evening wolves: and their horsemen shall spread themselves, and their horsemen shall come from far; they shall fly as the eagle that hasteth to eat.
9	They shall come all for violence: their faces shall sup up as the east wind, and they shall gather the captivity as the sand.
10	And they shall scoff at the kings, and the princes shall be a scorn unto them: they shall deride every strong hold; for they shall heap dust, and take it.
11	Then shall his mind change, and he shall pass over, and offend, imputing this his power unto his god.
12	Art thou not from everlasting, O LORD my God, mine Holy One? we shall not die. O LORD, thou hast ordained them for judgment; and, O mighty God, thou hast established them for correction.
13	Thou art of purer eyes than to behold evil, and canst not look on iniquity: wherefore lookest thou upon them that deal treacherously, and holdest thy tongue when the wicked devoureth the man that is more righteous than he?
14	And makest men as the fishes of the sea, as the creeping things, that have no ruler over them?
15	They take up all of them with the angle, they catch them in their net, and gather them in their drag: therefore they rejoice and are glad.
16	Therefore they sacrifice unto their net, and burn incense unto their drag; because by them their portion is fat, and their meat plenteous.
17	Shall they therefore empty their net, and not spare continually to slay the nations?

Habakkuk 2

1	I will stand upon my watch, and set me upon the tower, and will watch to see what he will say unto me, and what I shall answer when I am reproved.
2	And the LORD answered me, and said, Write the vision, and make it plain upon tables, that he may run that readeth it.
3	For the vision is yet for an appointed time, but at the end it shall speak, and not lie: though it tarry, wait for it; because it will surely come, it will not tarry.
4	Behold, his soul which is lifted up is not upright in him: but the just shall live by his faith.
5	Yea also, because he transgresseth by wine, he is a proud man, neither keepeth at home, who enlargeth his desire as hell, and is as death, and cannot be satisfied, but gathereth unto him all nations, and heapeth unto him all people:
6	Shall not all these take up a parable against him, and a taunting proverb against him, and say, Woe to him that increaseth that which is not his! how long? and to him that ladeth himself with thick clay!
7	Shall they not rise up suddenly that shall bite thee, and awake that shall vex thee, and thou shalt be for booties unto them?
8	Because thou hast spoiled many nations, all the remnant of the people shall spoil thee; because of men's blood, and for the violence of the land, of the city, and of all that dwell therein.
9	Woe to him that coveteth an evil covetousness to his house, that he may set his nest on high, that he may be delivered from the power of evil!
10	Thou hast consulted shame to thy house by cutting off many people, and hast sinned against thy soul.
11	For the stone shall cry out of the wall, and the beam out of the timber shall answer it.
12	Woe to him that buildeth a town with blood, and stablisheth a city by iniquity!
13	Behold, is it not of the LORD of hosts that the people shall labour in the very fire, and the people shall weary themselves for very vanity?
14	For the earth shall be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the LORD, as the waters cover the sea.
15	Woe unto him that giveth his neighbour drink, that puttest thy bottle to him, and makest him drunken also, that thou mayest look on their nakedness!
16	Thou art filled with shame for glory: drink thou also, and let thy foreskin be uncovered: the cup of the LORD's right hand shall be turned unto thee, and shameful spewing shall be on thy glory.
17	For the violence of Lebanon shall cover thee, and the spoil of beasts, which made them afraid, because of men's blood, and for the violence of the land, of the city, and of all that dwell therein.
18	What profiteth the graven image that the maker thereof hath graven it; the molten image, and a teacher of lies, that the maker of his work trusteth therein, to make dumb idols?
19	Woe unto him that saith to the wood, Awake; to the dumb stone, Arise, it shall teach! Behold, it is laid over with gold and silver, and there is no breath at all in the midst of it.
20	But the LORD is in his holy temple: let all the earth keep silence before him.

Habakkuk 3

1	A prayer of Habakkuk the prophet upon Shigionoth.
2	O LORD, I have heard thy speech, and was afraid: O LORD, revive thy work in the midst of the years, in the midst of the years make known; in wrath remember mercy.
3	God came from Teman, and the Holy One from mount Paran. Selah. His glory covered the heavens, and the earth was full of his praise.
4	And his brightness was as the light; he had horns coming out of his hand: and there was the hiding of his power.
5	Before him went the pestilence, and burning coals went forth at his feet.
6	He stood, and measured the earth: he beheld, and drove asunder the nations; and the everlasting mountains were scattered, the perpetual hills did bow: his ways are everlasting.
7	I saw the tents of Cushan in affliction: and the curtains of the land of Midian did tremble.
8	Was the LORD displeased against the rivers? was thine anger against the rivers? was thy wrath against the sea, that thou didst ride upon thine horses and thy chariots of salvation?
9	Thy bow was made quite naked, according to the oaths of the tribes, even thy word. Selah. Thou didst cleave the earth with rivers.
10	The mountains saw thee, and they trembled: the overflowing of the water passed by: the deep uttered his voice, and lifted up his hands on high.
11	The sun and moon stood still in their habitation: at the light of thine arrows they went, and at the shining of thy glittering spear.
12	Thou didst march through the land in indignation, thou didst thresh the heathen in anger.
13	Thou wentest forth for the salvation of thy people, even for salvation with thine anointed; thou woundedst the head out of the house of the wicked, by discovering the foundation unto the neck. Selah.
14	Thou didst strike through with his staves the head of his villages: they came out as a whirlwind to scatter me: their rejoicing was as to devour the poor secretly.
15	Thou didst walk through the sea with thine horses, through the heap of great waters.
16	When I heard, my belly trembled; my lips quivered at the voice: rottenness entered into my bones, and I trembled in myself, that I might rest in the day of trouble: when he cometh up unto the people, he will invade them with his troops.
17	Although the fig tree shall not blossom, neither shall fruit be in the vines; the labour of the olive shall fail, and the fields shall yield no meat; the flock shall be cut off from the fold, and there shall be no herd in the stalls:
18	Yet I will rejoice in the LORD, I will joy in the God of my salvation.
19	The LORD God is my strength, and he will make my feet like hinds' feet, and he will make me to walk upon mine high places. To the chief singer on my stringed instruments.

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The New Testament reading is chapter 14 of the Revelaition

Revelation 14

1	And I looked, and, lo, a Lamb stood on the mount Sion, and with him an hundred forty and four thousand, having his Father's name written in their foreheads.
2	And I heard a voice from heaven, as the voice of many waters, and as the voice of a great thunder: and I heard the voice of harpers harping with their harps:
3	And they sung as it were a new song before the throne, and before the four beasts, and the elders: and no man could learn that song but the hundred and forty and four thousand, which were redeemed from the earth.
4	These are they which were not defiled with women; for they are virgins. These are they which follow the Lamb whithersoever he goeth. These were redeemed from among men, being the firstfruits unto God and to the Lamb.
5	And in their mouth was found no guile: for they are without fault before the throne of God.
6	And I saw another angel fly in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting gospel to preach unto them that dwell on the earth, and to every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people,
7	Saying with a loud voice, Fear God, and give glory to him; for the hour of his judgment is come: and worship him that made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and the fountains of waters.
8	And there followed another angel, saying, Babylon is fallen, is fallen, that great city, because she made all nations drink of the wine of the wrath of her fornication.
9	And the third angel followed them, saying with a loud voice, If any man worship the beast and his image, and receive his mark in his forehead, or in his hand,
10	The same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out without mixture into the cup of his indignation; and he shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels, and in the presence of the Lamb:
11	And the smoke of their torment ascendeth up for ever and ever: and they have no rest day nor night, who worship the beast and his image, and whosoever receiveth the mark of his name.
12	Here is the patience of the saints: here are they that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus.
13	And I heard a voice from heaven saying unto me, Write, Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord from henceforth: Yea, saith the Spirit, that they may rest from their labours; and their works do follow them.
14	And I looked, and behold a white cloud, and upon the cloud one sat like unto the Son of man, having on his head a golden crown, and in his hand a sharp sickle.
15	And another angel came out of the temple, crying with a loud voice to him that sat on the cloud, Thrust in thy sickle, and reap: for the time is come for thee to reap; for the harvest of the earth is ripe.
16	And he that sat on the cloud thrust in his sickle on the earth; and the earth was reaped.
17	And another angel came out of the temple which is in heaven, he also having a sharp sickle.
18	And another angel came out from the altar, which had power over fire; and cried with a loud cry to him that had the sharp sickle, saying, Thrust in thy sharp sickle, and gather the clusters of the vine of the earth; for her grapes are fully ripe.
19	And the angel thrust in his sickle into the earth, and gathered the vine of the earth, and cast it into the great winepress of the wrath of God.
20	And the winepress was trodden without the city, and blood came out of the winepress, even unto the horse bridles, by the space of a thousand and six hundred furlongs.