Today's Readings and Stuff - Wednesday, 08 January 2014

Starting to get into the realization that we're in a new year.  Cold here  - last night we were to around -1 degree at sunset, actually warmed slightly during the night as the cold front moved out and slightly warmer temps come in.  Supposed to hit the low 20's today and the mid-30's tomorrow and Friday.  Be most welcome.  The piping going to our washing machine froze up (or the valve inside the washer) but am glad to report that the cold water line to the kitchen sink did thaw in late afternoon.  Makes it a LOT easier to wash dishes and the like.  Perhaps the washer line will thaw today and we can do some clothes.  We've been living in sweatsuits for the last week, something we generally could not do in Lower Alabama, but after a while they develop an aroma that we don't want/

Dear Wife spent most of yesterday afternoon "watching" grand-niece (daughter of niece next door and her husband) AND grand-nephew (son of nephew and his wife).  Getting some of the family time we'd been missing for so long.

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Today's Old Testament reading is chapters 20, 21, 22 from the Genesis. 

Genesis 20

1	From there Abraham journeyed toward the territory of the Negeb and lived between Kadesh and Shur; and he sojourned in Gerar.
2	And Abraham said of Sarah his wife, “She is my sister.” And Abimelech king of Gerar sent and took Sarah.
3	But God came to Abimelech in a dream by night and said to him, “Behold, you are a dead man because of the woman whom you have taken, for she is a man’s wife.”
4	Now Abimelech had not approached her. So he said, “Lord, will you kill an innocent people?
5	“Did he not himself say to me, ‘She is my sister’? And she herself said, ‘He is my brother.’ In the integrity of my heart and the innocence of my hands I have done this.”
6	Then God said to him in the dream, “Yes, I know that you have done this in the integrity of your heart, and it was I who kept you from sinning against me. Therefore I did not let you touch her.
7	“Now then, return the man’s wife, for he is a prophet, so that he will pray for you, and you shall live. But if you do not return her, know that you shall surely die, you and all who are yours.”
8	So Abimelech rose early in the morning and called all his servants and told them all these things. And the men were very much afraid.
9	Then Abimelech called Abraham and said to him, “What have you done to us? And how have I sinned against you, that you have brought on me and my kingdom a great sin? You have done to me things that ought not to be done.”
10	And Abimelech said to Abraham, “What did you see, that you did this thing?”
11	Abraham said, “I did it because I thought, ‘There is no fear of God at all in this place, and they will kill me because of my wife.’
12	“Besides, she is indeed my sister, the daughter of my father though not the daughter of my mother, and she became my wife.
13	“And when God caused me to wander from my father’s house, I said to her, ‘This is the kindness you must do me: at every place to which we come, say of me, “He is my brother.”’”
14	Then Abimelech took sheep and oxen, and male servants and female servants, and gave them to Abraham, and returned Sarah his wife to him.
15	And Abimelech said, “Behold, my land is before you; dwell where it pleases you.”
16	To Sarah he said, “Behold, I have given your brother a thousand pieces of silver. It is a sign of your innocence in the eyes of all who are with you, and before everyone you are vindicated.”
17	Then Abraham prayed to God, and God healed Abimelech, and also healed his wife and female slaves so that they bore children.
18	For the Lord had closed all the wombs of the house of Abimelech because of Sarah, Abraham’s wife.

Genesis 21

1	The Lord visited Sarah as he had said, and the Lord did to Sarah as he had promised.
2	And Sarah conceived and bore Abraham a son in his old age at the time of which God had spoken to him.
3	Abraham called the name of his son who was born to him, whom Sarah bore him, Isaac.
4	And Abraham circumcised his son Isaac when he was eight days old, as God had commanded him.
5	Abraham was a hundred years old when his son Isaac was born to him.
6	And Sarah said, “God has made laughter for me; everyone who hears will laugh over me.”
7	And she said, “Who would have said to Abraham that Sarah would nurse children? Yet I have borne him a son in his old age.”
8	And the child grew and was weaned. And Abraham made a great feast on the day that Isaac was weaned.
9	But Sarah saw the son of Hagar the Egyptian, whom she had borne to Abraham, laughing.
10	So she said to Abraham, “Cast out this slave woman with her son, for the son of this slave woman shall not be heir with my son Isaac.”
11	And the thing was very displeasing to Abraham on account of his son.
12	But God said to Abraham, “Be not displeased because of the boy and because of your slave woman. Whatever Sarah says to you, do as she tells you, for through Isaac shall your offspring be named.
13	“And I will make a nation of the son of the slave woman also, because he is your offspring.”
14	So Abraham rose early in the morning and took bread and a skin of water and gave it to Hagar, putting it on her shoulder, along with the child, and sent her away. And she departed and wandered in the wilderness of Beersheba.
15	When the water in the skin was gone, she put the child under one of the bushes.
16	Then she went and sat down opposite him a good way off, about the distance of a bowshot, for she said, “Let me not look on the death of the child.” And as she sat opposite him, she lifted up her voice and wept.
17	And God heard the voice of the boy, and the angel of God called to Hagar from heaven and said to her, “What troubles you, Hagar? Fear not, for God has heard the voice of the boy where he is.
18	“Up! Lift up the boy, and hold him fast with your hand, for I will make him into a great nation.”
19	Then God opened her eyes, and she saw a well of water. And she went and filled the skin with water and gave the boy a drink.
20	And God was with the boy, and he grew up. He lived in the wilderness and became an expert with the bow.
21	He lived in the wilderness of Paran, and his mother took a wife for him from the land of Egypt.
22	At that time Abimelech and Phicol the commander of his army said to Abraham, “God is with you in all that you do.
23	“Now therefore swear to me here by God that you will not deal falsely with me or with my descendants or with my posterity, but as I have dealt kindly with you, so you will deal with me and with the land where you have sojourned.”
24	And Abraham said, “I will swear.”
25	When Abraham reproved Abimelech about a well of water that Abimelech’s servants had seized,
26	Abimelech said, “I do not know who has done this thing; you did not tell me, and I have not heard of it until today.”
27	So Abraham took sheep and oxen and gave them to Abimelech, and the two men made a covenant.
28	Abraham set seven ewe lambs of the flock apart.
29	And Abimelech said to Abraham, “What is the meaning of these seven ewe lambs that you have set apart?”
30	He said, “These seven ewe lambs you will take from my hand, that this may be a witness for me that I dug this well.”
31	Therefore that place was called Beersheba, because there both of them swore an oath.
32	So they made a covenant at Beersheba. Then Abimelech and Phicol the commander of his army rose up and returned to the land of the Philistines.
33	Abraham planted a tamarisk tree in Beersheba and called there on the name of the Lord, the Everlasting God.
34	And Abraham sojourned many days in the land of the Philistines.

Genesis 22 

1	After these things God tested Abraham and said to him, “Abraham!” And he said, “Here I am.”
2	He said, “Take your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I shall tell you.”
3	So Abraham rose early in the morning, saddled his donkey, and took two of his young men with him, and his son Isaac. And he cut the wood for the burnt offering and arose and went to the place of which God had told him.
4	On the third day Abraham lifted up his eyes and saw the place from afar.
5	Then Abraham said to his young men, “Stay here with the donkey; I and the boy will go over there and worship and come again to you.”
6	And Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering and laid it on Isaac his son. And he took in his hand the fire and the knife. So they went both of them together.
7	And Isaac said to his father Abraham, “My father!” And he said, “Here I am, my son.” He said, “Behold, the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb for a burnt offering?”
8	Abraham said, “God will provide for himself the lamb for a burnt offering, my son.” So they went both of them together.
9	When they came to the place of which God had told him, Abraham built the altar there and laid the wood in order and bound Isaac his son and laid him on the altar, on top of the wood.
10	Then Abraham reached out his hand and took the knife to slaughter his son.
11	But the angel of the Lord called to him from heaven and said, “Abraham, Abraham!” And he said, “Here I am.”
12	He said, “Do not lay your hand on the boy or do anything to him, for now I know that you fear God, seeing you have not withheld your son, your only son, from me.”
13	And Abraham lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold, behind him was a ram, caught in a thicket by his horns. And Abraham went and took the ram and offered it up as a burnt offering instead of his son.
14	So Abraham called the name of that place, “The Lord will provide”; as it is said to this day, “On the mount of the Lord it shall be provided.”
15	And the angel of the Lord called to Abraham a second time from heaven
16	and said, “By myself I have sworn, declares the Lord, because you have done this and have not withheld your son, your only son,
17	“I will surely bless you, and I will surely multiply your offspring as the stars of heaven and as the sand that is on the seashore. And your offspring shall possess the gate of his enemies,
18	“and in your offspring shall all the nations of the earth be blessed, because you have obeyed my voice.”
19	So Abraham returned to his young men, and they arose and went together to Beersheba. And Abraham lived at Beersheba.
20	Now after these things it was told to Abraham, “Behold, Milcah also has borne children to your brother Nahor:
21	“Uz his firstborn, Buz his brother, Kemuel the father of Aram,
22	“Chesed, Hazo, Pildash, Jidlaph, and Bethuel.”
23	(Bethuel fathered Rebekah.) These eight Milcah bore to Nahor, Abraham’s brother.
24	Moreover, his concubine, whose name was Reumah, bore Tebah, Gaham, Tahash, and Maacah.

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The New Testament reading is chapter 7 from the Gospel of Matthew.  Sermon on the Mount, part 4

Matthew 7

1	When he came down from the mountain, great crowds followed him.
2	And behold, a leper came to him and knelt before him, saying, “Lord, if you will, you can make me clean.”
3	And Jesus stretched out his hand and touched him, saying, “I will; be clean.” And immediately his leprosy was cleansed.
4	And Jesus said to him, “See that you say nothing to anyone, but go, show yourself to the priest and offer the gift that Moses commanded, for a proof to them.”
5	When he had entered Capernaum, a centurion came forward to him, appealing to him,
6	“Lord, my servant is lying paralyzed at home, suffering terribly.”
7	And he said to him, “I will come and heal him.”
8	But the centurion replied, “Lord, I am not worthy to have you come under my roof, but only say the word, and my servant will be healed.
9	“For I too am a man under authority, with soldiers under me. And I say to one, ‘Go,’ and he goes, and to another, ‘Come,’ and he comes, and to my servant, ‘Do this,’ and he does it.”
10	When Jesus heard this, he marveled and said to those who followed him, “Truly, I tell you, with no one in Israel have I found such faith.
11	“I tell you, many will come from east and west and recline at table with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven,
12	“while the sons of the kingdom will be thrown into the outer darkness. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”
13	And to the centurion Jesus said, “Go; let it be done for you as you have believed.” And the servant was healed at that very moment.
14	And when Jesus entered Peter’s house, he saw his mother-in-law lying sick with a fever.
15	He touched her hand, and the fever left her, and she rose and began to serve him.
16	That evening they brought to him many who were oppressed by demons, and he cast out the spirits with a word and healed all who were sick.
17	This was to fulfill what was spoken by the prophet Isaiah: “He took our illnesses and bore our diseases.”
18	Now when Jesus saw a crowd around him, he gave orders to go over to the other side.
19	And a scribe came up and said to him, “Teacher, I will follow you wherever you go.”
20	And Jesus said to him, “Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head.”
21	Another of the disciples said to him, “Lord, let me first go and bury my father.”
22	And Jesus said to him, “Follow me, and leave the dead to bury their own dead.”
23	And when he got into the boat, his disciples followed him.
24	And behold, there arose a great storm on the sea, so that the boat was being swamped by the waves; but he was asleep.
25	And they went and woke him, saying, “Save us, Lord; we are perishing.”
26	And he said to them, “Why are you afraid, O you of little faith?” Then he rose and rebuked the winds and the sea, and there was a great calm.
27	And the men marveled, saying, “What sort of man is this, that even winds and sea obey him?”
28	And when he came to the other side, to the country of the Gadarenes, two demon-possessed men met him, coming out of the tombs, so fierce that no one could pass that way.
29	And behold, they cried out, “What have you to do with us, O Son of God? Have you come here to torment us before the time?”
30	Now a herd of many pigs was feeding at some distance from them.
31	And the demons begged him, saying, “If you cast us out, send us away into the herd of pigs.”
32	And he said to them, “Go.” So they came out and went into the pigs, and behold, the whole herd rushed down the steep bank into the sea and drowned in the waters.
33	The herdsmen fled, and going into the city they told everything, especially what had happened to the demon-possessed men.
34	And behold, all the city came out to meet Jesus, and when they saw him, they begged him to leave their region.