Today's Readings and Stuff -- Friday, 01 September 2017

😔
Well, we have "made it" to September.  The first day of Autumn is only a few weeks distant.  The "high" today is predicted to be all of 66°F.  Not my idea of warm & toasty.  Not when the temp at our previous homes is expected to range from 86° in western Arkansas to 82° in central Alabama and a low of 77° in East Tennessee, in the foothills of the Smoky Mountains, and that latter one to hit 85° by Monday.  We're still in Summer!!

And more thoughts along the lines of where my head has been lately.
We currently live near a city that has, in the last few decades, gone from a population of 166,689 in the 1960 census, down to 66,982 in the 2010 census and and estimated 64,312 in 2016.  Quite a collapse!  That is lower than the population in 1910!  And those remaining are increasingly old, poor, uneducated, and unemployed.  I have seen, from my errands and from use of Google Maps and the Google Earth extensions, streets with NO occupied structures and others with virtually none.  Neighborhoods that once thrived (more or less) that are now weed-covered and abandoned.  People without jobs, without hope, and without God.  Places with no groceries, no churches, no positive signs.  Though, all too often, with a nearby bar or "party shop" (need a definition?), and hangouts for the drug dealers and hookers.  And no employment or prospect of it, especially if you don't have a car or access to transport.  Like something from a dystopian movie or novel, except that these are real people.

My background as an engineering manufacturing project engineer and manager might make possible some effort at revivifying some of this.  That was my thought, originally.  But then, in the night, I had a dream.  Saw some of these devastated neighborhoods, with empty factories or shops, boarded-up buildings that had once been neighborhood markets and retail shops, boarded-up or burned out houses or empty weed-covered lots with just the driveway cutout to show that there had at one time been houses there.  Places where people lived, shopped, worked.  All gone now.  I can spot half a dozen within a 10 minute walk from where we live now.  Stark evidence of the collapse of the region.
So, I had at various times in my dreams (or, likely, fantasies), seen myself a potential hero, coming in and restarting some of these abandoned manufacturing operations (or something similar) that could provide a good product, an employment opportunity for that area, and perhaps make possible the recovery of some of these local retailers.  Perhaps even to open one.  And then I thought about the realities of that.  Like, suppose I opened a small grocery to prevent the "food desert" situation.  But no beer, no wine, no lottery tickets, no condoms, no cigarettes, no ..... you get the idea.  Would it succeed?  Doubtful.  And then I realized that things like this, grandiose big projects, are exactly what all the "urban planners" and self-anointed "elites" have been doing for decades.  Wasting billions if not trillions of dollar all around  the country, providing employment and comfort for themselves and their otherwise unemployable relatives, and generally making things worse by far.
Did you see what got left out of all of that?
I somewhat upset an old high school classmate in a meeting a few years ago, the first such in more than 40 years, when I said, "you can't have a good town without good people in it. "  I thought it to be true, and all of that.  Evidently, it's not a  popular position.  But if we don't first, or at least tied for first, address the moral and cultural issues, having better sidewalks and trendy after-school programs isn't going to accomplish anything lasting.

I am reminded of Matthew 6. 

30 Wherefore, if God so clothe the grass of the field, which to day is, and to morrow is cast into the oven, shall he not much more clothe you, O ye of little faith?

31 Therefore take no thought, saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed?

32 (For after all these things do the Gentiles seek:) for your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things.

33 But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.

34 Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof.

So, how do we, carrying out the Lord's marching orders, empowered and directed by Him, accomplish His plans in this?  Certainly not in our own worldly wisdom and our own strength.  The disasters of the last 40+ years should have taught this, if nothing else.  "Seek ye FIRST ...." has got to be first and foremost, and discovering His will is vital.


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Our Old Testament passage today, completing our annual trek through the Psalms, is Psalms 148, 149, and 150.  These are very definitely songs of praise and adoration of the Lord.  Not focusing on circumstances or anything else, but focused on Him.  Yes, He is worthy.  And it is true, focusing on Him changes us as well.  Puts things into perspective and brings us into closer communion with Him.  Isn't that what we want?  Isn't that what we need?

Psalm 148

1 Praise ye the LORD. Praise ye the LORD from the heavens: praise him in the heights. 2 Praise ye him, all his angels: praise ye him, all his hosts. 3 Praise ye him, sun and moon: praise him, all ye stars of light. 4 Praise him, ye heavens of heavens, and ye waters that be above the heavens. 5 Let them praise the name of the LORD: for he commanded, and they were created. 6 He hath also stablished them for ever and ever: he hath made a decree which shall not pass. 7 Praise the LORD from the earth, ye dragons, and all deeps: 8 Fire, and hail; snow, and vapours; stormy wind fulfilling his word: 9 Mountains, and all hills; fruitful trees, and all cedars: 10 Beasts, and all cattle; creeping things, and flying fowl: 11 Kings of the earth, and all people; princes, and all judges of the earth: 12 Both young men, and maidens; old men, and children: 13 Let them praise the name of the LORD: for his name alone is excellent; his glory is above the earth and heaven. 14 He also exalteth the horn of his people, the praise of all his saints; even of the children of Israel, a people near unto him. Praise ye the LORD.

Psalm 149

1 Praise ye the LORD. Sing unto the LORD a new song, and his praise in the congregation of saints. 2 Let Israel rejoice in him that made him: let the children of Zion be joyful in their King. 3 Let them praise his name in the dance: let them sing praises unto him with the timbrel and harp. 4 For the LORD taketh pleasure in his people: he will beautify the meek with salvation. 5 Let the saints be joyful in glory: let them sing aloud upon their beds. 6 Let the high praises of God be in their mouth, and a two-edged sword in their hand; 7 To execute vengeance upon the heathen, and punishments upon the people; 8 To bind their kings with chains, and their nobles with fetters of iron; 9 To execute upon them the judgment written: this honour have all his saints. Praise ye the LORD.

Psalm 150

1 Praise ye the LORD. Praise God in his sanctuary: praise him in the firmament of his power. 2 Praise him for his mighty acts: praise him according to his excellent greatness. 3 Praise him with the sound of the trumpet: praise him with the psaltery and harp. 4 Praise him with the timbrel and dance: praise him with stringed instruments and organs. 5 Praise him upon the loud cymbals: praise him upon the high sounding cymbals. 6 Let every thing that hath breath praise the LORD. Praise ye the LORD.

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Our reading in the New Testament is verses 16-34 in chapter 11 of 1st Corinthians.
By the way, Corinth at the time was a very wealthy and prosperous place.  A harbor with two arms, one of which was the trade with Rome and that region, one of which was the trade with Asia.  Prosperous and proud and pagan.  And, yes, famous for its immorality.  To call a woman "a Corinthian woman" was essentially to call her a prostitute.  So Paul was by no means addressing a comfortable group lolling around the equivalent of the Bible Belt.  Anything but, and there was definite opposition.  And there were the cultural habits of the  region, even within the church there.  Still happens, even here.

I Corinthians 11:16-34

16 But if any man seem to be contentious, we have no such custom, neither the churches of God. 17 Now in this that I declare unto you I praise you not, that ye come together not for the better, but for the worse. 18 For first of all, when ye come together in the church, I hear that there be divisions among you; and I partly believe it. 19 For there must be also heresies among you, that they which are approved may be made manifest among you. 20 When ye come together therefore into one place, this is not to eat the Lord's supper. 21 For in eating every one taketh before other his own supper: and one is hungry, and another is drunken. 22 What? have ye not houses to eat and to drink in? or despise ye the church of God, and shame them that have not? What shall I say to you? shall I praise you in this? I praise you not. 23 For I have received of the Lord that which also I delivered unto you, That the Lord Jesus the same night in which he was betrayed took bread: 24 And when he had given thanks, he brake it, and said, Take, eat: this is my body, which is broken for you: this do in remembrance of me. 25 After the same manner also he took the cup, when he had supped, saying, This cup is the new testament in my blood: this do ye, as oft as ye drink it, in remembrance of me. 26 For as often as ye eat this bread, and drink this cup, ye do shew the Lord's death till he come. 27 Wherefore whosoever shall eat this bread, and drink this cup of the Lord, unworthily, shall be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord. 28 But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of that bread, and drink of that cup. 29 For he that eateth and drinketh unworthily, eateth and drinketh damnation to himself, not discerning the Lord's body. 30 For this cause many are weak and sickly among you, and many sleep. 31 For if we would judge ourselves, we should not be judged. 32 But when we are judged, we are chastened of the Lord, that we should not be condemned with the world. 33 Wherefore, my brethren, when ye come together to eat, tarry one for another. 34 And if any man hunger, let him eat at home; that ye come not together unto condemnation. And the rest will I set in order when I come.