Today's Readings and Stuff -- Friday, 20 October 2017

Next-to-last Friday in October.  November is coming up fast.  Is it just me, or is the year just flying by?  The heat was on during the night.  Our heat source being a gas-fired fireplace in the living room, but it suffices, does rather well, actually.  Until Littlest Cat decides, around 05:00 (WELL before I wish to rise, not being a "morning person") that it's time for me to get up and provide breakfast in the manner she deems acceptable.  At which point I put her out of the bedroom and close the door.  Which, in turn. prevents any of that heat from getting into the bedroom.  There are reasons, excellent ones I think, that Yours Truly is not a pet-lover.  The result is that, starting soon, that "toss her out and close the door" option won't be available, and so I'll have the "fun" of bare feet on a cold floor, feeding voracious furry beasts, and be wide awake, if not necessarily in a good  mood.  This doesn't happen in May and June, part of the many many reasons that I despise Fall and Winter and early Spring in NE Ohio.  But whatever.

I did crawl back into bed, for a while, after the "cat, vamoose!" episode, briefly.  We got up while it was still dark.  I have always hated that Up at 0-dark-thirty stuff, but have been through worse.  We had a bite for breakfast, I have the second load of laundry going, and Wife is up and about, concocting a big pot of chili.  What we don't eat we'll freeze or refrigerate, it'll be meals for the days she isn't up to very much.  Even I can defrost and heat up leftovers.
Sort of a collage of some changes in the world even in my lifetime.  When I was a kid, there simply wasn't ready availability of food storage except for long term storage via the canning jars, etc. that we and everyone around us used.  The Tupperware thing was just getting started, I can remember my mom getting a few things, nearly ashamed of the expenditue.  After all, glass or Pyrex, etc. bowls etc. were available.  But they didn't seal, at all, while the Tupperware ones did, so the fluid content didn't change in the refrigerator (which itself had been a major change in my mom's lifetime).  And, of course, that was all before microwave ovens.  Later, I worked for some of my happiest years at a division of Rubbermaid.  Courtesy of the "company store", I could get all those Rubbermaid Servin Saver (TM) containers at a VERY nice price, and we did, and started to use them.  And bought our first microwave, back in the early 1990's.  Now, we make a gallon  of chili or home made soup or stew, eat some, store the rest in a freezer or refrigerator in convenient portions, and use it as needed.  Works nice, and would be a near-miracle to my mom or grandmother or aunts.  One of those things we don't even think about these days.
I do miss some of that part of my working days, developing the products and/or the processes to make those products, that people use every day, not noticing them.  Behind every thing you use, certainly that microwave oven or Rubbermaid or Glad (TM) container, the lighbulb in your lamp, whatever, is the result of some pretty interesting efforts and hard work by people you don't think of at all.  Been there.  But the same could be said of the food on your table:  I've been around farming a bit, and have a reasonably good idea of what goes into growing that wheat and corn, milking those cows, feeding those hogs and chickens.  It's occasionally considered fashionable to thank a soldier or sailor or Marine for his service.  Thanked a farmer lately?  Or the guy who helps make the tires on your car?  Or do you think these things just happen in the natural order of things?
I'd like to think that most people reading this own at least one Bible, and read it too.  Not a bad idea to thank the teacher who made that reading possible, by the way.  But just having that printed document widely and inexpensively available is itself the product of the efforts of many.  Years ago, I was blessed to be a member of the Gideons organization.  One of the things that motivated us, one of many, was the ongoing efforts to make the Holy Bible available to people groups around the world who did not have available Bibles, or Bibles in their own languages. Efforts that continue to this very day (and an effort worthy of your financial support as well).  But it's only been in the relatively recent past that a Bible was available to the common person, not until widespread printing was in use.  And even before then, to have it in the language of the people, rather than in Hebrew, Koine Greek, or Latin.  Now, people never think about it.  I truly don't know how many Bibles I have here in our hovel, in part because that would include the ones that came to me from my father, and various study Bibles acquired along the way.  We thank the Lord for His Word, of course, and should.  But how often do we pray also for those involved in the translation, printing and production, and distribution?  Yet they are participants as well.  As are those who care for them.  Yet we rarely notice or think of it.
Yes, we are the beneficiaries of all of this. But we are called to be participants as well.  This is not a spectator sport.


So, a song of the day.  How Beautiful.  I know it's a repeat.  Fine.  But listen to the words.

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The Old Testament reading is chapters 3 and 4 of the book of Jeremiah.
Note, please, the frequent references to the nation as a wife or spouse that has gone whoring around for other lovers.  The joining of the Lord and His people is, in very many ways, as strong and intimate as marriage is or should be.  Some of us have seen all too often the hurt and anger and terrible echoes of marital infidelity, even within the church.  All too often in our own friends and our own families.  The hurt, the pain, the effects on everyone around.  Well, the same is true when people abandon their whole hearted relationship with the Lord.  Some of these references are to those who wanted the Lord, PLUS other gods.  Who would make public sacrifice, but engage in not-so-public, or even public worship of the "gods" of stone and wood, in the various groves and "high places".  That doesn't work out, and it does not please the Lord.  I used to think that was something left behind after the reign of Josiah or Ahab or whenever.  But, sorry, not so.  I am seeing, and even hearing from people I know personally, that it's ok, even encouraged, to worship the true Lord AND the false god Allah.  Sorry, no, never, not ever.  And, sadly, some of them are church leaders, leading their people astray.  We know what happened to Ahab and his like.  Think it will turn out any better this time?  Don't think so!!

Jeremiah 3

1 They say, If a man put away his wife, and she go from him, and become another man's, shall he return unto her again? shall not that land be greatly polluted? but thou hast played the harlot with many lovers; yet return again to me, saith the LORD. 2 Lift up thine eyes unto the high places, and see where thou hast not been lien with. In the ways hast thou sat for them, as the Arabian in the wilderness; and thou hast polluted the land with thy whoredoms and with thy wickedness. 3 Therefore the showers have been withholden, and there hath been no latter rain; and thou hadst a whore's forehead, thou refusedst to be ashamed. 4 Wilt thou not from this time cry unto me, My father, thou art the guide of my youth? 5 Will he reserve his anger for ever? will he keep it to the end? Behold, thou hast spoken and done evil things as thou couldest. 6 The LORD said also unto me in the days of Josiah the king, Hast thou seen that which backsliding Israel hath done? she is gone up upon every high mountain and under every green tree, and there hath played the harlot. 7 And I said after she had done all these things, Turn thou unto me. But she returned not. And her treacherous sister Judah saw it. 8 And I saw, when for all the causes whereby backsliding Israel committed adultery I had put her away, and given her a bill of divorce; yet her treacherous sister Judah feared not, but went and played the harlot also. 9 And it came to pass through the lightness of her whoredom, that she defiled the land, and committed adultery with stones and with stocks. 10 And yet for all this her treacherous sister Judah hath not turned unto me with her whole heart, but feignedly, saith the LORD. 11 And the LORD said unto me, The backsliding Israel hath justified herself more than treacherous Judah. 12 Go and proclaim these words toward the north, and say, Return, thou backsliding Israel, saith the LORD; and I will not cause mine anger to fall upon you: for I am merciful, saith the LORD, and I will not keep anger for ever. 13 Only acknowledge thine iniquity, that thou hast transgressed against the LORD thy God, and hast scattered thy ways to the strangers under every green tree, and ye have not obeyed my voice, saith the LORD. 14 Turn, O backsliding children, saith the LORD; for I am married unto you: and I will take you one of a city, and two of a family, and I will bring you to Zion: 15 And I will give you pastors according to mine heart, which shall feed you with knowledge and understanding. 16 And it shall come to pass, when ye be multiplied and increased in the land, in those days, saith the LORD, they shall say no more, The ark of the covenant of the LORD: neither shall it come to mind: neither shall they remember it; neither shall they visit it; neither shall that be done any more. 17 At that time they shall call Jerusalem the throne of the LORD; and all the nations shall be gathered unto it, to the name of the LORD, to Jerusalem: neither shall they walk any more after the imagination of their evil heart. 18 In those days the house of Judah shall walk with the house of Israel, and they shall come together out of the land of the north to the land that I have given for an inheritance unto your fathers. 19 But I said, How shall I put thee among the children, and give thee a pleasant land, a goodly heritage of the hosts of nations? and I said, Thou shalt call me, My father; and shalt not turn away from me. 20 Surely as a wife treacherously departeth from her husband, so have ye dealt treacherously with me, O house of Israel, saith the LORD. 21 A voice was heard upon the high places, weeping and supplications of the children of Israel: for they have perverted their way, and they have forgotten the LORD their God. 22 Return, ye backsliding children, and I will heal your backslidings. Behold, we come unto thee; for thou art the LORD our God. 23 Truly in vain is salvation hoped for from the hills, and from the multitude of mountains: truly in the LORD our God is the salvation of Israel. 24 For shame hath devoured the labour of our fathers from our youth; their flocks and their herds, their sons and their daughters. 25 We lie down in our shame, and our confusion covereth us: for we have sinned against the LORD our God, we and our fathers, from our youth even unto this day, and have not obeyed the voice of the LORD our God.

Jeremiah 4

1 If thou wilt return, O Israel, saith the LORD, return unto me: and if thou wilt put away thine abominations out of my sight, then shalt thou not remove. 2 And thou shalt swear, The LORD liveth, in truth, in judgment, and in righteousness; and the nations shall bless themselves in him, and in him shall they glory. 3 For thus saith the LORD to the men of Judah and Jerusalem, Break up your fallow ground, and sow not among thorns. 4 Circumcise yourselves to the LORD, and take away the foreskins of your heart, ye men of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem: lest my fury come forth like fire, and burn that none can quench it, because of the evil of your doings. 5 Declare ye in Judah, and publish in Jerusalem; and say, Blow ye the trumpet in the land: cry, gather together, and say, Assemble yourselves, and let us go into the defenced cities. 6 Set up the standard toward Zion: retire, stay not: for I will bring evil from the north, and a great destruction. 7 The lion is come up from his thicket, and the destroyer of the Gentiles is on his way; he is gone forth from his place to make thy land desolate; and thy cities shall be laid waste, without an inhabitant. 8 For this gird you with sackcloth, lament and howl: for the fierce anger of the LORD is not turned back from us. 9 And it shall come to pass at that day, saith the LORD, that the heart of the king shall perish, and the heart of the princes; and the priests shall be astonished, and the prophets shall wonder. 10 Then said I, Ah, Lord GOD! surely thou hast greatly deceived this people and Jerusalem, saying, Ye shall have peace; whereas the sword reacheth unto the soul. 11 At that time shall it be said to this people and to Jerusalem, A dry wind of the high places in the wilderness toward the daughter of my people, not to fan, nor to cleanse, 12 Even a full wind from those places shall come unto me: now also will I give sentence against them. 13 Behold, he shall come up as clouds, and his chariots shall be as a whirlwind: his horses are swifter than eagles. Woe unto us! for we are spoiled. 14 O Jerusalem, wash thine heart from wickedness, that thou mayest be saved. How long shall thy vain thoughts lodge within thee? 15 For a voice declareth from Dan, and publisheth affliction from mount Ephraim. 16 Make ye mention to the nations; behold, publish against Jerusalem, that watchers come from a far country, and give out their voice against the cities of Judah. 17 As keepers of a field, are they against her round about; because she hath been rebellious against me, saith the LORD. 18 Thy way and thy doings have procured these things unto thee; this is thy wickedness, because it is bitter, because it reacheth unto thine heart. 19 My bowels, my bowels! I am pained at my very heart; my heart maketh a noise in me; I cannot hold my peace, because thou hast heard, O my soul, the sound of the trumpet, the alarm of war. 20 Destruction upon destruction is cried; for the whole land is spoiled: suddenly are my tents spoiled, and my curtains in a moment. 21 How long shall I see the standard, and hear the sound of the trumpet? 22 For my people is foolish, they have not known me; they are sottish children, and they have none understanding: they are wise to do evil, but to do good they have no knowledge. 23 I beheld the earth, and, lo, it was without form, and void; and the heavens, and they had no light. 24 I beheld the mountains, and, lo, they trembled, and all the hills moved lightly. 25 I beheld, and, lo, there was no man, and all the birds of the heavens were fled. 26 I beheld, and, lo, the fruitful place was a wilderness, and all the cities thereof were broken down at the presence of the LORD, and by his fierce anger. 27 For thus hath the LORD said, The whole land shall be desolate; yet will I not make a full end. 28 For this shall the earth mourn, and the heavens above be black; because I have spoken it, I have purposed it, and will not repent, neither will I turn back from it. 29 The whole city shall flee for the noise of the horsemen and bowmen; they shall go into thickets, and climb up upon the rocks: every city shall be forsaken, and not a man dwell therein. 30 And when thou art spoiled, what wilt thou do? Though thou clothest thyself with crimson, though thou deckest thee with ornaments of gold, though thou rentest thy face with painting, in vain shalt thou make thyself fair; thy lovers will despise thee, they will seek thy life. 31 For I have heard a voice as of a woman in travail, and the anguish as of her that bringeth forth her first child, the voice of the daughter of Zion, that bewaileth herself, that spreadeth her hands, saying, Woe is me now! for my soul is wearied because of murderers.

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The New Testament reading is chapter 3 of the 2nd epistle to the Thessalonians.  This completes 2nd  Thessalonians.
The language here, particularly at the end, gives some support to the theory that this epistle was intended to address some doctrinal error that had been introduced by a forgery supposedly over his name.  Again, note as above, the issues that were part of the difficulties that we can't imagine, with extremely important teachings being transmitted on manually copied writings on parchment or, perhaps, vellum.  And then copied, and recopied, and sent from place to place.  How many of us would have the patience to take, say, a fountain pen and a stack of unlined paper, and copy out one of the Gospels,  or the letter to the Romans, or all of the Psalms?  And to do so without ANY errors, mis-spellings, and the like?  I promise that no common person had all of this, or probably any part of it, in his own personal possession.  And that is presuming that he or she could read at all, which was not a common thing until the colonial  period in America, and that was somewhat controversial at the time.  Free public schools were established in colonial New England precisely so that EVERY ONE could read that new-fangled King James Bible for himself.

II Thessalonians 3

 

1 Finally, brethren, pray for us, that the word of the Lord may have free course, and be glorified, even as it is with you: 2 And that we may be delivered from unreasonable and wicked men: for all men have not faith. 3 But the Lord is faithful, who shall stablish you, and keep you from evil. 4 And we have confidence in the Lord touching you, that ye both do and will do the things which we command you. 5 And the Lord direct your hearts into the love of God, and into the patient waiting for Christ. 6 Now we command you, brethren, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that ye withdraw yourselves from every brother that walketh disorderly, and not after the tradition which he received of us. 7 For yourselves know how ye ought to follow us: for we behaved not ourselves disorderly among you; 8 Neither did we eat any man's bread for nought; but wrought with labour and travail night and day, that we might not be chargeable to any of you: 9 Not because we have not power, but to make ourselves an ensample unto you to follow us. 10 For even when we were with you, this we commanded you, that if any would not work, neither should he eat. 11 For we hear that there are some which walk among you disorderly, working not at all, but are busybodies. 12 Now them that are such we command and exhort by our Lord Jesus Christ, that with quietness they work, and eat their own bread. 13 But ye, brethren, be not weary in well doing. 14 And if any man obey not our word by this epistle, note that man, and have no company with him, that he may be ashamed. 15 Yet count him not as an enemy, but admonish him as a brother. 16 Now the Lord of peace himself give you peace always by all means. The Lord be with you all. 17 The salutation of Paul with mine own hand, which is the token in every epistle: so I write. 18 The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. Amen.