Today's Readings and Stuff -- Saturday, 22 December 2018

Well, we've made it into Winter.  Some may like that.  I am not among them.  The good thing, I guess, is that we're in the shortest "day" of the year, the same length of "day" as was yesterday.  That being the case, then going forward from this point into March, the days will lengthen until "day" and "night" are the same length, and thence into June, marking the longest "day" of the year.  So, it's my least favorite time of the year.  Your mileage may vary.  But at least tomorrow will be a whole 4 seconds longer of daylight than we expect to see today.  The following days and weeks, that will accelerate.  So that's something.
Yesterday was the actual birthday of the next-door Great Niece.  Last Saturday was the big party.  (This crowd makes a Big Deal of such things: this time they rented out a party room in the area overlooking a community indoor swimming pool.).  So the mom & dad had a  special time with the Little One.  Not so little any more: she turned 6 years old.  When we moved here, she was less than a year old, could not walk, talk, or anything.  All that has changed, as it should.  Making good memories for all of them, that's a good thing as well.
Have only briefly scanned the local rags to check on last night's "Body Count".  Vast quantities of liquor, only slightly less amounts of "recreational pharmaceuticals", loose morals (to say the least), firearms, and driving make for a bad mix.  It's been going on in these parts -- and elsewhere as well -- for many years.  As I tried to tell my kids, " I've often seen booze make a bad man worse.  I've never seen it make a good man better".  Which is, not only true, but an understatement.  Not sure if it had much impact.
(now, a note:  There may be, and probably are, those who find the phrase "body count" to be flippant and unkind.  Perhaps that is true.  Having, in the past, been present at more than one or two of these situations, it's on a par with the sort of "gallows humor" that First Responders, like EMT's, police, paramedics, ER staff, coroners, etc. understand and use.  And sometimes far worse.  Not for lack of caring or concern, but just a way to handle the emotions of being in the constant flow of the dead and maimed and their relatives.  It's been known to burn out more than a few police chaplains and the chaplains and pastors that are present or on call at more than a few hospitals as well.  So don't get too unhappy.)


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Today, the book of Haggai.
Very little is known of him personally.  Supposedly, the name given him means "my holiday", which may be a bit odd to our ears.  His prophecy dates from around 520 B.C., which puts him after the return from the Babylonian captivity.  He was a contemporary of Zechariah.  After the return from Babylon, the effort to rebuild the Temple in Jerusalem had commenced, and then had stalled for 18 years.  Zechariah and Malachi were instrumental in a resumption of that effort.
By the way, in the Eastern Orthodox tradition, Haggai is known as a saint.  His feast day is 16 December

Haggai 1

1In the second year of Darius the king, in the sixth month, in the first day of the month, came the word of the Lord by Haggai the prophet unto Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and to Joshua the son of Jehozadak, the high priest, saying,

2Thus speaketh the Lord of hosts, saying, This people say, The time is not come, the time that the Lord's house should be built.

3Then came the word of the Lord by Haggai the prophet, saying,

4Is it time for you, O ye, to dwell in your ceiled houses, and this house lie waste?

5Now therefore thus saith the Lord of hosts; Consider your ways.

6Ye have sown much, and bring in little; ye eat, but ye have not enough; ye drink, but ye are not filled with drink; ye clothe you, but there is none warm; and he that earneth wages earneth wages to put it into a bag with holes.

7Thus saith the Lord of hosts; Consider your ways.

8Go up to the mountain, and bring wood, and build the house; and I will take pleasure in it, and I will be glorified, saith the Lord.

9Ye looked for much, and, lo, it came to little; and when ye brought it home, I did blow upon it. Why? saith the Lord of hosts. Because of mine house that is waste, and ye run every man unto his own house.

10Therefore the heaven over you is stayed from dew, and the earth is stayed from her fruit.

11And I called for a drought upon the land, and upon the mountains, and upon the corn, and upon the new wine, and upon the oil, and upon that which the ground bringeth forth, and upon men, and upon cattle, and upon all the labour of the hands.

12Then Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, and Joshua the son of Jehozadak, the high priest, with all the remnant of the people, obeyed the voice of the Lord their God, and the words of Haggai the prophet, as the Lord their God had sent him, and the people did fear before the Lord.

13Then spake Haggai the Lord's messenger in the Lord'smessage unto the people, saying, I am with you, saith the Lord.

14And the Lord stirred up the spirit of Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and the spirit of Joshua the son of Jehozadak, the high priest, and the spirit of all the remnant of the people; and they came and did work in the house of the Lord of hosts, their God,

15In the four and twentieth day of the sixth month, in the second year of Darius the king.

Haggai 2

1In the seventh month, in the one and twentieth day of the month, came the word of the Lord by the prophet Haggai, saying,

2Speak now to Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and to Joshua the son of Jehozadak, the high priest, and to the residue of the people, saying,

3Who is left among you that saw this house in her first glory? and how do ye see it now? is it not in your eyes in comparison of it as nothing?

4Yet now be strong, O Zerubbabel, saith the Lord; and be strong, O Joshua, son of Jehozadak, the high priest; and be strong, all ye people of the land, saith the Lord, and work: for I am with you, saith the Lord of hosts:

5According to the word that I covenanted with you when ye came out of Egypt, so my spirit remaineth among you: fear ye not.

6For thus saith the Lord of hosts; Yet once, it is a little while, and I will shake the heavens, and the earth, and the sea, and the dry land;

7And I will shake all nations, and the desire of all nations shall come: and I will fill this house with glory, saith the Lord of hosts.

8The silver is mine, and the gold is mine, saith the Lord of hosts.

9The glory of this latter house shall be greater than of the former, saith the Lord of hosts: and in this place will I give peace, saith the Lord of hosts.

10In the four and twentieth day of the ninth month, in the second year of Darius, came the word of the Lord by Haggai the prophet, saying,

11Thus saith the Lord of hosts; Ask now the priests concerning the law, saying,

12If one bear holy flesh in the skirt of his garment, and with his skirt do touch bread, or pottage, or wine, or oil, or any meat, shall it be holy? And the priests answered and said, No.

13Then said Haggai, If one that is unclean by a dead body touch any of these, shall it be unclean? And the priests answered and said, It shall be unclean.

14Then answered Haggai, and said, So is this people, and so is this nation before me, saith the Lord; and so is every work of their hands; and that which they offer there is unclean.

15And now, I pray you, consider from this day and upward, from before a stone was laid upon a stone in the temple of the Lord:

16Since those days were, when one came to an heap of twenty measures, there were but ten: when one came to the pressfat for to draw out fifty vessels out of the press, there were but twenty.

17I smote you with blasting and with mildew and with hail in all the labours of your hands; yet ye turned not to me, saith the Lord.

18Consider now from this day and upward, from the four and twentieth day of the ninth month, even from the day that the foundation of the Lord's temple was laid, consider it.

19Is the seed yet in the barn? yea, as yet the vine, and the fig tree, and the pomegranate, and the olive tree, hath not brought forth: from this day will I bless you.

20And again the word of the Lord came unto Haggai in the four and twentieth day of the month, saying,

21Speak to Zerubbabel, governor of Judah, saying, I will shake the heavens and the earth;

22And I will overthrow the throne of kingdoms, and I will destroy the strength of the kingdoms of the heathen; and I will overthrow the chariots, and those that ride in them; and the horses and their riders shall come down, every one by the sword of his brother.

23In that day, saith the Lord of hosts, will I take thee, O Zerubbabel, my servant, the son of Shealtiel, saith the Lord, and will make thee as a signet: for I have chosen thee, saith the Lordof hosts.