Today's Readings and Stuff -- Sunday, 16 December 2018

A wonderful Lord's Day is wished to all.

We are now in the 2nd half of December.  January of 2019 is now closer than November of 2018, and that margin is expected to grow over the next two weeks.  Two weeks from tomorrow is expected to be New Year's Eve, and then 2019 arrives.  Christmas Day is just over a week hence from now.  Oh, and Friday is the first day of "official" Winter.  The only good part of that is that we can begin to count down the all too many days until "official" Spring, which in these dreadful parts does not mean sunshine and tweeting birds and such.   As an aside, one of the wretched but all-too-often-correct bits of local lore is the expectation of a heavy blizzard on St. Patrick's Day, 17 March.  Since Spring arrives on 20 March, just a few days later, you can imagine what the overall weather is generally like at that time of year:  often still digging out from the blizzard.
But we are seeing the days and weeks and, yes, months pass.  I confess to some envy for bears: they can hibernate through this time of year, which sounds pretty good to me.

Wife is still in recovery mode from last night's birthday party for the great-niece.  She rarely leaves the house these days except for doctor visits or to "watch" one or more of the great-nieces and great-nephews.  And that in turn is generally right next door, a short walk across a narrow yard.

I was looking around some while en route to/from church services this morning.  About 2 blocks from us, right on the way, two weeks ago an abandoned house was torn down.  This week, the house next to it had demolition commence.  Still a huge pile of rubble and debris, which one hopes will be dealt with this week.  Last summer, a house two doors from us met the same fate.  The year before, three houses on the next block.  And .... you get the picture.   All of those were houses where people lived, some probably working in one of the manufacturing operations within walking distance, operations now a fraction of their former size.  There are several more that have been abandoned for years, and probably will meet the same fate.  Oh, and a Roman Catholic church that was still in some operation when we moved here has been standing empty for four years at least.  A little movement around the rectory, but the place has been decommissioned.  Don't know what the diocese has planned, if anything.  But, in spite of that, there are three bars within walking distance of here, and a beer/cigarettes/ lottery tickets carry out joint also close by.  Doesn't sound like a recipe for great results, does it?
But, perhaps, this atmosphere of hopelessness is ripe for the Lord.


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Today, another new beginning.  The book of Micah.
It is worth remembering that the order of the Bible is not chronological.  Micah lived, probably, from 740 B,C. to around 670 B.C., and was a contemporary of Isaiah, Amos, and Hosea.  So some of the prophecies, the words from the Lord, are directed at the same rulers and culture that those others were also addressing.  The people couldn't say they hadn't been warned.

Micah 1

1The word of the Lord that came to Micah the Morasthite in the days of Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah, which he saw concerning Samaria and Jerusalem.

2Hear, all ye people; hearken, O earth, and all that therein is: and let the Lord God be witness against you, the Lord from his holy temple.

3For, behold, the Lord cometh forth out of his place, and will come down, and tread upon the high places of the earth.

4And the mountains shall be molten under him, and the valleys shall be cleft, as wax before the fire, and as the waters that are poured down a steep place.

5For the transgression of Jacob is all this, and for the sins of the house of Israel. What is the transgression of Jacob? is it not Samaria? and what are the high places of Judah? are they not Jerusalem?

6Therefore I will make Samaria as an heap of the field, and as plantings of a vineyard: and I will pour down the stones thereof into the valley, and I will discover the foundations thereof.

7And all the graven images thereof shall be beaten to pieces, and all the hires thereof shall be burned with the fire, and all the idols thereof will I lay desolate: for she gathered it of the hire of an harlot, and they shall return to the hire of an harlot.

8Therefore I will wail and howl, I will go stripped and naked: I will make a wailing like the dragons, and mourning as the owls.

9For her wound is incurable; for it is come unto Judah; he is come unto the gate of my people, even to Jerusalem.

10Declare ye it not at Gath, weep ye not at all: in the house of Aphrah roll thyself in the dust.

11Pass ye away, thou inhabitant of Saphir, having thy shame naked: the inhabitant of Zaanan came not forth in the mourning of Beth–ezel; he shall receive of you his standing.

12For the inhabitant of Maroth waited carefully for good: but evil came down from the Lord unto the gate of Jerusalem.

13O thou inhabitant of Lachish, bind the chariot to the swift beast: she is the beginning of the sin to the daughter of Zion: for the transgressions of Israel were found in thee.

14Therefore shalt thou give presents to Moresheth–gath: the houses of Achzib shall be a lie to the kings of Israel.

15Yet will I bring an heir unto thee, O inhabitant of Mareshah: he shall come unto Adullam the glory of Israel.

16Make thee bald, and poll thee for thy delicate children; enlarge thy baldness as the eagle; for they are gone into captivity from thee.

Micah 2

1Woe to them that devise iniquity, and work evil upon their beds! when the morning is light, they practise it, because it is in the power of their hand.

2And they covet fields, and take them by violence; and houses, and take them away: so they oppress a man and his house, even a man and his heritage.

3Therefore thus saith the Lord; Behold, against this family do I devise an evil, from which ye shall not remove your necks; neither shall ye go haughtily: for this time is evil.

4In that day shall one take up a parable against you, and lament with a doleful lamentation, and say, We be utterly spoiled: he hath changed the portion of my people: how hath he removed it from me! turning away he hath divided our fields.

5Therefore thou shalt have none that shall cast a cord by lot in the congregation of the Lord.

6Prophesy ye not, say they to them that prophesy: they shall not prophesy to them, that they shall not take shame.

7O thou that art named the house of Jacob, is the spirit of the Lord straitened? are these his doings? do not my words do good to him that walketh uprightly?

8Even of late my people is risen up as an enemy: ye pull off the robe with the garment from them that pass by securely as men averse from war.

9The women of my people have ye cast out from their pleasant houses; from their children have ye taken away my glory for ever.

10Arise ye, and depart; for this is not your rest: because it is polluted, it shall destroy you, even with a sore destruction.

11If a man walking in the spirit and falsehood do lie, saying, I will prophesy unto thee of wine and of strong drink; he shall even be the prophet of this people.

12I will surely assemble, O Jacob, all of thee; I will surely gather the remnant of Israel; I will put them together as the sheep of Bozrah, as the flock in the midst of their fold: they shall make great noise by reason of the multitude of men.

13The breaker is come up before them: they have broken up, and have passed through the gate, and are gone out by it: and their king shall pass before them, and the Lord on the head of them.