Today's Readings and Stuff -- Wednesday, 26 December 2018

Counting down the remnant of 2018,  Hoping to see Spring in the near future, but that may be a bit of a wait.  Today is set to have a "day" that is all of 16 seconds longer than was yesterday, which itself was 12 seconds longer than the day before.  Tomorrow to be 20 seconds longer than today has been.  One hopes fervently that the increase in that daylight period increases rapidly.  More rapidly than it is so far.
We seem to have survived the Christmas day thing. Wife and I are both world-class introverts, even if it doesn't always "show":  we've learned how to mask the discomfort that often accompanies too much "peopling", as we had yesterday.  We were in a house with a dozen other people.  Mostly in a single room or that room plus the kitchen area.  A monk's cell is really more to our liking, it's one of those things that we have in common.  So today and tomorrow are pretty much dedicated to a recovery period.   We will be required to spend a short time next door today:  Wife's sister's son's kids, the 2nd set of great-niece/great-nephew, are to be over there while their mom is at work and their dad is off somewhere "doing his thing" (not working).  So we were "volunteered" to help keep a lid on their behavior.  We shall see.
In any event, the 6th load of laundry is in the dryer right now.  That will have to do for the day.

Two songs came into the mind during the night, both still rattling around in that empty space.  But first, I was reminded yesterday that yesterday, Christmas Day, was the 200th anniversary of the first public singing of "Silent Night".  Can you imagine Christmas without it?  I think that we are richer for it.
But that is the case for many of these songs.  There are varied tastes, of course.  That's to be expected.  Not just in music.  Why, I am told that some unfortunate people put catsup on hot dogs, rather than mustard or chili.  No accounting for taste, I guess.
Most people who have been around "church music" know names like Fannie Crosby, Charles Wesley, and Ira Sankey.  (OK, I snuck that last one in).  Many of us, but not all, know the name of the late lamented Dottie Rambo.  She was a southern-country-gospel type of singer, which I for one love.  And her gospel songs were quite often the products of her own struggles and experiences, struggles that many of us have known or are in the midst of now, or both.
Check out "He Looked Beyond My Faults And Saw My Need".  First off, can anyone disagree with that?  Sounds to me like a pretty common testimony.

And then,  "Wonderful Grace Of Jesus".  This is suitable for congregational singing, quartets, choirs, duets, solos, all the above.  And, yes, good for singing along with the radio in our cars going somewhere.  Some of us have reason to know, to know at the atomic level even, the truth of this.




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Zechariah 7

1And it came to pass in the fourth year of king Darius, that the word of the Lord came unto Zechariah in the fourth day of the ninth month, even in Chisleu;

2When they had sent unto the house of God Sherezer and Regem–melech, and their men, to pray before the Lord,

3And to speak unto the priests which were in the house of the Lord of hosts, and to the prophets, saying, Should I weep in the fifth month, separating myself, as I have done these so many years?

4Then came the word of the Lord of hosts unto me, saying,

5Speak unto all the people of the land, and to the priests, saying, When ye fasted and mourned in the fifth and seventh month, even those seventy years, did ye at all fast unto me, even to me?

6And when ye did eat, and when ye did drink, did not ye eat for yourselves, and drink for yourselves?

7Should ye not hear the words which the Lord hath cried by the former prophets, when Jerusalem was inhabited and in prosperity, and the cities thereof round about her, when men inhabited the south and the plain?

8And the word of the Lord came unto Zechariah, saying,

9Thus speaketh the Lord of hosts, saying, Execute true judgment, and shew mercy and compassions every man to his brother:

10And oppress not the widow, nor the fatherless, the stranger, nor the poor; and let none of you imagine evil against his brother in your heart.

11But they refused to hearken, and pulled away the shoulder, and stopped their ears, that they should not hear.

12Yea, they made their hearts as an adamant stone, lest they should hear the law, and the words which the Lord of hosts hath sent in his spirit by the former prophets: therefore came a great wrath from the Lord of hosts.

13Therefore it is come to pass, that as he cried, and they would not hear; so they cried, and I would not hear, saith the Lord of hosts:

14But I scattered them with a whirlwind among all the nations whom they knew not. Thus the land was desolate after them, that no man passed through nor returned: for they laid the pleasant land desolate.

Zechariah 8

1Again the word of the Lord of hosts came to me, saying,

2Thus saith the Lord of hosts; I was jealous for Zion with great jealousy, and I was jealous for her with great fury.

3Thus saith the Lord; I am returned unto Zion, and will dwell in the midst of Jerusalem: and Jerusalem shall be called a city of truth; and the mountain of the Lord of hosts the holy mountain.

4Thus saith the Lord of hosts; There shall yet old men and old women dwell in the streets of Jerusalem, and every man with his staff in his hand for very age.

5And the streets of the city shall be full of boys and girls playing in the streets thereof.

6Thus saith the Lord of hosts; If it be marvellous in the eyes of the remnant of this people in these days, should it also be marvellous in mine eyes? saith the Lord of hosts.

7Thus saith the Lord of hosts; Behold, I will save my people from the east country, and from the west country;

8And I will bring them, and they shall dwell in the midst of Jerusalem: and they shall be my people, and I will be their God, in truth and in righteousness.

9Thus saith the Lord of hosts; Let your hands be strong, ye that hear in these days these words by the mouth of the prophets, which were in the day that the foundation of the house of the Lordof hosts was laid, that the temple might be built.

10For before these days there was no hire for man, nor any hire for beast; neither was there any peace to him that went out or came in because of the affliction: for I set all men every one against his neighbour.

11But now I will not be unto the residue of this people as in the former days, saith the Lord of hosts.

12For the seed shall be prosperous; the vine shall give her fruit, and the ground shall give her increase, and the heavens shall give their dew; and I will cause the remnant of this people to possess all these things.

13And it shall come to pass, that as ye were a curse among the heathen, O house of Judah, and house of Israel; so will I save you, and ye shall be a blessing: fear not, but let your hands be strong.

14For thus saith the Lord of hosts; As I thought to punish you, when your fathers provoked me to wrath, saith the Lord of hosts, and I repented not:

15So again have I thought in these days to do well unto Jerusalem and to the house of Judah: fear ye not.

16These are the things that ye shall do; Speak ye every man the truth to his neighbour; execute the judgment of truth and peace in your gates:

17And let none of you imagine evil in your hearts against his neighbour; and love no false oath: for all these are things that I hate, saith the Lord.

18And the word of the Lord of hosts came unto me, saying,

19Thus saith the Lord of hosts; The fast of the fourth month, and the fast of the fifth, and the fast of the seventh, and the fast of the tenth, shall be to the house of Judah joy and gladness, and cheerful feasts; therefore love the truth and peace.

20Thus saith the Lord of hosts; It shall yet come to pass, that there shall come people, and the inhabitants of many cities:

21And the inhabitants of one city shall go to another, saying, Let us go speedily to pray before the Lord, and to seek the Lord of hosts: I will go also.

22Yea, many people and strong nations shall come to seek the Lord of hosts in Jerusalem, and to pray before the Lord.

23Thus saith the Lord of hosts; In those days it shall come to pass, that ten men shall take hold out of all languages of the nations, even shall take hold of the skirt of him that is a Jew, saying, We will go with you: for we have heard that God is with you.

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Revelation chapter 20

1And I saw an angel come down from heaven, having the key of the bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand.

2And he laid hold on the dragon, that old serpent, which is the Devil, and Satan, and bound him a thousand years,

3And cast him into the bottomless pit, and shut him up, and set a seal upon him, that he should deceive the nations no more, till the thousand years should be fulfilled: and after that he must be loosed a little season.

4And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgment was given unto them: and I saw the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus, and for the word of God, and which had not worshipped the beast, neither his image, neither had received his mark upon their foreheads, or in their hands; and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years.

5But the rest of the dead lived not again until the thousand years were finished. This is the first resurrection.

6Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection: on such the second death hath no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with him a thousand years.

7And when the thousand years are expired, Satan shall be loosed out of his prison,

8And shall go out to deceive the nations which are in the four quarters of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them together to battle: the number of whom is as the sand of the sea.

9And they went up on the breadth of the earth, and compassed the camp of the saints about, and the beloved city: and fire came down from God out of heaven, and devoured them.

10And the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are, and shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever.

11And I saw a great white throne, and him that sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away; and there was found no place for them.

12And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works.

13And the sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them: and they were judged every man according to their works.

14And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death.

15And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire.