Today's Readings and Stuff -- Monday, 25 November 2013

happy Monday to all.
Just got back from a luncheon meeting with a gentleman who had at one time been a Vice President at an engineering firm that I worked for back in the 1980's, which seems an impossibly long time ago.  I've made it openly known that I and looking for some kind of employment, no matter what.  He doesn't really have anything going right now, but the interaction and connection was nice, haven't had much of that in far too long.  He provided me some reference information on local operations, which I greatly appreciate.  So perhaps something good comes of it.
Came back home and Dear Wife informed me of Winter Storm headed this way, due to hit tonight some time and bring as much as 8-12 inches of snow with it.  And with temperatures expected to be at or slightly below freezing for the next week, we are likely to be seeing that some dump well into the month of December.  For someone who had not seen ANY snow since around the beginning of 2006, and very little since the beginning of 1992, this is not what I wanted to see.  Hate the stuff.  But it's a part of living up here near the North Coast and in the Snow Belt of it. 

The Old Testament passage of the day is Ezekiel chapters 34 and 35.  Some arresting stuff here.

Ezekiel 34

1	And the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,
2	Son of man, prophesy against the shepherds of Israel, prophesy, and say unto them, Thus saith the Lord GOD unto the shepherds; Woe be to the shepherds of Israel that do feed themselves! should not the shepherds feed the flocks?
3	Ye eat the fat, and ye clothe you with the wool, ye kill them that are fed: but ye feed not the flock.
4	The diseased have ye not strengthened, neither have ye healed that which was sick, neither have ye bound up that which was broken, neither have ye brought again that which was driven away, neither have ye sought that which was lost; but with force and with cruelty have ye ruled them.
5	And they were scattered, because there is no shepherd: and they became meat to all the beasts of the field, when they were scattered.
6	My sheep wandered through all the mountains, and upon every high hill: yea, my flock was scattered upon all the face of the earth, and none did search or seek after them.
7	Therefore, ye shepherds, hear the word of the LORD;
8	As I live, saith the Lord GOD, surely because my flock became a prey, and my flock became meat to every beast of the field, because there was no shepherd, neither did my shepherds search for my flock, but the shepherds fed themselves, and fed not my flock;
9	Therefore, O ye shepherds, hear the word of the LORD;
10	Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I am against the shepherds; and I will require my flock at their hand, and cause them to cease from feeding the flock; neither shall the shepherds feed themselves any more; for I will deliver my flock from their mouth, that they may not be meat for them.
11	For thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I, even I, will both search my sheep, and seek them out.
12	As a shepherd seeketh out his flock in the day that he is among his sheep that are scattered; so will I seek out my sheep, and will deliver them out of all places where they have been scattered in the cloudy and dark day.
13	And I will bring them out from the people, and gather them from the countries, and will bring them to their own land, and feed them upon the mountains of Israel by the rivers, and in all the inhabited places of the country.
14	I will feed them in a good pasture, and upon the high mountains of Israel shall their fold be: there shall they lie in a good fold, and in a fat pasture shall they feed upon the mountains of Israel.
15	I will feed my flock, and I will cause them to lie down, saith the Lord GOD.
16	I will seek that which was lost, and bring again that which was driven away, and will bind up that which was broken, and will strengthen that which was sick: but I will destroy the fat and the strong; I will feed them with judgment.
17	And as for you, O my flock, thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I judge between cattle and cattle, between the rams and the he goats.
18	Seemeth it a small thing unto you to have eaten up the good pasture, but ye must tread down with your feet the residue of your pastures? and to have drunk of the deep waters, but ye must foul the residue with your feet?
19	And as for my flock, they eat that which ye have trodden with your feet; and they drink that which ye have fouled with your feet.
20	Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD unto them; Behold, I, even I, will judge between the fat cattle and between the lean cattle.
21	Because ye have thrust with side and with shoulder, and pushed all the diseased with your horns, till ye have scattered them abroad;
22	Therefore will I save my flock, and they shall no more be a prey; and I will judge between cattle and cattle.
23	And I will set up one shepherd over them, and he shall feed them, even my servant David; he shall feed them, and he shall be their shepherd.
24	And I the LORD will be their God, and my servant David a prince among them; I the LORD have spoken it.
25	And I will make with them a covenant of peace, and will cause the evil beasts to cease out of the land: and they shall dwell safely in the wilderness, and sleep in the woods.
26	And I will make them and the places round about my hill a blessing; and I will cause the shower to come down in his season; there shall be showers of blessing.
27	And the tree of the field shall yield her fruit, and the earth shall yield her increase, and they shall be safe in their land, and shall know that I am the LORD, when I have broken the bands of their yoke, and delivered them out of the hand of those that served themselves of them.
28	And they shall no more be a prey to the heathen, neither shall the beast of the land devour them; but they shall dwell safely, and none shall make them afraid.
29	And I will raise up for them a plant of renown, and they shall be no more consumed with hunger in the land, neither bear the shame of the heathen any more.
30	Thus shall they know that I the LORD their God am with them, and that they, even the house of Israel, are my people, saith the Lord GOD.
31	And ye my flock, the flock of my pasture, are men, and I am your God, saith the Lord GOD.

Ezekiel 35

1	Moreover the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,
2	Son of man, set thy face against mount Seir, and prophesy against it,
3	And say unto it, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, O mount Seir, I am against thee, and I will stretch out mine hand against thee, and I will make thee most desolate.
4	I will lay thy cities waste, and thou shalt be desolate, and thou shalt know that I am the LORD.
5	Because thou hast had a perpetual hatred, and hast shed the blood of the children of Israel by the force of the sword in the time of their calamity, in the time that their iniquity had an end:
6	Therefore, as I live, saith the Lord GOD, I will prepare thee unto blood, and blood shall pursue thee: sith thou hast not hated blood, even blood shall pursue thee.
7	Thus will I make mount Seir most desolate, and cut off from it him that passeth out and him that returneth.
8	And I will fill his mountains with his slain men: in thy hills, and in thy valleys, and in all thy rivers, shall they fall that are slain with the sword.
9	I will make thee perpetual desolations, and thy cities shall not return: and ye shall know that I am the LORD.
10	Because thou hast said, These two nations and these two countries shall be mine, and we will possess it; whereas the LORD was there:
11	Therefore, as I live, saith the Lord GOD, I will even do according to thine anger, and according to thine envy which thou hast used out of thy hatred against them; and I will make myself known among them, when I have judged thee.
12	And thou shalt know that I am the LORD, and that I have heard all thy blasphemies which thou hast spoken against the mountains of Israel, saying, They are laid desolate, they are given us to consume.
13	Thus with your mouth ye have boasted against me, and have multiplied your words against me: I have heard them.
14	Thus saith the Lord GOD; When the whole earth rejoiceth, I will make thee desolate.
15	As thou didst rejoice at the inheritance of the house of Israel, because it was desolate, so will I do unto thee: thou shalt be desolate, O mount Seir, and all Idumea, even all of it: and they shall know that I am the LORD.

======

The New Testament passage is chapter 2 of 1st Peter..

I Peter 2

1	Wherefore laying aside all malice, and all guile, and hypocrisies, and envies, all evil speakings,
2	As newborn babes, desire the sincere milk of the word, that ye may grow thereby:
3	If so be ye have tasted that the Lord is gracious.
4	To whom coming, as unto a living stone, disallowed indeed of men, but chosen of God, and precious,
5	Ye also, as lively stones, are built up a spiritual house, an holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God by Jesus Christ.
6	Wherefore also it is contained in the scripture, Behold, I lay in Sion a chief corner stone, elect, precious: and he that believeth on him shall not be confounded.
7	Unto you therefore which believe he is precious: but unto them which be disobedient, the stone which the builders disallowed, the same is made the head of the corner,
8	And a stone of stumbling, and a rock of offence, even to them which stumble at the word, being disobedient: whereunto also they were appointed.
9	But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light;
10	Which in time past were not a people, but are now the people of God: which had not obtained mercy, but now have obtained mercy.
11	Dearly beloved, I beseech you as strangers and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts, which war against the soul;
12	Having your conversation honest among the Gentiles: that, whereas they speak against you as evildoers, they may by your good works, which they shall behold, glorify God in the day of visitation.
13	Submit yourselves to every ordinance of man for the Lord's sake: whether it be to the king, as supreme;
14	Or unto governors, as unto them that are sent by him for the punishment of evildoers, and for the praise of them that do well.
15	For so is the will of God, that with well doing ye may put to silence the ignorance of foolish men:
16	As free, and not using your liberty for a cloke of maliciousness, but as the servants of God.
17	Honour all men. Love the brotherhood. Fear God. Honour the king.
18	Servants, be subject to your masters with all fear; not only to the good and gentle, but also to the froward.
19	For this is thankworthy, if a man for conscience toward God endure grief, suffering wrongfully.
20	For what glory is it, if, when ye be buffeted for your faults, ye shall take it patiently? but if, when ye do well, and suffer for it, ye take it patiently, this is acceptable with God.
21	For even hereunto were ye called: because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that ye should follow his steps:
22	Who did no sin, neither was guile found in his mouth:
23	Who, when he was reviled, reviled not again; when he suffered, he threatened not; but committed himself to him that judgeth righteously:
24	Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes ye were healed.
25	For ye were as sheep going astray; but are now returned unto the Shepherd and Bishop of your souls.