Today's Readings and Stuff -- Monday, 16 December 2013

hope the morning finds you well.  Cold here, around 13 degrees when we got up.  I do miss the warmer temperatures of the Deep South, if not everything that seemed to go with them.  Dear Wife is next door "watching" the grand-niece as niece's husband left for work around 06:30 and niece was heading out around 07:25.  I made coffee (for both of us) and helped her get ready, and then did the dishes that I should have done last night.  Tossed a few things into the washer and hauled the mug of caffeine into the living room and here I sit.  Will go over later for a bit and help "watch" the child and then come back, hopefully.
The news reports are, as ever, full of doom, despair, death, misery, sin, and controversy.  I see that the British tabloids like to break that up on the edges of their web sites with pictures of scantily-clad young (and some not-so-young) cavorting about in order to be noticed.  It certainly seems like a scene for the last days of the Roman or Babylonian empires, or perhaps Gomorrah, right before it all falls to pieces.  And it certainly isn't restricted to the U.K, or the E.U., or the USA or even the West.  Just shows because I live here.Seems as if all hope is gone.
But this is the season of Christmas, a time that when all was dark and hopeless, when even a poor couple on a long journey needed a room and a space to deliver a baby, when all seemed lost, the Lord made an appearance that no sensible person could have predicted.  Certainly none of the "respectable" sages.  Happened anyway.  The Lord doesn't answer to them.  Or to me.
So we have hope and a promise.

I am in a down mood.  Yesterday was my birthday.  Wasn't in a mood for a cake and party, and there wasn't going to be one anyway.  I am not that old, yet have now outlived both grandfathers and two of my three uncles.  The third lasted only to be about a year older than I am now, and was down with cancer for most of his last two years.  So every day is a gift, but it also calls me to consider my days, how few are likely to be before me, and how I've used the ones already spent.  Not something that fills one with pride of accomplishment.  "Wasted Days and Wasted Nights" is not just the title of a song, it's the story of my life.  One of my responsibilities is to take care of Dear Wife, and with the money troubles that have been our constant companion for the last 9+ years, I haven't been able to carry that off very well, and it's getting worse. 
I believe in miracles, having seen a few, but we could use one about now.


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The Old Testament reading for the day is chapters 7, 8, and 9 of Amos, completing it.
Not the sort of message that the respectable and comfortable wanted to hear, nor would they wish to hear it even today.

Amos 7

1	Thus hath the Lord GOD shewed unto me; and, behold, he formed grasshoppers in the beginning of the shooting up of the latter growth; and, lo, it was the latter growth after the king's mowings.
2	And it came to pass, that when they had made an end of eating the grass of the land, then I said, O Lord GOD, forgive, I beseech thee: by whom shall Jacob arise? for he is small.
3	The LORD repented for this: It shall not be, saith the LORD.
4	Thus hath the Lord GOD shewed unto me: and, behold, the Lord GOD called to contend by fire, and it devoured the great deep, and did eat up a part.
5	Then said I, O Lord GOD, cease, I beseech thee: by whom shall Jacob arise? for he is small.
6	The LORD repented for this: This also shall not be, saith the Lord GOD.
7	Thus he shewed me: and, behold, the LORD stood upon a wall made by a plumbline, with a plumbline in his hand.
8	And the LORD said unto me, Amos, what seest thou? And I said, A plumbline. Then said the LORD, Behold, I will set a plumbline in the midst of my people Israel: I will not again pass by them any more:
9	And the high places of Isaac shall be desolate, and the sanctuaries of Israel shall be laid waste; and I will rise against the house of Jeroboam with the sword.
10	Then Amaziah the priest of Bethel sent to Jeroboam king of Israel, saying, Amos hath conspired against thee in the midst of the house of Israel: the land is not able to bear all his words.
11	For thus Amos saith, Jeroboam shall die by the sword, and Israel shall surely be led away captive out of their own land.
12	Also Amaziah said unto Amos, O thou seer, go, flee thee away into the land of Judah, and there eat bread, and prophesy there:
13	But prophesy not again any more at Bethel: for it is the king's chapel, and it is the king's court.
14	Then answered Amos, and said to Amaziah, I was no prophet, neither was I a prophet's son; but I was an herdman, and a gatherer of sycomore fruit:
15	And the LORD took me as I followed the flock, and the LORD said unto me, Go, prophesy unto my people Israel.
16	Now therefore hear thou the word of the LORD: Thou sayest, Prophesy not against Israel, and drop not thy word against the house of Isaac.
17	Therefore thus saith the LORD; Thy wife shall be an harlot in the city, and thy sons and thy daughters shall fall by the sword, and thy land shall be divided by line; and thou shalt die in a polluted land: and Israel shall surely go into captivity forth of his land.

Amos 8

1	Thus hath the Lord GOD shewed unto me: and behold a basket of summer fruit.
2	And he said, Amos, what seest thou? And I said, A basket of summer fruit. Then said the LORD unto me, The end is come upon my people of Israel; I will not again pass by them any more.
3	And the songs of the temple shall be howlings in that day, saith the Lord GOD: there shall be many dead bodies in every place; they shall cast them forth with silence.
4	Hear this, O ye that swallow up the needy, even to make the poor of the land to fail,
5	Saying, When will the new moon be gone, that we may sell corn? and the sabbath, that we may set forth wheat, making the ephah small, and the shekel great, and falsifying the balances by deceit?
6	That we may buy the poor for silver, and the needy for a pair of shoes; yea, and sell the refuse of the wheat?
7	The LORD hath sworn by the excellency of Jacob, Surely I will never forget any of their works.
8	Shall not the land tremble for this, and every one mourn that dwelleth therein? and it shall rise up wholly as a flood; and it shall be cast out and drowned, as by the flood of Egypt.
9	And it shall come to pass in that day, saith the Lord GOD, that I will cause the sun to go down at noon, and I will darken the earth in the clear day:
10	And I will turn your feasts into mourning, and all your songs into lamentation; and I will bring up sackcloth upon all loins, and baldness upon every head; and I will make it as the mourning of an only son, and the end thereof as a bitter day.
11	Behold, the days come, saith the Lord GOD, that I will send a famine in the land, not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the LORD:
12	And they shall wander from sea to sea, and from the north even to the east, they shall run to and fro to seek the word of the LORD, and shall not find it.
13	In that day shall the fair virgins and young men faint for thirst.
14	They that swear by the sin of Samaria, and say, Thy god, O Dan, liveth; and, The manner of Beersheba liveth; even they shall fall, and never rise up again.

Amos 9

1	I saw the LORD standing upon the altar: and he said, Smite the lintel of the door, that the posts may shake: and cut them in the head, all of them; and I will slay the last of them with the sword: he that fleeth of them shall not flee away, and he that escapeth of them shall not be delivered.
2	Though they dig into hell, thence shall mine hand take them; though they climb up to heaven, thence will I bring them down:
3	And though they hide themselves in the top of Carmel, I will search and take them out thence; and though they be hid from my sight in the bottom of the sea, thence will I command the serpent, and he shall bite them:
4	And though they go into captivity before their enemies, thence will I command the sword, and it shall slay them: and I will set mine eyes upon them for evil, and not for good.
5	And the Lord GOD of hosts is he that toucheth the land, and it shall melt, and all that dwell therein shall mourn: and it shall rise up wholly like a flood; and shall be drowned, as by the flood of Egypt.
6	It is he that buildeth his stories in the heaven, and hath founded his troop in the earth; he that calleth for the waters of the sea, and poureth them out upon the face of the earth: The LORD is his name.
7	Are ye not as children of the Ethiopians unto me, O children of Israel? saith the LORD. Have not I brought up Israel out of the land of Egypt? and the Philistines from Caphtor, and the Syrians from Kir?
8	Behold, the eyes of the Lord GOD are upon the sinful kingdom, and I will destroy it from off the face of the earth; saving that I will not utterly destroy the house of Jacob, saith the LORD.
9	For, lo, I will command, and I will sift the house of Israel among all nations, like as corn is sifted in a sieve, yet shall not the least grain fall upon the earth.
10	All the sinners of my people shall die by the sword, which say, The evil shall not overtake nor prevent us.
11	In that day will I raise up the tabernacle of David that is fallen, and close up the breaches thereof; and I will raise up his ruins, and I will build it as in the days of old:
12	That they may possess the remnant of Edom, and of all the heathen, which are called by my name, saith the LORD that doeth this.
13	Behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that the plowman shall overtake the reaper, and the treader of grapes him that soweth seed; and the mountains shall drop sweet wine, and all the hills shall melt.
14	And I will bring again the captivity of my people of Israel, and they shall build the waste cities, and inhabit them; and they shall plant vineyards, and drink the wine thereof; they shall also make gardens, and eat the fruit of them.
15	And I will plant them upon their land, and they shall no more be pulled up out of their land which I have given them, saith the LORD thy God.

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The New Testament reading this morning is chapter 7 of the Revelation.

Revelation 7

1	And after these things I saw four angels standing on the four corners of the earth, holding the four winds of the earth, that the wind should not blow on the earth, nor on the sea, nor on any tree.
2	And I saw another angel ascending from the east, having the seal of the living God: and he cried with a loud voice to the four angels, to whom it was given to hurt the earth and the sea,
3	Saying, Hurt not the earth, neither the sea, nor the trees, till we have sealed the servants of our God in their foreheads.
4	And I heard the number of them which were sealed: and there were sealed an hundred and forty and four thousand of all the tribes of the children of Israel.
5	Of the tribe of Juda were sealed twelve thousand. Of the tribe of Reuben were sealed twelve thousand. Of the tribe of Gad were sealed twelve thousand.
6	Of the tribe of Aser were sealed twelve thousand. Of the tribe of Nephthalim were sealed twelve thousand. Of the tribe of Manasses were sealed twelve thousand.
7	Of the tribe of Simeon were sealed twelve thousand. Of the tribe of Levi were sealed twelve thousand. Of the tribe of Issachar were sealed twelve thousand.
8	Of the tribe of Zabulon were sealed twelve thousand. Of the tribe of Joseph were sealed twelve thousand. Of the tribe of Benjamin were sealed twelve thousand.
9	After this I beheld, and, lo, a great multitude, which no man could number, of all nations, and kindreds, and people, and tongues, stood before the throne, and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, and palms in their hands;
10	And cried with a loud voice, saying, Salvation to our God which sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb.
11	And all the angels stood round about the throne, and about the elders and the four beasts, and fell before the throne on their faces, and worshipped God,
12	Saying, Amen: Blessing, and glory, and wisdom, and thanksgiving, and honour, and power, and might, be unto our God for ever and ever. Amen.
13	And one of the elders answered, saying unto me, What are these which are arrayed in white robes? and whence came they?
14	And I said unto him, Sir, thou knowest. And he said to me, These are they which came out of great tribulation, and have washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.
15	Therefore are they before the throne of God, and serve him day and night in his temple: and he that sitteth on the throne shall dwell among them.
16	They shall hunger no more, neither thirst any more; neither shall the sun light on them, nor any heat.
17	For the Lamb which is in the midst of the throne shall feed them, and shall lead them unto living fountains of waters: and God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes.