Today's Readings and Stuff == Sunday, 12 January, 2014

a good Sunday morning to all who stop by.
It appears that, barring some very fast healing, Dear Wife will be in not shape to venture out of the house to attend church services again this morning.  I confess to being discouraged, and to miss it.  But the Lord shall see to the situation.  Just don't know when or how.  He's driving this bus, I am not.

A bit above freezing for one more day.  After today ....  not quite.

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The Old Testament reading this morning is chapters 29 and 30 of the Genesis.  Jacob has lit out of town, probably saving his life from the wrath of Esau his brother.  Makes his way to the kinfolk.  And encounters the reality that the relatives are not only as sneaky as he is, they've got lots more experience at it.  The result is that he ends with with two wives out of it, something that hardly ever turns out to be a good thing.  (remember that, as the next "big push" to change the nation's culture is to open the door to polygamy and polyandry.).   Worse, he becomes sexually involved with wife's servant, and she gets pregnant also. Sounds like a bad soap operat, does it not?
He pulls something of a trickster nature on the in-laws with some success. 

Genesis 29

1	Then Jacob went on his journey and came to the land of the people of the east.
2	As he looked, he saw a well in the field, and behold, three flocks of sheep lying beside it, for out of that well the flocks were watered. The stone on the well’s mouth was large,
3	and when all the flocks were gathered there, the shepherds would roll the stone from the mouth of the well and water the sheep, and put the stone back in its place over the mouth of the well.
4	Jacob said to them, “My brothers, where do you come from?” They said, “We are from Haran.”
5	He said to them, “Do you know Laban the son of Nahor?” They said, “We know him.”
6	He said to them, “Is it well with him?” They said, “It is well; and see, Rachel his daughter is coming with the sheep!”
7	He said, “Behold, it is still high day; it is not time for the livestock to be gathered together. Water the sheep and go, pasture them.”
8	But they said, “We cannot until all the flocks are gathered together and the stone is rolled from the mouth of the well; then we water the sheep.”
9	While he was still speaking with them, Rachel came with her father’s sheep, for she was a shepherdess.
10	Now as soon as Jacob saw Rachel the daughter of Laban his mother’s brother, and the sheep of Laban his mother’s brother, Jacob came near and rolled the stone from the well’s mouth and watered the flock of Laban his mother’s brother.
11	Then Jacob kissed Rachel and wept aloud.
12	And Jacob told Rachel that he was her father’s kinsman, and that he was Rebekah’s son, and she ran and told her father.
13	As soon as Laban heard the news about Jacob, his sister’s son, he ran to meet him and embraced him and kissed him and brought him to his house. Jacob told Laban all these things,
14	and Laban said to him, “Surely you are my bone and my flesh!” And he stayed with him a month.
15	Then Laban said to Jacob, “Because you are my kinsman, should you therefore serve me for nothing? Tell me, what shall your wages be?”
16	Now Laban had two daughters. The name of the older was Leah, and the name of the younger was Rachel.
17	Leah’s eyes were weak, but Rachel was beautiful in form and appearance.
18	Jacob loved Rachel. And he said, “I will serve you seven years for your younger daughter Rachel.”
19	Laban said, “It is better that I give her to you than that I should give her to any other man; stay with me.”
20	So Jacob served seven years for Rachel, and they seemed to him but a few days because of the love he had for her.
21	Then Jacob said to Laban, “Give me my wife that I may go in to her, for my time is completed.”
22	So Laban gathered together all the people of the place and made a feast.
23	But in the evening he took his daughter Leah and brought her to Jacob, and he went in to her.
24	(Laban gave his female servant Zilpah to his daughter Leah to be her servant.)
25	And in the morning, behold, it was Leah! And Jacob said to Laban, “What is this you have done to me? Did I not serve with you for Rachel? Why then have you deceived me?”
26	Laban said, “It is not so done in our country, to give the younger before the firstborn.
27	“Complete the week of this one, and we will give you the other also in return for serving me another seven years.”
28	Jacob did so, and completed her week. Then Laban gave him his daughter Rachel to be his wife.
29	(Laban gave his female servant Bilhah to his daughter Rachel to be her servant.)
30	So Jacob went in to Rachel also, and he loved Rachel more than Leah, and served Laban for another seven years.
31	When the Lord saw that Leah was hated, he opened her womb, but Rachel was barren.
32	And Leah conceived and bore a son, and she called his name Reuben, for she said, “Because the Lord has looked upon my affliction; for now my husband will love me.”
33	She conceived again and bore a son, and said, “Because the Lord has heard that I am hated, he has given me this son also.” And she called his name Simeon.
34	Again she conceived and bore a son, and said, “Now this time my husband will be attached to me, because I have borne him three sons.” Therefore his name was called Levi.
35	And she conceived again and bore a son, and said, “This time I will praise the Lord.” Therefore she called his name Judah. Then she ceased bearing.

Genesis 30

1	When Rachel saw that she bore Jacob no children, she envied her sister. She said to Jacob, “Give me children, or I shall die!”
2	Jacob’s anger was kindled against Rachel, and he said, “Am I in the place of God, who has withheld from you the fruit of the womb?”
3	Then she said, “Here is my servant Bilhah; go in to her, so that she may give birth on my behalf, that even I may have children through her.”
4	So she gave him her servant Bilhah as a wife, and Jacob went in to her.
5	And Bilhah conceived and bore Jacob a son.
6	Then Rachel said, “God has judged me, and has also heard my voice and given me a son.” Therefore she called his name Dan.
7	Rachel’s servant Bilhah conceived again and bore Jacob a second son.
8	Then Rachel said, “With mighty wrestlings I have wrestled with my sister and have prevailed.” So she called his name Naphtali.
9	When Leah saw that she had ceased bearing children, she took her servant Zilpah and gave her to Jacob as a wife.
10	Then Leah’s servant Zilpah bore Jacob a son.
11	And Leah said, “Good fortune has come!” so she called his name Gad.
12	Leah’s servant Zilpah bore Jacob a second son.
13	And Leah said, “Happy am I! For women have called me happy.” So she called his name Asher.
14	In the days of wheat harvest Reuben went and found mandrakes in the field and brought them to his mother Leah. Then Rachel said to Leah, “Please give me some of your son’s mandrakes.”
15	But she said to her, “Is it a small matter that you have taken away my husband? Would you take away my son’s mandrakes also?” Rachel said, “Then he may lie with you tonight in exchange for your son’s mandrakes.”
16	When Jacob came from the field in the evening, Leah went out to meet him and said, “You must come in to me, for I have hired you with my son’s mandrakes.” So he lay with her that night.
17	And God listened to Leah, and she conceived and bore Jacob a fifth son.
18	Leah said, “God has given me my wages because I gave my servant to my husband.” So she called his name Issachar.
19	And Leah conceived again, and she bore Jacob a sixth son.
20	Then Leah said, “God has endowed me with a good endowment; now my husband will honor me, because I have borne him six sons.” So she called his name Zebulun.
21	Afterward she bore a daughter and called her name Dinah.
22	Then God remembered Rachel, and God listened to her and opened her womb.
23	She conceived and bore a son and said, “God has taken away my reproach.”
24	And she called his name Joseph, saying, “May the Lord add to me another son!”
25	As soon as Rachel had borne Joseph, Jacob said to Laban, “Send me away, that I may go to my own home and country.
26	“Give me my wives and my children for whom I have served you, that I may go, for you know the service that I have given you.”
27	But Laban said to him, “If I have found favor in your sight, I have learned by divination that the Lord has blessed me because of you.
28	“Name your wages, and I will give it.”
29	Jacob said to him, “You yourself know how I have served you, and how your livestock has fared with me.
30	“For you had little before I came, and it has increased abundantly, and the Lord has blessed you wherever I turned. But now when shall I provide for my own household also?”
31	He said, “What shall I give you?” Jacob said, “You shall not give me anything. If you will do this for me, I will again pasture your flock and keep it:
32	“let me pass through all your flock today, removing from it every speckled and spotted sheep and every black lamb, and the spotted and speckled among the goats, and they shall be my wages.
33	“So my honesty will answer for me later, when you come to look into my wages with you. Every one that is not speckled and spotted among the goats and black among the lambs, if found with me, shall be counted stolen.”
34	Laban said, “Good! Let it be as you have said.”
35	But that day Laban removed the male goats that were striped and spotted, and all the female goats that were speckled and spotted, every one that had white on it, and every lamb that was black, and put them in the charge of his sons.
36	And he set a distance of three days’ journey between himself and Jacob, and Jacob pastured the rest of Laban’s flock.
37	Then Jacob took fresh sticks of poplar and almond and plane trees, and peeled white streaks in them, exposing the white of the sticks.
38	He set the sticks that he had peeled in front of the flocks in the troughs, that is, the watering places, where the flocks came to drink. And since they bred when they came to drink,
39	the flocks bred in front of the sticks and so the flocks brought forth striped, speckled, and spotted.
40	And Jacob separated the lambs and set the faces of the flocks toward the striped and all the black in the flock of Laban. He put his own droves apart and did not put them with Laban’s flock.
41	Whenever the stronger of the flock were breeding, Jacob would lay the sticks in the troughs before the eyes of the flock, that they might breed among the sticks,
42	but for the feebler of the flock he would not lay them there. So the feebler would be Laban’s, and the stronger Jacob’s.
43	Thus the man increased greatly and had large flocks, female servants and male servants, and camels and donkeys.

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The New Testament reading is verses 1-23 in the 10th chapter of the Gospel of Matthew.
Jesus is sending out th Twelve, with a mission.  Pay attention to it, it pretty well applies to us as well.

Matthew 10:1-23

1	And he called to him his twelve disciples and gave them authority over unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to heal every disease and every affliction.
2	The names of the twelve apostles are these: first, Simon, who is called Peter, and Andrew his brother; James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother;
3	Philip and Bartholomew; Thomas and Matthew the tax collector; James the son of Alphaeus, and Thaddaeus;
4	Simon the Zealot, and Judas Iscariot, who betrayed him.
5	These twelve Jesus sent out, instructing them, “Go nowhere among the Gentiles and enter no town of the Samaritans,
6	“but go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.
7	“And proclaim as you go, saying, ‘The kingdom of heaven is at hand.’
8	“Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse lepers, cast out demons. You received without paying; give without pay.
9	“Acquire no gold or silver or copper for your belts,
10	“no bag for your journey, or two tunics or sandals or a staff, for the laborer deserves his food.
11	“And whatever town or village you enter, find out who is worthy in it and stay there until you depart.
12	“As you enter the house, greet it.
13	“And if the house is worthy, let your peace come upon it, but if it is not worthy, let your peace return to you.
14	“And if anyone will not receive you or listen to your words, shake off the dust from your feet when you leave that house or town.
15	“Truly, I say to you, it will be more bearable on the day of judgment for the land of Sodom and Gomorrah than for that town.
16	“Behold, I am sending you out as sheep in the midst of wolves, so be wise as serpents and innocent as doves.
17	“Beware of men, for they will deliver you over to courts and flog you in their synagogues,
18	“and you will be dragged before governors and kings for my sake, to bear witness before them and the Gentiles.
19	“When they deliver you over, do not be anxious how you are to speak or what you are to say, for what you are to say will be given to you in that hour.
20	“For it is not you who speak, but the Spirit of your Father speaking through you.
21	“Brother will deliver brother over to death, and the father his child, and children will rise against parents and have them put to death,
22	“and you will be hated by all for my name’s sake. But the one who endures to the end will be saved.
23	“When they persecute you in one town, flee to the next, for truly, I say to you, you will not have gone through all the towns of Israel before the Son of Man comes.