Today's Readings and Stuff -- Wednesday, 07 May 2014

a bit groggy this morning.  Yesterday's dentist visit included a lot of painkiller injections and stuff and then a whole lot of work "under the hood".  They made me sign a paper vowing I wouldn't drive for 24 hours afterwards.  However, since Dear Wife is legally blind and no longer has a license, I had to drive home.  She acted as co-pilot which helped some.  We got back home around noon and I collapsed, essentially until a very short while ago.  At least I don't have the wad of blood-soaked gauze in the mouth any more, that was gross.  And I was able to eat a pancake, though was careful to keep everything on the other side of the mouth.  Likely to be the case for several weeks.
The dental work they've been doing on both of us is long overdue.  In my case, work was supposed to have been done a year and a half ago, but my then-employer kept botching my work schedule, often literally at a moment's notice, and several appointments had to be cancelled, which did not make the dentists' offices very happy, and I can't blame them.  And Dear Wife's work had to be likewise deferred, not only out of the high costs to us as a result of a less-than-great insurance coverage through my work, but also because I had no reliable way to get her to appointments. Another result of my constantly-adjusted schedules.  So she endured nearly two years of misery due to that.  Being dalt with now, but she's down to about 3 teeth in her head, all on the bottom, and has been so since January.  The dentures are probably another week or two out:  they did "final" fitting yesterday.  I'm told the insurance is covering a "partial" denture for me, which would be nice, I'm running out of teeth that match up lower/upper, meaning I have teeth that can't be used.  No fun.
Again, had my then-employer not been world-class in the competition for breaking promises, things would have been far better for all.  I miss working.  I don't miss being lied to on a daily basis.  Don't think too many people would disagree with that.
Character counts.  The lack of it shows.

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The Old Testament reading is chapters 14 and 15 of 1st Kings.  The overall moral character of the nation(s) continues to fall with only occasional interruptions.  And we note that the Lord removes His hand of protection around that same time, as we see when the Egyptian army shows up.
Think that can't happen again?

I Kings 14

1	At that time Abijah the son of Jeroboam fell sick.
2	And Jeroboam said to his wife, “Arise, and disguise yourself, that it not be known that you are the wife of Jeroboam, and go to Shiloh. Behold, Ahijah the prophet is there, who said of me that I should be king over this people.
3	“Take with you ten loaves, some cakes, and a jar of honey, and go to him. He will tell you what shall happen to the child.”
4	Jeroboam’s wife did so. She arose and went to Shiloh and came to the house of Ahijah. Now Ahijah could not see, for his eyes were dim because of his age.
5	And the Lord said to Ahijah, “Behold, the wife of Jeroboam is coming to inquire of you concerning her son, for he is sick. Thus and thus shall you say to her.” When she came, she pretended to be another woman.
6	But when Ahijah heard the sound of her feet, as she came in at the door, he said, “Come in, wife of Jeroboam. Why do you pretend to be another? For I am charged with unbearable news for you.
7	“Go, tell Jeroboam, ‘Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel: “Because I exalted you from among the people and made you leader over my people Israel
8	“‘“and tore the kingdom away from the house of David and gave it to you, and yet you have not been like my servant David, who kept my commandments and followed me with all his heart, doing only that which was right in my eyes,
9	“‘“but you have done evil above all who were before you and have gone and made for yourself other gods and metal images, provoking me to anger, and have cast me behind your back,
10	“‘“therefore behold, I will bring harm upon the house of Jeroboam and will cut off from Jeroboam every male, both bond and free in Israel, and will burn up the house of Jeroboam, as a man burns up dung until it is all gone.
11	“‘“Anyone belonging to Jeroboam who dies in the city the dogs shall eat, and anyone who dies in the open country the birds of the heavens shall eat, for the Lord has spoken it.”’
12	“Arise therefore, go to your house. When your feet enter the city, the child shall die.
13	“And all Israel shall mourn for him and bury him, for he only of Jeroboam shall come to the grave, because in him there is found something pleasing to the Lord, the God of Israel, in the house of Jeroboam.
14	“Moreover, the Lord will raise up for himself a king over Israel who shall cut off the house of Jeroboam today. And henceforth,
15	“the Lord will strike Israel as a reed is shaken in the water, and root up Israel out of this good land that he gave to their fathers and scatter them beyond the Euphrates, because they have made their Asherim, provoking the Lord to anger.
16	“And he will give Israel up because of the sins of Jeroboam, which he sinned and made Israel to sin.”
17	Then Jeroboam’s wife arose and departed and came to Tirzah. And as she came to the threshold of the house, the child died.
18	And all Israel buried him and mourned for him, according to the word of the Lord, which he spoke by his servant Ahijah the prophet.
19	Now the rest of the acts of Jeroboam, how he warred and how he reigned, behold, they are written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Israel.
20	And the time that Jeroboam reigned was twenty-two years. And he slept with his fathers, and Nadab his son reigned in his place.
21	Now Rehoboam the son of Solomon reigned in Judah. Rehoboam was forty-one years old when he began to reign, and he reigned seventeen years in Jerusalem, the city that the Lord had chosen out of all the tribes of Israel, to put his name there. His mother’s name was Naamah the Ammonite.
22	And Judah did what was evil in the sight of the Lord, and they provoked him to jealousy with their sins that they committed, more than all that their fathers had done.
23	For they also built for themselves high places and pillars and Asherim on every high hill and under every green tree,
24	and there were also male cult prostitutes in the land. They did according to all the abominations of the nations that the Lord drove out before the people of Israel.
25	In the fifth year of King Rehoboam, Shishak king of Egypt came up against Jerusalem.
26	He took away the treasures of the house of the Lord and the treasures of the king’s house. He took away everything. He also took away all the shields of gold that Solomon had made,
27	and King Rehoboam made in their place shields of bronze, and committed them to the hands of the officers of the guard, who kept the door of the king’s house.
28	And as often as the king went into the house of the Lord, the guard carried them and brought them back to the guardroom.
29	Now the rest of the acts of Rehoboam and all that he did, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Judah?
30	And there was war between Rehoboam and Jeroboam continually.
31	And Rehoboam slept with his fathers and was buried with his fathers in the city of David. His mother’s name was Naamah the Ammonite. And Abijam his son reigned in his place.

I Kings 15

1	Now in the eighteenth year of King Jeroboam the son of Nebat, Abijam began to reign over Judah.
2	He reigned for three years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Maacah the daughter of Abishalom.
3	And he walked in all the sins that his father did before him, and his heart was not wholly true to the Lord his God, as the heart of David his father.
4	Nevertheless, for David’s sake the Lord his God gave him a lamp in Jerusalem, setting up his son after him, and establishing Jerusalem,
5	because David did what was right in the eyes of the Lord and did not turn aside from anything that he commanded him all the days of his life, except in the matter of Uriah the Hittite.
6	Now there was war between Rehoboam and Jeroboam all the days of his life.
7	The rest of the acts of Abijam and all that he did, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Judah? And there was war between Abijam and Jeroboam.
8	And Abijam slept with his fathers, and they buried him in the city of David. And Asa his son reigned in his place.
9	In the twentieth year of Jeroboam king of Israel, Asa began to reign over Judah,
10	and he reigned forty-one years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Maacah the daughter of Abishalom.
11	And Asa did what was right in the eyes of the Lord, as David his father had done.
12	He put away the male cult prostitutes out of the land and removed all the idols that his fathers had made.
13	He also removed Maacah his mother from being queen mother because she had made an abominable image for Asherah. And Asa cut down her image and burned it at the brook Kidron.
14	But the high places were not taken away. Nevertheless, the heart of Asa was wholly true to the Lord all his days.
15	And he brought into the house of the Lord the sacred gifts of his father and his own sacred gifts, silver, and gold, and vessels.
16	And there was war between Asa and Baasha king of Israel all their days.
17	Baasha king of Israel went up against Judah and built Ramah, that he might permit no one to go out or come in to Asa king of Judah.
18	Then Asa took all the silver and the gold that were left in the treasures of the house of the Lord and the treasures of the king’s house and gave them into the hands of his servants. And King Asa sent them to Ben-hadad the son of Tabrimmon, the son of Hezion, king of Syria, who lived in Damascus, saying,
19	“Let there be a covenant between me and you, as there was between my father and your father. Behold, I am sending to you a present of silver and gold. Go, break your covenant with Baasha king of Israel, that he may withdraw from me.”
20	And Ben-hadad listened to King Asa and sent the commanders of his armies against the cities of Israel and conquered Ijon, Dan, Abel-beth-maacah, and all Chinneroth, with all the land of Naphtali.
21	And when Baasha heard of it, he stopped building Ramah, and he lived in Tirzah.
22	Then King Asa made a proclamation to all Judah, none was exempt, and they carried away the stones of Ramah and its timber, with which Baasha had been building, and with them King Asa built Geba of Benjamin and Mizpah.
23	Now the rest of all the acts of Asa, all his might, and all that he did, and the cities that he built, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Judah? But in his old age he was diseased in his feet.
24	And Asa slept with his fathers and was buried with his fathers in the city of David his father, and Jehoshaphat his son reigned in his place.
25	Nadab the son of Jeroboam began to reign over Israel in the second year of Asa king of Judah, and he reigned over Israel two years.
26	He did what was evil in the sight of the Lord and walked in the way of his father, and in his sin which he made Israel to sin.
27	Baasha the son of Ahijah, of the house of Issachar, conspired against him. And Baasha struck him down at Gibbethon, which belonged to the Philistines, for Nadab and all Israel were laying siege to Gibbethon.
28	So Baasha killed him in the third year of Asa king of Judah and reigned in his place.
29	And as soon as he was king, he killed all the house of Jeroboam. He left to the house of Jeroboam not one that breathed, until he had destroyed it, according to the word of the Lord that he spoke by his servant Ahijah the Shilonite.
30	It was for the sins of Jeroboam that he sinned and that he made Israel to sin, and because of the anger to which he provoked the Lord, the God of Israel.
31	Now the rest of the acts of Nadab and all that he did, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Israel?
32	And there was war between Asa and Baasha king of Israel all their days.
33	In the third year of Asa king of Judah, Baasha the son of Ahijah began to reign over all Israel at Tirzah, and he reigned twenty-four years.
34	He did what was evil in the sight of the Lord and walked in the way of Jeroboam and in his sin which he made Israel to sin.

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The New Testament reading is verses 1-28 in chapter 1 of the Gospel of John.
This is one of those sections that should be very familiar to any Christian, if not committed to memory.  A lot of what we believe is contained here.

John 1:1-28

1	In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
2	He was in the beginning with God.
3	All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made.
4	In him was life, and the life was the light of men.
5	The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.
6	There was a man sent from God, whose name was John.
7	He came as a witness, to bear witness about the light, that all might believe through him.
8	He was not the light, but came to bear witness about the light.
9	The true light, which gives light to everyone, was coming into the world.
10	He was in the world, and the world was made through him, yet the world did not know him.
11	He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him.
12	But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God,
13	who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.
14	And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.
15	(John bore witness about him, and cried out, “This was he of whom I said, ‘He who comes after me ranks before me, because he was before me.’”)
16	For from his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace.
17	For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.
18	No one has ever seen God; the only God, who is at the Father’s side, he has made him known.
19	And this is the testimony of John, when the Jews sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him, “Who are you?”
20	He confessed, and did not deny, but confessed, “I am not the Christ.”
21	And they asked him, “What then? Are you Elijah?” He said, “I am not.” “Are you the Prophet?” And he answered, “No.”
22	So they said to him, “Who are you? We need to give an answer to those who sent us. What do you say about yourself?”
23	He said, “I am the voice of one crying out in the wilderness, ‘Make straight the way of the Lord,’ as the prophet Isaiah said.”
24	(Now they had been sent from the Pharisees.)
25	They asked him, “Then why are you baptizing, if you are neither the Christ, nor Elijah, nor the Prophet?”
26	John answered them, “I baptize with water, but among you stands one you do not know,
27	“even he who comes after me, the strap of whose sandal I am not worthy to untie.”
28	These things took place in Bethany across the Jordan, where John was baptizing.