Today's Readings and Stuff --- Thursday, 09 June 2016

A bit better today.
I awoke this morning to a temperature of 47 degrees. We are less than two weeks from the official start of Summer (one of my least favorite days), and we have temps in the 40's!  Yesterday's "high" was 63, the day before was up to 67.  Making it all the way up to 70 today, which I guess is an improvement.  We have the screened windows open, but no A/C running, which is pretty sensible.  Lets us air out the place.  And for free at that, so that's good.  I guess.

And the availability of A/C is nice, even in the relatively cool (compared to our experiences throughout the South) temps we have here.  The last 3-1/2 to 4 years in central Alabama, we had no A/C.  Let me repeat that:  we lived for nearly four YEARS in one of the the hottest, most humid parts of these United States, and had no Air Conditioning.  Poverty and circumstances combined to  hit us pretty hard.  We'd pretty much lost everything in the few years prior to our arrival there, and were living in a trailer in a trailer park.  Which was bad enough.  But then the heat pump arrangement that provided cooling in summer and heat in winter died, repair was not possible and replacement was beyond our means.  By far.  The little electric space heaters we picked up got us through the mild winter.  Summer was another matter.  The trailer park absolutely prohibited window-type A/C units.  The excuse was the noise they make, which is a real thing.  Park owner was determined that it be somewhat up-scale (don't laugh -- see some of the retirement parks you see in Florida and the Gulf Coast), not occupied with "trailer trash.  Do I need to explain the term?  Anyway, the job I was working was a fallback position when my original employer pretty much folded up.  The position was promised as a temporary one, at a salary about half my normal one, which was a training/transition role (until they had it together to fire the person I was to replace) for maybe 6-8 weeks at which point the salary would bump up to match the new role.  The transition never happened, so the bump up didn't either.  That was right around the time the economy took a dive and suddenly being a heterosexual white male over 47 was a ticket to unemployable.  Low pay seemed better than no pay, so we stayed.  In the heat.  We bought one of those "portable" A/C - dehumidifier units, stuck it on top of a plastic tub, set a vent in the window, and put fans throughout the house.  Best we could do.  (And the pay increase that I was promise to be in the next payroll never happened.  That was in July.  Of 2009).  But when Dear Wife's health went into steep decline, her ability to handle temperatures did too:  that missing thyroid gland, in combination with menopause, had a lot to do with that.  So we moved, and now have a couple (old and used) A/C units in the windows.

I mentioned that first day of Summer is one of those "least favorite days" to me.  Well, that marks the longest day of the year, meaning day vs. night.  From that point forward, the hours of sunlight begin to lessen, the hours of darkness increase, and Winter is coming.  A long way off, but coming.  Since by my reckoning, cold weather begins in mid-September (I can recall snow on the ground on Halloween) and lasts until well into April (remember that we had snow here on May 15th!), cold is a very real thing and I hate it terribly and always have.

Dear Wife was feeling well enough to go next door to "watch" the Beloved Great Niece, just got home after being so occupied since around 07:00.  We get by.

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The Old Testament reading is chapters 29, 30, and 31 of 2nd Chronicles.  Hezekiah. 
Hezekiah was probably the last of the good kings.  Things are about to collapse.

II Chronicles 29

1	Hezekiah began to reign when he was five and twenty years old, and he reigned nine and twenty years in Jerusalem. And his mother's name was Abijah, the daughter of Zechariah.
2	And he did that which was right in the sight of the LORD, according to all that David his father had done.
3	He in the first year of his reign, in the first month, opened the doors of the house of the LORD, and repaired them.
4	And he brought in the priests and the Levites, and gathered them together into the east street,
5	And said unto them, Hear me, ye Levites, sanctify now yourselves, and sanctify the house of the LORD God of your fathers, and carry forth the filthiness out of the holy place.
6	For our fathers have trespassed, and done that which was evil in the eyes of the LORD our God, and have forsaken him, and have turned away their faces from the habitation of the LORD, and turned their backs.
7	Also they have shut up the doors of the porch, and put out the lamps, and have not burned incense nor offered burnt offerings in the holy place unto the God of Israel.
8	Wherefore the wrath of the LORD was upon Judah and Jerusalem, and he hath delivered them to trouble, to astonishment, and to hissing, as ye see with your eyes.
9	For, lo, our fathers have fallen by the sword, and our sons and our daughters and our wives are in captivity for this.
10	Now it is in mine heart to make a covenant with the LORD God of Israel, that his fierce wrath may turn away from us.
11	My sons, be not now negligent: for the LORD hath chosen you to stand before him, to serve him, and that ye should minister unto him, and burn incense.
12	Then the Levites arose, Mahath the son of Amasai, and Joel the son of Azariah, of the sons of the Kohathites: and of the sons of Merari, Kish the son of Abdi, and Azariah the son of Jehalelel: and of the Gershonites; Joah the son of Zimmah, and Eden the son of Joah:
13	And of the sons of Elizaphan; Shimri, and Jeiel: and of the sons of Asaph; Zechariah, and Mattaniah:
14	And of the sons of Heman; Jehiel, and Shimei: and of the sons of Jeduthun; Shemaiah, and Uzziel.
15	And they gathered their brethren, and sanctified themselves, and came, according to the commandment of the king, by the words of the LORD, to cleanse the house of the LORD.
16	And the priests went into the inner part of the house of the LORD, to cleanse it, and brought out all the uncleanness that they found in the temple of the LORD into the court of the house of the LORD. And the Levites took it, to carry it out abroad into the brook Kidron.
17	Now they began on the first day of the first month to sanctify, and on the eighth day of the month came they to the porch of the LORD: so they sanctified the house of the LORD in eight days; and in the sixteenth day of the first month they made an end.
18	Then they went in to Hezekiah the king, and said, We have cleansed all the house of the LORD, and the altar of burnt offering, with all the vessels thereof, and the shewbread table, with all the vessels thereof.
19	Moreover all the vessels, which king Ahaz in his reign did cast away in his transgression, have we prepared and sanctified, and, behold, they are before the altar of the LORD.
20	Then Hezekiah the king rose early, and gathered the rulers of the city, and went up to the house of the LORD.
21	And they brought seven bullocks, and seven rams, and seven lambs, and seven he goats, for a sin offering for the kingdom, and for the sanctuary, and for Judah. And he commanded the priests the sons of Aaron to offer them on the altar of the LORD.
22	So they killed the bullocks, and the priests received the blood, and sprinkled it on the altar: likewise, when they had killed the rams, they sprinkled the blood upon the altar: they killed also the lambs, and they sprinkled the blood upon the altar.
23	And they brought forth the he goats for the sin offering before the king and the congregation; and they laid their hands upon them:
24	And the priests killed them, and they made reconciliation with their blood upon the altar, to make an atonement for all Israel: for the king commanded that the burnt offering and the sin offering should be made for all Israel.
25	And he set the Levites in the house of the LORD with cymbals, with psalteries, and with harps, according to the commandment of David, and of Gad the king's seer, and Nathan the prophet: for so was the commandment of the LORD by his prophets.
26	And the Levites stood with the instruments of David, and the priests with the trumpets.
27	And Hezekiah commanded to offer the burnt offering upon the altar. And when the burnt offering began, the song of the LORD began also with the trumpets, and with the instruments ordained by David king of Israel.
28	And all the congregation worshipped, and the singers sang, and the trumpeters sounded: and all this continued until the burnt offering was finished.
29	And when they had made an end of offering, the king and all that were present with him bowed themselves, and worshipped.
30	Moreover Hezekiah the king and the princes commanded the Levites to sing praise unto the LORD with the words of David, and of Asaph the seer. And they sang praises with gladness, and they bowed their heads and worshipped.
31	Then Hezekiah answered and said, Now ye have consecrated yourselves unto the LORD, come near and bring sacrifices and thank offerings into the house of the LORD. And the congregation brought in sacrifices and thank offerings; and as many as were of a free heart burnt offerings.
32	And the number of the burnt offerings, which the congregation brought, was threescore and ten bullocks, an hundred rams, and two hundred lambs: all these were for a burnt offering to the LORD.
33	And the consecrated things were six hundred oxen and three thousand sheep.
34	But the priests were too few, so that they could not flay all the burnt offerings: wherefore their brethren the Levites did help them, till the work was ended, and until the other priests had sanctified themselves: for the Levites were more upright in heart to sanctify themselves than the priests.
35	And also the burnt offerings were in abundance, with the fat of the peace offerings, and the drink offerings for every burnt offering. So the service of the house of the LORD was set in order.
36	And Hezekiah rejoiced, and all the people, that God had prepared the people: for the thing was done suddenly.

II Chronicles 30

1	And Hezekiah sent to all Israel and Judah, and wrote letters also to Ephraim and Manasseh, that they should come to the house of the LORD at Jerusalem, to keep the passover unto the LORD God of Israel.
2	For the king had taken counsel, and his princes, and all the congregation in Jerusalem, to keep the passover in the second month.
3	For they could not keep it at that time, because the priests had not sanctified themselves sufficiently, neither had the people gathered themselves together to Jerusalem.
4	And the thing pleased the king and all the congregation.
5	So they established a decree to make proclamation throughout all Israel, from Beersheba even to Dan, that they should come to keep the passover unto the LORD God of Israel at Jerusalem: for they had not done it of a long time in such sort as it was written.
6	So the posts went with the letters from the king and his princes throughout all Israel and Judah, and according to the commandment of the king, saying, Ye children of Israel, turn again unto the LORD God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, and he will return to the remnant of you, that are escaped out of the hand of the kings of Assyria.
7	And be not ye like your fathers, and like your brethren, which trespassed against the LORD God of their fathers, who therefore gave them up to desolation, as ye see.
8	Now be ye not stiffnecked, as your fathers were, but yield yourselves unto the LORD, and enter into his sanctuary, which he hath sanctified for ever: and serve the LORD your God, that the fierceness of his wrath may turn away from you.
9	For if ye turn again unto the LORD, your brethren and your children shall find compassion before them that lead them captive, so that they shall come again into this land: for the LORD your God is gracious and merciful, and will not turn away his face from you, if ye return unto him.
10	So the posts passed from city to city through the country of Ephraim and Manasseh even unto Zebulun: but they laughed them to scorn, and mocked them.
11	Nevertheless divers of Asher and Manasseh and of Zebulun humbled themselves, and came to Jerusalem.
12	Also in Judah the hand of God was to give them one heart to do the commandment of the king and of the princes, by the word of the LORD.
13	And there assembled at Jerusalem much people to keep the feast of unleavened bread in the second month, a very great congregation.
14	And they arose and took away the altars that were in Jerusalem, and all the altars for incense took they away, and cast them into the brook Kidron.
15	Then they killed the passover on the fourteenth day of the second month: and the priests and the Levites were ashamed, and sanctified themselves, and brought in the burnt offerings into the house of the LORD.
16	And they stood in their place after their manner, according to the law of Moses the man of God: the priests sprinkled the blood, which they received of the hand of the Levites.
17	For there were many in the congregation that were not sanctified: therefore the Levites had the charge of the killing of the passovers for every one that was not clean, to sanctify them unto the LORD.
18	For a multitude of the people, even many of Ephraim, and Manasseh, Issachar, and Zebulun, had not cleansed themselves, yet did they eat the passover otherwise than it was written. But Hezekiah prayed for them, saying, The good LORD pardon every one
19	That prepareth his heart to seek God, the LORD God of his fathers, though he be not cleansed according to the purification of the sanctuary.
20	And the LORD hearkened to Hezekiah, and healed the people.
21	And the children of Israel that were present at Jerusalem kept the feast of unleavened bread seven days with great gladness: and the Levites and the priests praised the LORD day by day, singing with loud instruments unto the LORD.
22	And Hezekiah spake comfortably unto all the Levites that taught the good knowledge of the LORD: and they did eat throughout the feast seven days, offering peace offerings, and making confession to the LORD God of their fathers.
23	And the whole assembly took counsel to keep other seven days: and they kept other seven days with gladness.
24	For Hezekiah king of Judah did give to the congregation a thousand bullocks and seven thousand sheep; and the princes gave to the congregation a thousand bullocks and ten thousand sheep: and a great number of priests sanctified themselves.
25	And all the congregation of Judah, with the priests and the Levites, and all the congregation that came out of Israel, and the strangers that came out of the land of Israel, and that dwelt in Judah, rejoiced.
26	So there was great joy in Jerusalem: for since the time of Solomon the son of David king of Israel there was not the like in Jerusalem.
27	Then the priests the Levites arose and blessed the people: and their voice was heard, and their prayer came up to his holy dwelling place, even unto heaven.

II Chronicles 31

1	Now when all this was finished, all Israel that were present went out to the cities of Judah, and brake the images in pieces, and cut down the groves, and threw down the high places and the altars out of all Judah and Benjamin, in Ephraim also and Manasseh, until they had utterly destroyed them all. Then all the children of Israel returned, every man to his possession, into their own cities.
2	And Hezekiah appointed the courses of the priests and the Levites after their courses, every man according to his service, the priests and Levites for burnt offerings and for peace offerings, to minister, and to give thanks, and to praise in the gates of the tents of the LORD.
3	He appointed also the king's portion of his substance for the burnt offerings, to wit, for the morning and evening burnt offerings, and the burnt offerings for the sabbaths, and for the new moons, and for the set feasts, as it is written in the law of the LORD.
4	Moreover he commanded the people that dwelt in Jerusalem to give the portion of the priests and the Levites, that they might be encouraged in the law of the LORD.
5	And as soon as the commandment came abroad, the children of Israel brought in abundance the firstfruits of corn, wine, and oil, and honey, and of all the increase of the field; and the tithe of all things brought they in abundantly.
6	And concerning the children of Israel and Judah, that dwelt in the cities of Judah, they also brought in the tithe of oxen and sheep, and the tithe of holy things which were consecrated unto the LORD their God, and laid them by heaps.
7	In the third month they began to lay the foundation of the heaps, and finished them in the seventh month.
8	And when Hezekiah and the princes came and saw the heaps, they blessed the LORD, and his people Israel.
9	Then Hezekiah questioned with the priests and the Levites concerning the heaps.
10	And Azariah the chief priest of the house of Zadok answered him, and said, Since the people began to bring the offerings into the house of the LORD, we have had enough to eat, and have left plenty: for the LORD hath blessed his people; and that which is left is this great store.
11	Then Hezekiah commanded to prepare chambers in the house of the LORD; and they prepared them,
12	And brought in the offerings and the tithes and the dedicated things faithfully: over which Cononiah the Levite was ruler, and Shimei his brother was the next.
13	And Jehiel, and Azaziah, and Nahath, and Asahel, and Jerimoth, and Jozabad, and Eliel, and Ismachiah, and Mahath, and Benaiah, were overseers under the hand of Cononiah and Shimei his brother, at the commandment of Hezekiah the king, and Azariah the ruler of the house of God.
14	And Kore the son of Imnah the Levite, the porter toward the east, was over the freewill offerings of God, to distribute the oblations of the LORD, and the most holy things.
15	And next him were Eden, and Miniamin, and Jeshua, and Shemaiah, Amariah, and Shecaniah, in the cities of the priests, in their set office, to give to their brethren by courses, as well to the great as to the small:
16	Beside their genealogy of males, from three years old and upward, even unto every one that entereth into the house of the LORD, his daily portion for their service in their charges according to their courses;
17	Both to the genealogy of the priests by the house of their fathers, and the Levites from twenty years old and upward, in their charges by their courses;
18	And to the genealogy of all their little ones, their wives, and their sons, and their daughters, through all the congregation: for in their set office they sanctified themselves in holiness:
19	Also of the sons of Aaron the priests, which were in the fields of the suburbs of their cities, in every several city, the men that were expressed by name, to give portions to all the males among the priests, and to all that were reckoned by genealogies among the Levites.
20	And thus did Hezekiah throughout all Judah, and wrought that which was good and right and truth before the LORD his God.
21	And in every work that he began in the service of the house of God, and in the law, and in the commandments, to seek his God, he did it with all his heart, and prospered.

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The New Testament reading is verses 1-23 in the 18th chapter from the Gospel of John.

John 18:1-23

1	When Jesus had spoken these words, he went forth with his disciples over the brook Cedron, where was a garden, into the which he entered, and his disciples.
2	And Judas also, which betrayed him, knew the place: for Jesus ofttimes resorted thither with his disciples.
3	Judas then, having received a band of men and officers from the chief priests and Pharisees, cometh thither with lanterns and torches and weapons.
4	Jesus therefore, knowing all things that should come upon him, went forth, and said unto them, Whom seek ye?
5	They answered him, Jesus of Nazareth. Jesus saith unto them, I am he. And Judas also, which betrayed him, stood with them.
6	As soon then as he had said unto them, I am he, they went backward, and fell to the ground.
7	Then asked he them again, Whom seek ye? And they said, Jesus of Nazareth.
8	Jesus answered, I have told you that I am he: if therefore ye seek me, let these go their way:
9	That the saying might be fulfilled, which he spake, Of them which thou gavest me have I lost none.
10	Then Simon Peter having a sword drew it, and smote the high priest's servant, and cut off his right ear. The servant's name was Malchus.
11	Then said Jesus unto Peter, Put up thy sword into the sheath: the cup which my Father hath given me, shall I not drink it?
12	Then the band and the captain and officers of the Jews took Jesus, and bound him,
13	And led him away to Annas first; for he was father in law to Caiaphas, which was the high priest that same year.
14	Now Caiaphas was he, which gave counsel to the Jews, that it was expedient that one man should die for the people.
15	And Simon Peter followed Jesus, and so did another disciple: that disciple was known unto the high priest, and went in with Jesus into the palace of the high priest.
16	But Peter stood at the door without. Then went out that other disciple, which was known unto the high priest, and spake unto her that kept the door, and brought in Peter.
17	Then saith the damsel that kept the door unto Peter, Art not thou also one of this man's disciples? He saith, I am not.
18	And the servants and officers stood there, who had made a fire of coals; for it was cold: and they warmed themselves: and Peter stood with them, and warmed himself.
19	The high priest then asked Jesus of his disciples, and of his doctrine.
20	Jesus answered him, I spake openly to the world; I ever taught in the synagogue, and in the temple, whither the Jews always resort; and in secret have I said nothing.
21	Why askest thou me? ask them which heard me, what I have said unto them: behold, they know what I said.
22	And when he had thus spoken, one of the officers which stood by struck Jesus with the palm of his hand, saying, Answerest thou the high priest so?
23	Jesus answered him, If I have spoken evil, bear witness of the evil: but if well, why smitest thou me?