First Sunday in Lent; Scriptures -- Year B Revised Common Lectionary

 February 18, 2018

Genesis 9:8-17
9:8 Then God said to Noah and to his sons with him,

9:9 "As for me, I am establishing my covenant with you and your descendants after you,

9:10 and with every living creature that is with you, the birds, the domestic animals, and every animal of the earth with you, as many as came out of the ark.

9:11 I establish my covenant with you, that never again shall all flesh be cut off by the waters of a flood, and never again shall there be a flood to destroy the earth."

9:12 God said, "This is the sign of the covenant that I make between me and you and every living creature that is with you, for all future generations:

9:13 I have set my bow in the clouds, and it shall be a sign of the covenant between me and the earth.

9:14 When I bring clouds over the earth and the bow is seen in the clouds,

9:15 I will remember my covenant that is between me and you and every living creature of all flesh; and the waters shall never again become a flood to destroy all flesh.

9:16 When the bow is in the clouds, I will see it and remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is on the earth."

9:17 God said to Noah, "This is the sign of the covenant that I have established between me and all flesh that is on the earth."

Psalm 25:1-10
25:1 To you, O LORD, I lift up my soul.

25:2 O my God, in you I trust; do not let me be put to shame; do not let my enemies exult over me.

25:3 Do not let those who wait for you be put to shame; let them be ashamed who are wantonly treacherous.

25:4 Make me to know your ways, O LORD; teach me your paths.

25:5 Lead me in your truth, and teach me, for you are the God of my salvation; for you I wait all day long.

25:6 Be mindful of your mercy, O LORD, and of your steadfast love, for they have been from of old.

25:7 Do not remember the sins of my youth or my transgressions; according to your steadfast love remember me, for your goodness' sake, O LORD!

25:8 Good and upright is the LORD; therefore he instructs sinners in the way.

25:9 He leads the humble in what is right, and teaches the humble his way.

25:10 All the paths of the LORD are steadfast love and faithfulness, for those who keep his covenant and his decrees.

1 Peter 3:18-22
3:18 For Christ also suffered for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, in order to bring you to God. He was put to death in the flesh, but made alive in the spirit,

3:19 in which also he went and made a proclamation to the spirits in prison

3:20 who in former times did not obey, when God waited patiently in the days of Noah, during the building of the ark, in which a few, that is, eight persons, were saved through water.

3:21 And baptism, which this prefigured, now saves you--not as a removal of dirt from the body, but as an appeal to God for a good conscience, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ,

3:22 who has gone into heaven and is at the right hand of God, with angels, authorities, and powers made subject to him.

Mark 1:9-15
1:9 In those days Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan.

1:10 And just as he was coming up out of the water, he saw the heavens torn apart and the Spirit descending like a dove on him.

1:11 And a voice came from heaven, "You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased."

1:12 And the Spirit immediately drove him out into the wilderness.

1:13 He was in the wilderness forty days, tempted by Satan; and he was with the wild beasts; and the angels waited on him.

1:14 Now after John was arrested, Jesus came to Galilee, proclaiming the good news of God,

1:15 and saying, "The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near; repent, and believe in the good news."

Vanderbilt University, Lectionary Library

Ash Wednesday -- Lenten Scriptures -- Year B Revised Common Lectionary

February 14, 2018

Joel 2:1-2, 12-17
2:1 Blow the trumpet in Zion; sound the alarm on my holy mountain! Let all the inhabitants of the land tremble, for the day of the LORD is coming, it is near-

2:2 a day of darkness and gloom, a day of clouds and thick darkness! Like blackness spread upon the mountains a great and powerful army comes; their like has never been from of old, nor will be again after them in ages to come.

2:12 Yet even now, says the LORD, return to me with all your heart, with fasting, with weeping, and with mourning;

2:13 rend your hearts and not your clothing. Return to the LORD, your God, for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love, and relents from punishing.

2:14 Who knows whether he will not turn and relent, and leave a blessing behind him, a grain offering and a drink offering for the LORD, your God?

2:15 Blow the trumpet in Zion; sanctify a fast; call a solemn assembly;

2:16 gather the people. Sanctify the congregation; assemble the aged; gather the children, even infants at the breast. Let the bridegroom leave his room, and the bride her canopy.

2:17 Between the vestibule and the altar let the priests, the ministers of the LORD, weep. Let them say, "Spare your people, O LORD, and do not make your heritage a mockery, a byword among the nations. Why should it be said among the peoples, 'Where is their God?'"

Isaiah 58:1-12
58:1 Shout out, do not hold back! Lift up your voice like a trumpet! Announce to my people their rebellion, to the house of Jacob their sins.

58:2 Yet day after day they seek me and delight to know my ways, as if they were a nation that practiced righteousness and did not forsake the ordinance of their God; they ask of me righteous judgments, they delight to draw near to God.

58:3 "Why do we fast, but you do not see? Why humble ourselves, but you do not notice?" Look, you serve your own interest on your fast day, and oppress all your workers.

58:4 Look, you fast only to quarrel and to fight and to strike with a wicked fist. Such fasting as you do today will not make your voice heard on high.

58:5 Is such the fast that I choose, a day to humble oneself? Is it to bow down the head like a bulrush, and to lie in sackcloth and ashes? Will you call this a fast, a day acceptable to the LORD?

58:6 Is not this the fast that I choose: to loose the bonds of injustice, to undo the thongs of the yoke, to let the oppressed go free, and to break every yoke?

58:7 Is it not to share your bread with the hungry, and bring the homeless poor into your house; when you see the naked, to cover them, and not to hide yourself from your own kin?

58:8 Then your light shall break forth like the dawn, and your healing shall spring up quickly; your vindicator shall go before you, the glory of the LORD shall be your rear guard.

58:9 Then you shall call, and the LORD will answer; you shall cry for help, and he will say, Here I am. If you remove the yoke from among you, the pointing of the finger, the speaking of evil,

58:10 if you offer your food to the hungry and satisfy the needs of the afflicted, then your light shall rise in the darkness and your gloom be like the noonday.

58:11 The LORD will guide you continually, and satisfy your needs in parched places, and make your bones strong; and you shall be like a watered garden, like a spring of water, whose waters never fail.

58:12 Your ancient ruins shall be rebuilt; you shall raise up the foundations of many generations; you shall be called the repairer of the breach, the restorer of streets to live in.

Psalm 51:1-17
51:1 Have mercy on me, O God, according to your steadfast love; according to your abundant mercy blot out my transgressions.

51:2 Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin.

51:3 For I know my transgressions, and my sin is ever before me.

51:4 Against you, you alone, have I sinned, and done what is evil in your sight, so that you are justified in your sentence and blameless when you pass judgment.

51:5 Indeed, I was born guilty, a sinner when my mother conceived me.

51:6 You desire truth in the inward being; therefore teach me wisdom in my secret heart.

51:7 Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean; wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.

51:8 Let me hear joy and gladness; let the bones that you have crushed rejoice.

51:9 Hide your face from my sins, and blot out all my iniquities.

51:10 Create in me a clean heart, O God, and put a new and right spirit within me.

51:11 Do not cast me away from your presence, and do not take your holy spirit from me.

51:12 Restore to me the joy of your salvation, and sustain in me a willing spirit.

51:13 Then I will teach transgressors your ways, and sinners will return to you.

51:14 Deliver me from bloodshed, O God, O God of my salvation, and my tongue will sing aloud of your deliverance.

51:15 O Lord, open my lips, and my mouth will declare your praise.

51:16 For you have no delight in sacrifice; if I were to give a burnt offering, you would not be pleased.

51:17 The sacrifice acceptable to God is a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.

2 Corinthians 5:20b-6:10
5:20b We entreat you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God.

5:21 For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

6:1 As we work together with him, we urge you also not to accept the grace of God in vain.

6:2 For he says, "At an acceptable time I have listened to you, and on a day of salvation I have helped you." See, now is the acceptable time; see, now is the day of salvation!

6:3 We are putting no obstacle in anyone's way, so that no fault may be found with our ministry,

6:4 but as servants of God we have commended ourselves in every way: through great endurance, in afflictions, hardships, calamities,

6:5 beatings, imprisonments, riots, labors, sleepless nights, hunger;

6:6 by purity, knowledge, patience, kindness, holiness of spirit, genuine love,

6:7 truthful speech, and the power of God; with the weapons of righteousness for the right hand and for the left;

6:8 in honor and dishonor, in ill repute and good repute. We are treated as impostors, and yet are true;

6:9 as unknown, and yet are well known; as dying, and see--we are alive; as punished, and yet not killed;

6:10 as sorrowful, yet always rejoicing; as poor, yet making many rich; as having nothing, and yet possessing everything.

Matthew 6:1-6, 16-21
6:1 "Beware of practicing your piety before others in order to be seen by them; for then you have no reward from your Father in heaven.

6:2 "So whenever you give alms, do not sound a trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, so that they may be praised by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward.

6:3 But when you give alms, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing,

6:4 so that your alms may be done in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you.

6:5 "And whenever you pray, do not be like the hypocrites; for they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners, so that they may be seen by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward.

6:6 But whenever you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you.

6:16 "And whenever you fast, do not look dismal, like the hypocrites, for they disfigure their faces so as to show others that they are fasting. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward.

6:17 But when you fast, put oil on your head and wash your face,

6:18 so that your fasting may be seen not by others but by your Father who is in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you.

6:19 "Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust consume and where thieves break in and steal;

6:20 but store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust consumes and where thieves do not break in and steal.

6:21 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

Vanderbilt University, Lectionary Library

PRESCRIPTION FOR THOSE WHO MOURN

I continue to pray for you and all of you. Please don’t hestitate to call or write if you want to talk/ pray. Grief is such a strange process/spiritual environment, and when a dad passes there are psychological, spiritual and emotional hazards; climates; environments; and pathways that are difficult to navigate alone.

You are not alone.

Please be gentle on your self and don’t try to force anything or push ahead when you are not ready. You are the only ine who can do an examination of conscience and get a bead on the state of your body/mind/soul/spirit.

(((gentle hugs)))

I trust that the Lord will lead you to the help you need, should you identify that need.

Please be aware that the adversary will not give you a break and that It will attempt to test and try to infiltrate your spirit just because you are vulnerable.

It would be great if you would “dose your self” with mini Sabbaths throughout the day.

1. While you are still in bed between sleeping and waking, call on the Lord.

Ps 23; Ps 63: Ps 139; Ps 91; Isaiah 54; Isaiah 43:1-5; 18-19; isaiah 40:1-10; ​Jeremiah 29:11; John 1​; Ephesians 6:10-20​:

Joy in the Fellowship of God
A Psalm of David when he was in the wilderness of Judah.

63 O God, You are my God;
Early will I seek You;
My soul thirsts for You;
My flesh longs for You
In a dry and thirsty land
Where there is no water.
2
So I have looked for You in the sanctuary,
To see Your power and Your glory.
3
Because Your lovingkindness is better than life,
My lips shall praise You.
4
Thus I will bless You while I live;
I will lift up my hands in Your name.
5
My soul shall be satisfied as with marrow and fatness,
And my mouth shall praise You with joyful lips.
6
When I remember You on my bed,
I meditate on You in the night watches.
7
Because You have been my help,
Therefore in the shadow of Your wings I will rejoice.
8
My soul follows close behind You;
Your right hand upholds me.
9
But those who seek my life, to destroy it,
Shall go into the lower parts of the earth.
10
They shall fall by the sword;
They shall be a portion for jackals.
11
But the king shall rejoice in God;
Everyone who swears by Him shall glory;
But the mouth of those who speak lies shall be stopped.

​ * * * *

God’s Perfect Knowledge of Man
For the Chief Musician. A Psalm of David.

139 O Lord, You have searched me and known me.
2
You know my sitting down and my rising up;
You understand my thought afar off.
3
You comprehend my path and my lying down,
And are acquainted with all my ways.
4
For there is not a word on my tongue,
But behold, O Lord, You know it altogether.
5
You have hedged me behind and before,
And laid Your hand upon me.
6
Such knowledge is too wonderful for me;
It is high, I cannot attain it.
7
Where can I go from Your Spirit?
Or where can I flee from Your presence?
8
If I ascend into heaven, You are there;
If I make my bed in hell, behold, You are there.
9
If I take the wings of the morning,
And dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea,
10
Even there Your hand shall lead me,
And Your right hand shall hold me.
11
If I say, “Surely the darkness shall fall[a] on me,”
Even the night shall be light about me;
12
Indeed, the darkness shall not hide from You,
But the night shines as the day;
The darkness and the light are both alike to You.
13
For You formed my inward parts;
You covered me in my mother’s womb.
14
I will praise You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made;[b]
Marvelous are Your works,
And that my soul knows very well.
15
My frame was not hidden from You,
When I was made in secret,
And skillfully wrought in the lowest parts of the earth.
16
Your eyes saw my substance, being yet unformed.
And in Your book they all were written,
The days fashioned for me,
When as yet there were none of them.
17
How precious also are Your thoughts to me, O God!
How great is the sum of them!
18
If I should count them, they would be more in number than the sand;
When I awake, I am still with You.
19
Oh, that You would slay the wicked, O God!
Depart from me, therefore, you bloodthirsty men.
20
For they speak against You wickedly;
Your enemies take Your name in vain.[c]
21
Do I not hate them, O Lord, who hate You?
And do I not loathe those who rise up against You?
22
I hate them with perfect hatred;
I count them my enemies.
23
Search me, O God, and know my heart;
Try me, and know my anxieties;
24
And see if there is any wicked way in me,
And lead me in the way everlasting.
Footnotes:

Psalm 139:11 Vulgate and Symmachus read cover.
Psalm 139:14 Following Masoretic Text and Targum; Septuagint, Syriac, and Vulgate read You are fearfully wonderful.
Psalm 139:20 Septuagint and Vulgate read They take your cities in vain.
​

 * * * *

The Lord the Shepherd of His People
A Psalm of David.

23 The Lord is my shepherd;
I shall not want.
2
He makes me to lie down in green pastures;
He leads me beside the still waters.
3
He restores my soul;
He leads me in the paths of righteousness
For His name’s sake.
4
Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,
I will fear no evil;
For You are with me;
Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me.
5
You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies;
You anoint my head with oil;
My cup runs over.
6
Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me
All the days of my life;
And I will dwell[a] in the house of the Lord
Forever.

Footnotes:

Psalm 23:6 Following Septuagint, Syriac, Targum, and Vulgate; Masoretic Text reads return.
​ * * * *

Safety of Abiding in the Presence of God

91 He who dwells in the secret place of the Most High
Shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty.
2
I will say of the Lord, “He is my refuge and my fortress;
My God, in Him I will trust.”
3
Surely He shall deliver you from the snare of the fowler[a]
And from the perilous pestilence.
4
He shall cover you with His feathers,
And under His wings you shall take refuge;
His truth shall be your shield and buckler.
5
You shall not be afraid of the terror by night,
Nor of the arrow that flies by day,
6
Nor of the pestilence that walks in darkness,
Nor of the destruction that lays waste at noonday.
7
A thousand may fall at your side,
And ten thousand at your right hand;
But it shall not come near you.
8
Only with your eyes shall you look,
And see the reward of the wicked.
9
Because you have made the Lord, who is my refuge,
Even the Most High, your dwelling place,
10
No evil shall befall you,
Nor shall any plague come near your dwelling;
11
For He shall give His angels charge over you,
To keep you in all your ways.
12
In their hands they shall bear you up,
Lest you dash your foot against a stone.
13
You shall tread upon the lion and the cobra,
The young lion and the serpent you shall trample underfoot.
14
“Because he has set his love upon Me, therefore I will deliver him;
I will set him on high, because he has known My name.
15
He shall call upon Me, and I will answer him;
I will be with him in trouble;
I will deliver him and honor him.
16
With long life I will satisfy him,
And show him My salvation.”

Footnotes:

Psalm 91:3 That is, one who catches birds in a trap or snare
​

 * * * *

John 1New King James Version (NKJV)

The Eternal Word

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 nothing was made that was made. 4 In Him was life, and the life was the light of men. 5 And the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend[a] it.


John’s Witness: The True Light

6 There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. 7 This man came for a witness, to bear witness of the Light, that all through him might believe. 8 He was not that Light, but was sent to bear witness of that Light. 9 That was the true Light which gives light to every man coming into the world.[b]

10 He was in the world, and the world was made through Him, and the world did not know Him. 11 He came to His own,[c] and His own[d] did not receive Him. 12 But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name: 13 who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.

The Word Becomes Flesh

14 And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.

15 John bore witness of Him and cried out, saying, “This was He of whom I said, ‘He who comes after me is preferred before me, for He was before me.’”

16 And[e] of His fullness we have all received, and grace for grace. 17 For the law was given through Moses, but grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. 18 No one has seen God at any time. The only begotten Son,[f] who is in the bosom of the Father, He has declared Him.

A Voice in the Wilderness
19 Now 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 Then they said to him, “Who are you, that we may give an answer to those who sent us? What do you say about yourself?”

23 He said: “I am

‘The voice of one crying in the wilderness:
“Make straight the way of the Lord,”’[g]
as the prophet Isaiah said.”

24 Now those who were sent were from the Pharisees. 25 And they asked him, saying, “Why then do you baptize if you are not the Christ, nor Elijah, nor the Prophet?”

26 John answered them, saying, “I baptize with water, but there stands One among you whom you do not know. 27 It is He who, coming after me, is preferred before me, whose sandal strap I am not worthy to loose.”

28 These things were done in Bethabara[h] beyond the Jordan, where John was baptizing.

The Lamb of God

29 The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him, and said, “Behold! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world! 30 This is He of whom I said, ‘After me comes a Man who is preferred before me, for He was before me.’ 31 I did not know Him; but that He should be revealed to Israel, therefore I came baptizing with water.”

32 And John bore witness, saying, “I saw the Spirit descending from heaven like a dove, and He remained upon Him. 33 I did not know Him, but He who sent me to baptize with water said to me, ‘Upon whom you see the Spirit descending, and remaining on Him, this is He who baptizes with the Holy Spirit.’ 34 And I have seen and testified that this is the Son of God.”

The First Disciples

35 Again, the next day, John stood with two of his disciples. 36 And looking at Jesus as He walked, he said, “Behold the Lamb of God!”

37 The two disciples heard him speak, and they followed Jesus. 38 Then Jesus turned, and seeing them following, said to them, “What do you seek?”

They said to Him, “Rabbi” (which is to say, when translated, Teacher), “where are You staying?”

39 He said to them, “Come and see.” They came and saw where He was staying, and remained with Him that day (now it was about the tenth hour).


40 One of the two who heard John speak, and followed Him, was Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother. 41 He first found his own brother Simon, and said to him, “We have found the Messiah” (which is translated, the Christ). 42 And he brought him to Jesus.

Now when Jesus looked at him, He said, “You are Simon the son of Jonah.[i] You shall be called Cephas” (which is translated, A Stone).

Philip and Nathanael
43 The following day Jesus wanted to go to Galilee, and He found Philip and said to him, “Follow Me.” 44 Now Philip was from Bethsaida, the city of Andrew and Peter. 45 Philip found Nathanael and said to him, “We have found Him of whom Moses in the law, and also the prophets, wrote—Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph.”

46 And Nathanael said to him, “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?”

Philip said to him, “Come and see.”

47 Jesus saw Nathanael coming toward Him, and said of him, “Behold, an Israelite indeed, in whom is no deceit!”


48 Nathanael said to Him, “How do You know me?”

Jesus answered and said to him, “Before Philip called you, when you were under the fig tree, I saw you.”

49 Nathanael answered and said to Him, “Rabbi, You are the Son of God! You are the King of Israel!”

50 Jesus answered and said to him, “Because I said to you, ‘I saw you under the fig tree,’ do you believe? You will see greater things than these.” 51 And He said to him, “Most assuredly, I say to you, hereafter[j] you shall see heaven open, and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of Man.”

Footnotes:

John 1:5 Or overcome
John 1:9 Or That was the true Light which, coming into the world, gives light to every man.
John 1:11 That is, His own things or domain
John 1:11 That is, His own people
John 1:16 NU-Text reads For.
John 1:18 NU-Text reads only begotten God.
John 1:23 Isaiah 40:3
John 1:28 NU-Text and M-Text read Bethany.
John 1:42 NU-Text reads John.
John 1:51 NU-Text omits hereafter.

* * * *

Jeremiah 29:11-13New King James Version (NKJV)

11 For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope. 12 Then you will call upon Me and go and pray to Me, and I will listen to you. 13 And you will seek Me and find Me, when you search for Me with all your heart.

* * * *

Isaiah 40New King James Version (NKJV)

God’s People Are Comforted
40 “Comfort, yes, comfort My people!”
Says your God.
2
“Speak comfort to Jerusalem, and cry out to her,
That her warfare is ended,
That her iniquity is pardoned;
For she has received from the Lord’s hand
Double for all her sins.”
3
The voice of one crying in the wilderness:
“Prepare the way of the Lord;
Make straight in the desert[a]
A highway for our God.
4
Every valley shall be exalted
And every mountain and hill brought low;
The crooked places shall be made straight
And the rough places smooth;
5
The glory of the Lord shall be revealed,
And all flesh shall see it together;
For the mouth of the Lord has spoken.”
6
The voice said, “Cry out!”
And he[b] said, “What shall I cry?”
“All flesh is grass,
And all its loveliness is like the flower of the field.
7
The grass withers, the flower fades,
Because the breath of the Lord blows upon it;
Surely the people are grass.
8
The grass withers, the flower fades,
But the word of our God stands forever.”
9
O Zion,
You who bring good tidings,
Get up into the high mountain;
O Jerusalem,
You who bring good tidings,
Lift up your voice with strength,
Lift it up, be not afraid;
Say to the cities of Judah, “Behold your God!”
10
Behold, the Lord God shall come with a strong hand,
And His arm shall rule for Him;
Behold, His reward is with Him,
And His work before Him.
11
He will feed His flock like a shepherd;
He will gather the lambs with His arm,
And carry them in His bosom,
And gently lead those who are with young.
12
Who has measured the waters[c] in the hollow of His hand,
Measured heaven with a span
And calculated the dust of the earth in a measure?
Weighed the mountains in scales
And the hills in a balance?
13
Who has directed the Spirit of the Lord,
Or as His counselor has taught Him?
14
With whom did He take counsel, and who instructed Him,
And taught Him in the path of justice?
Who taught Him knowledge,
And showed Him the way of understanding?
15
Behold, the nations are as a drop in a bucket,
And are counted as the small dust on the scales;
Look, He lifts up the isles as a very little thing.
16
And Lebanon is not sufficient to burn,
Nor its beasts sufficient for a burnt offering.
17
All nations before Him are as nothing,
And they are counted by Him less than nothing and worthless.
18
To whom then will you liken God?
Or what likeness will you compare to Him?
19
The workman molds an image,
The goldsmith overspreads it with gold,
And the silversmith casts silver chains.
20
Whoever is too impoverished for such a contribution
Chooses a tree that will not rot;
He seeks for himself a skillful workman
To prepare a carved image that will not totter.
21
Have you not known?
Have you not heard?
Has it not been told you from the beginning?
Have you not understood from the foundations of the earth?
22
It is He who sits above the circle of the earth,
And its inhabitants are like grasshoppers,
Who stretches out the heavens like a curtain,
And spreads them out like a tent to dwell in.
23
He brings the princes to nothing;
He makes the judges of the earth useless.
24
Scarcely shall they be planted,
Scarcely shall they be sown,
Scarcely shall their stock take root in the earth,
When He will also blow on them,
And they will wither,
And the whirlwind will take them away like stubble.
25
“To whom then will you liken Me,
Or to whom shall I be equal?” says the Holy One.
26
Lift up your eyes on high,
And see who has created these things,
Who brings out their host by number;
He calls them all by name,
By the greatness of His might
And the strength of His power;
Not one is missing.
27
Why do you say, O Jacob,
And speak, O Israel:
“My way is hidden from the Lord,
And my just claim is passed over by my God”?
28
Have you not known?
Have you not heard?
The everlasting God, the Lord,
The Creator of the ends of the earth,
Neither faints nor is weary.
His understanding is unsearchable.
29
He gives power to the weak,
And to those who have no might He increases strength.
30
Even the youths shall faint and be weary,
And the young men shall utterly fall,
31
But those who wait on the Lord
Shall renew their strength;
They shall mount up with wings like eagles,
They shall run and not be weary,
They shall walk and not faint.
Footnotes:


Isaiah 40:3 Following Masoretic Text, Targum, and Vulgate; Septuagint omits in the desert.
Isaiah 40:6 Following Masoretic Text and Targum; Dead Sea Scrolls, Septuagint, and Vulgate read I.
Isaiah 40:12 Following Masoretic Text, Septuagint, and Vulgate; Dead Sea Scrolls read waters of the sea; Targum reads waters of the world.
​

 * * * *

Isaiah 43New King James Version (NKJV)

The Redeemer of Israel

43 But now, thus says the Lord, who created you, O Jacob,
And He who formed you, O Israel:
“Fear not, for I have redeemed you;
I have called you by your name;
You are Mine.
2
When you pass through the waters, I will be with you;
And through the rivers, they shall not overflow you.
When you walk through the fire, you shall not be burned,
Nor shall the flame scorch you.
3
For I am the Lord your God,
The Holy One of Israel, your Savior;
I gave Egypt for your ransom,
Ethiopia and Seba in your place.
4
Since you were precious in My sight,
You have been honored,
And I have loved you;
Therefore I will give men for you,
And people for your life.
5
Fear not, for I am with you;
I will bring your descendants from the east,
And gather you from the west;
6
I will say to the north, ‘Give them up!’
And to the south, ‘Do not keep them back!’
Bring My sons from afar,
And My daughters from the ends of the earth—
7
Everyone who is called by My name,
Whom I have created for My glory;
I have formed him, yes, I have made him.”
8
Bring out the blind people who have eyes,
And the deaf who have ears.
9
Let all the nations be gathered together,
And let the people be assembled.
Who among them can declare this,
And show us former things?
Let them bring out their witnesses, that they may be justified;
Or let them hear and say, “It is truth.”
10
“You are My witnesses,” says the Lord,
“And My servant whom I have chosen,
That you may know and believe Me,
And understand that I am He.
Before Me there was no God formed,
Nor shall there be after Me.
11
I, even I, am the Lord,
And besides Me there is no savior.
12
I have declared and saved,
I have proclaimed,
And there was no foreign god among you;
Therefore you are My witnesses,”
Says the Lord, “that I am God.
13
Indeed before the day was, I am He;
And there is no one who can deliver out of My hand;
I work, and who will reverse it?”
14
Thus says the Lord, your Redeemer,
The Holy One of Israel:
“For your sake I will send to Babylon,
And bring them all down as fugitives—
The Chaldeans, who rejoice in their ships.
15
I am the Lord, your Holy One,
The Creator of Israel, your King.”
16
Thus says the Lord, who makes a way in the sea
And a path through the mighty waters,
17
Who brings forth the chariot and horse,
The army and the power
(They shall lie down together, they shall not rise;
They are extinguished, they are quenched like a wick):
18
“Do not remember the former things,
Nor consider the things of old.
19
Behold, I will do a new thing,
Now it shall spring forth;
Shall you not know it?
I will even make a road in the wilderness
And rivers in the desert.
20
The beast of the field will honor Me,
The jackals and the ostriches,
Because I give waters in the wilderness
And rivers in the desert,
To give drink to My people, My chosen.
21
This people I have formed for Myself;
They shall declare My praise.
Pleading with Unfaithful Israel
22
“But you have not called upon Me, O Jacob;
And you have been weary of Me, O Israel.
23
You have not brought Me the sheep for your burnt offerings,
Nor have you honored Me with your sacrifices.
I have not caused you to serve with grain offerings,
Nor wearied you with incense.
24
You have bought Me no sweet cane with money,
Nor have you satisfied Me with the fat of your sacrifices;
But you have burdened Me with your sins,
You have wearied Me with your iniquities.
25
“I, even I, am He who blots out your transgressions for My own sake;
And I will not remember your sins.
26
Put Me in remembrance;
Let us contend together;
State your case, that you may be acquitted.
27
Your first father sinned,
And your mediators have transgressed against Me.
28
Therefore I will profane the princes of the sanctuary;
I will give Jacob to the curse,
And Israel to reproaches.

* * * *

Isaiah 54New King James Version (NKJV)

A Perpetual Covenant of Peace

54 “Sing, O barren,
You who have not borne!
Break forth into singing, and cry aloud,
You who have not labored with child!
For more are the children of the desolate
Than the children of the married woman,” says the Lord.
2
“Enlarge the place of your tent,
And let them stretch out the curtains of your dwellings;
Do not spare;
Lengthen your cords,
And strengthen your stakes.
3
For you shall expand to the right and to the left,
And your descendants will inherit the nations,
And make the desolate cities inhabited.
4
“Do not fear, for you will not be ashamed;
Neither be disgraced, for you will not be put to shame;
For you will forget the shame of your youth,
And will not remember the reproach of your widowhood anymore.
5
For your Maker is your husband,
The Lord of hosts is His name;
And your Redeemer is the Holy One of Israel;
He is called the God of the whole earth.
6
For the Lord has called you
Like a woman forsaken and grieved in spirit,
Like a youthful wife when you were refused,”
Says your God.
7
“For a mere moment I have forsaken you,
But with great mercies I will gather you.
8
With a little wrath I hid My face from you for a moment;
But with everlasting kindness I will have mercy on you,”
Says the Lord, your Redeemer.
9
“For this is like the waters of Noah to Me;
For as I have sworn
That the waters of Noah would no longer cover the earth,
So have I sworn
That I would not be angry with you, nor rebuke you.
10
For the mountains shall depart
And the hills be removed,
But My kindness shall not depart from you,
Nor shall My covenant of peace be removed,”
Says the Lord, who has mercy on you.
11
“O you afflicted one,
Tossed with tempest, and not comforted,
Behold, I will lay your stones with colorful gems,
And lay your foundations with sapphires.
12
I will make your pinnacles of rubies,
Your gates of crystal,
And all your walls of precious stones.
13
All your children shall be taught by the Lord,
And great shall be the peace of your children.
14
In righteousness you shall be established;
You shall be far from oppression, for you shall not fear;
And from terror, for it shall not come near you.
15
Indeed they shall surely assemble, but not because of Me.
Whoever assembles against you shall fall for your sake.
16
“Behold, I have created the blacksmith
Who blows the coals in the fire,
Who brings forth an instrument for his work;
And I have created the spoiler to destroy.
17
No weapon formed against you shall prosper,
And every tongue which rises against you in judgment
You shall condemn.
This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord,
And their righteousness is from Me,”
Says the Lord.


​ * * * *

2 Pray Ps 23 and Ps 91 at mealtime and when you are in bed . . . like doses of meds

​3. Thank God that He has made a hedge of protection around you.

4. Pray that you agree with His Holy Spirit for all He is praying for you and everyone you love before the Throne of Grace.

5. Spend time listening to the Lord with your spiritual ears.

6. As you lay down to sleep, put on some instrumental praise music and make up a motion like you are putting packages of burdens , worries and fears onto a conveyer bet from your feet to the feet of God on His Throne.

May the Lord continue to bless and keep you and yours.

Scripture passages from Bible Gateway dot com

MOONSET AT SUNRISE

When the moon stays up all night 

to welcome the sun and changes 

into the colors of the dawn . . .

it can be somewhat disorienting,

I know.

But as long as you keep 

your sense of direction 

while looking out for newly hatched

green tortoises

or loggerheads,

You’ll be okay.

And anyway, if you have 

been faithful to your dream-

State and basically 

Sleepwalked

out your apartment door,

down the hallway filled with 

musky mold and spores,

Out the heavy exit door using

the panic bar,

Across the saw blade grass

heavy laden with dew that

is really thick ocean fog . . .

Being careful to look both ways 

Two lanes each side of A-1-A, 

then across the crunchy with

many mini broken shells, 

Mostly white.

Up a few steps to the top deck 

of the overlook 

of the dune crosser.

Pausing for a few minutes 

to make sure the moon

is faithfully lingering above 

The Western horizon over the 

Banana River and

the Indian River and 

the East Northern Central

Florida mainland.

Swampy.

Sandy.

Rife with alligators, 

Crocodiles,

water moccasins, 

some cougars.

Lots and lots of birds.

Frogs, 

other snakes

more mosquitos than you can imagine

Dung beetles,

Raccoons,

tarantulas, 

parakeets

eagles,

pelicans,

sandpipers, terns, 

peacocks.

Glassy little snakes that live in the rivers and 

curl up around the childrens’ wrists;

foxes,

wolves . . .

I know I am leaving a lot out, but that

is what the Brevard County Zoological Park

and the natural history museum,

Busch Gardens and Walt Disney World,

Sea World, (but not Dino World)

are all about.

But be sure and look east from the 

Top of the overlook while 

the Eastern Horizon is still

pinkish orange if you’re

lucky with only the prettiest 

Dawn-enhancing clouds.

And please do stay up there so

you can keep close tabs on the setting 

moon,

As the rising sun gently pulls itself up

out of the big Atlantic drink 

And for a while the path in the breach 

between you and the horizon is

About seventeen miles away

with a bright shining golden path.

Even though my body can’t, 

i encourage my soul to walk on 

straight east over the path.

The view is worth it.

— Kathleen Ware Harris, October 22, 2017

http://deeppeaceofchristtoyou.blogspot.com/2017/10/moonset-at-sunrise.html

LITTLE BROTHERS AND OTHER MEMORIES OF AUTUMN

The first time I saw him, he was seven years old, with a tow-headed shock of hair, pencil in his left fist, laying on his stomach in the foyer of their house that was a converted stable. He was drawing a picture of a horse that rivaled Leonardo's sketches of the bronze stallion that was cast from cannons and turned back into cannons. I was amazed that a child could capture a live creature so vividly.

"Scott. This is my friend Kathy," Leslie spoke loudly to break into his creative reverie.

The towhead looked up and smiled and quietly said, "Hi," with a grave seriousness before bending his head back down in concentration to continue bringing the steed to paper-life on the drawing pad. He was seven years old.

Then a flash of brown hair and a lithe frame leaped down the broad entryway staircase and brushed past us.

"Stop and say 'Hi,' to my friend Kathy, Brian." The 10 year old elfin face with glasses and an impish grin mischievously mimicked his sister and I laughed.

"Hi, Brian," I giggled as he opened the front door and charged out to his bicycle to ride up and down the asphalt hills around Grassy Lake.

His sister called after him, "We are kid-sitting you and Scotty, so be sure you are home when you see the front lantern lit.

The wind snatched away his, "Sure, sure, sure, Les, I will if I see it," but we hoped he really had heard and acquiesced.

My dad had driven me the two and a half miles from our house on our lake to Leslie's house in another small lake community. I was there for the first time.

Leslie and I had met in our fifth grade classroom several weeks before this sleepover that was also a kid-sitting assignment.

She came closer to me and whispered, "Mike and David and a few other boys rode by on their bikes just as mom and dad were backing out of the driveway. Dad almost hit one of them. He rode on a red bike with a white banana seat with streamers and tassles. It might have been Jamie "

"Wow! Realy? Cool."

Then I followed that with the query, "What time is everyone else coming over?"

It was 6:30 pm, and Leslie had just finished giving the boys a supper of grilled cheese sandwiches and Campbell's Tomato Soup.

Since the fallen autumn oak and elm and other leaves from deciduous trees were raked into small hills neatly spaced around the front, back and side yards. You couldn't say "lawns" because they lived on the edge of a wood.

The boys' rewards for cleaning their plates were caramel apples direct that afternoon from Mosley Bell's Apple Orchard Fruit Stand a mile and a half away down Rte 22 where the road intersected with Rte 12, the conduit between Chicago, Illinois and Lake Geneva, Wisconsin. Many more towns and cities from the U.S. Canadian border to the far northwest and to the Atlantic Ocean in the far southeast Also were intersected by U.S. Rthe 12.

Six weeks earlier, the first Tuesday after the first Monday of September that followed the first Sunday in September that was also Labor Day, I had been delighted to walk into my Fifth Grade Classroom in North Barrington Elementary School.

The big windows all along the eastern wall of the classroom were almost half as tall as the wall itself. Bright morning sunlight streamed into the room and washed out the various shades of green as the scene beyond the school grounds gave way to mossy hills, scattered woods, the white, well-spaced boards of paddock fences and the horizon bathed in light. A red barn alongside a modern single-floored stone ranch house could be seen just this side of the visible horizon.

Since the first day of school a year before this one, I had known that the stone ranch house was lived in by Carol and her family. In the red barn its adjoining paddock lived Carol's red Shetland pony, Holly.She had a white blaze on her fore-face; a white mane; a white tail; and white "knee socks" visible above her hooves on each leg.

Carol was my first friend who did not live in Tower Lakes, our community. You had to cross Illinois Rte 59 and go straight east a country mile and a half on Indian Trail until you reached Arrowhead Lane and turned right, going straight south. About a mile and a half up and down the undulating asphalt of the curving Arrowhead Lane was Carol's house.

Then Arrowhead Lane dead-ended into Miller Road and After you had turned left, heading east again, you could turn right into any of five roads that led into the community called "Biltmore" on Grassy Lake.

This was the lake community of families with fathers who for the most part made a lot more money than most of the fathers in Tower Lakes. The Biltmore fathers were airline pilots, lawyers, doctors, dentists, stock brokers and/or people who had grown up with and continued to have access to trust funds.

As the colors of the sky changed from the deep blue of harvest time to the pinks and the reds and the oranges . . . and the purple dusk began to enfold the woods and lakes. The grand great orange hunters' moon peaked over the trees behind the woods on the western horizon, occluded in turn by each forested hillside.

On that first day of Fifth Grade six weeks before, we kids were taking up their places in a different formation than they had ever seen. Instead of single modern desks and unconnected student chairs, there were tables that three students could comfortbly sit at.

Our bus had been the last one to arrive at the school that morning. Out of it had poured kindergarteners; primary school: first, second and third graders; intermediate students: fourth, fifth and six graders; and the junior high-aged seventh and eighth graders, although at the time they were not called junior high kids.

We stepped up two long steps into the school building, walking through the corridor separating the primary school classrooms. If we were lucky, Dr. Kishkunas, our principal, was not scowling at us from the doorway of the school office at the north end of the Primary Class Hall.

Those of us who no longer belonged in the primary hall classrooms zigged left and then right just before we would have been able to go into the gymnasium that had folding lunch tables with benches that came out of cabinets along the far wall.

This was taken care of by our janitor and our lunch lady. And it happened about an hour before our lunchtime when the kindergarteners has a snack of graham crackers and that ever-so weak orange juice or a carton of milk with that dairy cow, Daisy, drawn on the sides off the small boxes with lids that looked like roofs.

When empty, those cartons became piggy banks covered with construction paper under the careful instructions and remonstrances of our wonderful but elderly art teacher, Mrs. Palmer. The boxes were then used to collect donations for the children still starving in Europe after World War II had ended.

And at Halloween the former milk boxes were covered with orange construction paper on which we drew full moons and pumpkins, witches hats and broomsticks. While we eagerly took handfuls of candy from big bowls, or were given home-made very sticky popcorn balls or caramel apples, we said, "Trick or Treat for UNICEF'". And the moms and dads who were our neighbors, or the little children who were too young to go out after dark put pennies, mostly, but also nickels, dimes, quarters, half dollars or dollars until the little house-shaped banks were heavier than our paper bags or our pillow cases full of candy.

We begged whichever adults stood near the curbs of the streets of our communities to take from us and hold for us the full or nearly full UNICEF receptacles. Or they put them in red wagons or strollers or fancy baby buggies with huge wheels and springs that 17th century stagecoaches would have been proud to boast about while transporting people heading out to the wild, wild West.

So the UNICEF containers were placed inside the wagons and the strollers and the baby buggies. In some of the wheel barrows infants or toddlers sat or laid down, awake or asleep, silent or wailing because they were too little to go to the doors of our neighbors houses.

And one parent, or grandparent or even an aunt or an uncle, a babysitter or kid sitter or neighbor had to hold the fort at the house they called home so that no mischievous kids would trick the house by throwing rolls of toilet paper up into the trees or by soaping the windows on the lower floors of the house and of any cars in driveways, or along the curbs of the street. Those were some of the consequences if the kids dressed up as cowboys, princesses, police officers, witches, ghosts and/or some television characters found no candy or felt the treats were in some way inferior.

Seems like I might have lost track of something.

Please let me get back to you sometime tomorrow, Beloved. It is almost 3:30 am and Dad has only been asleep for about twenty-two minutes.

Okay?

Thanks so much.