my burg

  Bible reading for Aug 16 -- 17 Aug 16 -- Jeremiah 44-45 and Psalm 20-21 Aug 17 -- Jeremiah 46 and Psalm 22 ================    "And those who escape the sword shall return from the land of Egypt to the land of Judah, few in number; and all the remnant of Judah, who came to the land of Egypt to live, shall know whose word will stand, mine or theirs. "  (Jeremiah 44:28) NO QUEEN OF HEAVEN (ch 44). The remnant of Judah, left behind after three deportations to Babylon, have not done well. In fear of the king of Babylon, they have fled the land for sanctuary in Egypt. But even there they do not trust the Lord. The women are called out for their goddess-worship (cf 7:18), of which their husbands were supportive. This "queen" is likely some form of Ishtar (or Astarte), whose cult likely involved star worship and ritual prostitution. Such goddess-worship was a kind of female-empowerment in all the wrong ways . God's word to them through Jeremiah was that even in the ...

Bible reading for weekend April 16 -- 18 Apr 16 -- Ecclesiastes 3 and 1 Timothy 5 Apr 17 -- Ecclesiastes 4 and 1 Timothy 6 Apr 18 -- Ecclesiastes 5 and 2 Timothy 1 "For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven: a time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up what is planted..." (Ecclesiastes 3:1-2) SEASONS. Last night I received word that a beloved friend and fellow pastor had gone to be with the Lord. His destination is sure and glorious. In the words of Tolkien, our brother left the Grey Havens bound for Valinor, the land of immortality. The juxtaposition of our loss with the beauty of spring all around us should not be missed. Maybe the older you become the more you see it: "a time for every matter under heaven: a time to be born and a time to die..." (vv 1-2). In his wisdom Solomon is telling us about the seasons and the cycles of life under the sun. Life is full of limitations -- in our understanding,...