02/21/22010-sunday

Isaiah 3:1-14
Judgment on Judah and Jerusalem
1 For behold, the Lord, the LORD of hosts,
Takes away from Jerusalem and from Judah
The stock and the store,
The whole supply of bread and the whole supply of water;
2 The mighty man and the man of war,
The judge and the prophet,
And the diviner and the elder;
3 The captain of fifty and the honorable man,
The counselor and the skillful artisan,
And the expert enchanter.
4 " I will give children to be their princes,
And babes shall rule over them.
5 The people will be oppressed,
Every one by another and every one by his neighbor;
The child will be insolent toward the elder,
And the base toward the honorable."
6 When a man takes hold of his brother
In the house of his father, saying,

" You have clothing;
You be our ruler,
And let these ruins be under your power,"
7 In that day he will protest, saying,

" I cannot cure your ills,
For in my house is neither food nor clothing;
Do not make me a ruler of the people."
8 For Jerusalem stumbled,
And Judah is fallen,
Because their tongue and their doings
Are against the LORD,
To provoke the eyes of His glory.
9 The look on their countenance witnesses against them,
And they declare their sin as Sodom;
They do not hide it.
Woe to their soul!
For they have brought evil upon themselves.
10 " Say to the righteous that it shall be well with them,
For they shall eat the fruit of their doings.
11 Woe to the wicked! It shall be ill with him,
For the reward of his hands shall be given him.
12 As for My people, children are their oppressors,
And women rule over them.
O My people! Those who lead you cause you to err,
And destroy the way of your paths."
Oppression and Luxury Condemned
13 The LORD stands up to plead,
And stands to judge the people.
14 The LORD will enter into judgment
With the elders of His people
And His princes:

" For you have eaten up the vineyard;
The plunder of the poor is in your houses.

I have always loved Isaiah-that is where we have the dream of beating our swords into plows as well but this passage is from the Russian Orthodox liturgy. and it says better the consequences of greed and selfishness than I ever could-and this spirit is found everywhere in magazines and on TV and in the newspapers. I have been profoundly caught up in this which is why I am always running out of money. the best teacher of the blessing of simplicity and modesty was Robert who while utterly insane around sex and women and men lived quietly within his boundries and when he died left his house and the entire inheritance from him mother of $32,000 (which sadly John stole because John was the only one together enough in the Capricorn sense of that word to have the credit to take over the house and to demand that Gerald surrender all rights to all of Robert's estate to cover the expenses of flying Gerald over here,etc.)
Lately I am reading 'Our Lady OF The Red Thread" a Russian Orthodox Empress type woman a painter and writer. I am also reading Old Babushka from a link on the Our Lady of The Red Thread site. I have been drawn again to more mystical spiritual processes especially now that I am clear in my anger with organized religion and the childish (perhaps only my childish understanding)interpretation of god.) I love reading about living on a deeper level of dedicating our lives to our deepest values-I am more at peace with my own personal life and the fact that I am happy now even though I made horrible mistakes when young. I am living my life as close as I can to the demands of modesty, humility,frugality, family, support of the future in the young people. I am learning to back away somewhat from the anger of politics the better to be "here" when more crazy folk fly their planes into office buildings,etc and believe me people are being manipulated to that end by forces I don't understand.