Enoch

From The New English Bible with the Apocrypha (1970):

Genesis 5:21-24, Ecclesiasticus 44:16, Hebrews 11:5-6

Enoch was sixty-five years old when he begot Methuselah. After the birth of Methuselah, Enoch walked with God for three hundred years, and had other sons and daughters. He lived three hundred and sixty-five years. Having walked with God, Enoch was seen no more, because God had taken him away.

Enoch pleased the Lord and was carried off to heaven,

an example of repentance to future generations.

By faith Enoch was carried away to another life without passing through death; he was not to be found, because God had taken him. For it is the testimony of Scripture that before he was taken he had pleased God, and without faith it is impossible to please him; for anyone who comes to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who search for him.

No one on earth has been created to equal Enoch,

fot he was taken up from the earth.

The Justice of the Law of the LORD

 From the Good News Bible: Psalm 119:73-80, 137-144 (Good News Translation)

You created me, and you keep me safe; give me understanding, so that I may learn your laws. Those who honor you will be glad when they see me, because I trust in your promise. I know that your judgments are righteous, LORD, and that you punished me because you are faithful. Let your constant love comfort me, as you have promised me, your servant. Have mercy on me, and I will live because I take pleasure in your law. May the proud be ashamed for falsely accusing me; as for me, I will meditate on your instructions. May those who honor you come to me -- all those who know your commands. May I perfectly obey your commandments and be spared the shame of defeat.

You are righteous, LORD, and your laws are just. The rules that you have given are completely fair and right. My anger burns in me like a fire, because my enemies disregard your commands. How certain your promise is! How I love it! I am unimportant and despised, but I do not neglect your teachings. Your righteousness will last forever, and your law is always true. I am filled with trouble and anxiety, but your commandments bring me joy. Your instructions are always just; give me understanding, and I shall live.

Christmas Is Giving . . . Cheerfully

THE FINAL SAY

Read "Beggar's Rhyme: A Blogger as Beggar" (a post in this blog).

Beggar's Rhyme: A Blogger as Beggar

O Christmas is coming,

The geese are getting fat,

Won't you please put a penny

In a poor man's hat?

If you haven't got a penny

A ha'penny will do.

If you haven't got a ha'penny

Then God bless you!

Author Unknown

Thank you for reading this post. This blogger, this poor man, is now passing the hat among his readers. If enjoy reading this blog and would like to make a donation of $1.00 (100 pennies) or more to support my work on this blog -- and to help me pay my monthly bills -- will you please send your donation via  PayPal to oldelway02@duck.com? As Proverbs 28:27 (New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition) says, "Whoever gives to the poor will lack nothing." God bless you! I wish you a merry Christmas and a happy New Year.

A Christmas Poem on Sin and Redemption

I have quoted the final two lines in each of the second, fourth, seventh and ninth stanzas below from "The Holly and the Ivy," a fifteenth-century English carol. The quotation in the fifth stanza below is from verse 15 in chapter 1 of the First Epistle of Paul the Apostle to Timothy (King James Version).

From the letters of

The name of what month can be

Formed a word of six

Letters that means "to free from

The consequences of sin"?

From the letters of

The name DECEMBER can be

Formed the word REDEEM.

"And Mary bore sweet Jesus Christ

To be our sweet Saviour."

From the letters of

The name DECEMBER can be

Formed a verb of six

Letters that means "from sin and

Damnation to deliver."

From the letters of

The name DECEMBER can be

Formed the verb REDEEM.

"And Mary bore sweet Jesus Christ

To do poor sinners good."

"This is a faithful

Saying, and worthy of all

Acceptation," wrote

Paul, "that Christ Jesus came into

The world to save sinners."

From the letters of

The name DECEMBER can be

Formed a word of six

Letters that means "to free from

The consequences of sin."

From the letters of

The name DECEMBER can be

Formed the word REDEEM..

"And Mary bore sweet Jesus Christ

On Christmas in the morn."

From the letters of

The name DECEMBER can be

Formed a verb of six

Letters that means "from sin and

Damnation to deliver>"

From the letters of

The name DECEMBER can be

Formed the verb REDEEM.

"And Mary bore sweet Jesus Christ

For to redeem us all."

Thanksgiving Day, 2025: "We Gather Together"

WE GATHER TOGETHER

Netherlands folk hymn; translated by Theodore Baker

We gather together to ask the Lord's blessing;

He chastens and hastens His will to make known;

The wicked oppressing now cease from distressing,

Sing praises to His name: He forgets not His own.

Beside is to guide us, our God with us joining,

Ordaining, maintaining His kingdom divine;

So from the beginning the fight we were winning:

Thou, Lord, wast at our side, all glory be Thine!

We all do extol Thee, Thou Leader triumphant,

And pray that Thou still our Defender wilt be.

Let Thy congregation escape tribulation:

Thy name be ever praised! O Lord, make us free!

Forsake Me Not, O Lord

Do not forsake me, O Lord!

O my God, be not far from me!

Rescue me, O my God, from the hand of the wicked,

From the grasp of the unjust and cruel man.

Do not cast me off in the time of old age;

Forsake me not when my strength is spent.

O God, be not far from me;

O my God, make haste to help me!

Make haste to help me,

O Lord, my salvation!

Sources: Psalms 38:21; 71:4, 9, 12; 38:22 (English Standard Version)

The poem "Forsake Me Not, O Lord" is a found poem of mine from the English Standard Version of the Holy Bible, copyright 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

A Brainteaser and a Biblical Quotation

A communications code word of seven letters and a chiefly Scottish word of four letters have two letters in common. The fourth letter in the communications code word is the same as the third letter in the chiefly Scottish word, and the second letter in the chiefly Scottish word, the Scots' word for church, is the same as the sixth letter in the communications code word. What are that seven-letter communications code word and that four-letter, chiefly Scottish word for church?

To read the answer to this brainteaser, click here  for the communications code word and here for the chiefly Scottish word.

From Paul, a slave of Christ Jesus,

called to be an apostle

and set apart for God's good news. . . .

To those in Rome

who are dearly loved by God

and called to be God's people.

(Common English Bible: Romans 1:1, 7)

My Arrogant Younger Brother

The final two lines in the second stanza are those

of Proverbs 21:4 from The New English Bible.

Brother on his high 

Horse looks down on me and rides 

Roughshod over me.

I will not sit at table 

With my proud, pompous brother.

Brother on his high 

Horse looks down on me and rides 

Roughshod over me.

"Haughty looks and a proud heart --

These sins mark a wicked man."

My Arrogant Younger Brother Roger

Brother on his high

horse looks down on me and rides

roughshod over me.

His haughty eyes and his proud

heart I must not tolerate.

A Father Who Trusts in the Lord

Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord,

whose confidence is in Him.

(Jeremiah 17:7)

"But blessed is the one who trusts in the LORD,

     whose confidence is in him.

They will be like a tree planted by the water

     that sends out its roots by the stream'

It does not fear when heat comes;

     its leaves are always green.

It has no worries in a year of drought

     and never fails to bear fruit."

(The Bible, New International Version: Jeremiah 17:7-8)

Competition: Runners

THE RUNNER

On a flat road runs the well-train'd runner,

He is lean and sinewy with muscular legs;

He is thinly clothed; he leans forward as he runs;

With lightly closed fists and arms partially rais'd.

Walt Whitman

I can be precise about the day it began. It was December 10, 1974. That was the day I met Billy Sive, and he asked me to coach him.

So begins Patricia Nell Warren's novel The Front Runner (1974), a landmark classic novel that is the most celebrated gay love story of all time. As the back cover of Wildcat Press's 20th Anniversary Edition of that novel says, "Harlan Brown is a tough, conservative track coach -- hiding from his past at a small college. Billy Sive is a brilliant young runner who is homosexual -- and doesn't mind who knows it. When they fall in love, they will enter a race against hate and prejudice that takes them to the '76 Olympics and a shocking, shattering conclusion." To read more about the novel The Front Runner, click here.

Easter, the Day of Resurrection: Mary Magdalene

Jesus Appears to Mary Magdalene

John 20:11-16

But Mary stood without at the sepulcher weeping: and as she wept, she stooped down, and looked into the sepulcher, and saw two angels in white sitting, the one at the head, and the other at the feet, where the body of Jesus had lain. And they said unto her, "Woman, why weepest thou?" She said unto them, "Because they have taken away my Lord, and I know not where they have laid him." And when she had thus said, she turned herself back, and saw Jesus standing, and knew not that it was Jesus.

Jesus said unto her, "Woman, why weepest thou? whom seekest thou?" She, supposing him to be the gardener, said unto him, "Sir, if thou hast borne him hence, tell me where thou hast laid him, and I will take him away." Jesus said unto her, "Mary." She turned herself, and said unto him, . . . "Master." 

Mary Magdalene

by Richard Burton

At dawn she sought the Saviour slain,

To kiss the spot where he had lain

And weep warm tears, like springtime rain;

When lo, there stood, unstained of death,

A man that spoke with low sweet breath;

And "Master!" Mary answereth.

From out the far and fragrant years

How sweeter than the songs of seers

That tender offering of tears!

Monday in Holy Week

MONDAY IN HOLY WEEK

by Christina Rossetti (1830-1894)

"The Voice of my Beloved."

Once I ached for thy dear sake:

Wilt thou cause Me now to ache?

Once I bled for thee in pain:

Wilt thou rend My Heart again?

Crown of thorns and shameful tree,

Bitter death I bore for thee,

Bore My Cross to carry thee,

And wilt thou have nought of Me?

Bread Upon the Waters

 THE FINAL SAY

Quotations (from the Bible and James Baldwin)

in a pair for comparison

Cast thy bread upon the waters: for thou shalt find it after many days.

     --The Bible: Ecclesiastes 11:1 (King James Version)

In other words:

People who treat other people as less than human must not be surprised when the bread they have cast on the waters comes back to them, poisoned.

     --James Baldwin (1924-1987)

Read more about James Baldwin.

Concerning Anger and Murder: A Found Poem

A Poem of Jesus Christ

from The New English Bible (1970):

Matthew 5:21-22

You have learned that our forefathers were told,

"Do not commit murder;

anyone who commits murder

must be brought to judgement."

But what I tell you is this:

Anyone who nurses anger

against his brother

must be brought to judgement.

If he abuses his brother

he must answer for it to the court;

if he sneers at him

he will have to answer for it

in the fires of hell.

Cover of The New English Bible

Silence of Fools

Those who are sure of themselves do not talk all the time. People who stay calm have real insight. After all, even fools may be thought wise and intelligent if they stay quiet and keep their mouths shut.

     --The Bible: Proverbs 17:27-28 (Good News Translation)

It's better to keep your mouth shut and appear stupid than to open it and remove all doubt.

     --Mark Twain

     

February All Dripping Wet

If the clouds be full of rain,

they empty themselves upon the earth.

--from Ecclesiastes 11:3

(King James Version)

The title of this post is a line from an untitled poem in Sing-Song: A Nursery Rhyme Book by English poet Christina Rossetti.

The Final Say: "An Eye for an Eye"

Read "'Turn the Other Cheek': A Poem of Jesus Christ."

An eye for an eye only ends up making the whole world blind. --Mahatma Gandhi

That old law about "an eye for an eye" leaves everybody blind. The time is always right to do the right thing. --Martin Luther King, Jr.

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While by My Sheep

WHILE BY MY SHEEP

The text of an anonymous Christmas hymn,

from the German

(Read Luke 2:15-20.)

While by my sheep I watched at night,

Glad tidings brought an angel bright.

How great my joy! Great my joy!

Joy, joy, joy! Joy, joy, joy!

Praise we the Lord in heaven on high!

Praise we the Lord in heaven on high!

There shall be born, so he did say,

In Bethlehem a Child today;

How great my joy! Great my joy!

Joy, joy, joy! Joy, joy, joy!

Praise we the Lord in heaven on high!

Praise we the Lord in heaven on high!

There shall the Child lie in a stall,

This Child who shall redeem us all.

How great our joy! Great our joy!

Joy, joy,joy! Joy, joy, joy!

Praise we the Lord in heaven on high!

Praise we the Lord in heaven on high!

This gift of God we'll cherish well,

That ever joy our hearts shall fill.

How great our joy! Great our joy!

Joy, joy, joy! Joy, joy, joy!

Praise we the Lord in heaven on high!

Praise we the Lord in heaven on high!