Zephaniah 3:1-2, 9-13 ~ take refuge in the Name of the Lord

 

Churches do have weathervanes.  

Scriptures do tell us over the millenniums culture and God always work together or apart.  And Scriptures tell us God's plans always are the pendulum swing upward for mankind and God together. 

We recently had some jaw dropping news from Churches we have attended.

This year we will be married 40 years. 2 cities. And have attended 6 Churches in our 6th decade of life. In 3 denominations. 3 were ranked in size nationally.  3 were modestly sized. 

Let's relate this first to the Pew Report findings covering the 1980s to 2010.  Denominations teaching, preaching and agreeing to the whole Word of God increased in strength, faith, numbers, giving and talent during these decades ... Because... they had the blessings God gave Abraham, Sarah, Jacob and the Church in the first 3 AD centuries. 

And then we spoke of Advent as a time of waiting without castigating for a sin label.  With Lent being appropriate for the time of recollection of Jesus Christ and His Sacrifice to save the world.   

Summing this up.  
The Word of God Holds Truth.  Stretching to preach faith leads, lends and builds up the Blessings of God.

Anonymously Saying:
One of the Churches we attended had a time of massive retirement. And this was a nationally sized Church. The newbies rushed in and had the greatly admired retirees out the door almost immediately, after announcing retirements to gradually happen over half a year. Don't let the screen door hit you in the rear. The retirement parties did not occur. The result?  A political change in favor of politics and not the Word of God.  The result? This population does not rank nationally anymore. Does this say the Holy Spirit left this church? No, it says they fell in error.  And some corrections have happened. But the tremendous momentum has been checked. By the odd and unpleasant comments during the Sermon. Passed as humor.  The saying of one standard and the display of another.  Humor having a bite, does not remain in the mind and soul as humor. 

The next wonderful and holy Church had a massively loved leader, who decided to retire.  He finally reached the point,  the bottom line, why he was retiring.  He could not pray for the next decades for the heartbreaking treatment of people of the Large City. His heart was broken from what they experienced.  And once again, newbies rushed into the entire course of leadership, and the Church population faced a dramatic shift downward in mere months. Because the new leadership decided to ignore cultural shifts, leading to a doom in the family structure.  This began to be perpetuated by their hiring likeminded mum about cultural shifts. 

Then across the Atlantic Ocean, 

an Archbishop, was announced who had her new appointment celebrated by drag shows for children in Texas and seriously ugly graffiti in cathedrals in the UK. Both times, the media was told one thing, printed the utter rubbish events, and, then, backpedaled to change the entire presentation?  As Family Show and Vinyl Stickers.  As if it vainly hoped 1) not to be rebuked, hopefully as a new normal?  2) the sly wisdom of getting out of hot water.  And instead, events began to turn the pendulum. 

Jaw Dropping.  

Part of the Anglican Church branches announced their wish to join the Episcopal Church USA. Slid from 15 million parishioners to 400,000. Usually these numbers would not present a desire to join up. However, the new American Archbishop Steven Wood is from PA and so is the head of Episcopal USA NYC.  

Jaw Dropping

And our former Pastor, from a modestly sized Church went to the Church heads to protest Archbishop Steven Wood for a) sexually inappropriate behavior. b) misappropriation of funds. c) Misuse of funds marked for specific purposes.  To find this behavior of Steven Woods was already known before he was appointed to Archbishop. 11 clergymen signed up to protest in official Church channels. These 11 men were dismissed as interfering.  After considering this, these 11 clergymen moved on to The Washington Post. 

The Washington Post agreed with these men.  Brave clergymen.  And the Church announced the Archbishop would be in retirement for 60 days.  

Jaw Dropping

oh wow sixty whole days

And now, another... Bishop has been found to be sexually inappropriate. 

Now, both of these seasoned bishops will face a Church Trial. This sounds much more appropriate.

The Wave Continues.  

And another one:

JAW DROPPING

The Proposed Archbishop, The Most Reverend Sarah Mullally has not been installed. And she, now, is found to be in the same situation as the forced-into-retirement former Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby. She also knew of priests being sexually inappropriate with children. Her installation has NOT occurred. Graffiti. The departure of the majority of the Church of England's 

85 MILLION Parishoners is heard NOW. 

This probably will not take place as the same news from Welby.

And the Catholic Church has announced plans not to meet with this level of corruption.

Is there a Lesson about being mum about cultural norms versus The Word of God?

Yes.

And it occurs in

REAL ESTATE

If the clergy is trying to adapt... The Real Estate of the Cities is NOT trying to adapt.

Reports show CITY PRICE DROPS in the 13 to 28% range in the 50 Largest Metros.

This is for the SCHOOLS.

Cities with BLUE values have their ISDs fleeing from their teaching inappropriately.

Flight from Schools.  Taxes. Crimes. 

Population loss in weak Word Churches

Flight.

Waiting. The people have been waiting to see GOODNESS. 

Let's look at today's 

Liturgy from 500 BC.

Zephaniah 3:1-2, 9-13

Thus says the LORD:

Woe to the city, rebellious and polluted,

 to the tyrannical city!

She hears no voice,

    accepts no correction;

In the LORD she has not trusted,

    to her God she has not drawn near.

For then I will change and purify

    the lips of the peoples,

That they all may call upon the Name of the LORD,

    to serve Him 

with one accord

From beyond the rivers of Ethiopia

  and as far as the recesses of the North,

    they shall bring me offerings.

    On that day

you need not be ashamed 

    of all your deeds,

    your rebellious actions against Me;

For then will I remove from your midst

    the proud braggarts,

And you shall no longer exalt yourself

    on My Holy Mountain.

But I will leave as a remnant in your midst

    a people humble and lowly,

Who shall 

take refuge in the Name of the LORD

   

The remnant of Israel.

They shall do no wrong

    and 

speak no lies;

Nor shall there be found in their mouths

    a deceitful tongue;

They shall pasture and couch their flocks

    with none to disturb them.

The oil of gladness instead of mourning

The garment of praise 

instead of a faint spirit;

that they may be called 

Oaks of Righteousness

 The planting of the Lord, 

that He may be glorified.

They shall build up the ancient ruins;

    they shall raise up the former devastations;

they shall repair the ruined cities

 The devastations of many generations

We have to see what the problem is and do what we all can do to keep the policies favorable to the family structure intact.  The Word of God made plain.

The interest rates. The HOA structures. The School Districts.  And the Churches. Take the recovery from the pandemic and Biden inflation and make the Good Choices. 

Abba, Father,

Jesus spoke Your Word 

telling us always to Pray 

and Have Hope.

We lift up to You, Father God, 

our most pressing prayer request, 

knowing You have heard and answer.

Thank You, Father God, 

and 

Blessed be the Name of Jesus the Lord. 

Amen.

♔ Lord Jesus Saves †

Yes, The Lord Fulfills His Purpose

Thank You, Jesus