Happy Epiphany!!

Mike Davis

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Jan 6, 2022, 9:10:08 AM1/6/22

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Great! The 'shining through' of God's love to pagans as well as Jews!
That's us folks! (Though I think I may have some Jewish blood!)

Today our priest had placed some Gold, Frankincense & Myrrh in our crib
- unfortunately in sealed containers.

We then (while taking down the Christmas tree) had a discussion as to
what Mary & Joseph did with the Gifts. Did Joseph sell them, when they
moved to Egypt, to equip himself with carpentry tools? Why does Luke
tell us this lovely detail, and leave it there?

What do you think?

Mike
--
Mike Davis

Kendall K. Down

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Jan 6, 2022, 3:40:07 PM1/6/22

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On 06/01/2022 14:07, Mike Davis wrote:

> We then (while taking down the Christmas tree) had a discussion as to
> what Mary & Joseph did with the Gifts. Did Joseph sell them, when they
> moved to Egypt, to equip himself with carpentry tools? Why does Luke
> tell us this lovely detail, and leave it there?

I'm not sure. Trades unions were as strong back then as they are now and
a foreign carpenter may have had difficulty setting up in business in
Egypt. I suspect the gifts were sold to pay for food and lodging, at
least for a time.

Incidentally, when we were in India we employed a carpenter to make
furniture for us. He arrived with a saw (a pull-saw, if you know what I
mean) and a plane blade. His first job was to make a plane and then beat
out a couple of bits of strap iron to make chisels. (The hammer was just
a lump of wood.) He made a bow drill out of a nail, and then he was
ready to start producing some excellent furniture to my father's design.

Ah, teak. There's no wood like it!

God bless,
Kendall K. Down

Adam Funk

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Jan 7, 2022, 4:20:07 AM1/7/22

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Wow, that's starting from the basics!

> Ah, teak. There's no wood like it!
>
> God bless,
> Kendall K. Down
>
>
>

--
Some say the world will end in fire; some say in segfaults.
[XKCD 312]

Adam Funk

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Jan 7, 2022, 4:20:07 AM1/7/22

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Time to move the Wise Men into final position in the nativity set!

--
There's nothing in Scripture that forbids letting our lawn
go wild. --- Garrison Keillor

Mike Davis

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Jan 7, 2022, 10:50:07 AM1/7/22

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On 07/01/2022 09:10, Adam Funk wrote:
> On 2022-01-06, Mike Davis wrote:
>
>>
>> Great! The 'shining through' of God's love to pagans as well as Jews!
>> That's us folks! (Though I think I may have some Jewish blood!)
>>
>> Today our priest had placed some Gold, Frankincense & Myrrh in our crib
>> - unfortunately in sealed containers.
>>
>> We then (while taking down the Christmas tree) had a discussion as to
>> what Mary & Joseph did with the Gifts. Did Joseph sell them, when they
>> moved to Egypt, to equip himself with carpentry tools? Why does Luke
>> tell us this lovely detail, and leave it there?
>>
>> What do you think?
>
> Time to move the Wise Men into final position in the nativity set!

Yes, at church we took the Christmas trees & lights down, but moved the
Magi into position in front of the shepherds (Dunno why they're hanging
about!!) until Sunday.

Mike
--
Mike Davis

Adam Funk

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Jan 7, 2022, 11:20:06 AM1/7/22

to

On 2022-01-07, Mike Davis wrote:

> On 07/01/2022 09:10, Adam Funk wrote:
>> On 2022-01-06, Mike Davis wrote:
>>
>>>
>>> Great! The 'shining through' of God's love to pagans as well as Jews!
>>> That's us folks! (Though I think I may have some Jewish blood!)
>>>
>>> Today our priest had placed some Gold, Frankincense & Myrrh in our crib
>>> - unfortunately in sealed containers.
>>>
>>> We then (while taking down the Christmas tree) had a discussion as to
>>> what Mary & Joseph did with the Gifts. Did Joseph sell them, when they
>>> moved to Egypt, to equip himself with carpentry tools? Why does Luke
>>> tell us this lovely detail, and leave it there?
>>>
>>> What do you think?
>>
>> Time to move the Wise Men into final position in the nativity set!

(Of course we did that yesterday, the 6th, not today when I posted
that.)

> Yes, at church we took the Christmas trees & lights down, but moved the
> Magi into position in front of the shepherds (Dunno why they're hanging
> about!!) until Sunday.

Churches usually get it right, but a lot of people plop the entire
home nativity set onto a shelf together in early December. We put
Jesus in a drawer out of sight until Christmas, and we start the Magi
on another shelf which we designate "Persia" and move them closer once
or twice a week.

--
Thinking about her this morning, lying in bed, and trying to get my
thoughts on the right track, I reached into the drawer of the bedstand,
and found the Gideons' Bible, and I was going for the Psalms, friend, honest
I was, but I found the Song of Solomon instead. --- Garrison Keillor

Kendall K. Down

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Jan 7, 2022, 3:20:10 PM1/7/22

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On 07/01/2022 09:13, Adam Funk wrote:

> Wow, that's starting from the basics!

It was indeed - and he was ever so grateful to my father for paying him
while he did all that. Previous employers had insisted he start work
right away, leaving him no choice but to hire his tools, which obviously
cut into his take-home pay. Now he had a set of tools he could take with
him to the next job and, perhaps, in time he might be able to afford
proper steel chisels!

We don't know we're born here in the West.

Kendall K. Down

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Jan 7, 2022, 3:20:10 PM1/7/22

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On 07/01/2022 15:40, Mike Davis wrote:

> Yes, at church we took the Christmas trees & lights down, but moved the
> Magi into position in front of the shepherds (Dunno why they're hanging
> about!!) until Sunday.

Absolutely! Who does your priest think is looking after the sheep all
this time?

Jason

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Jan 10, 2022, 3:03:16 PM1/10/22

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I used to like the tradition at a church where I used to live where they
kept the trunk of the Christmas tree and made the Easter cross out of it.

Jason

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Jan 10, 2022, 3:03:30 PM1/10/22

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That certainly is true, though I'm a little disappointed he didn't wait
for his own trees to grow for the timber: the sheer impatience of people
these days beggars belief! :-)

Kendall K. Down

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Jan 10, 2022, 3:20:08 PM1/10/22

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On 10/01/2022 12:10, Jason wrote:

> That certainly is true, though I'm a little disappointed he didn't wait
> for his own trees to grow for the timber: the sheer impatience of people
> these days beggars belief! :-)

He he.

Though my point was the fact that he was so poor that he could not
afford his own tools and having to hire tools was keeping him in poverty.

You may ask why we didn't just buy him a set of tools? Sad experience
has taught us that such generosity was taken advantage of. By letting
him make his own tools and then gradually build up to buying better, he
really appreciated them and guarded them.

Adam Funk

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Jan 12, 2022, 9:10:06 AM1/12/22

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On 2022-01-07, Kendall K. Down wrote:

> On 07/01/2022 09:13, Adam Funk wrote:
>
>> Wow, that's starting from the basics!
>
> It was indeed - and he was ever so grateful to my father for paying him
> while he did all that. Previous employers had insisted he start work
> right away, leaving him no choice but to hire his tools, which obviously
> cut into his take-home pay. Now he had a set of tools he could take with
> him to the next job and, perhaps, in time he might be able to afford
> proper steel chisels!

Very good of your father!

> We don't know we're born here in the West.

Well, we still have "the poor pay more" problems.

--
Morality is doing what's right regardless of what you're
told. Obedience is doing what you're told regardless of what is
right. (attributed to H. L. Mencken)

Kendall K. Down

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Jan 12, 2022, 3:30:07 PM1/12/22

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On 12/01/2022 13:54, Adam Funk wrote:

> Very good of your father!

We always tried to treat servants and employees according to the Golden
Rule.

> Well, we still have "the poor pay more" problems.

True, but poverty in Britain is prosperity in the Third World.