#the 42nd parallel

[macrolit]

Modern Library editions from the 1930s.

[amyblues]

Toby Wing and Dick Powell in 42nd Street || Christopher Gable and Twiggy in The Boy Friend

[anna-croft]

so

[fourgods-nobrakes]

Anyway, I have read Fulgrim: The Perfect Son! I hear opinions are mixed, which seems unavoidable when the stakes are so high. My opinion is that it's a really solid, enjoyable addition to the canon and the choices Reid makes fit well into the rest of Black Library's established 41st/42nd millennium. I liked a lot of things abut it: the parallels drawn between Imperial and Chaos, the grimdark getting on everyone and not just one side, the language delighting in sensual experiences, Fulgrim's presence as a dangerous but incredibly compelling liege, the way Reid doesn't seem interested in the "beautiful yet repulsive" framing previous authors have done with EC and Slaaneshi characters and just talks about the beautiful (if you're repulsed by that it's on you, buddy). The things I didn't like are largely things I don't like about Warhammer books in general—the repeated use of betrayal plots, the grimdarkness that makes victories hollow and defeats brutal. Still, it feels silly to claim those elements shouldn't be there, because Warhammer 40k has EVERYTHING SUCKS HERE stamped all over the timeline. I knew what I was getting into and had a lot of fun before things came crashing down. More specific thoughts under the cut, with spoilers.

Tamaris honestly charmed the hell out of me, with his repeated insistence that the Black Templars he fought were his brothers, and his deep desire to have knightly etiquette and honorable duels with them. I have no idea where he got that idealism in this era but it's adorable. The fact that he refuses the label "traitor" and points out he stayed loyal to his lord and sire is something I want far more CSM to do. Also adorable, the way he stops repeatedly to get distracted by something he's witnessing/experiencing, like a VtM Toreador who's enraptured by the sunrise or the sound of noise marines playing or the rhythm of a battle.

Also, seriously, the repeated parallels! Tamaris and Berengar both being champions with a divine mandate to face each other, both the same kind of impatient with a siege that doesn't give them the glorious single combat they crave, both fucking up through their glory-hunting with an enemy champion near the start (and holy shit, Berengar losing it in a sadistic and decidedly not-heroic way as his anger got the better of him with the kakophonist). But also the parallels around them -- the guardsmen repeating "Cadia stands!" as they died until it was as empty as a cultist mantra. The "winnowing" of the EC by Mauvais* compared with the colonel's insistence that the militia find heretics to burn or she would take them from the militia's ranks.

*I have to assume this name is Reid just having a nerdy chuckle about how silly Warhammer names get. I have to.

More generally I'm very grateful that she's more even-handed about SHOWING that everyone is bad guys than a lot of books. The defenders of the city are impatient with civilians for being in the way and being scared. The militia team, on their heretic hunt, corner and harass a small child even though we know they don't want to be doing this at all. The Black Templars intend to massacre the civilians when the city falls (and regret not doing it earlier) and poor Sekunder knows this and doesn't find comfort in a free ticket to the Golden Throne.

And then there are the cultists that Tamaris meets early on, who are helpful at the time and then save him when he's almost destroyed later. They get to be gentle and kind, bathing his wounds and offering him sustenance, and I love that we get to see that. Warhammer gonna Warhammer, ofc, and what happens to them breaks my heart, but before then we got a tiny slice of a balm I really needed.

My big question at the end is what this is going to do to the Black Templars' ongoing attitude toward the Emperor's Children, because I feel like this has to result in the declaration of a crusade. You can't just take a chapter's holiest relic as a battle trophy! I mean you CAN, clearly, but it seems like a plot hook for somebody to grab.

I am apparently still really incoherent about this. But what a fun book.

[killerchickadee]

....Saw something stupid on Instagram, though they came to the right conclusion. It was a map of the country with all the potential natural disasters, including wildfire hurricanes floods etc. They determined that above the 42nd parallel is the best place to live (where I live lol, which I've thought ever since I moved here).

But included on the list was water shortages, and Milwaukee was on that map as a potential danger zone. And um.

I think we're OK, personally.

[writesaboutdragons]

365 Promises of God

Day 331 – Whoever Listens to Me Will Dwell Safely

But whoever listens to me will dwell safely, And will be secure, without fear of evil." (Pro 1:33 NKJV)

Read: Proverbs 1

Unless you’ve dwelt under a rock your entire life, you’ve probably heard the story of the RMS Titanic, which struck an iceberg in the North Atlantic and sank on 14 April 1912, ending the lives of over 1500 of the 2200 people on board. What you might not know, however, is that there were numerous warnings given to the crew of the ship, that were all ignored.

First, the crew on a ship normally uses binoculars to look ahead, in case of things in the way, like icebergs. But they were all locked in a cabinet, and the key was in the pocket of an officer removed from the crew before the ship left port. Also, the weather was unusually calm, with no moon and clear air, and the cold water meeting the warm air gave off a light fog that made it difficult for the lookouts to see.

The weather conditions contributed to the production of an abundance of icebergs. The climate caused a higher number than usual, and many were concentrated in the Labrador Sea. Extremely active tides that month due to the alignment of sun moon and earth contributed to tides drawing the icebergs south into the Gulfstream channel below the Labrador Sea.

Added to that, the captain had ordered the ship ahead at full power, under pressure by the managing director, Bruce Ismay, because the White Star Line wanted to break a 6-day record for the crossing. They maintained full speed even in waters known to contain ice.

And last but certainly not least, over 10 messages about icebergs went unheeded by the crew. The tenth message the ship received was from the SS Mesaba, a merchant ship traveling ahead of them through the icy waters. The message identified a rectangle the Titanic was about to travel through, and read, “Heavy pack ice and a great number of large icebergs.” This message did NOT get relayed to the captain, however, because the radio operator on duty noticed that it did not contain the prefix, ‘MSG:’ (Masters Service Gram), which would have made it imperative he relay the message to the captain.

The final message received by the Titanic came from the Californian, who reported that she was surrounded by ice and had stopped. The operator on the Californian, in his excitement, addressed the operator on the Titanic with the informal ‘Old Man’ preface, skipping the required MSG, and making it an informal address. A terse response interrupted the message from the radio operator on the Titanic: “Keep out, shut up, I’m working Cape Race”. To cut this operator a little slack, he’d been ordered by the captain to ensure he delivered every personal message to the rich passengers by hand, which kept him extremely busy. Too busy to pay attention to the messages that might have saved them all.

These eleven messages all warned the captain and crew about the unusual abundance of pack ice and icebergs at and above the 42nd parallel. All of these messages went unheeded, and disaster inevitably followed.

Proverbs contains perhaps the highest concentration of wise advice found in the Bible. It’s personal messages from God relayed by the wisest man who ever lived. The proverbs give wonderful advice on how to make God your priority, to spend time with Him, to cling to Him. It goes on to advise us on how we can have success in life, lasting and real success. It warns us about the angry man, the lazy man, the miser and the fool. It tells us about pride and gossip, about taking the high road and considering your words well before they leave your mouth.

The promise we unpack today is a blanket and general promise, and is conditional to those who listen to God. It does not mean that every one of us will avoid trouble. In fact, Jesus promises the exact opposite elsewhere, that in THIS world you WILL have trouble.

In fact, I can tell you that living in or near Memphis TN is dangerous. All of us dwelling here know that this is not really a safe place to dwell. It’s not a place where we feel particularly secure, and it’s easy to fear the evil that travels our streets at night, with its drive-by shootings and gang slayings.

So, what does this promise tell us about being secure, and without fear of evil? As you look around in my town you see gold-rimmed Cadillacs and Lexus cages, Escalades and Lamborghinis, while you, like me, probably drive around in a second-hand, paid off old car or van. They flash Rolex watches while you wear a Timex or a bottom-end Fitbit. They have the mansion, you have the crackerbox. They seem to go through life with little care about the violence going on – they might even be part of its source. But this world is not the end of the story. We can go through THIS life with a clear conscience, with confidence that we and ours will make it safely into the next world. Where all that we accumulated in THIS world won’t matter.

Prayer:

Lord, may I rest in the confidence of your love and protection, today. Amen

[42-hitchhiker]

Guess who's been thinking about a random idea which may or may not become relevant? The 42nd Hitchhiker!

Well...I haven't really been thinking of the ways 42 could get away from D.D.D. yet its shape seems to be just fine. Either it could regenerate relatively quickly due to its "street vulture" lifestyle or...

Andromeda Galaxy

You know that some Undertale characters (yeah, yeah, Sans is the most prominent one, but he isn't the only one) remember the timelines? SO. What if 42 is like that somehow? Technically, there're no resets here in our situation, but we can probably say it's the Parallel Universes.

SO (sorry for tautology). What if 42 remembers the times it DID die? Its lives before that? It foolishly approached the doormen. It foolishly hunted people outside of the buildings...and, of course, it got caught sooner or later. Maybe even several times. Actually, it most likely did happen several times.

Sombrero Galaxy

But after getting some knowledge about life it became the "elusive 42 doppelganger" who doesn't make any unnecessary moves. It remains in the new moon's shadows watching everything and everyone it finds curious. But it never remains in one place for long. It may come back, but there's no way of knowing when.

Cartwheel Galaxy

If you read up to this point...Hello there! Again, this might not become "canon", but I let my thoughts "spill" on the screen.

Again, we are in the Open Mind Space here.

[n2qfd]

It is October 27th 2023.

This Rhododendron is located around the 42nd Parallel in the state of New York

[bocceclub]

Honestly I grew up in a rural upstate community where farming was the #1 occupation and seeing tropical fruits year round in the grocery store was a relatively novel thing for me growing up in the 2000s. I was 14 the first time I saw a real starfruit. Sure we had produce grown in California and Florida in winter, but it fucking sucked because it had been shipped across the country in the middle of January lmao.

In contrast, my mom was a little bit hippy dippy so we got most of our produce from farmers markets and co-ops and just like. people's gardens. Literally we'd have zucchini and cucumbers and tomatoes appear on our front porch in summer, usually with a note along the lines of "I have too many oh my god please take these and enjoy". We'd ask the farmer down the road if we could pick fresh peas out of the field across from the house. We had raspberry and thimbleberry in our half-wild backyard, and I'd regularly "steal" blackberries from the neighbors as well. If you wanted swiss chard or sugar beets or scapes for a recipe, you'd just ask around – someone always knew a friend of a friend who grew whatever you were looking for. Seasonal produce was just the way things worked.

If I'm being honest, I hate bananas. I'm sure if I ever have the opportunity to try a truly fresh banana I'd like it, but here they're usually bruised and half-bad by the time they hit the shelves. I don't want or need bananas year round in my local grocery store above the 42nd parallel.

[sunnyuto]

For once the Americans get to pull the “shut up not everything is about your country” card. I feel like we shouldn’t have to explain why having an Australian summer in the northern US is a problem, but I will anyway.

I was talking with someone the other day about how people who live in warmer climate areas who don’t necessarily experience all four seasons and the full range of seasonal weather don’t seem to notice the serious changes as much as those of us who do get all the weather do. Sure, they have hotter summers, but at some point, hot is just hot and there’s no tangible indicator that anything has changed.

I live in New England. Specifically, I live in Connecticut, just north of the 42nd parallel. I’m specifying that to give folks outside the US context for where I’m located.

This is an area that does see all four seasons and the full range of weather events. New England winters are the stereotypical Hallmark movie kind of winter. Or they used to be at least. It’s been very warm and rainy for the last week or so, which has been the way the last few Decembers have gone. I was literally running the air conditioning in my car on Monday because it was 60 degrees and raining and my car windows were fogging up.

When I was in elementary school, we had snow so deep that we were able to make a functional, stable network of tunnels in our backyard. When I was in middle school, we had a blizzard that cancelled Halloween. When I was a sophomore in high school, we had snow days every second Monday for months and there were trash bags lining the hallway ceilings to prevent melting snow from the roofs from turning the halls into a slip-n-slide.

I am only 25 years old. Those things happened 20, 15, 10 years ago. In two decades, we have gone from multiple feet of accumulated snow by Christmas to…nothing. Rain and flooded roads. It hasn’t even been cold enough to turn any of that rain into ice. Even from year to year, the change is noticeable! By this time last winter, I was sleeping in sweatshirts under a maxed out electric blanket. Right now, I’m wearing shorts and a tee shirt in bed and my electric blanket is still in the closet.

Two decades. That’s not very much time in the grand scheme of the universe. I hope I have at least six decades left, but I truly fear what winter will look like by that time. Will my kids ever even see a white Christmas?

Christmas as a cultural icon is starting to get really dystopian in a climate sense, december has historically been a time of year in which there would be snow in a significant portion of europe and north america, and the fact that its not even icy this time of year and all the christmas songs and decorations reference a time of year that will likely never exist in the same way again in my life time is so strange.

[oneadaymadonna]

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<title>Sunset on the Grid: The Strange Science, Culture, and Spectacle of Manhattanhenge</title>

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<h1>Sunset on the Grid: The Strange Science, Culture, and Spectacle of Manhattanhenge</h1>

<p><strong>By [Author Name]</strong></p>

<p>Twice a year, New Yorkers pause in their daily sprint to witness something almost otherworldly—<strong>Manhattanhenge</strong>. In a city defined by vertical ambition, it's the horizontal that steals the show: the setting sun aligns perfectly with Manhattan’s grid, casting golden rays down the east-west corridors and lighting the city in surreal brilliance. It’s part natural phenomenon, part urban design marvel, and entirely New York.</p>

<h2>A Celestial Coincidence</h2>

<p>This semiannual event was first named and popularized in the early 2000s by astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson. He saw a parallel between the stone solstice alignments of Stonehenge and the modern steel canyons of New York. But the alignment itself has existed since the <strong>Commissioners' Plan of 1811</strong> laid the street grid 29 degrees off true east-west. That slight tilt makes all the difference.</p>

<img src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e5/Manhattanhenge_sunset.jpg" alt="Manhattanhenge Sunset in Manhattan" style="width:100%; height:auto; margin:20px 0;">

<h2>Half Sun vs. Full Sun: What’s the Difference?</h2>

<p>Each Manhattanhenge cycle brings two types of sunsets:</p>

<ul>

<li><strong>Half Sun</strong>: The upper half of the sun is visible just above the horizon. A preview of the phenomenon. Subtle, poetic, and fleeting.</li>

<li><strong>Full Sun</strong>: The entire solar disk sits centered in the street canyon, creating a glowing orb effect. More vivid, dramatic, and powerful.</li>

</ul>

<p>Half sun always precedes full sun in each seasonal cycle. In 2025, the alignments occur on:</p>

<ul>

<li><strong>May 28</strong> (Half Sun) – 8:13 PM ET</li>

<li><strong>May 29</strong> (Full Sun) – 8:12 PM ET</li>

<li><strong>July 11</strong> (Full Sun) – 8:20 PM ET</li>

<li><strong>July 12</strong> (Half Sun) – 8:22 PM ET</li>

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<h2>Best Streets and Viewing Tips</h2>

<p>The most iconic locations for viewing Manhattanhenge include:</p>

<ul>

<li><strong>34th Street</strong> (Empire State Building)</li>

<li><strong>42nd Street</strong> (Chrysler Building)</li>

<li><strong>57th Street</strong> (Classic skyline views)</li>

<li><strong>Tudor City Overpass</strong> (Elevated and unobstructed)</li>

<li><strong>Hunter’s Point South Park (Queens)</strong> (Reverse perspective of Manhattan)</li>

</ul>

<img src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/57/Manhattanhenge_2014.jpg" alt="Crowds watching Manhattanhenge in NYC" style="width:100%; height:auto; margin:20px 0;">

<h2>The Cultural Impact</h2>

<p>In New York, even the sunset gets an audience. Tourists, photographers, and locals flood the streets. Taxis honk. People cheer. Strangers clap together. Art is made. Photos go viral. Rooftop bars fill up with solar-chasers sipping cocktails named after celestial bodies. The city stops—just a little—to pay attention.</p>

<h2>What If It Rains?</h2>

<p>When clouds spoil the show, disappointment runs deep. But what if there were an alternative event? Enter the idea of <strong>“Shadowhenge”</strong>—a contingency celebration with LED light installations simulating the solar alignment, live music, projections, and archival footage. With enough imagination, the backup could be just as magnetic as the real thing.</p>

<h2>Could Boston Have a ‘Henje’ Moment?</h2>

<p>Probably not. Boston’s winding streets, many of them formed by cow paths, lack the geometric predictability of Manhattan’s grid. Other cities like Chicago or Toronto offer grid alignments, but Manhattanhenge remains uniquely New York—a synthesis of astronomy and architecture, nature and planning, sunlight and steel.</p>

<p><strong>For ten minutes twice a year, New York City synchronizes with the solar system. And that’s worth showing up for.</strong></p>

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[macrolit]

The 42nd Parallel (John Dos Passos) and other vintage Modern Library books from the 1930s.

[thejfblog]

Maps: Miami Urbanization in the 1920s

Aerial photographs of Downtown Miami, Florida in 1930. (G.W. Romer; uncredited)

In 1900, Dade County, Florida had a population of 5,000. By the 1920s, the number of its permanent residents mushroomed to 100,000 as a land boom flourished, prompting Miami to be nicknamed “The Magic City.” Hundreds of miles of new local roads were built to accommodate the growth.

“The Official Road Map: Dade County, Florida.” Adopted by the Dade County Board of County Commissioners on Jan. 20, 1921. (Richeson Love, 1921)

“Map of Miami's Metropolitan District, showing location of Coral Gables in relation to the City and Surrounding Territory | Map of Metropolitan District Miami Florida.” (Karl Squires, 1922)

“Map of Dade County, Florida.” (Associated Map Co., 1926)

“Map of Dade County.” (Florida State Road Department, 1936)

Fast facts:

Dade County’s newly implemented street grid called the Chaille Plan went into effect in 1921.

The same year in 1921, the Dixie Highway was completed in Miami, connecting Miami to the Midwest. The main historic segments were West Dixie Highway, which followed the alignment of Northeast 2nd Avenue in the City of Miami until Gratigny Road now Northwest and Northeast 119th Street, turning northeastward toward Broward County, East Dixie Highway, which followed most of the current alignment of Biscayne Boulevard in Miami north of Federal Highway and Northeast 54th Street, also toward Broward County, and South Dixie Highway, which connected Homestead and Florida City in South Dade, on its modern route, with Miami to the north.

Development of Dade County in the 1920s north of the Miami River was generally confined to east of Northwest 42nd Avenue (Le Jeune Road) closer to the City of Miami, and east of Northwest 27th Avenue north of the city limits.

South of Downtown Miami and the Miami River, development generally followed the alignment of the Florida East Coast Railway (now Metrorail north of North Kendall Drive) and the surrounds of its depots, paralleled by South Dixie Highway.

In the 1920s, mainland Dade County and its beaches were connected by four east-west routes, from south to north: the County Causeway now called the MacArthur Causeway (opened in 1920), the Venetian Causeway (1925) that replaced the earlier Collins Bridge completed in 1915, the 79th Street Causeway (1928), and Ocean Boulevard and Sunny Isles Road now 163rd Street (ca. 1920).

A number of Miami’s suburbs were established during the 1920s, including Hialeah (1925), Coral Gables (1925), North Miami (1926), North Miami Beach (1927), and South Miami (1927).

Northward view of vehicle traveling south on West Dixie Highway in Fulford-by-the-Sea now North Miami Beach, just north of Ocean Boulevard in 1924. (W.A. Fishbaugh)

[ayearwithoutwater]

Eleven.

In the premiere episode of Sex and the City's second season, Carrie narrates: "After a breakup, certain streets, locations, even times of day are off-limits. The city becomes a deserted battlefield loaded with emotional landmines; you have to be very careful where you step, or you could be blown to pieces." She's a month out from her breakup with Big, who she had wanted to be the one, her one, after ten years in New York and five real relationships (one serious).

I hate to draw the parallels between her life and mine, but I suppose they draw themselves, my own private ley lines. My breakup with Henry came after ten years in New York and four real relationships (one serious), and I abjectly refused to go anywhere that I'd previously been with him.

My relationship with New York felt sullied. I'd opened up to him in the way that New Yorkers do, bringing him to all of my favorite spots and explaining to him why my preferred locales—the best shop for desserts, the best Sichuan restaurant, the best corner for people-watching, the best eatery for fried chicken, the best corner in a particular nightclub for making out—were superior to all the alternatives. After we broke up, all of these places felt tainted.

Throughout the episode, Carrie is dragged out of her stupor by her friends. She goes on a couple of dates, she meets a new guy, and she sees her ex-boyfriend in strangers everywhere…until she eventually does run into him in person. It's an accurate depiction of the social scene in New York, with vanishingly small distance between the lives of one and one's ex-partners—here, one needn't go knocking on doors looking for the devil, because he'll make an appearance regardless. The likelihood of accidentally bumping into one another is so probable that it's equally likely to mistake a stranger for someone you once knew as it is for that stranger to actually be the person you want to avoid most.

It felt deeply unfair. Although Henry had spent time in New York since his childhood, I always felt that my relationship with the city ran deeper than did his. He'd grown up being shipped between New York and Singapore, depending on where his parents lived at the time, and I'd assumed that that meant he had many more local haunts out of nostalgia, if not habit, than I did. But, he'd told me once, when I'd asked about his relationship with the city, that he didn't know it very well; he was too young back then to properly explore its depths, and he was only ever a visitor until after he graduated college and became a resident proper. In contrast, I had lived here throughout my most formative years and beyond, and I always had more of it to show him than he, someone who never left Manhattan, ever had to show me. So, I resented the taint of our breakup that seemed to corrode all of my corners of the city. It felt as though even the city itself was taking his side.

The truth is that the places themselves were still the same; I was just looking at them through grief-colored glasses. In my fragile state of mind, I desperately wanted to avoid every echo of what—or who��I'd lost. I wasn't ready to confront the ghosts of my past, reanimations of the life we had shared. I wasn't yet ready for those sad memories to transition into bittersweet nostalgia.

I saw Henry everywhere I went: Port Authority, Fiumicino Airport, rooftop networking events, apartment parties, somewhere in the crowd in a nightclub…and, like within the episode, half the time it wasn't him, but that meant that, half the time, it was. Once, upon exiting the A train on 42nd Street, I thought I saw him just a few paces ahead of me. As if I were deranged Carrie Bradshaw myself, I followed him, my heart racing all the while. I needed to know if it was him. I didn't know what I'd do if he saw me, if we were confronted with one another. I just needed to know.

Someone told me I needed to concede that, given our places within the social strata of New York, running into each other was inevitable; after all, it's his city too, they said. But, my conceit refused to concede anything to the man who'd broken my heart—much less to a man who never ventured into even Brooklyn—and I wasn't about to let him wrest my favorite city away from me, too.

My therapist asked if I'd consider that he was probably just as afraid of running into me. I didn't have a smarmy response. It was, all things considered, probably true.

At the end of that first episode, Carrie breaks things off with her new beau. The writers pull off a gentle fake-out: succumbing to her residual emotions, she calls and asks someone to meet her at "their spot" because she just can't do it anymore, she needs to talk to them. We're led to believe that it's Big she's hoping to meet; instead, it's her closest confidante, Miranda. Miranda, for her part and despite having earlier sworn off any further conversation with the girls about their men, their exes, because she hated to see Carrie so upset, because she wanted Carrie to not dwell, to move on, had also just had a run-in with an ex of her own; she softens her stance, and the two commiserate over french fries.

I came up with a plan of attack: I would retake all of my favorite parts of New York, all of which I'd known much longer than I'd ever known Henry, by begging and cajoling my friends to accompany me there so that I could create new memories. Although the mental scars were still fresh, I rationalized that they, like physical scars, could be turned over and eventually expelled from my body, from me, until nothing remained of the life I had had with him. I just needed to go outside.

I've realized recently that I can now credibly claim to have a memory associated with almost every block in Manhattan below 42nd Street. Years removed from the event, I concede that those memories do, unavoidably, include him. However, they're thankfully no longer the only ones I have. I, too, have begun to move on.

[megbits]

Piece up today at Unsettling with some interesting maps tracing the evolution of the Oregon-California border, and a bit on my own experience hiking to that border earlier this summer.

"State borders are always a little artificial, but the manner in which the 42nd parallel unnecessarily cuts through and divides so many small and unique communities makes it especially so. 

Yet we use artificial lines such as this one to shape many of our own conceptions about what a place is like. Our tiresome Red State/Blue State divide in popular discourse is just one example (and a distinction that happens to be quite unhelpful in these particular parts of these two particular states). The more we let the unexamined categories resulting from borderlines harden, the more we let the powerbrokers of the past with their pens and maps continue to have excessive and arbitrary sway over our future. Do we really want that?"

[dfroza]

A connection as Family

Today’s reading of the Scriptures from the New Testament is the 1st chapter of the letter of 1st John:

We want to tell you about the One who was from the beginning. We have seen Him with our own eyes, heard Him with our own ears, and touched Him with our own hands. This One is the manifestation of the life-giving Voice, and He showed us real life, eternal life. We have seen it all, and we can’t keep what we witnessed quiet—we have to share it with you. We are inviting you to experience eternal life through the One who was with the Father and came down to us. What we saw and heard we pass on to you so that you, too, will be connected with us intimately and become family. Our family is united by our connection with the Father and His Son Jesus, the Anointed One; and we write all this because retelling this story fulfills our joy.

What we are telling you now is the very message we heard from Him: God is pure light, undimmed by darkness of any kind. If we say we have an intimate connection with the Father but we continue stumbling around in darkness, then we are lying because we do not live according to truth. If we walk step by step in the light, where the Father is, then we are ultimately connected to each other through the sacrifice of Jesus His Son. His blood purifies us from all our sins. If we go around bragging, “We have no sin,” then we are fooling ourselves and are strangers to the truth. But if we own up to our sins, God shows that He is faithful and just by forgiving us of our sins and purifying us from the pollution of all the bad things we have done. If we say, “We have not sinned,” then we depict God as a liar and show that we have not let His word find its way into our hearts.

The Letter of 1st John, Chapter 1 (The Voice)

Today’s paired chapter of the First Testament is the 42nd chapter of the book of Ezekiel:

Then the man whose appearance was like bronze took me north into the outer courtyard. He brought me to the chambers that were opposite the open area around the temple and opposite the outside wall on the northern end. This building with its north-facing door was 175 feet long and 87½ feet wide. Facing a 35-foot-wide section of the inner court and facing the paved area of the outer court were rows of chambers 3 stories high. An interior passageway ran in front of each chamber. It was 17½ feet wide and ran the entire length of the gallery, 175 feet. The doors faced north. All the upper chambers were narrower because the galleries took up more space than they did on the first and second levels. There were no columns for the chambers on the third level—no columns like the ones in the courtyards—so the chambers on the third level were set back further than the chambers on the first and second levels. The wall behind the chambers ran parallel to them and the outer courtyard for a distance of 87½ feet. On the side next to the outer courtyard, the row of chambers was 87½ feet long. On the side nearest to the sanctuary it was 175 feet long. The chambers on the first level could be entered from the east when coming in from the outer courtyard.

There were rows of chambers on the south side of the temple, just like on the north, separating the inner and outer courtyards. There was a walkway in front of them. These chambers were exactly like the chambers on the northern side—same measurements and architecture. In front of each walkway in the south chambers was a doorway near the wall that could be entered from the east when coming in from the outer courtyard.

The Man (to Ezekiel): The north and south chambers that face the courtyard around the temple are sacred, set apart for the priests who come near to the Eternal to eat the holiest of offerings. In those sacred chambers, the priests store the holiest of offerings—grain offerings, sin offerings, and guilt offerings. As soon as the priests enter into the sacred areas, they can’t leave and go into the outer courtyard until they first take off their holy clothes in which they have ministered to the Lord. These ministerial clothes are sacred. They must put on other clothes before they go anywhere other people are allowed to be, because their priestly garments can’t come into contact with anything impure.

When the man completed taking measurements inside the temple, he took me out through the lower eastern gate and began measuring around the temple complex. He took his measuring reed and measured the entire east side. It was 875 feet long. He measured the north, south, and west sides; and they, too, were each 875 feet long. He measured the temple complex on all four sides. The wall around it formed a square 875 feet by 875 feet. It served to separate the sacred from the common.

The Book of Ezekiel, Chapter 42 (The Voice)

A link to my personal reading of the Scriptures for friday, december 8 of 2023 with a paired chapter from each Testament (the First & the New) of the Bible along with Today’s Proverbs and Psalms

A post by John Parsons about the “Temple” of us:

The Chanukah holiday is upon us, friends, and may we all rededicate the “Temple” of our lives to serve the Lord and walk in His light wholeheartedly... Indeed, we are called to be a “kingdom of priests,” a set-apart people, and a light to the nations (Exod. 19:6; Isa. 42:6; 1 Pet. 2:9). Note that the very first responsibility given to the priests of Israel was to care for the "ner tamid" (נר התמיד), the light of the Menorah (Exod. 27:20-21), to signify our consciousness of the Divine Presence (Psalm 18:28; 36:9).

The challenge we all face is to remain “in the light as God is in the light” and not to be seduced by the world's hermeneutics (Isa. 2:5; 1 John 1:7, 2:17). God’s eternal light radiates through all things (Isa. 6:3; Psalm 139:11-12), just as the great “yehi ohr” (יְהִי אוֹר) - “let there be light” - is the first word spoken to creation (Gen. 1:3). To be a priest means being so filled with the truth of God that you radiate peace; your inner light shines and you glorify your Father in heaven (Matt. 5:16). That is how we draw others to the truth, by first receiving the beauty of the LORD (Psalm 27:4).

Of course being a “witness to the light,” that is, being a “priest,” does not mean you are a “perfect person” who walks about with a blissed-out attitude despite the various trials and tests we all face in this life. No, we all still sin, and we therefore need to confess the truth of our condition to abide in the light (1 John 1:9; James 5:16). Like everything else in Scripture, here we encounter paradox, as Yeshua taught: "Blessed are the impoverished in spirit (πτωχοὶ τῷ πνεύματι), for theirs is the kingdom of heaven; blessed are the ones who mourn (οἱ πενθοῦντες), for they shall be comforted; blessed are the meek (οἱ πραεῖς), for they shall inherit the earth" (Matt. 5:3-5). Yea, "God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong, God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are, so that no human being might boast in the presence of God" (1 Cor. 1:27-29).

The Hebrew word for priest (i.e., kohen: כּהֵן) may come from the word ken (כֵּן) meaning "yes" and the word kivun (כִּווּן) meaning to "direct" or "lead," implying that a priest helps direct a person toward affirming the Reality and Truth of God. The role of a priest is to draw us to God, then, but how is that possible if the mediator cannot genuinely understand our sorrows and struggles? What draws others to God is his love, but how can we come to believe in that love were it not for the priesthood of the leper, the priesthood of the outcast, the priesthood of the reject? Even so Yeshua was afflicted with our infirmities and therefore sympathizes with our brokenness and frailty (see Heb. 4:16).

As a priest of brokenness, you are called to be a wounded healer, and you can testify of God's saving grace and love for you despite your sorrow, anger, weaknesses, and failures... Accepting God’s compassion for you - just as you are - allows you to show grace and kindness to others who are also hurting, and therefore you can serve as a priest of God.

Be encouraged, friends... “For the commandment is a lamp and Torah is light, and the reproofs of discipline are the way of life” (Prov. 6:23). Here we may understand the "reproofs of discipline" as the (ongoing) process of consciously turning away from darkness (of fear, anger, etc.) to the behold the divine light. We have to start here, after all... The way of life is teshuvah (repentance, turning to God), which is a painful process to the lower nature, but is necessary to walk in the light. Confession brings light into our hearts (James 5:16; 1 John 1:5-9), and the end of our struggle is healing and life.

[ Hebrew for Christians ]

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Proverbs 6:23 reading:

https://hebrew4christians.com/Blessings/Blessing_Cards/prov6-23-jjp.mp3

Hebrew page:

https://hebrew4christians.com/Blessings/Blessing_Cards/prov6-23-lesson.pdf

12.7.23 • Facebook

from yesterday’s email by Israel 365:

If we look at the final verse of Psalm 23 on its own, separated from its context, we see a beautiful statement of peace and satisfaction with one’s life. Only good and kindness, wow! No suffering at all. No encounters with evil. Truly a blessed life. How rare and blessed must a person be to live a life in which there is only good and kindness? I, for one, can not really imagine that such a person exists.

Today’s message (Days of Praise) from the Institute for Creation Research

December 8, 2023

God's Ways Are Best

“And the word of the LORD came unto [Elijah], saying, Arise, get thee to Zarephath, which belongeth to Zidon, and dwell there: behold, I have commanded a widow woman there to sustain thee.” (1 Kings 17:8-9)

The leading of God is not always clear to our understanding or satisfying to our pride, but it is always directed to God’s glory and our good. Elijah had been supernaturally fed by ravens until the brook of Cherith dried up due to the very drought that Elijah had prophesied. Then, instead of supernaturally providing water, God told Elijah to move to a village in Zidon to stay with a poor widow who would feed him.

But Zidon was the home of the idolatrous queen Jezebel, who would soon become Elijah’s implacable enemy. Furthermore, he would have to so humble himself as to request that the widow share what she thought would be her last meal with a stranger whom she had never met and who had claimed to be the prophet of a God she did not know. What a strange way for God to deal with His servant!

Nevertheless, Elijah obeyed God without question, and so did the widow of Zarephath, and thus the Lord was able to perform two of His mightiest miracles of creation. At the same time, He was able to meet the deep spiritual needs, as well as the physical needs, of this unlikely duo—the greatest spiritual leader of his age and an insignificant widow. An amazing daily miracle of continuing the creation of oil and meal took place as long as the drought continued. And then an even more amazing miracle was accomplished when, for the first time in all history so far as the record goes, one who was dead (the widow’s son) was restored to life (1 Kings 17:20-24), and the woman came to believe that Jehovah was the true God. God’s ways may not be our ways, but they are always best. May He give us the grace always to obey His word, whether or not we fully understand. HMM

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further talk about mountains shaped by the global Flood