here they come

Good afternoon friends,

First, I'd like to invite everyone to our soup lunch after worship tomorrow (if you get there at 11:20 you'll be able to help set up.) Not only will we have tasty soup to eat, we'll also have lots of important stuff to discuss about 2013 at Laurelton and how we are moving into the future. There will be some important pastoral transition discussion too, so I really hope you can make it.

Today's reading continues the judgment of the world with the last plagues of God. Tough stuff, but moving towards a good ending.

God bless,
Sam

Revelation 16:1-11

Then I heard a loud voice from the temple telling the seven angels, “Go and pour out on the earth the seven bowls of the wrath of God.”²So the first angel went and poured his bowl on the earth, and a foul and painful sore came on those who had the mark of the beast and who worshiped its image. ³The second angel poured his bowl into the sea, and it became like the blood of a corpse, and every living thing in the sea died.⁴The third angel poured his bowl into the rivers and the springs of water, and they became blood. ⁵And I heard the angel of the waters say, “You are just, O Holy One, who are and were, for you have judged these things;⁶because they shed the blood of saints and prophets, you have given them blood to drink. It is what they deserve!” ⁷And I heard the altar respond, “Yes, O Lord God, the Almighty, your judgments are true and just!”

⁸The fourth angel poured his bowl on the sun, and it was allowed to scorch them with fire; ⁹they were scorched by the fierce heat, but they cursed the name of God, who had authority over these plagues, and they did not repent and give him glory. ¹⁰The fifth angel poured his bowl on the throne of the beast, and its kingdom was plunged into darkness; people gnawed their tongues in agony, ¹¹and cursed the God of heaven because of their pains and sores, and they did not repent of their deeds.