Almighty God, who of thy great love for man didst, as at this time, give thy dearly beloved Son to die for us upon the cross: Grant us a living faith in our Redeemer, and a thankful remembrance of his death. Help us to love him better for his exceeding love to us; and grant that our sins may be put away, and nailed to the cross, and buried in his grave, that they may be remembered no more against us; through the same thy Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.

The Crucifixion#GoodFriday
BL Arundel 60; Psalter; 11th century; England, S. ( Winchester); f.52v @BLMedieval pic.twitter.com/UJViZB4uGx

— Ennius (@red_loeb) April 7, 2023

After these things God tested Abraham, and said to him, “Abraham!” And he said, “Here am I.” He said, “Take your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Mori′ah, and offer him there as a burnt offering upon one of the mountains of which I shall tell you.” So Abraham rose early in the morning, saddled his ass, and took two of his young men with him, and his son Isaac; and he cut the wood for the burnt offering, and arose and went to the place of which God had told him. On the third day Abraham lifted up his eyes and saw the place afar off. Then Abraham said to his young men, “Stay here with the ass; I and the lad will go yonder and worship, and come again to you.” And Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering, and laid it on Isaac his son; and he took in his hand the fire and the knife. So they went both of them together. And Isaac said to his father Abraham, “My father!” And he said, “Here am I, my son.” He said, “Behold, the fire and the wood; but where is the lamb for a burnt offering?” Abraham said, “God will provide himself the lamb for a burnt offering, my son.” So they went both of them together.

When they came to the place of which God had told him, Abraham built an altar there, and laid the wood in order, and bound Isaac his son, and laid him on the altar, upon the wood. Then Abraham put forth his hand, and took the knife to slay his son. But the angel of the Lord called to him from heaven, and said, “Abraham, Abraham!” And he said, “Here am I.” He said, “Do not lay your hand on the lad or do anything to him; for now I know that you fear God, seeing you have not withheld your son, your only son, from me.” And Abraham lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold, behind him was a ram, caught in a thicket by his horns; and Abraham went and took the ram, and offered it up as a burnt offering instead of his son. So Abraham called the name of that place The Lord will provide; as it is said to this day, “On the mount of the Lord it shall be provided.”

–Genesis 22:1-14

Good Friday- Christ with the instruments of the Passion. Horae c.1517 [LPL MS3561 f.78v.] pic.twitter.com/EPwdgeBSfm

— LambethPalaceLibrary (@lampallib) March 25, 2016

Il Guercino's dramatic "Capturing Christ" (1621) @FitzMuseum_UK #art #twitart #Baroque pic.twitter.com/8LoBr5ptCs

— Paul Wadey (@pwadey) October 26, 2016

Because the newly public message which is the good news of Easter is at one and the same time so obvious – the message of new creation, which answers the deepest longings of the whole cosmos – and so utterly unexpected that if we are to announce God in public in these terms, as Paul did so spectacularly at Athens, we need the preceding private stillness to rinse our minds out of preconceived notions and make ready for God’s startling new world. Note, by the way, that it is the public truth of Easter – the dangerous, strikingly political truth that the living God is remaking the world and claiming full sovereignty over it – that has been for two hundred years the real objection, in western thinking, to the notion that Jesus rose bodily from the tomb. Western thought has wanted to keep Christianity as private truth only, to turn the Lion of Judah into a tame pussy-cat, an elegant and inoffensive, if occasionally mysterious, addition to the family circle.

And part of the point of where we are today, culturally, socially, politically and religiously, is that we don’t have that option any more. We face a dangerous and deeply challenging future in the next few years, as the demons we’ve unleashed in the Middle East are not going to go back into their bag, as the ecological nightmares we’ve created take their toll, as the people who make money by looking after our money have now lost their own money and perhaps ours as well, as our cultural and artistic worlds flail around trying to catch the beauty and sorrow of the world and often turning them into ugliness and trivia. And we whose lives and thinking and praying and preaching are rooted in and shaped by these great four days – we who stand up dangerously before God and one another and say we are ready to hear and obey his call once more – we have to learn what it means to announce the public truth of Easter, consequent upon the public truth of Good Friday and itself shaped by it (as the mark of the nails bear witness), as the good news of God for all the world, not just for those who meet behind locked doors. Every eye shall see him, and all the tribes of the earth will mourn as they realise the public truth of his Easter victory. But we can only learn that in the quiet privacy around the Lord’s Table, and the humble stillness where we lay aside our own agendas, our own temperamental preferences, in the darkness of Holy Saturday. When we say Yes to the questions we shall be asked in a few minutes’ time, we are saying Yes to this rhythm, this shaping, of our private devotion to our Lord, our private waiting on him in the silence, in order to say Yes as well to this rhythm, this shaping, of our public ministry, our living out of the gospel before the principalities and powers, our working with the grain of the world where we can and against the grain of the world where we must.

Read it all.

Christ Washing the Feet of the Apostles
by Meister des Hausbuches 1475
/Gamaldegalerie, Berlin/ pic.twitter.com/hb52kzAXr2

— Kalina Boulter (@KalinaBoulter) March 24, 2016

Where charity and love are, God is there.
Christ’s love has gathered us into one.
Let us rejoice and be pleased in Him.
Let us fear, and let us love the living God.
And may we love each other with a sincere heart

Where charity and love are, God is there.
As we are gathered into one body,
Beware, lest we be divided in mind.
Let evil impulses stop, let controversy cease,
And may Christ our God be in our midst.

WHERE charity and love are, God is there.
And may we with the saints also,
See Thy face in glory, O Christ our God:
The joy that is immense and good,
Unto the ages through infinite ages. Amen.

Almighty Father, whose most dear Son, on the night before he suffered, instituted the Sacrament of his Body and Blood: Mercifully grant that we may receive it in thankful remembrance of Jesus Christ our Savior, who in these holy mysteries gives us a pledge of eternal life; and who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

Orthodox icon of Christ washing the feet of the Apostles (16th century, Pskov school of iconography) pic.twitter.com/Bsb43wYnv1

— 🌿_ (@rebeca6169) April 1, 2021

A #MaundyThursday healing miracle performed by the monastic reformer St Gilbert of Sempringham (1083-1189). #medieval #histmed pic.twitter.com/nmboh9rc24

— Katherine Harvey (@keharvey2013) April 13, 2017

From Rod Whitacre here:

In the story of the footwashing, then, we have the most profound revelation of the heart of God apart from the crucifixion itself. We also learn more of the relation between Jesus and his disciples, the relation of the disciples with one another in humble service and the mission of the disciples to the world. These themes are similar to those of the Eucharist developed earlier (see comments on 6:52-59). The community that Jesus has been forming here takes more definite shape, revealing more clearly “the law of its being” (Bultmann 1971:479), which is humble, self-sacrificing love.

Christ Reasoning with Peter, by Giotto di Bondone (Cappella Scrovegni a Padova). pic.twitter.com/IsN1TNxHzO

— 🌿_ (@rebeca6169) April 1, 2021

O Christ, the true vine and the source of life, ever giving thyself that the world may live; who also hast taught us that those who would follow thee must be ready to lose their lives for thy sake: Grant us so to receive within our souls the power of thine eternal sacrifice, that in sharing thy cup we may share thy glory, and at the last be made perfect in thy love.

—The Kingdom, the Power, and the Glory: Services of Praise and Prayer for Occasional Use in Churches (New York: Oxford University Press, 1933)

A lively Last Supper scene in 16th Century Swiss glass, Glasgow Cathedral. St John rests in Christ's arms, from the disciples' chatter it's clear that wine has been drunk, and a disgusted Judas, sick of all this loving friendship, makes off with the common purse to betray him. pic.twitter.com/s8qc50ZfFe

— Simon Knott (@last_of_england) April 6, 2023

As is our custom, we aim to let go of the cares and concerns of this world until Monday and to focus on the great, awesome, solemn and holy events of the next three days. I would ask people to concentrate their comments on the personal, devotional, and theological aspects of these days which will be our focal point here. Many thanks–KSH.

The Last Supper in unusual English glass of 1771 by the painter James Rowell at Apethorpe, Northamptonshire. Today is Maundy Thursday, and tonight the Church throughout the world celebrates the Mass of the Lord's Supper. pic.twitter.com/eZsM0f4BnO

— Simon Knott (@last_of_england) April 6, 2023

O Lord Jesus Christ, who on this day didst wash thy disciples’ feet, leaving us an example of humble service: Grant that our souls may be washed from all defilement, and that we fail not to serve thee in the least of thy brethren; who livest and reignest for ever and ever.

Today is Maundy Thursday on which the Institution of the Eucharist and Jesus' washing of his disciples feet are commemorated.#MaundyThursday
Bamberg State Library Msc.Lit.1; Sacramentary; early 11th century; Fulda; f.60r https://t.co/raKN2KXWHn pic.twitter.com/Ah0KUfw4iZ

— Ennius (@red_loeb) April 6, 2023

As a former group treasurer for an oil company, Justin is aware of numbers – and those in the Church of England pews had been declining for decades before he became Archbishop. Now the finances of many dioceses are visibly failing, hastened by the pandemic. A national Vision and Strategy has now been brought in, with Strategic Development Funding specifically to redirect resources to fresh ideas. Some have seen this as a threat to the parish system, and the priest and polemicist, Giles Fraser recently reflected he was ‘sick of ten years of managerialism’ describing how he felt morale had plummeted.

Some bishops may feel similarly demoralised – the leaked ‘Bishops and their ministries’ paper last year noted the importance of creating a culture where ‘all bishops feel free to express their views in meetings… rather than deferring to those perceived as more senior in the ‘hierarchy’’. If the bishops feel voiceless, or perhaps powerless, it is difficult to see where the next Archbishop might come from. In Justin’s book on reconciliation he says ‘the use of power almost always leads to the abuse of power’, and he think he has ‘influence, but not power’. Who has the power at present in our Church, and who will have it next? That leaked bishops paper commented that the selection and formation process for bishops was ‘not robust or transparent and is therefore open to ‘political’ manoeuvring’ adding that it ‘may not produce the candidates best equipped for visionary national leadership if such candidates are chosen based on local needs’. Our bench of bishops has changed dramatically over the last decade, as they tend to; what will the next generation of bishops to lead us be like?

With plans to create a centralised body that will concentrate power further, will the bishops have the power to lead like they have in the past? A Church of England National Services (CENS) is planned to support the strategic vision of the national church, support national policy development and engagement, via a single governance board structure. When you centralise governance, you centralise power. In a Church of England that has a devolved and non-centralised ecclesiology, this will be interesting. How will checks and balances be built in, where will thorough scrutiny be seen? Few would doubt that a nettle of needed grasping, to bring efficiency and greater transparency, but will these internal reforms get it right?

As we count down the weeks until the coronation, the Makin review into allegations of abuse carried out by the late John Smyth is now 147 weeks overdue….

Read it all.

What has changed in @churchofengland over the last decade? And what next?

A whistlestop reflection (if that's not an oxymoron!) for @churchnewspaper https://t.co/Kwcn320XBR

— Rebecca (Bex) Chapman (@bexchapman3boys) April 4, 2023

With sorrow yet with resolve & humble boldness, the orthodox in the Communion must now rise up to this task of re-setting the world-wide Communion with a new locus, that is a new ecclesiastical centre. This new locus is needed to conserve all that God has gifted our Church with in being a historic, world-wide Communion. It is needed so that across the Communion, we who share the ‘faith once delivered’ can truly be ‘one body’ globally in our ecclesial life together, in being joint-stewards for guarding and propagating the Gospel and in conserving all that is good and solid in our Anglican heritage, ecclesiology, and ethos. Therefore, GSFA will work patiently, thoughtfully, and lovingly with other orthodox leaders in the Communion, such as those in the GAFCON movement and other Primates & groupings, to forge this re-setting of the Communion on a strong and stable foundation.

In seeking to re-set the Communion, GSFA will stay true to the objectives it formulated at the time of the Lambeth Conference 2022 (see Editor’s Notes to the First Press Conference of Orthodox Bishops attending Lambeth Conference 2022); namely to (1) foster the unity of the orthodox, (2) sound a clarion call to biblical faithfulness, (3) stand by its principle of not being a breakaway group but being part of ‘the holy remnant’, and (4) spur the faithful in the Communion to get the Gospel out into the world.

The re-setting of the Communion is an uphill task that requires faith, love and wisdom from above. It cannot be undertaken without the empowerment of the Spirit. Dear people, pray fervently for GSFA & all the orthodox components of the Communion in this endeavour.

Read it all.

A Holy Week Message by Archbp Justin Badi, Chairman of the Global South Fellowship of #Anglican Churches (GSFA)-'W/ sorrow yet w/ resolve & humble boldness, the orthodox in the Communion must now rise up 2 this task of re-setting the world-wide Communion' https://t.co/7YVaaKfifi pic.twitter.com/DkyI0cacaf

— Kendall Harmon (@KendallHarmon6) April 6, 2023

Lord God, whose blessed Son, our Saviour, gave his back to the smiters, and hid not his face from shame: Grant us grace to take joyfully the sufferings of the present time, in full assurance of the glory that shall be revealed; through the same thy Son Jesus Christ our Lord.

Today is Maundy Thursday, when we commemorate the Washing of the Feet and the Last Supper of Jesus Christ with the Apostles. All are welcome to join us for worship today. The Chrism Eucharist will take place at 11am, followed by the Maundy Thursday Eucharist at 7.30pm.@GlosDioc pic.twitter.com/4YKXr5QvM3

— Gloucester Cathedral (@GlosCathedral) April 6, 2023

O Lord, thou hast deceived me,
and I was deceived;
thou art stronger than I,
and thou hast prevailed.
I have become a laughingstock all the day;
every one mocks me.
For whenever I speak, I cry out,
I shout, “Violence and destruction!”
For the word of the Lord has become for me
a reproach and derision all day long.
If I say, “I will not mention him,
or speak any more in his name,”
there is in my heart as it were a burning fire
shut up in my bones,
and I am weary with holding it in,
and I cannot.
For I hear many whispering.
Terror is on every side!
“Denounce him! Let us denounce him!”
say all my familiar friends,
watching for my fall.
“Perhaps he will be deceived,
then we can overcome him,
and take our revenge on him.”
But the Lord is with me as a dread warrior;
therefore my persecutors will stumble,
they will not overcome me.
They will be greatly shamed,
for they will not succeed.
Their eternal dishonor
will never be forgotten.

–Jeremiah 20:7-11

Today is the Wednesday of Holy Week. The prophet Jeremiah in 1907 glass by Kempe & Co at Nacton, Suffolk.

'videte si est dolor sicut dolor meus'
('see if there be any sorrow like unto my sorrow.')
-from the Lamentations of Jeremiah pic.twitter.com/EJPhvkkCua

— Simon Knott (@last_of_england) April 5, 2023

The Taliban has further tightened restrictions on Afghan women by banning them from working for the United Nations, putting at risk the agency’s multibillion-dollar aid program in Afghanistan.

The U.N. warned Tuesday of “serious concern” after its female Afghan staff were prevented by the authorities from entering their offices in the eastern province of Nangarhar. Working for the U.N. was one of the last avenues of employment left for women in Afghanistan.

“We remind de facto authorities that United Nations entities cannot operate and deliver lifesaving assistance without female staff,” the U.N. said on Twitter.

The U.N. has repeatedly warned that excluding women from the aid sector is a “red line.” It says aid won’t be able to reach women in need without female employees, as the country’s conservative culture in the country doesn’t allow men and women to mix.

Read it all.

The Taliban has banned Afghan women from working for the United Nations, putting at risk the agency’s multibillion-dollar aid program in Afghanistan https://t.co/6qYZLONJ8G

— The Wall Street Journal (@WSJ) April 4, 2023

Ian Sansavera, a software architect at a New York start-up called Runway AI, typed a short description of what he wanted to see in a video. “A tranquil river in the forest,” he wrote.

Less than two minutes later, an experimental internet service generated a short video of a tranquil river in a forest. The river’s running water glistened in the sun as it cut between trees and ferns, turned a corner and splashed gently over rocks.

Runway, which plans to open its service to a small group of testers this week, is one of several companies building artificial intelligence technology that will soon let people generate videos simply by typing several words into a box on a computer screen.

They represent the next stage in an industry race — one that includes giants like Microsoft and Google as well as much smaller start-ups — to create new kinds of artificial intelligence systems that some believe could be the next big thing in technology, as important as web browsers or the iPhone.

Read it all.

In the race to create new kinds of AI tech, several companies are building systems that will generate videos based on simple prompts. The new systems could speed the work of moviemakers, while becoming a quick way to create hard-to-detect misinformation.https://t.co/cO8aoxfVer

— The New York Times (@nytimes) April 4, 2023

Turns out, it’s not that easy at all to create a bot that diagnoses disease with more nuance and compassion than a human doctor, and the consequences for some of us may be dire. You might reply that not all human doctors are nuanced and compassionate, but this is just my point. As long as AI is trained on human behavior, it will tend to replicate our worst flaws, only more efficiently. What happens when medical racism or sexism in the training data means that even our most sophisticated bots share human doctors’ tendency to misdiagnose women and people of color?

We are finding out. A 2019 study found that a clinical algorithm used in many hospitals required Black patients to be much sicker than White patients in order to be recommended for the same level of care, because it used data indicating that Black patients had less money to spend on care. Even when such problems are corrected and new guardrails are put in place, self-teaching AI seems to be able to find patterns in data that elude our own pattern-detecting capabilities. We don’t even realize they exist.

A 2022 study in the Lancet found that AI trained on huge data sets of medical imaging could determine a patient’s race with startling accuracy based on x-rays, ultrasounds, CT scans, MRIs, or mammograms, even when there was no accompanying patient information. The human researchers couldn’t figure out how the machines knew patient race even when programmed to ignore markers such as, for example, density in breast tissue among Black women. Attempts to apply strict filters and programming that controls for racism can also backfire by erasing diagnosis of minorities altogether.

“Our finding that AI can accurately predict self-reported race, even from corrupted, cropped, and noised medical images, often when clinical experts cannot, creates an enormous risk for all model deployments in medical imaging,” the authors of the Lancet study wrote. “Just as with human behavior, there’s not a simple solution to fixing bias in machine learning,” said the lead researcher, radiologist Judy W. Gichoya. As long as medical racism is in us, it will also be one of the ghosts in the machine. The self-improving algorithm will work as designed, if not necessarily as intended.

Read it all.

ChatGPT appears to be smart enough to recognize that artificial intelligence poses a threat to workers' livelihoods. https://t.co/JESPQXE7Ew

— CBS News (@CBSNews) April 5, 2023

Tests in medical school are trying for everyone but especially so for Melanie Wiley Gail as she struggles with sounds and smells her fellow students don’t seem to notice.

“Imagine taking the exam in a room full of skunks with rock music playing,” she likes to say.

It wasn’t until after her first year at the Medical University of South Carolina — where Gail is pursuing both her medical degree and a doctorate in neuroscience — that she was diagnosed as being on the autism spectrum. While she is open about it and serves as chair of the Autism Society of South Carolina, many in medicine have privately told her they are keeping their condition private because they fear the public exposure.

It is a stigma Gail would like to see changed.

Read it all.

Pursuing a medical degree and a doctorate at the same time is difficult enough. Then Melanie Wiley Gail was diagnosed as being on the autism spectrum, and she decided to become an advocate as well: https://t.co/1S7MqQrn7I

— Thomas Corwin (@AUG_SciMed) April 5, 2023

…ultimately, to truly integrate and capitalize on AI, U.S. defense leaders will need to shift how they measure military capability. The Pentagon will never give artificial intelligence its due when it does not consider AI to be a key component of military strength. When military leaders appear before Congress to advocate for their budgets, they make their case in terms of industrial-age metrics. The navy, for example, lays out how many ships it requires, while the air force spells out how many aircraft it has to purchase. These measurements still matter, but what matters more today is the digital capabilities of these systems, such as whether the ships and planes have sensors to detect enemy forces, algorithms that can process information and enable better decision-making, and intelligent munitions to precisely strike targets. All these capabilities can be improved with artificial intelligence, and U.S. leaders must begin taking them into account.

It will not be easy for the armed forces to make these changes: the American military is a vast and unwieldy bureaucracy. It will also be hard for the U.S. government as a whole to adjust to the rise of AI, given how polarized Washington is. Reforms to high-skilled immigration, in particular, have run into repeat resistance from conservatives on Capitol Hill. And the fact that today’s AI systems have major limitations—and therefore require great caution and care during implementation—further complicates the process. Military service members will not use systems they do not trust, and so military officials must make sure that when AI is deployed it works as intended.

But the pieces of a better AI strategy are falling into place. The Pentagon may not yet properly measure the power of artificial intelligence, but it is paying much more attention to the technology. The federal government has increased spending and is exploring data and computing resources for academics. The White House is trying to make it easier for foreign STEM workers to come to the country. The United States, in other words, is working to ensure that China cannot fully catch up. If Washington ultimately maintains control over the semiconductor supply chain, maximizes the inflow of talent, and fields trustworthy systems, it will succeed in staying ahead. As the AI revolution reshapes global power, the United States can come out on top.

Read it all.

Washington’s immigration policies are making it more difficult to recruit foreign scientists—and, as a result, threatening the country’s advantage in the AI race, writes @paul_scharre. https://t.co/z1UR0faYUp

— Foreign Affairs (@ForeignAffairs) April 4, 2023

O God, our heavenly Father, whose blessed Son before his passion cast out from the temple those who desecrated the holy place: Cleanse our hearts and minds, we pray thee, from all evil thoughts and imaginations, from all unhallowed appetites and ambitions; that in lives made pure and strong by thy Holy Spirit we may glorify thy name and advance thy kingdom in the world, as disciples of the same thy Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.

Sunrise at the Abbey on the Wednesday of #HolyWeek pic.twitter.com/mJKYv4HjVB

— Westminster Abbey (@wabbey) April 5, 2023

I rejoice in the Lord greatly that now at length you have revived your concern for me; you were indeed concerned for me, but you had no opportunity. 11 Not that I complain of want; for I have learned, in whatever state I am, to be content. I know how to be abased, and I know how to abound; in any and all circumstances I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and want. I can do all things in him who strengthens me.

–Philippians 4:10-13

Bore da i chi…hyfryd iawn peth cynta’ bore ‘ma o ben pont Waterloo yn edrych lawr yr afon Tafwys👌🏼😃

Good morning…beautiful early morning sunrise on Waterloo bridge looking back down the Thames this morning👌🏼😃@StormHour @ThePhotoHour @SallyWeather #London pic.twitter.com/2eHjBY8jj2

— Aled Hall 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿 (@AledHall) April 5, 2023

The priory stood in place until 1536 when it was dissolved during Henry VIII’s monastic dissolution.

The church was built in around 1315, originally part of the priory itself, and is the only element that remains standing.

In recent history it was made into a cathedral of the Free Methodist Church but has been returned to the Church of England under the new owners.

The current manor house was built in 1866, and was run as a school from 1963 and 1996.

Read it all.

'In recent history it was made into a cathedral of the Free Methodist Church but has been returned to the Church of England under the new owners…' https://t.co/ngxi6F0MgS #parishministry #anglican #21stc #history #religion #uk

— Kendall Harmon (@KendallHarmon6) April 4, 2023

The fourth Global Anglican Future Conference (GAFCON) will be held at the Kigali Convention Centre, Rwanda, in April 2023.

As the worldwide church moves into the 2020s, there is increasing pressure to look for life’s answers in many places; there are certainly many voices offering suggestions to us as individuals and as a church. But to whom shall we go?

Firstly, we should go to Jesus, as He is revealed to us in God’s unchanging, inspired Word, not picking and choosing the bits that suit our own purposes or that help us to fit comfortably into our society. We should then go to the Church, to encourage each other with God’s Word, to live and grow with our fellow brothers and sisters, under God’s direction.

Finally, we are to go to the world, sharing the good news of Jesus Christ, the Way, the Truth and the Life as revealed to us in that same unchanging Word.

You may find the conference schedule Read it all.

GAFCON IV Conference starts soon in Rwanda! Registrations are closed, and the team have begun assembling in Kigali.

Are you coming to #gafcon23?

If yes…

🌍 Where are you coming from?
🔭 What are you looking forward to?#globalanglicans #anglicancommunion

— GAFCON (@gafconference) April 4, 2023

Saint James and First Baptist Hold Joint Palm Sunday Service

The congregation of Saint James Anglican, which leases property on the grounds of First Baptist of James Island, was invited to join in First Baptist’s service for Palm Sunday. Saint James’ Rector, Toby Larson, preached. Look for a story in the upcoming Jubilate Deo.

Read it all.

The Latest Edition of the Anglican Diocese of South Carolina Enewsletter

Saint James and First Baptist Hold Joint Palm Sunday Servicehttps://t.co/V8NgK7Uaom [James Island, SC] pic.twitter.com/pvbhi8WAHx

— Kendall Harmon (@KendallHarmon6) April 4, 2023

Evidence is mounting that Moscow has failed to make much progress in the Donbas of eastern Ukraine, despite months of fighting in the industrial and agricultural region close to the Russian border.

Russia’s military bloggers and like-minded activists have in recent weeks lamented the lack of progress from the winter campaign. Russia has not secured victory in the city of Bakhmut, or in the towns or Avdiivka, Vuhledar, Lyman or Marinka.

Yevgeny Prigozhin, the head of the Wagner mercenary group, said on Sunday that his forces had raised a Russian flag over an administrative building in Bakhmut, according to the Reuters news agency, but acknowledged that Ukraine was still holding the western part of the city. Mr. Prigozhin has prematurely called such victories before.

“The winter campaign in the Donbas is over,” said Igor Girkin, a former Russian intelligence officer who led a military intervention in eastern Ukraine and now blogs about military affairs. “We can say that the winter campaign ended unsuccessfully.” The comments by Mr. Girkin, who uses the nickname Strelkov, were echoed by others in Russia who have ties to the military and have at times been critical of the Kremlin’s approach to the war.

Read it all.

Russia’s assault in eastern Ukraine appears stalled. via ⁦@nytimes⁩ https://t.co/3frQ6Z4H1H

— Amb Antonio Garza (@aogarza) April 4, 2023

The Anglican Church of Uganda and clergy from Oryun Community Church in South Korea have launched a training centre for missionaries in Uganda.

The Daniel Missional Leadership Training Centre at Lweza in Wakiso District, Central Uganda, was commissioned last week at a colourful event graced by top Anglican Church leaders in Uganda and Oryun Community Church.

Speaking at the event on 21st March, the Archbishop of the Anglican Church of Uganda, Dr Stephen Kaziimba Mugalu, said the centre will train young leaders to usher God’s Kingdom into their homes, churches, universities, workplaces and the rest of the world.

“The commissioning of the centre is a clear testimony that the Anglican Church of Uganda shall be celebrated for sending missionaries to the world,” Kaziimba said, adding, “We envision many young people being equipped for the works of the ministry and sent to the world to light it.”

Read it all.

Anglican Church in Uganda and South Koreans launch new missionary training centrehttps://t.co/su7AlpDC3t pic.twitter.com/7Ni5LR8aez

— Anglican Ink (@anglicanink) April 3, 2023

O Everliving God, let this mind be in us which was also in Christ Jesus; that as he from his loftiness stooped to the death of the cross, so we in our lowliness may humble ourselves, believing, obeying, living, and dying to the glory of the Father; for the same Jesus Christ’s sake.