Inspiring words from today’s Morning Prayer service.
Download the app to your smartphone for more: https://t.co/9I9mh4O8gs pic.twitter.com/KueoGb2fBI

— Church of England (@c_of_e) December 11, 2016

Twenty two people have been killed in a bombing at Egypt’s main Coptic Christian cathedral.

Another 35 people were wounded in the second deadly attack to hit Cairo in two days, according to Egyptian state television.

Egypt’s official Mena news agency said an assailant lobbed a bomb into a chapel close to the outer wall of St Mark’s Cathedral, seat of Egypt’s Orthodox Christian church and home to the office of its spiritual leader, Pope Tawadros II.

Read it all.

On next Sunday: Sunday Service live from St Helena’s Beaufort, SC
Listen live here at 10:15 am Eastern time [3:15 pm London time]

From December 11th,, 2016
+ The Coming of the Lord – Archbishop Stephen Than Myint Oo of Myanmar [James 5:7-10]
+ The bells of Sheffield Cathedral
+ Choral Evensong from St Paul’s Cathedral

Christmas Lights at St Andrew’s Cathedral, Singapore

From December 4th,, 2016
+ Reach: Evangelism through the local church – Glen Scrivener [1 Thessalonians 1-3]
+ The bells of Exeter Cathedral
+ Choral Evensong from Portsmouth Cathedral

From November 27th, 2016
+ A Service for Advent with Carols from St John’s College, Cambridge [Live from 10 am EST 3pm London Time]
+ Sermon series: The Saviour of the World – Vaughan Roberts and others [Luke 15-17]
+ Choral Evensong from Wakefield Cathedral

From November 20th, 2016
+ The Bells of All Saints, Worcester
+ What about war in the Bible? – Dr Vince Vitale [link now included]
+ Doing Missions Anglicanly – Archbishop Foley Beach at St Andrews Cathedral, Singapore
+ Choral Evensong from Bristol Cathedral

From November 13th, 2016
+ The Bells of Westminster Abbey
+ Remembrance Sunday Service from the Cathedral of Notre Dame, Paris for the Royal British Legion
+ Ceremony of Remembrance from the Cenotaph, London
+ Choral Evensong from Ely Cathedral

From November 6th, 2016
+ Defeat, Shame, and Remembrance ”“ Dr William Witt
+ Holy Communion from St Columba’s Church [CofI], Knock in Belfast
+ Archived Choral Service with Mozart’s Requiem from New College, Oxford
+ Called to Witness – Dr Kendall Harmon

From October 23rd, 2016
+ Formed for God’s Purpose – Bishop Rennis Ponniah [Jeremiah 1:4-10]
+ We are Called to be Worshippers of God in Spirit+Truth – Dr Kendall Harmon [Psalm 148]
+ JC Ryle: A Faithful Anglican – Rev Lee Gatiss
+ More talks from the Church Society 2016 Conference
+ Choral Evensong from Birmingham Cathedral

From October 16th, 2016
+ Suffering: Loving the Lord in your circumstances – Venerable Godwin Makabi of Jos at St Andrew’s Cathedral, Singapore [Job 1]
+ Choral Evensong from St George’s Chapel, Windsor Castle

From October 2nd, 2016
+ All Things Working For Good – Revd Canon Rinji Kwashi at St Andrews Cathedral Singapore
+ We are Called to be Devoted Students of his Word – Dr Kendall Harmon (Acts 2:42-47)
+ Renewal in Exile – Rev Samuel Kennedy [Nehemiah 10] – next available part of the series on Nehemiah from the Cathedral Church of St Luke and St Paul, SC
+ Jesus’ Prayer for His Disciples – Rev Vaughan Roberts [John 17:6-19]
+ Choral Evensong from Westminster Abbey on the 90th anniversary of the first broadcast of Choral Evensong

From September 18th, 2016
+ Repentance in Exile – Dean Peet Dickinson [Nehemiah 9] – next available part of the series on Nehemiah from the Cathedral Church of St Luke and St Paul, SC
+ Jesus’ Prayer for Himself – Rev Vaughan Roberts [John17:1-5]
+ Choral Evensong from St Clement Danes Church, London sung by Genesis Sixteen
+ The End: Preaching Matters – Rev William Taylor

From September 11th, 2016
+ Sunday Sermon – Learning from the Potter and the Clay – Dr Kendall Harmon (Jeremiah 18:1-11)
+ Choral Evensong from the Charles Wood Summer School at St Patrick’s Church of Ireland Cathedral, Armagh

From August 28th, 2016
+ Rejoicing in Exile – Dean Peet Dickinson [Nehemiah 6] – next available part of the series on Nehemiah from the Cathedral Church of St Luke and St Paul, SC
+ Death and the Life Heareafter – Dr Paul Williamson – Moore College lecture
+ Choral Evensong from Edington Priory, during the Edington Festival of Music within the Liturgy

From August 14th, 2016
+ Acts of Spiritual Power – Vaughan Roberts [Acts 19:1-22]
+ Rebuilding & Resistance in Exile – Jacob Graudin [Nehemiah 2:9-20, 3, 4] – part 2 of the new series from the Cathedral Church of St Luke and St Paul, SC
+ Choral Evening Prayer [RC] at Liverpool Metropolitan Cathedral with the Royal School of Church Music Millennium Youth Choir

From August 7th, 2016
+ How do you think to Yourself? The Rich Fool – Dr Kendall Harmon [Luke 12:13-21]
+ ‘Stormy Weather’ – Rev Jeffrey Miller [Matthew 14:22-33]
+ Introducing a new sermon series on Nehemiah – Dean Peet Dickinson
+ Looking for Leaders: God’s Voice is Heard – Vaughan Roberts [1 Samuel 3]
+ Sunday Worship from the Keswick Convention with Emma Scrivener
+ Choral Evensong from Chichester Cathedral during the Southern Cathedrals Festival

From July 31st, 2016
+ Looking for a Leader: Those who honor me – Vaughan Roberts [1 Samuel 2:12-36]
+ The Holy Spirit – Archbishop Foley Beach
+ Choral Evensong from the Three Choirs Festival of Gloucester, Hereford and Worcester Cathedrals
+ Preaching Matters: Preaching 2 Timothy – Andy Gemmill

From July 24th, 2016
+ The Power of Priorities & the Danger of Distraction – Dr Kendall Harmon (Luke 10:38-42)
+ Looking for Leaders: A son is born – Vaughan Roberts [1 Samuel 1:1-2:11]
+ Choral Evensong from Derby Cathedral
+ The Church and the State: The Christian’s Responsibility in the Public Square – Anglican Way Institute Summer Conference 2016 with Bishop Michael Nazir-Ali
[More on the AWI 2016 Summer Conference]

From July 17th, 2016
+ The Shape of the Christian Life – Dr Kendall Harmon (Luke 10:25-37)
+ Called to Freedom – Dr Peter Moore [Galatians, John]
+ More than Conquerors – Vaughan Roberts [Romans 8:31-38]
+ Choral Evensong from the Chapel of Eton College with the first 2016 Eton Choral Course

From July 10th, 2016
+ Sermon given at the Memorial Service for Bishop Salmon – Dr Kendall Harmon [See more here]
+ The Magna Carta of Christian Freedom – Dr Kendall Harmon (Galatians 5:1;13-25)
+ Choral Evensong from Durham Cathedral
+ Preaching 2 Peter – Rev William Taylor

From June 26th, 2016
+ Now that Faith has come – Dr Peter Moore [Luke 8:19-21, 2 Samuel],
+ The Spirit Helps Us In Our Weakness – James Fletcher [Romans 8:18-27]
+ Choral Evensong from from the Chapel of St John’s School, Leatherhead, with the Guildford Cathedral Choir

From June 19th, 2016
+ Anointment and Forgiveness – Bishop Mark Lawrence [Luke 7:39-50]
+ God’s New Creation 1 – Vaughan Roberts [Revelation 21]
+ Choral Evensong from Lichfield Cathedral

From June 12th, 2016
+ It’s Not Man’s Gospel – Dr Peter Moore at St Philip’s Charleston SC [Galatians 1:11]
+ Matins [Morning Prayer] from St Mary Magdalene, Sandringham
+ Friday’s Thanksgiving Service from St Paul’s Cathedral for the 90th Birthday of the Queen [starts 15 mins in]
Order of Service

From June 5th, 2016
+ A Man’s Faith that Amazed Jesus – Dr Kendall Harmon (Luke 7:1-10)
+ The Fall of Babylon – Vaughan Roberts [Revelation 17:1-19:10 ]
+ Choral Evensong from the St Davids Cathedral Festival

From May 29th, 2016
+ Building the Church – Dr Russ Parker at the Cathedral Church of St Luke and St Paul, Charleston
+ Town Hall Service – Vaughan Roberts
+ The Loud Absence: Where is God Amidst Suffering and Evil? – Professor John Lennox

From May 22nd, 2016
+ Pentecost: Power, Surprises and Understanding – Dr Kendall Harmon (Acts 2:1-11)
+ Talks from JI Packer on 1 Timothy at Laity Lodge, Texas [h/t Prydain]
+ Praying – Vaughan Roberts [Matthew 6:5-13]
+ Choral Evensong from Tewkesbury Abbey with Schola Cantorum

From May 15th, 2016
+ The Church is on Fire – Dr Russ Parker at St Michael’s Charleston
+ Jesus the Ascended King (Acts 1:1-11) – Dr Kendall Harmon
+ Choral Evensong from St John’s College, Cambridge
+ Choral Evensong from St Pancras Church during the London Festival of Contemporary Church Music

or there is an updated version from Rend Collective here

From May 8th, 2016
+ The Ascension of Jesus – Bishop Mark Lawrence
+ Choral Evensong from Christ Church Cathedral, Oxford

From May 1st, 2016
+ God’s Building – Vaughan Roberts [1 Peter 2:4-8]
+ Choral Evensong from St John’s College, Cambridge

From April 24th, 2016
+ The Good News – Rev Paul Wasswa Ssembiro at Christ St Pauls [Romans 1]
+ The Gospel in those Seasons when we have no fish – Bishop Mark Lawrence (John 21)
+ Choral Evensong from Holy Trinity Church, Stratford-upon-Avon, with the Choir and Orchestra of the Swan

From April 17th, 2016
Talks from New Wineskins
God at Work in South-East Asia – Bishop Rennis Ponniah [Luke 9:51 – 10:2 and Luke 24]

See: Mission Consultation South East Asia

From April 10th, 2016
+ A New Day for All Humanity – Bishop Rennis Ponniah

+The Bishop of London’s Easter Day Address

From March 27th, 2016
+ Priestly Prayer: The Prayer of Jesus and Portrait of Prayer: Agony in the Garden – Dr Kendall Harmon [Parts 6 and 7 of a Lent series on Prayer from Christ St Pauls]
+ Easter Day Evensong live from Worcester Cathedral now
+ Good Friday Meditations from St Andrew’s Cathedral Singapore

From March 20th, 2016
+ Palm Sunday Sermon – Rev Peter Cook at St Andrew’s Singapore on Sunday [Philippians 2]
+ The Bridge Keeper – Rev C. Bradley Wilson at St Philip’s Charleston on Sunday
+ The Slain Lamb – Rev Vaughan Roberts [Revelation 5] [MP3]
+ Strengthened by the Holy Spirit: The Prayer of St Paul – Rev Craige Borrett last week [Part 5 of a Lent series on Prayer from Christ St Pauls – Ephesians 3:14-21]
+ Sermon at SC Convention Eucharist – Bishop Thad Barnum
+ The Seven Last Plagues – Rev Vaughan Roberts [Revelation 15 & 16]
+ The Loud Absence: Where is God Amidst Suffering and Evil? – Professor John Lennox
+ Choral Evensong from Wells Cathedral
+ Open Thread: Lent Resources

Elgar: The Spirit of the Lord is upon me from the Choirs of the Cathedral Church of St Luke & St Paul, Charleston, SC [words from Isaiah 61:1-3,11]

“Recorded live at Choral Evensong on the Feast of St. Luke the Evangelist, October 18, 2015. The Cathedral Church of St. Luke & St. Paul, Charleston, SC. The Cathedral Choir (with members of the Compline Choir.) Paul Thomas, Organist and Choral Ministry Director“

The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,
because He hath anointed me to preach the Gospel to the poor:
He hath sent me to heal the broken-hearted,
to preach deliv’rance to the captives
and recovering of sight to the blind,””
to preach the acceptable year of the Lord;

To give unto them that mourn a garland for ashes,
the oil of joy for mourning,
the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness;
That they might be called trees of righteousness,
the planting of the Lord, that He might be glorified.

For as the earth bringeth forth her bud,
and as the garden causeth the things that are sown in it to spring forth;
So the Lord God will cause righteousness and praise to spring forth before all the nations.

The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,
because He hath anointed me to preach the Gospel

From March 13th, 2016
+ The Freedom of Forgiveness – Bishop Rennis Ponniah [Genesis 45:3-15 and Mark 18:21-35]
+ Talking Jesus – Rev Rico Tice [more]
+ The Harvest – Rev Vaughan Roberts [Revelation 14]
+ The Bible: Quaint Relic or Bright Light – Dr Ken Bailey at Trinity School for Ministry
+ The Prayer of the Apostles – Let us speak boldly – Dr Kendall Harmon last week [Part 4 of a Lent series on Prayer from Christ St Pauls – Acts 4:1-31]
+ Choral Evensong from Westminster Abbey

[More from ‘What is the Gospel?’ – Rev William Taylor at St Helen’s Training]

From March 6th, 2016
+ Feeding of the Five Thousand – Archbishop Stanley Ntagali at St Andrew’s Cathedral, Singapore [John 6:1-15 and Mark 6:30-44]
+ What is Evangelicalism? – John Stott [from here where there is a summary]
+ I saw Heaven Open: the Two Beasts – Rev Vaughan Roberts [Revelation 13]
+ Choral Evensong from the Chapel of Magdalen College, Oxford
+ Hannah – Remember Me – Rev Craige Borrett last Sunday [Part 3 of a Lent series on Prayer from Christ St Pauls – 1 Samuel 1 to 2:10]

From February 28th, 2016
+ The Primacy of Religious Freedom – Bishop Mark Lawrence
+ Parting Thoughts – Rev. Jeffrey S. Miller [2 Timothy 3 & 4]
+ The Woman and the Dragon – Rev Vaughan Roberts [Revelation 12]
+ Solomon – Give me wisdom – Dr Kendall Harmon last week [Part 2 of a Lent series on Prayer from Christ St Pauls – 2 Chronicles 1:7-13 and 1 Kings 3]
+ Zechariah: When God Returns in Power – Bishop Rennis Ponniah Session 1, Session 2 and Session 3
+ Choral Evensong from King’s College, Cambridge

From February 21st, 2016
+ God Knows – Kevin de Young at St Ebbes, Oxford [Exodus 2:11-25]
+ Preaching Christ in the Old Testament – Kevin de Young in Preaching Matters from St Helens, Bishopsgate, London [see below]
+ Following Jesus Wholeheartedly – Bishop John Tan at St Andrews Cathedral, Singapore [Philippians 3:17-4:1]

From February 14th, 2016
+ David: I have sinned – Rev Craige Borrett [Part 1 of a Lent series on Prayer from Christ St Pauls]
+ Renewed and Empowered by the Holy Spirit – Bishop Rennis Ponniah today [Ephesians 4:17-28]
+ The Transfiguration – Dr Kendall Harmon last week [Luke 9] – well recommended by The Elves
+ Big Issues: Transgender – Rev Vaughan Roberts
+ Choral Evensong for Ash Wednesday from the Temple Church in London

From February 7th, 2016
+ Who is ‘God’s Servant’? – Bishop Michael Nazir-Ali at St Helena’s, Beaufort SC [John 12]
+ Rector’s Forum with Bishop Nazir-Ali
+ Facing up to the Truth – Rev Justin Terry at St John’s, John’s Island SC [Luke 4:14-28]
+ What do you see? – Rev Chris Royer at St Michael’s, Charleston SC [Ministry in the Middle East, John/Joel]
+ Pornography – Rev Vaughan Roberts [Matthew 5:27-30]
+ Sunday Worship from Down Cathedral in the Diocese of Down and Dromore [CofI]
+ Choral Evensong from Truro Cathedral

From January 31st, 2016
+ Do You Have Faith in Jesus? – Archbishop Mouneer Anis at Christ St Paul’s Today [Luke 4]
+ Sunday Worship from Long Lartin Prison, Worcestershire
+ Assisted Suicide – Vaughan Roberts

From January 24th, 2016
+ Fix Your Eyes on Jesus – Bishop Jacob W. Kwashi at Christ St Paul’s[Luke 4:14-21]
+ Finding Hope in the Baptism of Jesus – Dr Kendall Harmon
+ When the Evil Day Comes – Bishop Jacob W. Kwashi at St Philip’s Charleston [Ephesians 6:10-20]
+ Something to Aim for – The Beauty of Total Commitment – Bishop Rennis Ponniah [Luke 2:21-40; Philippians 1:1-6]

Sunday Worship live from St Helena’s Beaufort, SC
Listen here at 10:15 am Eastern time [3:15 pm London time]
Worship Bulletin [awaited]

The Cross at Camp St Christopher, SC

Previous posts are here

…the reality is quite different. The Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols was celebrated at King’s for the first time in 1918, not a historic service at all but an invented tradition ”” modern and man-made. And tempting though it is to imagine that this delicate fusion of words and music was created in the exquisite interior of King’s Chapel, the product of contemplation and beauty, its origins were in fact far less exalted: born in a wooden hut in Truro and conceived in the muddy, bloody trenches of the first world war, a child of horror and suffering, not peace and goodwill.

The story of Nine Lessons and Carols begins with an Anglican clergyman. Eric Milner-White was the ”˜very shy, but tremendously kind’ young man appointed chaplain of King’s in 1912. Quick to volunteer when war broke out in 1914, he traded the quiet life of Cambridge for the squalor and violence of the French front line. Most of his letters home are gone, destroyed by Milner-White himself. But the few that remain paint a vivid picture of his experience, caught between banality (”˜On days when too many tragedies aren’t happening there are many elements of the picnic about it’) and horror (”˜Most of life is at night, and the nights are filled with prolonged terror ”” a horrid, weird, furtive existence’).

Returning to Cambridge in 1918 after ”˜a battle of special horror’, Milner-White was appointed dean of King’s and immediately set about reforming a liturgy his experience convinced him was not just inadequate but irrelevant to the needs of a community so damaged and disillusioned. ”˜Colour, warmth and delight’ were to be the focus, offering aesthetic as well as spiritual consolation in only the simplest and most direct language. Wanting to create a special service for Christmas, Milner-White took inspiration from Edward White Benson ”” the first bishop of the new diocese of Truro.

Read it all.

Perhaps the carol’s simple language only enhances its beauty, conveying complex theological ideas without obscuring them; it becomes transparent, you might say. The image in the last verse, of Christ entering the world through Mary like the sunbeam passing through the glass, is a very common simile in medieval literature, and one that I’m fond of (compare this carol, and this poem). The attribution to St Anselm is not strictly accurate, in that the image doesn’t appear in his works, but it was ‘a simile much used in the school of Anselm’, according to R. W. Southern.

Read it all from Eleanor Parker.

Found here:

To whom shall we go?
You have the words of eternal life,
and we have believed and have come to know
that You are the Holy One of God.

Praise to You, Lord Jesus Christ,
King of endless glory.

'This world wonders': St Ambrose and a medieval Advent carol inspired by 'Veni Redemptor Gentium' https://t.co/YwfzNo0hOY pic.twitter.com/QPPdPN6TqZ

— Eleanor Parker (@ClerkofOxford) December 7, 2016

This is a rather clever little carol. Like ‘As I lay upon a night’, which I posted the other day, it keeps to one rhyme throughout for the English lines, and it’s properly macaronic; as I read it, the Latin refrain completes the meaning of each verse, so that for instance verse 1 presents a puzzle – ‘how could a maiden conceive a king?’ – and then asks for the solution: ‘To show all us how this could be, come, Redeemer of the nations’. Such a strategy implies a certain comfort with the Latin and with this particular hymn, the ability to use the hymn as a starting point for a more general meditation. It begins by picking up on a line from the first verse of the hymn, miretur omne saeculum, which becomes (with a grammatical shift) this carol’s first line: ‘this world wonders above all things…’ This carol is full of ‘wonder’, in both senses of the word: the wonder at which the world wonders is specifically the Virgin Birth, ‘how a maid conceived a king’, and where the hymn goes on to consider various other aspects and images of the Incarnation, this carol dwells, still wondering, on that one idea.

Read it all from Eleanor Parker.

Enjoy it all and I especially encourage prayerful pondering of the lyrics….

Come thou Redeemer of the earth,
Come, testify thy wondrous birth:
All lands admire, all times applaud:
Such is the birth that fits our God.

Forth from His chamber goeth He,
That royal home of purity,
A giant in twofold substance one,
Rejoicing now His course to run.

From God the Father He proceeds,
To God the Father back He speeds;
Runs out his course to death and hell
Returning on God’s high throne to dwell.

O equal to Thy Father, Thou!
Gird on Thy fleshly mantle now;
The weakness of our mortal state
With deathless might invigorate.

Thy cradle here shall glitter bright,
And darkness breathe a newer light,
Where endless faith shall shine serene,
And twilight never intervene.

All laud eternal Son, to Thee;
Whose advent sets thy people free
Whom with the Father we adore,
And Holy Ghost, for evermore.

Amen.

The final phase of a two year grants programme to English cathedrals for urgent repairs is announced today. Grants totalling £5,423,000 have been awarded to 24 Church of England and Catholic cathedrals for repairs including to stained glass windows, stone pinnacles, and roofs as well as drainage and lighting.

Heritage Minister, Tracey Crouch said:

“The First World War Centenary Cathedral Repairs Fund has done fantastic work to help revive and restore stunning cathedrals across the country.

“Cathedrals are not only beautiful pieces of architecture, they hold centuries of our nation’s history and are centrepieces in our communities. This important fund will help maintain and repair these historic buildings so they can be enjoyed for years to come by everyone.”

Read it all.

The Patriarch of Antioch was in London… [this past Thursday] for the consecration of Britain’s first Syriac Orthodox Cathedral. The Prince of Wales, Prince Charles, was the guest of honour at the service, which was attended by a number of senior Anglicans from the Church of England, including the Bishop of London, Richard Chartres; the Bishop at Lambeth, Nigel Stock; and the Bishop of Ebbsfleet, Jonathan Goodall, the former ecumenical secretary at Lambeth Palace.

The new cathedral of St Thomas is the former Saint Saviour’s Church in Acton, west London ”“ formerly a chapel for deaf Christians operated by the Royal Association for the Deaf.

The joyous service was marked with sadness as the congregation and a succession of speakers reflected on life for Christians in the homelands of the Syriac Orthodox Church in Syria and Iraq.

Read it all.

God of truth and grace, who didst give Isaac Watts singular gifts to present thy praise in verse, that he might write psalms, hymns and spiritual songs for thy Church: Give us grace joyfully to sing thy praises now and in the life to come; through Jesus Christ our Savior, who livest and reignest with thee and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

Father of English hymnody – why every Christian songwriter should thank God for Isaac Watts: https://t.co/0IvWULychS pic.twitter.com/AJF1wkknSu

— Christian Today (@ChristianToday) November 26, 2016

Read it all.

Lyrics:Now thank we all our God,
with heart and hands and voices,
who wondrous things has done,
in whom this world rejoices;
who from our mothers’ arms
has blessed us on our way
with countless gifts of love,
and still is ours today.
O may this bounteous God
through all our life be near us,
with ever joyful hearts
and blessed peace to cheer us;
and keep us still in grace,
and guide us when perplexed;
and free us from all ills,
in this world and the next.

All praise and thanks to God
the Father now be given;
the Son, and him who reigns
with them in highest heaven;
the one eternal God,
whom earth and heaven adore;
for thus it was, is now,
and shall be evermore.

At the beginning of 1637, the year of the Great Pestilence, there were four ministers in Eilenburg. But one abandoned his post for healthier areas and could not be persuaded to return. Pastor Rinkhart officiated at the funerals of the other two.

As the only pastor left, he often conducted services for as many as 40 to 50 persons a day”“some 4,480 in all. In May of that year, his own wife died. By the end of the year, the refugees had to be buried in trenches without services.

I think of Martin Rinkart every thanksgiving; his gift of this hymn is simply stunning given the circumstances in which it was written. We sang it with our family around the dinner table today. Read it all–KSH.

Almighty and gracious Father, we give you thanks for the fruits of the earth in their season and for the labors of those who harvest them. Make us, we pray, faithful stewards of your great bounty, for the provision of our necessities and the relief of all who are in need, to the glory of your Name; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.

About sunset, it happened every Friday evening on a lonely stretch along the eastern Florida seacoast. You could see an old man walking, white-haired, bushy eye-browed, slightly bent.

One gnarled hand would be gripping the handle of a pail, a large bucket filled with shrimp. There on a broken pier, reddened by the setting sun, the weekly ritual would be re-enacted.

At once, the silent twilight sky would become a mass of dancing dots…growing larger. In the distance, screeching calls would become louder.

They were seagulls, come from nowhere on the same pilgrimage”¦ to meet an old man.
For half an hour or so, the gentleman would stand on the pier, surrounded by fluttering white, till his pail of shrimp was empty. But the gulls would linger for a while. Perhaps one would perch comfortably on the old man’s hat”¦and a certain day gone by would gently come to his mind.

Eventually, all the old man’s days were past. If the gulls still returned to that spot”¦ perhaps on a Friday evening at sunset, it is not for food”¦ but to pay homage to the secret they shared with a gentle stranger.

And that secret is THE REST OF THE STORY.

Anyone who remembers October of 1942 remembers the day it was reported that Captain Eddie Rickenbacker was lost at sea.

Captain Eddie’s mission had been to deliver a message of the utmost importance to General Douglas MacArthur.

But there was an unexpected detour which would hurl Captain Eddie into the most harrowing adventure of his life. . Somewhere over the South Pacific, the flying fortress became lost beyond the reach of radio. Fuel ran dangerously low, and the men ditched their plane in the ocean.

The B-17 stayed afloat just long enough for all aboard to get out. . Then, slowly, the tail of the flying fortress swung up and poised for a split second”¦ and the ship went down leaving eight men and three rafts”¦ and the horizon.

For nearly a month, Captain Eddie and his companions would fight the water, and the weather, and the scorching sun.

They spent many sleepless nights recoiling as giant sharks rammed their rafts. Their largest raft was nine by five”¦ the biggest shark ten feet long.

But of all their enemies at sea, one proved most formidable: starvation. Eight days out, their rations were long gone or destroyed by the salt water. It would take a miracle to sustain them. And a miracle occurred.

In Captain Eddie’s own words, “Cherry,” that was B-17 pilot, Captain William Cherry, “read the service that afternoon, and we finished with a prayer for deliverance and a hymn of praise. There was some talk, but it tapered off in the oppressive heat. With my hat pulled down over my eyes to keep out some of the glare, I dozed off.”
Now this is still Captain Rickenbacker talking”¦ Something landed on my head. I knew that it was a seagull. I don’t know how I knew; I just knew.
“Everyone else knew, too. No one said a word. But peering out from under my hat brim without moving my head, I could see the expression on their faces. They were staring at the gull. The gull meant food”¦ if I could catch it.”
And the rest, as they say, is history.
Captain Eddie caught the gull. Its flesh was eaten; its intestines were used for bait to catch fish. The survivors were sustained and their hopes renewed because a lone sea gull, uncharacteristically hundreds of miles from land, offered itself as a sacrifice.

You know that Captain Eddie made it.

And now you also know…that he never forgot.
Because every Friday evening, about sunset…on a lonely stretch along the eastern Florida seacoast…you could see an old man walking…white-haired, bushy-eyebrowed, slightly bent.

His bucket filled with shrimp was to feed the gulls…to remember that one which, on a day long past, gave itself without a struggle…like manna in the wilderness.

—Paul Harvey’s the Rest of the Story (Bantam Books, 1997 Mass paperback ed. of the 1977 Doubleday original), pp. 170-172

The singers are Quire Cleveland under the direction of Peter Bennett–KSH.

Listen to it all.

I have never put my hope in any other
but in You, O God of Israel

11月23日は英国テューダー朝の音楽家トマス・タリスの命日（158年）
Thomas Tallis died on 23 November in 1585 pic.twitter.com/cF3MkPtHaB

— なおき Naoki (@GloriatibiTri) November 4, 2016

Sunset and evening star,
And one clear call for me!
And may there be no moaning of the bar,
When I put out to sea,

But such a tide as moving seems asleep,
Too full for sound and foam,
When that which drew from out the boundless deep
Turns again home.

Twilight and evening bell,
And after that the dark!
And may there be no sadness of farewell,
When I embark;

For tho’ from out our bourne of Time and Place
The flood may bear me far,
I hope to see my Pilot face to face
When I have crost the bar.
Alfred, Lord Tennyson

Read it all.

Archbishop Thabo Makgoba has called on the public to join him in a vigil for the country on the steps of St George’s Cathedral in Cape Town tomorrow”š Wednesday November 2”š from 1 to 2 pm. The theme of the vigil is “A lament for our beloved country”.

It will entail 45 minutes of silence”š followed by interfaith prayers and a commitment to ongoing prayers for South Africa for the next year.

Read it all.

We live in very challenging times for Christians in the West. There are cultural forces that unsettle and disturb the Church, and at times threaten to engulf it.

The tragedy is that many Christians and many church leaders are swept away by many developments that are at odds with our faith. They are lost or missing in action and have become victims of cultural struggles and differences that have always been with us since the very beginnings of Christianity. Others have changed sides and actively campaign against faith positions they once held dear.

There are several developments which I find appalling and which I will loosely group around issues to do with Christianity and western law which have long themselves been linked.

1. It is absolutely chilling that Ashers Bakery in Northern Ireland have lost their case in the Court of Appeal. The original ruling was that Ashers had discriminated against a gay man because they refused to bake a cake that carried a pro-gay marriage slogan. Let’s not forget that Northern Ireland is the only part of the UK that retains the previous perfectly serviceable and Christian definition of marriage. The Ashers Bakery contended that they are happy to bake cakes for anyone but would have refused to bake a cake supporting gay marriage even if a heterosexual had asked them to do so….

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I serve in a church (The Anglican Church in Aotearoa, New Zealand and Polynesia) where our Prayer Book is a decade younger than that 1979 book. We are also significantly smaller than The Episcopal Church. And we are a church that has, step by step, abandoned common prayer. Our church is held together by the smallness of our size ”“ and when I say “held together”, it is doing so currently only by the skin of its teeth with a last-ditch attempt by many to stress a list of doctrines to hold to, often drawn from the very common prayer that has been abandoned, and particularly discarded by those who now want to mine it for the list of doctrines that they want everyone to tick every box of.

If TEC wants to see the results of abandoning common prayer, let them send some people over to see the Anglican Church of Or.

My intention is to have other posts following this one that will pick up the dialogue happening around the value or not of common prayer. As just one consequence ”“ how much reflection has been done around the loss of time, money, and energy to create unrelenting novelty in community after community where congregations are, numerically, not much different to an average school class size? Have we become a shrinking club of novelty-idolising Baby Boomers living off our inherited funds and properties as we entertain ourselves into historical oblivion?

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Lord Jesus, think on me
And purge away my sin;
From earth-born passions set me free
And make me pure within.

Lord Jesus, think on me
With care and woe opprest;
Let me Thy loving servant be
And taste Thy promised rest.

Lord Jesus, think on me
Amid the battle’s strife;
In all my pain and misery
Be Thou my Health and Life.

Lord Jesus, think on me
Nor let me go astray;
Through darkness and perplexity
Point Thou the heavenly way.

Lord Jesus, think on me
When flows the tempest high;
When on doth rush the enemy,
O Savior, be Thou nigh!

Lord Jesus, think on me
That, when the flood is past,
I may the eternal brightness see
And share Thy joy at last.

Synesius of Cyrene c. 375-430
Trans Allen W. Chatfield 1808-1896

One word has been reintroduced into one of the Eucharistic prayers in the Mass which had previously been omitted by the translators. I’m glad to see it.

When I say one word, I mean it was one word in the Latin original. In the so-called Second Eucharistic Prayer the word is rore, which is now translated as “like the dewfall”. I find it not only poetic but very expressive of the way that God seems to work.

This is the sentence where it occurs: “Make holy, therefore, these gifts, we pray, by sending down your Spirit upon them like the dewfall, so that they may become for us the Body and Blood of our Lord, Jesus Christ.”

Read it all from the Telegraph.

A safeguarding issue was re­vealed on Monday to be at the centre of the row that blew up last week over bell-ringing in York Minster.

To furious protests by the na­­tion’s bell-ringers, the entire band of ringers at York Minster had been summarily sacked on Tuesday of last week, for reasons that at first were unclear.

At the time, the Dean, the Very Revd Vivienne Faull, and the Chap­ter alluded only to “health and safety”, and the need to bring the ringers under the control of the Chapter, in line with its other volunteer teams.

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York Minster dismissed 30 volunteer bellringers because one member of the group was regarded as a safeguarding risk, according to a statement delivered by the archbishop of York, John Sentamu.

Other members of the group “consistently challenged” the minster’s governing body, the Chapter of York, on this and other matters, the statement from York Minster said.

The volunteers were told at a special meeting last Tuesday that bellringing activity at the minster would cease with immediate effect for “health and safety” reasons and that they were dismissed.

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