Almighty and merciful God, we remember before you all the faithful departed, those we have loved and all who have died in the hope of the resurrection. Grant them eternal rest, O Lord, and let perpetual light shine upon them. Comfort those who mourn, and fill us with the hope of your promises. May they rest in your peace and rise in glory. Unite us with them in your love, that we may join together in the joy of your eternal kingdom. Through Jesus Christ our Lord, who is the resurrection and the life. Amen.

Today is #AllSoulsDay, when we remember before God the souls of those who have died.

Everyone is welcome to join us for Evensong at 5pm (GMT), either in the Abbey or from wherever you are via our livestream:https://t.co/nYlRDrLxG2 pic.twitter.com/rrzzQW4NCQ

— Westminster Abbey (@wabbey) November 2, 2024

As Meagan Gillmore reported for CT earlier this month, one Canadian pastor said, “I think one of the strongest reasons why MAID has a lot of traction generally in our society is that nobody wants to talk about death.”

For years, I’d wondered how we could change the conversation and equip our patients to walk toward the inevitable. Then one day, in my reading of various books on the subject, I came across a concept known as the ars moriendi, which is Latin for “art of dying.”

I discovered an entire genre of literature—500-years’ worth of ars moriendi handbooks—on how to die well. The earliest version developed in the early 1400s after the bubonic plague, or Black Death, swept through Western Europe, leaving half the population dead.

The central theme of this genre was that dying well is very much wrapped up in how we live. If we want to die well, we have to live well. That includes cultivating a life of virtue, nurturing our communities, and attending to questions of salvific and eternal importance.

Read it all.

On Nov. 1, mourning and celebrating All Saints Day https://t.co/ToVrRcVCtn

— Marvin Olasky (@MarvinOlasky) November 1, 2024

Almighty God,
you have knit together your elect
in one communion and fellowship    
in the mystical body of your Son Christ our Lord:
grant us grace so to follow your blessed saints
in all virtuous and godly living
that we may come to those inexpressible joys
that you have prepared for those who truly love you;
through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord,
who is alive and reigns with you,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.
Amen.

On All Saints’ Day we celebrate and give thanks for the lives and examples of people in whom the Church sees the grace of God at work.

We pray that we may follow their example. 🙏🏽 pic.twitter.com/8ayYs0zZt2

— The Church of England (@churchofengland) November 1, 2024

O everlasting God, who hast ordained and constituted the ministries of angels and men in a wonderful order: Mercifully grant that, as thy holy angels always serve and worship thee in heaven, so by thy appointment they may help and defend us on earth; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.

Today we celebrate our patron saint, St. Michael, defender of the Church against Satan. #Michaelmas pic.twitter.com/e0DEG1nVn0

— University of St. Michael's College (@uStMikes) September 29, 2024

O God, who by the passion of thy blessed Son didst make an instrument of shameful death to be unto us the means of life and peace: Grant us so to glory in the cross of Christ, that we may gladly suffer shame and loss for the sake of thy Son our Savior Jesus Christ; who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.

Initial 'n'(on) depicting Emperor Heraclius bringing the relic of the True Cross back to Jerusalem, the event celebrated on Holy Cross day

BnF MS Latin 11700; Homiliarium Corbeiense, Vol III; 12th century (1179 CE); France (Corbie); f.100v @GallicaBnF pic.twitter.com/9S51Eza0yW

— Ennius (@red_loeb) September 14, 2024

Almighty God, by whose providence thy servant John the Baptist was wonderfully born, and sent to prepare the way of thy Son our Savior by preaching repentance: Make us so to follow his doctrine and holy life, that we may truly repent according to his preaching; and after his example constantly speak the truth, boldly rebuke vice, and patiently suffer for the truth’s sake; through the same thy Son Jesus Christ our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.

Today's the feast of the Nativity of St John the Baptist. Here he is in 14th Century French glass in the St Mungo Museum of Religious Life and Art, Glasgow. He gestures towards the agnus dei, the 'Lamb of God'. pic.twitter.com/A6Xk7fM23O

— Simon Knott (@SimoninSuffolk) June 24, 2024

Father in heaven, by whose grace the virgin mother of thine incarnate Son was blessed in bearing him, but still more blessed in keeping thy word: Grant us who honor the exaltation of her lowliness to follow the example of her devotion to thy will; through the same Jesus Christ our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.

Today the Church of England celebrates the Visit of the Blessed Virgin Mary to Elizabeth

After the visit of the angel Gabriel to Mary (the Annunciation), she herself visited her elder cousin, Elizabeth, who was already expecting a child, a boy later known as John the Baptist pic.twitter.com/ZwdwzUFmhw

— The Anglican Church in St Petersburg (@anglicanspb) May 31, 2024

O God, who hast made of one blood all nations of men for to dwell on the face of the earth, and didst send thy blessed Son Jesus Christ to preach peace to them that are afar off, and to them that are nigh: Grant that all the peoples of the world may feel after thee and find thee; and hasten, O Lord, the fulfillment of thy promise to pour out thy Spirit upon all flesh; through Jesus Christ our Lord.

–George Edward Lynch Cotton (1813-1866) [Bishop of Calcutta 1858–1866]

Salisbury cathedral, and some sheep #SteepleSaturday pic.twitter.com/mVHbqCxy2n

— Dr Naomi (@BooksTeaFilms) May 25, 2024

O Holy Spirit of God, Lord and Giver of life: Come into our hearts, we beseech thee; that enlightened by thy clear shining, and warmed by thine unselfish love, our souls may be revived to the worship of God, and our lives be dedicated anew to the service of our fellows: for Jesus Christ’s sake.

Na een bewolkte dag klaarde het nog mooi op. Fijne donderdag😀 #natuur #landschap #lente #Rhenen #ElstUt #Elsterbuitenwaard #zonsondergang #mooieluchten pic.twitter.com/8GhvIUT5bx

— Tjark Dieterman (@DietermanTjark) May 23, 2024

Or you can listen to it all here. The sermon itself starts around 17:45.

For those interested in downloading you may find the link there.

Pentecost commemorates the descent of the Holy Spirit upon the apostles,empowering them with divine inspiration&guidance.Just as flames danced upon their heads,let this Pentecost renew our faith&fill our hearts with the warmth of divine love.#Pentecost #feastofpentecost pic.twitter.com/v4usaCfCut

— The John Bradburne Memorial Society (@BradburneJohn) May 19, 2024

Send, we beseech thee, Almighty God, thy Holy Spirit into our hearts, that he may rule and direct us according to thy will, comfort us in all our afflictions, defend us from all error, and lead us into all truth; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who, with thee and the same Holy Spirit, liveth and reigneth one God world without end.

Buttercups at dawn. Taken this morning on Glastonbury Tor. pic.twitter.com/wAXezwnmpo

— Michelle Cowbourne (@Glastomichelle) May 21, 2024

‘The Celtic Christians had a name for the Holy Spirit that has always intrigued me. They called Him An Geadh-Glas, or “the Wild Goose.” I love the imagery and implications. The name hints at the mysterious nature of the Holy Spirit. Much like a wild goose, the Spirit of God cannot be tracked or tamed.

An element of danger and an air of unpredictability surround Him. And while the name may sound a little sacrilegious at first earshot, I cannot think of a better description of what it’s like to pursue the Spirit’s leading through life than Wild Goose chase. I think the Celtic Christians were on to something that institutionalized Christianity has missed out on. And I wonder if we have clipped the wings of the Wild Goose and settled for something less—much less—than what God originally intended for us.’

–Mark Batterson, Wild Goose Chase: Reclaim the Adventure of Pursuing God (New York: Crown Publishing Group, 2008), pp. 1-2, quoted by yours truly in this past Sunday’s sermon

Today is Pentecost. This 16th c. devotional card showing the Holy Spirit descending on the Virgin Mary and the Apostles is sewn into LPL's copy of Thys prymer of Salysbury use (Paris, 1534) [ZZ]1534.46 #pentecost #whit pic.twitter.com/c37Q5Fflup

— LambethPalaceLibrary (@lampallib) May 19, 2024

[At Pentecost Peter] intendeth to prove…that the Church can be repaired by no other means, saving only by the giving of the Holy Spirit. Therefore, forasmuch as they did all hope that the restoring drew near, he accuseth them of sluggishness, because they do not once think upon the way and means thereof. And when the prophet saith, “I will pour out,” it is, without all question, that he meant by this word to note the great abundance of the Spirit….when God will briefly promise salvation to his people, he affirmeth that he will give them his Spirit. Hereupon it followeth that we can obtain no good things until we have the Spirit given us.

–Commentary on the Acts of the Apostles

The Pentecostal descent of the Holy Spirit on the Church is connected with his descent on Christ at baptism: the mission of the Church, the community of God's children, in the power of the Spirit is a continuation of the mission of Christ, the eternal Son.@keblelib Ms 39, f.111v pic.twitter.com/IE6SaYCFZA

— Vir Desideriorum (@VirDesideriorum) May 19, 2024

Almighty and everlasting God, who in days of old didst cause thy Word to grow mightily and to prevail: We praise and magnify thy holy name for the manifestation of thy presence in this our day, and we beseech thee to pour out thy Spirit upon the Church, that thy way may be known upon earth and thy saving health among all nations; through Jesus Christ our Lord.

The Holy Spirit is a living fountain ("fons vivus", Veni Creator) in God's Church. When the apostles visibly lay their hands on people when administering the sacraments, they are invisibly filled with the Spirit.@CdeChantilly Ms Fr 71,f.25
Heures d'Étienne Chevalier (J. Fouquet) pic.twitter.com/aePq2vuCGa

— Vir Desideriorum (@VirDesideriorum) May 20, 2024

Ms Howatch, 52, believes God has been guiding her. Although she made her first fortune writing blockbusters such as Penmarric, success and its trappings left her spiritually empty. She had houses in several countries, drove a Porsche and a Mercedes and after the break-up of her marriage had too many ‘facile, transient liaisons’. In the early Eighties she told her editor she would be late with a novel and he said: ‘What will I tell the accountants?’

‘I was not interested in fame and fortune any more – I’d had it all since I was 30 and it hadn’t satisfied me. So I thought, ‘If I’m not in it for that and I’m not in it to keep my publishers in the black, what the hell am I doing it for?’

‘God seized me by the scruff of the neck, slammed me against the nearest wall and shook me until my teeth rattled. I thought: ‘Okay, what does God actually require of me?”

–From there and quoted by yours truly in yesterday’s Pentecost sermon (emphasis mine)

Followers may be glad to read that @Cambridge_Uni has announced that I am to become a professor in October. This is an ideal opportunity for me to reiterate our gratitude to Susan Howatch for endowing the Starbridge position around thirty years ago. pic.twitter.com/Qk2i5U41f0

— Andrew Davison (@AP_Davison) June 14, 2023

O Lord, from whom all good things come:
grant to us your humble servants,
that by your holy inspiration
we may think those things that are good,
and by your merciful guiding may perform the same;
through our Lord Jesus Christ,
who is alive and reigns with you,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.
Amen.

Good Morning pic.twitter.com/qulJgH6AwF

— philip jackson (@pajacksonartist) May 20, 2024

O God, who in the exaltation of thy Son Jesus Christ dost sanctify thy universal Church: Shed abroad in every race and nation the gift of the Holy Spirit; that the work wrought by his power at the first preaching of the gospel may now be extended throughout the whole world; through the same Jesus Christ our Lord.

Pentecost. From a 15th-century manuscript of the ‘Speculum humanae salvationis’, Northern Netherlands. MS Add. 6447 @theULhttps://t.co/X94cJ6HvMz pic.twitter.com/3GxvuDh7rK

— Cambridge UL Special Collections (@theULSpecColl) May 19, 2024

Now the company of those who believed were of one heart and soul, and no one said that any of the things which he possessed was his own, but they had everything in common. And with great power the apostles gave their testimony to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and great grace was upon them all.

–Acts 4:32-33

It's Pentecost, the patronal festival of linguists – so I thought I'd share some of the realisations that liberated my approach to language, and gave me the confidence to work (or try to work) with multiple languages in my research pic.twitter.com/3Jsc9B7jbs

— Dr Francis Young (@DrFrancisYoung) May 19, 2024

Glory be to thee, O Christ our Prophet, who didst reveal and interpret thy Father’s will and all saving truth to the world.
Glory be to thee, O Christ our Priest, who didst offer thyself a sacrifice for sin and ever livest to make intercession for us.
Glory be to thee, O Christ our King, who dost give laws to thy people, and dost govern and protect us in thy love, and who reignest with the Father and the Holy Spirit now and for evermore.

"… over on Back Fork"#BackFork #ElkRiver #AlmostHeaven #WestVirginia #Highlands #ThePhotoHour pic.twitter.com/6APZo240or

— Thomas R Fletcher (@ThomasRFletcher) May 18, 2024

Be present, O Lord, to our supplications; that as we trust that the Saviour of mankind is seated with thee in thy majesty, so we may feel that, according to his promise, he abideth with us unto the end of the world; through the same Jesus Christ our Lord.

A gorgeous sunrise this morning over Downtown Charleston! pic.twitter.com/tZxxyH30G9

— Chris Holtzman (@ChrisHoltzmanWx) May 11, 2024

The readers may learn out of our Institutions what profit we reap by the ascension of Christ. Notwithstanding, because it is one of the chiefest points of our faith, therefore doth Luke endeavor more diligently to prove the same; yea, rather, the Lord himself meant to put the same out of all doubt, when as he hath ascended so manifestly, and hath confirmed the certainty of the same by other circumstances. For, if so be it he had vanished away secretly, then might the disciples have doubted what was become of him; but now, sith that they, being in so plain a place, saw him taken up with whom they had been conversant, whom also they heard speak even now, whom they beheld with their eyes, whom also they see taken out of their sight by a cloud, there is no cause why they should doubt whither he was gone. Furthermore, the angels are there also to bear witness of the same. And it was needful that the history should have been set down so diligently for our cause, that we may know assuredly, that although the Son of God appear nowhere upon earth, yet doth he live in the heavens. And this seemeth to be the reason why the cloud did overshadow him, before such time as he did enter into his celestial glory; that his disciples being content with their measure might cease to inquire any further. And we are taught by them that our mind is not able to ascend so high as to take a full view of the glory of Christ; therefore, let this cloud be a mean to restrain our boldness, as was the smoke which was continually before the door of the tabernacle in the time of the law.

–Commentary on Acts

#Ascension 🙏🏻

"Behold, I am with you always, even to the end of the age."
Matthew 28, 20b

"Ascension of Christ"
Dosso Dossi (c.1490-1542), Italian
Private collection pic.twitter.com/bOHUt7DFjE

— Cris💗Art (@CristianeGLima) May 25, 2020

Now that he is on the throne, seated at the right hand of the Father, the signs expected of the messianic age are being fulfilled before our eyes: the Spirit has been poured out and the nations have begun to turn their hearts to the worship of Israel’s God.

An even more compelling array of biblical images connects Jesus’ Ascension with the priestly work of the Messiah. Early Christians considered Jesus’ death on the cross to be a sacrifice of atonement (Rom. 3:25), an act whereby our sins are fully and finally forgiven.

However, coming from the context of Israel’s temple culture, it would have struck most Jewish believers as oddly incomplete to say that the Cross was all there was to Jesus’ ritual of sacrifice. As anyone in the ancient world knew, the penitent sinner needed a further step in the ritual of atonement: a sacrifice to be slain and a high priest to bear the sacrificial blood into the presence of God.

Read it all.

Jesus’ return to heaven wasn’t an awkward stage exit but the climax of our redemption story.

Why the Ascension is essential:https://t.co/SwJiEQjxXW

— Christianity Today (@CTmagazine) May 9, 2024

Almighty God, whose blessed Son our Saviour Jesus Christ ascended far above all heavens, that he might fill all things: Mercifully give us faith to perceive that according to his promise he abideth with his Church on earth, even unto the end of the world; through the same Jesus Christ our Lord.

I'm not really one for big, iconic views; sometimes the essence of the #peakdistrict countryside can be summed up in one tiny, humble glance – a tumbledown barn, moss-covered walls, and stretching green hills as far as the eye can see. pic.twitter.com/lYKOOPPBop

— peaklass (@peaklass1) May 10, 2024

Ascension theology turns at this point to the Eucharist, for in celebrating the eucharist the church professes to know how the divine presents itself in our time, and how the question of faithfulness is posed. Eucharistically, the church acknowledges that Jesus has heard and has answered the upward call; that, like Moses, he has ascended into that impenetrable cloud overhanging the mountain. Down below, rumours of glory emanate from the elders, but the master himself is nowhere to be seen. He is no longer with his people in the same way he used to be. Yet he is with them, in the Spirit.

–Douglas Farrow, Ascension Theology (New York: T and T Clark, 2011), p. 64

Today is the Feast of the Ascension. This woodcut depicts Christ departing the temporal world, leaving behind only footprints among his followers. The image comes from Bonaventure's Meditationes vitae Christi (Wynkyn de Worde, 1525) Shelf mark: [ZZ]1525.1 #Ascension #AscensionDay pic.twitter.com/TFKsp3HjNp

— LambethPalaceLibrary (@lampallib) May 9, 2024

Additionally, early Christians were not, as is commonly assumed, bound to a three-tier vision of the universe, i.e., heaven, hell, and earth.

[W]hen the Bible speaks of heaven and earth it is not talking about two localities related to each other within the same space-time continuum or about a nonphysical world contrasted with a physical one but about two different kinds of what we call space, two different kinds of what we call matter, and also quite possibly (though this does not necessarily follow from the other two) two different kinds of what we call time.

So heaven and earth, understood in this way, are two dimensions of the same reality. They “interlock and intersect in a whole variety of ways even while they retain, for the moment at least, their separate identities and roles.” Combine this with the doctrine of the ascension and we do not have a Jesus who floats up into a heaven “up there” but disappears into a reality we cannot yet see. Because heaven and earth are not yet joined Jesus is physically absent from us. At the same time he is present with us through the Holy Spirit and the sacraments, linkages where the two realities meet in the present age.

Read it all.

Today is Ascension Day, which comes 40 days after Easter Day and celebrates Jesus' ascension into Heaven

Image: C15th depiction of the Ascension in a section of the East Window in St Mary Magdalene Church, Newark. Photo by Jules & Jenny, CC BY 2.0 Deed, via Wikimedia Commons pic.twitter.com/xDQW5BGpMA

— The Anglican Church in St Petersburg (@anglicanspb) May 9, 2024

Grant, we pray, almighty God,
that as we believe your only-begotten Son our Lord Jesus Christ
to have ascended into the heavens,
so we in heart and mind may also ascend
and with him continually dwell;
who is alive and reigns with you,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.
Amen.

Today's art: Passion series: Ascension – Rembrandt Harmensz. van Rijn https://t.co/vX5HtR8e6B pic.twitter.com/yi7pt4mWRL

— Art and the Bible (@artbible) May 9, 2024

One thing this poem does have in common with the ‘Advent lyrics’ of Christ I is that it’s an extraordinarily sophisticated theological meditation on its Biblical theme, rendered in the traditional language of Anglo-Saxon poetry but drawing on learned interpretations of the subject by the Church Fathers. The poem begins by describing the delight of the angels at Christ’s return to heaven, contrasting their joy with the grief of the disciples at parting from Christ, and giving his words of comfort to his followers:…

“Rejoice in your hearts! I will never leave you;
I will always remain with you in love,
and give you strength and dwell with you
for ever and ever, so that through my grace
you will never want for anything good…
I will dwell with you
from henceforth as a comforter, and keep you in peace,
a steadfast strength in every place.”

Read it all.

'So the beautiful bird ventured into flight.
Now he sought the home of the angels above,
that glorious country, bold and strong in power.'

An Anglo-Saxon poem on the Ascension: https://t.co/MfwI6d6GOC pic.twitter.com/3qKnU9Rann

— Eleanor Parker (@ClerkofOxford) May 9, 2024

O Almighty God, who by thy holy apostle hast taught us to set our affection on things above: Grant us so to labour in this life as ever to be mindful of our citizenship in those heavenly places whither our Saviour Christ is gone before; to whom with thee, O Father, and thee, O Holy Ghost, be all honour and glory, world without end.

Today is Ascension Day, 40 days after Easter, when we celebrate Christ’s ascension to heaven at the end of his ministry on earth

We are holding the Eucharist for Ascension Day at 17:30. All are welcome to join.

📷: Martin Cook pic.twitter.com/FTPlNnMkHJ

— Salisbury Cathedral (@SalisburyCath) May 9, 2024

O Almighty God, who hast created the earth for man, and man for thy glory: Mercifully hear the supplications of thy people, and be mindful of thy covenant; that both the earth may yield her increase, and the good seed of thy Word may bring forth abundantly, to the glory of thy holy name; through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Guten Morgen 🌼🌱🌼🌱🌼🌱
🌼🌱🌼🌱 Schönen Mittwoch! pic.twitter.com/fGV65A6UPx

— Brigitta Neurauter (@BrigittaNeurau2) May 8, 2024