You can listen directly there and download the mp3 there.

Sir James Thornhill, 1675-1734, English painter, Ananias and Sapphira, 1729-31, (Copy after Raphael) pic.twitter.com/s4091Am0FC

— Gjeraqina Ukshini (@gjeni_u) October 28, 2015

You can listen directly there and download the mp3 there.

“The Sermon on the Mount” by Carl Bloch, Oil on copper, 1877. At the Museum of National History at Frederiksborg Castle, Denmark pic.twitter.com/HCCFGitdVf

— Pictures of Churches (@ChurchPictures8) June 2, 2017

You can listen directly there and download the mp3 there.

Presentation of the Lord
Ambrogio Lorenzetti,
c. 1342
Galleria degli Uffizi, Florence pic.twitter.com/QlKtLC4bqW

— Amigo de Frodo (@bpdflores) February 2, 2019

Patricia “Pat” Hamill Teale French, 93, of Woodstock, Virginia died Friday, January 10, 2020 at her home.

Pat was born October 17, 1926, in Baltimore, Maryland, the first of two children of the late Gladys Adelaide Hamill Teale and Edward Painter Teale. She was a member of the Class of 1943 of Thomas Jefferson High School in Richmond, Virginia and attended Harcum Junior College in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania. After college, she worked in a division office of AT&T Long Lines in Washington, DC, where she met her future husband Warren Ballinger French, Jr.

Pat’s greatest pride was her family. She married Warren on September 17, 1949 in Silver Spring, Maryland. In the fall of 2019, they celebrated their 70th year of marriage. They were the parents of four children. Pat was predeceased by her son Warren Ballinger French, III, who passed away April 19, 1981. In addition to her husband, she is survived by her three remaining children and their spouses: Anne Elizabeth French Dalke and Jeffrey Alan Dalke of Philadelphia and Edinburg; Cynthia Ellen French Mullen and Wesley Grigg Mullen, Jr. of Rockbridge Baths; and Christopher Edward French and Rhonda Harris French of Woodstock. Pat is also survived by her grandchildren and their spouses: Lena French Dalke and Sameer Gupta of Brooklyn; Lillian Stover Dalke and Angelina Lim of Brooklyn; Samuel Shaffer Dalke and Katharine Baratz Dalke of Harrisburg; Marian Ballinger Dalke and Elizabeth Nadia Pisarczyk of Philadelphia; Wesley Grigg Mullen, III and Accacia Max Mullen of Rockbridge Baths; Andrew French Mullen and Melissa Ann Falkenstern of Albuquerque; Rebecca Blythe French of Harrisonburg; Warren Ballinger French, II of Woodstock; and Stuart Teale French and Tiffany Marie French of Harrisonburg. Five great grandchildren also survive her: Naima Belle Dalke Gupta, Mahalia Vati Dalke Gupta, Andy Bo Tian Dalke-Lim, Julia Baratz Dalke, and Audrey French Dalke. She is also survived by her brother Robert “Bob” Edward Teale and his wife Carol Rogers Teale of Lincoln, Nebraska; her sisters-in-law Doris French, Emma Randel, Marian French, Ellen Fuller, Joyce French and Sally Weber; and her brother-in-law John Weber, and many, many nieces and nephews.

In addition to being a daughter, sister, wife, mother, grandmother, and great grandmother, Pat was an active supporter of her church and an advocate for her local community. She became a member of the Woodstock United Methodist Church in 1954, later served as a member of its Board of Trustees and the Administrative Council, and was active in the church’s Tape Ministry, Food Pantry, and Clothes Closet. She was a member of the Shenandoah Garden Club, where she served as corresponding secretary.
Pat’s love of children and reading led to her involvement in and support of libraries at the town, county, and state levels. She served on the Board of the Woodstock Library and was appointed by Virginia Governors Godwin and Dalton for five-year terms on the State Library Board of the Virginia State Library, serving as chairman for one year. Pat also worked to gain support of the Shenandoah County Supervisors for the creation of the Shenandoah County Library, which opened in 1985 and led to the creation of the Shenandoah County Library System. She served two terms on that board. Pat was also involved in the founding of the Shenandoah Community Foundation in 1999.

Read it all.

You can listen directly there and download the mp3 there.

#ArtLovers
Baptism of Christ, Andrea Mantegna, ca. 1505 pic.twitter.com/1ESNHkhmDF

— Jukka Isorinne (@jukkaisorinne) September 14, 2015

You can listen directly there and download the mp3 there.

The adoration of the Magi
Abraham Bloemaert (1564–1651) pic.twitter.com/SCRNGhprt4

— Kalina Boulter (@KalinaBoulter) January 6, 2018

Christina Rossetti’s words pierce my heart at Christmas, year after year:

“Love came down at Christmas, Love all lovely, love divine;
Love was born at Christmas, Star and angels gave the sign.”
It is worth pausing and pondering the answer to the question: how deep and how broad was that love?

To move with me toward an answer, journey to a small chapel in Cartmell Fell, a little known holy place in the North of England. If you know where to look when you arrive there–the stone is half hidden in the chancel–you can find a 1771 inscription with elegant lettering:

“Underneath this stone a mouldering Virgin lies,
Who was the pleasure once of Human Eyes.
Her Blaze of Charms Virtue once approved
The Gay admired her, much the parents loved.
Transitory life! Death untimely came.
Adieu, farewell, lonely leave my name.”

The words describe Betty Poole; she was a little girl who died at age three.

Christina Rossetti also wrote:

“In the bleak mid-winter Frosty wind made moan;
Earth stood hard as iron, Water like a stone”¦”

It is only when the bleakness of this world and its iron hardness is fully felt, that the miracle of melting which began at Christmas can penetrate and shock us into appropriate awe. God’s love enveloped the whole moaning, stony, sin-sick world. It is broad enough to embrace it all, in this world and the next.

I imagine being with Betty Poole in Heaven and hearing her say with a smile, “God’s love was bigger than I thought!”

–The Rev. Dr. Kendall S. Harmon is Canon Theologian of South Carolina and convenor of this blog

You can listen directly there and download the mp3 there.

O star of wonder, star of night,
Star with royal beauty bright,
Westward leading, still proceeding,
Guide us to thy perfect light.

“Adoration of the Magi”
Bartolomé Esteban Murillo (Spanish, 1617–1682)
Toledo Museum of Art pic.twitter.com/UNgYemXtQu

— Tale ❀ Feathers (@mizze43) December 25, 2017

You can listen directly here and download the mp3 there.

The Stoning of Saint Stephen by Rembrandt (1625)

While they were stoning him, Stephen prayed, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.” Then he fell on his knees and cried out, “Lord, do not hold this sin against them.” When he had said this, he fell asleep.

Acts 7:59-60 pic.twitter.com/n2T3KXd8Me

— Carl Strehlow (@carlstrehlow) December 25, 2019

I think one can clearly state the nature of the myth of some kind of monolithic evangelical support for President Trump.

The evangelical movement is quite broad and diverse and comprises nearly ¼ or so of the USA population.

In this movement in terms of the last election (2016) there were four groups.

In the first group are evangelicals who voted for Hillary Clinton with varying degrees of enthusiasm, either for her policy or party stance in terms of things like support for the disenfranchised. This also includes also a number who voted for her because they saw no choice but to vote against Donald Trump.

In the second group are evangelicals who voted for a third party, or stayed at home and didn’t vote because even though they opposed a number of the Democratic nominee’s proposals they were horrified by Donald Trump’s character and modus operandi and could not in good conscience support him.

In the third group were people who were adamantly opposed to a number of Hillary Clinton’s proposals, but who reluctantly concluded that the only way they could influence public policy was to vote for one of the two people who were going to win. They therefore held their nose and voted against Hillary Clinton but very much thinking that they were worried about Trump as a person and what his character would do to the office.

In the fourth group were people who enthusiastically supported Donald Trump. The reasons for this support vary a great deal under the surface, one of the most interesting being a who number felt that the culture war had been shoved down their throat during the Obama years, and actively wanted a person who would enable a kind of payback, even with his modus operandi.

The main distortion comes from the NEARLY COMPLETE FOCUS on group four, and even a minority of leaders among group four. There may be an occasional nod to group three, but often it is falsely implied that group three are enthusiastically behind the current President, whereas they are not at all but saw no alternative given the American two party system. Groups one and two are hardly even talked about.

Therefore the picture given of the movement as a whole is entirely false. I would like to say personally how sorry I am for the Hispanic, African American, and mainly younger evangelicals whose voices are nearly entirely silenced by the false picture–KSH.

I will take comments on this submitted by email only to KSHarmon[at]mindspring[dot]com.

Listen to it all (and note the handout link if desired).

You can listen directly there and download the mp3 there.

All Saints North St York. Seven stars as seven gifts of the holy spirit: wisdom, understanding, counsel, knowledge, fortitude, piety, wonder pic.twitter.com/2XQ5Oh7Aai

— Dr Jonathan Foyle (@JonathanFoyle) February 2, 2017

You can listen directly there and download the mp3 there.

#AllSaintsDay Fact:

All Saints’ Day is a celebration to honor the saints that have graced our world, and as a day to honor loved ones who have passed away. pic.twitter.com/BJpQe6SFg5

— American School (@AngelesSchool) November 1, 2019

You can find the links to all four offerings here, available either as a download or to listen directly.

Pope Francis: “Never abandon prayer, even when it seems pointless to pray.” pic.twitter.com/TiAA2GnHTX

— The Assisi Project (@Assisi_Project) November 4, 2019

You can listen directly there and download the mp3 there (American history buffs will want to watch for a reference to the building of the Golden Gate Bridge).

John 4:43-54
Go home: your son will live

Healing the royal official’s son
by Joseph-Marie Vien, 1752. pic.twitter.com/0Swr93J4eH

— Kalina Boulter (@KalinaBoulter) March 12, 2018

‘Home is the place where, when you have to go there,
They have to take you in.’

–Robert Frost, ‘The Death of the Hired Man’

Listen to it all. Please note there are audio and video options and it can be downloaded. Be forewarned–it is NOT light bedtime listening–KSH.

Sept 8 The ReNew conference in England takes place, Sept 16-17. Over 400 church leaders gather and the focus is on ‘Multiplying Ministries in the Face of Eternity’. Abp Ben Kwashi is a speaker. Pray for him and all the contributors as they prepare. pic.twitter.com/oQbFvvedmr

— GAFCON (@gafconference) September 7, 2019

I’m off to a big conference and would appreciate your prayers for the Sunday sermon and Monday address–KSH. Blogging will be catch as catch can until I return.

You can listen directly there and download the mp3 there.

The Lordship of Christ over the whole of life means that there are no Platonic areas in Christianity, no dichotomy or hierarchy between the body and the soul. God made the body as well as the soul, and redemption is for the whole man.

Francis Schaeffer pic.twitter.com/IDk4sK59KL

— Biblical Eldership (@Eldership) September 2, 2019