Colonies of tiny cells flourishing in petri dishes in the US and Japan are reshaping the political and ethical landscape surrounding human stem-cell research.

In the process, these diminutive colonies also may level the playing field in stem-cell research ”“ internationally and domestically.

These are some of the effects analysts say they see coming out of this week’s announcements that two teams have genetically reprogrammed skin cells so that they take on the traits of embryonic stem cells.

Embryonic stem cells are the subject of intense medical interest because of their ability to develop into any of the major cell types in the human body. Over the long term, these stem cells could become the foundation for therapies for a range of diseases, scientists say. This week’s announcement suggests it will be possible for scientists to study these cells without the ethical and political difficulties of harvesting them from unused human embryos.

Read it all.

In Anchorage early in October, the doors opened onto a soaring white canvas dome with room for a soccer field and a 400-meter track. Its prime-time hours are already rented well into 2011.

Nearby is a cold-storage facility leased to Sysco, a giant food-distribution corporation, and beside it is a warehouse serving a local contractor and another food service company.

The entrepreneur behind these businesses is the ChangePoint ministry, a 4,000-member nondenominational Christian congregation that helped develop and finance the sports dome. It has a partnership with Sysco’s landlord and owns the warehouse.

The church’s leaders say they hope to draw people to faith by publicly demonstrating their commitment to meeting their community’s economic needs.

“We want to turn people on to Jesus Christ through this process,” said Karl Clauson, who has led the church for more than eight years.

Read it all.

My brothers and sisters in Christ in the Diocese of Pittsburgh

Someone asked me recently if I was planning to vote at the Convention on November 2. “Not until they allow email ballots,” was my answer. But it occurred to me that I could send an electronic voice vote instead of a paper ballot.

I write to you from a distance but with a closeness of heart as you prepare for the Convention this weekend. I have been an Episcopalian since my conversion and baptism as a university student in 1966. I have been ordained since 1971 and a priest of the Diocese since 1979. I have been a theologian and educator at Trinity School for Ministry for 21 years and now in Uganda since 2000. I have been addressing the crisis in the Episcopal Church and Anglican Communion for the past 20 years.

I believe Bishop Jack Iker has spoken frankly and prophetically when he states there is no future in The Episcopal Church for those who hold to biblical Christianity in the Anglican tradition. In my courses on the prophets, I always taught that oracles of judgement precede oracles of hope. Such is the situation of Anglicanism today. We have incurred God’s judgement as a tradition and as a church. The responses of biblically-minded Anglicans to this crisis have been various, uncoordinated and often contradictory, which may itself be an outworking of judgement.

About ten years ago, I did some contingency planning for the American Anglican Council by projecting five scenarios for the future. Let me comment on them briefly with benefit of ten years of hindsight.

Scenario 1: Victory in turning the institution back to the biblical and historic faith. Despite strenuous efforts by the AAC and others, the Episcopal Church has set its course for the future, and we are not a part of it. Politically, we lost. There is no credible scenario now by which TEC can be reformed or revived from within.

Scenario 2: A negotiated settlement that would allow our group (call them confessors or dissidents) to live in peace or to separate with a fair distribution of property. The powers that be have ruled out this option, either out of fear that they might open the floodgates to departures or out of conviction that they don’t need to compromise, holding the legal cards in their hand.

Scenario 3: A league of confessing parishes. Parishes have been the main source of strength among confessing Episcopalians. Beginning with the First Promise movement, then with AMiA, and now with other networks aligned with overseas provinces, parishes have become the foundation of a new church. In most cases, joining these networks has cost churches and clergy their property, pensions, and some of their people. At the same time, breaking free has brought new energy for evangelism, church planting and mission.

Scenario 4: A league of confessing dioceses. The Anglican Communion Network emerged out of the AAC to unite bishops and like-minded dioceses against the powers that be. Unfortunately, this league has been whittled down to only a few. Help has come from another quarter: a network of bishops and dioceses has emerged, with connections reaching internationally into the Global South and historically back to the Reformed Episcopal Church and other groups who have been marginalized by the Episcopal Establishment over the years. This is the Common Cause Partnership.

Scenario 5: Piecemeal disintegration. Institutional death ”“ comfortably financed but death nonetheless ”“ is the future of The Episcopal Church. If the typical Anglican worldwide is a 30 year-old person of color, so the typical Episcopalian of the future will be a 70-year-old divorced priest. Those who stay in the institution to make a witness will be swallowed up and swept away like the exiles of Samaria after 722 BC.

None of the above scenarios is pleasant, humanly speaking; even the first (victory) would have been distressing in its way. As Scripture says: “For the moment all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant”¦. But some scenarios ”“ call them ways of obedience ”“ are hopeful; as the writer continues: “later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it” (Hebrews 12:11).

I think realignment through the Common Cause Partnership offers the best amalgamation of parish and diocesan scenarios that we can ask for at present. Yes, there is danger of splintering. Yes, there are thorny issues like women’s ordination to be faced. And certainly, there is no way we shall return to “business as usual.” On the other hand, I think this movement has garnered the best leadership in the church, and above all, it has the promise of our Lord Jesus Christ that those who are faithful over a little will be entrusted with more (Matthew 25:21).

Some of my friends and former students have concluded that Anglicanism has lost its saltiness and have departed to other churches. I believe Establishment Anglicanism is dying, both nationally and internationally, but the Anglican tradition, chastened and reformed, has an ongoing witness to make. Certainly, the Anglicans in the Church of Uganda see it that way. So I plan to continue an Anglican come what may.

I serve in Uganda, but I am proud to be a priest of the Diocese of Pittsburgh. I am in awe of my bishop, who has exhibited sacrificial courage, biblical faithfulness, and practical wisdom in leading the Network and Common Cause movements. I cannot in good conscience remain a priest of The Episcopal Church much longer, but it is my hope that I may remain a priest of this diocese for years to come. Your decisions this week may enable that possibility.

May God bless and guide you in your deliberations. We shall be praying with you as you meet.

Cordially in Christ,

Stephen

The Rev. Prof. Stephen Noll
Mukono, Uganda
28 October 2007

Newpoert Beach, Calif. ”“ Attorneys for St. James Anglican Church this week filed the opening brief with the California Supreme Court in the church’s property case with the Episcopal Diocese of Los Angeles and the national Episcopal Church.

The opening brief is the first step in the process that will culminate with the California Supreme Court deciding three important issues that will affect every church in California, regardless of denomination:

Issue #1: Should California courts use the “neutral principles of law” method in resolving church property disputes (followed for over a generation by courts in California and commended by the U.S. Supreme Court), or simply defer to the decisions of the church hierarchy (followed in the present case by the Fourth Appellate District, Division Three)?

Issue #2: Does California Corporations Code section 9142(c) permit a religious denomination, which does not hold title to property, to create a trust in its favor over property owned by a separate religious corporation, without the latter’s knowledge or express agreement? If so, does Corporations Code section 9142(c) violate the establishment and equal protection clauses of the United States and California Constitutions by permitting religious organizations, and only religious organizations, to create trusts over property they do not own without the express consent of the owner?

Issue #3: When a local church corporation speaks out about the actions of a religious denomination by voting to disaffiliate from it, and the denomination then challenges the validity of the disaffiliation and claims ownership of the corporation’s property, are these claims subject to early scrutiny as a Strategic Lawsuit Against Public Participation (“SLAPP”)?

The next step will be for the Episcopal Diocese of Los Angeles and the national Episcopal Church to file a responsive brief. St. James will respond to their arguments in a reply brief. After the briefing of the parties is completed, others affected by the decision can file amicus briefs.

The briefing process will take at least until February 2008 to complete, perhaps longer, and then the Court will schedule oral argument.

The California Supreme Court has granted review of three similar church property cases involving All Saints’ Anglican Church, Long Beach, St. David’s, North Hollywood, and First Baptist Church, Los Lomas. Those cases are on hold pending the outcome of the St. James case. Four other cases now pending in the California Court of Appeal ”“ involving former Russian Orthodox, Assemblies of God and Episcopal churches ”“ will be directly affected by the St. James case.

Click here to read St. James’s brief

Here is the full letter with the signatories.

In testimony before a Virginia court last week, US Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori stated she had directed the Diocese of Virginia to sue the clergy and lay leaders of 11 congregations after they had quit the Episcopal Church for the Churches of Nigerian and Uganda.

In video taped testimony presented to the Fairfax County Circuit Court, Bishop Schori said she ordered Virginia Bishop Peter Lee to break a verbal agreement allowing the 11 parishes to withdraw from the diocese so as to prevent “incursions by foreign bishops.”

Bishop Schori’s testimony during the four hour deposition, recorded on Oct 30 and presented in evidence on Nob 15, did little to engender the sympathy of the court, as observers noted she carefully parsed her words, and at one point was directed by the court to answer a question.

Read it all.

To our Dear Canadian Brothers and Sisters in Christ.

We have heard of the recent decision and willingness of Archbishop Gregory Venables and the Province of the Southern Cone to provide a safe haven and Communion connection for those biblically faithful Canadian Anglicans who wish to be recognized as “in full Communion with the Church of England throughout the world”.

We heartily endorse the actions of the Province of the Southern Cone and wish to send our greetings and support for those members of the Anglican Network in Canada who wish to avail themselves of that Communion Connection. We assure you that we will recognize those members as in full communion with us and our Provinces.

It is clear that the Anglican Church of Canada’s actions have contributed to the “tear in the fabric of the Communion at its deepest level”. Many of our Provinces have declared broken or impaired communion with the Province of Canada.

Read it all.

THE Catholic Group on the General Synod has initiated a letter of support for the Bishop of Fort Worth, the Rt Revd Jack Iker. He has been warned by the Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church in the United States, Dr Katharine Jefferts Schori, of disciplinary action if his diocese changes its constitution to effect secession from the Episcopal Church.

The letter has 51 signatories. It applauds Bishop Iker’s “stand for scripture and traditional Faith and Order” and describes the Episcopal Church’s “departure” from this as “deeply damaging and divisive within the Anglican Communion and in our relationships with major ecumenical partners”. It describes the leadership’s use of litigation as “nothing short of a scandal”.

It continues: “We are delighted by the Archbishop of Canterbury’s statement in response to Bishop John Howe of Central Florida that any diocese compliant with Windsor remained in communion with the See of Canterbury and the mainstream of the Anglican Communion, and trust that you and your diocese will be encouraged thereby.”

Read it all.

Can you put a price on faith? That is the question churchgoers are asking as the tradition of tithing — giving 10% of your income to the church — is increasingly challenged. Opponents of tithing say it is a misreading of the Bible, a practice created by man, not God. They say they should be free to donate whatever amount they choose, and they are arguing with pastors, writing letters and quitting congregations in protest. In response, some pastors have changed their teaching and rejected what has been a favored form of fund raising for decades.

Say it again after me, it isn’t fund raising it is stewardship. The fact that this category confusion is in the first paragraph illustrates how widespead the confusion is on this matter. Read it all.

It wasn’t until [Richard] Mayberry attended General Theological Seminary in New York City from 1967 to 1971 that he said he realized he was gay.

“I basically came out to myself in seminary,” Mayberry said. “I said, ‘What am I going to do now?’ ”

He confided to an Episcopal priest that he was gay. To his surprise, the priest said, “So what?” Mayberry said he learned others in the clergy were gay. The policy then was don’t ask, don’t tell, he said.

Mayberry toed the line for years, during his first assignment as an assistant pastor at St. Mark’s Church in Mount Kisco, N.Y., and later at St. Francis.

“Then, when I was thrust out of the closet by my partner’s sickness and death, it was much more honest, much more healthy,” Mayberry said. “I didn’t have to hide anything. It got to where, my goodness, now it’s a nonissue in this parish.

“I’ve seen a lot of changes in 40 years. Most have been for the better. To think now we have civil unions in Connecticut, marriages in Massachusetts, and the world is not ending. What I see as a wonderful development is all the gay couples raising children.”

Mayberry said that as more Episcopalians get to know gay people, their attitudes likely will become more tolerant. He recounted how parishioners at St. Francis became more comfortable with the idea of female clergy when they met women who were priests.

“That’s where the change starts. It starts with a real, live person, not an issue,” Mayberry said.

Breaking away from the parish will be difficult, though he said he knows he’s making the right decision.

“After 30 years, this is my family,” he said.

Read it all.

I will consider posting comments on this article submitted first by email to Kendall’s E-mail: KSHarmon[at]mindspring[dot]com.

The Anglican church in The Bahamas and worldwide is faced with a serious challenge, and Archbishop Drexel Gomez says he hopes and prays that they find a collective way forward to avoid the route of a split. This came from Gomez during his charge at the recent 107th session of the Synod, at Holy Trinity Conference Centre.

“Paul singles out homosexual intercourse for special attention because he regards it as providing a particularly graphic image of the way in which humans distort God’s created order. God the Creator made man and woman for each other, to cleave together, to be fruitful and multiply.

“When human beings ‘exchange’ these created roles for homosexual intercourse, they embody the spiritual condition of those who have ‘exchanged’ the truth about God for a lie.”

Read it all.

There is growing fear that mortgage defaults caused by loans that will reset at higher interest rates will continue to mushroom next year, putting tremendous pressure on the economy ”” and perhaps cause a recession. A recession would take a big bite out of corporate earnings, which are the key underpinning of stock prices.

“These coming resets are akin to a tropical storm off the coast,” says Jack Ablin, chief investment officer at Harris Private Bank. “Everyone is trying to figure out the magnitude of the losses. They don’t know if it will remain a tropical storm or turn into a Category 5 hurricane. Right now, we’re pricing for a hurricane.”

A stock chart analysis shows potential trouble. When the Dow industrials closed Wednesday below the Aug. 16 low of 12,846, it triggered a bearish signal from a more than 100-year-old forecasting system called Dow Theory. The weakness in the industrials (which make goods) confirmed weakness in the Dow transports (which ship goods), signaling a shift in the long-term trend from bullish to bearish. “Odds are, we are already in a bear market,” says [Denis] Amato.

Read it all.

The Pope will discuss how to deal with the increasing numbers of disaffected Anglicans wanting to join the Roman Catholic Church at a meeting with cardinals from around the world.

Benedict XVI, who is making the reunification of Christendom a goal of his pontificate, is considering requests from at least three US Episcopal bishops for reception into the Catholic Church. He has also been approached by an entire breakaway group of traditionalist Anglicans.

The meeting in Rome comes on the eve of the consistory to create a tranche of new cardinals and as the Anglican exodus over gays continues.

Read it all.

A parallel national Anglican church was launched on Thursday amid charges by a leading theologian that the Anglican Church of Canada has been poisoned by liberalism and is real the cause of the schism now underway.

“Schism means unwarranted and unjustified separation from the rest of the Church (structure), causing an indefensible breach of unity,” said J.I. Packer, a Canadian who Time magazine called one of the 25 most influential evangelicals in America. “Those who are unfaithful to the heritage are the schismatics. It is not we who are the schismatics.”

Mr. Packer said the Anglican Church of Canada has been “poisoned” by a liberal theology that “knows nothing of a God who uses (the Bible) to tell us things and knows nothing of sin in the heart and in the head.”

Read it all.

Take a look here on the index list of items in the right hand margin where you see “Archives by Area”. I see England 368, The Episcopal Church 366, and Lambeth 345. Then I see this: Africa 38, Nigeria 34, Uganda 31, Southeast Asia 23, and South America 20.

I see a clear message sent here, I just wonder if those who are sending it are aware of the clear bell they are ringing.

Bishop Malcolm Harding, retired Bishop of Brandon, has announced that he will minister under Archbishop Gregory Venables and the Anglican Province of the Southern Cone of the Americas, effective immediately.

Bishop Harding is the second Canadian bishop to make this announcement in the past week. It was announced on Friday that the Right Reverend Donald Harvey had been received under the Primatial authority of Archbishop Venables and would be free to offer episcopal oversight to biblically faithful Canadian Anglicans distressed by the seismic shift in the theology and practice of the Anglican Church of Canada.

Bishop Harding will assist Bishop Harvey in performing episcopal ministry in Western Canada.

Read it all.

Read it carefully and read it all.

From here :

Greetings once again from the Anglican Church of the Southern Cone of America where we are thanking God that Bishop Don Harvey is now a part of this Province. As such he remains in active Episcopal ministry within the Anglican Communion.

He is of course already a well known and much loved colleague and we are thrilled to have this opportunity of walking even more closely together and to continue to learn from one another. We are glad to welcome him as a member of our Episcopal team and to assign him to work among you as your father in God.

We are equally delighted to receive Bishop Malcolm Harding as our co-worker.

He too is a man whose very being is centred around the gospel and whom the Lord has used for the salvation of many. Please honour and look after these two precious brothers and their families.

It is also good to be able to say that these steps we have taken are fully supported by a significant number of other orthodox Anglican provinces. There is no need for any to walk alone or step outside the Anglican family.

And let us remember that one of our main motives behind the unusual decisions we have had to take is the responsibility we have to ensure that the church is unhindered with regard to the mission that Jesus Himself has commanded us to accomplish. This must continue to be your priority in the far north of the Americas. We do indeed cover the very ends of the earth.
Let me also be clear regarding the nature of the division which has led to these out of the ordinary moves. It is a severance resulting from a determined abandoning of the one true historic faith delivered to the saints.

This reality alone makes it clear that it is not schism.

Schism is a sinful parting over secondary issues.

This separation is basic and fundamental and means that we are divided at the most essential point of the Christian faith. The sin here is not one of schism but of false teaching which is not at its root about human sexuality but about the very nature of truth itself.

When we talk about the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ we are not referring to something liquid or amorphous.

Christianity is specific, definable and unchanging. We are not at liberty to deconstruct or rewrite it.

If Jesus was the Son of God yesterday then so He is today and will be forever.

This is about the foundational certainty of our very existence and is not something we can amend to suit our circumstances or personal opinions and preferences.

Holy Scripture which is the source of our creeds is revealed and ageless truth.

It was not written out of human knowledge or wisdom but inspired by the Spirit of God.
Jesus died not to establish and preserve institutional franchises but for our sins so we could come into a right relationship with God our Father and Creator.

Structural norms cannot be equated to the eternal gospel which determines our eternal destiny.
These are sad but significant days. It has been heartbreaking to recognize that we have reached such a crucial and critical point in the life of the Anglican Communion. What has beenperpetrated has indeed torn the fabric of our Communion at its deepest level.

We recognize this tragedy with profound grief and love for all those involved and affected.
We judge no one but cannot and will not deny the eternal truth which has purchased our redemption.

As we prepare once again to celebrate Advent let us look back with gratitude to God for the coming of His Son into this beautiful but troubled world.

And let us look forward with awe and joy to the day of His return and all that that implies.

And may God grant us grace that we might be found faithful both now and at that time.

Your brother in Christ,

Gregory

The global credit crisis has hit Asia with a vengeance for the first time, triggering a massive flight to safety as investors across the region pull out of risky assets.

Yields on three-month deposits in China and Korea have plummeted to near 1pc in a spectacular fall over recent days, caused by panic withdrawls from money market funds and credit derivatives.

“This is a severe warning sign,” said Hans Redeker, currency chief at BNP Paribas. “Asia ignored the credit crunch in August but now we’re seeing the poison beginning to paralyse the whole global economy,” he said.

Korean and Chinese three-month yields have fallen from 4pc to 1pc in a matter of days in a eerie replay of events on Wall Street in late August when flight from banks and the US commercial paper markets caused yields on three-month Treasuries to falls at the fastest rate ever recorded. Asian investors appear to be opting for deposit accounts with government guarantees.

Read it all.

This year, I’m spending Thanksgiving in the United States for the first time in five years. But you always want what you can’t have: In 2003, I missed Chicago, and home, and my grandmother’s apple-sage stuffing. This Thanksgiving, I miss Baghdad and that brief moment, now gone forever, when Iraqis and Americans could trade cooking tips on the American Id, when our dangers and our safety were the same.

Read the whole piece.

So Americans should be thankful they have one of the last functioning nation-states. Europeans, because they’ve been so inept at exercising it, no longer believe in national sovereignty, whereas it would never occur to Americans not to. This profoundly different attitude to the nation-state underpins, in turn, Euro-American attitudes to transnational institutions such as the United Nations.

But on this Thanksgiving the rest of the world ought to give thanks to American national sovereignty, too. When something terrible and destructive happens ”“ a tsunami hits Indonesia, an earthquake devastates Pakistan ”“ the United States can project itself anywhere on the planet within hours and start saving lives, setting up hospitals and restoring the water supply.

Aside from Britain and France, the Europeans cannot project power in any meaningful way anywhere. When they sign on to an enterprise they claim to believe in ”“ shoring up Afghanistan’s fledgling post-Taliban democracy ”“ most of them send token forces under constrained rules of engagement that prevent them doing anything more than manning the photocopier back at the base.

If America were to follow the Europeans and maintain only shriveled attenuated residual military capacity, the world would very quickly be nastier and bloodier, and far more unstable. It’s not just Americans and Iraqis and Afghans who owe a debt of thanks to the U.S. soldier but all the Europeans grown plump and prosperous in a globalized economy guaranteed by the most benign hegemon in history.

That said, Thanksgiving isn’t about the big geopolitical picture, but about the blessings closer to home….
Last week, the state of Oklahoma celebrated its centennial, accompanied by rousing performances of Rodgers and Hammerstein’s eponymous anthem:

“We know we belong to the land

And the land we belong to is grand!”

Which isn’t a bad theme song for the first Thanksgiving, either.

Three hundred and 86 years ago, the Pilgrims thanked God because there was a place for them in this land, and it was indeed grand. The land is grander today, and that, too, is remarkable: France has lurched from Second Empires to Fifth Republics struggling to devise a lasting constitutional settlement for the same smallish chunk of real estate, but the principles that united a baker’s dozen of East Coast colonies were resilient enough to expand across a continent and halfway around the globe to Hawaii.

Americans should, as always, be thankful this Thanksgiving, but they should also understand just how rare in human history their blessings are.

Read it all.

Thanksgiving began as an austere occasion among settlers of a single, uniform faith who were grateful simply for having survived in the New World. The observance was revived later in time of war, a reminder to everyone about the nation’s good fortune even in its worst crises. Today it’s a little harder to summon that public and universal spirit. The country has people of many faiths, opinions and degrees of unbelief. It is the richest and most powerful nation on Earth. For it to give thanks to some greater power for benefits bestowed upon it (and upon none other) seems a bit presumptuous and perhaps excessive, as if the New England Patriots were to point skyward and thank divine providence for their eighth touchdown of a game. The president’s focus on thanking those who serve is a worthwhile common theme. There is another “thank you” on which Americans can unite. “The chances of birth favored the new Americans,” Alexis de Tocqueville wrote of the nation nearly two centuries ago. “[T]heir fathers of old brought to the land in which they live that equality both of conditions and of mental endowments from which, as from its natural source, a democratic republic was one day to arise. But that is not all; with a republican social state they bequeathed to their descendants the habits, ideas, and mores best fitted to make a republic flourish.”

Read it all.

Read it all.

Check it out.

As we express our gratitude, we must never forget that the highest appreciation is not to utter words, but to live by them.

–John F. Kennedy

And now, on this national day of gratitude, we pause to give thanks.

Thanks for those who have given of themselves, who have spent time and energy, who have endured inconveniences and hurdles, who have seen a need and met it.

To all the unsung heroes who work to make life better — better for the unhappy boys of Ward 7, and a group of Eastern Shore high school students struggling to pay for college, and the homeless families of the District who’ve never held a framed portrait of themselves, and the troops at Walter Reed who inspired a smattering of major leaguers to begin playing baseball for a cause, and the Chinese elders who once spent their days isolated and alone but now have a place to gather — this we offer to you….

This is a wonderful read.

Read it all. I am so grateful for him and all participants in the armed forces on this day.

The year that is drawing towards its close, has been filled with the blessings of fruitful fields and healthful skies. To these bounties, which are so constantly enjoyed that we are prone to forget the source from which they come, others have been added, which are of so extraordinary a nature, that they cannot fail to penetrate and soften even the heart which is habitually insensible to the ever watchful providence of Almighty God. In the midst of a civil war of unequalled magnitude and severity, which has sometimes seemed to foreign States to invite and to provoke their aggression, peace has been preserved with all nations, order has been maintained, the laws have been respected and obeyed, and harmony has prevailed everywhere except in the theatre of military conflict; while that theatre has been greatly contracted by the advancing armies and navies of the Union. Needful diversions of wealth and of strength from the fields of peaceful industry to the national defence, have not arrested the plough, the shuttle, or the ship; the axe had enlarged the borders of our settlements, and the mines, as well of iron and coal as of the precious metals, have yielded even more abundantly than heretofore. Population has steadily increased, notwithstanding the waste that has been made in the camp, the siege and the battle-field; and the country, rejoicing in the consciousness of augmented strength and vigor, is permitted to expect continuance of years with large increase of freedom.

No human counsel hath devised nor hath any mortal hand worked out these great things. They are the gracious gifts of the Most High God, who, while dealing with us in anger for our sins, hath nevertheless remembered mercy. It has seemed to me fit and proper that they should be solemnly, reverently and gratefully acknowledged as with one heart and voice by the whole American People. I do therefore invite my fellow citizens in every part of the United States, and also those who are at sea and those who are sojourning in foreign lands, to set apart and observe the last Thursday of November next, as a day of Thanksgiving and Praise to our beneficent Father who dwelleth in the Heavens. And I recommend to them that while offering up the ascriptions justly due to Him for such singular deliverances and blessings, they do also, with humble penitence for our national perverseness and disobedience, commend to his tender care all those who have become widows, orphans, mourners or sufferers in the lamentable civil strife in which we are unavoidably engaged, and fervently implore the interposition of the Almighty Hand to heal the wounds of the nation and to restore it as soon as may be consistent with the Divine purposes to the full enjoyment of peace, harmony, tranquillity and Union.

Miss Thompson [a teacher I had when I was young] reached into her desk drawer and pulled out a piece of paper containing a quote attributed to Chicago architect Daniel Burnham. I listened intently as she read: “Make no little plans; they have no magic to stir men’s blood and probably themselves will not be realized. Make big plans, aim high in hope and work. Remember that our sons and grandsons are going to do things that would stagger us.”

More than 30 years later, I gave a speech in which I said that Frances Thompson had given me a desperately needed belief in myself. A newspaper printed the story, and someone mailed the clipping to my beloved teacher. She wrote me: “You have no idea what that newspaper story meant to me. For years, I endured my brother’s arguments that I had wasted my life. That I should have married and had a family. When I read that you gave me credit for helping to launch a marvelous career, I put the clipping in front of my brother. After he’d read it, I said, ‘You see, I didn’t really waste my life, did I?'”

–Carl Rowan, Breaking Barriers

THERE IS A marvelous medicinal power in joy. Most medicines are distasteful; but this, which is the best of all medicines, is sweet to the taste, and comforting to the heart. We noticed, in our reading, that there had been a little tiff between two sisters in the church at Philippi;””I am glad that we do not know what the quarrel was about; I am usually thankful for ignorance on such subjects;””but, as a cure for disagreements, the apostle says, “Rejoice in the Lord alway.” People who are very happy, especially those who are very happy in the Lord, are not apt either to give offence or to take offence. Their minds are so sweetly occupied with higher things, that they are not easily distracted by the little troubles which naturally arise among such imperfect creatures as we are. Joy in the Lord is the cure for all discord. Should it not be so? What is this joy but the concord of the soul, the accord of the heart, with the joy of heaven? Joy in the Lord, then, drives away the discords of earth.

Further, brethren, notice that the apostle, after he had said, “Rejoice in the Lord alway,” commanded the Philippians to be careful for nothing, thus implying that joy in the Lord is one of the best preparations for the trials of this life. The cure for care is joy in the Lord. No, my brother, you will not be able to keep on with your fretfulness; no, my sister, you will not be able to weary yourself any longer with your anxieties, if the Lord will but fill you with his joy. Then, being satisfied with your God, yea, more than satisfied, overflowing with delight in him, you will say to yourself, “Why art thou cast down, O my soul? And why art thou disquieted in me? Hope thou in God: for I shall yet praise him for the help of his countenance.” What is there on earth that is worth fretting for even for five minutes? If one could gain an imperial crown by a day of care, it would be too great an expense for a thing which would bring more care with it. Therefore, let us be thankful, let us be joyful in the Lord. I count it one of the wisest things that, by rejoicing in the Lord, we commence our heaven here below. It is possible so to do, it is profitable so to do, and we are commanded so to do.
Now I come to the text itself, “Rejoice in the Lord alway: and again I say, Rejoice.”

It will be our first business at this time to consider THE GRACE COMMANDED, this grace of joy; “Rejoice in the Lord,” says the apostle.
In the first place, this is a very delightful thing. What a gracious God we serve, who makes delight to be a duty, and who commands us to rejoice! Should we not at once be obedient to such a command as this? It is intended that we should be happy. That is the meaning of the precept, that we should be cheerful; more than that, that we should be thankful; more than that, that we should rejoice. I think this word “rejoice” is almost a French word; it is not only joy, but it is joy over again, re-joice. You know re usually signifies the reduplication of a thing, the taking it over again. We are to joy, and then we are to re-joy. We are to chew the cud of delight; we are to roll the dainty morsel under our tongue till we get the very essence out of it. “Rejoice.” Joy is a delightful thing. You cannot be too happy, brother. Nay, do not suspect yourself of being wrong because you are full of delight. You know it is said of the divine wisdom, “Her ways are ways of pleasantness, and all her paths are peace.” Provided that it is joy in the Lord, you cannot have too much of it. The fly is drowned in the honey, or the sweet syrup into which he plunges himself; but this heavenly syrup of delight will not drown your soul, or intoxicate your heart. It will do you good, and not evil, all the days of your life. God never commanded us to do a thing that would really harm us; and when he bids us rejoice, we may be sure that this is a delightful as it is safe, and as safe as it is delightful. Come, brothers and sisters, I am inviting you now to no distasteful duty when, in the name of my Master, I say to you, as Paul said to the Philippians under the teaching of the Holy Spirit, “Rejoice in the Lord alway: and again I say, Rejoice.”

”“C.H. Spurgeon (1834 ”“ 1892)