Archbishop Williams’ sermon, delivered with energy and passion, was drawn from Acts 4:23-37; 1 John 3:1-8 and St John 10:1-16. He focused on the statement that “there was not a needy person among them”. He nicely focused on the charge to the church to address human needs, which encompass needs far beyond “bread alone”. But finally all those needs were to be met as “The Holy Spirit comes in as our actions are caught up in the action of God in Jesus Christ. To give ourselves means letting go of what makes us feel safe”. Again there was a focus on the horizontal element of the challenge to us which seemed to fail to draw on the excellent material in John 10 on the role of the shepherd who is also the gate through whom the sheep go in and out and find pasture and life. This theme was suggested in a well known Caribbean hymn in the service: “I for Jesus, you for Jesus, all for Jesus/ fall for Jesus, come to Jesus/ Jesus come for one, he come for all” and in a haunting song “Jesus set me for all eternity/ when his wounded hands touched me”. An African participant remarked that had a member of their church been preaching, there would have been an emphasis on the challenge to commit our lives to Christ followed by an altar call. After all, 10,000 people had come to hear the preacher, whose sermon was live on television also.

The service “set” was magnificent and specially lit – a large cross framed by stained glass windows fronted by two classical columns and a profusion of wonderful flowers. It is only to be hoped that some of it can be brought to the conference meeting room in the hotel which completely lacks any imagination, being just a dais against a grey backdrop of partition walls under reduced lighting. Grey about sums it up for Saturday evening’s opening meeting – a series of greetings, introductions and information. No wonder the Presiding Bishop of the United States concentrated on her embroidery. The highlight was however a fascinating video of the life of the Diocese of Jamaica.

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So how scared should we be?

As far as this epidemic is concerned, it’s too early to tell. One unknown is how widespread the virus is in Mexico. If it is ubiquitous, and had not been noticed earlier because it emerged during the normal flu season, then this epidemic may turn out to be insignificant, at least to start with. No flu death is welcome, but in this case the new disease might not increase the immediate burden greatly. But if the new strain is relatively rare, or what is being seen now is a more dangerous mutation of what had once been a mild virus, then the proportion of infected people dying may already be high. The death-toll, then, will rise sharply as the disease spreads.

Either way, the authorities were right to hit red alert. Influenza pandemics seem to strike every few decades and to kill by the million””at least 1m in 1968; perhaps 100m in the “Spanish” flu of 1918-19. And even those that start mild can turn dangerous. That is because new viral diseases generally happen when a virus mutates in a way that allows it to jump species, and then continues to evolve to exploit its new host. If that evolution makes the virus more virulent, so much the worse for the host. HIV, the AIDS-causing virus, lived happily and benignly in chimpanzees before it became a scourge of people. In Mexico, the early indications are that two pig viruses that can infect people but rarely pass from person to person recombined with each other to create a virus which does so easily.

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The Anglican Consultative Council (ACC-14) began on May 2,2009 in Kingston Jamaica. A quiet morning session was led by the Archbishop of Canterbury, which concluded with a noonday Eucharist. The delegates next met in discernment groups to begin their discussions about the issues before the council. In the opening plenary session three bishops- the Dean of the Province Bishop Errol Brookes, the Diocesan Bishop Alfred Reid and Bishop of the host city Robert Thompson extended a warm welcome to the delegates.

The ACC has both a chair (Bishop John Paterson) and a president (The Archbishop of Canterbury) and their opening remarks are presented in this podcast.

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I think we all know what a false god the stock market has turned out to be. Not that investments are always a bad thing, but the market should never be confused with God. “Every one of us is,” warned Calvin, “even from his mother’s womb, a master craftsman of idols.”

But Calvin was not opposed to capitalism. He eliminated the medieval prohibition against interest and allowed people to earn a fair return on their investments. By calling for Christians to live frugal, disciplined and simple lives, he helped foster savings ”” a message that is once again resonating today.

In addition, he encouraged people to seek the public good in their economic lives, not just private gains. “For Calvin the greatest theft is perpetrated by legal contracts and transactions, not by explicitly criminal behavior,” says Randall Zachman, professor of Reformation Studies at the University of Notre Dame. Calvin thought that “it is the duty of every citizen to speak out when they see that unjust laws are causing their neighbors to be oppressed and robbed ‘legally.’ ”

Clearly, Calvin would not have been opposed to increased regulation of the banks and brokerage firms that have caused financial ruin for so many.

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As Taliban forces edged to within 60 miles of Islamabad late last month, the Obama administration urgently asked for new intelligence assessments of whether Pakistan’s government would survive. In briefings last week, senior officials said, President Obama and his National Security Council were told that neither a Taliban takeover nor a military coup was imminent and that the Pakistani nuclear arsenal was safe.

Beyond the immediate future, however, the intelligence was far from reassuring. Security was deteriorating rapidly, particularly in the mountains along the Afghan border that harbor al-Qaeda and the Taliban, intelligence chiefs reported, and there were signs that those groups were working with indigenous extremists in Pakistan’s populous Punjabi heartland.

The Pakistani government was mired in political bickering. The army, still fixated on its historical adversary India, remained ill-equipped and unwilling to throw its full weight into the counterinsurgency fight.

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Pakistani forces battled Taliban fighters on Monday as the militants denounced the army and government as U.S. stooges and said a peace pact would end unless the government halted its offensive.

The February pact and spreading Taliban influence have raised alarm in the United States about the ability of nuclear-armed Pakistan — which has a vital role in efforts to stabilize Afghanistan — to stand up to the militants.

Last month, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton accused Islamabad of abdicating to the Taliban while President Barack Obama expressed grave concern the government was “very fragile” and unable to deliver basic services.

Obama will present his strategy for defeating al Qaeda to Pakistan and Afghanistan leaders on Wednesday amid growing U.S. concern it is losing the Afghan war.

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This much is certain: American Christians would profit from taking church commitment at least as seriously as we take marital commitment. One pastor of my acquaintance includes an interesting exercise in premarital counseling. She has the couple plan each other’s funeral. She finds that this makes the spouses-to-be think about what kind of person their lover may be years or decades later. And then the two start talking about how they might best take care of each other and their marriage right now. By asking how their marriage may end, they discover how it may best begin and be sustained to its end.

Something of the same quality pertains to one’s marriage or commitment to a church. Maybe churches (and their ministries) really are about nothing more important than marrying and burying. Maybe marrying and burying are more closely connected than we think.

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In 1883, a few local women asked the Episcopal bishop in Tacoma to send someone to help organize a church on Bellingham Bay.

That August, the bishop sent the Rev. Reuben Denton Nevius, a veritable Johnny Appleseed of Episcopal churches in the Northwest.

A month later, 29 women formed a guild to raise money for a church. They sought donations from businesses and organized concerts, festivals and plays.

“It’s how they raised a lot of their money,” said Roger Emerson of Bow, a newer member of St. Paul’s Episcopal Church who is helping to research its history.

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The World Health Organization cautioned that the swine flu outbreak could gain momentum in the months ahead, despite claims by the health secretary of Mexico — the epicenter of the outbreak — that the virus “is in its declining phase.”

As of early Monday, Mexican health officials reported 568 cases and 22 fatalities linked to the flu. WHO says it has confirmed 506 cases and 19 deaths in Mexico.

The world has 985 confirmed cases of the virus, known to scientists H1N1 virus, in a total of 20 countries, WHO said Monday.

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Tucked away at the end of a long driveway, partially covered by trees and multi-story buildings on Mott Avenue, is Grace Episcopal Church. It is this quiet lot, just seconds from the bustle of Connecticut Avenue and I-95, that Grace Episcopal Church has called home since 1964.

And it is here that the church may have to close its doors.

“In bold terms, we do not have enough money to last more than two years,” said the Rev. Lois Keen, pastor at Grace Episcopal.

The church’s budget is approximately $300,000, most of which is spent maintaining its aging building. Members are doing their part to sustain their church, with members giving $1,600 to $1,800, more than the national average of $1,200, but it is not enough to cover the church’s expenses. It also isn’t enough to cover additional expenditures, including needed repairs to its slate roof, Keen said.

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Delegates to the 14th Anglican Consultative Council (ACC) will make the momentous decision at their meeting here on whether to recommend the third (Ridley-Cambridge) draft of the proposed Anglican Covenant for consideration by member churches of the Anglican Communion.

The ACC “is charged with the decision as to whether it (Ridley-Cambridge draft) goes forward at this point and is referred to member churches of the Communion,” said Bishop John Patterson, ACC chair and bishop of Auckland, New Zealand, at a press briefing.

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In a move an attorney for St. James Anglican Church called “threatening and bullying behavior,” the Episcopal Diocese of Los Angeles will try to recover attorneys fees and court costs from the church and some of its members who voted to break away from the Episcopal Church in 2004, resulting in a bitter legal battle over St. James’ Via Lido campus.

“They are doing this so no one ever dares leave the Episcopal hierarchy ever again,” said attorney Daniel Lula, who represents St. James.

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Swine flu has become widespread in the United States, with cases in 30 states and more expected to turn up in other states in the next few days, federal health officials reported on Sunday.

Around the world, 19 countries have now been affected, including Colombia, which earlier in the day reported the first confirmed case of swine flu in South America. About 800 people have been infected, predominantly in North America. Spain has 44 confirmed cases, more than any other European country, with Britain, Italy and Germany reporting new cases, The Associated Press reported.

Dr. Anne Schuchat, the interim Deputy Director for Science and Public Health at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said at a news conference here that the virus was “circulating all over” the United States.

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Today’s podcast the first from the Anglican Consultative Council meeting in Kingston, Jamaica featured Canon Kenneth Kearon, the Secretary General of The Anglican Communion and Bishop John Paterson of Auckland, New Zealand the chair of ACC-14. They discussed the agenda of the meeting including the mission of the Anglican Communion, the Covenant for the Provinces of the Anglican Communion, the reception of the final report of the Windsor Continuation Process and how the council members will engage in the life and vitality of the local Church.

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Millions of Americans have found themselves out of work since the recession began, but even those who can find employment often must settle for jobs they’re overqualified for.

Midcareer professionals from fields like banking and technology have been forced into entry-level positions at places like restaurants and stores. Or they’ve settled for part-time work because they can’t find a 9-to-5 job.

They’re considered underemployed by employment analysts. And their numbers aren’t reflected in the Labor Department’s metrics.

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Anyone who follows technology is familar with Moore’s Law and its many variations, and has come to expect the price of computing power to halve every 18 months. But many people don’t see the true long-term impact of this beyond the need to upgrade their computer every three or four years. To not internalize this more deeply is to miss investment opportunities, grossly mispredict the future, and be utterly unprepared for massive, sweeping changes to human society. Hence, it is time to update the first version of this all-important article that was written on February 21, 2006.

Today, we will introduce another layer to the concept of Moore’s Law-type exponential improvement. Consider that on top of the 18-month doubling times of both computational power and storage capacity (an annual improvement rate of 59%), both of these industries have grown by an average of approximately 12% a year for the last fifty years. Individual years have ranged between +30% and -12%, but let us say that the trend growth of both industries is 12% a year for the next couple of decades.

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Move over Eric Clapton, Jimmy Page and Pete Townshend. Worship music at some evangelical churches is cranking up, driven by electric guitars.

Many churches long have provided services that appeal to their congregants’ musical interests: traditional, contemporary or blended. Now, some of them also have expanded into rock-style worship.

It’s not so loud that you need earplugs, but we’re talking the sounds of alternative pop rock, straight rock, pop punk and indie rock.

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Bishop John Paterson of Auckland New Zealand, the chair of ACC -14, hoped that the conference would “build on the experience of how people worked together to achieve understanding if not a common mind on everything at Lambeth 2008 and… come to some decisions in the best interests of the Communion.” The management of ACC-14 is hoping for a common mind at the conference that will help the delegates make critical decisions. However, it is ironic that the managers of the Lambeth Conference, a three-week Conference designed to make no decisions, will be the same ones overseeing the processes of the 10 day meeting of the ACC. How they make the shift from a process designed not to make decisions to one that does will be interesting to see. It is also interesting that, according to its managers, the ACC can make decisions while we note that Lambeth Bishops were not allowed to.

The conference will also consider the report of the Windsor Continuation Group (WCG). While organizers did not say what the delegates would be considering, Canon Kearon said that the report’s view of the three moratoria was that the moratorium on the consent to the consecration of a bishop in a same sex relationship had held, that the moratorium on the public rites of same-sex blessings had held by and large, but that cross-border interventions had not ceased but had gotten worse. It was not expected that the meeting would consider the development of a new Anglican province in North America.

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The biggest internet revolution for a generation will be unveiled this month with the launch of software that will understand questions and give specific, tailored answers in a way that the web has never managed before.

The new system, Wolfram Alpha, showcased at Harvard University in the US last week, takes the first step towards what many consider to be the internet’s Holy Grail ”“ a global store of information that understands and responds to ordinary language in the same way a person does.

Although the system is still new, it has already produced massive interest and excitement among technology pundits and internet watchers.

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A congressionally backed panel said today that religious freedoms were deteriorating in Russia, Turkey and four other nations that were added to a watch list of countries where people’s rights to worship as they please or not to worship at all are at risk.

The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom also named Nigeria as a “country of particular concern,” joining 12 other countries that the commission considers the world’s worst violators.

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Archbishop Jensen, who said he had recently celebrated the 50th anniversary of his conversion at a Billy Graham crusade, told his audience that this was a “solemn time” for Anglicans, as the Anglican Communion was facing a crisis over the authority of Scripture. Dr Jensen said that the Anglican Communion was “a very significant body of Christians” in today’s world and that anything that divided it was bad. The Communion enabled a sharing of resources, the delivery of aid and important networking across the globe.

However, he said that the 2003 consecration of Bishop Gene Robinson, a practising gay man, had deeply torn the Communion. Bishop Robinson’s consecration, he added, had been the culmination of years of liberal teaching and had taken place despite the guidance of the 1998 Lambeth Conference, the view of which had been “set aside” by the US Episcopal Church.

Since 2003, there had been attempts to “put the Communion together again”, but a fundamental issue concerned the “locus of authority”. By contrast, however, he said that the policy of liberals in the Communion was to delay decisions because they thought people would eventually agree with them.

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Ridge Smith hunches over a newspaper article, harnesses his concentration and focuses on the words.

He wants to prove how well he can read.

His wide, luminous smile disappears. His mouth slowly forms the words he knows. He stops again and again, tripped up on words such as “awkward,” “August” and “local.”

Seconds stretch into minutes.

Ridge is 16. He spent more than 10 years in some of Charleston County’s inner-city, low-performing schools. His teachers and principals learned early on that he had an average IQ and could learn to read. Many of them latched on to the quiet, well-behaved and kind child, but no one taught him to read well.

Ridge reads at a third-grade level.

Read it all from the front page of the local paper.

Mexico’s swine flu outbreak appeared to be easing on Saturday with a decrease in serious cases, the government said, but world health officials warned the unpredictable virus could still become a pandemic.

“Each day there are fewer serious cases and the mortality has been decreasing,” Health Minister Jose Angel Cordova told a news conference in Mexico City, where millions were heeding government advice to stay at home.

Of the more than 100 suspected deaths from the new H1N1 virus that have emerged in the Latin American nation, 19 had been confirmed, Cordova said. Mexico had already scaled back from its original estimate of 176 suspected deaths.

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Jack Kemp, the former football star turned congressman who with an evangelist’s fervor moved the Republican Party to a commitment to tax cuts as the central focus of economic policy, died Saturday evening at his home in Bethesda, Md. He was 73.

The cause was cancer, said his son Jimmy Kemp. Jack Kemp’s Washington consulting and lobbying firm, Kemp Partners, announced in January that he had cancer but did not disclose the type.

Mr. Kemp was secretary of housing and urban development under the first President George Bush and the Republican vice-presidential nominee in 1996. But his greatest legacy may stem from his years as a congressman from Buffalo, especially 1978, when his argument for sharp tax cuts to promote economic growth became party policy, one that has endured to this day.

Mr. Kemp, having embraced a supply-side economic theory, told the House that year that the nation suffered under a “tax code that rewards consumption, leisure, debt and borrowing, and punishes savings, investment, work and production.”

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It’s remarkably difficult to fire a tenured public school teacher in California, a Times investigation has found. The path can be laborious and labyrinthine, in some cases involving years of investigation, union grievances, administrative appeals, court challenges and re-hearings.

Not only is the process arduous, but some districts are particularly unsuccessful in navigating its complexities. The Los Angeles Unified School District sees the majority of its firings overturned, and its administrators are far less likely even to try firing a tenured teacher than those in other districts.

The Times reviewed every case on record in the last 15 years in which a tenured employee was fired by a California school district and formally contested the decision before a review commission: 159 in all (not including about two dozen in which the records were destroyed). The newspaper also examined court and school district records and interviewed scores of people, including principals, teachers, union officials, district administrators, parents and students.

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IRAQ is threatened by a new wave of sectarian violence as members of the “Sons of Iraq” ”“ the Sunni Awakening militias that were paid by the US to fight Al-Qaeda ”“ begin to rejoin the insurgency.

If the spike in violence continues, it could affect President Barack Obama’s pledge to withdraw all combat troops from Iraqi cities by the end of June. All US troops are due to leave the country by 2012.

A leading member of the Political Council of Iraqi Resistance, which represents six Sunni militant groups, said: “The resistance has now returned to the field and is intensifying its attacks against the enemy. The number of coalition forces killed is on the rise.”

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In the second-biggest upset in Kentucky Derby history, Mine That Bird, a 50-1 shot, ran away from the field along the rail down the stretch to win by six and three-quarter lengths Saturday.

That was one happy jockey! Read it all.

A British secularist group has called on the government to end public support for hospital chaplains, saying the government has no business in paying the salaries of religious clergy.

The National Secular Society (NSS) has sent a report to Britain’s Health Minister, Alan Johnson, calling for a review of hospital chaplaincy services with a view to ending taxpayer funding for them.

“People are shocked to learn from us that chaplaincy services are costing the hard-pressed (publicly funded) National Health Service more than 40 million pounds ($60 million) a year,” Keith Porteous Wood, chief executive of the NSS, told Ecumenical News International.

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The writer Carol Ann Duffy was appointed Britain’s poet laureate on Friday, becoming the first woman to take a 341-year-old job that has been held by, among others, Dryden, Tennyson, Wordsworth, Cecil Day-Lewis and Ted Hughes.

Ms. Duffy, 53, is known for using a deceptively simple style to produce accessible, often mischievous poems dealing with the darkest turmoil and the lightest minutiae of everyday life. In her most popular collection, “The World’s Wife” (1999), overlooked women in history and mythology get the chance to tell their side of the story, so that one poem imagines, for instance, the relief that Mrs. Rip Van Winkle must have felt when her husband fell asleep, finally giving her some time for herself.

Announcing the decision, the culture secretary, Andy Burnham, called Ms. Duffy “a towering figure in English literature today and a superb poet” who has “achieved something that only the true greats of literature manage ”” to be regarded as both popular and profound.”

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