Here is one:

Last Sunday, in my local Anglican church, we were enjoined to take our Christian faith to the work-place, as “worship” is not just about sitting on a pew, but informs every part of our lives. That is why William Wilberforce worked to abolish slavery; that is why many work with the homeless and addicts here, or are going abroad to help the poor and disadvantaged there.

The Christian faith is the motivating force for many who seek to do good. Why? Because Christians are obeying the words of Jesus as written by St Matthew: “Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptising them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost.”

For two thousand years this is what Christians have been doing, and in the process they have played a part in shaping Western civilisation. For as long as society, judges and the General Medical Council allow freedom of religion and speech in our country, Christians will continue to do this.

Juliet Lloyd
Northwood, Middlesex

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The first meeting of the newly elected Standing Committee of the Anglican Fellowship of the Southwest took place Thursday, May 26. Nine Anglican churches in New Mexico and West Texas agreed by votes of their respective Vestries to apply to the Anglican Church in North America’s Provincial Council to become a Diocese-in-Formation (DIF). The Provincial Council starts its meeting on June 21 in Long Beach, California. The proposed name for the DIF is the Anglican Diocese of the Southwest (Diocese-in-Formation.)
At the first Synod meeting of the Anglican Fellowship of the Southwest, held at Christ the King Anglican Church, Albuquerque, NM on May 13-14, a constitution was adopted for the proposed DIF. Along with the election of a Standing Committee, Bishop Win Mott was unanimously nominated by the Synod to serve as Vicar General, subject to the approval of Archbishop Duncan and the Provincial Council. These are exciting times for Anglicans in the American Southwest.

Bishop Mott said: “The rapid growth of Anglicans in our area has necessitated the formation of a diocese. It is impressive and exciting to see the emergence of a strong Anglican presence here.”

The website of the Anglican Fellowship of the Southwest is found at www.anglicansw.org.

Theresa May told The Daily Telegraph that universities were not taking the issue of radicalisation seriously enough and that it was too easy for Muslim extremists to form groups on campuses “without anyone knowing”.

She also said the Government would cut funding to any Islamic group that espoused extremist views, and set out the “key British values” to which those seeking support must subscribe. It is understood that about 20 groups are already losing their funding.

Mrs May made her comments ahead of the publication this week of the updated version of the Prevent counter-terrorism strategy.

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O God, whose dearly beloved Son was, by thy mighty power, exalted that he might prepare a place in thy kingdom of glory for them that love thee: So lead and uphold us, O merciful Lord, that we may both follow the holy steps of his life here upon earth, and may enter with him hereafter into thy everlasting rest; that where he is, we may also be; through the merits of the same Jesus Christ our Lord.

And we desire each one of you to show the same earnestness in realizing the full assurance of hope until the end, so that you may not be sluggish, but imitators of those who through faith and patience inherit the promises.

–Hebrews 6:11-12

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Seven former Church of England clergy [yesterday were] ordained Roman Catholic priests at St George’s Cathedral Southwark in London. It marks the start of a wave of ordinations over the next two weeks in which more than 50 former Anglican clergy, many married, will become Catholic priests.

The first of the Pentecost ordinations by the Archbishop of Southwark, the Most Rev Peter Smith, …[Saturday] mark[ed] the formal establishment of the new Ordinariate as a going concern. More than 900 laity have already been received into the Catholic Church but have until now been worshipping with existing Catholic congregations while their clergy trained for the Catholic priesthood at Allen Hall seminary in Chelsea, West London.

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I have known few preachers with more reverence for the homiletical arts and almost none who were more grateful that God had called him to preach. He once told me that he was ready to “robe up for the game anytime Harvard wants something said in a way that adds weight, no matter how trivial the occasion.”

When I got Peter [Gomes] to speak at my alma mater, Wofford College in Spar­tanburg, South Carolina, Peter ad­dressed a packed house in Wofford’s Old Main, a building built by slave labor with bricks made by slaves on campus.

“I am not unmindful of the significance of this building, nor my presence in this pulpit,” he said. “As a preacher, I’m accustomed to answering to the claims of the dead. I am acutely aware, at an occasion such as this, we are accompanied by the dead, anonymous and remembered, surrounding us, wanting to speak to us. Yet the voiceless dead cannot speak without us. Thus I speak to you . . .”

–Will Willimon in “Harvard’s Preacher” (on Peter Gomes 1942”“2011), Christian Century, April 5, 2011, edition, page 11

Most of [University of Oxford Professor Robin] Dunbar’s research has focused on why the GORE-TEX model was a success. That model is based on the idea that human beings can hold only about 150 meaningful relationships in their heads. Dunbar has researched the idea so deeply, the number 150 has been dubbed “Dunbar’s Number.”

Ironically, the term was coined on Facebook, where 150 friends may seem like precious few.

“There was a discussion by people saying ‘I’ve got too many friends ”” I don’t know who half these people are,'” Dunbar says. “Somebody apparently said, ‘Look, there’s this guy in England who says you can’t have more than 150.'”

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Pope Benedict XVI has celebrated Mass, focusing on family values, before tens of thousands of people in the Croatian capital, Zagreb.

He spoke of the “disintegration” of the family, and urged couples not to give in to a “secularised mentality” of living together instead of marrying.

He later visited the tomb of a controversial wartime cardinal.

This is Pope Benedict’s first visit to the staunchly Catholic nation and he has received a warm welcome.

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The appeal is a Texas-sized piece of litigation: take a look at the first five pages of the Jurisdictional Statement, which are required just to list all of the parties involved and their counsel!

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Economists have found themselves repeatedly making excuses. First it was the snowstorms. Then it was Japan’s earthquake, tsunami and nuclear disaster which crimped the supply of parts to car assembly plants in America. Then, as the snow melted, floods ravaged Arkansas, Mississippi, Missouri and Tennessee, and tornadoes battered Alabama and Missouri. America has suffered five incidents of extreme weather this year, each inflicting at least $1 billion in damage.

The most important special factor has been petrol. Prices jumped from $3 per gallon at the end of December to $3.90 in early May. That has siphoned off much of the purchasing power that consumers should have extracted from December’s tax agreement and subsequent gains in employment. Total consumer spending rose at just a 6.7% annual rate in the three months to the end of April, but most of that increase was eaten up by inflation. Real spending grew by a paltry 2.2%.

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RABBI SHIRA STUTMAN (Director of Community Engagement, Sixth & I Historic Synagogue, Washington, DC): The Shavuot holiday is actually one of the more important holidays in the Jewish tradition, and it basically has two reasons for being. The original reason comes out of the Israelite people being an agricultural people a few thousand years ago in the land that we now call Israel. The Israelites would bring the bikkurim, the first fruits, the first offerings, of their harvest up to the temple as an offering to God, as a way of saying thank you and in hopes of a good harvest.

After the temple was destroyed in about 70 CE, the rabbis needed to enlarge the understanding of Shavuot because we no longer had a temple to which people could bring their offerings. So they brought forward this understanding of Shavuot as being the anniversary of revelation: the anniversary of the moment that God gave the Torah, our Bible or a part of the Hebrew Bible, to the Israelite people on Mount Sinai, basically turning them from this rag-tag group of slaves who had just weeks ago come out of Egypt into a people complete with its own set of texts and ways of being in the world.

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Ultimately, Nadal wore down Federer 7-5, 7-6 (3), 5-7, 6-1. It was not a great match, running 3 hours, 48 minutes, but it was solid and satisfying.

And then he thanked life itself for giving him the opportunity to make this sterling piece of history.

“A big personal satisfaction, especially when you started [the tournament] without playing your best,” Nadal said. “Finally, I was able to play my best when I needed my best….”

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American politics are more tolerant of different religious traditions than half a century ago, but that tolerance still has limits.

The door has opened for Catholics and even Jews to run for president, but Mormons still face a high hurdle ”” not to mention Muslims. And atheists? Don’t even ask.

So, yes, there’s a de facto religious test for office. It’s not administered by the government; it’s a matter of voters’ comfort level.

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Significant strides have been made in prevention, however, especially in the last two years. Campaigns aimed at curbing risky sexual behavior, promoting HIV testing for those at risk and discouraging IV drug users from sharing needles all have made progress ”” albeit fitfully.

According to a United Nations report issued Thursday, the global rate of new HIV infections fell by 25% from 2001 through 2009. In India and South Africa, the countries with the largest number of people living with HIV, new infections fell by 50% and 35% respectively.

Medications will soon play a major role in prevention. Many studies over the years have shown that giving anti-AIDS drugs to pregnant HIV-positive women is extremely effective in preventing transmission to their infants. In the United States, the incidence of infection in newborns is approaching zero.

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The Church of Our Savior, an Episcopal parish on rural Johns Island, was established a little more than 30 years ago to serve the growing populations on the nearby barrier islands of Kiawah and Seabrook.

Its austere interior contains unintentionally Celtic elements, especially the cross inside a circle, which has pagan-Druid origins. When the Rev. Michael Clarkson arrived at Our Savior three years ago from England, where he had been forming Anglican congregations and working for the Church of England for two decades, the Celtic characteristics of his new parish immediately were evident.

And soon he understood why a Celtic theme, which emphasizes the connections between faith and nature, was appropriate for his new parish home.

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The Diocesan Bishop of the Church of Nigeria (Anglican Communion), Oke-Ogun Diocese, the Rt. Reverend (Dr) Solomon Olaniyi Amusan has assured missionaries, especially those serving in Oke-Ogun Diocese, that a great reward awaits them, provided they served the Lord willingly and cheerfully.

While addressing the second session of the First Synod of the diocese recently at St Paul’s Anglican Church, Oke-Abe, Igbeti, on the theme Missionary Reward, the bishop defined a missionary as a person commissioned to take the gospel to another culture and reward as payment for good or evil.

He, however, noted that a reward is thought of as the return for good while punishment is thought of as the return for evil.

Amusan also reiterated the fact that ”˜the missionary’s reward is glorious, it is forever and ever, it is abundant, it is according to God’s standards and the gifts are both temporal and eternal.’

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Go here for some information about him released by the diocese as part of the process.

About six weeks ago, the Rev. Vic Caruso said goodbye to some members of his church.

“They’re a really strong couple who are really big in the convention business,” said Caruso, senior associate pastor of Trinity Life Center. “They’re moving back to Texas. They had to short sell their home.”

Last weekend, Caruso again found himself saying goodbye, this time to a couple who have been members of the church for more than 20 years. They were moving back to Nebraska, Caruso said, “because there was work there.”

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O God, whose blessed Son, our great High Priest, has entered once for all into the holy place, and ever liveth to intercede on our behalf: Grant that we, sanctified by the offering of his body, may draw near with full assurance of faith by the way which he has dedicated for us, and evermore serve thee, the living God; through the same thy Son our Lord Jesus Christ, who liveth and reigneth with thee, O Father, and the Holy Spirit, one God, world without end.

And at the end of seven days, the word of the LORD came to me: “Son of man, I have made you a watchman for the house of Israel; whenever you hear a word from my mouth, you shall give them warning from me. If I say to the wicked, ‘You shall surely die,’ and you give him no warning, nor speak to warn the wicked from his wicked way, in order to save his life, that wicked man shall die in his iniquity; but his blood I will require at your hand. But if you warn the wicked, and he does not turn from his wickedness, or from his wicked way, he shall die in his iniquity; but you will have saved your life.

–Ezekiel 3:16-19

Wow. Check it out and there is a picture of the winning overtime goal.

Jesus hasn’t just gone away. He has gone deeper into the heart of reality ”“ our reality and God’s. He has become far more than a visible friend and companion; he has shown himself to be the very centre of our life, the source of our loving energy in the world and the source of our prayerful, trustful waiting on God. He has made us able to be a new kind of human being, silently and patiently trusting God as a loving parent, actively and hopefully at work to make a difference in the world, to make the kind of difference love makes.

So if the world looks and feels like a world without God, the Christian doesn’t try to say, ”˜It’s not as bad as all that’, or seek to point to clear signs of God’s presence that make everything all right. The Christian will acknowledge that the situation is harsh, even apparently unhopeful ”“ but will dare to say that they are willing to bring hope by what they offer in terms of compassion and service. And their own willingness and capacity for this is nourished by the prayer that the Spirit of Jesus has made possible for them.

The friends of Jesus are called, in other words, to offer themselves as signs of God in the world ”“ to live in such a way that the underlying all-pervading energy of God begins to come through them and make a difference.

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Over the last half-century, the number of Catholic schools has fallen to 7,000 from about 13,000, and their enrollment to barely two million children from more than five million. A disproportionate share of the damage has come in big cities.

So when a landmark topples as Rice [High School in Harlem] did ”” and as Cardinal Dougherty High School did in Philadelphia last year, and as Daniel Murphy High School did in Los Angeles two years before that ”” it ought to provoke more than sentimentality or tears. It ought to sound an alarm about a slow-motion crisis in American education.

To grasp what is being lost, one needed only to look through the roster in the graduation program for Rice. With a student body that is 98 percent black or Hispanic, with 80 percent of its students requiring financial aid, virtually every graduating senior was bound for college: Penn, Cincinnati, Holy Cross, Fairfield, Iona. Four of the Rice men had received scholarships in excess of $150,000.

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The US has killed Ilyas Kashmiri, one of al Qaeda’s most dangerous military commanders and strategists, in a Predator airstrike yesterday in South Waziristan.

Kashmiri is said to be one of nine members of the al Qaeda-linked Harkat-ul Jihad Islami, or HUJI, who were killed in yesterday’s Predator airstrike that leveled a compound in the Wana area of South Waziristan. A Harkat-ul Jihad Islami spokesman told Dawn that Kashmiri was killed in the attack.

US intelligence officials contacted by The Long War Journal said that Kashmiri was indeed a target of the attack, but they could not confirm that he was killed.

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Dating online the second time around ”“ after divorce or the death of a spouse ”“ isn’t always second nature among boomers, let alone people who are 65 and older, but neither is it all that scary.

Yet they often have unrealistic notions of how to hunt for love and companionship, said Pepper Schwartz, a sociology professor at the University of Washington in Seattle who is also a sex and relationship expert for the AARP and developer of an algorithm to make matches more meaningful on the dating site PerfectMatch.com.

“People 65 or older, they’re picky in a different way,” she said. “Young people tend to go for looks, period. Older people often have a little bit more leeway on what somebody looks like, but then they have all these other kinds of requirements that may or may not be realistic.”

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The last six months have seen the charity relocate north from its offices in London, and His Royal Highness’s visit on 2 June will mark a new chapter in its 129-year history.

During his visit His Royal Highness will tour the recently renovated building which has been transformed from the charity’s former training college into a multi-purpose centre for staff and the wider community. He will also plant a tree in the centre’s new garden and meet the Church Army team.

The £2m building project has seen a wide range of facilities added to the centre including a café, library, bookshop, chapel and 30-bed conference centre which are all open to the public. Church Army’s training department, research team and office staff will also be based there.

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Speculation has swirled for months about whether Atlantic Bank would survive the fallout of the prolonged real estate downturn that began to take hold about five years ago.

The lender had been reeling from three back-to-back years of losses and was “critically undercapitalized,” federal regulators said in a statement Friday. Its 2011 first-quarter deficit totaled $4.4 million. The FDIC said Friday that Atlantic Bank was added to its “Problem Institution List” in February.

The lender began operating under a “cease-and-desist” supervisory order with the Office of Thrift Supervision in January after an examination last summer found “unsafe and unsound” practices.

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