O give thanks to the LORD, for he is good; his steadfast love endures for ever!

–Psalm 118:1

Only a body as isolated and complacent as the Commissioners could imagine that the solution to the Church’s problems could be found in a reorganisation of well established diocesan patterns and loyalties.

It is classic “displacement activity” which distracts from the Church’s primary purpose of preaching the Gospel.

The quality of thinking and analysis in the Commissioners’ proposals is poor: if this exercise is repeated elsewhere in England, as is threatened, one fears for the future of the national Church.

Read it all.

Why should Yorkshire’s historic cathedrals pay the price for these untried and unconvincing proposals from the national Church? To date, the compensatory benefits of a much larger diocese have not been spelled out. Bigger is not self-evidently better. The three dioceses vote in March 2013 to determine their futures.

It is essential that by then the proponents of the scheme furnish coherent arguments for change in order to allow informed and reasoned debate. It will after all be tragic to sacrifice these cathedrals, their heritage and their mission, along with the three dioceses they serve, for little or no overall gain.

We must not overlook a more sinister threat still. Should this new pattern of amalgamating dioceses be rolled out across the nation at large, what will become of all those other great cathedrals that serve as beacons of Christian faith across our land?

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At its meeting on 26 September the Commission was able to complete its consideration of all the submissions made to it on the draft Reorganisation Scheme for the dioceses of Bradford, Ripon & Leeds and Wakefield. It carefully considered the representations made to it, both at this stage and earlier, and has unanimously decided to proceed with a draft scheme bringing all three dioceses together.

The Commission firmly believes that the scheme represents a once-in-a generation opportunity for reinvigorating mission which should be grasped. It intends to issue a revised scheme embracing all three dioceses by the end of October, together with a fresh report which will both address concerns that have been put to the Commission, and set out the benefits to mission that it believes will come from a new single diocese….

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Greece is teetering on the edge of collapse with its society at risk of disintegrating unless the country’s near-empty public coffers are shored up with urgent financial aid, the country’s prime minister has warned.

Almost three years after the eruption of Europe’s debt drama in Athens, the economic crisis engulfing the nation has become so severe that democracy itself is now imperiled, Antonis Samaras said.

“Greek democracy stands before what is perhaps its greatest challenge,” Samaras told the German business daily Handelsblatt in an interview published hours before the announcement in Berlin that Angela Merkel will fly to Athens next week for the first time since the outbreak of the crisis.

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Orient and Occident online magazine seeks to promote not just coexistence but cooperation with Muslims.
It was Egyptian media that brought the appalling “Innocence of Muslims” trailer to the wider attention of Muslims around the world. The consequences have been tragic to watch.
The country has also seen all-too-regular violent clashes between local Muslim and Christian communities, that have got no better since Egypt’s revolution.
In this difficult atmosphere, the Diocese of Egypt, under the leadership of Bishop Mouneer Hanna Anis, has relaunched a magazine online that was first started by two pioneering CMS missionaries more than 100 years ago.

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The U.S. unemployment rate fell sharply in September to its lowest level since January 2009, suggesting that summer job growth was stronger than previously thought and providing new fodder for a presidential race that has focused on competing views of the nation’s economic health.

Data released Friday portrayed a labor market that has perked up a bit since the spring but is still growing modestly. The unemployment rate slid to 7.8%, the Labor Department said, falling below 8% for the first time since President Barack Obama’s inauguration. The rate has fallen half a percentage point since July, when it was 8.3%.

Read it all. Mish did an excellent job in his analysis. Blog readers know I prefer U-6, which I consider the most representative rate–it stayed the same month over month–KSH

Most of my comments in this article are in a theological vein (in keeping with Matthew’s original article). But theology cannot be separated from pastoral practice and experience in this or any area. My own journey is as a Christian who experiences same-sex attraction but who has chosen to move away from a gay identity, and I have written about this here.

This means that I know from absolutely first-hand experience that the church’s prohibition of same-sex sexual activity is not based on prejudice but is based precisely on love. I have never experienced homophobic treatment in the church. Rather, the church accepted and nurtured me, and encouraged me in my vocation as a clergy person and theologian, just as it also gave me guidance and direction about how to order my life and relationships. In my experience, unconditional acceptance of me as a person and clear moral teaching about how I should live were two sides of the same coin.

This is not to deny the existence of homophobia in the church, and that remains something which we must confront and condemn. But the view that same-sex sexual activity is wrong is not in itself homophobic.

Read it all.

You can read Paul White’s attempted defense here. Next, please make sure to read the whole rule in full which you can find there. You will note that Mr. White quotes neither the full text of the rule nor even the whole paragraph of the rule’s explanation.

Here is why he is wrong:

(1) The last two sentences of the rule explanation (not quoted by Mr. White) state–“The infield fly is in no sense to be considered an appeal play. The umpire’s judgment must govern, and the decision should be made immediately.” The call is to be immediate. It was not. Watch the replay as many times as you like.

(2) Note also White’s correct summary of the purpose of the rule–“The rule exists so an infielder doesn’t purposely drop the ball so he can get force outs for a double or triple play.” Does anyone serious believe, based on where the ball actually was on the field, that a double or triple play could have been attempted much less achieved? Also note that the argument that the runners were protected anyway since they both advanced a base does not work because on a ball this deep they would have advanced 1/2 to 2/3 of the way on the fly ball before going back if it were caught–thus what happened to the runners would have happened anyway which provides no protection whatsoever.
(3) Note next the exact text of the explanation as given by White–“The umpire must rule also that a ball is an infield fly, even if handled by an outfielder, if, in the umpire’s judgment, the ball could have been as easily handled by an infielder.” The key word is the word “easily,” and this was not a play that fits that definition, it could be made, and made with difficulty, indeed one of the reason why the call was made so late was because the infielder and outfielder were so close together which only happens when an infielder is way into the outfield. It could NOT have been handled “easily.” Also, the reason the umpire’s call was in no way immediate is because all the way until the very last seconds it was not clear whether the infielder or the outfielder was going to make the play.

(4) Finally I defy Mr. White to examine all the times this rule has been applied and to find how many similar balls THIS FAR INTO THE OUTFIELD were ever subject to the infield fly rule being called. Rules to be applied properly must be applied similarly in similar circumstances. No fan if his or her team were the other team would have felt this was a fair or reasonable application of this rule, both in terms of its actaul language, and especially its intent–KSH.

Update: Hal Bodley of mlb.com has it right:

But in 54 years of covering Major League Baseball, I’ve never seen the fly rule called when a fielder isn’t under the ball. The infield fly is a complicated rule, designed to prevent infielders from intentionally dropping a popup with more than one runner on base to perhaps get an extra out.

It wasn’t even close in this case. As Holliday charged in, Kozma, his glove outstretched, took a few steps back, deeper into the outfield.

.Another update: Alex Hall disagrees.

Yet one further update:According to an ESPN article:

To put Friday’s controversial play into context, in the past three seasons, there were six infield flies that were not caught in the majors, according to Baseball Info Solutions, the longest measured at 178 feet.
Friday’s infield fly was measured at 225 feet from home plate, according to Baseball Info Solutions.

Jaclyn Kinkade, a 23-year-old doctor’s-office receptionist and occasional model, was a casualty of America’s No. 1 drug menace when she overdosed and died, alone, in a tumbledown clapboard house in Dunnellon, Fla.

The drugs that killed her didn’t come from the Colombian jungles or an Afghan poppy field. Two of the three drugs found in her system were sold to Ms. Kinkade, legally, at Walgreen Co. and CVS Caremark shops, the two biggest U.S. pharmacies. Both prescription drugs found in her body were made in the U.S.””the oxycodone in Elizabeth, N.J., by a company being acquired by generic-drug giant Watson Pharmaceuticals Inc., and the methadone in Hobart, N.Y., by Covidien Ltd., another major manufacturer. Every stage of their distribution was government-regulated. In addition, Ms. Kinkade had small amounts of methamphetamine in her system when she died.

The U.S. spends about $15 billion a year fighting illegal drugs, often on foreign soil. But America’s deadliest drug epidemic begins and ends at home. More than 15,000 Americans now die annually after overdosing on prescription painkillers called opioids, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention””more than from heroin, cocaine and all other illegal drugs combined.

Read it all (emphasis mine).

The accolades continue to pile up for Charleston area restaurants.

Esquire magazine has named two local dining establishments to its 2012 list of “Best New Restaurants.” Only 20 establishments nationwide made the list.

The Macintosh on King Street, opened by the Indigo Road restaurant group in September 2011, and Carter’s Kitchen in Mount Pleasant, which opened in February, landed on the annual list compiled by food critic John Mariani.

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It is harder than ever to claim, as the Prime Minister does, that Britain is still a Christian country. It was at the time when Baroness Thatcher stood outside No 10 and recited the prayer of St Francis of Assisi, to offer reassurance about her intentions. Two thirds of Brits were Christian then, and phrases such as “where there is discord, may we bring harmony” had wide resonance. Those were the days where friends parted using phrases like “God bless” and hedged future plans with “God willing”. But over the past three decades Britain has been losing its religion at a precipitous rate ”“ as Ed Miliband has worked out.

There was almost no comment, let alone fuss, about the section of the Labour leader’s speech where he proclaimed that he had no religion. This, in itself, is something of a milestone. When Neil Kinnock spoke about his atheism, he was monstered, as if this were evidence of his otherness. In fact, he was at the vanguard of a growing secularist trend. Today religion has become, if anything, a handicap to those governing modern Britain. Tony Blair judged it best to keep quiet about his faith. David Cameron has declared a Christianity-lite, one that comes and goes like “Magic FM in the Chilterns”.

But this week, Ed Miliband wanted to tell the world about his creed. He is not a man for synagogues or churches, he said, but is emphatically a man of faith. “Not a religious faith,” he said, “but a faith none the less. A faith, I believe, many religious people would recognise….”

Read it all.

…[this past Wednesday] evening saw the launch of an exhibition in Bradford Cathedral of fantastic photographs. The gallery includes black and white as well as colour pictures of scenes from the street in Durban, South Africa, and Burundi. They illustrate the reality of young lives blighted by homelessness, hopelessness and hunger ”“ hunger for love, security and friendship. The are also examples of simple joy, playfulness and humour. So far, so good.

Then, as you hear the stories of those portrayed, you realise some of them are already dead.

Streetaction is a small charity working with slim resources to work with partners to offer some street children hope of a future.

Read it all and make sure to check out the Streetaction website. The Bradford Cathedral website includes this description:

Street Action Exhibition–An exhibition by professional photographers of children on the street of Burundi, South Africa and Kenya. Street Action works in partnership with local organisations to tackle the complex needs of children living on the streets with no parental or adult care.

Globalization combined with mass immigration has helped unleash new forms of hybridity and cultural diffusion. Hollywood may spell cultural imperialism to the French, but its empire has stalled in India, whose indigenously produced films cater to a large diaspora as well as domestic audiences. Similarly, Al Jazeera, Japanese comics, Taiwanese pop music and Turkish soaps have carved their own spheres of influence in large parts of the world.

World religions, too, have been transformed in the age of mass mobility and communications. Islam has gone D.I.Y. in the hands of televangelists preaching to Muslims who live without the consolations of traditional authority in urban areas of Europe and America. Christianity, rapidly declining in Europe, has a new lease on life among enterprising Chinese and Latin Americans.

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It is a paradox of modern Germany that church and state remain so intimately tied. That bond persists more and more awkwardly, it seems, as the church’s relationship with followers continues to fray amid growing secularization.

Last week one of Germany’s highest courts rankled Catholic bishops by ruling that the state recognized the right of Catholics to leave the church ”” and therefore avoid paying a tax that is used to support religious institutions. The court ruled it was a matter of religious freedom, while religious leaders saw the decision as yet another threat to their influence on modern German society.

With its ruling the court also dodged the thorny issue of what happens when a parishioner formally quits the church, stops paying taxes, but then wants to attend services anyway. The court said that, too, was a matter of religious freedom, a decision that so rankled religious leaders fearful of losing a lucrative revenue stream that they made clear, right away, that taxes are the price for participation in the church’s most sacred rituals: no payments, no sacraments.

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The black mamba has a fearful reputation, and it’s easy to see why. It can move at around 12.5 miles (20 kilometres) per hour, making it one of the world’s fastest snakes, if not the fastest. Its body can reach 4.5 metres in length, and it can lift a third of that off the ground. That would give you an almost eye-level view of the disturbingly black mouth from which it gets its name. And inside that mouth, two short fangs deliver one of the most potent and fast-acting venoms of any land snake.

Combined with its reputation for aggression (at least when cornered) and you’ve got a big, intimidating, deadly, ornery serpent that can probably outrun you. It’s not the most obvious place to go looking for painkillers.

But among the cocktail of chemicals in the black mamba’s venom, Sylvie Diochot and Anne Baron from the CNRS have found a new class of molecules that can relieve pain as effectively as morphine, and without any toxic side effects. They’ve named them mambalgins.

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Almighty God, who didst plant in the heart of thy servants William Tyndale and Miles Coverdale a consuming passion to bring the Scriptures to people in their native tongue, and didst endow them with the gift of powerful and graceful expression and with strength to persevere against all obstacles: Reveal to us, we pray thee, thy saving Word, as we read and study the Scriptures, and hear them calling us to repentance and life; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

O Son of God, who by thy lowly life hast made manifest the royalty of service: Teach us that it is better to give than to receive, better to minister than to be ministered unto, after thine own example, who now livest and reignest in the glory of the eternal Trinity, world without end.

When Israel was a child, I loved him, and out of Egypt I called my son. The more I called them, the more they went from me; they kept sacrificing to the Ba’als, and burning incense to idols. Yet it was I who taught E’phraim to walk, I took them up in my arms; but they did not know that I healed them. I led them with cords of compassion, with the bands of love, and I became to them as one, who eases the yoke on their jaws, and I bent down to them and fed them. They shall return to the land of Egypt, and Assyria shall be their king, because they have refused to return to me. The sword shall rage against their cities, consume the bars of their gates, and devour them in their fortresses. My people are bent on turning away from me; so they are appointed to the yoke, and none shall remove it. How can I give you up, O E’phraim! How can I hand you over, O Israel! How can I make you like Admah! How can I treat you like Zeboi’im! My heart recoils within me, my compassion grows warm and tender. I will not execute my fierce anger, I will not again destroy E’phraim; for I am God and not man, the Holy One in your midst, and I will not come to destroy.

–Hosea 11:1-9

It was tumultuous and exhausting. What did you expect from wild card vs. wild card except something wild.

The St. Louis Cardinals resumed their preposterous ways in the postseason with a 6-3 loser-goes-home, Game 7 type victory over the Atlanta Braves, but not before the home fans, accused for years of being too sedate, erupted in disgust over a blown call by the umpires in the bottom of the 8th helped ruin and Atlanta rally.

Read it all. It was a truly terrible call by the umpires–KSH

A new memorial stone honouring a northern cathedral city’s fallen servicemen and women was dedicated last week.
Wakefield Cathedral’s Canon Michael Rawson conducted a blessing ceremony at Coronation Gardens in Wakefield city centre.

Read it all.

On Sept. 23 in Brigham City, Utah, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints dedicated its 139th temple. One might think the completion of a temple in Utah, the state’s 14th, would be a routine affair. But during a six-week open house, some 400,000 people flooded into tiny Brigham City (population 18,000), for an early look inside the new structure.

Perhaps the candidacy of Mitt Romney, who would be our nation’s first Mormon president, has piqued the interest of believers and nonbelievers alike. In any event, temple open houses provide a welcome chance to dispel a few of the myths surrounding the Church of Latter-day Saints and to better understand the faith and rituals of its more than 14 million members.

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Here’s a quiz: Google received more than 1,900 requests from governments worldwide to remove content from its various services last year. Which country led the planet in this dubious category, with 418 such demands?

China? Iran? Syria?

No. It was democratic, pluralistic, economically vibrant Brazil.

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Elizabeth Brake’s Minimizing Marriage breaks new ground in the contemporary liberal critique of traditional arrangements. The object of her critique is what she calls amatonormativity””the belief that society should value two-person, amorous love relationships. Even same-sex marriage (SSM) advocates are too restrictive for Brake in that they would confer benefits on two people alone; SSM advocates are unwitting amatonormativists. Their defenses of marriage leave out “urban tribes, best friends, quirkyalones, polyamorists” and other diverse groups united by a common bond of caring. Brake argues for an almost complete disestablishment of marriage.

Brake’s argument for minimal marriage is both destructive and constructive. Rather than propose that we abolish marriage, Brake contends that we free ourselves of any demand that marriage have an approved form. Yet Brake’s minimal marriage does not abolish the function of marriage, though she thins out that function considerably. After attacking traditional normative beliefs about marriage, she constructs a new vision of marriage as an institution that fulfills, broadly speaking, the function of caring. States, in her view, should recognize and provide benefits to caring relationships.

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A poll conducted by Grey Matter Research and Consulting shows that 49 percent of Americans see athletes’ public expressions of faith favorably; 32 percent don’t care, and 19 percent take a more negative view.

More than 1,000 American adults were polled about public displays of religion among professional athletes. Participants were asked about specific religious actions commonly displayed by religious athletes, including prayer after games, speaking about faith in interviews and making religious signs, such as crossing oneself or pointing heavenward, on the field.

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A federal strike force has charged 91 people, including a hospital president, doctors and nurses, with Medicare fraud schemes in seven cities involving $429 million in false billings.

At a news conference Thursday, Attorney General Eric Holder said the case reveals an alarming trend in criminal efforts to steal billions of taxpayer dollars for personal gain. Holder called the action one of the largest such law enforcement efforts of its kind.

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At 20 years old, Anastaysia Thomas has dreams of traveling to new places and working as a world-class massage therapist. Her plan is as foolproof as anyone’s: get into a good school and work like crazy until things fall into place.

She juggles a full-time load of college classes and more than 30 hours a week waitressing at a local pub in Hampton, Va., working hard toward reaching her goals. But next fall, she will graduate with 80 percent of her tuition left to pay and no guarantee of a job.

This year – when the cost of attending a public college can top $20k a year, $50k for private universities – two out of three students graduated with college debt averaging $25,250. The total outstanding student loan debt in the country exceeds $1 trillion – more than Americans owe in credit card or car loan debt.

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Over the course of my life, I have taken on all manner of spiritual practices, from now-I-lay-me-down-to-sleep to centering prayer. I have prayed with the Psalms, with the rosary, with icons. I have picked up practices and put them down. Some still discipline and nourish my praying life.

But of all the spiritual disciplines I have ever attempted, the habit of steady reading has helped me most and carried me farthest. Of course, reading scripture has been indispensable. But reading fiction””classics of world literature, fairy tales and Greek myths, science fiction and detective novels””has done more to baptize my imagination, inform my faith and strengthen my courage than all the prayer techniques in the world.

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No further information is being released about the deliberations of the Crown Nominations Commission (CNC) after it failed to agree two names to submit to the Prime Minister at its meeting last week.

The dates of the Commission’s three earlier meetings were released by the C of E’s communications department. On Wednesday, however, it was giving no details of when the Commission might be meeting again.

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Cardinal Brady expressed his joy following the news, saying that he looked forward to having Bishop Clark as “a fellow citizen in the Primatial City and to working with him.”

“I have known Bishop Richard Clarke for many years. In recent times we have served together on the Irish Inter-Church Committee. I have always found him to be a person of great wisdom, gentleness and kindness,” he said.

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