…for much of adulthood, I formed aspirational crushes. It wasn’t ever deliberate, yet somehow I usually fell for men whose esteem or rejection came to influence my self-worth. In a phrase Tim Keller often uses (probably quoting Lewis or Tolkien), I longed for “the praise of the praiseworthy.”

With this mindset, even little tastes of intimacy or access to a crush acquired a disproportionate sense of value, and every exchange mattered far more than it should have. Yet in the end, any intimacy I found in via Google search ”¦ or even electronic communication with the crush proved largely false.

It took me a long time to figure out why. Then one Sunday morning in a church class on dating, I heard this formula: Intimacy = talk + time + togetherness. As John Van Epp explains in his book How to Avoid Marrying a Jerk (on which the class was based), Internet-based relationships are often rich in talk, but can transpire very rapidly and may develop across great distance.

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When South Korean widow Yoon Sook-hee, 62, died after a bout of pneumonia in mid-January, she joined a growing number of old people in this Asian country who die alone and was cremated only thanks to the charity of people who never knew her.

Once a country where filial duty and a strong Confucian tradition saw parents revered, modern day South Korea, with a population of 50 million, has grown economically richer, but family ties have fragmented. Nowadays 1.2 million elderly South Koreans, just over 20 percent of the elderly population, live – and increasingly die – alone.

Yoon’s former husband, whom she divorced 40 years ago, relinquished responsibility after being contacted by the hospital and told of her death. Her only son was unreachable as he had long broken off all contact with his parents.

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The only time my fondness for [New York Times columnist Gail] Collins takes a hit is when she writes about abortion, and not only because we disagree. On that subject I find she writes, like so many other progressives, as though there are no difficult questions left, and support for unrestricted access to abortion is the only decent position a right-thinking, non-woman-hating person can hold. Obviously I’m a bit insulted by that approach. But I’m also disappointed whenever I encounter it. It doesn’t sound like an earnest attempt to grapple with a tough issue; it sounds to me like an attempt to convince oneself that there is no more thinking to be done. Coming from either side, self-satisfied absolutism is a dead end.

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Following his ordination, [John] Cornelius will lead the Fellowship of Saint Alban in Henrietta (Diocese of Rochester), a small community of former Anglicans who have joined the Catholic Church. When available, he will also assist with ministry at parishes in Allegany County.

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Anti-Muslim hatred is being fuelled by “an underlying, profound mistrust” and a “misinformed suspicion” of people who follow Islam, according to the country’s most senior Muslim politician.

Baroness Warsi, the Minister for Faith and Communities, will warn today of a “particularly concerning” problem that she believes is “paving the way for anti-Muslim hatred”.

In a speech this evening to the Measuring Anti-Muslim Attacks (MAMA), Lady Warsi will outline what she believes is a continuing “negative perception” of Muslims.

Read it all (requires subscription) and there is a lot more in the Independent there.

A Kenyan priest has appealed to Christians around the world to pray for the people of Garissa, a violence-stricken city in the North Eastern Province of Kenya.
The Revd Canon Francis Omondi’s plea comes after at least five people were killed and four others wounded by Somali Islamist group al-Shabab who opened fire on guests at one of the city’s local hotels, The Dunes on 16 January.
Al-Shabab””a clan-based insurgent and terrorist group””has continued its violent insurgency in the area with Christians and security personnel being the main targets of the attacks.

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US Defence Secretary Leon Panetta has decided to lift the military’s ban on women serving in combat, a senior Pentagon official has said.

The move could open hundreds of thousands of front-line positions and elite commando jobs to women.

It overturns a 1994 rule prohibiting women from being assigned to small ground-combat units.

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Two-time defending champion Novak Djokovic advanced to his third consecutive Australian Open final with a 6-2, 6-2, 6-1 win over No. 4-seeded David Ferrer on Thursday night.

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Plaintiffs who sued the Episcopal Church in January for control of South Carolina church properties could ride to victory on the coattails of a 2009 decision involving a breakaway parish, according to two attorneys experienced in church property cases.

Both Lloyd Lunceford of Baton Rouge and Martin Nussbaum of Colorado Springs cite the All Saints Church at Pawleys Island case, in which the South Carolina Supreme Court ruled in favor of a breakaway parish.

Parameters established in that case could now help a larger group of plaintiffs prevail in a South Carolina Circuit Court, the lawyers said. But Nussbaum cautions that any plaintiff victory might be short-lived since the U.S. Supreme Court would likely overturn it if the case were to go that far.

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In retirement, Shaw said he hopes to continue his work on health and education projects in Africa. He will spend more time with his monastic community. And he will work on his pottery, a favorite hobby.

Asked about his impetus for political activism, Shaw cited the life of Jesus.

“He was very out there in terms of critiquing a society that didn’t recognize the dignity of human beings,” Shaw said in an interview. “And so I think because I’m a follower of Jesus, that’s my responsibility as well ”” I’m supposed to speak up on issues that diminish people’s dignity.”

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Backed by two conservative groups, Stanford Law School has opened the nation’s only clinic devoted to religious liberty, an indication both of where the church-state debate has moved and of the growth in hands-on legal education.

Begun with $1.6 million from the John Templeton Foundation, funneled through the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, the school’s new Religious Liberty Clinic partly reflects a feeling that clinical education, historically dominated by the left’s concerns about poverty and housing, needs to expand.

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We agree with Obama that it will take a combination of tax increases and spending cuts to put the government’s fiscal house in order. Republicans swallowed hard and accepted an increase in tax rates for the highest incomes to start the year. It’s the Democrats’ turn to recognize that federal benefit programs, and particularly healthcare entitlements such as Medicare and Medicaid, are on an unsustainable path despite the savings from the 2010 healthcare law.

Obama should lead a Democratic push for reforms that preserve these programs for those who need them, while also reducing the deficit and stopping the federal debt from growing faster than the economy. He’s in the best position to lead on this issue, able to provide political cover for Democrats concerned that their constituents won’t put up with changes to the status quo, while showing Republicans that there are ways to save money without abandoning the government’s commitment to the elderly and poor. To create an opening for the rest of his agenda, he needs to step up to that role.

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Blessed Lord, who for our sakes wast content to bear sorrow and want and death: Grant to us such a measure of thy Spirit that we may follow thee in all self-denial and tenderness of soul. Help us by thy great love to succour the afflicted, to relieve the needy, to share the burdens of the heavy laden, and ever to see thee in all that are poor and destitute; for thy great mercy’s sake.

–B. F. Westcott

And he said to them, “Is a lamp brought in to be put under a bushel, or under a bed, and not on a stand? For there is nothing hid, except to be made manifest; nor is anything secret, except to come to light. If any man has ears to hear, let him hear.” And he said to them, “Take heed what you hear; the measure you give will be the measure you get, and still more will be given you. For to him who has will more be given; and from him who has not, even what he has will be taken away.” And he said, “The kingdom of God is as if a man should scatter seed upon the ground, and should sleep and rise night and day, and the seed should sprout and grow, he knows not how. The earth produces of itself, first the blade, then the ear, then the full grain in the ear. But when the grain is ripe, at once he puts in the sickle, because the harvest has come.” And he said, “With what can we compare the kingdom of God, or what parable shall we use for it? It is like a grain of mustard seed, which, when sown upon the ground, is the smallest of all the seeds on earth; yet when it is sown it grows up and becomes the greatest of all shrubs, and puts forth large branches, so that the birds of the air can make nests in its shade.” With many such parables he spoke the word to them, as they were able to hear it; he did not speak to them without a parable, but privately to his own disciples he explained everything.

–Mark 4:21-34

This post is ‘Sticky’ at the head of the page – new posts are below.
St. George, SC, January 23, 2013 ”“ South Carolina Circuit Court Judge Diane S. Goodstein today issued a temporary restraining order that prevents The Episcopal Church (TEC) and parishes and individuals associated with it from assuming the identity of the Diocese of South Carolina.

The judge’s order states, in part: “No individual, organization, association or entity, whether incorporated or not, may use, assume, or adopt in any way, directly or indirectly, the registered names and the seal or mark of The Protestant Episcopal Church in the Diocese of South Carolina.”

The order specifically prohibits all but a handful of Diocesan employees, directors and trustees who are specified by name from using the Diocese’s identity.

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As many of you have been made aware the Diocese of South Carolina disassociated from The Episcopal Church (TEC) in October 2012 after an attempt to remove The Right Reverend Mark Lawrence as our Bishop. On January 4th The Diocese of South Carolina and many churches joined in filing for a declarative judgment in a South Carolina Circuit Court against the Episcopal Church (TEC). This legal action asks the court to declare that The Episcopal Church (TEC) has no right to the Diocese’s identity and property or that of its parishes.

This excerpt from our Bishop’s letter from January 4th further clarifies the suit:

Our suit asks the court to prevent TEC from infringing on the protected marks of the Diocese, including its seal and its historical names, and to prevent it from assuming the Diocese’s identity, which was established long before TEC was formed. It also asks the court to protect our parish and Diocesan property, including church buildings and rectories, which our forefathers built and even shed blood over, and you have maintained without any investment of any kind from the national church.[1]

The Church of the Resurrection has had an affinity with the mission of the Diocese of South Carolina proclaiming Jesus Christ and his uniqueness as the Son of God and a widening gap with the theology of The Episcopal Church whose proclamation is less clear and often ambiguous.
Please note that this separation has to do with the issues of the uniqueness of Jesus Christ as the Son of God, his saving grace extended to those who recognize Jesus’ death on the cross, his resurrection from the dead, and not the issue of sexuality. The Church of the Resurrection’s desire is to proclaim the Transformation of Lives through the Resurrected Power of Jesus Christ and thus has been distancing itself from The Episcopal Church for many years in order to clarify the message of the Gospel that has been delivered through the apostles.

Monday night January 21, 2013 the vestry of The Church of the Resurrection, Surfside made the decision to join a lawsuit to prevent The Episcopal Church (TEC) from seizing their property. The congregation was one of 15 parishes to add their support to the suit in an amended complaint filed with the South Carolina Circuit Court bringing the total number of congregations in the litigation to 31.

In addition to blocking the seizure of parish property, the suit also asks the court to prevent TEC from infringing on the protected marks of the Diocese, including its seal and its historical names, and to prevent the church from assuming the Diocese’s identity, which was established before TEC’s creation. The National Church (TEC) has taken steps to seize local property by calling for a “special convention” meeting this week to select new leadership for the Episcopal Diocese of South Carolina, which TEC claims to own.

Beloved it is our hope and prayer that joining with the Diocese and other congregations will protect our mission and ministry with the very unique and diverse community that God has gathered together to celebrate the power of Jesus.

Ephesians 3:20 Now to him who by the power at work within us is able to accomplish abundantly far more than all we can ask or imagine, 21 to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations, for ever and ever. Amen.

In Christ,

–(The Rev.) Ronald Greiser, Jr. is rector, Church of the Resurrection, Surfside Beach S.C.

[1] http://www.diosc.com/sys/images/documents/bishop_ltr_1_4_13.pdf