These days many Anglicans and Episcopalians are asking themselves this question. With the separation of the Diocese of South Carolina from The Episcopal Church we link arms with a long tradition of believing Christians who for one reason or another have felt the need to separate from other professing Christians. Opinions as to the wisdom of this vary, as they doubtless always will. But over the centuries it has not been unusual for one Christian group to find the views, beliefs and practices of another group incompatible with their understanding of the Truth.

A fascinating example of this recently came to my attention. Since my summer trip in 2012 to Russia, I have become more aware of things in that mysterious country than before. So this story really caught my attention.

Back in 1934…the Bolsheviks tightened their noose around the whole of Russian society….

Read it all from Peter Moore.

Chapter 1: The People Around Jesus

Discussing his preaching a sermon on this Parable of the Lost Sons to a foreign audience, Tim Keller notes that “some time later the translator wrote to tell me that, as he was preaching the sermon, the had realized that the parable was like an arrow aimed at his heart”¦It brought him to faith in Christ.” He continues, noting that “many others have told me that this story of Jesus”¦saved their faith, their marriages, and”¦their lives.” Why is that? How can such a short story have such a huge impact on those that receive it? Exploring this question is our task for this Lenten season as we read The Prodigal God and consider it is the father, representing God himself, that is the prodigal of this story, the character who is “recklessly spendthrift” in pursuit of his two sons.

Read it all.

O Lord and heavenly Father, who hast given unto us thy people the true bread that cometh down from heaven, even thy Son Jesus Christ: Grant that throughout this Lent our souls may so be fed by him that we may continually live in him and he in us; and that day by day we may be renewed in spirit by the power of his endless life, who gave himself for us, and now liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Spirit, one God, world without end.

–Frederick Macnutt

“And because you hearken to these ordinances, and keep and do them, the Lord your God will keep with you the covenant and the steadfast love which he swore to your fathers to keep; he will love you, bless you, and multiply you; he will also bless the fruit of your body and the fruit of your ground, your grain and your wine and your oil, the increase of your cattle and the young of your flock, in the land which he swore to your fathers to give you. You shall be blessed above all peoples; there shall not be male or female barren among you, or among your cattle.

–Deuteronomy 7:12-14

… the sheer number of those who rang in to express warm thanks to a man who was widely perceived as thoughtful and decent was striking. These were not the commentariat or academics – who have been swift to criticise – but those whom I suspect Williams would have seen as his real constituency.

How will things be different, both for the church and for the wider culture, with the new Archbishop, Justin Welby? On first glance, there is less theological depth…

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from Christ St Paul’s

Spiritual Disciplines Fasting from Christ St Pauls on Vimeo.

The fascinating story of the recovery of Christianity and other religions going on in China today.

Listen to it here

http://soundcloud.com/signumrecords/drop-drop-slow-tears#share
Drop, drop, slow tears,
And bathe those beauteous feet,
Which brought from Heav’n
The news and Prince of Peace.

Cease not, wet eyes,
His mercies to entreat;
To cry for vengeance:
Sin doth never cease.

In your deep floods
Drown all my faults and fears;
Nor let His eye see
Sin, but through my tears.

The rector of the Al-Azhar in Cairo has convened an all-party meeting of government, opposition, and religious leaders to halt the slide towards anarchy underway in Egypt.

On 31 Jan 2013, Sheikh Ahmed al-Tayyeb, the Grand Imam of the al-Azhar University and the country’s leading Islamic scholar, sat down with senior government leaders, the opposition and Muslim and Christian leaders to begin a national conversation “in which all elements of Egyptian society participate, without any exclusion.”

Dialogue “is the only tool to resolve any problems or differences,” Sheikh al-Tayyeb told the gathering, which included the Anglican Bishop of Egypt, Dr. Mouneer Anis.
……..

Dr. Anis reported after the meeting: “Today the Grand Imam invited all opposition parties and ruling party and churches. We produced a document against violence and formed a committee to prepare for a dialogue. We pray so that the Lord may put an end for this violence and bring peace to Egypt.”

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