The Church of England has been urged to fast-track Asian and black church leaders in the same way it has done for women bishops.

The call came at a meeting during General Synod last week at nearby Westminster Central Hall. The day before, Archbishop Welby had said to Synod that British colonial history makes the laying down of edicts by white, middle-class Christians from the Global North a process that is rightly deeply resented.

One former member of Synod, Vasantha Gnanadoss, pointed out that there had been no senior appointment from Black and Asian clergy to episcopal office since 2002.

“In their promotion of the Bill to get women bishops into the House of Lords immediately, the bishops were giving a very high priority to redressing unequal treatment of women clergy. Unequal treatment of black and Asian clergy has been allowed to continue.Read it all.

Mlitary commanders have mounted a cyberoffensive against Islamic State in Iraq and Syria in recent weeks by deploying hackers to penetrate the extremist group’s computer and cellphone networks, according to the Pentagon.

The cyberassault, which Defense Secretary Ashton Carter authorized last month, marks the first time teams from U.S. Cyber Command have been integrated into an active battlefield since the command was established in 2009.

“These are strikes that are conducted in the war zone using cyber, essentially as a weapon of war,” Carter said in a National Public Radio interview. “Just as we drop bombs, we’re dropping cyberbombs.”

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Being a Christian myself, I suppose I would like to know which way God would lean in the EU referendum if He had a vote.

An organisation called Christians for Britain claims biblical justification for leaving, believing that the Old Testament idea of a nation under God goes against the unrepresentative bureaucracy of Brussels. The Church of Scotland, on the other hand, declares that ”“ although it graciously permits members to make up their own minds “with integrity” ”“ it believes that “it is better for us as a country to remain within the EU”.

My own feeling is this is one of those choices with which the Almighty does not wish to be bothered, since He endowed us with minds which allow us freely to decide.

The truth is that there are respectable Christian arguments on both sides. Some Catholic teaching on “solidarity” is held to favour the EU, for example, but many Catholics in Britain today ”“ Iain Duncan Smith, Sir William Cash, Jacob Rees-Mogg ”“ are driven by their faith towards a strong dislike of arbitrary power and distant decision-making.

The only Christians who are definitely wrong about this are those who think that a church should state and propagate a single corporate position on the subject. The Church of Scotland’s stance is nakedly political. It could, with just as much Christian reason, argue that Christ’s injunction to “love thy neighbour” should impel Scots to stay with the United Kingdom. But it won’t ”“ not in a month of strictly observed Sabbaths.

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The parliamentary report recommends allowing physician-assisted suicide for people with psychiatric conditions, opens the way for “mature” children younger than 18 to be euthanised, allows for advanced directives so non-competent people can be euthanised provided they made the directive when competent, and recommends that physicians who object to assisted suicide be forced to make a referral for such action when requested. It also recommends all health facilities that receive public funding provide physician-assisted death.

It recommends that Health Canada establish a Secretariat on Palliative and End-of-Life care and a national palliative care strategy. It also recommends national strategies for mental illness and dementia.

Conservative members of the parliamentary committee dissented, noting that Quebec’s provincial euthanasia law, which took effect in December, does not allow physician-assisted death for the mentally ill or those younger than 18. It also does not allow for advanced directives. The Quebec law does not demand referral to another physician who will carry out the euthanasia, but has physicians making the referral to an independent body that will find a physician. The law offers two possibilities to terminally ill patients: palliative care or medically induced death. Quebec was the first of the 10 Canadian provinces to adopt such legislation.

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..How can we, the church of God, help? Lots of ways! But for one thing ”“ and lets start with the really low hanging fruit first ”“ I believe many (most?) carers who would love to be able to bring their loved ones to church. They know how much it means to them. But are our services accessible (dementia friendly)? Are our buildings adequate (walker and wheelchair accessible)? And are our congregations open to it?

There are multiple benefits if we can help enable church attendance. (1) We can bless the person with dementia enormously. (2) We can demonstrate the love of Jesus to their carer/s who would embrace our concern for their loved one (and for them!) with open arms. We are well tuned-in to the idea that by reaching kids and youth in our schools and communities we can also reach their un-churched parents. Can I suggest by caring for the elderly as we ought, we have a chance to reach their un-churched adult children too? And here is a benefit you may not have thought of immediately: (3) By including those with dementia in our church life as much as we possibly can, we (both as individuals and the community of God’s people) will learn from them and be blessed by them..

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“Thy kingdom come, thy will be done” cannot, therefore, mean an effortless abandonment to divine purpose, achieved in lonely isolation. If the Spirit is to bring us into the authentic prayer of Jesus, these primary requests he gave us – for the kingdom and for the divine will – will often time mean, as they did for him, a sweaty struggle, a revulsion at what lies before us, and above all a desperate need for the support of others who will pray with us, however incompetently and sleepily. When this happens it is not, again, that something has gone wrong; rather, we are being pressed yet more deeply into the space of Jesus.

The famous spiritual director, Dom John Chapman, onetime Abbot of Downside, put it thus, and most beautifully, in a letter to a Benedictine nun, who was struggling with her own sense of inner turmoil and suffering in prayer. :”Contempt” of such suffering, he writes, is superhuman, not human:

“Our Lord has taught us this very plainly by his example. In the Agony, he did not say ‘I suffer, and I rejoice … [Rather], he prayed that the Chalice might be taken away, to show that the feeling of hating suffering, and feeling it unbearable, is part of [human] perfection for us, as it is a part [also] of our weakness of nature.”

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O almighty Father, giver of every good and perfect gift, who hast made the light of thy truth to shine in our hearts: Make us to walk as children of light in all goodness and righteousness, that we may have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness; through Jesus Christ our Lord.

—Bishop William Walsham How (1823-1897)

Give ear, O Shepherd of Israel, thou who leadest Joseph like a flock! Thou who art enthroned upon the cherubim, shine forth before E’phraim and Benjamin and Manas’seh! Stir up thy might, and come to save us!

–Psalm 80:1-2

The last time we met, just over three months ago, I said some things. I said some things about standing on the threshold and about longing for change and about embracing our elastic identity……
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“I’m feeling pretty elastic this triennium,” I said
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I want to thank you, Michael, for the wisdom and steadiness with which you guided us all through the recent primates meeting and its aftermath. While confusion reigned and rumors swirled, you helped us understand, to renew, that we are still full members of the Anglican Communion, that our mission relationships with Anglicans across the world are strong, and that what binds us together is far stronger than what threatens to separate us. I will take your spirit with me when I travel to Zambia in April as the Episcopal Church’s clergy representative to the Anglican Consultative Council, where you can be assured that I will participate fully with a glad heart, a strong spirit and pride that the Episcopal Church fully affirms the dignity and worth of all of God’s children, including our lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender sisters and brothers.

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Many believed that marriage is part of core doctrine. No individual church can change core doctrine. Many felt that the expansion of who may be married on our part was a change in church doctrine. Therefore it was in part on that basis that many felt that we had overstepped our authority as a province. I didn’t agree with that but I respect that that was the understanding of many. For me, marriage is not part of core doctrine. The doctrine of the Holy Trinity is core doctrine. The doctrine of who Jesus Christ is ”“ wholly God and wholly human ”“ is doctrine. The articles of the Creeds are doctrine. The Holy Scriptures and the Old and New Testament are core doctrine. Other sections of the Chicago”“ Lambeth Quadrilateral are core doctrine. Marriage is a sacramental rite, it is a solemn and sacred matter of faith and practice. But it is not core doctrine.

Their action was surgical, specific, and mediated. Because we are seen as having deviated from doctrine of the Anglican Communion, for three years we are suspended on ambassadorial and leadership positions.

What the Primates said applies to the Primates. It does not apply to ACC.

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A Christian postgraduate student has been expelled from his course, effectively ending his chances of a career as a social worker, for voicing opposition to gay marriage in a Facebook discussion.

Felix Ngole, a 38-year-old father of four, expressed support for Kim Davis, the county clerk from Kentucky in the US who was jailed for refusing to issue marriage licences after the introduction of same-sex unions in September last year.
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he was summoned to a disciplinary hearing at Sheffield University after a fellow student complained about his post.

He said he was initially not even told what he was accused of doing. He was eventually told that it involved breaching social work guidelines on “personal conduct” and “bringing the profession into disrepute”.

At a further hearing, a university “fitness to practise” panel concluded that he was entitled to his opinion on the issue of gay marriage but that there was a danger he “may have caused offence to some individuals” by voicing it.

They concluded that, even though he was not yet even qualified as a social worker, his comment on the Facebook thread would affect his ability to operate in the profession.

As a result he was effectively expelled from the university, ordered to hand in his student ID and even his library card..

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A court in southeastern China has sentenced a Protestant pastor to 14 years in prison and his wife to 12 years after convicting them of corruption, financial crimes and gathering people to disturb social order, an official provincial newspaper reported on Friday.

The sentences for the pastor, Bao Guohua, and his wife, Xing Wenxiang, were among the harshest imposed recently on clergy members and their associates in China. The newspaper reported that a court had sentenced an additional 10 people who were members of Mr. Bao’s church or a Christian group in the same city, Jinhua, in Zhejiang Province, but it did not give details of those sentences.

The newspaper, Zhejiang Daily, also said that the court had ordered the confiscation from Mr. Bao of 600,000 renminbi, or about $92,000, and fined him $15,300. It said his wife also had $92,000 confiscated and received a fine of less than $14,000.

Officials have removed more than 1,200 crosses from churches and other buildings and in some cases have destroyed entire churches. The government is especially concerned about so-called house churches, which are neither approved nor overseen by officials.

Mr. Bao had official approval to lead a congregation, and he oversaw a government-sanctioned church. Zheng Leguo, a house church preacher now living in the United States, said in an interview on Friday that he believed that Mr. Bao, who has been in detention since at least August, was being persecuted because he had tried to defend his church against an order to take down its cross. Few other government-approved pastors in Jinhua have opposed the campaign of cross removals..

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The US says a purported confession from a prominent Chinese lawyer on state television runs counter to the rule of law.

Zhang Kai admitted to various crimes including disturbing social order in a broadcast on Thursday.

He has been helping defend Christians resisting government orders to remove crosses from buildings.

China says it guarantees religious freedom but there are concerns about a crackdown on Christian activities.

On Friday a pastor was jailed for refusing to remove a cross from his church’s roof.

The authorities have justified the tearing down of crosses by saying they break planning rules.

Zhang Kai was arrested last year shortly before a planned meeting with the US envoy on religious freedoms.

Read it all and there is more here and here

..life is about choices”¦ choices made by a society, a family and an individual. This is true also for Madonna. The spirit of Christians and of the Church is not to condemn but to invite, admonish and encourage one another, both as fellow-believers and fellow human beings, to make the right decisions for man’s well-being and for the glory of God.

As hot-button issues continue to surface in every society and every age, pray that the Church and the Christian within her fold will be enabled by the Holy Spirit to take a clear, biblical position, to be bold and humble in posture and to be invitational and winsome in witness to the world that God so loved and continues to love (John 3:16). We make clear our position, we live our lives authentically and we pray fervently (2 Corinthians 10:3-5; Ephesians 6:10-18) so that God’s life-giving reign will be known in the Church and in the nations..

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..For the Singapore leg of her tour on Sunday (May 28), Madonna performed a modified opening segment of her tour, cutting out the songs Iconic, Holy Water and Devil Pray before launching into the second segment. The cut songs are usually performed in the first of four segments of the concert, also known as the Joan of Arc / Samurai section.

The video introduction of the concert was also modified, with the cross-adorned portion of the staves held by dancers removed…

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The only thing left of the St. Philip’s Anglican church built in 1894 is a $100,000 bill for its demolition.

The structure, perhaps known best as the church by the sea, was demolished in 2015 after a long and public battle that pitted the Portugal Cove-St. Philip’s town council and even the Anglican diocese against a determined group of people who wanted the place of worship saved. Church by the Sea Inc. is a registered charity, and trying to save the church from demolition largely became its cross to bear.

“When you consider the fact that we were willing and able to accept responsibility for the cost of maintaining the old church, it wouldn’t have cost them anything and yet they’ve spent $100,000 to tear it down,” says Steve Sharpe, president of Church by the Sea Inc.

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It has come to our attention that the Presiding Bishop of The Episcopal Church (USA) has recently issued a Lenten appeal asking the churches of TEC to remember the Good Friday offering for Jerusalem and the Middle East. In this appeal he said “this tradition [The Good Friday Offering] is decades old and is an important statement of our solidarity with the members of the four dioceses of the Province of Jerusalem and Middle East.”

I would like to clarify the fact that the Diocese of Egypt with North of Africa and the Horn of Africa, one of the four dioceses of the Province of Jerusalem and the Middle East does not receive funds or grants from the Good Friday offering of the Episcopal Church (TEC) in the USA. The decision not to receive these funds came after the 2003 decision by TEC to consecrate as bishop a divorced man living in a homosexual relationship. The decision not to receive money from TEC is one expression of the reality that the Diocese of Egypt with North Africa and the Horn of Africa was (and still is) in an impaired relationship with The Episcopal Church.

One of our clergy in Ethiopia states our situation in graphic terms: “We rather starve and not receive money from churches whose actions contradict the scriptures.”

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Presiding Bishop Curry wrote in the annual Good Friday letter to all congregations asking them to consider assistance for Jerusalem and the Middle East.

“As you know, each year, every bishop and congregation is encouraged by the Presiding Bishop to participate in the Good Friday Offering. This tradition is decades old and is an important statement of our solidarity with the members of the four dioceses of the Province of Jerusalem and the Middle East. We have a Gospel imperative to be sure they know they are not forgotten behind the headlines or because of the distractions in our own lives.

“This year, on this Good Friday, it is my hope and prayer that you will stand with me in prayer and action by promoting the Good Friday Offering among your people. Your leadership in encouraging generosity is important.”

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A baby gorilla was born at Bristol Zoo who called in help from the local hospital as babies don’t usually survive, but see the story and how the baby is doing 11 days after the operation.

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I wasn’t raised in a Christian home, so I didn’t grow up hearing about the God I now call Father. To me, God was just an abstract concept or idea, and church was mostly a place where Korean families got together to gossip about college acceptances and share strategies on conquering the SAT.

My parents never told me about the God who says “I will never leave you nor forsake you,” but, like many children, I certainly knew what it meant to be forsaken.

At the age of 9, my father left our family and wouldn’t return (besides an annual visit or two) for the next twenty years. His absence became the new normal, and I came to idolize the idea of the “picture-perfect” family.

But all of that changed when one day I saw Jesus…

Read it all [h/t Pat Dague]

Jim Sides listened to the NPR story in his car in Jacksonville, N.C.

“When I heard he carried a burden of guilt for 30 years, it broke my heart,” Sides, an engineer, says. “And I just sat there in the car in the parking lot and cried.”

Like many engineers who responded to Ebeling’s story, Sides knows what it’s like to present data and face resistance. He’s also certain about who bears responsibility for the decisions that result.

“He and his colleagues stated it very plainly. It was a dangerous day for the launch,” Sides says. “But [Ebeling] was not the decision-maker. He did his job as an engineer. He should not have to carry any guilt.”

Read (or listen to) it all NPR.

We live in a big, diverse society. There are essentially two ways to maintain order and get things done in such a society ”” politics or some form of dictatorship. Either through compromise or brute force. Our founding fathers chose politics.

Politics is an activity in which you recognize the simultaneous existence of different groups, interests and opinions. You try to find some way to balance or reconcile or compromise those interests, or at least a majority of them. You follow a set of rules, enshrined in a constitution or in custom, to help you reach these compromises in a way everybody considers legitimate.

The downside of politics is that people never really get everything they want. It’s messy, limited and no issue is ever really settled. Politics is a muddled activity in which people have to recognize restraints and settle for less than they want.
But that’s sort of the beauty of politics, too….

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O Eternal God, who through thy Son our Lord hast promised a blessing upon those who hear thy Word and faithfully keep it: Open our ears, we humbly beseech thee, to hear what thou sayest, and enlighten our minds, that what we hear we may understand, and understanding may carry into good effect by thy bounteous prompting; through the same Jesus Christ our Lord.

Mightier than the thunders of many waters, mightier than the waves of the sea, the LORD on high is mighty! Thy decrees are very sure; holiness befits thy house, O LORD, for evermore.

–Psalm 93:4-5

As snow began to fall outside, Deb Button snuggled up on her couch, fired up a joint and spoke of the nature of Christ.

“Even if Jesus didn’t smoke weed, he’d still be a stoner,” she said, exhaling a white cloud.

Her kitten sniffed the air curiously.

“Jesus was peaceful and loving. He went from house to house and was always accepted,” she explained. “Only a stoner could do that.”

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From beginning to end, the Bible is full of music and song. The first musician, Jubal, makes his appearance as early as Genesis 4, where we are told that “he was the father of all who play the harp and flute” (v.21). As we turn the pages, we find many who follow in Jubal’s musical footsteps. Moses sang a song of praise after the Exodus; Deborah sang after the victory over Sisera; King David played the harp, and wrote many of the Psalms; the Lord Jesus sang a hymn with his disciples at the last supper; Paul and Silas sang a hymn of praise to God in jail; and the book of Revelation tells us that there is plenty of singing in heaven as the heavenly choir joins in praise to God.

The Bible makes it clear that we are not to wait until heaven; it contains frequent exhortations to us to sing. For example:

“Come let us sing for joy to the Lord” (Ps. 95:1)

“Sing to the Lord a new song, for He has done marvellous things” (Ps. 98:1)

“Speak to one another with psalms, hymns and spiritual songs. Sing and make music in your heart to the Lord” (Eph. 5:19)

The question we are addressing in this chapter is, “Why?” Why does the Bible encourage us to sing and make music to the Lord? We will look at the answer shortly: we are to sing to praise God and to encourage one another. But first we will consider an answer that is often given today, but which has no basis in Scripture.

Read it all [h/t S Wood]

Host Bob Abernethy and managing editor Kim Lawton talk about the moral dimensions of the migrant crisis with Michel Gabaudan, president of Refugees International, and Mark Smith, senior director for humanitarian emergencies at the Christian group World Vision. Says Gabaudan, “At the end of the Second World War to try to prevent the resurge into the horrors we saw at the time, the community of nations did agree to a certain number of international instruments to be more generous to civilians caught in conflict, and the international humanitarian law was precisely trying to put some rules to how we conduct war and to protect civilians. These have been absolutely violated by the Assad regime, to a large extent by the Russians in indiscriminate bombings, to a lesser extent but still by some of the other groups fighting there. And the second set of regulations was one to protect refugees. The Refugee Convention oblige the state to sign it to receive people who flee for their protection, and we’re seeing in Europe where almost all the countries sign the convention that this is not how they are reacting at present. So we failed the Syrians.”

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When the women in the movie “Only God Can” talk with each other, they say things like “Let me tell you, one Charleston Heart to another,” then go on to say whatever they wanted to share.

This is a faith-based movie about five women in their 40s who have been friends since their days at the College of Charleston. They call themselves the “Holy City Heartbreakers” and the film begins with them all coming together for a reunion at a splendid beach house not far from Charleston.

That these women love and care for each other is readily apparent, yet, as adults, they have taken different paths toward completeness, with varying results. Two are committed Christians, the other three, not so much. This leads to conflict among them that is put into perspective when tragedy strikes.

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