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Yearly Archives: 2017

Bishop Alan Smith urges Christians to make voices heard on Fixed Odds Betting Terminals

Posted on November 28, 2017 by Kendall Harmon
A bishop is seeking to mobilise Christians to press the Government to curb Fixed Odds Betting Terminals (FOBTs) to help protect the most vulnerable people.

The Bishop of St Albans, Dr Alan Smith, is urging members of the Church of England and other churches to add their voices to calls to limit the maximum stake on the addictive machines to £2, instead of its current level of £100.

He is calling for people to respond to the Government’s consultation on its review of gaming machines which is open for the next two months.

Read it all.

Posted in Anthropology, Church of England (CoE), CoE Bishops, England / UK, Ethics / Moral Theology, Gambling, Religion & Culture, Theology

(China.Org.Cn) Some cemeteries in Shanghai yesterday offer cash incentives to convert cremation ashes into “life crystal”

Posted on November 28, 2017 by Kendall Harmon

The life crystal subsidy marks the latest effort by local civil affairs authorities to prevent traffic congestion for the winter solstice.

The cost of making one “life crystal” is 998 yuan (US$155), and a 400 yuan subsidy is offered as an incentive for families who sign an agreement to visit cemeteries at non-peak times.

“‘Life crystal’ serves as an indication or permanent reminder which allows people to observe traditional mourning at home,” said Wei Chao, deputy director of the Shanghai Funeral and Interment Service Center affiliated to the Shanghai Civil Affairs Bureau.

“In the past, people didn’t have a medium if they wanted to pay tribute to the deceased at home, and by using this practice we hope to encourage them to avoid peak times when they visit cemeteries,” said Wei.

“The crystal is equal to cremation ashes as Chinese people don’t want to have urns at home.”

Read it all.

Posted in China, Death / Burial / Funerals, Religion & Culture

(Wa Po Op-ed) Michael Gerson–America is currently cursed with tribal morality

Posted on November 28, 2017 by Kendall Harmon

In the cases before us — if you believe the credible testimony of the accusers — the rights and dignity of women have already been violated. Ignoring or playing down those violations in the pursuit of other social goals — conservative or liberal — is an additional form of victimization, this time by the broader society. By politicians such as Ivey. By voters willing to downplay the abuses on their own ideological team. All are making the statement that some lives, when weighed in the balance, really don’t matter.

None of this is to make light of the difficult task of applying appropriate punishments for differing degrees of guilt. But various traditions of ethics rooted in religion — as well as the Enlightenment theories that informed America’s founding — place a primary emphasis on the rights and dignity of individuals protected against the shifting interests of the majority.

This is the firm moral ground upon which our debate on sexual harassment should be conducted. Political figures guilty of coercion, exploitation, dehumanization, cruelty and the abuse of power should not be trusted with power. Even on our own side.

Read it all.

Posted in * Culture-Watch, America/U.S.A., Ethics / Moral Theology, Politics in General

(NBC) Meet the man who gives all children a chance to ride a bike

Posted on November 28, 2017 by Kendall Harmon

Minnesota’s Jack Carlson is making sure kids with physical challenges can still experience the freedom of riding a bike. Boyd Huppert of KARE in Minneapolis reports….

Posted in Charities/Non-Profit Organizations, Children, Marriage & Family, Stewardship, Travel

The Archbishop of Canterbury welcomes Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s engagement

Posted on November 28, 2017 by Kendall Harmon

“Marriage is a special and joyous commitment, one that Jesus celebrated together with friends at the wedding in Cana. I am so happy that Prince Harry and Ms Markle have chosen to make their vows before God.

“I wish them many years of love, happiness and fulfilment and ask that God blesses them throughout their married life together.”

Read it all.

Posted in --Justin Welby, America/U.S.A., Archbishop of Canterbury, Church of England (CoE), England / UK, Marriage & Family, Politics in General

(Wa Po) Jean Twenge–Teenage depression and suicide are way up — and so is smartphone use

Posted on November 28, 2017 by Kendall Harmon

Around 2012, something started going wrong in the lives of teens.

In just the five years between 2010 and 2015, the number of U.S. teens who felt useless and joyless — classic symptoms of depression — surged 33 percent in large national surveys. Teen suicide attempts increased 23 percent. Even more troubling, the number of 13-to-18-year-olds who committed suicide jumped 31 percent.

In a new paper published in Clinical Psychological Science, my colleagues and I found that the increases in depression, suicide attempts and suicide appeared among teens from every background: more privileged and less privileged, across all races and ethnicities, and in every region of the country. All told, our analysis found that the generation of teens I call “iGen” — those born after 1995 — is much more likely to experience mental-health issues than their millennial predecessors.

What happened so that so many more teens, in such a short time, would feel depressed, attempt suicide and commit suicide? After scouring several large surveys for clues, I found that all of the possibilities traced back to a major change in teens’ lives: the sudden ascendance of the smartphone.

Read it all.

Posted in Anthropology, Children, Ethics / Moral Theology, Health & Medicine, Marriage & Family, Pastoral Theology, Psychology, Science & Technology, Suicide, Teens / Youth, Theology

A Prayer for the Day from The Treasury of Devotion

Posted on November 28, 2017 by Kendall Harmon

Awake, O my soul, and give glory to God. I laid me down and slept, and rose up again; for the Lord sustained me. Glory be to Thee O Lord, for watching over me this night. Lord, raise me up at the last day to life everlasting.

–The Rev. T. T. Carter, The Treasury of Devotion: a Manual of Prayer for General and Daily Use (London: Rivingtons, 1871)

Posted in Spirituality/Prayer

From the Morning Scripture Readings

Posted on November 28, 2017 by Kendall Harmon

I lift up my eyes to the hills. From whence does my help come? My help comes from the LORD, who made heaven and earth. He will not let your foot be moved, he who keeps you will not slumber.

–Psalm 121:1-3

Posted in Theology: Scripture

(1st Things) Wesley Smith–An AI Thanksgiving Proclamation

Posted on November 27, 2017 by Kendall Harmon

We live in metaphysically desolate times. An increasing number of us—particularly among the millennial generation—now reject Christianity and other non-materialistic faiths as superstitious relics, vestiges of a time before science uncovered the truth about existence. The less polite even mock traditional religious believers by pretending to worship a faux-god, the great flying spaghetti monster.

Scorn faith as they will, moderns can’t escape the yearning of their own hearts for something more profound than news, weather, sports, and carbon molecules—demonstrating that human beings are congenitally incapable of believing in nothing. We crave meaning. We yearn for purpose. As Dylan put it, “Ya gotta serve somebody.” It is hardly surprising that, having rejected God and believing that the only reality is that which can be scientifically demonstrated, some “non-believers” are turning to technology as their focus of worship.

Take the “Way of the Future,” a registered non-profit religious organization founded by Silicon Valley mega-millionaire Anthony Levandowski. The Way of the Future—perhaps borrowing from Christianity’s early identification as “The Way”—describes its purposeas proselytizing “the realization of a Godhead based on Artificial Intelligence.” In other words, Levandowski intends that we view artificial intelligence—very sophisticated computers capable of self-programming—as a materialist god. Rather than worshipping their Creator, creators would worship their creations.

Read it all.

Posted in Religion & Culture, Science & Technology, Theology

(ANiC) Bishop William Anderson leaves Anglican Church of Canada for ACNA

Posted on November 27, 2017 by Kendall Harmon

Bishop Charlie Masters has just welcomed Bishop Wm. Anderson and his wife Margaret into the Anglican Network in Canada. They continue to reside in Terrace, in Northern British Columbia. Bishop Bill has recently retired as Bishop of Caledonia. He has relinquished the exercise of ministry in the Anglican Church of Canada as of November 16, 2017.

Read it all.

Posted in Anglican Church in North America (ACNA), Anglican Church of Canada

Bishop of Egypt Mouneer Anis responds to the Terror Attack On the Al-Rawda Mosque

Posted on November 27, 2017 by Kendall Harmon

From there:

It was reported that a group of terrorists bombed the mosque, and opened fire on the people during the Friday prayers at 1.30 pm. It is said that most of the people killed are Sufis. It is known that militant Salafi and Jihadist groups consider Sufis as heretics. They used to target policemen, soldiers and Christians but now Muslims are also targeted. No group is exempt. This massive bloody attack is the largest during the last few years.

Many world leaders condemned the attack and expressed their support to Egypt in its war against terrorism. We, Egyptians, are determined to fight terrorism and support President Abdel Fatah El Sisi who is leading the war against terrorism in the region.

Terrorism is a great threat to the whole world. This fact puts the responsibility on the international community to stop all groups and organisations which financially support these terrorist groups. These organizations take advantage of the freedom in the European countries to raise funds to support terrorists to carry out their bloody attacks on human beings.

Please pray for the families who lost their loved and the injured.

Posted in Egypt, Islam, Jerusalem & the Middle East, Middle East, Muslim-Christian relations, Religion & Culture, Violence

(NYT) Militants Kill 305 at Sufi Mosque in Egypt’s Deadliest Terrorist Attack

Posted on November 27, 2017 by Kendall Harmon

 Militants detonated a bomb inside a crowded mosque in the Sinai Peninsula on Friday and then sprayed gunfire on panicked worshipers as they fled, killing at least 305 people and wounding at least 128 others. Officials called it the deadliest terrorist attack in Egypt’s modern history.

The scale and ruthlessness of the assault, in an area racked by an Islamist insurgency, sent shock waves across the nation — not just for the number of deaths but also for the choice of target. Attacks on mosques are rare in Egypt, where the Islamic State has targeted Coptic Christian churches and pilgrims but avoided Muslim places of worship.

The attack injected a new element into Egypt’s struggle with militants because most of the victims were Sufi Muslims, who practice a mystical form of Islam that the Islamic State and other Sunni extremist groups deem heretical. And it underscored the failure of President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, who has justified his harsh crackdown on political freedom in the name of crushing Islamic militancy, to deliver on his promises of security.

Read it all.

Posted in Egypt, Islam, Religion & Culture, Terrorism, Violence

(TCT) Robert Royal–Memento Mori – and More

Posted on November 27, 2017 by Kendall Harmon
When you reach a certain age, you start to reflect on the end, but something like this makes it real. You not only don’t have a young person’s sense of invulnerability any longer, but you know in the most concrete terms that the end will come – and that you have to prepare for how to meet it. This is not solely a Christian concern, by the way. Classical scholars have come to realize how much several schools of ancient philosophy were really something like spiritual direction. In the Phaedo, Plato reports Socrates as saying “those who do philosophy right are preparing to die.”Among the many things we’ve lost in the meltdown of Catholic culture in the last half-century is attention to the most important end-of-life-question: how to die. It’s much more than a decision whether to treat or not to treat. One of my patron saints, Robert Bellarmine (1542-1621), after a life of intense intellectual activity – combating Protestant errors, trying to mediate in the Galileo case, and writing serious theological works including a highly influential Catechism – towards the end of his life “now free from public business,” composed The Art of Dying Well.

In the modern world, we’re supposed to know that thinking about death is morbid. Bellarmine, the heir to both pagan and Christian wisdom, knew differently: “what folly can be imagined greater than to neglect that Art, on which depend our highest and eternal interests; whilst on the other hand we learn with great labor, and practice with no less ardor, other almost innumerable arts, in order either to preserve or to increase perishable things?”

There’s probably no clearer indication of the distance between traditional wisdom and our age than this:

Now everyone will admit, that the “Art of dying Well” is the most important of all sciences; at least everyone who seriously reflects, how after death we shall have to give an account to God of everything we did, spoke, or thought of, during our whole life, even of every idle word; and that the devil being our accuser, our conscience a witness, and God the Judge, a sentence of happiness or misery everlasting awaits us.

 

Read it all.

Posted in Death / Burial / Funerals, Eschatology, Roman Catholic

(Tel) Former Moderator of Church of Scotland says it ‘must switch from hymns to smartphones or face obscurity’

Posted on November 27, 2017 by Kendall Harmon

The Church of Scotland faces a “drift into irrelevance and obscurity” unless its focus moves from traditional church services with hymns to smartphones, an Honorary Chaplain to the Queen has warned.

Dr John Chalmers, former Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland, argued the Kirk is failing to connect with younger generations and “the traditional patterns of church life (with which I have been so comfortable) are not going to change that.”

He said the one-size-fits-all model of focusing the Kirk’s activities around church buildings is not suited to attracting modern worshippers and called for a radical transformation “so far reaching that the church of tomorrow may bear little resemblance to the church of recent generations.”

Read it all.

Posted in --Scotland, Presbyterian, Religion & Culture

(Indian Express) Electoral Commission serves notice to R Catholic archbishop for letter seeking prayers for election

Posted on November 27, 2017 by Kendall Harmon

Gujarat Election Commission on Saturday served a notice on Thomas Macwan, Archbishop of Gandhinagar and sought an explanation on his letter issued to the Catholic community seeking prayers to ensure the election of leaders who “remain faithful to the Indian Constitution” so that the country can be “saved of nationalist forces”.

The notice, served through the District Election Officer of Gandhinagar, asks the Archbishop to explain why his appeal should not be viewed as a violation of the Model Code of Conduct.

Read it all.

Posted in India, Law & Legal Issues, Politics in General, Religion & Culture, Roman Catholic

(BBC) Archbishop of York ends decade of protest over Mugabe

Posted on November 27, 2017 by Kendall Harmon

The Archbishop of York has put on a dog collar for the first time in almost 10 years, ending his symbolic protest over Robert Mugabe’s leadership of Zimbabwe.

In December 2007, Dr John Sentamu cut up his dog collar live on BBC One’s Andrew Marr Show, promising not to wear one until Mr Mugabe left office.

He said Zimbabwe’s leader had “taken people’s identity” and “cut it to pieces”, prompting him to do the same.

On Sunday, he returned to the Marr Show and reinstated his collar as promised.

Mr Mugabe left office dramatically on Tuesday after 37 years of authoritarian rule.

Read it all.

Posted in Archbishop of York John Sentamu, Zimbabwe

A Prayer to Begin the Day from John R W Stott

Posted on November 27, 2017 by Kendall Harmon

Almighty God, who hast taught us that man shall not live by bread alone but by every word that proceedeth out of thy mouth: We remember before thee the spiritual hunger of the world. Give grace to those who are teaching the multitudes to read. Raise up gifted authors to expound thy truth with clarity and power. Prosper the work of all who are engaged in the production and distribution of Christian literature; and grant that everywhere the entrance of thy words may give light and understanding; through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Posted in Spirituality/Prayer

From the Morning Scripture Readings

Posted on November 27, 2017 by Kendall Harmon

Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ,

To the exiles of the Dispersion in Pontus, Galatia, Cappado”²cia, Asia, and Bithyn”²ia, chosen and destined by God the Father and sanctified by the Spirit for obedience to Jesus Christ and for sprinkling with his blood:

May grace and peace be multiplied to you.

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ!
By his great mercy we have been born anew to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and to an inheritance which is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, who by God’s power are guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. In this you rejoice, though now for a little while you may have to suffer various trials, so that the genuineness of your faith, more precious than gold which though perishable is tested by fire, may redound to praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ. Without having seen him you love him; though you do not now see him you believe in him and rejoice with unutterable and exalted joy. As the outcome of your faith you obtain the salvation of your souls.

The prophets who prophesied of the grace that was to be yours searched and inquired about this salvation; they inquired what person or time was indicated by the Spirit of Christ within them when predicting the sufferings of Christ and the subsequent glory. It was revealed to them that they were serving not themselves but you, in the things which have now been announced to you by those who preached the good news to you through the Holy Spirit sent from heaven, things into which angels long to look.

–1 Peter 1:1-12

Posted in Theology: Scripture

(Patheos) Gerry McDermott–What does it mean that Christ is King?

Posted on November 26, 2017 by Kendall Harmon

Today is Christ the King Sunday.  Here is a reflection on what that means.

Among other things, it means that one day King (which is what “Christ” means, the “anointed one” from a land where typically only kings were anointed) Jesus will renew all of this world and restore Israel to its center.

Read it all.

Posted in Christology

(LA Times) Malibu church pressured to end homeless dinners, with some saying it lures needy to upscale city

Posted on November 26, 2017 by Kendall Harmon

For 17 years, religious groups fed homeless people, and the city and private donors put up hundreds of thousands of dollars for social workers to find them housing and services.

But Malibu United Methodist Church — facing pressure from the city — in recent weeks took a U-turn, deciding twice-weekly dinners for homeless people would stop after Thanksgiving. The cutoff came after city officials summoned organizers and suggested they were attracting more homeless people and making the problem worse.

The issue boiled over on conservative and Christian online forums, where Malibu residents were castigated as liberal hypocrites. Lurid death threats poured in to City Hall.

At an emotional public hearing last week, Mayor Skylar Peak denied ordering the meals to end, but he also apologized for “miscommunication.”

Read it all.

Posted in America/U.S.A., Parish Ministry, Poverty, Religion & Culture

(SAN) Christ Church, Harris, In Scotland Accepts Oversight From Bishop Andy Lines

Posted on November 26, 2017 by Kendall Harmon

The people of Christ Church, Harris, announced today that they can no longer remain under the oversight of the bishop of Argyll and the Isles, the Right Reverend Kevin Pearson. This follows his decision to support the change to the canons of the Scottish Episcopal Church (SEC) which introduced the innovation of same-sex marriage.

At a meeting with Bishop Pearson, they explained their decision and asked if the Scottish Episcopal Church would keep the church they have built and the money they have given. The bishop insisted that the SEC would retain all assets. In response the congregation made it clear that they would walk away rather than submit to a decision which departs from scripture, tradition and the teaching of Jesus Christ,

The people of Christ Church will maintain a faithful Anglican witness on Harris under the oversight of the Right Reverend Andy Lines, who was consecrated as a missionary bishop for Europe in June and who will act under the authority of the GAFCON primates.

Read it all.

Posted in Anglican Church in North America (ACNA), Anthropology, Ethics / Moral Theology, Marriage & Family, Pastoral Theology, Same-sex blessings, Scottish Episcopal Church, Sexuality Debate (in Anglican Communion), Theology, Theology: Scripture

(ACNS) Church of Uganda in race to end gender-based violence

Posted on November 26, 2017 by Kendall Harmon

The Archbishop of Uganda, Stanley Ntagali, will be the lead runner in a race designed to raise awareness of gender-based violence (GBV) next month. Archbishop Stanley will take part in the Gender Justice Run as part of the 16-Days of Activism against Gender-Based Violence. The international 16-Days of Activism campaign begins tomorrow (Saturday 25 November) and runs through to Human Rights Day on 10 December.

The run, at Mengo Senior School in Kampala, begins at 6.00 am EAT (3.00 am GMT) on Saturday 2 December; and follows the successful Run to End FGM mini-Marathon, which was held in Sebei on 16 September this year.

The Run to End FGM was established by the Diocese of Sebei as its response to the Church of Uganda’s campaign against female genital mutilation, which is sometimes called female circumcision (FGM/C). The Church’s campaign began in 2015 in partnership with the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), Uganda’s Ministry of Labour and Social Development, and district teams.

Read it all.

Posted in Church of Uganda, Ethics / Moral Theology, Sexuality, Sports, Uganda, Violence

A Prayer to Begin the Day from William Bright

Posted on November 26, 2017 by Kendall Harmon

Almighty and everliving God, who hast given us the Catholic Faith of Christ for a light to our feet amid the darkness of this world: Have pity on all who, by doubting or denying it, are gone astray from the path of safety; bring home the truth to their hearts, and grant them to receive it as little children; through the same Jesus Christ our Lord.

Posted in Spirituality/Prayer

From the Morning Bible Readings

Posted on November 26, 2017 by Kendall Harmon

It is better to take refuge in the LORD than to put confidence in man.
It is better to take refuge in the LORD than to put confidence in princes.
All nations surrounded me; in the name of the LORD I cut them off!
They surrounded me, surrounded me on every side; in the name of the LORD I cut them off!
They surrounded me like bees, they blazed like a fire of thorns; in the name of the LORD I cut them off!
I was pushed hard, so that I was falling, but the LORD helped me.
The LORD is my strength and my song; he has become my salvation.
Hark, glad songs of victory in the tents of the righteous: “The right hand of the LORD does valiantly,
the right hand of the LORD is exalted, the right hand of the LORD does valiantly!”

–Psalm 118: 8-16 (my emphasis)

Posted in Theology: Scripture

(JE) John Lomperis–Not much Centrism in “Uniting Methodists’” Agenda on Sexual Morality

Posted on November 25, 2017 by Kendall Harmon

All of this to say, on the most prominent controversy within our denomination, this so-called “Methodist middle” group is actually exclusively aligned with one minority faction. As one of its leadership team members admitted, “Clearly, I am not ‘in the middle’ or ‘on the fence’ with regard to this struggle which is threatening to split the United Methodist Church.” The same is evidently true for all of this group’s leaders, given the platform they all signed onto.

Read it all.

Posted in Methodist, Sexuality Debate (Other denominations and faiths)

(ENS) Church Pension Group’s ‘centennial conversations’ begin dialogue

Posted on November 25, 2017 by Kendall Harmon

The implications of declines in churchgoing and the aging trend of people who do go to church do not all have to be gloom and doom. Instead, they can prompt Episcopalians to be agents of change in the church and in the world.

That was the hopeful message heard by people participating in the first of four Insights & Ideas events, held in recognition of the Church Pension Group’s 100 years service to the Episcopal Church. The so-called “Centennial Conversation,” held at St. Bartholomew’s Church in Manhattan, featured two panels of experts, as well as interaction with audience members.

“Some see the aging of the church as the last gasp of a great church. I just don’t see that at all,” said the Rt. Rev. Clifton Daniel III, acting/interim dean at the Cathedral Church of St. John the Divine, New York. “I don’t think we need to worry about the death of forms and shapes and ministries that it’s taken. The church is going on.”

Read it all.

Posted in Episcopal Church (TEC)

(ACNS) Victorian euthanasia vote a cause for lament, says Australian primate

Posted on November 25, 2017 by Kendall Harmon

The state of Victoria is set to become the first in Australia to legalise euthanasia after the upper house of the state’s parliament approved a Bill earlier today. The 40-member Legislative Council approved an amended version of the Voluntary Assisted Dying Bill by 22 votes to 18. Because the Bill was amended by the upper-house, it will need to be approved again by the 88-member Legislative Assembly next week before becoming law.

In August, the lower house had approved the original version of the Bill by 47 votes to 37. That vote came as the Melbourne Diocesan Synod – meeting metres away, urged politicians to reject it.

The Archbishop of Melbourne, Philip Freier, and six other senior leaders from Lutheran, Catholic and Orthodox churches took the unusual step of placing an advert in the Herald-Sun newspaper in August setting out their objection to the Bill. Their advert said that “human dignity is honoured in living life, not in taking it.”

Read it all.

Posted in Anglican Church of Australia, Anthropology, Ethics / Moral Theology, Health & Medicine, Law & Legal Issues, Life Ethics, Pastoral Theology, Theology

(The Australian) Euthanasia laws passed in Victoria’s upper house

Posted on November 25, 2017 by Kendall Harmon

The vote came at the end of eight days of debate, including two all-night sittings with one that ended when an MP was rushed to hospital with a medical emergency.

Visibly emotional government MPs including Jaala Pulford, Jaclyn Symes, Cesar Melhem all embraced in the wake of the vote, which occurred in front of a packed public gallery where pro-euthanasia advocates including Andrew Denton, Dr Sally Cockburn sat alongside pro-life campaigners including Australian Christian Lobby Victorian chief executive Dan Flynn.

The vote came at the end of eight days of debate, including two all-night sittings with one that ended when an MP was rushed to hospital with a medical emergency.

The scheme, which is expected to come into play by 2019 will grant terminally ill patients of sound mind and a life expectancy of less than six months the ability to choose when they die.

The government has not yet released details on the lethal formula that will be given to patients, but has drafted the plan in which the drugs will be issued to patients in a locked box to which only they have the key.

Read it all.

Posted in Aging / the Elderly, Anthropology, Australia / NZ, Death / Burial / Funerals, Ethics / Moral Theology, Health & Medicine, Law & Legal Issues, Life Ethics, Pastoral Theology, Politics in General, Theology

A Prayer to Begin the Day from New Every Morning

Posted on November 25, 2017 by Kendall Harmon

Almighty and eternal God, who madest thy light to shine in the darkness by the sending of thy Son Jesus Christ to deliver us from the dominion of evil: Visit us now, we pray thee, in the darkness of these times, and let thy truth and righteousness shine forth among us. Take from the world the fears which oppress mankind, that we may live in the power of justice and the freedom of thy truth; through the same Jesus Christ our Lord.

–New Every Morning (The Prayer Book Of The Daily Broadcast Service) [BBC, 1900]

Posted in Spirituality/Prayer

From the Morning Scripture Readings

Posted on November 25, 2017 by Kendall Harmon

He turns rivers into a desert, springs of water into thirsty ground, a fruitful land into a salty waste, because of the wickedness of its inhabitants. He turns a desert into pools of water, a parched land into springs of water. And there he lets the hungry dwell, and they establish a city to live in; they sow fields, and plant vineyards, and get a fruitful yield. By his blessing they multiply greatly; and he does not let their cattle decrease. When they are diminished and brought low through oppression, trouble, and sorrow, he pours contempt upon princes and makes them wander in trackless wastes; but he raises up the needy out of affliction, and makes their families like flocks. The upright see it and are glad; and all wickedness stops its mouth. Whoever is wise, let him give heed to these things; let men consider the steadfast love of the LORD.

–Psalm 107:33-43

Posted in Theology: Scripture
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