Lord God Almighty, shaper and ruler of all creatures, we pray Thee for Thy great mercy, that Thou guide us better than we have done, towards Thee, and guide us to Thy will, to the need of our soul, better than we can ourselves. And steadfast our mind towards Thy will and to our soul’s need. And strengthen us against the temptations of the devil, and put far from us all lust, and every unrighteousness, and shield us against our foes, seen and unseen. And teach us to do Thy will, that we may inwardly love Thee before all things, with a pure mind. For Thou art our maker and our redeemer, our help, our comfort, our trust, our hope; praise and glory be to Thee now, ever and ever, world without end. Amen.

–James Manning,ed., Prayers of the Middle Ages: Light from a Thousand Years (Nashville: The Upper Room, 1954)

Today, the 26th October is the #feastday of #AlfredtheGreat, King of the West Saxons, Scholar, 899🕯️He is known for translating many works into the language of the common people https://t.co/rZIBY9c32u pic.twitter.com/kERWRnyPxU

— @stjohnthebaptistpontfadog (@stjohnt41847528) October 26, 2018

But I trust in thee, O LORD, I say, “Thou art my God.” My times are in thy hand; deliver me from the hand of my enemies and persecutors! Let thy face shine on thy servant; save me in thy steadfast love!

–Psalm 31:15-16

The next four years I spent as an entirely uninterested high school student. Shakespeare’s Julius ­Caesar, George Eliot’s Adam Bede, a few essays by Ralph Waldo Emerson, all offered as part of the required school curriculum, none of them so much as laid a glove on me. Willa Cather, a writer I have come to admire as the greatest twentieth-century American novelist, chose not to allow any of her novels put into what she called “school editions,” lest young students, having to read her under the duress of school assignments, never return to her books when they were truly ready for them. She was no dope, Miss Cather.

Only after I had departed high school did books begin to interest me, and then only in my second year of college, when I transferred from the University of Illinois to the University of Chicago. Among the most beneficial departures from standard college fare at the University of Chicago was the brilliant idea of eliminating textbooks from undergraduate study. This meant that instead of reading, in a thick­ textbook, “In his Politics Aristotle held . . . ,” or “In Civilization and Its Discontents Freud argued . . . ,” or “In On Liberty John Stuart Mill asserted . . . ,” students read the Politics, Civilization and Its Discontents, On Liberty, and a good deal else. Not only read them, but, if they were like me, became excited by them. Heady stuff, all this, for a nineteen-year-old semi-literate who, on first encountering their names, was uncertain how to pronounce Proust or Thucydides.

Along with giving me a firsthand acquaintance with some of the great philosophers, historians, novelists, and poets of the Western world, the elimination of that dreary, baggy-pants middleman called the textbook gave me the confidence that I could read the most serious of books. Somehow it also gave me a rough sense of what is serious in the way of reading and what is not. Anyone who has read a hundred pages of Herodotus senses that it is probably a mistake—that is, a waste of your finite and therefore severely limited time on earth—to read a six-­hundred-page biography of Bobby Kennedy, unless, that is, you can find one written by Xenophon.

What is the true point of a bookish life? Note I write “point,” not “goal.” The bookish life can have no goal: It is all means and no end….

Read it all.

The Bookish Life: How to Read and Why https://t.co/ebpvDv9Aya pic.twitter.com/H3AlslUYwU

— Huy Vo (@huyvohcmc) October 23, 2018

The seven-time congressman is known as an apologist for the 1964-85 military dictatorship, for endorsing torture and for making disparaging remarks about homosexuals, women and black people.

But the majority of voters do not appear to care about these threats. They want to use him as a wrecking ball to demolish what they see as a hopelessly corrupt and incompetent political establishment, starting with the PT. Many view his less savoury remarks as a refreshing change from the fussy political correctness associated with the left.

“He has become a point of convergence for innumerable and diverse points of dissatisfaction with a political system that is rotten to the core,” says Daniel Aarão Reis, a professor of contemporary history at Universidade Federal Fluminense in Niterói.

Whatever the reasons for his likely victory, observers are divided over whether a Bolsonaro presidency will threaten one of Brazil’s most hard-won achievements — its democracy. In style at least, Mr Bolsonaro echoes many of the traits of the populists who have prospered around the world in recent years, from Turkey and Russia to the Philippines.

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Bolsonaro's an apologist for dictatorship and disparages minorities, but a majority of voters apparently don't care. They want him to demolish hopelessly corrupt and incompetent political establishment, starting with Workers Party. https://t.co/SXXx1xjca1 via @financialtimes

— Juan Forero (@WSJForero) October 25, 2018

“Together we are going to end the scourge of drug addiction in America,” President Donald Trump said on Wednesday, as he signed a new bill to tackle the country’s opioid epidemic.

Authorities have seized enough fentanyl to kill every single American. It’s a crisis that lines one major highway. These are the stories of Interstate-95.

Watch it all (about 13 1/2 minutes).

A kilo of fentanyl worth $5,000 in China makes a $1.5m profit when sold in the US illegally https://t.co/jPTpbKL2uc

— BBC North America (@BBCNorthAmerica) October 25, 2018

Don’t become an ordinand unless you are well-off, that was the message of a new report released by the Church of England.

The Living Ministry research follows cohorts of 85 ordinands and clergy through their ministry over a decade.

According to the report, non-residential ordinands who started training in retirement, maintaining their pension drawings or those who retain an adequate salary even after a reduction in working hours to fit in training,report the best financial wellbeing.

This is the same for those whose main household income is their partner’s (about two thirds are reliant to some extent on income from their partner).

One male participant reported:“I think actually [the Church has]probably got it bang on that that is what you need to live on, because I can live on that, but it is so tight that anything extra that comes up, you’ve got no way of doing anything.”

Read it all (subscription may be required).

Most Holy God, whose servant Tabitha thou didst raise from the dead to display thy power and confirm thy message that thy Son is Lord; grant unto us thy grace, that aided by her prayers and example, we may be given a new life in thy Spirit to do works pleasing in thy sight; Through Jesus Christ thy Son our Lord; who livest and reignest with thee, in the unity of the Holy Ghost, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

“Now there was in Joppa a disciple named Tabitha, which, translated, means Dorcas. She was full of good works and acts of charity.” – Acts 9:36 @ESVBible pic.twitter.com/XEEq1aoatG

— Joshua Rystedt (@JoshuaRystedt) October 25, 2017

O God, in obedience to thy command, I surrender myself to thee this day, all that I am and all that I have, to be unconditionally thine for thy using. Take me from myself and use me as thou wilt, where thou wilt, when thou wilt, with whom thou wilt; for Christ’s sake.

–Robert W. Rodenmayer, ed., The Pastor’s Prayerbook: Selected and arranged for various occasions (New York: Oxford University Press, 1960)

And behold, a lawyer stood up to put him to the test, saying, “Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?” He said to him, “What is written in the law? How do you read?”And he answered, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength, and with all your mind; and your neighbor as yourself.”And he said to him, “You have answered right; do this, and you will live.”

But he, desiring to justify himself, said to Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?” Jesus replied, “A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and he fell among robbers, who stripped him and beat him, and departed, leaving him half dead. Now by chance a priest was going down that road; and when he saw him he passed by on the other side. So likewise a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. But a Samaritan, as he journeyed, came to where he was; and when he saw him, he had compassion, and went to him and bound up his wounds, pouring on oil and wine; then he set him on his own beast and brought him to an inn, and took care of him. And the next day he took out two denarii and gave them to the innkeeper, saying, ‘Take care of him; and whatever more you spend, I will repay you when I come back.’ Which of these three, do you think, proved neighbor to the man who fell among the robbers?” He said, “The one who showed mercy on him.” And Jesus said to him, “Go and do likewise.”

–Luke 10:25-37

When Kolbie Sanders called off her wedding weeks before the big day, she decided to make someone else’s dream come true, giving away her wedding venue to a complete stranger in need.

Watch it all.

Techies build social media platforms so that we will become addicted to them. Social media money comes from advertisers who need proof of an audience. To get as many eyeballs as possible, techies studied the brain science surrounding addiction in other areas of our lives. Humans get addicted to alcohol, drugs, and gambling because they give us happiness. These chemicals or experiences of winning create dopamine which translates into a euphoria in us.

But happiness is not enough to keep humans addicted. We need light and shadow. There also has to be risk, a challenge, and a fight. Addiction is as much about the negative as it is about the positive.

Think about it. When a gambler wins, he wants to win more, which is completely understandable. But why would he go back when he’s losing? That defies logic.

It’s because he doesn’t want to leave the table a loser, he wants to make it right. He wants to win back his money. So, both the winning and losing draw him into the addiction.

The same thing happens to us during an argument on social media. We want to make things right, to say the right thing to persuade the other, or to dominate them in order to win. We don’t want to walk away a loser, so we become hooked.

Read it all.

Bishops C Fitzsimons Allison, Mark Lawrence, and Alden Hathaway at the recent concluded diocese of #SouthCarolina Clergy conference (Greg Snyder photo) #theology #encouragement #parishministry pic.twitter.com/syb7CObGe2

— Kendall Harmon (@KendallHarmon6) October 24, 2018

When she was a child and early teenager Farrah Turner, better known as Maxine to her family and friends, would spend summers going to a nursing home in Lake City, South Carolina, to give elderly people company and comfort. Even in her youth, Turner felt a duty to serve her community, her cousin Britney Weaver said.

“Her goal has always been this sense of community and to bring people together and give back,” said Weaver, now an attorney. “She wore many different hats in the community because that was what was fulfilling to her.”

Turner died Monday, 19 days after a man ambushed sheriff’s deputies and investigators who went to search a home near Florence, South Carolina. Turner was one of those investigators. Family members described her as faithful, devoted and funny, who made a real impact on people’s lives.

Tributes poured in from around the country for the officer who had been in critical condition for almost three weeks since the shooting.

Read it all.

‘Always going to feel her presence.’ Family, community were life of ambushed officer https://t.co/jxTZGkVPzz pic.twitter.com/2R4vU5BqV3

— The State Newspaper (@thestate) October 23, 2018

He added: “American culture is probably the least Christian culture that we’ve ever had, because it’s so materialistic and it’s so full of lies. The whole advertising world is just intertwined with lies, appealing to the worst instincts we have. The problem is, people have been treated as consumers for so long they don’t know any other way to live.”

Mr. Peterson’s entire pastoral career unfolded in a single small church that he founded in 1963: Christ Our King Presbyterian Church in Bel Air, Md., a suburban town of 8,000 northeast of Baltimore. Affiliated with the Presbyterian Church USA, his parish began with a few dozen people; decades later it had only 500 members and Sunday service attendances of about 250.

He liked to be called Pastor Peterson or Pastor Pete. “Ours was an informal congregation, and except for the children and youth, most of the people in it were older than I and addressed me by my given name, Eugene, which was fine by me,” Mr. Peterson wrote in “The Pastor: A Memoir” (2011).

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The Rev. Eugene H. Peterson, a Presbyterian minister who challenged the mass marketing of Christian evangelism and wrote a shelf of books on religion — notably “The Message,” a series that recast the Bible into everyday English — has died https://t.co/uzuulm3IvF

— New York Times Books (@nytimesbooks) October 24, 2018

Choose your words carefully.

Relevance is irrelevant.

Pastoral ministry is serious, consequential work.

There is no ministry in the abstract.

Every step is integral to your journey.

Christ is all we have to offer.

Reject grandiosity.

Sabbath is a gift.

Read them all.

We loved Eugene Peterson. Here's what we remember most about this pastor's legacy https://t.co/ATyV5dk3ej

— Christianity Today (@CTmagazine) October 24, 2018

The Reverend Darren Howie is a former thief and was addicted to heroin.

He spent a decade in and out of prison – and was once told by a prison chaplain, when he weighed just six-and-a-half stone, that he would die once he left prison.

However, Mr Howie got clean through a Christian rehabilitation programme….

Read it all and watch the whole video.

You are never beyond the love and redemption of God. To think otherwise is a perverse idolatry.

The ex-heroin addict who became a priest – BBC News https://t.co/s4JjqDSiRH

— Fr. SJM-C+ (@FatherSJMC) October 23, 2018

O God, who through thy Son Jesus Christ hast promised a blessing to the meek upon earth, take from us all pride and vanity, boasting and forwardness; and give us the true courage that shows itself by gentleness, the true wisdom that shows itself by simplicity, and the true power that shows itself by modesty; for Christ’s sake.

–Robert W. Rodenmayer, ed., The Pastor’s Prayerbook: Selected and arranged for various occasions (New York: Oxford University Press, 1960)

Do not forsake me, O LORD! O my God, be not far from me! Make haste to help me, O Lord, my salvation!

–Psalm 38:21-22

orma Emerton, the scholar of the history and philosophy of science who has died aged 86, was associated with Wolfson College, Cambridge, for almost 50 years, as a PhD student, Senior Member, Senior Tutor, Fellow, and President of the Society of Emeritus Fellows.

She was a stalwart supporter of Wolfson’s non-hierarchical ethos and was dedicated to the advancement of women in the academic and scientific worlds. The college, which provides for graduates and mature undergraduates, has no High Table and all the college facilities are available equally to students, staff and fellows. Occasional proposals to restrict access would invariably meet with Norma Emerton’s vigorous opposition.

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"She held to a robust, distinctively Anglican Christian faith, which she believed to be entirely compatible with science. . . her chief regret was she would not be able to finish her book on pre-scientific-era understanding of Genesis creation narratives." https://t.co/LuUeudzyQE

— Madeleine Davies (@MadsDavies) October 23, 2018

On November 30, 1838, 80 per cent of the 1333 acres of the two hapu’s traditional lands, later known as the CMS Te Papa Block, was transferred to the Church Missionary Society.

After the battle of Gate Pa, the Battle of Te Ranga and the Bush campaign, the Crown put pressure on the church to sell the land to the Crown for European settlement.

Archdeacons Brown and Henry Williams protested several times, but in the end, Brown caved in.

In 1867 the Church Mission Society Central Lands Board resold 423 hectares of the land to the government without seeking hapu agreement.

Back in May at a meeting in New Plymouth, the Anglican Church General Synod apologised to about 10 hapu members and also agreed to come to Tauranga to make a formal public apology to the leaders of the two Tauranga Moana hapu.

Anglican Archbishop of Waiapu Andrew Hedge described the church’s failure as a “basic moral error” and said the apology was made with an “overwhelming sense of grief”.

Read it all.

“It arose in the context of the same-sex marriage debates last year, and the realisation that the changing legal landscape had put our Anglican institutions at risk of anti-discrimination complaints and other adverse action.” Bishop Stead said.

The Bishop admitted the policy was a ‘clunky’ way to handle the problem.

“The core problem is that there is almost no positive protection for freedom of religion in Australian law. Instead, what little protection there is comes from carve-outs – exemptions – in anti-discrimination legislation. Exemptions are the wrong way to deal with this – it is a sledge-hammer to crack a peanut. However, it seems that there is no political appetite for a proper fix, and it seems we are stuck with clunky exemptions. And this policy and ordinance is the – also somewhat clunky – way to address this. “

“To rely on existing anti-discrimination exemptions, a religious institution must demonstrate that its actions conform to the ‘doctrines, tenets or beliefs of that religion’. To ensure that the courts know what “our doctrines, tenets or beliefs” are, we need a clear articulation of our doctrines.”

Read it all.

It is with great sadness that the Regent College Community mourns the loss of Eugene H. Peterson, a beloved faculty member, teacher, pastor, and friend. Eugene was the James M. Houston Professor of Spiritual Theology at Regent from 1992 to 1998.

He had received hospice care for the past week and died early this morning at his home near Flathead Lake, Montana. He was 85.

Eugene embodied the conviction that all of Scripture is a conversation, “God does not speak and then walk off. Listening goes on.” Of being a pastor, he went further, “The work of the Christian life is participating with people and the Spirit of God. You can’t live it without the Spirit or without people. A pastor has the task of making sure that people understand that as a possibility––and an attractive one.”

Through his lectures, sermons, and conversations at Regent, Eugene blessed countless students, pastors, and visitors. He taught classes entitled “Soulcraft: Spiritual Formation,” and “Tell it Slant: the Beatitudes.” He frequently preceded his lectures with the class singing St. Patrick’s hymn, “I Bind Unto Myself Today,” beloved for its refrain “Christ be with me, Christ within me, Christ behind me, Christ before me.” More than once Eugene paused, explained to the students that they needed to stop, attend to the words, and sing it again.

Read it all.

As many of you will have heard, our dear friend Eugene Peterson passed away this morning. Please join us in gratitude for his life and in prayer for his family.https://t.co/0xn5yeOanQ pic.twitter.com/bnF4tmpXJS

— Regent College (@regentcollege) October 22, 2018

Grant, we beseech thee, O God, that after the example of thy servant James the Just, brother of our Lord, thy Church may give itself continually to prayer and to the reconciliation of all who are at variance and enmity; through the same our Lord Jesus Christ, who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and ever.

#October23 Feast Day of Saint James of Jerusalem. pic.twitter.com/D0boshdaM2

— JoS. S. Laughon (@paleomexicano) October 24, 2016

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]

Prove me, O LORD, and try me; test my heart and my mind. For thy steadfast love is before my eyes, and I walk in faithfulness to thee.

–Psalm 26:2-3

Spurgeon’s friends and even casual acquaintances remarked on his hearty laughter. His humor also found expression in his sermons and writings, for which he was sometimes criticized. Spurgeon responded that if his critics only knew how much humor he suppressed, they would keep silent.

At the same time, Spurgeon’s life was saturated with suffering. We know about his sufferings intimately owing to his frequent and candid descriptions of them.

What torments did Spurgeon suffer? How did he reconcile his painful experiences with his view of a gracious God?

Read it all.

Thank you, Eugene, for your dedication to the poetry and clarity of Biblical language, and the various doors you opened to Heaven. We're truly, deeply grateful for everything you've done. https://t.co/K4SKwXlMw7

— The Source (@TheSourceHou) October 22, 2018

This past weekend saw synods in the metropolitan dioceses of Melbourne and Adelaide here in Australia. We’ve previously reported on the proposed motions there (Melbourne, Adelaide) to provide for blessings of same-sex marriages contracted by civil celebrants. As is becoming clear, these motions are part of a coordinated campaign across the whole country.

In both Melbourne and Adelaide those motions failed to pass. In Adelaide the motion fell to a “not put” motion (i.e. the synod agreed by a vote that the motion “not be put”) after lengthy debate. This is an effective way of shelving the motion without a definitive vote against. It’s a political move to avoid some loss of face all around or when the synod decides that the topic is too contentious to come to a clear decision upon. In Melbourne the motion was withdrawn by its proposer, Archdeacon Craig D’Alton.

What this now means is that across the country, except for one diocese (Wangaratta) there has been a failure in the campaign to get a positive vote for same-sex blessings.

Read it all.

The next Bishop of Ramsbury has been announced as The Reverend Dr Andrew Paul Rumsey by Downing Street this morning.

Author of the highly acclaimed ‘Parish – An Anglican theology of place’, he is currently serving as Team Rector of St Mary, Oxted in Surrey.

The Bishop of Ramsbury is an ancient title first used in 909 AD with responsibility mainly for the Wiltshire parishes in the Diocese of Salisbury. The new Bishop will also chair the Diocese’s Mission and Ministry Council.

He is married to Rebecca, who works as an executive coach, and was born in Marlborough where the new Bishop and his family will be living. They have three children, Grace (16), Jonah (14) and Talitha (Tali for short,12).

Dr Rumsey is 50 and comes from a long line of parish clergy. He was educated first at the University of Reading and then at Kings College, London. He trained for ordination at Ridley Hall, Cambridge.

Read it all.

KEY APPOINTMENTS: The next Bishop of Ramsbury has been announced as the Reverend Dr Andrew Paul Rumsey by Downing Street this morning. He is expected to take up his new position in January. More here: https://t.co/72nwmm4sV2#Wiltshire pic.twitter.com/pythHrhrYj

— Diocese of Salisbury (@DioSalisbury) October 22, 2018

O Blessed Jesus, who hast redeemed us to God by thy blood, and hast consecrated us in baptism to be temples of the Holy Ghost: Make us, we beseech thee, both in body and soul, meet for thy dwelling place; that our hearts may be houses of prayer and praise, of pure desires and holy thoughts of thee, whose we are and whom we serve, and to whom be glory, now and for evermore.