I am deeply concerned that the U.S. Supreme Court has effectively redefined the legal meaning of ‘sex’ in our nation’s civil rights law. This is an injustice that will have implications in many areas of life.

By erasing the beautiful differences and complementary relationship between man and woman, we ignore the glory of God’s creation and harm the human family, the first building block of society. Our sex, whether we are male or female, is part of God’s plan for creation and for our lives. As Pope Francis has taught with such sensitivity, to live in the truth with God’s intended gifts in our lives requires that we receive our bodily and sexual identity with gratitude from our Creator. No one can find true happiness by pursuing a path that is contrary to God’s plan.

Every human person is made in the image and likeness of God and, without exception, must be treated with dignity, compassion, and respect. Protecting our neighbors from unjust discrimination does not require redefining human nature.

We pray that the Church, with the help of Mary, the Mother of God, will be able to continue her mission to bring Jesus Christ to every man and woman.

Read it all.

What is your view on supporting weak dioceses, especially with regard to GAFCON cause?
I think GAFCON was partly founded or has the support of the Church of Nigeria (CON) in collaboration with our brothers in Uganda, Tanzania, Kenya and other parts of Africa. GAFCON came as a rescue mission to bring together those who were not happy with the way Episcopal Church in America and other churches in the West deviated from the Word of God and upheld another gospel, which was not the true Gospel. We said no, we were not going that way. But they were well endowed and had the resources. When Baba Akinola and other fathers of the church started speaking, they said they were just making noise. They didn’t take us seriously; they didn’t think we could stand. But one thing we have come to realise is that anything that is of God lasts. The present Chairman of GAFCON is the Primate of ACNA, Archbishop Foley Beach and the Secretary-General is our own Archbishop Benjamin Kwashi. So, we are still neck-deep in the functions of GAFCON.

The CON will stand with GAFCON, though some of our sister churches are not as resourced as CON. The West already knows this weakness, having related with us for a very long time, and even sent the missionaries that founded most of us. So, they know where to pull the carpet from under our feet. That was how some that did not have the resources started going from the back. It is just like the weak ones are going from the back and you are pulling them. While the strong ones are in the front, they are busy gathering the ones at the back and confusing them. The same thing may even be happening in the CON. Some of the bishops may be tempted and be bought over because they lack the resources. But as far as we are concerned, it cannot happen in CON. That is why we thank God for Baba Okoh for establishing St. Matthias Fund, which has helped to stabilise some of us and we will ensure we pursue it.

When I take my place in the Primates’ Council in GAFCON, I will think and work with my brother Archbishops and the Primates to see what we can do. How we can raise funds to help our brethren so that we can have unity of purpose and move together. We will not compromise our stance. We will uphold the 2008 Jerusalem Declaration and 2018 Reaffirmation, and other conventions and their agreements that we have made. We will see that we keep on supporting GAFCON and working with them.

Read it all.

REVISIONIST AGENDA HAS NO PLACE IN CHURCH OF NIGERIA, ANGLICAN COMMUNION SAYS PRIMATE NDUKUBA https://t.co/xwWTc4GUDa via @anglicanCON #ChurchofNigeria #AnglicanCommunion #PrimateNdukuba

— Church of Nigeria (Anglican Communion) (@anglicanCONig) June 14, 2020

Christian charity Release International has welcomed a new report by UK parliamentarians highlighting the religious element behind much of the growing violence in Nigeria. The report warns of the risk of an unfolding genocide and calls for UK aid to be linked to efforts to protect Nigerian villagers from attacks by Islamist extremists.

Release says the new report by the All Party Parliamentary Group on Freedom of Religion and Belief, Nigeria: Unfolding Genocide? is the result of an investigation by 100 UK parliamentarians from a wide range of political parties.

It describes attacks on churches and Christians which killed more than 1,000 in 2019. A partner of Release International, which supports victims of violence, estimates 30,000 have been killed since the conflict began in the 1980s. The United Nations put the death toll at 27,000.

Read it all.

Thousands of Christians killed in Nigeria amid fears of genocide, report warns https://t.co/Kb4l2pxgWL

— Janet (@louisajan1) June 17, 2020

Almighty God, our heavenly Father, who hast taught us by love to serve one another: Give us eyes of compassion for human suffering and need wherever it is found, and especially for that which lies nearest to our own doors; save us from neglecting life’s opportunities; and grant that while we have time we may do good to all men, for the sake of Jesus Christ our Saviour.

At that time the disciples came to Jesus, saying, “Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?” And calling to him a child, he put him in the midst of them, and said, “Truly, I say to you, unless you turn and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Whoever humbles himself like this child, he is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. “Whoever receives one such child in my name receives me; but whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him to have a great millstone fastened round his neck and to be drowned in the depth of the sea. “Woe to the world for temptations to sin! For it is necessary that temptations come, but woe to the man by whom the temptation comes! And if your hand or your foot causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away; it is better for you to enter life maimed or lame than with two hands or two feet to be thrown into the eternal fire. And if your eye causes you to sin, pluck it out and throw it away; it is better for you to enter life with one eye than with two eyes to be thrown into the hell of fire.

–Matthew 18:1-9

The South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control (DHEC) today announced 595 new cases of the novel coronavirus COVID-19 and 5 additional deaths.

This brings the total number of people confirmed to have COVID-19 in South Carolina to 19,990 and those who have died to 607.

Three of the deaths occurred in elderly individuals from Chesterfield (1), Colleton (1), and Richland (1) counties, and two of the deaths occurred middle-aged individuals from Dillon (1) and Richland (1) counties.

Read it all.

UPDATE: DHEC confirmed 595 new #coronavirus cases on Tuesday, bringing South Carolina’s statewide total to 19,990:https://t.co/f0vPLrjAM6 #scnews

— ABC News 4 (@ABCNews4) June 16, 2020

Why didn’t more people pay attention to Little Richard’s gospel music?

Probably because gospel music is the music of good news and in these days there just isn’t any. Good news in today’s world is like a fugitive, treated like a hoodlum and put on the run. Castigated. All we see is good-for-nothing news. And we have to thank the media industry for that. It stirs people up. Gossip and dirty laundry. Dark news that depresses and horrifies you.

On the other hand, gospel news is exemplary. It can give you courage. You can pace your life accordingly, or try to, anyway. And you can do it with honor and principles. There are theories of truth in gospel but to most people it’s unimportant. Their lives are lived out too fast. Too many bad influences. Sex and politics and murder is the way to go if you want to get people’s attention. It excites us, that’s our problem.

Read it all.

“There’s definitely a lot more anxiety and nervousness around now than there used to be,” said Bob Dylan in a rare, wide-ranging interview about mortality, history and his new album, “Rough and Rowdy Ways,” which comes out June 19 https://t.co/Eltz6iE2bP

— The New York Times (@nytimes) June 12, 2020

A cheap and widely available drug can help save the lives of patients seriously ill with coronavirus.

The low-dose steroid treatment dexamethasone is a major breakthrough in the fight against the deadly virus, UK experts say.

The drug is part of the world’s biggest trial testing existing treatments to see if they also work for coronavirus.

It cut the risk of death by a third for patients on ventilators. For those on oxygen, it cut deaths by a fifth.

Had the drug had been used to treat patients in the UK from the start of the pandemic, up to 5,000 lives could have been saved, researchers say.

Read it all.

Let’s hope for the good.
Coronavirus: Dexamethasone proves first life-saving drug https://t.co/lgLSV9N43z

— Khawar Ghumman (@Ghummans) June 16, 2020

Please note there is also an audio only version available to listen to or download there.

A survey commissioned to lead the Lowcountry forward five years after the massacre at Mother Emanuel AME shows a community eager to curb systemic racism, but divided on the current climate and next steps necessary to do so.

Respondents agree race should have no role in how people are treated by police, in school and in the community, but disagree on whether law enforcement officers racially profile people of color, how schools achieve goals and encourage success and whether symbols and monuments seen as racist should remain in place.

Leaders of The Charleston Forum hope the results will help drive their conversations with local leaders over the next year as they develop policy proposals aimed at equality and justice in the region. The survey was conducted before the weeks of protest following George Floyd’s death in Minneapolis last month, but it details ongoing concerns in the community that in some ways parallel the issues raised by marchers.

Read it all.

#Charleston race relations survey reveals glaring inequality, a path forward https://t.co/Shs22u13j6 #chsnews

— Mikaela Porter (@mikaelaporterPC) June 15, 2020

In an article for Christianity Today’s ChurchLawAndTax.com, attorney and senior editor Richard Hammar said churches retain important protections with employment decisions pertaining to clergy, despite Monday’s ruling. However, Monday’s decision fosters greater uncertainty for churches with employees in nonministerial roles, he said.“

Churches that take an adverse action against an employee or applicant for employment based on religious considerations should describe their action appropriately,” Hammar said. “Refer to the religious or doctrinal principle at issue, and avoid generic labels like ‘sex’ or other gender- or sexuality-based labels.”

Russell Moore, president of the Southern Baptist Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission, wrote that the ruling will have “seismic implications for religious liberty, setting off potentially years of lawsuits and court struggles, about what this means, for example, for religious organizations with religious convictions about the meaning of sex and sexuality.”

“This Supreme Court decision should hardly be surprising, given how much has changed culturally on the meanings of sex and sexuality,” he said. “That the ‘sexual revolution’ is supported here by both ‘conservatives’ and ‘progressives’ on the court should also be of little surprise to those who have watched developments in each of these ideological corners of American life.”

Read it all and there is a lot more there as well.

I have to admit I didn’t know who Haynes was until I read an article about him recently. How did you encounter him?

When I was pastoring in Vermont, I did some research into the history of the area, and I stumbled across him. Haynes wasn’t from Vermont, but he spent 30 years pastoring a church in West Rutland. I was about five miles down the road from where he preached. So I was just looking into the church history of Vermont, and he’s a towering figure in that state. But when I started reading up on him, I thought he should be better known in American church history. He’s the first African American ordained by a religious body in America and the first black pastor of a mostly white congregation. That’s rare today. It was unheard of then.

You wrote, “I had a friend who once said ‘fall in love with a dead guy.’ Haynes is my guy.” Why do you feel this special affinity for Haynes?

One reason is his faithful pastorate. He was a devotee of the theology of Jonathan Edwards, so he was in that American Puritan tradition. He was heavily influenced by the revivals; he cites Edwards and George Whitefield in his final sermon to the congregation in West Rutland. So he has that theology, and he was just a faithful shepherd. The first substantive biography of him, by Timothy Mather Cooley, is full of wonderful anecdotes, vignettes of things Haynes did and said. He was so funny; he had the wit of a Spurgeon. I loved that he was a political-minded guy but kept that out of his pulpit preaching. His theology was very rich.

Read it all.

O God, who dost raise up scholars for thy church in every generation; we praise thee for the wisdom and insight granted to thy bishop and theologian Joseph Butler, and pray that thy church may never be destitute of such gifts; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who with thee and the Holy Ghost liveth and reigneth, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

Philosopher of forgiveness, Joseph Butler, born #onthisday 1692 pic.twitter.com/vDXtIl1JtV

— John Tasioulas (@JTasioulas) May 18, 2018

O God, we know and believe in the love thou bearest towards us. May we, by dwelling in that love, dwell in thee, and thou in us. We would learn to love and to serve him whom we have not seen, by loving and serving our brethren whom we have seen; through Jesus Christ our Lord.

For I am not ashamed of the gospel: it is the power of God for salvation to every one who has faith, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. For in it the righteousness of God is revealed through faith for faith; as it is written, “He who through faith is righteous shall live.”

–Romans 1:16-17

Prisons across the country have placed prisoners on lockdown — they’re kept in their cells mostly around-the-clock — as a way to stop the spread of the coronavirus. Now prison reformers are worried that the response has increased the use of a practice they’ve long fought: solitary confinement.

“We’re starting to see an alarming trend in light of COVID-19,” says Jessica Sandoval of Unlock the Box, a coalition of groups fighting solitary confinement, including the American Civil Liberties Union and the National Religious Campaign Against Torture.

That trend is outlined in the coalition’s new report, Solitary Confinement Is Never the Answer.

Before the coronavirus, according to the report, there were 60,000 people in solitary confinement. Now, in response to the pandemic, 300,000 state and federal prisoners have been confined to their cells. They’ve been placed in solitary confinement or in lockdown.

Read it all.

South Carolina continued a record breaking streak of coronavirus cases Monday after state health officials announced that 582 more people have tested positive for the virus.

Department of Health and Environmental Control officials also announced that two additional people — who were from Charleston and Lexington counties — died after contracting the coronavirus.

Greenville County saw the largest increase in cases with 91.

Read it all.

SC continues record breaking coronavirus streak with 582 new cases Monday https://t.co/rtT6IdbUhH

— maybeawriter (@maybeawriter) June 15, 2020

Special circumstances. I am an only child, and my parents have health conditions that put them at a risk of getting very ill. Who is going to take care of them if I am at college? Not their siblings, who are also high risk, and not my grandparents, who are in their 80s. What happens to students who suffer from underlying medical conditions? What about graduate students and nontraditional undergrads who have children? What if elementary schools do not reopen in the fall or close midsemester? What if we see more young children develop COVID-related Kawasaki syndrome?

Worst-case scenario. The death rate for university-age students is estimated to be about 0.2 percent, and the hospitalization rate is estimated to be 2.5 percent. At a university like mine, with a student population of roughly 13,000, we risk having 325 students sick enough to be hospitalized and 26 students die in a worst-case-scenario outbreak. Our professors, though fewer in number, face even higher hospitalization and death rates.

Is this a price we’re willing to pay? If the decision were up to me, I would say no. If a vaccine or effective treatment were developed between now and January, such deaths would be entirely needless.

Read it all.

A student writes an open letter to administrators on her concerns about reopening campuses in the fall (opinion) https://t.co/Pa7jmDofFa

— James F. McGrath (@ReligionProf) June 15, 2020

American pride has continued its downward trajectory reaching the lowest point in the two decades of Gallup measurement. The new low comes at a time when the U.S. faces public health and economic crises brought on by the coronavirus pandemic and civil unrest following the death of George Floyd in police custody.

Although a majority of adults in the U.S. still say they are “extremely proud” (42%) or “very proud” (21%) to be American, both readings are the lowest they have been since Gallup’s initial measurement in 2001.

Read it all.

Gallup finds that U.S. national pride has fallen to a record low. Notably, extreme pride in being American among white respondents has fallen below 50% for the first time; for nonwhites, share is 24%. https://t.co/gFihLr1wlB pic.twitter.com/shtLpVjsko

— Catherine Rampell (@crampell) June 15, 2020

Others, in spite of Christ’s admonition to deny yourself and take up your cross to follow Him, are not willing to risk tweetings when the apostles braved beatings. Their jobs are too precious to risk. Though they enjoy greater freedom from actual censorship than arguably any people in the history of the planet, self-censorship suffices to drive too many thoughtful Christian voices from the academy, the boardroom, and the office. But shrinking back in the face of challenges to career and reputation communicates fear, not faith, to a broken world. While the fearful Christian would never say this out loud, they’re functionally treating the “strong gods” of the partisan political moment as greater and more powerful than the God of the universe they seek to serve.

How do you respond to those “strong gods”? By showing them to be weak. Speak in the face of fear, but speak in the way that God desires. He has given His people a mission statement: “He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?” Each element is transformative. Each element is necessary. Any Christian movement that lacks justice, kindness, and humility is flawed.

America is at an important crossroads. There is a stirring in the American heart—men and women who were once hardened against the words and testimonies of their black fellow citizens are starting, at last, to listen. But extreme voices seek to hijack the debate, to take advantage of the moment to continue ripping this nation to shreds.

Are Christians prepared to be the instruments of justice, mercy, and humility that this nation so desperately needs? Not if they remain afraid. Not if in their timidity they continue to empower our worst voices or refuse to speak the truth with grace and conviction. Christians have immense liberty in this nation, but our witness ultimately defines us, not our rights, and presently the Christian witness is all too often a witness of fear.

Read it all.

This, by @DavidAFrench, is deep. Not “deep” the way this word was once used in dorm rooms: “Dude, this hash is, like, purifying.” “That’s deep, dude.” No, I mean truly deep. https://t.co/rc3Pw63PbF

— Jay Nordlinger (@jaynordlinger) June 14, 2020

(Sermon starts at 20:26ish).

A Word of God for Thursday June 11th:

All the ends of the earth have seen
the salvation of our God.
Shout to the Lord all the earth,
ring out your joy
Psalm 97 pic.twitter.com/tDcTuXFvQW

— Johnny Doherty (@JohnnyDoherty3) June 10, 2020

Jesus’ resurrection three days after his crucifixion shows that neither the lynching tree nor the cross have the final say about those whom God values. The state thought that violence could stop God’s purposes. For the Christian, the resurrection makes clear the futility of the attempt. Further, Jesus’ profound act of forgiving his opponents provides me with the theological resources to hope.

Dare we speak of hope when chants of “I can’t breathe” echo in the streets? Do we risk the criticism commonly levied at Christians that we move too quickly to hope because faith pacifies? Resurrection hope doesn’t remove the Christian from the struggle for justice. It empties the state’s greatest weapon — the fear of death — of its power.

Hope is possible if we recognize that it does not rule out justice. It is what separates justice from vengeance. Howard Thurman wrote in his classic work “Jesus and the Disinherited” about how rage, once unleashed, tends to spill out beyond its intended target and consume everything. The hatred of our enemy that we take to the streets returns with us to our friendships, marriages and communities. It damages our own souls.

Christians contend for justice because we care about black lives, families and communities. We contend for reconciliation after the establishment of justice because there must be a future that is more than mutual contempt and suspicion. But justice and reconciliation cannot come at the cost of black lives. The only peaceful future is a just future. And because Christians should be a people for peace, we must be a people for justice even when it seems ever to elude us. Too many black lives have been lost to accept anything else.

Read it all.

This was not easy to write. I tried to speak as honestly as I could in @nytimes about Black Anger and a theology of hope.https://t.co/eeGrjbRvDN

— Esau McCaulley Ph.D (@esaumccaulley) June 14, 2020

…public attitudes are now as mixed and contradictory as the epidemiology data. A forthcoming survey of 3,500 Americans conducted this month by our American Enterprise Institute colleague Daniel Cox found that 58% of Americans want public officials to “take all necessary steps to ensure the public is safe even if it means keeping businesses closed longer and hurting the economy.” But that is down from 78% in late March. Some 41% supported allowing businesses to open “even if it means putting some people at risk,” nearly double the 22% in March.

That explains what’s happening around the country, and also why so many people are uneasy. And it suggests that, along with ramping up testing and tracing, public officials need to focus on building public confidence and minimizing weariness.

That means, for example, encouraging (and practicing) sensible behavior that can reduce the spread. Wearing face masks is the simplest and most effective, along with efforts to practice hygiene and distancing when possible. Officials from the president down must avoid politicizing these measures. They are neither conspiracies against your dignity nor proof of your enlightenment. They are sensible ways of reducing infection and fear.

When local hot spots arise, mayors and governors must trace the outbreaks to their origin and be ready to curtail specific activities that are sources of spread. The public is clearly willing to follow focused guidance. But broad shutdowns are unlikely to be tolerated this summer—and therefore are unlikely to be proposed, regardless of what the epidemiology shows.

Read it all.

Public attitudes are now as mixed and contradictory as the epidemiology data. Officials need to focus on building confidence and minimizing weariness, write @ScottGottliebMD and Yuval Levin @WSJopinion https://t.co/eooCAABpdp

— Thomas S. Kidd (@ThomasSKidd) June 14, 2020

O God, Origin, Sustainer, and End of all creatures: Grant that thy Church, taught by thy servant Evelyn Underhill, guarded evermore by thy power, and guided by thy Spirit into the light of truth, may continually offer to thee all glory and thanksgiving, and attain with thy saints to the blessed hope of everlasting life, which thou hast promised us by our Savior Jesus Christ; who with thee and the same Holy Spirit liveth and reigneth, one God, now and for ever.

#justpray & “Deliberately seek opportunities for kindness, sympathy, and patience” Evelyn Underhill #saintoftheday pic.twitter.com/AjmCWtbmXz

— St Chrysostoms, UK (@StChrys) June 15, 2016

O God, we have known and believed the love that thou hast for us. May we, by dwelling in love, dwell in thee, and thou in us. Teach us, O heavenly Father, the love wherewith thou hast loved us; fashion us, O blessed Lord, after thine own example of love; shed abroad, O thou Holy Spirit of love, the love of God and man in our hearts. For thy name’s sake.

Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle, set apart for the gospel of God which he promised beforehand through his prophets in the holy scriptures, the gospel concerning his Son, who was descended from David according to the flesh and designated Son of God in power according to the Spirit of holiness by his resurrection from the dead, Jesus Christ our Lord…

–Romans 1:1-4

For the Lord is good. This sums up his character and contains a mass of reasons for praise. He is good, gracious, kind, bountiful, loving; yea, God is love. He who does not praise the good is not good himself. The kind of praise inculcated in the Psalm, viz., that of joy and gladness, is most fitly urged upon us by an argument from the goodness of God. His mercy is everlasting. God is not mere justice, stern and cold; he has bowels of compassion, and wills not the sinner’s death. Towards his own people mercy is still more conspicuously displayed; it has been theirs from all eternity, and shall be theirs world without end. Everlasting mercy is a glorious theme for sacred song. And his truth endureth to all generations. No fickle being is he, promising and forgetting. He has entered into covenant with his people, and he will never revoke it, nor alter the thing that has gone out of his lips.

–Charles Spurgeon , Treasury of David

OTD in 1850, Charles Spurgeon came to a saving faith in Christ. “The Great Husbandman came, and began to plough my soul. Ten black horses were his team, and there was a tough ploughshare he used, and the ploughs made deep furrows ” pic.twitter.com/WOla5dPd6C

— SBC History (@SBCHistory) January 6, 2020

Often I have heard people say, “How good God is! We prayed that it would not rain for our church picnic, and look at this lovely weather!'” Yes, God is good when He sends good weather. But God was also good when He allowed my sister Betsie to starve to death before my eyes in a German concentration camp.

I remember one occasion when I was very discouraged there. Everything around us was dark, and there was darkness in my heart. I remember telling Betsie that I thought God had forgotten us. “No, Corrie,” said Betsie, “He has not forgotten us. Remember His Word: ‘For as the heavens are high above the earth, so great is His steadfast love toward those who fear Him {Psalm 103:11 KJV]….'”

“There is an ocean of God’s love available through the Holy Spirit (see Romans 5:5). There is plenty for everyone. May God grant you never to doubt that victorious love–whatever the circumstances.”

–Corrie Ten Boom, Clippings from My Notebook (Nashville:Thomas Nelson, 1982), p. 56, cited in the morning sermon

Definitely Corrie Ten Boom
She was a lady of great faith 🙂 pic.twitter.com/Ds8Ms4yShL

— Liz (@Lizs_HappyPlace) June 9, 2020

O God, the God of all goodness and of all grace, who art worthy of a greater love than we can either give or understand: Fill our hearts, we beseech thee, with such love toward thee that nothing may seem too hard for us to do or to suffer, in obedience to thy will; and grant that thus loving thee, we may become daily more like unto thee, and finally obtain the crown of life which thou hast promised to those that love thee; through Jesus Christ our Lord.

“Every day’s work makes me feel more and more that ignorance of Greek Grammar is the intellectual source of all errors in faith. I only hope that through all change Cambridge will keep to the old truth.”
—B F Westcott (June 13th, 1881) pic.twitter.com/4HMR3RLIC8

— Peter Gurry (@pjgurry) April 19, 2018