The Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, will deliver a message of hope to school pupils across the country in the first assembly at Oak National Academy, it was announced today.

The Archbishop’s address will be streamed through TES from 10am on Thursday 30 April 2020. It will then remain available on the Oak National Academy website.

In addition to the assemblies, the Church of England is also partnering with Oak National Academy to provide separate weekly collective worship sessions led by schools, which will be accessible to those of all faiths and none. This will be part of the Church of England’s forthcoming #FaithAtHome programme, which launches later in the week.

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Archbishop @JustinWelby will lead the first assembly at the National Online Academy this week.

More than 2 million lessons have been accessed so far and the CofE has partnered with @OakNational to provide weekly collective worship.https://t.co/yEupkinqys

— The Church of England (@churchofengland) April 27, 2020

I’m a professor of nuclear science and engineering at MIT, and I believe that Jesus was raised from the dead. So do dozens of my colleagues. How can this be?….

Today’s widespread materialist view that events contrary to the laws of science just can’t happen is a metaphysical doctrine, not a scientific fact. What’s more, the doctrine that the laws of nature are “inviolable” is not necessary for science to function. Science offers natural explanations of natural events. It has no power or need to assert that only natural events happen.

So if science is not able to adjudicate whether Jesus’ resurrection happened or not, are we completely unable to assess the plausibility of the claim? No. Contrary to increasingly popular opinion, science is not our only means for accessing truth. In the case of Jesus’ resurrection, we must consider the historical evidence, and the historical evidence for the resurrection is as good as for almost any event of ancient history. The extraordinary character of the event, and its significance, provide a unique context, and ancient history is necessarily hard to establish. But a bare presumption that science has shown the resurrection to be impossible is an intellectual cop-out. Science shows no such thing.

Hypothesis 3: I was brainwashed as a child. If you’ve read this far and you are still wondering how an MIT professor could seriously believe in the resurrection, you might guess I was brainwashed to believe it as a child. But no, I did not grow up in a home where I was taught to believe in the resurrection. I came to faith in Jesus when I was an undergraduate at Cambridge University and was baptized in the chapel of Kings College on my 20th birthday. The life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ are as compelling to me now as then.

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For this first #ArtWednesday after #Easter, we’ll look at art inspired by Jesus’ post-resurrection appearances. (Rembrandt, The Incredulity of St Thomas, 1634) #Resurrection #PostResurrectionAppearances #EasterWeek #Rembrandt pic.twitter.com/XEZnW0NGzZ

— Russ Ramsey (is not enjoying social distancing.) (@russramsey) April 4, 2018

“If a memorial is found to be loose or dangerous, the PCC will attempt to make contact with memorial owners and advise them that urgent maintenance is required.

“Laying a headstone flat is a last resort, and only carried out if the headstones are deemed to be dangerous.

“All memorial owners agree to follow the diocesan churchyard regulations, which are on constant display in the porch of St Mary’s.

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Church responds to villager’s anger over lowered headstones in Whitegate https://t.co/GYITesmXDc pic.twitter.com/4HCba0PJjx

— Northwich Guardian (@NorthwichNews) April 26, 2020

“There are obviously particularly challenges at the moment, what the church says to society and what it does for the society in which it is placed. You cannot pretend it doesn’t live in a political context. Politics is not something that just happens in Parliament. Democracies are places where political discussion or dialogue are about what we can do together or decisions which are deeply embedded. There are institutions which are recognisable bodies in civil society such as the business community, trade unions, voluntary sector and churches are one of those. I think they have their particular things to say and its perfectly legitimate for them to say it.

“The big imponderable at the moment is coronavirus and we have no idea how deeply that will affect the patterns of society. We could come out the other side of that challenge a changed society, with maybe small changes and maybe some very profound changes. Of course the other big external issue is Brexit which involves the relationships between the different regions within Ireland and the United Kingdom.

“I could be in both parts of that jurisdiction in one day praying for good governance for both of them and for their leaders,” he said.
In terms of reaching out to people in the Church of Ireland, the Archbishop-Elect recalled how a Northern Ireland Life and Times survey revealed around 45 per cent of people in Northern Ireland attend church at some point. He said the heyday for attending church was in the period from the late 19th Century to the period to the middle of the 1960s. But he thinks current attendance is “back to the old norm” with fewer people committed to regular churchgoing.

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Bishop John McDowell ready to take up his new role https://t.co/HRUuu8Comm #anglican #ireland

— Kendall Harmon (@KendallHarmon6) April 27, 2020

You can listen directly there and download the mp3 there.You may also suffer through the video version there (the sermon starts at about 23:15 in).

“And it happened that, while [Jesus] was with [the two disciples] at table, he took bread, said the blessing, broke it, and gave it to them. With that their eyes were opened and they recognized him, but he vanished from their sight.” (Lk 24:30-31)

Supper at Emmaus by Rembrandt. pic.twitter.com/6wCmbcu64r

— Christian Culture (@Christian8Pics) April 24, 2019

Gov. Henry McMaster plans to issue a new state of emergency order on Monday, saying the widespread threat of the coronavirus remains too high for such a restriction to be lifted.

“We’re not out of this yet. We went into this in a smart way with targeted hotspots, so we do not have the burden that some other states have, but we’re still facing a very serious disease and contagion,” McMaster told reporters Sunday in Greenville.

State law only allows the mandate to be in effect for 15 days. The work-or-stay home order will remain in place, but also could be lifted prior to that deadline.

“All of the policies that have been adopted have been to enforce and encourage social distancing,” McMaster said. “If we’re smart, we can come out of it quickly, but we must do so safely.”

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SC leaps up to 237 new cases today. We can’t have nice things (like pedicures!) anytime soon if you won’t #stayhomeSC. Please #WearAMask too. Let’s all pull together so we can get back to a #new normal sooner. My toes will thank you. https://t.co/Ckza7um36j

— Marie-Louise Ramsdal (@mlramsdale_law) April 26, 2020

Listen to it all there.

When I am dead, my dearest,
Sing no sad songs for me;
Plant thou no roses at my head,
Nor shady cypress tree:
Be the green grass above me
With showers and dewdrops wet;
And if thou wilt, remember,
And if thou wilt, forget.

I shall not see the shadows,
I shall not feel the rain;
I shall not hear the nightingale
Sing on, as if in pain:
And dreaming through the twilight
That doth not rise nor set,
Haply I may remember,
And haply may forget.

—Christina Rossetti (1830–1894)

O God, whom heaven cannot hold, who didst inspire Christina Rossetti to express the mystery of the Incarnation through her poems: Help us to follow her example in giving our hearts to Christ, who is love; and who is alive and reignest with thee and the Holy Spirit, one God, in glory everlasting. Amen.

Today’s Prayer: Commemoration, Christina Rossetti give thanks for those who enrich our lives & encourage our faith & service by their poetry pic.twitter.com/Pome4qX3pi

— Hereford Diocese (@HerefordDiocese) April 27, 2017

O Risen Lord, Who after Thy passion didst show Thyself alive unto Thine Apostles by many infallible proofs, and didst speak unto them the things that concern the kingdom of God: speak unto us also who wait upon Thee, and fill us with joy and peace in believing; that we may abound in hope, and knowing Thy will may faithfully perform it, even unto the end; through Thy grace, Who livest and reignest, Lord of the dead and of the living.

–Frederick B. Macnutt, The prayer manual for private devotions or public use on divers occasions: Compiled from all sources ancient, medieval, and modern (A.R. Mowbray, 1951)

He is risen indeed. Alleluia!

We wish you a joyful #Easter. pic.twitter.com/QKjRNujys4

— St Paul’s Cathedral (@StPaulsLondon) April 1, 2018

To thee, O Lord, I lift up my soul.
O my God, in thee I trust,
let me not be put to shame;
let not my enemies exult over me.
Yea, let none that wait for thee be put to shame;
let them be ashamed who are wantonly treacherous.

Make me to know thy ways, O Lord;
teach me thy paths.
Lead me in thy truth, and teach me,
for thou art the God of my salvation;
for thee I wait all the day long.

–Psalm 25:1-4

Make me know your ways, ADONAI, teach me your paths.
Psalm 25:4 | CJB

Show me your ways, Lord, teach me your paths.
Psalm 25:4 | NIV

Shew me thy ways, O Lord; teach me thy paths.
Psalm 25:4 | KJV

Make me to know your ways, O Lord; teach me your paths.
Psalm 25:4 | ESV pic.twitter.com/hKo6F0UVy5

— MidwayBaptist Church (@MidwayValley) March 3, 2018