Religious leaders have welcomed the announcement that churches can reopen for private prayer as lockdown restrictions ease.

Drive-in services will also be permitted, providing social distancing is maintained and those attending do not get out of their cars.

The leaders of the Church of Ireland, Methodist Church in Ireland, Catholic Church, Presbyterian Church in Ireland and the Irish Council of Churches all expressed their appreciation for the careful preparation that preceded the announcement, which included consultation with them.

Read it all.

Religious leaders call limited reopening for Northern Ireland’s churches a sign of hope #coronavirus #COVID19https://t.co/4VVYvxqC7m pic.twitter.com/K514QVONSz

— Belfast Telegraph (@BelTel) May 18, 2020

God our redeemer,
you have delivered us from the power of darkness
and brought us into the kingdom of your Son:
grant, that as by his death he has recalled us to life,
so by his continual presence in us he may raise us to eternal joy;
through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord,
who is alive and reigns with you,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.
Amen.

Germain Pilon c. 1572

Resurrection of Christ pic.twitter.com/7WLcTnbYf7

— JCR (@Alabandine_) March 4, 2020

The dangers to be avoided: (i) Secularization. A clergyman may become secular by giving too much time to the study and discussion of great social problems, and also by throwing himself too freely into superficial society life. (2) He is in danger from over-occupation. Often he would do more if he did less. (3) He is in danger from depression. This may arise from lack of bodily health, or from a mind wearied by long, uninterrupted tension, or from a lack of money; and,
whatever be its cause, it unfits a minister for his great duties, and sometimes ends in despondency, which, someone has said, “is self-confidence which has failed.”

Read it all. Please note that at the time A. W. Robinson was vicar of All Hallows-by-the-Tower.

“The most important thing in my world at this point is spending time loving and laughing,” he said. “Just living life to the fullest and loving every moment.”

Chase is taking the time to tell his story because he wants to touch people and spread what he has learned through his cancer journey.

“The precious people in your life, the amount of time they are in your life, take every moment you have. Enjoy and give everything you can in those relationships,” he said. “And know there is so much possible with love when your love includes God.”

Read it all.

Chase’s life may end up being shorter than others. But that’s not yet a given. He is not discouraged. And he has not been shortchanged. Not many people, after all, find their Sadie. https://t.co/ygBImzJY3U via @indystar

— Dana HunsingerBenbow (@DanaBenbow) May 15, 2020

Mr Welby has spoken openly of his own mental health struggles. He revealed he was suffering from depression last year in a Thought for the Day broadcast on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme and separately said he was taking anti-depressants.

Speaking this week to the BBC’s religion editor Martin Bashir, he described “an overwhelming sense the world is getting more and more difficult and gloomy”.

Explaining how his own mental health has affected his behaviour, he said: “You turn inwards on yourself a lot. You become, frankly, narcissistic. And when you have good friends or family who spot it, they can say ‘might it not be an idea to talk to someone’. Which I did.”

He added: “There is nothing pathetic about it. It is no more pathetic than being ill in any other way. And we just need to get over that.”

Read it all.

BBC News – Coronavirus: Archbishop Justin Welby says austerity would be catastrophic – ‘wealth is not an idol to be worshipped but an asset to be deployed for the benefit of all people’:https://t.co/cjgVF7exKK

— Leigh Daynes (@LeighDaynes) May 18, 2020

Screw all of you now I see exactly why the only thing left to do is suicide. — a Facebook post by a St. Louis paramedic in April

After Kurt Becker, a paramedic firefighter in St. Louis County, saw that post, which included a profanity-laced screed of frustration and despair over the job, he sent a copy to the man’s therapist with a note saying, “You need to check this out.”

“I’m reading this, and I’m ticking off each comment with, ‘stress marker,’ ‘stress marker,’ ‘stress marker,’ ” said Mr. Becker, who manages a 300-person union district. (The writer is in treatment and gave permission for the post to be quoted.)

Read it all.

“We got a letter from our chief saying there’s a national shortage of gloves, gowns, masks & goggles because the public is taking them,” said Brendan, a paramedic firefighter. “Then we walk into Walmart & see 90% of people have better masks than we do.”https://t.co/G3rurnr51U

— Kaitlan Collins (@kaitlancollins) May 17, 2020

PELLEY: And when you say things, people listen. And Wall Street didn’t want to hear that this was going to take longer than their hopes indicated?

POWELL: I was really calling out a risk that I think is an important one for people to be cognizant of, and that is the risk of longer-run damage to the economy. And really, the good news is that we have the tools to limit that longer-run damage by continuing to provide support to households and businesses as we get through this. And that was really my message.

PELLEY: It was meant to be a signal to Capitol Hill to tell lawmakers the economy needs a great deal more support?

POWELL: That was a part of my remarks this morning. I also wanted to just talk more at length about the longer-run dangers and commit the Fed to really stay in this fight as long as we need to as well….

PELLEY: Has the Fed done all it can do?

POWELL: Well, there’s a lot more we can do. We’ve done what we can as we go. But I will say that we’re not out of ammunition by a long shot. No, there’s really no limit to what we can do with these lending programs that we have. So there’s a lot more we can do to support the economy, and we’re committed to doing everything we can as long as we need to.

Read it all.

“We’re not out of ammunition by a long shot. No, there’s, there’s really no limit to what we can do with these lending programs that we have”

Full transcript is worth a readhttps://t.co/aVGXNyfPP9

— Jonathan Ferro (@FerroTV) May 17, 2020

Brazil has overtaken Spain and Italy to become the country with the fourth-largest number of confirmed coronavirus infections in the world.

Officials on Saturday reported 14,919 new cases in the past 24 hours, taking the total to 233,142. Only the US, Russia and the UK have higher numbers.

The death toll in Brazil over 24 hours was 816, bringing the total to 15,633 – the world’s fifth-highest figure.

Experts warn that the real figure may be far higher due to a lack of testing.

The mayor of the country’s most populous city, São Paulo, warned on Sunday that the city’s health system could collapse. Bruno Covas said the public hospitals in the city reached 90% capacity for emergency beds, with demand still growing.

Read it all.

BBC News – Coronavirus: Brazil overtakes Spain and Italy as new cases grow https://t.co/PQ04FCfvVs

— Salim Kikeke (@Salym) May 17, 2020

O Thou, Who art the hope of all the ends of the earth, and on Whom the eyes of all do wait, Who crownest the year with Thy goodness, and openest Thine hand and fillest all things living with plenteousness: every day we give thanks unto Thee, and praise Thy Name for ever and ever; through Jesus Christ our Lord.

–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)

144-year-old Wisteria in Japan pic.twitter.com/2WbDgM1qgx

— Nature is Lit🔥 (@NaturelsLit) May 17, 2020

And so, from the day we heard of it, we have not ceased to pray for you, asking that you may be filled with the knowledge of his will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, to lead a life worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him, bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God. May you be strengthened with all power, according to his glorious might, for all endurance and patience with joy, giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified us to share in the inheritance of the saints in light. He has delivered us from the dominion of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.

–Colossians 1:9-14