In his latest move to reopen the economy after shutting it down to curb the spread of the novel coronavirus, Gov. Henry McMaster is now allowing attractions and amusement parks to reopen on Friday, just in time for Memorial Day weekend.

The governor’s order on Wednesday lifted restrictions on arcades; tourist attractions such as museums, aquariums, planetariums, mini-golf and go-kart racing; indoor children’s play areas; bingo halls; and venues operated by social clubs such as the VFW.

However, night clubs, bowling alleys, concert venues, theaters, auditoriums, performing arts centers, racetracks and adult entertainment venues still are not allowed to reopen.

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Breaking: South Carolina Gov. @henrymcmaster reopens yet another part of the state’s economy, just in time for Memorial Day weekend @thestate #readlocal https://t.co/wkJzVqJZ35

— Jamie Self (@jamiemself) May 20, 2020

A vicar has been appointed as the next Archdeacon of Durham.

The Right Reverend Paul Butler, Bishop of Durham has said Revd Canon Libby Wilkinson will take on the role as well as becoming Director of Mission, Discipleship and Ministry for the Diocese.

She was ordained in Durham in 2005 after training for ordination at NEOC and served her curacy in Harlow Green and Lamsley in Gateshead before becoming Priest in Charge at St Barnabas, Burnmoor.

She then became Vicar of Bishopwearmouth St Gabriel’s, Sunderland in 2016 and was made a non-residentiary Canon of Durham Cathedral in 2019.

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Diocese appoints vicar as the new Archdeacon https://t.co/yIz6zA9g1F

— Diocese of Durham (@DioceseofDurham) May 20, 2020

what’s the recipe for resilience? I think we need to balance several things.

First, there needs to be a balance between both hope and realism. Hope is essential to getting up off the floor after some hard blow; without it we may as well stay there. Hope is one of the great virtues of the Christian faith (1 Corinthians 13:13). The only safe and unbreakable hope comes from putting our faith in the God who, in Christ, has defeated all evil. Yet matching our hope there needs to be a realistic view of life that accepts that conflicts and challenges are inevitable. It’s an attitude that encourages people to make preparations well in advance. Resilient individuals put their armour on before the battle starts.

Second, there needs to be a balance between toughness and flexibility. Toughness is obviously important but resilient people know there are times and places where we need to be flexible. To survive a crisis often needs elasticity; the ability to bend not break before returning to our original shape when the crisis is over. In a gale, flexible willow trees may survive better than sturdy, rigid oaks.

Third, there needs to be a balance of both independence and dependence. It’s hard to give anyone else resilience; once someone has decided that they will lose a battle, then that’s what they will do. You’ve got to want to get up off the floor! That said, resilience is much easier if there is someone there to help you get on your feet. I feel that one of the most important roles of any church or church leader is to try to help people bounce back after the blows of life. Ultimately, the one who helps us all to get to our feet after we’ve been knocked down is God himself.

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China may cover much of the cost of childcare, from birth to college graduation, to help reverse a decline in the birthrate.

In advance of the National People’s Congress, the rubberstamp legislature that convenes on Friday in Beijing, an influential policy advisory body has suggested that wide-ranging financial support be offered to families to address the falling birthrate in the world’s most populous country, including providing income tax cuts for new parents.

“In recent years the birthrates have plummeted, and the subsequent social and economic problems have become more severe by the day,” the China Democratic League said. It is proposing a series of subsidies to help with childcare costs and even payments to grandparents so they are rewarded for helping young parents to look after their offspring.

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China may cover much of the cost of childcare, from birth to college graduation, to help reverse a decline in the birthrate https://t.co/NVg4YFooLz

— The Times (@thetimes) May 19, 2020

Dr. Max Lazarus, a resident at a hospital on Long Island, N.Y., went into emergency medicine exactly so he could respond to crises.

He remembers pushing stretchers around the lobby of Bellevue Hospital as a volunteer in the emergency room during Hurricane Sandy.

“This is what I signed up for,” he says. “It forces you to grow in a way that I don’t think anything else could.”

But Lazarus says nothing could fully prepare him to watch patients call their family members before going on a ventilator.

“You tell them that hopefully they will wake up but there is a chance they may not,” he says. “It’s not the way anyone should die, alone on a ventilator.”

Lazarus, 29, still thinks about two patients he treated early in the pandemic — one was a bit younger than he is, the other a bit older.

“And they died,” he says. “They really stick out.”

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The pandemic has magnified long-standing concerns about labor and mental health among medical residents who say they are being mistreated by hospitals under unprecedented stress.https://t.co/QNq7Wt1mtK

— NPR (@NPR) May 20, 2020

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An article in the NYT about how, here in Kentucky, we’re thinking about fall. As I told a friend, all options for fall are horrible. So how do we determine the balance between safety, health, research, student needs, and finances? All variables matter.https://t.co/4HqS89Juav

— Andrea Erhardt (@Andrea_Erhardt) May 19, 2020

Bishop Stephen Geoffrey Cottrell will be confirmed as the 98th Archbishop of York at 11am on Thursday 9 July 2020, in a service broadcast entirely via video conference due to the Coronavirus restrictions. As Presiding Judge, the Archbishop of Canterbury, the Most Revd Justin Welby, has granted permission for the virtual service to take place.

The service, which had been due to take place in York Minster, will be in two parts: a legal ceremony with readings, prayers and music; and a film marking the start of Bishop Stephen’s ministry as Archbishop of York.

The service will include music from York Minster Choir and Manor Church of England Academy School (York). Young people from across the North of England, will read a letter written by the medieval religious scholar Alcuin of York. Bishop Stephen will offer his first address as Archbishop of York. Prayers will be offered for the Archbishop, the Diocese of York and the Northern Province of the Church of England as well as for the wider world in these difficult times.

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LATEST: Confirmation of Election of Bishop Stephen Cottrell as the 98th Archbishop of York.

Read more here >> https://t.co/vuSLDktGuZ pic.twitter.com/QNpEiVRX6V

— York Minster (@York_Minster) May 20, 2020

Almighty God, who in a rude and barbarous age didst raise up thy deacon Alcuin to rekindle the light of learning: Illumine our minds, we pray thee, that amid the uncertainties and confusions of our own time we may show forth thine eternal truth, through Jesus Christ our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.

Today the Church of England remembers Alcuin of York, d. 804. These leaves of Alcuin on the Creed (MS1233) date from the 10th century. They were used as part of the binding of
Georgii Acanthii … Partitiones in M.T. Ciceronis De rhetorica libros quatuor (Lyon, 1564) pic.twitter.com/UMOBlKzlUz

— LambethPalaceLibrary (@lampallib) May 20, 2020

O Thou Lover of mankind, send down into our hearts that peace which the world cannot give, and give us peace in this world. O King of Peace, keep us in love and charity; be our God, for we have none other beside Thee; grant unto our souls the life of righteousness, that the death of sin may not prevail against us, or against any of Thy people.

–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)

Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God,

To the saints who are also faithful in Christ Jesus:

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. He destined us in love to be his sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, to the praise of his glorious grace which he freely bestowed on us in the Beloved. In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace which he lavished upon us. For he has made known to us in all wisdom and insight the mystery of his will, according to his purpose which he set forth in Christ as a plan for the fulness of time, to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth.

–Ephesians 1:1-10