Covid 19 has put a stumbling block in front of so much ministry. I don’t need to go into the litany of things that have been cancelled, moved, zoomed, or put outside. It’s easy to see Covid as only an obstacle.

Christ Church, Mt. Pleasant, however, saw it as an opportunity. One business particularly hard hit by Covid has been the performing arts. Like Churches, these businesses exist by bringing groups large and small to rehearse, sing, laugh, hug, and watch others do the same. All of that came to a crashing halt in mid March. Rehearsals could be moved outside, but all of the performance spaces were shut down. This included all publicly owned amphitheaters. Many performing arts companies were forced to hold plays in their parking lots (with the audience watching from cars and lighting the stage with headlights!) or on farms miles away from town.

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The Gafcon Suffering Church Network leaders, Faith McDonnell and Bishop Andudu Adan Elnail, joined Gafcon’s Everyday Global Anglicans for an interview about recent, positive developments in Sudan. A peace agreement was signed which will have significant implications for the church in Sudan. We hope to learn how prayers have been answered and how we can continue to pray for the Church in Sudan.

Keep praying for our Church family in Sudan and for Bishop Andudu as he leads his people in the Nuba Mountains.

Before Pastor Keith Christie joined the church he was a rodeo-going bronc rider with what he described as a “pretty bad attitude”.

Standing in Mount Isa’s Christian Outreach Centre, it is hard to draw any parallel between the Pastor Keith who stands before you and the photos of the bronc rider on his office walls.

Pastor Keith reopened the Christian Outreach Centre two decades ago and celebrated the milestone last month.

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Before Pastor Keith Christie joined the church he was a rodeo-going bronc rider with what he described as a "pretty bad attitude". Now he and his 'blue army' of church volunteers offer community assistance to anyone in need. https://t.co/jLTDENzPMk

— ABC Religion&Ethics (@ABCReligion) September 12, 2020

The sermon begins about 20:30 in….

O heir of heaven, lift now thine eye, and behold the scenes of suffering through which thy Lord passed for thy sake! Come in the moonlight, and stand between those olives; see him sweat great drops of blood. Go from that garden, and follow him to Pilate’s bar. See your Matter subjected to the grossest and filthiest insult; gaze upon the face of spotless beauty defiled with the spittle of soldiers; see his head pierced with thorns; mark his back, all rent, and torn, and scarred, and bruised, and bleeding beneath the terrible lash. And O Christian, see him die! Go and stand where his mother stood, and hear him say to thee, “Man, behold thy Saviour!” Come thou to-night, and stand where John stood; hear him cry, “I thirst,” and find thyself unable either to assuage his griefs or to comprehend their bitterness. Then, when thou hast wept there, lift thine hand, and cry, “Revenge!” Bring out the traitors; where are they? And when your sins are brought forth as the murderers of Christ, let no death be too painful for them; though it should involve the cutting off of right arms, or the quenching of right eyes, and putting out their light for ever; do it! For if these murderers murdered Christ, then let them die. Die terribly they may, but die they must. Oh! that God the Holy Ghost would teach you that first lesson, my brethren, the boundless wickedness of sin, for Christ had to lay down his life before your sin could be wiped away.

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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

O God, who by the passion of thy blessed Son didst make an instrument of shameful death to be unto us the means of life and peace: Grant us so to glory in the cross of Christ, that we may gladly suffer shame and loss for the sake of thy Son our Savior Jesus Christ; who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.

14 September is the Feast of the Exaltation of the Cross, once known as 'Holyrood Day in harvest'. A medieval poem to the Holy Cross, steadfast at the still point of the turning world: https://t.co/4GPLwUH3hE pic.twitter.com/BGfOzsWGrF

— Eleanor Parker (@ClerkofOxford) September 14, 2018

O Our God, we believe in thee, we hope in thee, and we love thee, because thou hast created us, redeemed us, and dost sanctify us. Increase our faith, strengthen our hope, and deepen our love, that giving up ourselves wholly to thy will, we may serve thee faithfully all the rest of our life; through Jesus Christ our Lord.

🔥 view over Downtown Charleston this morning! #chswx @stormhour pic.twitter.com/kDVoai0Vox

— JoeyLive5 (@JoeySovine) September 14, 2020

When I am afraid, I put my trust in thee. In God, whose word I praise, in God I trust without a fear. What can flesh do to me?

–Psalm 56:3-4