Perhaps he learned that in those years he spent among the game’s lesser lights: one at Novara, three at Udinese, one at Sampdoria. By the summer of 2017, when he returned to Portugal — as the second-most-expensive signing in Sporting’s history — he had still not received a call-up to Portugal’s national team (though he had captained its under-21 side). His arrival was not heralded as a coup. “Most of the big teams had not seen much of him,” Martelinho said.

And yet, within just a few months, it was obvious what Portugal had been missing. “The Portuguese league is not as strong as England, Spain or Germany,” Martelinho said. “But it is maybe the fifth- or sixth-best league in Europe. It is not easy. Bruno made it look easy.”

His impact in England has been no less swift. It is not yet 12 full months since he arrived at Old Trafford, yet he has already been voted into one Premier League team of the season, and, with his team emerging as contenders to end a seven-year wait for a championship, he would rank among the leading candidates to win this campaign’s player of the year award.

And yet if his rise seems rapid, it is anything but. Fernandes has had to wait for this moment. Not through any fault of his own, but through a flaw in soccer’s structure, through its inability to look for talent in unexpected places. This was the player he always was, and always could be. It just took the game a while to notice, and all because he needed to take a bus, all those years ago.

Read it all.

I’ve been intrigued for a while by why it took Bruno Fernandes so long to make it big in an era of industrial-scale talent recognition.

It turns out he’s not a late bloomer, it’s that sometimes football doesn’t see talent if it’s in the wrong place. https://t.co/9Bewr7L8Zz

— Rory Smith (@RorySmith) January 15, 2021

Two historic Episcopal Church seminaries announced this week that they “have begun the process of exploring partnership options.”

While the language of the announcement offers no detail, it appears that both New York’s General Theological Seminary (GTS) and Virginia Theological Seminary (VTS) of Alexandria, Virginia are now on a trajectory to eventually consolidate.

“Purposefully walking together in as many ways as possible is our goal going forward” wrote the chairs of both boards, Dr. David Charlton (VTS) and Diocese of Atlanta Bishop Robert Wright (GTS).

Episcopal seminaries including Episcopal Divinity School, Bexley Hall Seminary, and Seabury-Western Theological Seminary, each announced similar language before “federating” or being subsumed into a larger institution. A fourth seminary, Church Divinity School of the Pacific, was acquired by the endowed parish of Trinity Wall Street in 2019. Each points to an ongoing trend of consolidation among institutions as the Episcopal Church contracts in membership and attendance numbers.

Read it all.

Today, @iamepiscopalian's oldest and largest seminaries — @GeneralSeminary and @VTS_Seminary — have begun the process of exploring partnership options. Learn More: https://t.co/8mJmDnYk6K#seminary #episcopal #episcopalian @PB_Curry pic.twitter.com/lMw6cZPJ2a

— Virginia Theological Seminary (@VTS_Seminary) January 13, 2021

The world isn’t going to banish Islam, but it can and must banish the scourge of Islamic extremism. This will require Muslims and non-Muslims to work together, drawing on peaceful aspects of Islamic teaching to encourage respect for religious pluralism and the fundamental dignity of every human being.

The most enduring way to address an extremist religious ideology is to recontextualize its teachings and reform it from within. Four centuries ago, Catholics and Protestants routinely killed each other; now they coexist. I believe the same type of change can occur within Islam in one or two generations. What’s needed is a credible alternative that is consistent with Islamic orthodoxy and developed and promulgated by those with religious and political authority in the Muslim world.

Indonesia’s Nahdlatul Ulama, the world’s largest independent Muslim organization, for which I serve as general secretary, is promoting such an alternative. Positioned firmly within the spiritual, intellectual and legal traditions of orthodox Sunni Islam, we recognize that much of the fiqh constitutes not the unchanging, spiritual essence of religion, known as thawabit, but rather its historically contingent expressions, or mutaghayyirat. These latter expressions of Islam may be changed.

Countless Indonesian Muslims have taken up this task of reform in recent decades. Starting in the 1980s, prominent heirs to this tradition led Nahdlatul Ulama officially to sanction collective ijtihad: the application of independent reason to renew temporal elements of fiqh and ensure that Islamic teaching and practice embody universal love and compassion, the primary message of Islam.

Read it all.

The most enduring way to address an extremist religious ideology is to recontextualize its teachings and reform it from within, writes Yahya Cholil Staquf https://t.co/BG9m162al4

— WSJ Editorial Page (@WSJopinion) January 15, 2021

From there:

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

With division and strife intensifying in our nation, the National Mall in Washington, D.C. closed, and thousands of National Guard Troops assembled in our nation’s capital from credible threats of violence, and with concern for state capitals across the country growing, I am joining with our Archbishop Foley Beach and other ACNA Bishops calling our clergy in the diocese to join me in genuine intercessory prayer for our nation.

Please spend some time with your leadership considering how you and your congregation can together pray for our nation, our elected officials, and for peace in our land, not only this coming Sunday, but throughout this next week. There is of course the Great Litany as well as multiple prayers in the Book of Common Prayer for our nation, government, and civic leaders.

Thirdly, just last week I visited the Billy Graham Library outside of Charlotte. The various exhibits reminded me of how a Christian leader who has a Kingdom focus can span across political divides (Dr. Graham was a confidante to every single U.S. President from Dwight Eisenhower to George W. Bush regardless of his political party), as well as international boundaries and cultures with the Gospel message and witness. He sought to be God’s man first and therein tempered his political speech or language accordingly. This of course may not be your calling or ministry but it did remind me and I hope reminds you, to remember who we are in Christ and whose we are. May our passion for God’s Kingdom shape how we speak in the pulpit, in written communication, and on social media.

Yours in Christ,

The Rt. Rev. Mark J. Lawrence
The Anglican Diocese of South Carolina
Anglican Church in North America

When a man/woman/church/diocese finds the right vocation under God, it is as if a caged eagle soars — Bishop Mark Lawrence #Assembly2017 pic.twitter.com/yLkLMLj51G

— Kimberley Pfeiler (@CanonKimberley) June 27, 2017

Funeral directors in the UK have spoken of the “heartbreak” of watching hundreds of mourners grieve alone, and of their own physical, emotional, and mental exhaustion under an unprecedented workload, as deaths from the coronavirus continue to rise at catastrophic rates.

The Assistant Curate of St Peter’s, Stockton-on-Tees, and St John’s, Elton, in Durham diocese, the Revd Daniel Ackerley, has experienced all sides of the crisis. He has just been through a family bereavement. He is also the principal funeral director at John Duckworth Funeral Directors, in Sunderland.

“The last months have been the toughest and most challenging yet in my ten years as a funeral director,” he said. “Throughout the pandemic, funeral workers have gone about their vital work supporting the bereaved and taking care of those who have died, often with very little recognition.”

He, like many of his colleagues, had undertaken “record numbers of funerals” over the past nine months, all under the strain of meeting strict government limitations.

Read it all.

Funeral directors in the UK have spoken of the “heartbreak” of watching hundreds of mourners grieve alone, and of their own physical and mental exhaustion under an unprecedented workload, as deaths from #COVID19 continue to rise at catastrophic rateshttps://t.co/DR4YZeBdbD

— Hattie Williams (@hattieewilliams) January 15, 2021

South Carolina is expanding who’s allowed to give COVID-19 vaccines in an effort to get shots into arms faster amid escalating frustrations with the state’s slow rollout.

A pair of major hospitals say they could vaccinate up to 10,000 people a day — three times more than their current capacity — with added help to administer shots as shipments ramp up.

Meanwhile, the state’s public health agency is giving up on contact tracing of those infected after becoming overwhelmed with a sharp rise in COVID cases.

Read it all.

To ramp up COVID-19 vaccinations, SC expands who can give the shots https://t.co/MCF5HmVekF

— Holy City Sinner (@HolyCitySinner) January 15, 2021

Almighty God, who hast manifested thy Son Jesus Christ to be a light to mankind: Grant that we thy people, being nourished by thy word and sacraments, may be strengthened to show forth to all men the unsearchable riches of Christ, so that he may be known, adored and obeyed, to the ends of the earth; who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Spirit, one God, world without end.

“I paint because the spirits whisper madly inside my head.” -Doménikos Theotokópoulos, also known as El Greco

Image: Adoration of the Magi, El Greco, 1568#painting #art #artwork #artist #figurepainting #figureart pic.twitter.com/wF87hzsc4F

— Art Mentors (@art_mentors) July 27, 2020

For this reason I, Paul, a prisoner for Christ Jesus on behalf of you Gentiles– assuming that you have heard of the stewardship of God’s grace that was given to me for you, how the mystery was made known to me by revelation, as I have written briefly. When you read this you can perceive my insight into the mystery of Christ, which was not made known to the sons of men in other generations as it has now been revealed to his holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit; 6 that is, how the Gentiles are fellow heirs, members of the same body, and partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus through the gospel. Of this gospel I was made a minister according to the gift of God’s grace which was given me by the working of his power. To me, though I am the very least of all the saints, this grace was given, to preach to the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ, and to make all men see what is the plan of the mystery hidden for ages in God who created all things; that through the church the manifold wisdom of God might now be made known to the principalities and powers in the heavenly places. This was according to the eternal purpose which he has realized in Christ Jesus our Lord, in whom we have boldness and confidence of access through our faith in him. So I ask you not to lose heart over what I am suffering for you, which is your glory.

–Ephesians 3:1-13

Magnificent view of the city of Québec and the St. Lawrence River at sunrise. Canada 🇨🇦💙 pic.twitter.com/C3aXQUNZ48

— Thierry Gauthier (@gauthie74757302) January 14, 2021