O God, who dost raise up scholars for thy church in every generation; we praise thee for the wisdom and insight granted to thy bishop and theologian Joseph Butler, and pray that thy church may never be destitute of such gifts; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who with thee and the Holy Ghost liveth and reigneth, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

In contrast to the previous photos, sunrise almost felt unearthly. Like a different planet. pic.twitter.com/vSbiY7H1my

— Michelle Cowbourne (@Glastomichelle) June 16, 2022

To God the Father, who first loved us, and made us accepted in the Beloved; to God the Son, who loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood; to God the Holy Ghost, who sheddeth the love of God abroad in our hearts: to the one true God be all love and all glory for time and for eternity.

Alleluia, alleluia!
Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the #HolySpirit;
the God who is, who was, and who is to come.
Alleluia! cf.Rv1:8#Mass #GospelAcclamation#MostHolyTrinity #TrinitySunday #GodTheFather #GodtheSon #GodtheHolySpirit pic.twitter.com/yHPigKgglT

— PrayeroftheChurch (@Neddamred) June 12, 2022

Miriam and Aaron spoke against Moses because of the Cushite woman whom he had married, for he had married a Cushite woman; and they said, “Has the Lord indeed spoken only through Moses? Has he not spoken through us also?” And the Lord heard it. Now the man Moses was very meek, more than all men that were on the face of the earth. And suddenly the Lord said to Moses and to Aaron and Miriam, “Come out, you three, to the tent of meeting.” And the three of them came out. And the Lord came down in a pillar of cloud, and stood at the door of the tent, and called Aaron and Miriam; and they both came forward. And he said, “Hear my words: If there is a prophet among you, I the Lord make myself known to him in a vision, I speak with him in a dream. Not so with my servant Moses; he is entrusted with all my house. With him I speak mouth to mouth, clearly, and not in dark speech; and he beholds the form of the Lord. Why then were you not afraid to speak against my servant Moses?”

And the anger of the Lord was kindled against them, and he departed; and when the cloud removed from over the tent, behold, Miriam was leprous, as white as snow. And Aaron turned towards Miriam, and behold, she was leprous. And Aaron said to Moses, “Oh, my lord, do not punish us because we have done foolishly and have sinned. Let her not be as one dead, of whom the flesh is half consumed when he comes out of his mother’s womb.” And Moses cried to the Lord, “Heal her, O God, I beseech thee.” But the Lord said to Moses, “If her father had but spit in her face, should she not be shamed seven days? Let her be shut up outside the camp seven days, and after that she may be brought in again.” So Miriam was shut up outside the camp seven days; and the people did not set out on the march till Miriam was brought in again. After that the people set out from Haze′roth, and encamped in the wilderness of Paran.

–Numbers 12:1-16

Each sunrise is a little different. I like this morning's! pic.twitter.com/RGxKbob9A1

— JoeyLive5 (@JoeySovine) June 16, 2022

Saint James Welcomes Toby Larson as Rector

The Rev. Toby Larson was welcomed by Saint James Church, James Island, on Sunday, June 12, as their new rector. Toby most recently served as Director of Celebration International in Fredericksburg, VA. He received his B.A. from Gonzaga University and his Th.M. in Biblical Theology and M.Div. from Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary.

Before his ministry at Celebration International, Toby worked in China, as a Foreign Expert in China’s Ministry of Television, Radio, and Film. After his time in China, he planted two congregations in Virginia and led evangelistic missions to central and east Asia.

Toby said, “‘Love God, Love Life’ is our family motto, and we’re excited to live that out at Saint James.” He and his wife Cynthia have five children the youngest of whom will live with them on James Island.

Read it all.

The Latest Edition of the #Anglican Diocese of #SouthCarolina Enewsletter https://t.co/bMBr9HxLVI [Toby Larson, new rector of Saint James] #parishministry #media #lowcountrylife #religion #faith pic.twitter.com/azlXYTmzEU

— Kendall Harmon (@KendallHarmon6) June 15, 2022

A record-high 50% of Americans rate the overall state of moral values in the U.S. as “poor,” and another 37% say it is “only fair.” Just 1% think the state of moral values is “excellent” and 12% “good.”

Although negative views of the nation’s moral values have been the norm throughout Gallup’s 20-year trend, the current poor rating is the highest on record by one percentage point.

These findings, from Gallup’s May 2-22 Values and Beliefs poll, are generally in line with perceptions since 2017 except for a slight improvement in views in 2020 when Donald Trump was running for reelection. On average since 2002, 43% of U.S. adults have rated moral values in the U.S. as poor, 38% as fair and 18% as excellent or good.

Read it all.

Record-High 50% of Americans Rate U.S. Moral Values as 'Poor' – @Gallup

👉 "Consideration of others" cited as top problem with state of moral values
👉 78% think moral values in the U.S. are getting worse https://t.co/RylhAZuWq6

— DC Cajun (@DCCajun) June 15, 2022

Attendees included former prime minister Theresa May, London Mayor Sadiq Khan, Housing Secretary Michael Gove, building safety and fire minister Stephen Greenhalgh, and shadow housing secretary Lisa Nandy.

Opening the service, the very Reverend Dr David Hoyle, Dean of Westminster, said the loss and anguish “are still vivid and sharp” as the congregation gathered “in sorrow and in pain”.

He said: “Here we renew our commitment to remember those we have lost.

“We gather as those who look for justice and a renewed commitment to securing safety in our homes, safety in times of fire.

“Grateful for the support of the communities and individuals that have sustained the bereaved and the survivors over the last five years, we meet in faith and hope looking to a better, safer, surer future.”

Read it all.

Grenfell Tower: Victims remembered at Westminster Abbey service

A memorial service has taken place at Westminster Abbey to mark the fifth anniversary of the Grenfell Tower fire.

Seventy-two people were killed by the blaze in west London on 14 June 2017.https://t.co/HwBmDOwsjD

— Public Sector Focus (@SectorFocus) June 14, 2022

Since the beginning of June, when the authorities in Shanghai lifted a months-long lockdown, many aspects of life in the city have returned to normal. The once-deserted freeways around China’s financial hub are again full of traffic. The white-collar workers who moved into their offices during April and May have at last returned home. The number of cases of covid-19 found outside quarantine has dropped to single digits. Just one was detected on June 13th.

But Shanghai’s officials are still on edge. Many residential communities reopened only to be locked down again when a positive case, or merely a close contact of one, was found in their vicinity. Residents continue to be taken away to quarantine centres if they live in the same building as someone infected. A case linked to a hair salon on a heavily travelled thoroughfare resulted in hundreds of people being whisked into isolation and several housing compounds being locked down. The city ordered most of its 25m residents into mass testing on June 11th and 12th.

This is what the new version of China’s “dynamic zero-covid” campaign looks like. Rolling “micro-lockdowns” and mass testing are meant to replace economically destructive citywide lockdowns. The strategy is supposed to be more targeted, finding and quarantining individual positive cases and their close contacts within hours. But calibration is proving difficult.

Read it all.

Will mass testing and “micro-lockdowns” be enough? https://t.co/xpwUcMtJSs

— The Economist (@TheEconomist) June 14, 2022

But our argument in reply to this is ready and clear. For any one who condemns those who say that the Godhead is one, must necessarily support either those who say that there are more than one, or those who say that there is none. But the inspired teaching does not allow us to say that there are more than one, since, whenever it uses the term, it makes mention of the Godhead in the singular; as ‘In Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead’ Colossians 2:9 “; and, elsewhere ‘The invisible things of Him from the foundation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead Romans 1:20.’ If, then, to extend the number of the Godhead to a multitude belongs to those only who suffer from the plague of polytheistic error, and on the other hand utterly to deny the Godhead would be the doctrine of atheists, what doctrine is that which accuses us for saying that the Godhead is one? But they reveal more clearly the aim of their argument. As regards the Father, they admit the fact that He is God , and that the Son likewise is honoured with the attribute of Godhead; but the Spirit, Who is reckoned with the Father and the Son, they cannot include in their conception of Godhead, but hold that the power of the Godhead, issuing from the Father to the Son, and there halting, separates the nature of the Spirit from the Divine glory. And so, as far as we may in a short space, we have to answer this opinion also.

What, then, is our doctrine? The Lord, in delivering the saving Faith to those who become disciples of the word, joins with the Father and the Son the Holy Spirit also; and we affirm that the union of that which has once been joined is continual; for it is not joined in one thing, and separated in others. But the power of the Spirit, being included with the Father and the Son in the life-giving power, by which our nature is transferred from the corruptible life to immortality, and in many other cases also, as in the conception of “Good,” and “Holy,” and “Eternal,” “Wise,” “Righteous,” “Chief,” “Mighty,” and in fact everywhere, has an inseparable association with them in all the attributes ascribed in a sense of special excellence. And so we consider that it is right to think that that which is joined to the Father and the Son in such sublime and exalted conceptions is not separated from them in any.

Read it carefully and read it all.

30.V.21
Feast of the Holy Trinity

Gloria Patri, et Filio, et Spiritui Sancto,
Sicut erat in principio, et nunc, et semper, et in saecula saeculorum. Amen.

[Holy Trinity, Hendrick van Balen, 1620s
Sint-Jacobskerk, Antwerp ]https://t.co/l8rDhw8nzY pic.twitter.com/8d1AJc4ohy

— Mark Chaplain (@MarkAJChaplain) May 30, 2021

O God, Origin, Sustainer, and End of all creatures: Grant that thy Church, taught by thy servant Evelyn Underhill, guarded evermore by thy power, and guided by thy Spirit into the light of truth, may continually offer to thee all glory and thanksgiving, and attain with thy saints to the blessed hope of everlasting life, which thou hast promised us by our Savior Jesus Christ; who with thee and the same Holy Spirit liveth and reigneth, one God, now and for ever.

Today the Church of England commemorates Evelyn Underhill, Spiritual Writer, 1941 https://t.co/ytustfC1Uq

If God were small enough to be understood, He would not be big enough to be worshipped.

― Evelyn Underhill pic.twitter.com/rcrFYzjsct

— The Anglican Church in St Petersburg (@anglicanspb) June 15, 2022

Keep us, O Lord, from the vain strife of words, and grant us a constant profession of our faith. Preserve us in the way of truth, so that we may ever hold fast that which we professed when we were baptized into the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost, and may give glory to thee, our Creator, Redeemer and Sanctifier, now and for evermore.

Today we celebrate the solemnity of the Holy Trinity #TrinitySunday
Glory be to the Father who is our hope, Glory be to the Son who is our strength and Glory be to the Holy Spirit who is our guide.🙏🏼 pic.twitter.com/twSDdSJMji

— St David's Primary (@stdavidsrc2017) June 7, 2020

So Moses went out and told the people the words of the Lord; and he gathered seventy men of the elders of the people, and placed them round about the tent. Then the Lord came down in the cloud and spoke to him, and took some of the spirit that was upon him and put it upon the seventy elders; and when the spirit rested upon them, they prophesied. But they did so no more.

Now two men remained in the camp, one named Eldad, and the other named Medad, and the spirit rested upon them; they were among those registered, but they had not gone out to the tent, and so they prophesied in the camp. And a young man ran and told Moses, “Eldad and Medad are prophesying in the camp.” And Joshua the son of Nun, the minister of Moses, one of his chosen men, said, “My lord Moses, forbid them.” But Moses said to him, “Are you jealous for my sake? Would that all the Lord’s people were prophets, that the Lord would put his spirit upon them!” And Moses and the elders of Israel returned to the camp.

And there went forth a wind from the Lord, and it brought quails from the sea, and let them fall beside the camp, about a day’s journey on this side and a day’s journey on the other side, round about the camp, and about two cubits above the face of the earth. And the people rose all that day, and all night, and all the next day, and gathered the quails; he who gathered least gathered ten homers; and they spread them out for themselves all around the camp. While the meat was yet between their teeth, before it was consumed, the anger of the Lord was kindled against the people, and the Lord smote the people with a very great plague. Therefore the name of that place was called Kib′roth-hatta′avah, because there they buried the people who had the craving. From Kib′roth-hatta′avah the people journeyed to Haze′roth; and they remained at Haze′roth.

Numbers 11:24-35

@AddisonGreenWX @weatherwithhope @hoffmanrich @News12LI @StormHour @ThePhotoHour @StormTeam4NY
A cotton candy sunrise sky at the Massapequa lake this morning. pic.twitter.com/yK5783LE9y

— Dan Fliller (@DanFliller) June 15, 2022

O God of earth and altar, who didst give G. K. Chesterton a ready tongue and pen, and inspired him to use them in thy service: Mercifully grant that we may be inspired to witness cheerfully to the hope that is in us; through Jesus Christ our Savior, who livest and reignest with thee and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

"Poets have been mysteriously silent on the subject of cheese. Virgil, if I remember right, refers to it several times, but with too much Roman restraint. He does not let himself go on cheese."

G.K. Chesterton, who died #OTD 1936. He isn't wrong 🧀 pic.twitter.com/HI9rCaRlw0

— Broadhursts Bookshop (@BroadhurstBooks) June 14, 2022

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

We are delighted to share the news that Reverend Dr. John D. “Jady” Koch has accepted St. Luke’s call to be our next rector! We know that with your continual prayers for us along with guidance from the Holy Spirit, God has truly blessed us with this decision!

Jady’s initial letter to us, which accompanied his application, stated “my passion to bring people to the love and knowledge of the Lord and to help strengthen and encourage the faithful has only grown, and I gladly and with great joy bring that experience, knowledge, and passion to any position I have been called to serve.” This bold statement certainly intrigued us as it aligns directly with St. Luke’s mission statement “to know Christ and to make Him known.” We invited him to answer the Written Response questions as to his next step. In those answers, he addressed such issues as his interest in St Luke’s being a place where people are hungry for faithful, consistent, courageous Bible teaching, and preaching. So many of his personal qualities, skills, and ministry priorities support our expectations of a new Rector and the desires that YOU expressed in the listening sessions, surveys, and in our Parish Profile. The search committee was struck by the powerful depth of Jady ‘s relationship with God. His faith is obvious and authentic. During the Zoom interview, his wife Liza joined him in responding and expressing their priority in ministry. It was clear from the Zoom interview that building relationships are central to their ministry. Invariably, when answering different questions, they both would return to the theme of growing a stronger, wider faith community by building individual relationships and that hospitality is a prime force in forming bonds between brothers and sisters in Christ. They each recognize that we at St. Luke’s are a family not only seeking this with one another but also seeking it within our community and beyond into the world. In other words, missions and outreach are critical to us. You may remember that after the Zoom interviews, several members of the Rector Search Committee visited candidates at their home churches to hear them preach. During the visit to Jady’s church, Christ Church in Mt. Pleasant, Search Committee members not only heard Jady preach the Sunday sermon but also sing with the Worship and Praise team after he finished his Sunday morning Bible study. They had the opportunity to meet all five of his lively and beautiful children! Following that wonderfully blessed time, the Search Committee decided to invite Jady and Liza to visit St Luke’s and meet the staff. This 3-day visit was very insightful for many reasons. There were several meet-and-greets and question-and-answer sessions with different groups. We were impressed not only with how Jady answered our many questions, but more importantly by the questions that he asked of us and how intently he listened to our responses. He has an approachable and inclusive style able to discern the gifts and strengths of each individual that he meets and desires to empower those people to an even more effective ministry.

We believe that Jady will bring us strong leadership and guide us to a renewal of faith in God and in each other.

Our welcome and transition team will now swing into action to be ready for the arrival of the Koch family on August 1st to settle into our island community. As the time gets closer, we will have more details on how you can meet Jady, Liza, and their family. You may want to learn more about Jady’s background and faith by visiting www.jadykoch.com or www.standfirminfaith.com

In His Holy Name,

Your [Saint Luke’s] Search Committee,

John Evans, Chair
Norm Galloway, CoChair
Judy Pugatch, Communications Coordinator
*Beth Meeder
*Nancy Henty
*Bill Peacher
Keith Tillman
Mike Blackshire
Sarah Brigham Partlow
*Robyn Zimmerman
*Denotes Vestry Member as well as RSC
Your Vestry Members
(see above)
Jim McGuirk, Rector’s Warden
Kent James, People’s Warden
Elizabeth Glick
Mike Mitchell
Jim Legg
John Austin
Sarah Tillman
Gleaves Rhodes

Jady Koch, Rector of St. Francis in the Fields (Kentucky), will be our noonday preacher Thursday and Friday. Before coming to St. Francis, he worked in the Church of England’s Diocese in Europe, first at St. George’s Anglican in Berlin and then at Christ Church Vienna in Austria. pic.twitter.com/Y6UW2qhInr

— Cathedral Church of the Advent (@CathedralAdvent) February 22, 2018

On Monday, June 13, 2022, the College of Bishops of the Anglican Church in North America consented to the elections of the Rev. Alex Farmer, the Rev. Willy J. Hill Jr., and the Rev. Alex Cameron as bishops for the Gulf Atlantic Diocese, the Diocese of the Southeast (REC), and the Diocese of Pittsburgh respectively.

Archbishop Foley Beach commented, “It was a blessing to hear the testimonies of each of these candidates today. They are wonderful men of God who have been called to lead and who will bring unique gifts to the episcopate. Please join me in praying for them as they prepare for their consecrations in August. Pray that the Holy Spirit will continue to lead them and their people from strength to strength.”

Read it all.

Today the College of Bishops consented to the election of three Bishops: Bishop-elect Alex Farmer, Bishop-elect Willie J. Hill Jr., and Bishop-elect Alex Cameron.
Read more at: https://t.co/xB7hiSQNn2

— ACNA (@The_ACNA) June 14, 2022

A South Sudanese bishop who was forced with his family into exile before he was one year old, the Right Revd Anthony Poggo, has been named as the next Secretary General of the Anglican Communion. Bishop Anthony Poggo, the former Bishop of Kajo-Keji in the Episcopal Church of South Sudan, is currently the Archbishop of Canterbury’s Adviser on Anglican Communion Affairs.

Bishop Anthony was selected for his new role by a sub-committee of the Anglican Communion’s Standing Committee following a competitive recruitment process led by external consultants.

He will take up his new role in September, succeeding the Most Revd Dr Josiah Idowu-Fearon, who steps down after next month’s Lambeth [partial gathering] of Anglican bishops, which is being held in Canterbury, Kent, from 26 July to 8 August.

Read it all.

A South Sudanese bishop who was forced with his family into exile before he was one year old, the Right Revd Anthony Poggo, has been named as the next Secretary General of the Anglican Communion. #Anglicans #AnglicanNewshttps://t.co/KVsx1QMO6K

— Anglican Communion News Service (@AnglicanNews) June 14, 2022

None of this implies that the Fed’s job will be easy. The degree to which the central bank will have to tighten monetary policy to control our currently high inflation, and the associated risk of an economic slowdown or recession, depends on several factors: how quickly the supply-side problems (high oil prices, supply-chain snarls) subside, how aggregate spending reacts to the tighter financial conditions engineered by the Fed and whether the Fed retains its credibility as an inflation fighter even if inflation takes a while to subside.

Of these, history teaches us, the last may be the most important. Inflation will not become self-perpetuating, with price increases leading to wage increases leading to price increases, if people are confident that the Fed will take the necessary measures to bring inflation down over time.

The Fed’s greater policy independence, its willingness to take responsibility for inflation and its record of keeping inflation low for nearly four decades after the Great Inflation, make today’s Fed much more credible on inflation than its counterpart in the ’60s and ’70s. The Fed’s credibility will help ensure that the Great Inflation will not be repeated, and Mr. Powell and his colleagues will put a high priority on keeping that credibility intact.

Read it all (my emphasis).

Inflation Isn’t Going to Bring Back the 1970s https://t.co/tktAb9cccV #AndyVermautFromBelgiumLovesNewYorkTimes pic.twitter.com/yIIchHkNgK

— Andy Vermaut (@AndyVermaut) June 14, 2022

Let us now investigate what are our common conceptions concerning the Spirit, as well those which have been gathered by us from Holy Scripture concerning It as those which we have received from the unwritten tradition of the Fathers. First of all we ask, who on hearing the titles of the Spirit is not lifted up in soul, who does not raise his conception to the supreme nature? It is called “Spirit of God,” “Spirit of truth which proceedeth from the Father,” “right Spirit,” “a leading Spirit.” Its proper and peculiar title is “Holy Spirit;” which is a name specially appropriate to everything that is incorporeal, purely immaterial, and indivisible. So our Lord, when teaching the woman who thought God to be an object of local worship that the incorporeal is incomprehensible, said “God is a spirit.” On our hearing, then, of a spirit, it is impossible to form the idea of a nature circumscribed, subject to change and variation, or at all like the creature. We are compelled to advance in our conceptions to the highest, and to think of an intelligent essence, in power infinite, in magnitude unlimited, unmeasured by times or ages, generous of Its good gifts, to whom turn all things needing sanctification, after whom reach all things that live in virtue, as being watered by Its inspiration and helped on toward their natural and proper end; perfecting all other things, but Itself in nothing lacking; living not as needing restoration, but as Supplier of life; not growing by additions; but straightway full, self-established, omnipresent, origin of sanctification, light perceptible to the mind, supplying, as it were, through Itself, illumination to every faculty in the search for truth; by nature unapproachable, apprehended by reason of goodness, filling all things with Its power, but communicated only to the worthy; not shared in one measure, but distributing Its energy according to “the proportion of faith;” in essence simple, in powers various, wholly present in each and being wholly everywhere; impassively divided, shared without loss of ceasing to be entire, after the likeness of the sunbeam, whose kindly light falls on him who enjoys it as though it shone for him alone, yet illumines land and sea and mingles with the air. So, too, is the Spirit to every one who receives it, as though given to him alone, and yet It sends forth grace sufficient and full for all mankind, and is enjoyed by all who share It, according to the capacity, not of Its power, but of their nature.

de Spiritu Sancto, Chapter IX (my emphasis)

St. Basil the Great, Bishop, Doctor of the Church (379)

He studied in Athens where he formed with St. Gregory Nazianzen a tender friendship. He is the author of a monastic rule from which St. Benedict derived many points. His solid and eloquent words silenced the Arian heretics. pic.twitter.com/jTA3smFdhe

— Memento Mori (@TempusFugit4016) June 14, 2022

Almighty God, who hast revealed to thy Church thine eternal Being of glorious majesty and perfect love as one God in Trinity of Persons: Give us grace that, like thy bishop Basil of Caesarea, we may continue steadfast in the confession of this faith, and constant in our worship of thee, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit; who livest and reignest for ever and ever.

“The name of God is said to be holy, not entirely because it has a certain sanctifying power in its syllables, but because the whole specific character of God and the thought contained in what is specially contemplated concerning Him is holy and pure.”

(ON PSALM 32, §10) pic.twitter.com/reDKoy1wkY

— Society of S. Basil the Great (@SocietyStBasil) June 13, 2022

Almighty and everlasting God, who hast revealed thyself as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, and dost ever live and reign in the perfect unity of love: Grant that we may always hold firmly and joyfully to this faith, and, living in praise of thy divine majesty, may finally be one in thee; who art three persons in one God, world without end.

Father, Son, and Holy Ghost,
Heal thy creature's misery;
Thee, the Pearl which Adam lost,
Give us to recover Thee,
Give us in pure love renew'd
Higher by our fall to rise,
Image of the Triune God,
House of One who fills the skies. – C.Wesley#Trinity #TrinitySunday pic.twitter.com/n0GwCndLIv

— Jonathan Powers (@jonboy017) June 12, 2022

And the people complained in the hearing of the LORD about their misfortunes; and when the LORD heard it, his anger was kindled, and the fire of the LORD burned among them, and consumed some outlying parts of the camp. Then the people cried to Moses; and Moses prayed to the LORD, and the fire abated. So the name of that place was called Tab’erah, because the fire of the LORD burned among them. Now the rabble that was among them had a strong craving; and the people of Israel also wept again, and said, “O that we had meat to eat! We remember the fish we ate in Egypt for nothing, the cucumbers, the melons, the leeks, the onions, and the garlic; but now our strength is dried up, and there is nothing at all but this manna to look at.” Now the manna was like coriander seed, and its appearance like that of bdellium. The people went about and gathered it, and ground it in mills or beat it in mortars, and boiled it in pots, and made cakes of it; and the taste of it was like the taste of cakes baked with oil. When the dew fell upon the camp in the night, the manna fell with it. Moses heard the people weeping throughout their families, every man at the door of his tent; and the anger of the LORD blazed hotly, and Moses was displeased. Moses said to the LORD, “Why hast thou dealt ill with thy servant? And why have I not found favor in thy sight, that thou dost lay the burden of all this people upon me? Did I conceive all this people? Did I bring them forth, that thou shouldst say to me, ‘Carry them in your bosom, as a nurse carries the sucking child, to the land which thou didst swear to give their fathers?’ Where am I to get meat to give to all this people? For they weep before me and say, ‘Give us meat, that we may eat.’ I am not able to carry all this people alone, the burden is too heavy for me. If thou wilt deal thus with me, kill me at once, if I find favor in thy sight, that I may not see my wretchedness.” And the LORD said to Moses, “Gather for me seventy men of the elders of Israel, whom you know to be the elders of the people and officers over them; and bring them to the tent of meeting, and let them take their stand there with you. And I will come down and talk with you there; and I will take some of the spirit which is upon you and put it upon them; and they shall bear the burden of the people with you, that you may not bear it yourself alone. And say to the people, ‘Consecrate yourselves for tomorrow, and you shall eat meat; for you have wept in the hearing of the LORD, saying, “Who will give us meat to eat? For it was well with us in Egypt.” Therefore the LORD will give you meat, and you shall eat. You shall not eat one day, or two days, or five days, or ten days, or twenty days, but a whole month, until it comes out at your nostrils and becomes loathsome to you, because you have rejected the LORD who is among you, and have wept before him, saying, “Why did we come forth out of Egypt?”‘” But Moses said, “The people among whom I am number six hundred thousand on foot; and thou hast said, ‘I will give them meat, that they may eat a whole month!’ Shall flocks and herds be slaughtered for them, to suffice them? Or shall all the fish of the sea be gathered together for them, to suffice them?” And the LORD said to Moses, “Is the LORD’s hand shortened? Now you shall see whether my word will come true for you or not.”

–Numbers 11:1-23

A sure sign that summer is quickly approaching: the blooming rhododendrons at @BlueRidgeNPS.

Every June, pink and purple blooms appear along exposed mountain ridges near the Blue Ridge Parkway and the Appalachian Trail in North Carolina.

Photo courtesy of Luke Sutton pic.twitter.com/69QnI4uxHt

— US Department of the Interior (@Interior) June 13, 2022

The Government’s “offshoring” policy, under which the first people are due to be deported to Rwanda as early as Tuesday, “should shame us as a nation”, the Archbishops of Canterbury and York and 23 other bishops, have said.

The policy was included in the Nationality and Borders Act, which came into law in April despite objections and attempted amendments from bishops and other peers (News, 29 April). It was explicitly criticised by Archbishop Welby in his Easter sermon (News, 27 April), and reportedly by the Prince of Wales last week, who is said to have called it “appalling” in a private conversation.

Last week, campaigners failed to win an injunction against the policy in the High Court, which ruled that it was in the “public interest” for the Government to carry it out. An appeal on Monday was rejected for the same reason. A full hearing on whether the policy is lawful is due to take place next month.

In a letter due to be published in The Times on Tuesday, the full complement of bishops who sit in the House of Lords have written: “Whether or not the first deportation flight leaves Britain today for Rwanda, this policy should shame us as a nation.” The letter continues: “The shame is our own, because our Christian heritage should inspire us to treat asylum seekers with compassion, fairness and justice, as we have for centuries.”

Read it all (registration or subscription).

BREAKING: The entire senior leadership of the Church of England (every bishop in the House of Lords) has joined to decry the Rwanda scheme as "an immoral policy that shames Britain" in letter to @TheTimes https://t.co/HUIciprbGu

— Kaya Burgess (@kayaburgess) June 13, 2022

Senate negotiators announced on Sunday that they had struck a bipartisan deal on a narrow set of gun safety measures with sufficient support to move through the evenly divided chamber, a significant step toward ending a yearslong congressional impasse on the issue.

The agreement, put forth by 10 Republicans and 10 Democrats and endorsed by President Biden and top Democrats, includes enhanced background checks to give authorities time to check the juvenile and mental health records of any prospective gun buyer under the age of 21 and a provision that would, for the first time, extend to dating partners a prohibition on domestic abusers having guns.

It would also provide funding for states to enact so-called red-flag laws that allow authorities to temporarily confiscate guns from people deemed to be dangerous, as well as money for mental health resources and to bolster safety and mental health services at schools.

Read it all.

A Senate gun safety plan endorsed by 10 Republicans and 10 Democrats falls far short of reforms long championed by gun control activists and a majority of congressional Democrats. It amounts to notable, albeit narrow, progress amid deep party divisions. https://t.co/WEFNp05vCL pic.twitter.com/KNCaulTD1s

— The New York Times (@nytimes) June 12, 2022

A different tradition is that of the Eastern Orthodox church, which I mentioned in chapter 12. There the “Jesus prayer” has been rightly popular: “Lord Jesus Christ, Son of the living God, have mercy on me, a sinner.” (There are variations, but this is perhaps the best known.) This, like the Jewish Shema, is designed to be said over and over again, until it becomes part of the act of breathing, embedding a sense of the love of Jesus deep within the personality. This prayer, again like the Shema, begins with a confession of faith, but here it is a form of address. And instead of commandments to keep, it focuses on the mercy that the living God extends through his Son to all who will seek it. This prayer has been much beloved by many in the Orthodox and other traditions, who have found that when they did not know what else to pray, this prayer would rise, by habit, to their mind and heart, providing a vehicle and focus for whatever concern they wished to bring into the Father’s presence.

I have a great admiration for this tradition, but I have always felt a certain uneasiness about it. For a start, it seems to me inadequate to address Jesus only. The Orthodox, of course, have cherished the trinitarian faith, and it has stood them in good stead over the course of many difficult years. It is true that the prayer contains an implicit doctrine of the Trinity: Jesus is invoked as the Son of the living God, and Christians believe that prayer addressed to this God is itself called forth by the Spirit. But the prayer does not seem to me to embody a fully trinitarian theology as clearly as it might. In addition, although people more familiar than I with the use of this prayer have spoken of its unfolding to embrace the whole world, in its actual words it is focused very clearly on the person praying, as an individual. Vital though that is, as the private core of the Christian faith without which all else is more or less worthless, it seems to me urgent that our praying should also reflect, more explicitly, the wider concerns with which we have been dealing.

I therefore suggest that we might use a prayer that, though keeping a similar form to that of the Orthodox Jesus Prayer, expands it into a trinitarian mode:

Father almighty, maker of heaven and earth:

Set up your kingdom in our midst.

Lord Jesus Christ, Son of the living God:

Have mercy on me, a sinner.

Holy Spirit, breath of the living God:

Renew me and all the world.

Read it all.

Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty, which was, and is, and is to come.

Icon of the Holy Trinity, Ivanka Demchuk. pic.twitter.com/xxbl2Nd5wQ

— Dave Langille (@cdnusboy) June 12, 2022

With regime change in Kyiv unattainable, Putin has reduced his ambitions, focusing on controlling a slice of the south and east of Ukraine in an effort to enlarge and connect the territories he took in 2014. What he has not given up, however, is his belief that Ukraine does not deserve to be a sovereign entity. As a result, it is difficult to imagine Putin ending the conflict. If Russian forces fare poorly in their ongoing offensive in the Donbas, he will be loath to accept what many might view as a defeat in a war he started. Doing so could render him vulnerable to internal challenge and could come to define his legacy. If, on the other hand, Russian forces gain the upper hand, Putin will see no reason to agree to a cessation of fighting.

Further dimming the prospects of peace is the unlikelihood that any of the developments that could change Putin’s calculus will materialize. Take, for instance, criticism within Russia of the war. Ukraine claims that 30,000 Russian soldiers have already been killed in battle, whereas other assessments suggest that the number is half as high. Whatever the precise figure, it is surely larger than the Kremlin had imagined. In a normal society, that would sap support for the war. But because the government can so effectively control information and crack down against its opponents, domestic criticism of the war has been relatively muted so far.

What if the economic pressure mounts? For now, the sanctions are nowhere near the point of threatening to bring down Putin. Higher oil prices and the emergence of buyers such as India have helped offset reduced sales to the West. Europe, for its part, continues to import Russian gas. If it stopped doing so, Russia would be hard-pressed to sell the gas to others, but Europe is likely to keep buying. Worried about their economies, European countries will resist cutting off imports until they can be assured of either alternative supplies of gas or substitute energy sources—all of which will take years to materialize.

Then there is the prospect of pressure from China, which has so far stood by Russia. If the West persuaded Beijing to distance itself from Moscow, then Putin might realize that his invasion was costing him a vital partner. The United States and Europe should do what they can to drive apart the two powers, including offering incentives to China while also warning it that continued support for Russia would lead to a further deterioration of U.S.-Chinese relations. But even if they tried, their efforts still might fail, as Chinese President Xi Jinping would be extremely reluctant to do anything that would lead to Russia’s defeat or that would suggest that he erred in associating China so closely with Russia…..

Ultimately, what is probably required to end the war is a change not in Washington but in Moscow. In all likelihood, given Putin’s deep investment in the war, it will require someone other than him to take steps that would end Russia’s pariah status, economic crisis, and military quagmire. The West should make clear that it is ready to reward a new Russian leader prepared to take such steps even as it keeps up the pressure on the current one.

Read it all.

Read @RichardHaass on why the war in Ukraine is likely to drag on—and how the West should develop a policy for managing the conflict.https://t.co/AVLH3kZ4dm

— Foreign Affairs (@ForeignAffairs) June 11, 2022

The US economy will tip into a recession next year, according to nearly 70 per cent of leading academic economists polled by the Financial Times.

The latest survey, conducted in partnership with the Initiative on Global Markets at the University of Chicago’s Booth School of Business, suggests mounting headwinds for the world’s largest economy after one of the most rapid rebounds in history, as the Federal Reserve ramps up efforts to contain the highest inflation in about 40 years.

The US central bank has already embarked on what will be one of the fastest tightening cycles in decades. Since March it has raised its benchmark policy rate by 0.75 percentage points from near-zero levels.

The Federal Open Market Committee gathers once again on Tuesday for a two-day policy meeting, at which officials are expected to implement the first back-to-back half-point rate rise since 1994 and signal the continuation of that pace until at least September.

Read it all.

Almost 70% of the economists who participated in our latest poll with @ChicagoBooth’s IGM predict @nberpubs will declare a recession in 2023 https://t.co/uMD6PnzX30 @FinancialTimes @caitlinsgilbert

— Colby Smith (@colbyLsmith) June 12, 2022

One of the points I like to emphasise on this blog is that (contrary to what many people believe who know nothing about the subject) medieval religious literature is often full of creativity, imagination and joy. Here’s a perfect example: this is a witty, playful, exuberant medieval carol on the subject of – of all things – the Holy Trinity. I’ve heard many a solemn, pained sermon on the Trinity, complaining about how difficult it is for us to understand, how it’s always been a stumbling block for believers and a trial to the unwary preacher. That’s how our age approaches mystery and complexity; but in the fifteenth century, they wrote carols about it. That’s how creative medieval religion could be.

Read it all (my emphasis).

'O three and one without ending': a clever medieval song to the Holy Trinity https://t.co/gUaLrphxEO pic.twitter.com/eNQXNXEABO

— Eleanor Parker (@ClerkofOxford) June 16, 2019

Almighty God, most blessed and most holy, before the brightness of whose presence the angels veil their faces: With lowly reverence and adoring love we acknowledge thine infinite glory, and worship thee, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, eternal Trinity. Blessing, and honour, and glory, and power be unto our God, for ever and ever.

From the Royal 2 B VII, a #medieval #manuscript of the Holy Trinity. 🕊️ #MedievalTwitter @ClerkofOxford
Wishing everyone a Blessed Feast Day of the #HolyTrinity. #BlessedSunday pic.twitter.com/fT56Wk0edl

— Marlene T. Diaz (@academicknight) June 12, 2022

And when they came to the crowd, a man came up to him and kneeling before him said, “Lord, have mercy on my son, for he is an epileptic and he suffers terribly; for often he falls into the fire, and often into the water. And I brought him to your disciples, and they could not heal him.” And Jesus answered, “O faithless and perverse generation, how long am I to be with you? How long am I to bear with you? Bring him here to me.” And Jesus rebuked him, and the demon came out of him, and the boy was cured instantly. Then the disciples came to Jesus privately and said, “Why could we not cast it out?” He said to them, “Because of your little faith. For truly, I say to you, if you have faith as a grain of mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move; and nothing will be impossible to you.”

–Matthew 17:14-20

Gorgeous morning colors over the Ravenel Bridge! #chswx pic.twitter.com/g4lJVLRxJK

— JoeyLive5 (@JoeySovine) June 13, 2022

Almighty and everlasting God,
Creator and Sustainer of the universe,
I worship you.

Lord Jesus Christ,
Savior and Lord of the world,
I worship you.

Holy Spirit,
Sanctifier of the people of God,
I worship you.

Glory be to the Father, and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit
As it was in the beginning is now and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.

Lord Jesus Christ, I pray that this day I may take up my cross and follow you.

Holy Spirit, I pray that this day your fruit will ripen my life:

Love, joy, peace, patience,
kindness, goodness, faithfulness,
gentleness and self-control.

Holy, blessed and glorious Trinity,
Three persons in one God,
have mercy upon me. Amen.

–Ted Schroder, John Stott: A summary of his teaching (Manchester: Piquant Publishing, 2021) pp.7-8

'God in Three Persons, Blessed Trinity'

Today is #TrinitySunday when we celebrate the mystery of the triune God: Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

All are welcome to join us for services in the Abbey, including Sung Eucharist at 11:15am and Evensong at 3pm: https://t.co/rFXRivhe2h pic.twitter.com/5eGlizA7qi

— Westminster Abbey (@wabbey) June 12, 2022

God is

God the Father beyond us

God the Son alongside us

and
God the Spirit within us
all the time every time no matter what the time

Blessed #TrinitySunday to everyone #HolyTrinity #theology pic.twitter.com/N5bxDeNr5W

— Kendall Harmon (@KendallHarmon6) June 12, 2022