Summer Reading #books pic.twitter.com/mwZ7pRhAD6

— Kendall Harmon (@KendallHarmon6) August 25, 2022

I have been at this blog since the first part of 2003, and it is time to step back. As I am constantly insisting to my friends, none of us is indispensable, and this is a way of living that out by yours truly. Remember I told you I am the type of person who goes to bed every night just a little sad–only a little–about how much I don’t know (and still wish to find out). So moving away from the information addiction for me will not necessarily be easy–but it is important.

Posts will be catch as catch can until I let you know–KSH.

If every place and space on this planet is the fruit of God’s words years and years ago. How amazing it is the be able to travel and see all that He has made and all that He gives to us. Grateful to be hosted well and can’t wait to return the favor. #sabbath #creation #eha #rest pic.twitter.com/3QWsTlk9WE

— Jonathan Walton (@foreverfocused) August 14, 2022

This puzzle became more complicated recently during Lambeth 2022, which Nigeria…along with the Churches of Uganda and Rwanda [could not attend out of conscientious and theological objection]. Other Global South bishops during Lambeth standoffs with Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby over the status of doctrines on marriage and sex declined to receive Holy Communion with openly gay and lesbian bishops.

“There is a profound asymmetric quality to the Anglican Communion, where the voice of the bulk of its membership is either absent or muted,” said the Rev. David Goodhew of St. Barnabas Church in Middlesborough, England. He is the author of a series of articles about African Anglicanism for Covenant, the blog of “The Living Church,” an independent Anglican publication founded in 1878.

“If one adds up the number of bishops who didn’t share Holy Communion at Lambeth … that is a very large number,” he said. “I have been startled by the number of descriptions that said this Lambeth was a success. I don’t know how one makes that claim when it would appear the bulk of the Anglican Communion’s bishops couldn’t come together to receive Communion. That looks like a disaster.”

Read it all.

The global #Anglican Church continues wrestling with conflict between traditional global south v. progressive global north reports @tweetmattingly in his column @ReligionMaghttps://t.co/Oy19dLrneo @AnglicanEcumen @AnglicanNews @generalsynod @MidwestAnglican @gafconference

— Religion Unplugged (@ReligionMag) August 18, 2022

On July 27, the University of North Carolina (UNC)–Chapel Hill’s Board of Trustees made a strong, new commitment to safeguard the free exchange of ideas on campus. Colleges and universities face immense pressure to comport with majority beliefs, but UNC’s trustees proactively resolved to maintain institutional neutrality on controversial political and social issues.

The trustees’ unanimous resolution built on the previous work of the faculty. To the credit of the UNC Faculty Assembly, it adopted in 2018 the Chicago Principles on Freedom of Expression, an action affirmed by the trustees in March 2021. The faculty resolution read, in part, “By reaffirming a commitment to full and open inquiry, robust debate, and civil discourse we also affirm the intellectual rigor and open-mindedness that our community may bring to any forum where difficult, challenging, and even disturbing ideas are presented.”

The trustees took a remarkable further step. In addition to confirming once more the decision of the Faculty Assembly, they put the university in the vanguard of institutions committed to a robust heterodoxy of views and opinions by also adopting what is known as the Kalven Committee Report on the University’s Role in Political and Social Action. The UNC resolution notes that the Kalven Report “recognizes that the neutrality of the University on social and political issues ‘arises out of respect for free inquiry and the obligation to cherish a diversity of viewpoints’ and further acknowledges ‘a heavy presumption against the university taking collective action or expressing opinions on the political and social issues of the day.’”

In an interview with me, UNC Trustee Dr. Perrin Jones, who introduced the resolution, observed that the unanimity of the board reflected its desire for public affirmation of the university’s commitment to be a forum for open and vigorous debate, which cannot happen without institutional neutrality. Board members embrace, in Dr. Jones’s words, the “high bar” of living up to these “timeless principles.”

Read it all.

My new Forbes column is up. @UNC trustees struck a blow for freedom of speech, reaffirming their fealty to the Chicago Principles on Free Expression. They went one step further & paired that with a promise to maintain institutional neutrality. Inspiring. https://t.co/ze4KrVZ7GV

— Michael B. Poliakoff (@PoliakoffACTA) August 18, 2022

[Diocesan PR] Columbia, S.C. (August 17, 2022) – [Yesterday], the South Carolina Supreme Court granted petitions for rehearing filed by six of seven parishes of the Anglican Diocese of South Carolina.

“We are grateful and heartened that the property rights of six more parishes were affirmed by this ruling,” said the Rev. Canon Jim Lewis. “Today we rejoice with those who rejoice and mourn with those who mourn, but the balance is with rejoicing.” With today’s revised opinion, all property ownership questions are finally settled.

The six churches whose petitions were granted today are: the Church of the Holy Cross (Stateburg), the Church of the Holy Comforter (Sumter), St. Jude’s Church (Walterboro), Old St. Andrew’s (Charleston), St. Luke’s Church (Hilton Head) and Trinity Church (Myrtle Beach).

These six churches, along with 21 others, have now had their property rights affirmed by the Supreme Court. Today’s opinion followed the Court’s earlier April 20 ruling in determining if a parish had created a trust interest in its property in favor of The Episcopal Church (TEC) or its local Diocese (TECSC). Four of the parishes in today’s ruling were judged to have never created a trust, based on that earlier standard. Two more were judged to have created a revocable trust, which they subsequently and properly revoked.

The earlier April 20 ruling stated that 15 parish properties of the Anglican Diocese of South Carolina will also remain with the Anglican Diocese. They are: All Saints, Florence; Church of our Savior, John’s Island; Church of the Cross, Bluffton; Christ-St. Paul’s, Yonges Island; Epiphany, Eutawville; Redeemer, Orangeburg; Resurrection, Surfside/Myrtle Beach; St. Helena’s, Beaufort; St. Paul’s, Bennettsville; St. Paul’s, Summerville; St. Philip’s, Charleston; St. Luke & St. Paul, Charleston; St. Michael’s, Charleston; Trinity, Edisto; and Trinity, Pinopolis. Of the 36 parishes that were parties to this litigation, 28 have had their property rights upheld. All 36 will continue their parish ministries going forward, though some in new locations.

Only one additional parish, the Church of the Good Shepherd, Charleston was ruled today to have created a trust interest in their property on behalf of TEC and TECSC.

In addition to the Church of the Good Shepherd, the April 20 opinion called for transfer of the deeds to Christ Church, Mt. Pleasant; Holy Trinity, Charleston; St. Bartholomew’s, Hartsville; St. David’s, Cheraw; St. Matthew’s, Fort Motte; St. James, Charleston and St. John’s, Johns Island to the Episcopal Church and it’s local diocese, the Episcopal Diocese of South Carolina.

Conversations between the Anglican Diocese, its parishes and the Episcopal Diocese concerning these properties are ongoing. Anglican Diocese Bishop Charles F. Edgar has met with Bishop Ruth Woodliff-Stanley, the leader of the Episcopal Diocese several times to reach resolution on the remaining questions.

The #SouthCarolina Supreme Court Approves Petition for Rehearing Sought by Six Parishes of the #Anglican Diocese of South Carolina https://t.co/bR4pRfZoAr #parishministry #law #religion #history TK pic.twitter.com/3uNpG0jYqQ

— Kendall Harmon (@KendallHarmon6) August 18, 2022

Americans are evenly split in their views about marijuana’s effect on society, with 49% considering it positive and 50% negative. They are slightly more positive about the drug’s effect on people who use it, with 53% saying it’s positive and 45% negative.

People’s own experience with marijuana is highly related to their views on both questions.

Large majorities of adults who say they have ever tried marijuana — which is nearly half of Americans — think marijuana’s effects on users (70%) and society at large (66%) are positive.
Conversely, the majority of those who have never tried marijuana think its effects are negative: 72% say this about its effect on society and 62% about its effect on users.

Read it all.

Americans Not Convinced Marijuana Benefits Society https://t.co/4zwuZA6yb4

— Riccardo C. Gatti (@RiccardoGatti) August 17, 2022

O God, by thy Holy Spirit thou dost give gifts to thy people so that they might faithfully serve thy Church and the world: We give praise to thee for the gifts of perseverance, teaching and wisdom made manifest in thy servant, Artemisia Bowden, whom thou didst call far from home for the sake of educating the daughters and granddaughters of former slaves in Texas. We give thanks to thee for thy blessing and prospering of her life’s work, and pray that, following her example, we may be ever mindful of the call to serve where thou dost send us; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who with thee and the Spirit, liveth and reigneth, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

#BlackHistoryMonth | Honoring the life of Artemisia Bowden, daughter of a slave, who joined the St. Philip's Day School as administrator and teacher. Bowden is cited for the school's transformation from an industrial school, high school & later a junior college.#HBCU pic.twitter.com/sWnlgPjKEO

— HBCU Campaign Fund (@HBCUCampaign) February 5, 2022

O Lord and heavenly Father, who through thy Son our Saviour hast taught us that we cannot serve both God and mammon: Deliver us, we pray thee, from the love of money; and grant us grace to use wisely and faithfully all such possessions as thou hast entrusted to us, for the furtherance of thy kingdom, the relief of those in need, and the supply of our own necessities; through the same Jesus Christ our Lord.

Good morning from North Yorkshire 😊 pic.twitter.com/jJOmtngo4V

— Nicky (@Nicky13Johnson) August 18, 2022

A Song of Ascents. Of David. O LORD, my heart is not lifted up, my eyes are not raised too high; I do not occupy myself with things too great and too marvelous for me. But I have calmed and quieted my soul, like a child quieted at its mother’s breast; like a child that is quieted is my soul. O Israel, hope in the LORD from this time forth and for evermore.

–Psalm 131

The most beautiful sunrise this morning 💛🧡 #sunrise #orangeskies #august #staithes #northyorkshire #villagesbythesea #fishingvillage pic.twitter.com/ZvMvMW8cDw

— The Rural Rambler (@TheRuralRambler) August 18, 2022

on July 9, after months of taking to the streets, Sri Lanka protesters successfully pressured President Gotabaya Rajapaksa to resign and flee the country. Demonstrations began in early April as prices of fuel, food, and medicine began to soar.

Gotabaya’s tenure, which began in 2019, failed to mitigate much of the damage that his brother Mahinda Rajapaksa had put in place when he served as president from 2005 to 2015. Corruption and disastrous economic policies characterized their respective administrations. COVID-19 dealt the final blow to an already struggling, poorly managed economy, with Sri Lanka even defaulting on external debt for the first time in its history. No one in the island nation of 22 million people has emerged unscathed.

“For the first time in my living memory, the protests have united people from all walks of life and all ethnic and religious communities,” said Christian political blogger and International Fellowship of Evangelical Students (IFES) leader Vinoth Ramachandra.

This includes Christians, who comprise 7.4 percent of the population (evangelicals comprise less than 2 percent). Despite suffering persecution and scores of casualties in 2019 terrorist attacks, many have felt compelled to come alongside their countrypeople in this political moment….

In this series, CT profiles four Christian leaders [Andrew Devadason, Amal Kumarage, Nadishani Perera, and Godfrey Yogarajah] who have spent their lives investing in the betterment of Sri Lanka and have been working hard in this moment for the nation’s rebirth within their own spheres of influence.

Read it all.

From CTmagazine: A vicar washing the feet of protestors. A professor calling for citizen responsibility. A lawyer combating corruption.

Sri Lankan Christians are living out their faith amidst unprecedented political upheaval:https://t.co/sJoX20K3GZ

— Carol Flohr Giles (@giles_carol) August 17, 2022

US consumers are standing firm in the face of hot inflation and rising interest rates — even if they’re spending with a little less gusto and a lot more frustration.

Retail sales excluding a price-induced drop in gas station receipts and a drop in motor vehicle purchases rose a better-than-expected 0.7% in July, Commerce Department data showed Wednesday. Building-materials outlets, electronics and appliances stores and online merchants were among those with firm gains in receipts before adjusting for inflation…..

“The most important takeaway is that consumer spending on goods is continuing to increase, even as the bulk of their energies have shifted to services,” said Stephen Stanley, chief economist at Amherst Pierpont Securities.

With China’s economy slowing down, Europe likely heading into a recession amid skyrocketing energy prices, the resilience of the American consumer so far is all the more remarkable….

Read it all.

US consumers are standing firm in the face of hot inflation and rising interest rates — even if they’re spending with a little less gusto and a lot more frustration https://t.co/APS1iHi80I via @markets

— Robert Burgess (@BobOnMarkets) August 17, 2022

The problem is not a lack of water per se. Climate change may make some places drier and others wetter. It is the uneven distribution of freshwater—of which fast-growing places like India are woefully short—that provide the conditions for a crisis. This is made worse by waste, pollution and the near-universal underpricing of water. Some governments, notably China’s, have created pharaonic projects to transport water to where it is needed. Others, such as Mr López Obrador’s, peddle the quixotic idea of moving demand to where the water is. The best outcome in the long term, on paper at least, is the simplest: that less of the stuff is used, and more of what is used is treated better. It is something the private sector is just starting to grapple with.

Industries directly affected by water shortages have got a head start. Global mining firms are using desalination plants in Chile. Beer and soft-drinks companies, existentially reliant on clean water, have targets for improving efficiency (Heineken says it uses 2.5 litres of water to make a litre of beer in Mexico, about half the global industry average). In collaboration with the wri, Cargill, an agro-industrial behemoth, recently extended the monitoring of water use from its own operations to the farmers who supply its crops. Fashion retailers, whose suppliers are often heavy users of water and dyes in dry areas, are considering similar moves, to avoid angry flare-ups by local residents who worry about being second in line to the taps.

This calls for careful stewardship.

Read it all.

As a heavily subsidised raw material, water is so cheap that many ceos overlook it. A report this year by Planet Tracker and cdp, two ngos, said that about a third of listed banks do not assess water risks in their portfolios. https://t.co/9wIpsGUZVJ

— Guillaume LOURIAIS (@glouriais) August 18, 2022

Law enforcement across the country rescued more than 200 sex trafficking victims, including 84 children, in a nationwide sweep dubbed “Operation Cross Country,” the FBI announced Monday. The youngest victim was 11 years old.

Authorities located 84 victims of child sex trafficking, as well as 37 children that were actively missing during the campaign, the FBI said. Law enforcement officers also located 141 adult victims of human trafficking.

In 2021, more than half of all trafficking victims in the U.S. were minors, according to the Human Trafficking Institute. In a news release Monday, FBI Director Christopher Wray called sex trafficking “among the most heinous crimes” the agency encounters.

Read it all.

More than 200 state, local, and federal partners and the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children conducted 391 operations over a two-week period in August. https://t.co/8AjYmMbbtO

— CBS News (@CBSNews) August 16, 2022

For the second year in a row, Arizona and Nevada will face cuts in the amount of water they can draw from the Colorado River as the West endures more drought, federal officials announced Tuesday.

Though the cuts will not result in any immediate new restrictions — like banning lawn watering or car washing — they signal that unpopular decisions about how to reduce consumption are on the horizon, including whether to prioritize growing cities or agricultural areas. Mexico will also face cuts.

But those reductions represent just a fraction of the potential pain to come for the 40 million Americans in seven states that rely on the river. Because the states failed to meet a federal deadline to figure out how to cut their water use by at least 15%, they could see even deeper cuts that the government has said are needed to prevent reservoirs from falling so low they cannot be pumped.

“The states collectively have not identified and adopted specific actions of sufficient magnitude that would stabilize the system,” Bureau of Reclamation Commissioner Camille Touton said.

Read it all.

For years, cities and farms have diverted more water from the river than flows through it, depleting its reservoirs and raising questions about how it will be divided as water becomes more scarce.https://t.co/5ULwcyIsVK

— Stars and Stripes (@starsandstripes) August 17, 2022

Make us tender and compassionate towards those who are an overtaken by temptation, considering ourselves, how we have fallen in times past and may fall yet again. Make us watchful and sober-minded, looking ever unto thee for grace to stand upright, and to persevere unto the end; through thy Son Jesus Christ our Lord.

Good morning, Charleston! 🙂 pic.twitter.com/4yIBGPi3FA

— Trooper Bob (@TrooperBob_SC) August 17, 2022

After this Jesus went to the other side of the Sea of Galilee, which is the Sea of Tiber’i-as. And a multitude followed him, because they saw the signs which he did on those who were diseased. Jesus went up on the mountain, and there sat down with his disciples. Now the Passover, the feast of the Jews, was at hand. Lifting up his eyes, then, and seeing that a multitude was coming to him, Jesus said to Philip, “How are we to buy bread, so that these people may eat?” This he said to test him, for he himself knew what he would do. Philip answered him, “Two hundred denarii would not buy enough bread for each of them to get a little.” One of his disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, said to him, “There is a lad here who has five barley loaves and two fish; but what are they among so many?” Jesus said, “Make the people sit down.” Now there was much grass in the place; so the men sat down, in number about five thousand. Jesus then took the loaves, and when he had given thanks, he distributed them to those who were seated; so also the fish, as much as they wanted. And when they had eaten their fill, he told his disciples, “Gather up the fragments left over, that nothing may be lost.” So they gathered them up and filled twelve baskets with fragments from the five barley loaves, left by those who had eaten. When the people saw the sign which he had done, they said, “This is indeed the prophet who is to come into the world!” Perceiving then that they were about to come and take him by force to make him king, Jesus withdrew again to the mountain by himself.

–John 6:1-15

The river Shannon. Limerick, Ireland. pic.twitter.com/BzXSGplJOx

— Tracy Hogan (@HoganSOG) August 16, 2022

Opposition figure Raila Odinga said Tuesday that he would challenge the results of Kenya’s close presidential election with “all constitutional and legal options” after Deputy President William Ruto was declared the winner, bringing new uncertainty to East Africa’s most stable democracy.

Now the country faces weeks of disputes and the possibility that the Supreme Court will order another election. Religious and other leaders have pleaded for calm to continue in a nation with a history of deadly post-election violence.

“Let no one take the law into their own hands,” Odinga said to his often-passionate supporters. In Kisumu, a city in his western Kenya stronghold, some residents said they were tired of going into the street and being tear-gassed.

Read it all.

https://t.co/BIijVI9R7q

— ARTIDÔNIO (@TVARTOURICURI) August 16, 2022

“The al-Qaeda terrorist infrastructure we faced in 2001 is long since gone,” said Ken McCallum, head of mi5, Britain’s security service, last year, shortly before Kabul fell. But that infrastructure shows signs of revival, according to a un monitoring team. Al-Qaeda has an “advisory” role with the Taliban, it notes. Al-Qaeda in the Indian Subcontinent (aqis) has 180-400 members, many of whom recently fought alongside the Taliban.

“We don’t have evidence that there is any nascent international attack capability that is starting to blossom in Afghanistan,” says Edmund Fitton-Brown, the un team’s co-ordinator. But he notes that Mr Haqqani, as interior minister, oversees citizenship, passports and travel. “This could be a longer game plan” that could lead to fresh acts of terrorism by the likes of al-Qaeda anywhere, planned in Afghanistan.

That will depend on whether the Taliban rein it in, fearful of the consequences of another attack mounted from Afghan soil. But what already distinguishes al-Qaeda’s position today, compared with 2001, is the breadth of its activity. In recent years the movement has become remarkably decentralised….

Read it all.

America has now killed both of al-Qaeda’s leaders, the first five heads of IS in Afghanistan, and successive IS leaders in Syria. Yet this relentless decapitation seems to have made little difference https://t.co/0CF0Rs3X0g

— The Economist (@TheEconomist) August 13, 2022

Ryszard Legutko, a professor of philosophy at Jagiellonian University in Poland and a member of the European Parliament, has been pondering this problem for some years, sharing his thoughts in lectures, books, and journal articles, some of them in recent issues of First Things. In his view, a certain type of liberty (or freedom—he uses the terms synonymously) is indispensable to the functioning of any republic. But everything depends on the kind of liberty prevailing there. “Positive” liberty, as he notes in his most recent book, The Cunning of Freedom, is the liberty that aims at cultivating the skills and habits that enable people to live together as citizens of a flourishing community. “Negative” liberty is the kind that aims at a utopia in which people can boast, “There is no one else to hinder or stop me from doing what I want to do” or “force me to do something I do not want to do.” The reductio ad absurdum of this, Legutko thinks, would be the life of Robinson Crusoe on his desert island. He lived in absolute freedom there: He could do whatever he pleased and take orders from nobody. But it “would be more like a nightmare that we shake off with relief once we waken.”

Crusoe’s island is, of course, mythical, meant to illustrate the trap we can fall into by embracing negative freedom. Legutko uses the closer-to-home analogy of a department store.

Walk into it, behold the many items on display, and take your pick. In similar fashion, a typically modern, heterosocial community may be composed of people of all religions, philosophies, and lifestyles: “Christians, Muslims, Buddhists, and atheists; heterosexuals, homosexuals, innumerable genders, nationalities, and ethnic backgrounds; conservatives, liberals, socialists, anarchists, communists, and those with other political beliefs; pornographers, priests, hedonists, and moral ascetics.” Legutko takes us through this rather comical display of lifestyles to underscore the weakness of the department store analogy. In the real world, we are dealing not with purses, pots, and pans, but with subgroups holding vastly different worldviews—differing views of freedom, of human nature, of “man’s destiny and what constitutes good political order.” For example, “freedom for Christians has always been interpreted in a way liberals found unacceptable, and vice versa.” All too often, according to Legutko, it is the Christians who cave: “Lured by the alleged virtue of open-mindedness, they adapt their language to liberal ideology, believing that by doing so they pay very little price as Christians and gain a respectable position in a liberal/multicultural society.”

Read it all.

Chinese authorities are pushing political critics into psychiatric hospitals where they are subjected to electroshock therapy and forced drugging nearly a decade after the country passed laws against such abuse, a new report said on Tuesday.

The study published by Madrid-based rights group Safeguard Defenders drew on the testimony of 99 people over a period of seven years, with alleged victims saying they were also placed in isolation for long periods and tied to beds where they were forced to lie in their own excrement.

Read it all (subscription).

Chinese authorities are locking political critics into psychiatric hospitals where they are subjected to electroshock therapy and forced drugging nearly a decade after the country passed laws against such abuse https://t.co/lC9VbXngeZ

— Alfons López Tena 🦇 (@alfonslopeztena) August 16, 2022

Starting with the novels “The Return of Ansel Gibbs” (1958), which questioned the human values of a former statesman recalled to Washington for a cabinet post, and “The Final Beast” (1965), which linked a young widowed minister to a woman in a small-town scandal, Mr. Buechner’s writing took on new theological dimensions, finding divinity in everyday life.

In a series of autobiographies — “The Sacred Journey” (1982), “Now and Then” (1983), “Telling Secrets” (1991) and “The Eyes of the Heart” (1999) — Mr. Buechner examined his relationship with his deceased parents and his insights gained from therapy sessions. He explained his intention in an introduction to the first volume:

“More as a novelist than as a theologian, more concretely than abstractly, I determined to try to describe my own life as evocatively and candidly as I could in the hope that such glimmers of theological truth as I believed I had glimpsed in it would shine through my description more or less on their own.”

Critics sometimes accused Mr. Buechner of moralizing. But more typical was Cecelia Holland, in The Washington Post, on his novel “Brendan” (1987), about an Irish saint whose sixth-century voyages were likened to those of Sinbad. “In our own time,” she wrote, “when religion is debased, an electronic game show, an insult to the thirsty soul, Buechner’s novel proves again the power of faith, to lift us up, to hold us straight, to send us on again.”

Read it all.

The author of this beautiful obit of a great writer joined the Times over 60 years ago: “Robert D. McFadden is a senior writer on the Obituaries desk. He joined The Times in May 1961” https://t.co/aSpKSwQWuT

— David Brooks (@nytdavidbrooks) August 16, 2022

O God, who art faithful to thy people and dost not permit them to be tempted above that they are able, but with the temptation also makest a way of escape that they may be able to bear it: We humbly entreat thee to strengthen us thy servants with thy heavenly aid and keep us with thy continual protection; that we may evermore wait on thee, and never by any temptation be drawn away from thee; through Jesus Christ our Lord.

"Summer Morning on Cranberry River"#AlmostHeaven #WestVirginia #Highlands #ThePhotoHour pic.twitter.com/fPY0Za3Cne

— Thomas R Fletcher (@ThomasRFletcher) August 16, 2022

And Saul was consenting to his death.

And on that day a great persecution arose against the church in Jerusalem; and they were all scattered throughout the region of Judea and Samar′ia, except the apostles. Devout men buried Stephen, and made great lamentation over him. But Saul was ravaging the church, and entering house after house, he dragged off men and women and committed them to prison.

Now those who were scattered went about preaching the word. Philip went down to a city of Samar′ia, and proclaimed to them the Christ. And the multitudes with one accord gave heed to what was said by Philip, when they heard him and saw the signs which he did. For unclean spirits came out of many who were possessed, crying with a loud voice; and many who were paralyzed or lame were healed. So there was much joy in that city.

But there was a man named Simon who had previously practiced magic in the city and amazed the nation of Samar′ia, saying that he himself was somebody great. They all gave heed to him, from the least to the greatest, saying, “This man is that power of God which is called Great.” And they gave heed to him, because for a long time he had amazed them with his magic. But when they believed Philip as he preached good news about the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ, they were baptized, both men and women. Even Simon himself believed, and after being baptized he continued with Philip. And seeing signs and great miracles performed, he was amazed.

–Acts 8:1-13

Despite it being cooler and showery in places, we’re still asking everyone to help keep our communities, landscape and wildlife safe by not lighting fires or using BBQs.

This field barn in Muker has an interesting back story 👇 https://t.co/UY9LlV4kgW

📸 Wendy McDonnell pic.twitter.com/3gJlV0cFN6

— Yorkshire Dales National Park Authority (@yorkshire_dales) August 16, 2022

It is with great sadness—but greater appreciation for his well-lived life—that we share the news of Frederick Buechner’s peaceful passing at 96. Please share your thoughts, prayers, and favorite quotes here and elsewhere in his memory. #inmemoriambuechner https://t.co/7DOUK0YaS1 pic.twitter.com/rpakKZ87TD

— Frederick Buechner (@Fred_Buechner) August 15, 2022

The Rev. Charlie Bell, author of the book “Queer Holiness,” went further. “The Lambeth Conference has,” tweeted the psychiatrist, a fellow at Girton College, Cambridge, “ended with “a recognition – explicit and implicit – that the acceptance of LGBTQI love and SSM is within the bounds of the communion we share. The Holy Spirit was at work.”

For Global South bishops, all of this showed that Anglicanism “is not in a healthy, working state.” The question is whether brokenness will inspire repentance.

The “revisionist Provinces,” said a GSFA communique, “adapt the Word of God to the prevailing culture … and end up condoning what is morally wrong in God’s eyes. … Failing to correct false teaching is to fail to act in love. Hence, orthodox Bishops are duty-bound to God not to ‘live and let live’ under the guise of simply walking together.”

Thus, Archbishop Justin Badi Arama of South Sudan told journalists: “A communion is where you have one belief, one doctrine and here there is an issue where there are two different doctrines. How can you walk together?”

Read it all.

A.R. Bernard, pastor of the largest evangelical church in New York City, has been working on a plan for more than 10 years. Now the proposal to build a $1.2 billion urban village and revitalize the struggling neighborhood around his church is progressing through the city’s approval process and closer to reality. The Christian Cultural Center (CCC) hopes developers could break ground in Brooklyn next year.

“If I’ve got land, and it’s valuable, I’m going to leverage that land to partner in its future, not surrender it. … What can we do to better the quality of life?” Bernard told CT in early August as he paged through the proposals for the urban village. “My theology is summed up in two words: human flourishing. That’s the story from Genesis to Revelation.”

Bernard had just returned from an event with the New York governor in Buffalo and was planning a trip to participate in the coronation of the new Zulu king in South Africa.

But back in his office without any staff or audience around, he was diving into the minutiae of land development, showing slideshows of proposals for different heights of buildings and talking about the design for “porosity” of streets and ULURP, the city ’s land use process.

On 10.5 acres of church land, the proposed village would include thousands of units of affordable housing, a trade school, a supermarket, a performing arts center, 24/7 childcare for night-shift workers, senior living facilities, and other amenities designed to revitalize the East New York neighborhood.

As the founder of the 30,000-member nondenominational church, Bernard is also a kind of unofficial mayor of the city’s evangelical churches. He has served as the head of the Council of Churches of the City of New York and is often the person public officials call when they want an evangelical advisor or representative at significant events. He also works in evangelical organizations outside the city, including serving on the board of Promise Keepers.

Read it all.

"The plans for the village are born out of specific situations the church has seen in the community."

Yes! That's so good.

I love this church's vision of serving their neighbourhood.

Investing their resources into the tangible needs of their community.https://t.co/V8A1YV78wx

— Rich Janes (@richkjanes) August 10, 2022

A quarter of the US land area, home to more than 100mn people, will be subjected to temperatures of more than 125F (52C) in three decades, including states with rapid population growth such as Texas, a report forecasts.

The “extreme heat belt”, in which heat indices exceed such temperatures, will expand from 50 counties in 2023 to more than 1,000 by 2053, according to a new report from First Street Foundation, a New York-based non-profit climate risk research group.

The findings point to an increasingly severe impact on US population centres and property markets as the planet is warmed by greenhouse gas emissions. Temperatures have risen 1.1C globally since preindustrial times.

Heatwaves have baked much of the US this summer, with record temperatures in Texas and near-record figures from the Pacific Northwest to the north-east last month, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

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"A quarter of the US land area, home to more than 100mn people, will be subjected to temperatures of more than 125F (52C) in three decades" https://t.co/LYf7c6ImCg

— ryan cooper (@ryanlcooper) August 15, 2022