As is our custom, we aim to let go of the cares and concerns of this world until Monday and to focus on the great, awesome, solemn and holy events of the next three days. I would ask people to concentrate their comments on the personal, devotional, and theological aspects of these days which will be our focal point here. Many thanks–KSH.

The Last Supper in unusual English glass of 1771 by the painter James Rowell at Apethorpe, Northamptonshire. Today is Maundy Thursday, and tonight the Church throughout the world celebrates the Mass of the Lord's Supper. pic.twitter.com/eZsM0f4BnO

— Simon Knott (@last_of_england) April 6, 2023

O Lord Jesus Christ, who on this day didst wash thy disciples’ feet, leaving us an example of humble service: Grant that our souls may be washed from all defilement, and that we fail not to serve thee in the least of thy brethren; who livest and reignest for ever and ever.

Today is Maundy Thursday on which the Institution of the Eucharist and Jesus' washing of his disciples feet are commemorated.#MaundyThursday
Bamberg State Library Msc.Lit.1; Sacramentary; early 11th century; Fulda; f.60r https://t.co/raKN2KXWHn pic.twitter.com/Ah0KUfw4iZ

— Ennius (@red_loeb) April 6, 2023

As a former group treasurer for an oil company, Justin is aware of numbers – and those in the Church of England pews had been declining for decades before he became Archbishop. Now the finances of many dioceses are visibly failing, hastened by the pandemic. A national Vision and Strategy has now been brought in, with Strategic Development Funding specifically to redirect resources to fresh ideas. Some have seen this as a threat to the parish system, and the priest and polemicist, Giles Fraser recently reflected he was ‘sick of ten years of managerialism’ describing how he felt morale had plummeted.

Some bishops may feel similarly demoralised – the leaked ‘Bishops and their ministries’ paper last year noted the importance of creating a culture where ‘all bishops feel free to express their views in meetings… rather than deferring to those perceived as more senior in the ‘hierarchy’’. If the bishops feel voiceless, or perhaps powerless, it is difficult to see where the next Archbishop might come from. In Justin’s book on reconciliation he says ‘the use of power almost always leads to the abuse of power’, and he think he has ‘influence, but not power’. Who has the power at present in our Church, and who will have it next? That leaked bishops paper commented that the selection and formation process for bishops was ‘not robust or transparent and is therefore open to ‘political’ manoeuvring’ adding that it ‘may not produce the candidates best equipped for visionary national leadership if such candidates are chosen based on local needs’. Our bench of bishops has changed dramatically over the last decade, as they tend to; what will the next generation of bishops to lead us be like?

With plans to create a centralised body that will concentrate power further, will the bishops have the power to lead like they have in the past? A Church of England National Services (CENS) is planned to support the strategic vision of the national church, support national policy development and engagement, via a single governance board structure. When you centralise governance, you centralise power. In a Church of England that has a devolved and non-centralised ecclesiology, this will be interesting. How will checks and balances be built in, where will thorough scrutiny be seen? Few would doubt that a nettle of needed grasping, to bring efficiency and greater transparency, but will these internal reforms get it right?

As we count down the weeks until the coronation, the Makin review into allegations of abuse carried out by the late John Smyth is now 147 weeks overdue….

Read it all.

What has changed in @churchofengland over the last decade? And what next?

A whistlestop reflection (if that's not an oxymoron!) for @churchnewspaper https://t.co/Kwcn320XBR

— Rebecca (Bex) Chapman (@bexchapman3boys) April 4, 2023

With sorrow yet with resolve & humble boldness, the orthodox in the Communion must now rise up to this task of re-setting the world-wide Communion with a new locus, that is a new ecclesiastical centre. This new locus is needed to conserve all that God has gifted our Church with in being a historic, world-wide Communion. It is needed so that across the Communion, we who share the ‘faith once delivered’ can truly be ‘one body’ globally in our ecclesial life together, in being joint-stewards for guarding and propagating the Gospel and in conserving all that is good and solid in our Anglican heritage, ecclesiology, and ethos. Therefore, GSFA will work patiently, thoughtfully, and lovingly with other orthodox leaders in the Communion, such as those in the GAFCON movement and other Primates & groupings, to forge this re-setting of the Communion on a strong and stable foundation.

In seeking to re-set the Communion, GSFA will stay true to the objectives it formulated at the time of the Lambeth Conference 2022 (see Editor’s Notes to the First Press Conference of Orthodox Bishops attending Lambeth Conference 2022); namely to (1) foster the unity of the orthodox, (2) sound a clarion call to biblical faithfulness, (3) stand by its principle of not being a breakaway group but being part of ‘the holy remnant’, and (4) spur the faithful in the Communion to get the Gospel out into the world.

The re-setting of the Communion is an uphill task that requires faith, love and wisdom from above. It cannot be undertaken without the empowerment of the Spirit. Dear people, pray fervently for GSFA & all the orthodox components of the Communion in this endeavour.

Read it all.

A Holy Week Message by Archbp Justin Badi, Chairman of the Global South Fellowship of #Anglican Churches (GSFA)-'W/ sorrow yet w/ resolve & humble boldness, the orthodox in the Communion must now rise up 2 this task of re-setting the world-wide Communion' https://t.co/7YVaaKfifi pic.twitter.com/DkyI0cacaf

— Kendall Harmon (@KendallHarmon6) April 6, 2023

Lord God, whose blessed Son, our Saviour, gave his back to the smiters, and hid not his face from shame: Grant us grace to take joyfully the sufferings of the present time, in full assurance of the glory that shall be revealed; through the same thy Son Jesus Christ our Lord.

Today is Maundy Thursday, when we commemorate the Washing of the Feet and the Last Supper of Jesus Christ with the Apostles. All are welcome to join us for worship today. The Chrism Eucharist will take place at 11am, followed by the Maundy Thursday Eucharist at 7.30pm.@GlosDioc pic.twitter.com/4YKXr5QvM3

— Gloucester Cathedral (@GlosCathedral) April 6, 2023

O Lord, thou hast deceived me,
and I was deceived;
thou art stronger than I,
and thou hast prevailed.
I have become a laughingstock all the day;
every one mocks me.
For whenever I speak, I cry out,
I shout, “Violence and destruction!”
For the word of the Lord has become for me
a reproach and derision all day long.
If I say, “I will not mention him,
or speak any more in his name,”
there is in my heart as it were a burning fire
shut up in my bones,
and I am weary with holding it in,
and I cannot.
For I hear many whispering.
Terror is on every side!
“Denounce him! Let us denounce him!”
say all my familiar friends,
watching for my fall.
“Perhaps he will be deceived,
then we can overcome him,
and take our revenge on him.”
But the Lord is with me as a dread warrior;
therefore my persecutors will stumble,
they will not overcome me.
They will be greatly shamed,
for they will not succeed.
Their eternal dishonor
will never be forgotten.

–Jeremiah 20:7-11

Today is the Wednesday of Holy Week. The prophet Jeremiah in 1907 glass by Kempe & Co at Nacton, Suffolk.

'videte si est dolor sicut dolor meus'
('see if there be any sorrow like unto my sorrow.')
-from the Lamentations of Jeremiah pic.twitter.com/EJPhvkkCua

— Simon Knott (@last_of_england) April 5, 2023

The Taliban has further tightened restrictions on Afghan women by banning them from working for the United Nations, putting at risk the agency’s multibillion-dollar aid program in Afghanistan.

The U.N. warned Tuesday of “serious concern” after its female Afghan staff were prevented by the authorities from entering their offices in the eastern province of Nangarhar. Working for the U.N. was one of the last avenues of employment left for women in Afghanistan.

“We remind de facto authorities that United Nations entities cannot operate and deliver lifesaving assistance without female staff,” the U.N. said on Twitter.

The U.N. has repeatedly warned that excluding women from the aid sector is a “red line.” It says aid won’t be able to reach women in need without female employees, as the country’s conservative culture in the country doesn’t allow men and women to mix.

Read it all.

The Taliban has banned Afghan women from working for the United Nations, putting at risk the agency’s multibillion-dollar aid program in Afghanistan https://t.co/6qYZLONJ8G

— The Wall Street Journal (@WSJ) April 4, 2023

Ian Sansavera, a software architect at a New York start-up called Runway AI, typed a short description of what he wanted to see in a video. “A tranquil river in the forest,” he wrote.

Less than two minutes later, an experimental internet service generated a short video of a tranquil river in a forest. The river’s running water glistened in the sun as it cut between trees and ferns, turned a corner and splashed gently over rocks.

Runway, which plans to open its service to a small group of testers this week, is one of several companies building artificial intelligence technology that will soon let people generate videos simply by typing several words into a box on a computer screen.

They represent the next stage in an industry race — one that includes giants like Microsoft and Google as well as much smaller start-ups — to create new kinds of artificial intelligence systems that some believe could be the next big thing in technology, as important as web browsers or the iPhone.

Read it all.

In the race to create new kinds of AI tech, several companies are building systems that will generate videos based on simple prompts. The new systems could speed the work of moviemakers, while becoming a quick way to create hard-to-detect misinformation.https://t.co/cO8aoxfVer

— The New York Times (@nytimes) April 4, 2023

Turns out, it’s not that easy at all to create a bot that diagnoses disease with more nuance and compassion than a human doctor, and the consequences for some of us may be dire. You might reply that not all human doctors are nuanced and compassionate, but this is just my point. As long as AI is trained on human behavior, it will tend to replicate our worst flaws, only more efficiently. What happens when medical racism or sexism in the training data means that even our most sophisticated bots share human doctors’ tendency to misdiagnose women and people of color?

We are finding out. A 2019 study found that a clinical algorithm used in many hospitals required Black patients to be much sicker than White patients in order to be recommended for the same level of care, because it used data indicating that Black patients had less money to spend on care. Even when such problems are corrected and new guardrails are put in place, self-teaching AI seems to be able to find patterns in data that elude our own pattern-detecting capabilities. We don’t even realize they exist.

A 2022 study in the Lancet found that AI trained on huge data sets of medical imaging could determine a patient’s race with startling accuracy based on x-rays, ultrasounds, CT scans, MRIs, or mammograms, even when there was no accompanying patient information. The human researchers couldn’t figure out how the machines knew patient race even when programmed to ignore markers such as, for example, density in breast tissue among Black women. Attempts to apply strict filters and programming that controls for racism can also backfire by erasing diagnosis of minorities altogether.

“Our finding that AI can accurately predict self-reported race, even from corrupted, cropped, and noised medical images, often when clinical experts cannot, creates an enormous risk for all model deployments in medical imaging,” the authors of the Lancet study wrote. “Just as with human behavior, there’s not a simple solution to fixing bias in machine learning,” said the lead researcher, radiologist Judy W. Gichoya. As long as medical racism is in us, it will also be one of the ghosts in the machine. The self-improving algorithm will work as designed, if not necessarily as intended.

Read it all.

ChatGPT appears to be smart enough to recognize that artificial intelligence poses a threat to workers' livelihoods. https://t.co/JESPQXE7Ew

— CBS News (@CBSNews) April 5, 2023

Tests in medical school are trying for everyone but especially so for Melanie Wiley Gail as she struggles with sounds and smells her fellow students don’t seem to notice.

“Imagine taking the exam in a room full of skunks with rock music playing,” she likes to say.

It wasn’t until after her first year at the Medical University of South Carolina — where Gail is pursuing both her medical degree and a doctorate in neuroscience — that she was diagnosed as being on the autism spectrum. While she is open about it and serves as chair of the Autism Society of South Carolina, many in medicine have privately told her they are keeping their condition private because they fear the public exposure.

It is a stigma Gail would like to see changed.

Read it all.

Pursuing a medical degree and a doctorate at the same time is difficult enough. Then Melanie Wiley Gail was diagnosed as being on the autism spectrum, and she decided to become an advocate as well: https://t.co/1S7MqQrn7I

— Thomas Corwin (@AUG_SciMed) April 5, 2023

…ultimately, to truly integrate and capitalize on AI, U.S. defense leaders will need to shift how they measure military capability. The Pentagon will never give artificial intelligence its due when it does not consider AI to be a key component of military strength. When military leaders appear before Congress to advocate for their budgets, they make their case in terms of industrial-age metrics. The navy, for example, lays out how many ships it requires, while the air force spells out how many aircraft it has to purchase. These measurements still matter, but what matters more today is the digital capabilities of these systems, such as whether the ships and planes have sensors to detect enemy forces, algorithms that can process information and enable better decision-making, and intelligent munitions to precisely strike targets. All these capabilities can be improved with artificial intelligence, and U.S. leaders must begin taking them into account.

It will not be easy for the armed forces to make these changes: the American military is a vast and unwieldy bureaucracy. It will also be hard for the U.S. government as a whole to adjust to the rise of AI, given how polarized Washington is. Reforms to high-skilled immigration, in particular, have run into repeat resistance from conservatives on Capitol Hill. And the fact that today’s AI systems have major limitations—and therefore require great caution and care during implementation—further complicates the process. Military service members will not use systems they do not trust, and so military officials must make sure that when AI is deployed it works as intended.

But the pieces of a better AI strategy are falling into place. The Pentagon may not yet properly measure the power of artificial intelligence, but it is paying much more attention to the technology. The federal government has increased spending and is exploring data and computing resources for academics. The White House is trying to make it easier for foreign STEM workers to come to the country. The United States, in other words, is working to ensure that China cannot fully catch up. If Washington ultimately maintains control over the semiconductor supply chain, maximizes the inflow of talent, and fields trustworthy systems, it will succeed in staying ahead. As the AI revolution reshapes global power, the United States can come out on top.

Read it all.

Washington’s immigration policies are making it more difficult to recruit foreign scientists—and, as a result, threatening the country’s advantage in the AI race, writes @paul_scharre. https://t.co/z1UR0faYUp

— Foreign Affairs (@ForeignAffairs) April 4, 2023

O God, our heavenly Father, whose blessed Son before his passion cast out from the temple those who desecrated the holy place: Cleanse our hearts and minds, we pray thee, from all evil thoughts and imaginations, from all unhallowed appetites and ambitions; that in lives made pure and strong by thy Holy Spirit we may glorify thy name and advance thy kingdom in the world, as disciples of the same thy Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.

Sunrise at the Abbey on the Wednesday of #HolyWeek pic.twitter.com/mJKYv4HjVB

— Westminster Abbey (@wabbey) April 5, 2023

I rejoice in the Lord greatly that now at length you have revived your concern for me; you were indeed concerned for me, but you had no opportunity. 11 Not that I complain of want; for I have learned, in whatever state I am, to be content. I know how to be abased, and I know how to abound; in any and all circumstances I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and want. I can do all things in him who strengthens me.

–Philippians 4:10-13

Bore da i chi…hyfryd iawn peth cynta’ bore ‘ma o ben pont Waterloo yn edrych lawr yr afon Tafwys👌🏼😃

Good morning…beautiful early morning sunrise on Waterloo bridge looking back down the Thames this morning👌🏼😃@StormHour @ThePhotoHour @SallyWeather #London pic.twitter.com/2eHjBY8jj2

— Aled Hall 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿 (@AledHall) April 5, 2023

The priory stood in place until 1536 when it was dissolved during Henry VIII’s monastic dissolution.

The church was built in around 1315, originally part of the priory itself, and is the only element that remains standing.

In recent history it was made into a cathedral of the Free Methodist Church but has been returned to the Church of England under the new owners.

The current manor house was built in 1866, and was run as a school from 1963 and 1996.

Read it all.

'In recent history it was made into a cathedral of the Free Methodist Church but has been returned to the Church of England under the new owners…' https://t.co/ngxi6F0MgS #parishministry #anglican #21stc #history #religion #uk

— Kendall Harmon (@KendallHarmon6) April 4, 2023

The fourth Global Anglican Future Conference (GAFCON) will be held at the Kigali Convention Centre, Rwanda, in April 2023.

As the worldwide church moves into the 2020s, there is increasing pressure to look for life’s answers in many places; there are certainly many voices offering suggestions to us as individuals and as a church. But to whom shall we go?

Firstly, we should go to Jesus, as He is revealed to us in God’s unchanging, inspired Word, not picking and choosing the bits that suit our own purposes or that help us to fit comfortably into our society. We should then go to the Church, to encourage each other with God’s Word, to live and grow with our fellow brothers and sisters, under God’s direction.

Finally, we are to go to the world, sharing the good news of Jesus Christ, the Way, the Truth and the Life as revealed to us in that same unchanging Word.

You may find the conference schedule Read it all.

GAFCON IV Conference starts soon in Rwanda! Registrations are closed, and the team have begun assembling in Kigali.

Are you coming to #gafcon23?

If yes…

🌍 Where are you coming from?
🔭 What are you looking forward to?#globalanglicans #anglicancommunion

— GAFCON (@gafconference) April 4, 2023

Saint James and First Baptist Hold Joint Palm Sunday Service

The congregation of Saint James Anglican, which leases property on the grounds of First Baptist of James Island, was invited to join in First Baptist’s service for Palm Sunday. Saint James’ Rector, Toby Larson, preached. Look for a story in the upcoming Jubilate Deo.

Read it all.

The Latest Edition of the Anglican Diocese of South Carolina Enewsletter

Saint James and First Baptist Hold Joint Palm Sunday Servicehttps://t.co/V8NgK7Uaom [James Island, SC] pic.twitter.com/pvbhi8WAHx

— Kendall Harmon (@KendallHarmon6) April 4, 2023

Evidence is mounting that Moscow has failed to make much progress in the Donbas of eastern Ukraine, despite months of fighting in the industrial and agricultural region close to the Russian border.

Russia’s military bloggers and like-minded activists have in recent weeks lamented the lack of progress from the winter campaign. Russia has not secured victory in the city of Bakhmut, or in the towns or Avdiivka, Vuhledar, Lyman or Marinka.

Yevgeny Prigozhin, the head of the Wagner mercenary group, said on Sunday that his forces had raised a Russian flag over an administrative building in Bakhmut, according to the Reuters news agency, but acknowledged that Ukraine was still holding the western part of the city. Mr. Prigozhin has prematurely called such victories before.

“The winter campaign in the Donbas is over,” said Igor Girkin, a former Russian intelligence officer who led a military intervention in eastern Ukraine and now blogs about military affairs. “We can say that the winter campaign ended unsuccessfully.” The comments by Mr. Girkin, who uses the nickname Strelkov, were echoed by others in Russia who have ties to the military and have at times been critical of the Kremlin’s approach to the war.

Read it all.

Russia’s assault in eastern Ukraine appears stalled. via ⁦@nytimes⁩ https://t.co/3frQ6Z4H1H

— Amb Antonio Garza (@aogarza) April 4, 2023

The Anglican Church of Uganda and clergy from Oryun Community Church in South Korea have launched a training centre for missionaries in Uganda.

The Daniel Missional Leadership Training Centre at Lweza in Wakiso District, Central Uganda, was commissioned last week at a colourful event graced by top Anglican Church leaders in Uganda and Oryun Community Church.

Speaking at the event on 21st March, the Archbishop of the Anglican Church of Uganda, Dr Stephen Kaziimba Mugalu, said the centre will train young leaders to usher God’s Kingdom into their homes, churches, universities, workplaces and the rest of the world.

“The commissioning of the centre is a clear testimony that the Anglican Church of Uganda shall be celebrated for sending missionaries to the world,” Kaziimba said, adding, “We envision many young people being equipped for the works of the ministry and sent to the world to light it.”

Read it all.

Anglican Church in Uganda and South Koreans launch new missionary training centrehttps://t.co/su7AlpDC3t pic.twitter.com/7Ni5LR8aez

— Anglican Ink (@anglicanink) April 3, 2023

O Everliving God, let this mind be in us which was also in Christ Jesus; that as he from his loftiness stooped to the death of the cross, so we in our lowliness may humble ourselves, believing, obeying, living, and dying to the glory of the Father; for the same Jesus Christ’s sake.

Let those of us who are mature be thus minded; and if in anything you are otherwise minded, God will reveal that also to you. Only let us hold true to what we have attained.

Brethren, join in imitating me, and mark those who so live as you have an example in us. For many, of whom I have often told you and now tell you even with tears, live as enemies of the cross of Christ. Their end is destruction, their god is the belly, and they glory in their shame, with minds set on earthly things. But our commonwealth is in heaven, and from it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will change our lowly body to be like his glorious body, by the power which enables him even to subject all things to himself.

–Philippians 3:15-21

The decline in church attendance of almost one quarter between 2019 and 2022 may be the result of reduced supply rather than lower demand. A new report suggests that too many churches abandoned their online offering and cut the number of services available.

Church Attendance in October 2022: Post-Covid-19 trends, patterns and possibilities draws on data from five dioceses, and concludes that there is a “strong correlation” between reduced provision and reduced attendance. “Numbers are lower than in 2019 not because the demand for church is in inevitable decline but because of difficulties with the supply of both onsite and online church services,” it says.

“Churches that stayed online and have not reduced their service numbers have fully regained 2019 attendance levels. It is only where churches have retrenched that their attendance is reduced.”

This should be a cause for optimism, the report argues: “If attendance is sensitive to the state and supply of church life and worship, then the future of attendance trends lies in the churches’ own hands. Developing the number and relevance of services leads to church growth.” New models of leadership that “take pressure off the stipendiary clergy” may be key to recovering 2019 levels of attendance, it says.

The report, hosted by the diocese of Oxford, draws on data from Canterbury, Chester, Guildford, Oxford, and Leeds.

Read it all.

The report shows ‘strong correlation’ rather than causation but authors write: ‘Numbers are lower than in 2019 not because the demand for church is in inevitable decline but because of difficulties with the supply of both onsite and online church services’ https://t.co/For8BQawhM

— Madeleine Davies (@MadsDavies) April 3, 2023

There is also a downloadable option there.

Jesus makes his entry into Jerusalem, Dovetailed tapestry weave coloured wools on linen, Northern Europe, 17th century (V&A Museum, London) #PalmSunday pic.twitter.com/A0YiPApvmz

— John McCafferty (@jdmccafferty) April 2, 2023

Listen carefully for a most important Jonathan Edwards reference–KSH.

A few pre-COVID churchgoers may no longer be involved in your congregation. If someone was connected with your church at the start of the pandemic, however, chances are they’ve stuck with you through it all.

While regular church attendance has dropped slightly since 2019, church participation has remained “remarkably steady” throughout the pandemic, according to an analysis from Pew Research.

In July 2020, around 41% of Americans said they had participated in religious services in the past month, including both in-person and virtual attendance. In November 2022, 40% of Americans continued to say they participated in some way.

While the percentage participating has remained stable, the way they participate has shifted since the first months of the pandemic. In July 2020, 13% said they had attended services in person in the past month. And 36% had watched online or on TV. By November 2022, 28% attended in person and 24% watched.

Read it all.

 The secret contract was finalized on Nov. 8, 2021, a deal between a company that has acted as a front for the United States government and the American affiliate of a notorious Israeli hacking firm.

Under the arrangement, the Israeli firm, NSO Group, gave the U.S. government access to one of its most powerful weapons — a geolocation tool that can covertly track mobile phones around the world without the phone user’s knowledge or consent.

If the veiled nature of the deal was unusual — it was signed for the front company by a businessman using a fake name — the timing was extraordinary.

Only five days earlier, the Biden administration had announced it was taking action against NSO, whose hacking tools for years had been abused by governments around the world to spy on political dissidents, human rights activists and journalists. The White House placed NSO on a Commerce Department blacklist, declaring the company a national security threat and sending the message that American companies should stop doing business with it.

Read it all.

NEW: Days after the White House in 2021 blacklisted NSO, the notorious Israeli hacking firm, a secret contract was signed for a hacking tool. The contract states that the USG is the user. A thread https://t.co/i2PSUXq3NJ

— Mark Mazzetti (@MarkMazzettiNYT) April 2, 2023

If we try to follow Jesus in faith and hope and love on his journey to the cross, we will find that the hurricane of love which we tremblingly call God will sweep in from a fresh angle, fulfilling our dreams by first shattering them, bringing something new out of the dangerous combination of personal hopes and cultural pressures. We mustn’t be surprised if in this process there are moments when it feels as though we are being sucked down to the depths, five hundred miles from shore amid hundred-foot waves, weeping for the dream that has had to die, for the kingdom that isn’t coming the way we wanted. That is what it’s like when we are caught up in Jesus’s perfect storm.

But be sure, when that happens, when you say with the disciples on the road to Emmaus, “We had hoped … but now it’s all gone wrong,” that you are on the verge of hearing the fresh word – the word that comes when the storm is stilled, and in the new great calm we see a way forward we had never imagined. “Foolish ones,” said Jesus, “and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets had spoken! Was it not necessary that the Messiah should suffer these things and so enter into his glory?”

Who knows what might happen if each of us were to approach Holy Week and Good Friday praying humbly for the powerful fresh wind of God to blow into that combination of cultural pressure and personal aspiration, so that we each might share in the sufferings of the Messiah and come through into the new life he longs to give us.

Read it all.

Today is Palm Sunday, the start of Holy Week. Christ enters Jerusalem on a young colt to the acclaim of the crowds. It will end in tears and then in ultimate triumph. A 14th Century wall painting at North Cove, Suffolk.

North Cove: https://t.co/iEkvSm4TfK pic.twitter.com/BVjtKXxAcd

— Simon Knott (@last_of_england) April 2, 2023

Almighty and everlasting God, in your tender love for us you sent your Son our Savior Jesus Christ to take upon himself our nature, and to suffer death upon the Cross, giving us the example of his great humility: Mercifully grant that we may walk in the way of his suffering, and come to share in his resurrection; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.  Amen.

Today is Palm Sunday, when Christians remember Jesus’s entry into Jerusalem, riding on a donkey. He was surrounded by crowds with palm branches. You can read more about Jesus’s entrance into Jerusalem in Luke 19.28-40

📸 St Nicholas Church, Dersingham pic.twitter.com/n1kctirw5q

— Diocese of Norwich (@DioceseNorwich) April 2, 2023

Righteous art thou, O Lord,
when I complain to thee;
yet I would plead my case before thee.
Why does the way of the wicked prosper?
Why do all who are treacherous thrive?
Thou plantest them, and they take root;
they grow and bring forth fruit;
thou art near in their mouth
and far from their heart.
But thou, O Lord, knowest me;
thou seest me, and triest my mind toward thee.
Pull them out like sheep for the slaughter,
and set them apart for the day of slaughter.
How long will the land mourn,
and the grass of every field wither?
For the wickedness of those who dwell in it
the beasts and the birds are swept away,
because men said, “He will not see our latter end.”

“If you have raced with men on foot, and they have wearied you,
how will you compete with horses?
And if in a safe land you fall down,
how will you do in the jungle of the Jordan?
For even your brothers and the house of your father,
even they have dealt treacherously with you;
they are in full cry after you;
believe them not,
though they speak fair words to you.”

“I have forsaken my house,
I have abandoned my heritage;
I have given the beloved of my soul
into the hands of her enemies.
My heritage has become to me
like a lion in the forest,
she has lifted up her voice against me;
therefore I hate her.
Is my heritage to me like a speckled bird of prey?
Are the birds of prey against her round about?
Go, assemble all the wild beasts;
bring them to devour.
Many shepherds have destroyed my vineyard,
they have trampled down my portion,
they have made my pleasant portion
a desolate wilderness.
They have made it a desolation;
desolate, it mourns to me.
The whole land is made desolate,
but no man lays it to heart.
Upon all the bare heights in the desert
destroyers have come;
for the sword of the Lord devours
from one end of the land to the other;
no flesh has peace.
They have sown wheat and have reaped thorns,
they have tired themselves out but profit nothing.
They shall be ashamed of their harvests
because of the fierce anger of the Lord.”

Thus says the Lord concerning all my evil neighbors who touch the heritage which I have given my people Israel to inherit: “Behold, I will pluck them up from their land, and I will pluck up the house of Judah from among them. And after I have plucked them up, I will again have compassion on them, and I will bring them again each to his heritage and each to his land. And it shall come to pass, if they will diligently learn the ways of my people, to swear by my name, ‘As the Lord lives,’ even as they taught my people to swear by Ba′al, then they shall be built up in the midst of my people.

–Jeremiah 12:1-16

It's Palm Sunday. Here's Christ on his flying donkey from the Melisande Psalter, 12th century. 🙂 #palmsunday #palmzondag pic.twitter.com/OfjaxUmdAd

— Rembrandt's R👀m 🖌 (@RembrandtsRoom) April 2, 2023

The master of the asses asked them why they untied his asses, and in the same way the chief men of every people perversely opposed the preaching of God. But when they saw that the preachers, through God’s power, healed the lame and the blind, and gave speech to the dumb, and raised the dead to life, then they could not withstand those miracles, but all at last turned to God. Christ’s disciples said, “The Lord needs the asses, and sends for them.” They did not say ‘our Lord’, or ‘your Lord’, but simply, ‘the Lord’; for Christ is Lord of all lords, both of men and of all creatures. They said, “He sends for them.” We are exhorted and invited to God’s kingdom, but we are not forced. When we are invited, we are untied; and when we are left to our own choice, then is it as though we are sent for. It is God’s mercy that we are untied; but if we live rightly, that will be both God’s grace and our own zeal. We should constantly pray for the Lord’s help, since our own choices have no success unless they are supported by the Almighty.

Christ did not command them to lead to him a proud steed adorned with golden trappings; instead he chose a poor ass to bear him, because he always taught humility, and gave the example himself, saying “Learn from me, for I am meek and very humble, and you shall find rest for your souls.” This was prophesied of Christ, and so were all the things which he did before he was born as man…

Read it all.

'Nu sceole we healdan urne palm…': An Anglo-Saxon sermon for Palm Sunday https://t.co/h4hm9XNNOW pic.twitter.com/VO7BdNGcq1

— Eleanor Parker (@ClerkofOxford) April 10, 2022