A priest who has broad experience of both chaplaincy and teaching, as well as in the ministering and leading of others to help God’s church to grow, has been chosen as the next Suffragan Bishop of Burnley.

Edinburgh-born Rev. Dr Joseph Kennedy, 55, is currently Vicar of Oxton St Saviour in the Diocese of Chester.

He was educated at Edinburgh University (Mathematics and Theology) and then Oxford University where he trained for ordination; later beginning his ministry in Oxford Diocese.

The Bishop-designate is married to Emily who is Head of External Financial Reporting for Oxfam and they have two children: David, 13 and Mary, 7.

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A warm Lancashire welcome to Rev. Dr Joe Kennedy, our next Bishop of Burnley, seen here with @bpblackburn and @JillLCDuff. More details: https://t.co/wZMcXOOyPo @churchofengland @BDBofE @cottrellstephen @BurnleyExpress @leponline @BBCLancashire @lancstelegraph pic.twitter.com/IQMuJTmlLW

— The CofE in Lancashire (Blackburn Diocese) (@cofelancs) March 22, 2024

I had not read Thielicke for many years until I recently discovered a book of his that I had never heard of: Nihilism: Its Origin and Nature, with a Christian Answer. This work is stunning, for it identifies the problem at the center of our contemporary culture: a collapse in the cultural consensus about what it means to be human. The book’s context is the anthropological challenges posed by Nazism and Marxism in the twentieth century, but its argument offers insights for today.

At the heart of the problems of his day Thielicke saw the rejection of two basic principles: the idea that human beings had an end, a telos; and the notion that limits were good. In short, what it meant to be human was up for grabs. In practice, this made human beings anything that their will could achieve, given the technological possibilities available in any given time or place. And that was a key component of nihilism.

We have witnessed amazing technological advances since the 1940s. The transformation of humanity from a given, limited, teleological essence to a potency whose limits and ends are merely technical problems to be overcome is now complete (at least in the cultural imagination). Ironically, human technical brilliance has served to make human beings into nothing of any great significance. We are the only creatures on the planet who are intelligent and intentional enough to have abolished ourselves.

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This is fantastic from @firstthingsmag https://t.co/IS26rEGPG6

— Scott Howard (@ConservaMuse) March 18, 2024

Almighty God, whose most dear Son went not up to joy but first he suffered pain, and entered not into glory before he was crucified: Mercifully grant that we, walking in the way of the cross, may find it none other than the way of life and peace; through the same thy Son Jesus Christ our Lord.

Today, Palm Sunday, marks the start of Holy Week. The perfect time to visit Nostell Priory and see the amazing "The Procession to Calvary" by Pieter Brueghel the younger. (1564-1638). It was bought by Sir Rowland Winn, (1739-1785) and was purchased by the National Trust in 2011. pic.twitter.com/SJazz5f2Rk

— HistoryandHeritageYorkshire (@GenealogyBeech) March 24, 2024

O Lord, who by thy word didst cause the barren fig tree to wither from the roots: Suffer us not by our fruitlessness to incur thy condemnation; but grant us grace to repent and obey thee while yet there is time; for thy mercy’s sake.

David Landry on the cleansing of the Temple in Mark 11:15–19:
“Despite its brevity, the importance of the episode is signaled by the fact that within a week of this incident, Jesus is dead.”#HolyWeek #Lent pic.twitter.com/Pgsra5x3O7

— Keith Mcilwain (@KeithMcilwain) March 25, 2024

As a child, my twin and I would often stage elaborate bake-offs during the school holidays. One year, I made an Easter cake with three chocolate crosses and a crown of thorns. I drowned these elements in large pools of jammy blood.

Sure, it was gratuitously gruesome—and I’m not surprised my sister’s saccharine fluffy chick cupcakes were the favored choice. But from an early age, I have shirked the propensity to avoid the grittiness of Easter. To me, its bloodiness is the very reason the Cross brings so much hope.

Many Christians around the world will celebrate Palm Sunday this weekend to commemorate Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem. Some 2,000 years ago, crowds of Jews laid out palm branches on public streets to welcome their “Messiah”—the conquering king who they believed would overthrow the Roman government and liberate them from its hostile occupation.

While many oppressed people today still desperately need this kind of physical deliverance, Jesus’ journey did not end there. Instead, his road to Jerusalem culminated in the Cross, which brought an entirely different kind of liberation.

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“In a world desperately in need of hope, we cannot just brush past the anguish of Holy Week and move straight to the triumph of Easter.”https://t.co/S4P7dpaJxP

— Christianity Today (@CTmagazine) March 25, 2024

O Lord Jesus Christ, who didst cleanse the temple courts, and didst teach, saying, My house shall be called a house of prayer for all nations: Cleanse thy Church, we beseech thee, of all evil, and so sanctify it by thy saving grace, that in all the world thy people may offer unto thee true and acceptable worship; for thy name’s sake.

It's the Monday of Holy Week. Christ drives out the money changers and sacrificial animal sellers from the Temple precincts in glass by Carl Edwards, 1958 in Temple Church, London.

Animals for sacrifice on the altar could only be bought at the Temple to ensure they were pure,… pic.twitter.com/2pFb2CCrFp

— Simon Knott (@SimoninSuffolk) March 25, 2024

Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and Timothy our brother.

To the church of God which is at Corinth, with all the saints who are in the whole of Acha′ia:

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God. For as we share abundantly in Christ’s sufferings, so through Christ we share abundantly in comfort too. If we are afflicted, it is for your comfort and salvation; and if we are comforted, it is for your comfort, which you experience when you patiently endure the same sufferings that we suffer. Our hope for you is unshaken; for we know that as you share in our sufferings, you will also share in our comfort.

–2 Corinthians 1:1-7

Good morning all
Buenos dias pic.twitter.com/r9snT81YU9

— 🌱Mystic Mel (@Melshenny1) March 25, 2024