The Jews took up stones again to stone him. Jesus answered them, “I have shown you many good works from the Father; for which of these do you stone me?” The Jews answered him, “It is not for a good work that we stone you but for blasphemy; because you, being a man, make yourself God.” Jesus answered them, “Is it not written in your law, ‘I said, you are gods’? If he called them gods to whom the word of God came (and scripture cannot be broken), do you say of him whom the Father consecrated and sent into the world, ‘You are blaspheming,’ because I said, ‘I am the Son of God’? If I am not doing the works of my Father, then do not believe me; but if I do them, even though you do not believe me, believe the works, that you may know and understand that the Father is in me and I am in the Father.” Again they tried to arrest him, but he escaped from their hands. He went away again across the Jordan to the place where John at first baptized, and there he remained. And many came to him; and they said, “John did no sign, but everything that John said about this man was true.” And many believed in him there.

–John 10:31-42

Le plus important, être bien là où l’on est, Sion 🍁🌺🏔️💙🇨🇭#valais #suisse #switzerland pic.twitter.com/DjgwwqdQoJ

— Délèze Dominique (@DelezeD) September 10, 2024

Ukraine’s Kursk offensive has dented Vladimir Putin’s war narrative and triggered “questions” among the Russian elite about the point of the war, two of the world’s leading spy chiefs have said.

CIA director Bill Burns said Kursk was “a significant tactical achievement” that had boosted Ukrainian morale and exposed Russia’s weaknesses. It has “raised questions . . . across the Russian elite about where is this all headed”, he said.

He was speaking at the Financial Times’ Weekend festival in London on Saturday alongside MI6 chief Richard Moore. Moore said the Kursk offensive was “a typically audacious and bold move by the Ukrainians . . . to try and change the game” — although he cautioned it was “too early” to say how long Kyiv’s forces would be able to control the Russian territory they had seized.

Read it all (subscription).

Ukraine’s Kursk offensive has triggered doubts among Russian elite, spy chiefs say https://t.co/gAzWq9L2qe

— FT Europe (@ftbrussels) September 7, 2024

You may listen directly here:

Or you may download it there

Christ Healing the Deaf-Mute
from Das Plenarium by Hans Schäufelein, 1517
happy Sunday pic.twitter.com/HFINDxGGZg

— Marysia (@marysia_cc) September 8, 2024

We give thee thanks and praise, O God of compassion, for the heroic witness of the Martyrs of Memphis, who, in a time of plague and pestilence, were steadfast in their care for the sick and dying, and loved not their own lives, even unto death; Inspire in us a like love and commitment to those in need, following the example of our Savior Jesus Christ; who with thee and the Holy Ghost liveth and reigneth, one God, now and for ever. Amen.

Today we commemorate St. Constance and her five companions — the Martyrs of Memphis.

“Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.” (John 15:13) pic.twitter.com/GGIj9a7vdw

— Fr. Brandon ⚓️ (@barukalas) September 9, 2023

O Lord God, grant your people grace to withstand the temptations of the world, the flesh, and the devil, and with pure hearts and minds to follow you, the only God; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever.  Amen.

☁️🌧☕ Guten Morgen ☕🌧☁️
Einen angenehmen Montag wünsche ich euch allen. pic.twitter.com/zjpSXZH371

— Brigitta Neurauter (@BrigittaNeurau2) September 9, 2024

he next sabbath almost the whole city gathered together to hear the word of God. But when the Jews saw the multitudes, they were filled with jealousy, and contradicted what was spoken by Paul, and reviled him. And Paul and Barnabas spoke out boldly, saying, “It was necessary that the word of God should be spoken first to you. Since you thrust it from you, and judge yourselves unworthy of eternal life, behold, we turn to the Gentiles.
For so the Lord has commanded us, saying,

“I have set you to be a light for the Gentiles,
that you may bring salvation to the uttermost parts of the earth.”

And when the Gentiles heard this, they were glad and glorified the word of God; and as many as were ordained to eternal life believed. And the word of the Lord spread throughout all the region. But the Jews incited the devout women of high standing and the leading men of the city, and stirred up persecution against Paul and Barnabas, and drove them out of their district. But they shook off the dust from their feet against them, and went to Iconium. And the disciples were filled with joy and with the Holy Spirit.

–Acts 13:44-52

A tiny gap on the horizon. "No chance anything'll happen, but at least I can have a good walk. Oh well, I'll get set up anyway… Oh.". Not a bad day to choose for a day off work 😁#LakeDistrict #landscapephotography #FSPrintMonday pic.twitter.com/fdSm2SAz8C

— Em(ily) (@MehceePhotos) September 9, 2024

God, who in generous mercy sent the Holy Spirit
upon your Church in the burning fire of your love:
grant that your people may be fervent
in the fellowship of the gospel
that, always abiding in you,
they may be found steadfast in faith and active in service;
through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord,
who is alive and reigns with you,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.
Amen.

Guten Morgen. Ich wünsche allen einen glücklichen, fröhlichen und lustigen Tag. pic.twitter.com/jAgTgr49x2

— Ursula Dahinden (@UrsulaDahinden) September 8, 2024

“You are the salt of the earth; but if salt has lost its taste, how shall its saltness be restored? It is no longer good for anything except to be thrown out and trodden under foot by men.

“You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hid. Nor do men light a lamp and put it under a bushel, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house. Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.

“Think not that I have come to abolish the law and the prophets; I have come not to abolish them but to fulfil them. For truly, I say to you, till heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot, will pass from the law until all is accomplished. Whoever then relaxes one of the least of these commandments and teaches men so, shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven; but he who does them and teaches them shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven. For I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.

–Matthew 5:13-20

“Highland Halo at Sunrise”#AlmostHeaven #WestVirginia #Highlands #StormHour #ThePhotoHour pic.twitter.com/ymyd3k8UPC

— Thomas R Fletcher (@ThomasRFletcher) September 8, 2024

The very first evidence Luke mentions of the Spirit’s presence in the church is that *they devoted themselves to the apostle’s teaching* (42). One might perhaps say that the Holy Spirit opened a school in Jerusalem that day; its teachers were the apostles whom Jesus had appointed; and there were 3,000 pupils in the kindergarten!

We note that those new converts were not enjoying a mystical experience which led them to despise their mind or disdain theology. Anti-intellectualism and the fullness of the Spirit are mutually incompatible, because the Holy Spirit is the Spirit of truth. Nor did those early disciples imagine that, because they had received the Spirit, he was the only teacher they needed and they could dispense with human teachers. On the contrary, they sat at the apostles’ feet, hungry to receive instruction, and they persevered in it. Moreover, the teaching authority of the apostles, to which they submitted, was authenticated by miracles: *many wonders and miraculous signs were done by the apostles* (43). The two references to the apostles, in verse 42 (their teaching) and verse 43 (their miracles), can hardly be an accident (cf. 2 Cor.12:12; Heb. 2:1-4).

Since the teaching of the apostles has come down to us in its definitive form in the New Testament, contemporary devotion to the apostles’ teaching will mean submission to the authority of the New Testament. A Spirit-filled church is a New Testament church, in the sense that it studies and submits to New Testament instruction. The Spirit of God leads the people of God to submit to the Word of God.

–John R W Stott, The Spirit, the Church, and the World: The Message of Acts (Downer’s Grove, Ill.: InterVarsity, 1990) page 82

“We shall remember that the real preparation of a sermon is not the few hours which we are specifically devoted to it, but the whole stream of the preacher’s Christian experience thus far, of which the sermon is a distilled drop.”

-John Stott pic.twitter.com/NpXL4z3bxo

— Expositors Collective (@expositcllctv) August 7, 2024

Almighty God our heavenly Father, who hast bidden us to give thanks for all things and to forget not all thy benefits: Accept our praise for the great mercies we have received at thy hands; ever give us grateful hearts; and help us to magnify thee in our daily life; through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Restful weekend pic.twitter.com/UxKK7rQ5p3

— Veritatis Cupitor (@English1Maiden) September 7, 2024

So Jesus again said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, I am the door of the sheep. All who came before me are thieves and robbers; but the sheep did not heed them. I am the door; if any one enters by me, he will be saved, and will go in and out and find pasture. The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly. I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.

–John 10:7-11

A walk around Hillsborough Castle Gardens 🏰 Enjoy your weekend ☀️ pic.twitter.com/lu2wWM0WCx

— Sharon Welby📷 (@sharonwelby1) September 7, 2024

The Anglican Church of Australia (ACA) would “automatically” cease to be in communion with the Church of England if the Appellate Tribunal determined that the C of E was “inconsistent” with the Australian Church’s “Fundamental Declarations”, a report to the Sydney synod by the diocese’s doctrine commission suggests.

The Appellate Tribunal is the church’s highest court, and the Archbishop of Sydney, the Most Revd Kanishka Raffel, is a tribunal member.

The report says that the Church of England could be ruled “inconsistent” if it “rejected the scriptures as ‘the ultimate rule and standard of faith’ or if they ceased to ‘obey the commands of Christ and teach his doctrine’”.

The ACA, the report continues, “has no legal power to declare whether it is in or out of communion with any other Church in the [Anglican] Communion, other than the Church of England. Nevertheless, serious breaches of gospel communion do exist within the Anglican Communion, and ‘impaired communion’ or ‘broken communion’ accurately describes this doctrinal reality.”

Read it all.

Sydney diocese report warns of ‘impaired communion’ with Church of England https://t.co/NdVQObNCNP

— Church Times (@ChurchTimes) September 6, 2024

Iran has sent short-range ballistic missiles to Russia, according to U.S. and European officials, a move that gives Moscow another potent military tool in its war against Ukraine and follows stern Western warnings not to provide those arms to Moscow.

The development comes as Russia has stepped up its missile attacks on Ukrainian cities and infrastructure, killing dozens of civilians in recent days. Washington informed allies of Iran’s shipments this week, European officials said, including a briefing for ambassadors in Washington on Thursday.

A U.S. official confirmed the missiles “have finally been delivered.”

“We have been warning of the deepening security partnership between Russia and Iran since the outset of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine and are alarmed by these reports,” said National Security Council Spokesman Sean Savett. “We and our partners have made clear both at the G-7 and at the NATO summits this summer that together we are prepared to deliver significant consequences. Any transfer of Iranian ballistic missiles to Russia would represent a dramatic escalation in Iran’s support for Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine.”

Read it all.

A bizarre yet intriguing story has recently gone viral on social media, involving a woman who married herself only to later divorce herself. This woman, Suellen Carey, a 36-year-old influencer and model from Brazil, gained worldwide attention last year when she made headlines for marrying herself in London after struggling with the dating scene. The unconventional act of self-marriage was initially celebrated as a bold statement of self-love and independence.

A year after her solo wedding, Suellen surprised everyone by announcing that she had decided to divorce herself. Despite her efforts to make the marriage work—including attending couple therapy sessions alone—she eventually concluded that the union was not sustainable.

Read it all.

Would she demand an alimony ir a maintenance as well? pic.twitter.com/Nng5xmh75z

— Vikrant ~ विक्रांत (@vikrantkumar) September 6, 2024

Seeing what’s going on inside a body is never easy. While technologies like CT scans, X-rays, MRIs, and microscopy can provide insights, the images are rarely completely clear and can come with side effects like radiation exposure. 

But what if you could apply a substance on the skin, much like a moisturizing cream, and make it transparent, without harming the tissue? 

That’s what Stanford scientists have done using an FDA-approved dye that is commonly found in food, among several other light-absorbing molecules that exhibit similar effects. Published in Science on Sept. 5, the research details how rubbing a dye solution on the skin of a mouse in a lab allowed researchers to see, with the naked eye, through the skin to the internal organs, without making an incision. And, just as easily as the transparency happened, it could be reversed.

“As soon as we rinsed and massaged the skin with water, the effect was reversed within minutes,” said Guosong Hong, assistant professor of materials science and engineering and senior author on the paper. “It’s a stunning result.” 

Read it all.

Read about really creative and innovative research from my colleagues @HongNeuroTech and @BrongersmaMark : a common food dye can make your skin transparent!https://t.co/aizYD8Xnv0

— Alberto Salleo (@asalleo) September 5, 2024

Almighty God, whose only-begotten Son led captivity captive: Multiply among us faithful witnesses like thy servant Hannah More, who will fight for all who are oppressed or held in bondage; and bring us all, we pray, into the glorious liberty that thou hast promised to all thy children; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with thee and the Holy Ghost, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

The Episcopal Church also commemorates Hannah More, Religious Writer & Philanthropist, 1833

After success as a fashionable playwright, More became a religious writer, penning popular 'improving tale' tracts (see ALT)

Portrait by HW Pickersgill (1822), ©National Portrait Gallery pic.twitter.com/U5zfIWLOFg

— The Anglican Church in St Petersburg (@anglicanspb) September 6, 2024

O God, who hast commanded us to walk in the Spirit and not to fulfill the lusts of the flesh: Perfect us, we pray thee, in love, that we may conquer our natural selfishness and give ourselves to others.  Fill our hearts with thy joy, and garrison them with thy peace; make us longsuffering and gentle, and thus subdue our hasty and angry tempers; give us faithfulness, meekness and self-control; that so crucifying the flesh with its affections and lusts, we may bring forth the fruit of the Spirit to thy praise and glory; through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Stac Pollaidh from Loch Cul Dromannan #Scotland #Assynt #Coigach https://t.co/ERVTYHoo8V pic.twitter.com/TYzHxuz18T

— Damian Shields (@DamianShields1) September 6, 2024

Yea, thou art my rock and my fortress;
    for thy name’s sake lead me and guide me,
 take me out of the net which is hidden for me,
    for thou art my refuge.
 Into thy hand I commit my spirit;
    thou hast redeemed me, O Lord, faithful God.

–Psalm 31:3-5

Stalker Castle in the West Highlands of Scotland 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 pic.twitter.com/qGtV6YQk07

— A Beautiful Culture (@ABeautifulCult1) September 6, 2024

Services at English cathedrals clocked up an extra five per cent attendance in 2023, although they have yet to return to pre-pandemic levels, statistics published on Thursday suggest.

The total weekly attendance at regular services at cathedrals in England rose from an average of 28,300 in 2022 to 30,300 in 2023. Despite this increase, the average was still significantly below the 2019 figure of 36,800.

By contrast, visitor numbers have largely recovered. A total of 9.35 million visited in 2023, close to the 2017 total of 9.38 million. The 2023 figure amounts to an increase of 1.4 million from 2022, although the increase in those paying or making a donation amounted to just 45,000.

Read it all (subscription).

Cathedral visitor numbers bounce back after pandemic; services recover more slowly https://t.co/NrLCegKzrx

— Church Times (@ChurchTimes) September 5, 2024

Cyber attacks pose a risk as big as terrorism and flooding, according to two of the world’s biggest insurance groups that are calling for state support to help the industry to absorb losses. 

Insurer Zurich and Marsh McLennan, the world’s biggest insurance broker, say in a new report that cyber threats are “outpacing the ability of traditional insurance and risk management approaches to fully mitigate them”.  There are “limits to the amount of financial loss” the private sector can absorb, the report says, given the potentially huge losses that could be caused by a cyber attack on critical infrastructure.

It proposes a number of steps to address this, including creating public-private partnerships to share losses from currently “uninsurable” events, such as a cyber attack that causes a widespread failure of key infrastructure.

Read it all (subscription).

Insurance groups urge state support for ‘uninsurable’ cyber risks https://t.co/H2zrEsMrLY

— Finance News (@ftfinancenews) September 4, 2024

The next time you are stuck in traffic, look around you. Not at the cars, but the passengers. If you are in America, the chances are that one in 75 of them will be killed by a car—most of those by someone else’s car. Wherever you may be, the folk cocooned in a giant SUV or pickup truck are likelier to survive a collision with another vehicle. But the weight of their machines has a cost, because it makes the roads more dangerous for everyone else. The Economist has found that, for every life the heaviest 1% of SUVs or trucks saves in America, more than a dozen lives are lost in smaller vehicles. This makes traffic jams an ethics class on wheels.

Each year cars kill roughly 40,000 people in America—and not just because it is a big place where people love to drive. The country’s roads are nearly twice as dangerous per mile driven as those in the rest of the rich world. Deaths there involving cars have increased over the past decade, despite the introduction of technology meant to make driving safer.

Weight is to blame. Using data for 7.5m crashes in 14 American states in 2013-23, we found that for every 10,000 crashes the heaviest vehicles kill 37 people in the other car, compared with 5.7 for cars of a median weight and just 2.6 for the lightest. The situation is getting worse. In 2023, 31% of new cars in America weighed over 5,000lb (2.27 tonnes), compared with 22% in 2018. The number of pedestrians killed by cars has almost doubled since 2010. Although a typical car is 25% lighter in Europe and 40% lighter in Japan, electrification will add weight there too, exacerbating the gap between the heaviest vehicles and the lightest. The Ford F-150 Lightning weighs around 40% more than its petrol-engine cousin, because of the battery that moves all those lithium ions from cathode to anode.

Read it all.

The Economist just published a deeply-researched story about car bloat, and it's very, very damning:

"For every life that the heaviest 1% of SUVs and trucks save, there are more than a dozen lives lost in other vehicles."

Well worth your time: https://t.co/eHalcNkiBX pic.twitter.com/1RBfAooX6V

— David Zipper (@DavidZipper) September 1, 2024

O Eternal Lord God, without whose aid we cannot do the things that we would: Look mercifully upon the waywardness of our hearts, and strengthen us against evil; that as citizens of thy holy kingdom we may walk henceforth in the power of the Spirit, and bring forth fruit to thy glory; through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Morning everyone hope you are well. Wandering around the Coniston Fells away from the main paths it's fantastic how many becks and cascades that are dotted around. Have a great day. #LakeDistrict @keswickbootco pic.twitter.com/4HbTS6MNjL

— Rod Hutchinson (@lakesrhino) September 5, 2024

Trust in the Lord, and do good;
so you will dwell in the land, and enjoy security.
Take delight in the Lord,
and he will give you the desires of your heart.
Commit your way to the Lord;
trust in him, and he will act.

–Psalm 37:3-5

English garden pic.twitter.com/lmGopAhsva

— Veritatis Cupitor (@English1Maiden) September 5, 2024

O Our God, we believe in thee, we hope in thee, and we love thee, because thou hast created us, redeemed us, and dost sanctify us. Increase our faith, strengthen our hope, and deepen our love, that giving up ourselves wholly to thy will, we may serve thee faithfully all the rest of our life; through Jesus Christ our Lord.

—The Narrow Way, Being a Complete Manual of Devotion with a Guide to Confirmation and Holy Communion (London: J. Whitaker and Sons, 1893)

Morning everyone hope you are well. Morning mist clearing over Brothers Water. Have a great day. #LakeDistrict @keswickbootco pic.twitter.com/REaR3Uzpb0

— Rod Hutchinson (@lakesrhino) September 4, 2024

Now when day came, there was no small stir among the soldiers over what had become of Peter. And when Herod had sought for him and could not find him, he examined the sentries and ordered that they should be put to death. Then he went down from Judea to Caesare’a, and remained there. Now Herod was angry with the people of Tyre and Sidon; and they came to him in a body, and having persuaded Blastus, the king’s chamberlain, they asked for peace, because their country depended on the king’s country for food. On an appointed day Herod put on his royal robes, took his seat upon the throne, and made an oration to them. And the people shouted, “The voice of a god, and not of man!” Immediately an angel of the Lord smote him, because he did not give God the glory; and he was eaten by worms and died. But the word of God grew and multiplied. And Barnabas and Saul returned from Jerusalem when they had fulfilled their mission, bringing with them John whose other name was Mark.

–Acts 12:18-25

Avalon gate. The gate at the bottom of Glastonbury Tor at sunrise. pic.twitter.com/VfPjfltYmE

— Michelle Cowbourne (@Glastomichelle) September 4, 2024

“I was thinking how can this be? How can somebody who’s clearly lived a long time and worked so hard be out here in this heat pushing carts,” Swensen said.

According to the heat index for that day, it felt like 111 degrees. Swensen was already heading home to put her groceries away but couldn’t shake the feeling of seeing McCormick outside, pushing the shopping carts, so she returned.

Swensen approached McCormick and learned he worked at the store to make ends meet. He has been pushing shopping carts outside for 23 years. Living off $1,100 in Social Security each month, McCormick’s bills totaled $2,500. He worked at Winn Dixie to fill the gap.

Read it all or you can enjoy the video.

The British biologist J. B. S. Haldane once quipped that “there is no great invention, from fire to flying, which has not been hailed as an insult to some god”. The concept of “playing God” is a well-known cultural trope. For most people the phrase implies Promethean hubris, an arrogant overextension of human capabilities and ambitions beyond what is appropriate, potentially leading to unforeseen and uncontrollable consequences. But who decides what humanity’s “proper” limits might be? Might the quest for a deeper understanding of our world be an act of service, aimed at safeguarding our world on the one hand and promoting human flourishing on the other?

Playing God: Science, religion and the future of humanity by Nick Spencer and Hannah Waite offers an engaging and helpful overview of the contemporary debates on these themes. Both writers are associated with the London-based Theos think tank, which hosts public debates, discussions and lectures about religion and society. Although the theme of “playing God” is emphasized in the work’s main title, its focus is better seen as an exploration of the interaction of science and religion in discussing a series of questions raised, but not answered, by technological advance.

Read it all.

'The question shifts from whether we should play at being God to how we should do this.'

Alister McGrath (@alisteremcgrath) on what theology might teach us about technological hubris
https://t.co/KsRh8JBYti

— The TLS (@TheTLS) August 23, 2024

Annapolis historian Janice Hayes-Williams remembers visiting this graveyard with her uncle, George Phelps Jr., in 2001. As they wandered through it that day, he keptmuttering to himself. “Jesus. … Jesus. … Jesus.”

“It was overwhelming to my uncle and me,” Hayes-Williams, 67, recalled on a hot July morning as she walked past the numbered markers. “The word that came to mind was ‘disposable.’”

“We both kept saying, ‘A cemetery of patients and no names? No names?’ It was more than unbelievable,” she said. “This is not how you treat human beings.”

Read it all.

Their graves were marked only by numbers. She fought to find their names. https://t.co/vFukMCQVze

— Joe Heim (@JoeHeim) August 31, 2024

‘The best stories begin with a wound’–TLS January 2022.

Do not let its simplicity beguile you into missing its significance–KSH/.

🍃Guten Morgen ☀️ pic.twitter.com/LM2vy7TZF7

— 💫Stein_harmonie🍀🧚‍♀️ (@SteinHarmonie) September 3, 2024