He also told them a parable: “Can a blind man lead a blind man? Will they not both fall into a pit? A disciple is not above his teacher, but every one when he is fully taught will be like his teacher. Why do you see the speck that is in your brother’s eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye? Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Brother, let me take out the speck that is in your eye,’ when you yourself do not see the log that is in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take out the speck that is in your brother’s eye.

“For no good tree bears bad fruit, nor again does a bad tree bear good fruit; for each tree is known by its own fruit. For figs are not gathered from thorns, nor are grapes picked from a bramble bush. The good man out of the good treasure of his heart produces good, and the evil man out of his evil treasure produces evil; for out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks.

“Why do you call me ‘Lord, Lord,’ and not do what I tell you? Every one who comes to me and hears my words and does them, I will show you what he is like: he is like a man building a house, who dug deep, and laid the foundation upon rock; and when a flood arose, the stream broke against that house, and could not shake it, because it had been well built. But he who hears and does not do them is like a man who built a house on the ground without a foundation; against which the stream broke, and immediately it fell, and the ruin of that house was great.”

–Luke 6:39-49

🌞🍃🌺 Guten Morgen 🌺🍃🌞 pic.twitter.com/RKU75UAk4d

— Brigitta Neurauter (@BrigittaNeurau2) October 7, 2024

O God, forasmuch as without you
we are not able to please you;
mercifully grant that your Holy Spirit
may in all things direct and rule our hearts;
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 am Sonntag ☀️
Ich wünsche euch, dass ihr willkommen seid, wohin ihr auch geht.🧡
Dass ihr offene Türen findet und offene Herzen.🧡
Dass das Leben immer gut zu euch sei.🧡
(Irischer Segenswunsch) pic.twitter.com/VgK5rZ3JNp

— Brigitta Neurauter (@BrigittaNeurau2) October 6, 2024

Yet among the mature we do impart wisdom, although it is not a wisdom of this age or of the rulers of this age, who are doomed to pass away. But we impart a secret and hidden wisdom of God, which God decreed before the ages for our glorification. None of the rulers of this age understood this; for if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. But, as it is written,

“What no eye has seen, nor ear heard,
nor the heart of man conceived,
what God has prepared for those who love him,”

God has revealed to us through the Spirit. For the Spirit searches everything, even the depths of God. For what person knows a man’s thoughts except the spirit of the man which is in him? So also no one comprehends the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God. Now we have received not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit which is from God, that we might understand the gifts bestowed on us by God. And we impart this in words not taught by human wisdom but taught by the Spirit, interpreting spiritual truths to those who possess the Spirit.

–1 Corinthians 2:6-13

In our rush through life, moving faster, working smarter, we miss so much.

We miss the drift of seasons and the gentle ebb and flow of nature.

We miss patterns, colours, changing light.

We miss beauty and quiet.

Sometimes we all need to stop and just watch the clouds roll. pic.twitter.com/E8iDLDstqv

— peaklass (@peaklass1) October 6, 2024

—

Almighty and everlasting God,
increase in us your gift of faith
that, forsaking what lies behind
and reaching out to that which is before,
we may run the way of your commandments
and win the crown of everlasting joy;
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.

Sunshine at Sutton on Sea #loveukweather #seaside 🌤️🌊 pic.twitter.com/FMqVzgTnFk

— ianW (@IanW1985) October 5, 2024

“If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners love those who love them. And if you do good to those who do good to you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners do the same. And if you lend to those from whom you hope to receive, what credit is that to you? Even sinners lend to sinners, to receive as much again. But love your enemies, and do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return; and your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High; for he is kind to the ungrateful and the selfish. Be merciful, even as your Father is merciful.

“Judge not, and you will not be judged; condemn not, and you will not be condemned; forgive, and you will be forgiven; give, and it will be given to you; good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, will be put into your lap. For the measure you give will be the measure you get back.”

–Luke 6:32-38

There’s such a soft beauty about the light and muted colours of autumn mornings, as if Nature is just easing gently into the day, slowly turning up the brightness. This lane had even laid on a parade of rusting bracken and berries to welcome me into the Hope Valley. #peakdistrict pic.twitter.com/Sx3Ttrytdv

— peaklass (@peaklass1) October 5, 2024

Sexual violence against women and girls is being seen as the defining characteristic of the worsening civil war in Sudan, as more evidence of the widespread use by all sides of rape as a weapon of war.

An open letter by 253 women across Africa and in the diaspora has called for urgent international action in response to a conflict described as being “fought on the bodies of women and girls”.

It refers to reports of gang rapes of girls as young as nine, and older women, including grandmothers raped in front of their daughters and granddaughters. Male relatives are frequently forced to watch. Women have also reported being targeted because of their ethnicity.

Read it all.

A bipartisan group of senators this week revealed draft legislation that aims to prod the U.S. government into taking a more active diplomatic role in bringing about an end to the civil war in Sudan.https://t.co/8qzfW6Q5e2

— Stars and Stripes (@starsandstripes) October 4, 2024

Nicholas Dames has taught Literature Humanities, Columbia University’s required great-books course, since 1998. He loves the job, but it has changed. Over the past decade, students have become overwhelmed by the reading. College kids have never read everything they’re assigned, of course, but this feels different. Dames’s students now seem bewildered by the thought of finishing multiple books a semester. His colleagues have noticed the same problem. Many students no longer arrive at college—even at highly selective, elite colleges—prepared to read books.

This development puzzled Dames until one day during the fall 2022 semester, when a first-year student came to his office hours to share how challenging she had found the early assignments. Lit Hum often requires students to read a book, sometimes a very long and dense one, in just a week or two. But the student told Dames that, at her public high school, she had never been required to read an entire book. She had been assigned excerpts, poetry, and news articles, but not a single book cover to cover.

“My jaw dropped,” Dames told me. The anecdote helped explain the change he was seeing in his students: It’s not that they don’t want to do the reading. It’s that they don’t know how.

Read it all (registration or subscription).

Appalling.
The Elite College Students Who Can’t Read Books – The Atlantic https://t.co/xK0Aru2Enm

— Carlton Larson (@carltonfwlarson) October 1, 2024

Traditional methods of diagnosing mental-health conditions require patients to speak directly to a psychiatrist. Sensible in theory, such assessments can, in practice, take months to schedule and ultimately lead to subjective diagnoses.

That is why scientists are experimenting with ways to automate this process. Artificial-intelligence (AI) tools trained to listen to patients have proved capable of detecting a range of mental-health conditions, from anxiety to depression, with accuracy rates exceeding conventional diagnostic methods.

By analysing the acoustic properties of speech, these AI models can identify markers of depression or anxiety that a patient might not even be aware of, let alone able to articulate. Though individual features like pitch, tone and rhythm each play a role, the true power of these models lies in their ability to discern patterns imperceptible to a psychiatrist’s ears.

Read it all.

For overburdened clinicians, speech analysis conducted by AI models could help triage patients and offer continuous monitoring for those requiring at-home treatments https://t.co/3XzKx6IR04

Illustration: Mark Pernice pic.twitter.com/Ct639aO9Yr

— The Economist (@TheEconomist) October 4, 2024

Most high, all powerful, all good Lord!
All praise is Yours, all glory, all honor, and all blessing.

To You, alone, Most High, do they belong.
No mortal lips are worthy to pronounce Your name.

Be praised, my Lord, through all Your creatures,
especially through my lord Brother Sun,
who brings the day; and You give light through him.
And he is beautiful and radiant in all his splendor!
Of You, Most High, he bears the likeness.

Be praised, my Lord, through Sister Moon and the stars;
in the heavens You have made them bright, precious and beautiful.

On his feast day #otd 4 Oct: St Francis of Assisi preaches to the birds, Bodleian Library MS. Auct. D. 3. 2, fol. 122r pic.twitter.com/A44uh8wnyr

— John McCafferty (@jdmccafferty) October 4, 2024

Most high, omnipotent, good Lord, grant unto thy people grace to renounce gladly the vanities of this world; that, following the way of blessed Francis, we may for love of thee delight in thy whole creation with perfectness of joy; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.

Part of a Crucifixion Triptych – Saint Francis of Assisi Preaching [triptych, right wing, bottom ,verso] Western German School, c. 1374 (The Courtauld Gallery) Today, 4 Oct, is the Feast of Francis. pic.twitter.com/8HHZMg9aQs

— John McCafferty (@jdmccafferty) October 4, 2024

Almighty God, who art the author of all spiritual gifts: Bestow upon thy Church in this our day the grace of knowledge, to apprehend the fullness of divine truth, and of utterance to declare that truth to others; that the testimony of Christ may be confirmed among us, and in everything we may be enriched in him, even thy Son Jesus Christ our Lord.

Good morning
Buenos días pic.twitter.com/x3jCQMKCLi

— 🌱Mystic Mel (@Melshenny1) October 4, 2024

Of old thou didst lay the foundation of the earth, and the heavens are the work of thy hands. They will perish, but thou dost endure; they will all wear out like a garment. Thou changest them like raiment, and they pass away; but thou art the same, and thy years have no end.

–Psalm 102:25-27

The American flag standing tall on Chimney Rock, NC six days after hurricane Helene brought flooding rains that destroyed many towns in western NC. pic.twitter.com/VED9djQfVg

— Appalachian Life (@app_life_) October 3, 2024

Show, don’t tell

This is one of the first things any writing instructor tells her students. There you are trying to be Ernest Hemingway with your short, spare prose. “The woman is tired,” you write, going straight for the bottom line, but why should your readers believe you? You have told them something you apparently know about the woman, but you have not given them a chance to make up their own minds. You have kept the details entirely to yourself, so that their only choice is whether to believe you or not. Jesus is Lord. God is love. The gospel is true.

“Show them,” your teacher says. “Don’t tell them the woman is tired. Show them how tired she is.” This is much harder. Finding a way to help people see takes more time than telling them what you see. How do you know the woman is tired? What is it about her gait, her posture, her face, her breath that says “tired” to you? If you can find the right words, you may be able to help people name their own tiredness on their way to seeing just how tired this woman is.

“The woman looked as if she had been moving rocks all day, as if everything she had touched since the moment she got up had been heavy, hard, and grey.”

Read it all.

How to make your sermons come alive

Routines, deviations, and other writerly tips, according to Barbara Brown Taylorhttps://t.co/cuqiZYAPsL

— Church Times (@ChurchTimes) September 14, 2024

Ever since Hamas’s slaughter of Israelis on October 7th 2023, violence has been spreading. One year on, the Middle East is an inch away from an all-out war between Israel and Iran. Israel’s skilful decapitation of Hizbullah, a Lebanese militia backed by Iran, prompted the Islamic Republic to rain missiles on Israel on October 1st. Israel may retaliate, perhaps striking Iran’s industrial, military or nuclear facilities, hoping to end once and for all the threat it poses to the Jewish state.

Iran is certainly a menace, and use of force against it by Israel or America would be both lawful and, if carefully calibrated, wise. But the idea that a single decisive attack on Iran could transform the Middle East is a fantasy. As our special section explains, containing the Iranian regime requires sustained deterrence and diplomacy. In the long run, Israel’s security also depends on ending its oppression of the Palestinians.

Iran’s latest direct attack on Israel consisted of 180 ballistic missiles. Unlike an earlier strike in April, this time Iran gave little warning. But as before, most of the projectiles were intercepted. The salvo was a response to the humiliation of its proxy, Hizbullah, which until two weeks ago was the most feared militia in the region. No one should shed tears for a terrorist outfit that has helped turn Lebanon into a failed state. For the past year Hizbullah has bombarded Israel, forcing the evacuation of civilians in its northern belt. Israel’s counter-attack, unlike its invasion of Gaza, was long-planned. It has made devastating use of intelligence, technology and air power, killing the militia’s leaders, including its chief, Hassan Nasrallah, maiming its fighters with exploding pagers and destroying perhaps half of its 120,000 or more missiles and rockets.

Read it all.

The year that shattered the Middle East pic.twitter.com/6YqtHxDnDQ

— Ibrahim Hamidi ابراهيم حميدي (@ibrahimhamidi) October 3, 2024

President Joe Biden and his administration are sticking to their position of not invoking the Taft-Hartley Act to force International Longshoremen’s Association dock workers back on the job at East and Gulf coast ports where a strike is hitting day two on Wednesday, a political decision that reflects the power of unions one month out from an election but risks losing some progress on what is the No. 1 issue for many voters: the economy.

Rhetoric from Cabinet secretaries, including Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg and acting Labor Secretary Julie Su, has become sharper in recent days, pointing the finger at the ports ownership and ocean carriers. But right now, there is no sign of any progress bringing the ILA and port owners back to the table for a new round of negotiations, according to CNBC sources. And there remains a big risk on the other side of the political decision-making: wage increases that are a win for workers but ultimately ripple through the economy in the form of higher prices, both domestically and around the world.

Much of the focus about the economic impact of the ports strike to date has been focused on the direct hit to the economy from the massive trade shutdown, and the ways in which supply chain congestion and delays can result in higher prices being passed along to consumers, which will become a bigger factor the longer a strike persists. But maritime and business experts are also warning about the risk of persistent wage inflation making its way into supply chain prices that the Federal Reserve has recently been successful in taming.

Read it all.

The East and Gulf Coast ports strike could be a no-win situation for the Biden administration https://t.co/x17dHuIkW9

— CNBC (@CNBC) October 2, 2024

Under the sponsorship of the YMCA, Wilder spent the following academic year touring college campuses. He told the story of the “Mount Hermon One Hundred” and urged students to pledge themselves to become missionaries. Some 2,000 did so. To avoid allowing the bright light of this new movement to flicker out, in 1888 YMCA leaders organized the Student Volunteer Movement for Foreign Missions (known simply as the SVM). They placed the recent Cornell graduate, John R. Mott, at its head. The SVM formed organizations on college, university and seminary campuses across the nation. Students signed pledge cards stating their intention to become missionaries and joined weekly meetings to study missions. The watchword of the movement illustrates the boldness and optimism of the Christian youth of that era: “The Evangelization of the World in this Generation.”

The SVM became one of the most successful missionary-recruiting organizations of all time. Prior to its formation, American Protestants supported less than a thousand missionaries throughout the world. Between 1886 and 1920, the SVM recruited 8,742 missionaries in the U.S. Around twice that number were actually sent out as missionaries in this period, many of them influenced by the SVM though never members. SVM leaders also formed college groups around the world in countries where missionaries had established mission colleges during the previous century. Their goal was to create a missionary force large enough to evangelize every nation. They thought in military terms. Missionaries were soldiers in God’s army. The SVM sought to recruit, to support, and to place these soldiers strategically around the world. If done shrewdly, they thought they would surely conquer the world.

Read it all.

O God, the shepherd of all, we offer thanks for the lifelong commitment of thy servant John Raleigh Mott to the Christian nurture of students in many parts of the world; and we pray that, after his example, we may strive for the weaving together of all peoples in friendship, fellowship and cooperation, and while life lasts be evangelists for Jesus Christ, in whom alone is our peace; and who with thee and the Holy Spirit livest and reignest, one God, now and for ever. Amen.

#OnThisDay Jan 31
1955
Death in Orlando, Florida, of John Mott, whose missions ministry had spanned the globe. pic.twitter.com/sCeu11FZzx

— ☧ Today in Christian History (@HistoricalRook) January 31, 2021

Give us grace, O God our Father, to keep this day and always the new commandment and the great commandment and all the commandments, by loving thee with all our mind and soul and strength, and one another for thy sake; in the name of Jesus Christ our Lord.

—Daily Prayer, Eric Milner-White and G. W. Briggs, eds. (London: Penguin Books 1959 edition of the 1941 original)

Wishing you a happy Thursday from Saltburn by the Sea, North Yorkshire 😊 pic.twitter.com/Jj4rffouEv

— Nicky (@Nicky13Johnson) October 3, 2024

On a sabbath, while he was going through the grainfields, his disciples plucked and ate some heads of grain, rubbing them in their hands. But some of the Pharisees said, “Why are you doing what is not lawful to do on the sabbath?” And Jesus answered, “Have you not read what David did when he was hungry, he and those who were with him: how he entered the house of God, and took and ate the bread of the Presence, which it is not lawful for any but the priests to eat, and also gave it to those with him?” And he said to them, “The Son of man is lord of the sabbath.” On another sabbath, when he entered the synagogue and taught, a man was there whose right hand was withered. And the scribes and the Pharisees watched him, to see whether he would heal on the sabbath, so that they might find an accusation against him. But he knew their thoughts, and he said to the man who had the withered hand, “Come and stand here.” And he rose and stood there. And Jesus said to them, “I ask you, is it lawful on the sabbath to do good or to do harm, to save life or to destroy it?” And he looked around on them all, and said to him, “Stretch out your hand.” And he did so, and his hand was restored. But they were filled with fury and discussed with one another what they might do to Jesus.

–Luke 6:1-11

early morning #treeride 🚴‍♀️ pic.twitter.com/LDPZHxJlNv

— Portmann Carrick (@PortmannCarrick) October 3, 2024

Earlier this year, full-time carer Mary hid all the knives in her home. Her husband Richard, nine years after his diagnosis of Alzheimer’s aged 55, had become angry and unpredictable. For the first time, Mary, a former fashion designer, was scared of him. Over the course of two quick weeks, it became apparent that it was no longer safe for her to live in the same house and in August, she made the heartbreaking decision to move him into a care home.

Mary and Richard’s story was one of several told in Channel 4’s hour-long documentary Anna Richardson: Love, Loss & Dementia. Best known for her work presenting headline-grabbing shows on provocative subjects like Naked Attraction and The Sex Education Show, Richardson wanted to shine a light on what she views as another taboo topic: dementia. “We are not talking about the fact that it’s a crisis,” she said of the disease which brutally entered her life with her father’s diagnosis of vascular dementia.

Formerly a leading figure in the Church of England, 83-year-old Jim now lives semi-independently in an assisted living facility. The film opened with Richardson receiving an alert while on holiday – Jim had suffered yet another fall. Aware that he is still in the relatively early stages of symptoms – he knows who she is and retains his sense of humour (pretending to row a boat as Richardson pushed his wheelchair around his hometown) – she acknowledged what is to come: “Either one day, he will have a catastrophic stroke. Or he will just get incrementally worse.”

Read it all.

In this one-off doc, @AnnaRichardso shares how this debilitating disease affected her family after the onset of her father’s vascular dementia – exploring myths, social taboos and the new drugs that provide hope for the future. #LoveLossAndDementia, 10pm on @Channel4. pic.twitter.com/3AjCbKxl3J

— 4Viewers (@4Viewers) October 2, 2024

As flooding hammered Appalachia in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene, residents became intimately familiar with a new norm in the US’s post-storm script: dams at imminent risk of failing.

Officials last week said multiple dams were on the brink, including Tennessee’s Nolichucky Dam and North Carolina’s Walters and Lake Lure dams. People in nearby communities were ordered to evacuate.

Ultimately, the dams held. But the close calls highlighted the stress on the nation’s dams, many of which are more than half a century old and none of which were designed for the higher levels of precipitation brought on by climate change.

Read it all.

American Dams Weren’t Built for Today’s Climate-Charged Rain and Floods – BNN Bloomberg https://t.co/plyeQFSzZE @americanrivers

— Aric Caplan (@Aric_Advocates) October 2, 2024

The long-feared “wider war” in the Middle East is here.

For the last 360 days, since the images of the slaughter of about 1,200 people in Israel last Oct. 7 flashed around the world, President Biden has warned at every turn against allowing a terrorist attack by Hamas to spread into a conflict with Iran’s other proxy force, Hezbollah, and ultimately with Iran itself.

Now, after Israel assassinated the Hezbollah chief, Hassan Nasrallah, and began a ground invasion of Lebanon, and after Iran retaliated on Tuesday by launching nearly 200 missiles at Israel, it has turned into one of the region’s most dangerous moments since the Arab-Israeli War of 1967.

The main questions now are how much the conflict might intensify, and whether the United States’ own forces will get more directly involved.

Read it all.

A Wider War in the Middle East, From Hamas to Hezbollah and Now Iran – The New York Times https://t.co/JjU4OyZeLr

— cecilia ballesteros (@ceciliab) October 2, 2024

The illicit fentanyl that kills tens of thousands of Americans a year is largely produced from Chinese chemicals cooked up in clandestine Mexican laboratories, according to U.S. authorities. This requires drug traffickers to transport the necessary chemicals halfway around the world. But cartels have found a clever way to smuggle these chemicals from China to Mexico – by first importing them into the United States.

Master carton shipping has become an indispensable way for delivery companies to move vast quantities of merchandise around the world quickly. It’s legal, it’s practical, and in the era of e-commerce, it’s key to our everyday lives, whether we realize it or not.

Still, the practice makes it a snap for traffickers to sneak fentanyl chemicals into the country, hidden in small boxes packed inside other boxes. On top of that, a little-known U.S. trade regulation has made this smuggling easier still.

The de minimis rule exempts low-value parcels from taxes, duties and stringent customs reporting rules. It’s meant to keep U.S. Customs and Border Protection from wasting time and effort when the cost of collecting tariffs on cheap imports exceeds the revenue gained.

Read it all.

A tweak in a trade rule fueled America’s online shopping habits. It also helped Mexican narcos smuggle vital fentanyl-making chemicals from China Here’s how: https://t.co/ahkIC9QfdB by @draz_DJ @gottesdiener @kristinacooke @SEisenhammer via @specialreports pic.twitter.com/aXnl1Yfpkw

— Reuters Investigates (@specialreports) October 1, 2024

O God, who by the teaching of thy faithful servant and bishop Remigius didst turn the nation of the Franks from vain idolatry to the worship of thee, the true and living God, in the fullness of the catholic faith; Grant that we who glory in the name of Christian may show forth our faith in worthy deeds; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.

Oct 1 Saint Remigius, Bishop †533
Baptized Clovis I, King of the Franks, leading to the conversion of 3,000 others, crucial for the spread of the Catholic faith in what would become France & Germany

Converted even other bishops from Arianism pic.twitter.com/RJP8sUqkBc

— Father Schmidt (@FrDarinSchmidt) October 1, 2024

O Lord Christ, Son of David, born for us in lowly state at Bethlehem, and now exalted to the right hand of the Majesty on high: Grant us grace to think worthily of thee both in thy humility and in thy glory; that we may ascribe to thee the honour that is thy due, now and for evermore.

Morning everyone hope you are well. Castle Crag (the smallest of all the Wainwright's at under 1000 feet) looking the "Jaws of Borrowdale " towards Derwentwater and beyond. Have a great day. #LakeDistrict @keswickbootco pic.twitter.com/14Yblxx3lg

— Rod Hutchinson (@lakesrhino) October 2, 2024

After this he went out, and saw a tax collector, named Levi, sitting at the tax office; and he said to him, “Follow me.” And he left everything, and rose and followed him.

And Levi made him a great feast in his house; and there was a large company of tax collectors and others sitting at table with them. And the Pharisees and their scribes murmured against his disciples, saying, “Why do you eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners?” And Jesus answered them, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick; I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.”

And they said to him, “The disciples of John fast often and offer prayers, and so do the disciples of the Pharisees, but yours eat and drink.” And Jesus said to them, “Can you make wedding guests fast while the bridegroom is with them? The days will come, when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast in those days.” He told them a parable also: “No one tears a piece from a new garment and puts it upon an old garment; if he does, he will tear the new, and the piece from the new will not match the old. And no one puts new wine into old wineskins; if he does, the new wine will burst the skins and it will be spilled, and the skins will be destroyed. But new wine must be put into fresh wineskins. And no one after drinking old wine desires new; for he says, ‘The old is good.’”

–Luke 5:27-39

Good morning. Nice autumn colours in this mornings sunrise in Lisburn 🍁🌅 🍂⁦@angie_weather⁩ ⁦@Louise_utv⁩ ⁦@bbcniweather⁩ pic.twitter.com/vOwG0kjDmX

— Sharon Welby📷 (@sharonwelby1) October 2, 2024

For the first time in nearly 50 years, dockworkers at ports along the East and Gulf coasts have gone on strike.

Members of the International Longshoremen’s Association walked off the job at 12:01 a.m. Oct. 1 — the minute their six-year labor contracts expired — with three local Charleston union affiliates picketing outside S.C. State Ports Authority terminals for better wages, job security and “respect.”

Nearly 20 people stood along Morrison Drive in Charleston, across from the SPA’s Columbus Street Terminal, holding high signs that read “No work without a fair contract” and “Automation hurts families: ILA stands for job protection.”

Randy Campbell, a union vice president, said that members of his local ILA 1771, and two others, 1422 and 1422A, will remain outside of the Wando Welch, North Charleston and Columbus Street terminals until negotiations are done.

Read it all.

This morning, at 12:01 a.m., 45,000 union dockworkers represented by the International Longshoremen’s Association (ILA) at major ports along the East and Gulf coasts went on strike.

Here’s what you need to know: https://t.co/HPCE6q1m8v pic.twitter.com/7eBJ51cow4

— SC Chamber of Commerce (@scchamber) October 1, 2024

The last time they talked, Guadalupe Hernandez said her baby sister, Monica, sent her videos and photos of rising waters surrounding her as she huddled with co-workers on the back of semi truck.

Monica Hernandez, 45, was working at Impact Plastics, near the Nolichucky River, when Hurricane Helene sent a murky rush of floodwater through their small eastern Tennessee town Friday, Guadalupe, 50, said. Hang on, Guadalupe said she reassured Monica, the family was calling 911. Just let them know when she was safe, she told her.

Monica was among five Impact Plastics employees and one contractor reported missing after Helene tore through town.

It was the start of a period of agonizing limbo for Guadalupe and the families of other missing employees, who said they struggled to get information from local officials.

Read it all.

As floods recede after Helene, anguished families wait for answers https://t.co/N4PepkLXFH

— Brady Dennis (@brady_dennis) October 2, 2024

Black composers, musicians and singers are to be celebrated as part of a series of events, from exhibitions and lectures to services and study days, marking Black History Month in Cathedrals and churches across the country.

The Archbishop of Canterbury is to preside at a Eucharist at Southwark Cathedral marking Black History Month in the Diocese of Southwark.

The service will hear music by St Saviour’s and St Olave’s School Gospel Choir and the Nigerian Chaplaincy Worship Team with the sermon preached by the Dean of Gloucester, Andrew Zihni. A panel discussion will be held afterwards on the theme ‘music at the heart of change.’

The day aims to ‘acknowledge the profound positive impact music has had on the black community, and the power of music to transform worship and enhance witness, to bring hope, and provide a space of healing, restoration and justice’, Southwark Cathedral said.

Read it all.

Pray with us as we enter Black History Month.

We'll be sharing resources throughout the month to help us all reflect on how the church can address the injustice of racism, and create communities where everyone can flourish. https://t.co/iveTSWaIQX

— Leeds Minster (@LeedsMinster) October 2, 2024