A FUNERAL is sometimes misunderstood as drawing a line under a bereavement: that it represents a closure. This is not the case. An important ritual in the process of mourning, a funeral is more of a start than an end point. The bereaved now face a life without their loved one, and this could involve significant change, particularly if the loved one played a central part, such as that of a spouse.

Elsie, 75, described how she had never slept alone in a house until her husband died. To have nobody under the same roof made her nervous every night, until she started getting used to it.

Kathy, widowed unexpectedly, explained: “I had a lovely priest who was incredibly sympathetic to the whole situation surrounding my husband’s death, but there was no further bereavement support [after the funeral] provided by the church.

“This lack of support left me really struggling, especially with my feelings about God and what had happened. I really needed to be able to talk through everything from a religious aspect, which I couldn’t get with conventional bereavement counselling.”

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A funeral is not the end of the road, says Abi May, but many mourners feel isolated afterwardshttps://t.co/od0Q0JSMuh

— Church Times (@ChurchTimes) November 27, 2024

As if lawmakers needed any other reasons to take America’s fiscal health seriously, the gross national debt of the United States has now officially reached $36 trillion. We started 2024 by crossing the $34 trillion threshold, added another trillion during the summer, and now we’re heading into the holidays with yet another trillion. Government borrowing is becoming as certain as the changing of the seasons these days.

It’s often said that the more times you say a word over and over, the more it starts to lose its meaning. With so many trillion-dollar debt milestones in recent years, it’s easy to forget that each of them has real-world consequences.

But rising debt poses serious domestic and geopolitical risks: it slows our economy, threatens higher inflation and interest rates, and squeezes our budget through higher interest rates. And it hampers our ability to be flexible in responding to recessions and disasters at home and foreign crises abroad.

And the future trajectory looks bleak as well.

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Federal debt has officially breached $36 trillion, as projected 4 days ago, w/ Treasury borrowing $61 billion yesterday; we're in serious trouble and our nation's finances are falling apart… https://t.co/iekNG1US1W pic.twitter.com/zPzJJlBYGC

— E.J. Antoni, Ph.D. (@RealEJAntoni) November 22, 2024

Shortly after conception, a fertilized egg divides, becoming two. Then each of those cells splits, becoming four, and on and on. Over time, those lineages of cells grow distinct, giving rise to all the different organs and tissues in the human body and comprising as many as 36 trillion cells.

Scientists would love to understand the trajectory of each of those cells over time. “It’s something that developmental biologists like me have dreamed of for over 100 years,” said Alex Schier of the University of Basel in Switzerland. But the best they have managed has been taking snapshots of cells at different stages.

Lacking that complete history, scientists still have much to learn about how, exactly, cells produce our organs, or how they heal wounds later in life. “We really only understand bits and pieces,” said Tanja Stadler, a computational biologist at ETH in Zurich.

Dr. Stadler’s lab and others around the world are trying to turn cells into their own historians, as she and her colleagues described in the journal Nature Reviews Genetics on Monday. 

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Amazing—A paradigm for #biology is emerging in which cells can be genetically programmed to write their histories into their own genomes. These records can subsequently be read https://t.co/TeJfCld0jj #science #21stc #cellrecording

— Kendall Harmon (@KendallHarmon6) November 26, 2024

Am I a soldier of the cross,
A follower of the Lamb,
And shall I fear to own His cause,
Or blush to speak His Name?
Must I be carried to the skies
On flowery beds of ease,
While others fought to win the prize,
And sailed through bloody seas?

Are there no foes for me to face*?
Must I not stem the flood?
Is this vile world a friend to grace,
To help me on to God?

Sure I must fight, if I would reign;
Increase my courage, Lord.
I’ll bear the toil, endure the pain,
Supported by Thy Word.

Thy saints in all this glorious war
Shall conquer, though they die;
They see the triumph from afar,
By faith they bring it nigh.**

When that illustrious day shall rise,
And all Thy armies shine
In robes of victory through skies,
The glory shall be Thine.

2024 is the 350th anniversary of the birth of Isaac Watts, an Independent minister and writer. His hymns were said to ‘illustrate every truth of revelation, [and] throw light upon every secret movement of the human heart'.

Read more on #ODNB20: https://t.co/8PdCJkDfaN pic.twitter.com/SpZCRn6sB4

— National Biography (@odnb) September 29, 2024

God of truth and grace, who didst give Isaac Watts singular gifts to present thy praise in verse, that he might write psalms, hymns and spiritual songs for thy Church: Give us grace joyfully to sing thy praises now and in the life to come; through Jesus Christ our Savior, who livest and reignest with thee and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.God of truth and grace, who didst give Isaac Watts singular gifts to present thy praise in verse, that he might write psalms, hymns and spiritual songs for thy Church: Give us grace joyfully to sing thy praises now and in the life to come; through Jesus Christ our Savior, who livest and reignest with thee and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

Isaac Watts, minister, hymn writer, theologian, and logician, died Nov. 25, 1748.
“Must I be carried to the skies
On flow’ry beds of ease,
While others fought to win the prize
And sailed through bloody seas?” pic.twitter.com/FIBq9RmYPu

— Judson I Stone (@JudsonIStone) November 25, 2024

O Lord Jesus, with whom we have passed another Christian year, following thee from thy birth in our flesh to thy sufferings and triumph, and listening to the utterances and counsels of thy Spirit: Even thus would we also end this year of grace, and stand complete in thee our Righteousness; humbly beseeching thee that we may evermore continue in thy faith and abide in thy love; who liveth and reigneth with the Father and the Holy Spirit, one God, world without end.

Today, I'm grateful for the trees that clean the air, give shade, and provide homes for the creatures of the forests. #Grattitude #Thanksgiving #Thanksgiving2024 #nature #NaturePhotography #ThickTrunkTuesday #naturelovers #landscapephotography #landscape pic.twitter.com/MbMjDZXV3w

— Joe Blow (@Piper_doown) November 26, 2024

I lift up my eyes to the hills. From whence does my help come? My help comes from the LORD, who made heaven and earth. He will not let your foot be moved, he who keeps you will not slumber.

–Psalm 121:1-3

Beautiful snowy Edinburgh c.o. Paul Watt Photography pic.twitter.com/8xW6vgnOfX

— freddie barss (@BarssFreddie) November 26, 2024