O God, who dost satisfy the longing soul and fillest the hungry with good things: Grant that we, like thy servant Marcella, may hunger and thirst after thee above the vain pomp and glory of the world, and delight in thy word above all manner of riches; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Ghost, one God world without end. Amen.

Saint Marcella of Rome: a woman of wealth who chose radical simplicity, turned her home into a monastery, and spent her life in prayer, study, and service to the poor. Quiet strength. Lasting holiness. ✨ pic.twitter.com/LHSg9bny5t

— Duncan Irvine (@DuncanIrvine1) January 31, 2026

O Thou, who searchest the hearts of men: Look with mercy upon our sins, especially our sins against the truth; forgive them and help us to walk this day in the light.  Deliver us from timid silence; give us courage to speak the truth with boldness, and grace to speak the truth with love; and save us in thought, word, and deed from the perils of self-deception; through Jesus Christ our Lord.

–Robert W. Rodenmayer, ed., The Pastor’s Prayerbook: Selected and arranged for various occasions (New York: Oxford University Press, 1960)

Sunrise across Sound of Sleat from Ardvasar, Isle of Skye #Scotland 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 @ThePhotoHour @StormHour @VisitScotland pic.twitter.com/Hb4r4pw60y

— James MacInnes (@Macinnesplant) January 31, 2026

William Nicholson’s original script will barely be changed in the production at the Aldwych Theatre, which opens next week, apart from updating a story that a character reads from a newspaper. Raised as a Roman Catholic, Mr Nicholson initially had no time for C. S Lewis, sharing his mother’s view that the Narnia author was a “drippy Protty”. But, when his colleage in the BBC’s religious department Norman Stone — filmmaker, Lewis fan, and Christian — suggested creating a television drama about Lewis’s relationship and marriage to an American mother-of-two, Joy Davidman, Mr Nicholson was transfixed by their slow-burn love story.

“I personally connected, as a much younger person — I was 36 at the time — to the whole question of fear of commitment in love, which is maybe more of a male thing, but it was certainly something I was experiencing. I wanted to love and be loved, but was very afraid of committing myself to a full love affair, love relationship, marriage, children.”

Lewis’s loss of his mother at the age of ten probably affected the author’s ability to form close relationships, Mr Nicholson thinks. “When the person who is most central to your life, who gives you your sense of being loved, disappears and leaves you in pain, it’s reasonable to conclude that something closed off at that point, and had to be opened again. I responded to the fear of being made vulnerable by love. I made that one of the central themes, because that related strongly to me. I wasn’t married at the time; so I was able to channel a bit of myself into Lewis, and Lewis into myself.”

Read it all.

"Shadowlands speaks to something deep in all of us about loss, love and loss, and the fear of loss."

The story of C. S. Lewis’s marriage, exploring love, loss, and faith, is back on stage, says @SusanGrayMeets #CSLewis #Shadowlands #grief #theatre https://t.co/ltrjwQftU9

— Church Times (@ChurchTimes) January 31, 2026

President Trump announced on Friday that he was nominating Kevin M. Warsh to serve as the next chair of the Federal Reserve, positioning the former central bank governor to take a pivotal role in steering an institution that has faced a barrage of attacks from the administration over its reluctance to more aggressively lower interest rates.

In a post on Truth Social, Mr. Trump praised Mr. Warsh, saying, “He will go down as one of the GREAT Fed Chairmen, maybe the best.”

“On top of everything else, he is ‘central casting’ and will never let you down,” the president wrote.

Mr. Trump repeated that line during remarks at the White House and said that while he did not get a commitment from Mr. Warsh to cut rates, he expected that he would do so.

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President Trump picks a reinvented Kevin Warsh as the next chair of the Fed. Warsh, who served on the US central bank's Board of Governors from 2006 to 2011, would succeed Jerome Powell when his term ends in May. As a Fed governor from 2006-11, Warsh called for higher rates even… pic.twitter.com/qtG5DGUtUv

— Holger Zschaepitz (@Schuldensuehner) January 30, 2026

The last few years have taken a real toll on pastors, causing many to consider quitting ministry. But new data from Barna Group suggests that fewer pastors are now thinking of walking away.

According to Barna’s latest findings, 24 percent of U.S. senior Protestant pastors say they have seriously considered leaving full-time ministry within the past year—a decline from the peak levels recorded during the height of the pandemic era. While still a substantial share of leaders, the decrease signals a meaningful shift after several years marked by intense vocational strain.

For much of the past five years, Barna’s research has documented rising pressure on pastors. Early in the pandemic, pastors were forced to navigate church closures, rapid shifts in ministry models, health concerns and political division—often all at once and with limited support. Emotional exhaustion intensified during the COVID-19 years, ministry demands multiplied and leaders faced heightened conflict and polarization within their congregations.

By 2022, those overlapping pressures culminated in an alarming reality: roughly two in five pastors said they had seriously considered quitting ministry altogether.

Since 2022, the share of pastors considering quitting has steadily declined.

Read it all.

(Barna Group) 'By 2022, those overlapping pressures culminated in an alarming reality: roughly two in five pastors said they had seriously considered quitting ministry altogether.

Since 2022, the share of pastors considering quitting has steadily declined. The drop to 24 percent…

— Kendall Harmon (@KendallHarmon6) January 31, 2026

ames Edward Lesslie Newbigin was born on December 8, 1909 in Newcastle-on-Tyne, England to Annie Affleck and Edward R. Newbigin, a shipping merchant. His earliest memories were happy ones, with a caring mother and a devout and politically radical father. He attended a Quaker boarding school called Leighton Park in Reding, Berkshire. By the time he headed to Queen’s College, Cambridge in 1928 he had left his religious upbringing but not dismissed it as irrational. In the summer of 1929, at age 19, while serving the unemployed of South Wales, Lesslie’s sleep was blessed with a vision of the Cross that touched the depths of human misery and offered hope. He was quickly drawn into evangelistic and ecumenical relationships and in 1930, at a Student Christian Movement (SCM) gathering in Stanwick, experienced a call to ordained ministry. On completion of his degree, he moved to Glasgow to work as staff secretary for the SCM. He returned to Cambridge in 1933 to train for ministry at Westminster College and in July 1936 he was ordained by the Presbytery of Edinburgh to work as a Church of Scotland missionary stationed in Madras, India. One month later, he married SCM colleague Helen Henderson, and together they set off for India where they lived for decades and together had one son and three daughters.

Newbigin took quickly to the native Tamil language, and began his work as a village evangelist. He became troubled by the competing denominational missions that often resulted in a separation of converts by caste. He saw this as a public contradiction to the gospel of reconciliation, and a primary obstacle to missionary work. In response, Newbigin became one of the key architects seeking the local organic reunion of the church. On August 15, 1947, India gained its independence from Britain. A month later, on September 27, 1947 the Church of South India was founded, which brought Congregational, Anglican, Methodist and Presbyterian denominations into organic union. That same year, at age 37, Newbigin was elected and consecrated one of the new Church’s first bishops, over Madurai and Ramnad. He served there for 12 years, during which he read what he called the “seminal” works of Roland Allen, and thus became “anxious to win the local village congregations away from a wrong kind of dependence on the mission bungalow.”(1)

The “South India miracle” quickly made Newbigin a prominent figure in the growing international ecumenical scene. He was a consultant for the inaugural assembly of the World Council of Churches (WCC) in 1948. Between 1951 and 1953, Newbigin served on the “Committee of Twenty-Five” theologians in preparation for 1954. In fact, he was elected chair of the high-powered committee, which included Karl Barth, Emil Brunner and Reinhold Niebuhr. It was during this decade that Barth wrote the three ecclesiological paragraphs in his Church Dogmatics and that Newbigin published The Household of God—his most systematic book on ecclesiology. An insider (peritus) at Vatican II claimed Newbigin’s Household of God influenced the writing of Lumen Gentium, the dogmatic statement of the church which stressed its missiological and eschatological nature as a pilgrim people.

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An absolutely essential Newbigin text, but often overlooked. This is one of the first I tend to recommend. It's later Newbigin, lecture form, clear and pointed. pic.twitter.com/SQnvOt84Xv

— Cody Whittington (@_cwhittington) December 10, 2023

Almighty God, we give you thanks for the ministry of Lesslie Newbigin, who labored that the Church of Jesus Christ might be one: Grant that we, instructed by his teaching and example, and knit together in unity by your Spirit, may ever stand firm upon the one foundation, which is Jesus Christ our Lord; who lives and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever.  Amen.

We can all use a Barthian Bishop in our life.

1.29

Feast of Leslie Newbigin pic.twitter.com/X30DHb91Uo

— David Szomor (@curiouscurate) January 29, 2026

O God, who knowest us to be set in the midst of so many and great dangers, that by reason of the frailty of our nature we cannot always stand upright; Grant to us such strength and protection, as may support us in all dangers, and carry us through all temptations; through Jesus Christ our Lord.

–Robert W. Rodenmayer, ed., The Pastor’s Prayerbook: Selected and arranged for various occasions (New York: Oxford University Press, 1960)

That Sky! 🤩 pic.twitter.com/WnDnHpfubq

— North Yorkshire (@visitnorthyork) January 29, 2026

The Most Revd Sarah Elisabeth Mullally became the first woman to take office as Archbishop of Canterbury on Wednesday, at the confirmation in St Paul’s Cathedral of her election.

“This is our habemus mamam moment,” the Bishop of Dover, the Rt Revd Rose Hudson-Wilkin, told the congregation, her declaration a play on the words used to announce that a new pope has been elected, as the congregation began to applaud.

In the charge to the new Primate of All England, the Archbishop of York suggested that “while the world may be very interested in the fact that you are the first female Archbishop of Canterbury, I think God is very interested in the fact that this is the first time Sarah has been the Archbishop of Canterbury.”

Archbishop Cottrell’s advice to her was to be herself: “Continue to be the person who exercises the gifts, wisdom, and experience that your life has given you; and continue to be the one whose life is shaped and nurtured by the gospel of Jesus Christ.”

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Election of first female #ArchbishopofCanterbury confirmed at St Paul’s Cathedral

‘Continue to be the person who exercises the gifts, wisdom, and experience that your life has given you,’ Archbishop of York tells the Most Revd Sarah #Mullallyhttps://t.co/Tykp53tKDn

— Church Times (@ChurchTimes) January 28, 2026

Sports events have always attracted betting. The more prestigious the level of play and the event involved (say, the Super Bowl and World Series) the greater the wagering.  

But the Supreme Court disastrously crossed a red line in the 2018 case Murphy v. National Collegiate Athletic Association. In it, the Court ruled that the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act of 1992, which prohibited states from sponsoring, advertising, or “authoriz[ing]” sports gambling, was unconstitutional on the grounds that it violated the “anticommandeering” doctrine that the Court had previously read into the Tenth Amendment. That is, since the Tenth Amendment states that “the powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people,” the 1992 Act unconstitutionally dictated to state governments the limits of their powers. (Coincidentally, the Court first enunciated its anticommandeering rule in an unrelated case during the same year that the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act was enacted.) 

On purely textual grounds, there is reason to doubt the correctness of the anticommandeering doctrine, since as the great constitutional scholar Walter Berns pointed out in a 1962 essay titled “The Meaning of the Tenth Amendment,” the Tenth Amendment, read literally, is  just a tautology: it says that the powers that the Constitution doesn’t delegate to the federal government are thereby reserved to the states and/or the people, without specifying just what those powers are.  

In fact, as is well known, since at least the late 1930s, federal courts have consistently adopted an extremely broad view of Congress’s powers under the Constitution, especially when it comes to domestic spending and regulation: consider the extensive volume of New Deal legislation that the Supreme Court upheld starting in 1936, along with Lyndon Johnson’s “Great Society,” which authorized the establishment of entire cabinet departments that are nowhere mentioned in the Constitution; Obamacare; and Joe Biden’s egregiously mislabeled “Inflation Reduction Act.” But while the Murphy decision hinged on a somewhat arcane distinction between the federal government’s authorizing or prohibiting a particular mode of conduct and its imposing the burden of such a prohibition on the state governments, subsequent events have demonstrated the imprudence of that decision. Among those harms are an explosion of publicly advertised sports betting: many of the ads during televised sports events are sponsored by gambling companies like Draft Kings and FanDuel, duping people who can ill afford to lose substantial amounts to do just that. Each ad is accompanied by a 1-800 number that problem (that is, addicted) bettors can call for “free help.” (What if cigarette ads were once again posted on television, accompanied by the counsel, “Got lung cancer? Call for free help!”)  

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Online Gambling Corrupts Sports—And Americans, Too https://t.co/bHmZmgqXgU

— Public Discourse (@PublicDiscourse) January 29, 2026

Most Americans believe the United States is declining in global power and influence, and nearly two-thirds say China’s power now equals or exceeds that of the United States, according to a nationally representative poll designed by Carnegie Endowment for International Peace scholars.

A majority of the Americans surveyed thought the United States is one of several powerful countries rather than the most powerful nation. Nearly three-quarters expected China to overtake the United States in power and influence at some point. Almost half, 47 percent, said China has already surpassed the United States or will do so within the next five years.

Respondents wanted the United States to be a formidable power in almost every world region. If China overtook the United States in power and influence, they would view that development negatively. At the same time, a solid majority—62 percent—said their lives would not get worse if China gained more power than the United States. This striking finding casts doubt on whether the American public would be willing to bear significant costs to maintain a power position superior to China’s.

Very few of the Americans polled said U.S. global power and influence was unimportant to them. Millennial and Gen Z respondents, however, were less fervent and more ambivalent about the value of American power than older generations. Meanwhile, Democrats were more likely than Republicans to see the United States as one of multiple powerful nations and as being in decline. Most Democrats thought their lives would not get worse if China surpassed the United States in power and influence, whereas most Republicans thought their lives would get worse.

Read it all.

There's this view that Americans are provincial 'America Fuck yeah!' types. The elites are, but the voters aren't. Most Americans think that China is more technologically advanced than the U.S. https://t.co/wWzyrCjn5h pic.twitter.com/LCmtDtPrNn

— Matt Stoller (@matthewstoller) January 27, 2026

Majorities of Americans continue to support charitable causes, with 76% reporting that they gave money to a religious or other nonprofit organization in the past year and 63% saying they volunteered their time to such an organization.

Americans’ current levels of charitable activities are somewhat different from what they were in 2021 during the COVID-19 pandemic. Financial contributions have eased slightly, registering five percentage points lower than in 2021, but volunteering is seven points higher now.

Meanwhile, a steady 17% of U.S. adults say they gave blood in the past 12 months.

Read it all.

Americans continue to support charitable causes with 76% saying they gave money to nonprofits in the past year and 63% saying they volunteered their time to nonprofits. https://t.co/a5vdAcC1YS pic.twitter.com/a8na0r5603

— Grace Platon (@GracePlaton) January 27, 2026

Holy God, we bless thee for the gift of thy monk and icon writer Andrei Rublev, who, inspired by the Holy Spirit, provided a window into heaven for generations to come, revealing the majesty and mystery of the holy and blessed Trinity; who livest and reignest through ages of ages. Amen.

Andrei Rublev 1360 1437 Trinità pic.twitter.com/TO9YBpTmE7

— Ugo Ramella (@RamellaUgo) July 7, 2023

O Thou light of my heart, Thou bread of my inmost soul, thanks be to Thee, my joy and my glory, my confidence and my God, thanks be to Thee for Thy gifts.  Preserve them to me, for so wilt Thou preserve me myself, and those things shall be enlarged and perfected which Thou hast given me, and I myself shall be with Thee, Who didst give me being ——  O Lord, my God, I lay my whole heart upon the altar of Thy praise, a whole burnt-offering of praise I offer to Thee.  Let the flame of Thy love set afire my whole heart; let nothing in me be left to myself, nothing wherein to look to myself; but may I burn wholly before Thee.  Lord, let Thy fire consume all that is mine: let all be Thine.

–Robert W. Rodenmayer, ed., The Pastor’s Prayerbook: Selected and arranged for various occasions (New York: Oxford University Press, 1960)

Quintessential Icelandic mountain scene #2: Vestrahornhttps://t.co/eLFwdPzZvP#iceland #photographer @ThePhotoHour @StormHour pic.twitter.com/k9X3Q7LMGK

— Adrian Hendroff (@adrianhendroff) January 28, 2026

The next Bishop of Ely is to be the Rt Revd Sarah Clark, Suffragan Bishop of Jarrow since 2019, in Durham diocese, where she is also currently the Acting Bishop, Downing Street announced on Tuesday.

She succeeds the Rt Revd Stephen Conway, who was translated to Lincoln in May 2023 (News, 26 May 2023). Since then, Ely has been served by its Acting Bishop, the Bishop of Huntingdon, Dr Dagmar Winter.

In July 2024, it was announced that the Crown Nominations Commission had not been able reach a consensus over the next Bishop of Ely, and that it was unlikely that the process would begin again before spring 2025 (News, 19 July 2024).

Bishop Clark was educated at Loughborough University before training for ordination at St John’s College, Nottingham. She has an MA from Keele University. She served her title at St James’s, Porchester, in the diocese of Southwell & Nottingham, and remained in parish ministry in the diocese until her present appointment. She was Rector of Carlton-in-Lindrick from 2002 to 2009, before becoming Team Rector of Clifton and Dean of Women’s Ministry. She was appointed Archdeacon of Nottingham in 2014.

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The next #BishopofEly is to be the Rt Revd Sarah Clark, Suffragan Bishop of Jarrow since 2019, in Durham diocese, where she is also currently the Acting Bishop, Downing Street announced on Tuesday#churchofengland #bishopsappointments #durhamdiocese https://t.co/hFnwrUsvb9

— Church Times (@ChurchTimes) January 27, 2026

Investors are betting the Trump administration will run the economy “hot” ahead of midterm elections, with buoyant stocks and a weaker dollar reflecting expectations of strong growth and rising inflation.

A string of robust economic data has defied predictions of a slowdown in the US, sending credit spreads to the tightest levels of the century and helping stocks hit fresh record highs this month.

At the same time, fund managers said there is a growing belief that President Donald Trump’s tax cuts, deregulation push and campaign for lower interest rates will add more fuel to the economy this year, as the president seeks to bolster support ahead of November’s congressional polls. “There is a carefully engineered plan to have the US economy humming into the summer,” said Arif Husain, head of global fixed income at T Rowe Price.

Read it all.

Investors bet on ‘hot’ US economy heading into midterm elections https://t.co/Qs7rCZ017g

— Financial Times (@FT) January 28, 2026

When Elon Musk was at Davos last week, an interviewer asked him if he thought aging could be reversed. Musk said he hasn’t put much time into the problem but suspects it is “very solvable” and that when scientists discover why we age, it’s going to be something “obvious.”

Not long after, the Harvard professor and life-extension evangelist David Sinclair jumped into the conversation on X to strongly agree with the world’s richest man. “Aging has a relatively simple explanation and is apparently reversible,” wrote Sinclair. “Clinical Trials begin shortly.”

“ER-100?” Musk asked.

“Yes” replied Sinclair.

ER-100 turns out to be the code name of a treatment created by Life Biosciences, a small Boston startup that Sinclair cofounded and which he confirmed today has won FDA approval to proceed with the first targeted attempt at age reversal in human volunteers. 

The company plans to try to treat eye disease with a radical rejuvenation concept called “reprogramming” that has recently attracted hundreds of millions in investment for Silicon Valley firms like Altos Labs, New Limit, and Retro Biosciences, backed by many of the biggest names in tech. 

The technique attempts to restore cells to a healthier state by broadly resetting their epigenetic controls—switches on our genes that determine which are turned on and off.  

Read it all.

The first human test of a rejuvenation method will begin “shortly” https://t.co/oHGyByBoyM

— MIT Technology Review (@techreview) January 27, 2026

Thomas Aquinas was born in the family castle at Roccasecca in 1225. At five, he began school at Montecassino, the great Benedictine monastery that was almost visible from the promontory on which the family castle stood.

The commanding site of the monastery offered military advantage, and the ongoing struggle between the forces of the emperor and those of the pope made Montecassino unsafe. Thomas was therefore enrolled in the University of Naples, where he first met members of the Order of Preachers, or Dominicans.

Like the Franciscans, the Dominicans were a mendicant order whose friars vowed to live faithfully in poverty, chastity and obedience. Dominic had wanted his followers to be well trained for the refutation of heresy, so the order also emphasized education.

Attracted by the Dominican ideal, Thomas joined the order in 1244. This shocked his family. They took him captive and held him for a year, seeking to dissuade him from his decision.

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St. Thomas Aquinas (d. 1274), a child of Italian nobles, decided to become a mendicant (begging) friar of the Order of Preachers (Dominicans). He became a Doctor of Theology at the University of Paris, and wrote the Summa Theologica, one of the world's great Theological texts. pic.twitter.com/GDcxWR55cw

— Christian Culture (@Christian8Pics) February 27, 2018

Almighty God, who hast enriched thy Church with the singular learning and holiness of thy servant Thomas Aquinas: Enlighten us more and more, we pray thee, by the disciplined thinking and teaching of Christian scholars, and deepen our devotion by the example of saintly lives; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.

On Jan. 28, the Roman Catholic Church celebrates Saint Thomas Aquinas, the 13th century theologian who showed that the Catholic faith is in harmony with philosophy and all other branches of knowledge.https://t.co/KfONWy8Vgm pic.twitter.com/piE0zIT5uK

— EWTN Global Catholic Network (@EWTN) January 28, 2026

Lord Jesus, who in thy tender love didst stretch forth thy hand and touch the leper who came to thee for cleansing: Grant us a like compassion for all who claim our help, and a willingness to identify ourselves with them in their need; for thy sake who wast made sin for us, and who art our righteousness and our salvation, now and for ever.

Another view from that amazing sunrise in #Pittsburgh this morning, this time from the North Shore. I couldn't believe how much color there was in the sky so far before sunrise, but hey, I'll take it. What a view. pic.twitter.com/7Qs5tVv7On

— Dave DiCello (@DaveDiCello) January 28, 2026

Working-class candidates continue to experience a “cultural loss” of identity when exploring a vocation to the priesthood, as well as both academic and financial barriers to training, a paper due to be debated by the General Synod next month says.

It was written by the Bishop of Barking, the Rt Revd Lynne Cullens, who chaired a “task and finish” advisory group, commissioned by the Ministry Development Board (MDB), and the Bishop of Chester, the Rt Revd Mark Tanner.

Last February, the Synod voted unanimously for the development of a national strategy for encouraging, developing, and supporting vocations of people from working-class backgrounds, both lay and ordained; and for the MDB to bring that back for debate within 12 months (News, 28 February 2025).

The private member’s motion last year was brought by the Vicar of St Matthew the Apostle, Burnley, the Revd Alex Frost, out of a concern that “some people from a working-class background with a calling to ministry have found it difficult to progress because of expectations and assumptions based on their social class.”

Read it all.

Working-class candidates continue to experience a “cultural loss” of identity when exploring a vocation to the priesthood, as well as both academic and financial barriers to training, a paper due to be debated by the #GeneralSynod next month says#classhttps://t.co/Shi7fSggR3

— Church Times (@ChurchTimes) January 27, 2026

Drones are responsible for between 70 and 80 percent of those injured or killed on both sides of the war in Ukraine, according to a new report by a key Latvian intelligence service.

“This makes the war more dynamic at the tactical level, but reduces the chance of either side making a strategic breakthrough,” reads the report by Latvia’s Constitution Protection Bureau (SAB), published Monday.

As a result, the decisive factors in determining the outcome of the war are Western military and political support, the authors concluded.

Drone warfare played a major role in helping Ukrainian forces repel Russia’s invasion in February 2022. Since late 2024, however, the drone war has shifted in Russia’s favor, as Moscow adapted to the new technology, according to the Atlantic Council. 

Read it all.

Drones are responsible for between 70 and 80 percent of those injured or killed on both sides of the war in Ukraine, according to a new report by a key Latvian intelligence service.https://t.co/d9BvLABQXg

— POLITICOEurope (@POLITICOEurope) January 26, 2026

Campaigners in favour of medically assisted suicide in England, Scotland and France have apparently suffered setbacks that could ensure the controversial practice never comes into law.

A recent report by The Guardian suggested that the Westminster bill, put forward by Labour’s Kim Leadbeater, will likely never come to a final vote and so will fail by default.

Both sides of the debate have accused the other of using underhand tactics to get their way. Proponents of assisted suicide claim the other side has used procedural delaying tactics in the Lords to ensure the bill never becomes law.

Pro-life campaigners have pointed out that the government, which is officially neutral on the issue, has apparently been favouring the pro-suicide position with its actions. It has also been pointed out that extra scrutiny of a bill that would give state institutions the power of life and death merits additional scrutiny and care.

Labour MP Florence Eshalomi told the Guardian, “Not a single royal college, professional body or cabinet minister will attest to the safety of this bill. Scrutiny should never be conflated with obstruction and it would be reckless for Lords to ignore the concerns of such a wide range of experts.”

Read it all.

(Christian Today) 'Campaigners in favour of medically assisted suicide in #England, #Scotland and #France have apparently suffered setbacks that could ensure the controversial practice never comes into law.

A recent report by The Guardian suggested that the Westminster bill, put…

— Kendall Harmon (@KendallHarmon6) January 27, 2026

In the spring of 388, a rebellion erupted in Antioch over the announcement of increased taxes. Statues of the emperor and his recently deceased wife were desecrated. Officials of the empire then began punishing city leaders, killing some, for the uprising. While Archbishop Flavian rushed to the capital in Constantinople 800 miles away to beg for clemency, John preached to a city in turmoil:

“Improve yourselves now truly, not as when during one of the numerous earthquakes or in famine or drought or in similar visitations you leave off your sinning for three or four days and then begin the old life again. . . . Stop evil slandering, harbor no enmities, and give up the wicked custom of frivolous cursing and swearing. If you do this, you will surely be delivered from the present distress and attain eternal happiness.”

After eight weeks, on the day before Easter, Flavian returned with the good news of the emperor’s pardon.

John preached through many of Paul’s letters (“I like all the saints,” he said, “but St. Paul the most of all—that vessel of election, the trumpet of heaven”), the Gospels of Matthew and of John, and the Book of Genesis. Changed lives were his goal, and he denounced sins from abortion to prostitution and from gluttony to swearing.

He encouraged his congregation not only to attend the divine service regularly but also to feed themselves on God’s written Word. In a sermon on the Parable of the Rich Man and Lazarus, he said, “Reading the Scripture is a great means of security against sinning. The ignorance of Scripture is a great cliff and a deep abyss; to know nothing of the divine laws is a great betrayal of salvation.”

His applications could be forceful. About people’s love of horse racing, he complained, “My sermons are applauded merely from custom, then everyone runs off to [horse racing] again and gives much more applause to the jockeys, showing indeed unrestrained passion for them! There they put their heads together with great attention, and say with mutual rivalry, ‘This horse did not run well, this one stumbled,’ and one holds to this jockey and another to that. No one thinks any more of my sermons, nor of the holy and awesome mysteries that are accomplished here.”

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St. John Chrysostom, Bishop, Doctor of the Church (407)

He was called Chrysostom, "golden mouthed" on account of his eloquence. He loved St. Paul of whom he said: "The heart of Paul is the heart of Christ." He died in exile after suffering persecution under the empress Eudoxia. pic.twitter.com/uUHNQ5Xcty

— Memento Mori (@TempusFugit4016) January 27, 2026

O God, who didst give to thy servant John Chrysostom grace eloquently to proclaim thy righteousness in the great congregation, and fearlessly to bear reproach for the honor of thy Name: Mercifully grant to all bishops and pastors such excellency in preaching, and fidelity in ministering thy Word, that thy people shall be partakers with them of the glory that shall be revealed; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.

“No one should despair of his salvation. Did you sin? Repent. Did you sin a thousand times? Repent a thousand times.”

Saint John Chrysostom pic.twitter.com/VJMyqYxkEo

— Antonio❄️ (@Ortho_dog) January 9, 2026

Give us grace, O Lord, to answer readily the call of our Savior Jesus Christ and proclaim to all people the Good News of his salvation, that we and the whole world may perceive the glory of his marvelous works; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.  Amen.

Other business includes proposals to outsource Church of England safeguarding to a new independent body, which were approved in principle last February (News, 14 February 2025); but implementing that decision has not been straightforward.

The plan originally approved last year called for the National Safeguarding Team (NST) to be transferred to a new independent charity, and a second outside organisation to be set up to scrutinise all church safeguarding. Diocesan and cathedral safeguarding teams would remain employed by their respective dioceses and cathedrals.

Since, then, however, the working group has concluded that this would require years of ponderous legislative processes. Survivors and others wish to move faster, and so a new model has been drawn up, a Synod paper explains.

One new independent body would be created — provisionally titled the Church of England Independent Safeguarding Authority (ISA). It would be overseen by a board, which would have a majority of non-church members.

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A new model for quasi-independent #safeguarding is on the General Synod’s agenda next month, as are urban #poverty and the parliamentary ping-pong about the Clergy Conduct Measure#Synod #synodagenda #clergyconduct #churchnews #churchtimes https://t.co/YROYOjEi5M

— Church Times (@ChurchTimes) January 26, 2026

[Audrey] Luhmann said the report by Husch Blackwell found Ruch sent emails attempting to coordinate legal representation for Rivera and authorized the priest at Rivera’s church to ask the victim’s family about dropping charges against Rivera, but specifying it should be done without pressure. But the court, which assigned minimal weight to that report, describes Ruch’s decisions at the time as “pastoral judgment exercised in real time, without the benefit of hindsight.”

The order also acknowledged that Ruch ordained Presbyterian Pastor Joshua Moon to the priesthood in 2020, despite knowing that Moon previously pleaded guilty to and served a 90-day sentence for attempting to solicit a prostitute. Ruch installed Moon as rector of a church plant, where Moon was later suspended from pastoral ministry for life after a female deacon reported him for making an unwanted sexual advance. The female deacon told The Washington Post that Ruch chastised her for being alone with Moon.

“The outcome of Moon’s ministry, while grievous and contrary to the hopes invested in him, does not negate the thoughtful, conscientious, and vigilant approach Bishop Ruch employed with the information available at the time,” the court wrote.

A person who assisted the prosecution acknowledged that whether the evidence against Ruch met the clear and convincing threshold for conviction was a legitimate question but said it was incorrect to claim there was no evidence. The source asked to be referred to anonymously due to concerns about negative repercussions.

“They should have seen a pattern of failing to properly vet and have accountability for these leaders in his diocese,” the person said. They also said fear of retribution and lack of legal authority in the church court to subpoena witnesses or materials created barriers for calling witnesses; The Living Church reported that other witnesses disputed the court’s characterization of their knowledge of Ruch’s conduct.

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As the denomination looks ahead to two additional bishops’ trials, the precedents set by the Ruch trial will have substantial bearing on the upcoming proceedings. https://t.co/zHTGehgzWj

— RNS (@RNS) January 24, 2026

Paul fell to the ground overcome by the brightness of the light which outshone the mid-day sun, and as he lay there he cried, “Who art thou, Lord?” After receiving an answer to his first question, he humbly asked another, “Lord, what wilt thou have me to do?”

This morning I spent all my strength, and I scarcely have any remaining for this evening, but the subject was well worthy of the greatest exhaustion. I tried to show that we must receive the kingdom of heaven as little children, or else we could not in any wise enter into it. I wanted, if I could, to add a sort of practical tail-piece to that subject, something that would enable me, yet more fully, to explain the childlike spirit which comes at conversion, and which is absolutely needful as one of the first marks and consequences of the work of the Spirit of God upon the heart. I cannot find a better illustration of the childlike spirit than this which is now before us.

Paul was a great man, and on the way to Damascus I have no doubt he rode a very high horse. He verily thought that he was doing God service. He was a Pharisee of the Pharisees, and had a very high estimate of his own character ; and now that he had letters from the high priest upon his person, he felt himself to be armed with great power, and to be no mean man. He would let those poor Christians in Damascus know! He would worry them out of their fanaticism. He would take care to let them see that Saul of Tarsus was greater than Jesus of Nazareth. But a few seconds sufficed for the Lord to alter the man. How soon he brought him down! The manifestation of Jesus Christ himself from heaven soon subdued the great man into a little child, for the two questions which are now before us are exceedingly childlike. He enquires, with sacred curiosity, “Who art thou, Lord?” and then he surrenders at discretion, crying, “What wilt thou have me to do?” He seems to cry, “I give up my weapons. I submit to be thy servant. I only ask to be taught what I am to do, and I am ready to do it. Thou hast conquered me. Behold, at thy feet I lie; only raise me up and give me something to do in thy service, for I will gladly undertake it.” To this spirit we must all come if we are to be saved. We must come to think of Jesus so as to desire to know him; and then we must reverence Jesus so as to be willing to obey his will in all things. Upon those two points I am going to speak with a measure of brevity to-night.

Our first object of thought will be— the earnest enquirer seeking to know his Lord; and the second will be the obedient disciple requesting directions.

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The Conversion of Saint Paul by #WilliamBlake – showing the inner drama of arguably one of the most consequential moments in western history, when on the outside, little to nothing might apparently have happened at all. #conversionofstpaul pic.twitter.com/nCeYM8ELg0

— Mark Vernon (@platospodcasts) January 26, 2026