Concerned that artificial intelligence could threaten Communist Party rule, Beijing is taking extraordinary steps to keep it under control.

Although China’s government sees AI as crucial to the country’s economic and military future, regulations and recent purges of online content show it also fears AI could destabilize society. Chatbots pose a particular problem: Their ability to think for themselves could generate responses that spur people to question party rule.

In November, Beijing formalized rules it has been working on with AI companies to ensure their chatbots are trained on data filtered for politically sensitive content, and that they can pass an ideological test before going public. All AI-generated texts, videos and images must be explicitly labeled and traceable, making it easier to track and punish anyone spreading undesirable content.

Authorities recently said they removed 960,000 pieces of what they regarded as illegal or harmful AI-generated content during three months of an enforcement campaign. Authorities have officially classified AI as a major potential threat, adding it alongside earthquakes and epidemics to its National Emergency Response Plan.

Read it all.

China Is Worried AI Threatens Party Rule—and Is Trying to Tame It: Beijing is enforcing tough rules to ensure chatbots don’t misbehave, while hoping its models stay competitive with the U.S.@stuwoo https://t.co/wOtnfHJGQchttps://t.co/wOtnfHJGQc

— Jonathan Cheng (@JChengWSJ) December 24, 2025

The poll…finds 24% of Americans satisfied and 74% dissatisfied with the way things are going in the country, which is unchanged from November but more negative than all other readings since January. As recently as May, 38% of U.S. adults were satisfied. Satisfaction levels remain slightly higher than at the end of the Biden administration.

Declining satisfaction has coincided with worsening views of the economy in recent months. Gallup’s Economic Confidence Index currently sits at -33, which is down 10 points from October and 19 points from June, and is the lowest it has been since registering -35 in July 2024. The index summarizes Americans’ evaluations of current economic conditions and their perceptions of whether the economy is getting better or getting worse. It has a theoretical range of -100 to +100.

Read it all.

Americans End Year in Gloomy Mood https://t.co/JcHu7bBBn5

— Patrick Riccards (@Eduflack) December 23, 2025

O God, who didst promise that thy glory should be revealed, and that all flesh should see it together: Stir up our hearts, we beseech thee, to prepare the way of thine only begotten Son; and pour out upon us thy loving kindness, that we who are afflicted by reason of our sins may be refreshed by the coming of our Saviour, and may behold his glory; who with thee and the Holy Spirit liveth and reigneth one God, world without end.

Good morning from Berneray ☺️ #OuterHebrides pic.twitter.com/OAEMSNehec

— Eilidh (@EilidhCarr) December 24, 2025

Now when the king dwelt in his house, and the Lord had given him rest from all his enemies round about, the king said to Nathan the prophet, “See now, I dwell in a house of cedar, but the ark of God dwells in a tent.” And Nathan said to the king, “Go, do all that is in your heart; for the Lord is with you.”

But that same night the word of the Lord came to Nathan, “Go and tell my servant David, ‘Thus says the Lord: Would you build me a house to dwell in? I have not dwelt in a house since the day I brought up the people of Israel from Egypt to this day, but I have been moving about in a tent for my dwelling. In all places where I have moved with all the people of Israel, did I speak a word with any of the judges of Israel, whom I commanded to shepherd my people Israel, saying, “Why have you not built me a house of cedar?”’ Now therefore thus you shall say to my servant David, ‘Thus says the Lord of hosts, I took you from the pasture, from following the sheep, that you should be prince over my people Israel; and I have been with you wherever you went, and have cut off all your enemies from before you; and I will make for you a great name, like the name of the great ones of the earth. And I will appoint a place for my people Israel, and will plant them, that they may dwell in their own place, and be disturbed no more; and violent men shall afflict them no more, as formerly, from the time that I appointed judges over my people Israel; and I will give you rest from all your enemies. Moreover the Lord declares to you that the Lord will make you a house. When your days are fulfilled and you lie down with your fathers, I will raise up your offspring after you, who shall come forth from your body, and I will establish his kingdom. He shall build a house for my name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom for ever. I will be his father, and he shall be my son. When he commits iniquity, I will chasten him with the rod of men, with the stripes of the sons of men; but I will not take my steadfast love from him, as I took it from Saul, whom I put away from before you. And your house and your kingdom shall be made sure for ever before me; your throne shall be established for ever.’” In accordance with all these words, and in accordance with all this vision, Nathan spoke to David.

–2 Samuel 7:1-17

Just 1 day to go until Christmas in my Top 10 Christmas Countdown, where I'm sharing one of my own favourite Peak District festive photos every day until the big day.

This was one of the first photographs I ever shared on social media, taken more years ago than I care to… pic.twitter.com/04Kksu1wEg

— peaklass (@peaklass1) December 24, 2025

The Anglican Archbishop of Sydney, the Most Revd Kanishka Raffel, has told a gathering at the Great Synagogue, in Sydney, that Sydney Anglicans “abhor anti-Semitism . . . and will not turn away from anti-Semitism in silence”.

Archbishop Raffel was speaking at an event held on Friday to mark Hanukkah and mourn for the victims of the Bondi massacre on 14 December (News, 19 December).

It was intolerable, he said, “that over the last two and more years you have been terrorised in your homes, communities and synagogues . . . that you have to employ security guards for your places of worship, education, and society, as though this was normal or acceptable. It is intolerable that the streets of Sydney have been filled with voices of threat and violence and no one has silenced them.”

Jews deserved to be safe, respected, and protected, he continued, not just because they were Jewish but because they were Australians.

Read it all.

The Anglican Archbishop of Sydney, the Most Revd Kanishka Raffel, has told a gathering at the Great Synagogue, in Sydney, that #Sydney #Anglicans “abhor anti-Semitism . . . and will not turn away from anti-Semitism in silence”#Antisemitism #bondibeach… https://t.co/NzkO10Kztx

— Church Times (@ChurchTimes) December 22, 2025

The standard sperm-meets-egg story posits that sperm cells are hardly more than bundles of shrink-wrapped DNA with tails. Their mission is simple: Deliver a father’s genes into a mother’s egg for sexual reproduction. Just about all other aspects of a developing embryo, including its cellular and environmental components, have nothing to do with dad. Those all come from mom.

But nearly two decades of studies from multiple independent labs threaten to rewrite that story. They suggest that dad’s gametes shuttle more than DNA: Within a sperm’s minuscule head are stowaway molecules, which enter the egg and convey information about the father’s fitness, such as diet, exercise habits and stress levels, to his offspring. These non-DNA transfers may influence genomic activity that boots up during and after fertilization, exerting some control over the embryo’s development and influencing the adult they will become.

The findings, so far largely described in mouse models, could end up changing the way we think about heredity. They suggest “that what we do in this life affects the next generation,” said Qi Chen(opens a new tab), a reproductive and developmental biologist at the University of Utah Medical School who is among the pioneers of this research. In other words: What a father eats, drinks, inhales, is stressed by or otherwise experiences in the weeks and months before he conceives a child might be encoded in molecules, packaged into his sperm cells and transmitted to his future kid. The researchers have largely zeroed in on RNA molecules, those short-lived copies of DNA that reflect genetic activity at a given time.

Read it all.

Growing evidence in mouse models suggests that non-DNA sperm molecules can pass along a dad’s condition at the time of conception. Researchers are working to understand how this occurs, and if it occurs in humans.@ivan_amato reports: https://t.co/6fc0bgO0M5

— Quanta Magazine (@QuantaMagazine) December 22, 2025

False reports are likely shaping Russian President Vladimir Putin’s understanding of the battlefield situation. The Financial Times (FT) reported on December 22 that two unspecified officials stated that Russian military and security authorities regularly give Putin updates that inflate Ukrainian battlefield casualties, highlight Russia’s resource advantages, and downplay tactical failures.

FT reported that Russian Chief of the General Staff, Army General Valery Gerasimov, is responsible for briefing Putin about the war. The sources reportedly stated that the “rosy picture” that military officials paint during their briefs has led Putin to believe that Russia can win the war. FT stated that the sources noted that Putin regularly meets with “confidants” who tell him that the war has become a “growing drag” on the Russian economy, however.

The Washington Post reported on December 22 that a Russian official stated that a banking or non-payments crisis in Russia is possible and that they do not “want to think about a continuation of the war or an escalation.” A Russian academic source close to senior Kremlin diplomats told the Washington Post that 2026 will be the “first difficult year” since the start of the full scale invasion but assessed that growing economic problems will not lead to social or political problems.

Read it all.

Western officials believe Putin is pressing on with his war in Ukraine partly because of flawed information he gets about the battlefield, @NastyaStognei and I write.

The rosy picture from his generals has led him to believe Russia can win outright:https://t.co/DzVErrPFXM

— max seddon (@maxseddon) December 22, 2025

You may listen directly here:

Or you may download it there.

Or watch the video here:

'Joseph, thou son of David, fear not to take unto thee Mary thy wife: for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Ghost'

An angel appears to Joseph in a dream and reassures him, a scene from today's Gospel, by Wilhelmina Geddes, 1920, a studio piece now in the Stained… pic.twitter.com/UmWF9nRGcj

— Simon Knott (@SimoninSuffolk) December 21, 2025

O Virgin of virgins, how shall this be?
For neither before were there any like you, nor will there be after.
Daughters of Jerusalem, why do you marvel at me?
The thing which you behold is a divine mystery.

Virgin Mary with Eleven Angels,
from the Wilton Diptych,
Anonymous, circa 1395 pic.twitter.com/80pxvOnI65

— Solas (@solas_na_greine) September 24, 2025

Almighty Father, whose blessed Son at his coming amongst us brought redemption unto his people, and peace to men of goodwill: Grant that, when he shall come again in glory to judge the world and to make all things new, we may be found ready to receive him, and enter into his joy; through the same our Lord Jesus Christ.

Aurora last night Nairn beach Scotland pic.twitter.com/HZMULOPm6v

— graham ross (@grahamr27165817) December 23, 2025

Hannah also prayed and said,

“My heart exults in the Lord;
my strength is exalted in the Lord.
My mouth derides my enemies,
because I rejoice in thy salvation.

“There is none holy like the Lord,
there is none besides thee;
there is no rock like our God.
Talk no more so very proudly,
let not arrogance come from your mouth;
for the Lord is a God of knowledge,
and by him actions are weighed.
The bows of the mighty are broken,
but the feeble gird on strength.
Those who were full have hired themselves out for bread,
but those who were hungry have ceased to hunger.
The barren has borne seven,
but she who has many children is forlorn.
The Lord kills and brings to life;
he brings down to Sheol and raises up.
The Lord makes poor and makes rich;
he brings low, he also exalts.
He raises up the poor from the dust;
he lifts the needy from the ash heap,
to make them sit with princes
and inherit a seat of honor.
For the pillars of the earth are the Lord’s,
and on them he has set the world.

“He will guard the feet of his faithful ones;
but the wicked shall be cut off in darkness;
for not by might shall a man prevail.
The adversaries of the Lord shall be broken to pieces;
against them he will thunder in heaven.
The Lord will judge the ends of the earth;
he will give strength to his king,
and exalt the power of his anointed.”

–1 Samuel 2:1-10

Only 2 days to go until Christmas in my Top 10 Christmas Countdown, where I'm sharing one of my own favourite Peak District festive photos every day until the big day.

Sometimes it’s not about photographing the view. Sometimes it's about trying to capture the silence, the… pic.twitter.com/A3NdUpalR1

— peaklass (@peaklass1) December 23, 2025

The group most incensed by the trial’s outcome are ACNAtoo survivors—women abused by Rivera, who is currently incarcerated for his crimes. They believe the verdict overlooks Bishop Ruch’s failure to exercise due diligence. 

“[We] feel denied and crushed by the verdict that found the bishop not guilty of multiple charges,” their statement read. “It is devastatingly clear that if an abuse victim wants to report abuse in the ACNA, they must now bear the additional burden of ensuring they are not perceived as being ‘captured’ by narratives the ACNA deems illegitimate.” 

They argue the verdict is “rife with easily refutable claims.” 

“This verdict comes 6.5 years after Rivera’s nine-year-old victim initially disclosed her sexual abuse. This girl, now 16, has waited more than a third of her life for closure from a church system and leaders that repeatedly failed her. She could not even participate in the Husch Blackwell investigation because the ACNA refused to commission an investigation that did not jeopardize her criminal case against Rivera.” 

They assert that ACNA has relegated survivors’ stories to the category of propaganda, demonstrating how the province views those it claims to protect.

Read it all.

'Reform theologian and historian Dean Chuck Collins recounts the abuse of his oldest daughter who was emotionally groomed and manipulated starting at age 17, and then sexually abused when she was “of age.”

“If you have been sexually abused, do not bother reporting it to your…

— Kendall Harmon (@KendallHarmon6) December 22, 2025

Delay to the House of Bishops’ final decision on the next steps in the Living in Love and Faith (LLF) process (News, 16 December) has been criticised by campaigners on both sides of the argument.

The national director of the Church of England Evangelical Council (CEEC), Canon John Dunnett, said that the statement issued by Church House on Tuesday “reads like an admission of ‘Groundhog Day’.”

LLF was “eroding the collegiality of the House of Bishops and their ability to lead”, he said, and called for the Bishops to “either halt the project” or reconsider proposals for structural changes to the Church of England.

A form of “delegated episcopal ministry” to provide reassurance to opponents of the changes brought by LLF were rejected by the Bishops at their meeting in October (News, 15 October, 17 October).

Read it all.

The delay to the House of Bishops’ final decision on the next steps in the Living in Love and Faith (LLF) process has been criticised by campaigners on both sides of the argument#llf #sexuality #samesexmarriage #churchnews #churchtimes https://t.co/8cQdJOMkVf

— Church Times (@ChurchTimes) December 22, 2025

In 2016, Beijing launched a new aerospace conglomerate called Aero Engine Corp. of China. It had a challenging mandate: to develop top-line aircraft engines, a technology China had long struggled to master.

Less than a decade later, Beijing’s newest stealth fighters are entering service with what officials call “Chinese hearts,” or indigenously made engines.

The progress marked a milestone in China’s quest to forge an arms industry worthy of a rising global power. For years, China’s rise obscured a sobering reality: It couldn’t make all its own weapons.

Beijing is now not only producing its own armaments, it is also selling more abroad. In some military technologies, China appears to be matching major arms producers such as Russia and the U.S., or even pulling ahead.

The ability to churn out advanced armaments is a key element in Chinese leader Xi Jinping’s vision of making his country less reliant on the outside world for everything from food and energy to semiconductors. A more self-sufficient China is essential for preventing Western nations from locking it into a strategic stranglehold, Xi has argued.

Read it all.

How Beijing Built Arms Industry to Rival the West—New jet engines show results of China’s military self-sufficiency push@ByChunHan https://t.co/KKed5vXiO0https://t.co/KKed5vXiO0

— Jonathan Cheng (@JChengWSJ) December 22, 2025

Almighty and everliving God, who didst strengthen thine apostle Thomas with sure and certain faith in thy Son’s resurrection: Grant us so perfectly and without doubt to believe in Jesus Christ, our Lord and our God, that our faith may never be found wanting in thy sight; through him who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever.

It's the feast of Saint Thomas.

According to Eusebius, he was a missionary to Parthia (Iran). Early tradition also places him in India. His statue at San Giovanni in Rome. #FeastDay #StThomas #Eusebius pic.twitter.com/a10bQygrf8

— Mark Werling (@MarkWerling5) December 21, 2025

Lord God Almighty, King of glory and love eternal, worthy art thou at all times to receive adoration, praise, and blessing; but especially at this time do we praise thee for the sending of thy Son our Saviour Jesus Christ, for whom our hearts do wait, and to whom, with thee and the Holy Spirit, one God, be honour and dominion, now and for ever.

—Prayers for the Christian Year (SCM, 1964)

#AdventAngels In Cramond Kirk, part of Edinburgh Northwest Kirk. By Alexander Strachan, brother of Douglas. pic.twitter.com/0Z8jbFVnK0

— Nancy Johnston (@jeelyeater1) December 22, 2025

Sing aloud, O daughter of Zion;
shout, O Israel!
Rejoice and exult with all your heart,
O daughter of Jerusalem!
The Lord has taken away the judgments against you,
he has cast out your enemies.
The King of Israel, the Lord, is in your midst;
you shall fear evil no more.

–Zephaniah 3:14-15

Ladybird Artists Advent Calendar, window 22
Durham Cathedral
Artist: SRBadmin pic.twitter.com/urdZ2Iy18u

— Helen Day (@LBFlyawayhome) December 22, 2025

Lord, open our hearts to your grace.

Through the angel’s message to Mary

 we have learned to believe in the incarnation of Christ your Son:

lead us by his passion and cross

 to the glory of his resurrection.

Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,

 who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,

 one God, for ever and ever.

Gorgeous! The Annuncation by Justus Amman de Ravensburg at Santa Maria de Castello, Genoa, shows a piece on the wall. Mary wears rings with embroidery hooks and the blue/white threads are in the basket behind Gabriel. pic.twitter.com/7fRRM6u6q4

— Dr Nicola Lowe (@church_art_hist) September 18, 2018

And a great portent appeared in heaven, a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars; she was with child and she cried out in her pangs of birth, in anguish for delivery. And another portent appeared in heaven; behold, a great red dragon, with seven heads and ten horns, and seven diadems upon his heads. His tail swept down a third of the stars of heaven, and cast them to the earth. And the dragon stood before the woman who was about to bear a child, that he might devour her child when she brought it forth; she brought forth a male child, one who is to rule all the nations with a rod of iron, but her child was caught up to God and to his throne, and the woman fled into the wilderness, where she has a place prepared by God, in which to be nourished for one thousand two hundred and sixty days.

Now war arose in heaven, Michael and his angels fighting against the dragon; and the dragon and his angels fought, but they were defeated and there was no longer any place for them in heaven. And the great dragon was thrown down, that ancient serpent, who is called the Devil and Satan, the deceiver of the whole world—he was thrown down to the earth, and his angels were thrown down with him. And I heard a loud voice in heaven, saying, “Now the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God and the authority of his Christ have come, for the accuser of our brethren has been thrown down, who accuses them day and night before our God.

–Revelation 12:1-10

Guido Reni, “Saint Michael the Archangel Defeating Satan” (1635) in Santa Maria della Concezione de Cappuccini, Rome. This Capuchin church was designed by A. Cassoni in 1626 and finished in 1631. pic.twitter.com/RIoAAgrVsI

— Mike Bowman (@mobozzen) September 29, 2025

Almighty God, who didst call thy servant Katharina von Bora from a cloister to work for the reform of thy church, grant that all of us may go wherever thou dost call, and serve however thou dost will, for thy honor and glory and for the welfare of thy whole church. All this we ask through Jesus Christ, our only mediator and advocate. Amen.

29 January 1499: b. Katharina Von Bora, 'die Lutherin', became the ex-nun wife of ex-friar Martin Luther. She was, when she married him, a former #Cistercian nun: 'I feel neither passionate love nor burning … but I cherish her', said he. But they made a very good go of it. pic.twitter.com/SL4kUfmAux

— John McCafferty (@jdmccafferty) January 29, 2025

We beseech thee, O Lord, to purify our consciences by thy daily visitation; that when thy Son our Lord cometh, he may find in us a mansion prepared for himself; through the same Jesus Christ our Lord.

Einen schönen Samstag wünsche ich dir liebe Hannelore ❄️ pic.twitter.com/MwwstYhcLd

— Renate Umundum (@RUmundum) December 20, 2025

For thus says the Lord of hosts: “As I purposed to do evil to you, when your fathers provoked me to wrath, and I did not relent, says the Lord of hosts, so again have I purposed in these days to do good to Jerusalem and to the house of Judah; fear not. These are the things that you shall do: Speak the truth to one another, render in your gates judgments that are true and make for peace, do not devise evil in your hearts against one another, and love no false oath, for all these things I hate, says the Lord.”

–Zechariah 8:14-17

Bit of a foggy start to the morning here! pic.twitter.com/JZ30PXBI16

— David Oxtaby (@Disc_light) December 20, 2025

It is not my habit to comment on the contents of sermons in this blog. However, the Dean of St Edmundsbury, The Very Reverend Joe Hawes, used his sermon at St Edmundsbury Cathedral last Sunday to comment on the Living in Love and Faith process[1] and it seemed to me to be important not to let the points he made about this subject go unchallenged.

The Dean makes five points in relation to the LLF process, and I shall consider each of them in turn.

The first point he makes is that he feels able to affirm:

‘… with heartfelt certainty, that although I get it wrong pretty regularly and need to hearken to the Baptist’s cry to repent, who I am in my creation, is essentially what God intended. That I am not an aberration, a mistake on God’s part, but, like all of you, a gift from God, and trying in my life, to be a gift back to God through loving service.’

The question that this statement raises is who the Dean thinks God created him to be. If he means that his creation as a male human being made in the image and likeness of God is willed by God and is ‘very good’ (Genesis 1:31), I don’t think that there is anybody in the Church of England, even those who the Dean calls ‘hard line fundamentalists,’ who would disagree with him.

If, however, what the Dean means is that he was created by God to be a gay man then there would be many who would rightly disagree with him. This because, to quote Sean Doherty (who is himself same-sex attracted):

‘God did not create straight women, straight men, gay women and gay men. God created two sexes, with the capacity to relate to one another sexually.’ [2]

This truth is taught in the creation accounts in Genesis 1 and 2 and, as Paul notes in Romans 1:26-27, it is also taught by nature in the sense that the observation of human biology teaches us that human beings have bodies that are designed to engage into the kind of ‘one flesh’ sexual union with a member of the opposite sex that has the capacity to produce offspring.

In the light of this truth the Pauline teaching that same-sex sexual attraction and the same-sex sexual activity that results from it are a result of the Fall makes perfect sense. If human beings are created to have sex with members of the opposite sex, it follows that desires and actions that are contrary to this must be seen not as a reflection of God’s original creative intention, but as a result of the distortion of the created order consequent upon demonic and human rebellion against God.

Read it all.

I have just published a new blog post, 'Why the cupboard is bare – a response to the reflections of the Dean of St Edmundsbury'https://t.co/fzxq2YZ4wr

— Martin Davie (@MartinBDavie) December 13, 2025

What I saw on Bondi was pure evil. The terror, screams and lifeless bodies. It felt like the Nova Music Festival all over again, except this time it was on the beach I’d grown up on—an Australian sanctuary. I’d moved my family here to escape war and was taking up a new job to help combat antisemitism.

Over the past two years, that scourge has surged unabated. The Jewish community has warned time and again that when hatred is allowed to fester, when it is excused, normalized or mainstreamed, it inevitably leads to violence. The Bondi attack is the deadly manifestation of the failures to heed those calls.

The warning signs were impossible to miss. On Oct. 9, 2023, while Jewish bodies were still being identified in Israel, crowds gathered outside the Sydney Opera House chanting: “Where are the Jews?” Synagogues have since been firebombed, schools have required heightened security, and families have been harassed. Each incident has been met with predictable statements of concern, promises of review and assurances of action. None came. If the horrors of last week are not to be repeated, Bondi must become a turning point.

Australia doesn’t need another inquiry, strategy document or press release expressing sorrow. We need urgent, decisive action. Our laws must be enforced. Incitement must have consequences. Intelligence must be acted on and radical Islamic extremism must be confronted, not managed.

Read it all.

Hanukkah teaches us that light isn’t inevitable. We must defend it. If Australia wishes to remain a country where Jewish life can flourish openly and safely, this moment must change us all, writes @Ostrov_Ahttps://t.co/ESem8brzKS

— Wall Street Journal Opinion (@WSJopinion) December 18, 2025

The Sandford St Martin Trust has welcomed the review by the Culture Secretary, Lisa Nandy, of the BBC’s Royal Charter, but recommended reinstatement of the Corporation’s obligations to represent the UK’s diverse belief communities.

In a statement on Tuesday, the Trust called for “formal opportunities for representatives of faith communities to participate meaningfully in the public consultation as part of the Charter Review”.

It also urged the BBC to commit itself to commissioning and making available “programming and content that reflect the full diversity” of the UK. It cited 2023 Ofcom data, which included the finding of a 42-per-cent decline between 2010 and 2022 in the time devoted to religion and ethics programmes by public-service broadcasting networks.

“This included near-zero provision from Channels 4 or 5, raising concerns about religious literacy, cultural understanding and representation,” the Trust said.

Read it all.

The @sandfordawards has welcomed the review by the Culture Secretary, Lisa Nandy, of the BBC’s Royal Charter, but recommended reinstatement of the Corporation’s obligations to represent the UK’s diverse belief communities#BBC #RoyalCharter #DonaldTrumphttps://t.co/Jl7np1og8c

— Church Times (@ChurchTimes) December 17, 2025

In this final week of Advent, as I’m trying to focus my heart and mind on the glorious celebration of Christ’s birth, I’m finding my thoughts diverted away from the incarnation to issues concerning the recent verdict and order in the trial of Bishop Stewart Ruch. 

I know many of you are in the same place. I get it. 

There are plenty of questions and concerns about the way the trial was handled, what was and was not included, and what was implied in the order. Those of us in diocesan leadership are attending closely and have already been working on how we might respond. 

That said, while the administrative and canonical challenges of our province are significant, we have to remember that they are not “the main thing.”  

As we come to Christmastide, I am urging you—as your bishop—to set these concerns aside for a brief season….

Read it all.

The Bishop of the #Anglican Diocese of #southcarolina–'There are plenty of questions and concerns about the way the trial was handled, what was and was not included, and what was implied in the order. Those of us in diocesan leadership are attending closely and have already been… pic.twitter.com/mKB4EVKT2F

— Kendall Harmon (@KendallHarmon6) December 19, 2025

God, whose everlasting arms support the universe: We offer thanks for moving the heart of Lillian Trasher to heroic hospitality on behalf of orphaned children in great need, and we pray that we also may find our hearts awakened and our compassion stirred to care for thy little ones, through the example of our Savior Jesus Christ and by the energy of thy Holy Spirit, who broodest over the world as a mother over her children; for they live and reign with thee, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

Três meses após sua chegada ao Egito, um bebê, cuja mãe tinha falecido, foi entregue aos cuidados da missionária Lillian Trasher (1887-1961), e assim começou o Orfanato de Asyut fundado pela missionária Lillian Trasher. pic.twitter.com/TbXTdZPHpy

— Daiane Cavalcante (@DaianeF007) March 25, 2024

O Almighty Father, fountain of light and salvation, we adore thine infinite goodness in sending thy only begotten Son into the world that, believing in him, we may not perish but have everlasting life; and we pray thee that, through the grace of his first advent to save the world, we may be made ready to meet him at his second advent to judge the world; through the same thy Son Jesus Christ our Lord.

Ladybird Artists Advent Calendar
Window 19

‘December’ (1955)
Artists: Edith Hilder, Rowland Hilder pic.twitter.com/3WzGIxDeBG

— Helen Day (@LBFlyawayhome) December 19, 2025

And between the throne and the four living creatures and among the elders, I saw a Lamb standing, as though it had been slain, with seven horns and with seven eyes, which are the seven spirits of God sent out into all the earth; and he went and took the scroll from the right hand of him who was seated on the throne. And when he had taken the scroll, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb, each holding a harp, and with golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints; and they sang a new song, saying,

“Worthy art thou to take the scroll and to open its seals,
for thou wast slain and by thy blood didst ransom men for God
from every tribe and tongue and people and nation,
and hast made them a kingdom and priests to our God,
and they shall reign on earth.”

Then I looked, and I heard around the throne and the living creatures and the elders the voice of many angels, numbering myriads of myriads and thousands of thousands, saying with a loud voice, “Worthy is the Lamb who was slain, to receive power and wealth and wisdom and might and honor and glory and blessing!” And I heard every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and in the sea, and all therein, saying, “To him who sits upon the throne and to the Lamb be blessing and honor and glory and might for ever and ever!” And the four living creatures said, “Amen!” and the elders fell down and worshiped.

–Revelation 5:6-14

Glen Orchy, Scottish Highlands pic.twitter.com/rj1jcViNCk

— YorkshireLass (@MaureenPlatts) December 18, 2025