Grant, O Lord, we beseech thee, that we who keep the feast of the holy martyrs Blandina and her companions may be rooted and grounded in love of thee, and may endure the sufferings of this life for the glory that shall be revealed in us; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.

Day 4: St. Blandina #AllSaintsOctober

Little is known about Blandina's background or how she became enslaved, but she likely converted through her owner's influence. When her owner was arrested with other prominent Christians, Blandina was also brought in for questioning. pic.twitter.com/m4z3wRWuHx

— Democracy of the Dead (@Democracyotdead) October 4, 2021

O God, whose blessed Son, our great High Priest, has entered once for all into the holy place, and ever liveth to intercede on our behalf: Grant that we, sanctified by the offering of his body, may draw near with full assurance of faith by the way which he has dedicated for us, and evermore serve thee, the living God; through the same thy Son our Lord Jesus Christ, who liveth and reigneth with thee, O Father, and the Holy Spirit, one God, world without end.

Poppies and Lupins. pic.twitter.com/JkqSILbZuP

— Jim Scott (@jimscottphoto) June 2, 2025

Therefore let us leave the elementary doctrine of Christ and go on to maturity, not laying again a foundation of repentance from dead works and of faith toward God, with instruction about ablutions, the laying on of hands, the resurrection of the dead, and eternal judgment. And this we will do if God permits. For it is impossible to restore again to repentance those who have once been enlightened, who have tasted the heavenly gift, and have become partakers of the Holy Spirit, and have tasted the goodness of the word of God and the powers of the age to come, if they then commit apostasy, since they crucify the Son of God on their own account and hold him up to contempt. For land which has drunk the rain that often falls upon it, and brings forth vegetation useful to those for whose sake it is cultivated, receives a blessing from God. But if it bears thorns and thistles, it is worthless and near to being cursed; its end is to be burned.

Though we speak thus, yet in your case, beloved, we feel sure of better things that belong to salvation. For God is not so unjust as to overlook your work and the love which you showed for his sake in serving the saints, as you still do. And we desire each one of you to show the same earnestness in realizing the full assurance of hope until the end, so that you may not be sluggish, but imitators of those who through faith and patience inherit the promises.

–Hebrews 6:1-12

Aurora Australis dancing over Merimbula Lake in NSW, Australia this evening. pic.twitter.com/q7LBKUTLXy

— Fiona Brook (@The_Feefenator) June 1, 2025

O God, the King of glory, you have exalted your only Son Jesus Christ with great triumph to your kingdom in heaven: Do not leave us comfortless, but send us your Holy Spirit to strengthen us, and exalt us to that place where our Savior Christ has gone before; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, in glory everlasting.  Amen.

‘Bora da’ 😁☀️🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿
‘Good morning’ 😁☀️🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿@sixteenthCgirl @AledHall @hooson21 @ItsYourWales @Ruth_ITV @bootlegger1974 @StormHour @ThePhotoHour @sianharries_ @HCynwal @EleriSion @LouiseTalks @S4Ctywydd @DerekTheWeather @NickyZJohn @hawley_caroline pic.twitter.com/gzNmhAIeVW

— Llelo Gruffudd (@Llelo2801) June 1, 2025

And you he made alive, when you were dead through the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience. Among these we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, following the desires of body and mind, and so we were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind. But God, who is rich in mercy, out of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead through our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up with him, and made us sit with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith; and this is not your own doing, it is the gift of God–not because of works, lest any man should boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.

–Ephesians 2:1-10

A classic #YorkshireDales view for your #SundayVibes 💚

Snapped between showers just outside #Aysgarth in #Wensleydale earlier this week – the sun hasn't completely given up on us! ⛅

📸 Wendy McDonnell#Wensleydale #GetOutdoors #StepIntoNature #NatureTherapy #LoveTheDales pic.twitter.com/xZDCDh7Lsc

— Yorkshire Dales National Park (@yorkshire_dales) June 1, 2025

Father in heaven, by whose grace the virgin mother of thine incarnate Son was blessed in bearing him, but still more blessed in keeping thy word: Grant us who honor the exaltation of her lowliness to follow the example of her devotion to thy will; through the same Jesus Christ our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.

Today's the feast of the Visitation. Mary and her cousin Elizabeth meet in the hill country. Both pregnant, Elizabeth places her hand on Mary's bump. 15th Century glass at East Harling, Norfolk. 1/3 pic.twitter.com/Pq95TjSEhz

— Simon Knott (@SimoninSuffolk) May 31, 2025

Today's the feast of the Visitation. Mary and her cousin Elizabeth meet in the hill country. Both pregnant, Elizabeth places her hand on Mary's bump. 15th Century glass at East Harling, Norfolk. 1/3 pic.twitter.com/Pq95TjSEhz

— Simon Knott (@SimoninSuffolk) May 31, 2025

O Almighty God, who hast created the earth for man, and man for thy glory: Mercifully hear the supplications of thy people, and be mindful of thy covenant; that both the earth may yield her increase, and the good seed of thy Word may bring forth abundantly, to the glory of thy holy name; through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Good day pic.twitter.com/ohAeOn7ZZT

— Aleksandar Mitrovic (@Aleksan52094351) May 31, 2025

And he said to me, “Son of man, go, get you to the house of Israel, and speak with my words to them. For you are not sent to a people of foreign speech and a hard language, but to the house of Israel— not to many peoples of foreign speech and a hard language, whose words you cannot understand. Surely, if I sent you to such, they would listen to you. But the house of Israel will not listen to you; for they are not willing to listen to me; because all the house of Israel are of a hard forehead and of a stubborn heart. Behold, I have made your face hard against their faces, and your forehead hard against their foreheads. Like adamant harder than flint have I made your forehead; fear them not, nor be dismayed at their looks, for they are a rebellious house.” Moreover he said to me, “Son of man, all my words that I shall speak to you receive in your heart, and hear with your ears. And go, get you to the exiles, to your people, and say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord God’; whether they hear or refuse to hear.”

Ezekiel 3:4-11

The wonderful Ely Cathedral 🌿🧡🌿
Ely, Cambridgeshire #May #Sunset #Lovely #ShipoftheFens pic.twitter.com/O9jGFbg2D7

— Veronica in the Fens 🧚🏼‍♀️ My Heart in Nature (@VeronicaJoPo) May 31, 2025

From here:

No other word in all our vocabulary is more expressive of the message of Christ than the word “resurrection.” At Calvary the little band of disciples watched their Lord Jesus die, and they saw His broken body taken from the cross. Earlier, one of them had betrayed Him for 30 pieces of silver. Another had cursed and had sworn that he never knew Him. Most of them, turning and running for their lives, had forsaken Him. When Jesus’ body was placed in the tomb and the stone was rolled against it, it seemed that this was the end of all their hopes.

Then came Easter morning, and the midnight of despair was turned into glorious dawning. It was the resurrection of all their hopes.

But Calvary does not tell the whole story. Jesus died for all our sins, but the Bible says that Jesus “was raised again for our justification.”(9)

Several years ago I talked with Chancellor Adenauer, of Germany, and he asked me, “Do you believe that Jesus Christ is alive?”

I replied, “Yes, I do.”

He said, “So do I. If Jesus Christ is not alive, then I see no hope for the world. It is the fact of the resurrection that gives me hope for the future.” As he spoke those words, his eyes lighted up.

Indeed, the resurrection of Christ is the only hope of the world: “If Christ be not risen, then our hopes and dreams and faith are in vain.”(10) “The resurrection of Christ is the only hope of the world.”

But Christ is alive. And because He is alive, that makes all the difference in the world. In His resurrection evil has been defeated, Satan has been defeated, death has lost its sting, love has conquered hate, God has accepted the atoning work of Christ on the cross, and all of creation bursts forth in a new song. Because Christ is alive, we can face death with confidence.

Resurrection of Christ (c. 1700), by Noël Coypel pic.twitter.com/N5zAGOP8rs

— Classical Art (@SeekAfterBeauty) April 20, 2025

Christ himself pointed out the benefit of his sufferings and resurrection when he said to the women in Mt 28, 10 – “Fear not: go tell my brethren that they depart into Galilee, and there shall they see me.” These are the very first words they heard from Christ after his resurrection from the dead, by which he confirmed all the former utterances and loving deeds he showed them, namely, that his resurrection avails in our behalf who believe, so that he therefore anticipates and calls Christians his brethren, who believe it, and yet they do not, like the apostles, witness his resurrection.

The risen Christ waits not until we ask or call on him to become his brethren. Do we here speak of merit, by which we deserve anything? What did the apostles merit? Peter denied his Lord three times; the other disciples all fled from him; they tarried with him like a rabbit does with its young. He should have called them deserters, yea, betrayers, reprobates, anything but brethren. Therefore this word is sent to them through the women out of pure grace and mercy, as the apostles at the time keenly experienced, and we experience also, when we are mired fast in our sins, temptations and condemnation.

These are words full of all comfort that Christ receives desperate villains as you and I are and calls us his brethren. Is Christ really our brother, then I would like to know what we can be in need of? Just as it is among natural brothers, so is it also here. Brothers according to the flesh enjoy the same possessions, have the same father, the one inheritance, otherwise they would not be brothers: so we enjoy with Christ the same possessions, and have in common with him one Father and one inheritance, which never decreases by being distributed, as other inheritances do; but it ever grows larger and larger; for it is a spiritual inheritance. But an earthly inheritance decreases when distributed among many persons. He who has a part of this spiritual inheritance, has it all.

Read it all.

Resurrection day #EasterSunday
BL Add MS 19352; Theodore Psalter; 1066 CE; Eastern Mediterranean (Constantinople); f.146 @BLMedieval pic.twitter.com/5PUDFv3Ols

— Ennius (@red_loeb) April 20, 2025

As I am in the US for the first time in many years, I find myself longing for the simplicity of Maua, Kenya, during Easter time. There Easter has none of the commercial trappings we find here. As I enter grocery stores, discount stores, and department stores I am shocked at the amount of space taken by the Easter candy, bunnies and stuffed animals, baskets, decorations, and new spring clothing. These items take more space than any grocery store has for all their goods in Maua.

I recently read that an estimated $2 billion will be spent on Easter candy this year in the US. Two billion dollars to celebrate the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, who asked us to feed the hungry, clothe the naked, give water to the thirsty, house the homeless, care for the sick and imprisoned, and welcome the stranger.

Read it all.

"And it happened that, while [Jesus] was with [the two disciples] at table, he took bread, said the blessing, broke it, and gave it to them. With that their eyes were opened and they recognized him, but he vanished from their sight." (Lk 24:30-31)

Supper at Emmaus by Rembrandt. pic.twitter.com/6wCmbcu64r

— Christian Culture (@Christian8Pics) April 24, 2019

Listen to it all.

“He has cheated hell
And seated us above the fall
In desperate places he paid our wages
One time, once and for all.”

The power of detail
Caravaggio – The Supper at Emmaus – 1601 pic.twitter.com/v7fViqaYTx

— Rembrandt's R👀m 🖌 (maaikedirkx) (@RembrandtsRoom) April 13, 2023

Holy God, whose power is made perfect in weakness: we honor thy calling of Jeanne d’Arc, who, though young, rose up in valor to bear thy standard for her country, and endured with grace and fortitude both victory and defeat; and we pray that we, like Jeanne, may bear witness to the truth that is in us to friends and enemies alike, and, encouraged by the companionship of thy saints, give ourselves bravely to the struggle for justice in our time; through Christ our Savior, who with thee and the Holy Spirit livest and reignest, one God, now and for ever. Amen.

May 30th is also the feast of St Joan of Arc in some places. This Joan of Arc Monument is in the French Quarter in New Orleans, a gilded bronze equestrian statue. This statue was one of ten copies created from the original statue that remains in Paris, France. The Joan of Arc… pic.twitter.com/TDEFcCUHdS

— Fr Lawrence Lew, O.P. (@LawrenceOP) May 30, 2025

Send out Thy light and Thy truth, that I may live near to Thee, my God.  Let me feel Thy love, that I may be – as it were – already in heaven, that I may do all my work as the angels do theirs; and let me be ready for every work, be ready to go out or go in, to stay or depart, just as Thou shalt appoint.  Lord, let me have no will of my own, or consider my true happiness as depending in the smallest degree on anything that can befall me outwardly, but as consisting altogether in conformity to Thy will.

 Since then we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. For we have not a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin. Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.

–Hebrews 4:14-16

fallen#forest pic.twitter.com/GYl8gC7sPx

— Portmann Carrick (@PortmannCarrick) May 30, 2025

The readers may learn out of our Institutions what profit we reap by the ascension of Christ. Notwithstanding, because it is one of the chiefest points of our faith, therefore doth Luke endeavor more diligently to prove the same; yea, rather, the Lord himself meant to put the same out of all doubt, when as he hath ascended so manifestly, and hath confirmed the certainty of the same by other circumstances. For, if so be it he had vanished away secretly, then might the disciples have doubted what was become of him; but now, sith that they, being in so plain a place, saw him taken up with whom they had been conversant, whom also they heard speak even now, whom they beheld with their eyes, whom also they see taken out of their sight by a cloud, there is no cause why they should doubt whither he was gone. Furthermore, the angels are there also to bear witness of the same. And it was needful that the history should have been set down so diligently for our cause, that we may know assuredly, that although the Son of God appear nowhere upon earth, yet doth he live in the heavens. And this seemeth to be the reason why the cloud did overshadow him, before such time as he did enter into his celestial glory; that his disciples being content with their measure might cease to inquire any further. And we are taught by them that our mind is not able to ascend so high as to take a full view of the glory of Christ; therefore, let this cloud be a mean to restrain our boldness, as was the smoke which was continually before the door of the tabernacle in the time of the law.

–Commentary on Acts

Today we celebrate the Ascension of Jesus Christ into Heaven.

(‘The Ascension of Christ’ by Rembrandt, 1636) pic.twitter.com/cQYmkrPMD6

— Amy Balog ن (@AmyEBalog) May 18, 2023

O Lord Jesus Christ, who after thy resurrection didst manifestly appear to thine apostles, and in their sight didst ascend into heaven to prepare a place for us: Grant that, being risen with thee, we may lift up our hearts continually to seek thee where thou art, and never cease to serve thee faithfully here on earth; until at last, when thou comest again, thou shalt receive us unto thyself; who livest and reignest with the Father and the Holy Spirit, one God, world without end.

–Frederick B. Macnutt

It's Ascension Day, commemorating the Christian belief of the bodily ascension of Jesus into heaven. Our MS Dd.4.17, a 14th-century Book of Hours probably made in the East Midlands, has a great image of Jesus' feet about to disappear into a cloud. #ascensionday pic.twitter.com/hTwXD0gQqZ

— Cambridge UL Special Collections (@theULSpecColl) May 29, 2025

The remedy for unprofitable spiritual stargazing lies in a Christian theology of history, an understanding of the order of events in the divine programme. First, Jesus returned to heaven (Ascension). Secondly, the Holy Spirit came (Pentecost). Thirdly, the church goes out to witness (Mission). Fourthly, Jesus will come back (Parousia). Whenever we forget one of these events, or put them in the wrong sequence, confusion reigns. We need especially to remember that between the ascension and the Parousia, the disappearance and the reappearance of Jesus, there stretches a period of unknown length which is to be filled with the church’s world-wide, Spirit-empowered witness to him. We need to hear the implied message of the angels: ‘You have seen him go. You will see him come. But between that going and coming there must be another. The Spirit must come, and you must go—into the world for Christ.’

–John R W Stott, The Message of Acts:To the ends of the earth (Downers Grove, Il.: InterVarsity Academic, 1990), p.2

'While he was blessing them, he withdrew from them and was carried up into heaven. And they worshiped him and returned to Jerusalem with great joy, and they were continually in the temple blessing God'
Luke 24: 51-53#AscensionDay pic.twitter.com/sjWDMebqKS

— Westminster Abbey (@wabbey) May 29, 2025

Ascension theology turns at this point to the Eucharist, for in celebrating the eucharist the church professes to know how the divine presents itself in our time, and how the question of faithfulness is posed. Eucharistically, the church acknowledges that Jesus has heard and has answered the upward call; that, like Moses, he has ascended into that impenetrable cloud overhanging the mountain. Down below, rumours of glory emanate from the elders, but the master himself is nowhere to be seen. He is no longer with his people in the same way he used to be. Yet he is with them, in the Spirit.

–Douglas Farrow, Ascension Theology (New York: T and T Clark, 2011), p. 64

The Ascension, Ford Maddox Brown, c. 1844 pic.twitter.com/jTHHHU0dKR

— Solas (@solas_na_greine) October 27, 2024

The angels speak to the disciples, explaining their joy at Christ’s return and what it means for heaven and earth. But then the poem turns from narrative to reflection, following, in its most famous section, Gregory the Great’s exposition in a homily on the Ascension of the ‘leaps of Christ’:

Hence it is that Solomon has put into the mouth of the Church the words: Behold, He cometh! leaping upon the mountains, skipping upon the hills.

These hills are his lofty and noble achievements. “Behold, He cometh leaping upon the mountains.”

When He came to redeem us, He came, if I may so say, in leaps. My dearly beloved brethren, would you know what His leaps were?

From heaven he leapt into the womb of the Virgin, from the womb into the manger, from the manger on to the Cross, from the Cross into the grave, and from the grave up to heaven.

Lo, how the Truth made manifest in the Flesh did leap for our sakes, that He might draw us to run after Him for this end did He rejoice, as a strong man to run a race.

Therefore, dearly beloved brethren, it behoves us in heart and mind thither to ascend, where we believe Him to have already ascended bodily.

Christ is presented as a wheeling bird, moving with ease between the heavens and the earth:

Swa se fæla fugel flyges cunnode;
hwilum engla eard up gesohte,
modig meahtum strang, þone maran ham,
hwilum he to eorþan eft gestylde,
þurh gæstes giefe grundsceat sohte,
wende to worulde. Bi þon se witga song:
“He wæs upp hafen engla fæðmum
in his þa miclan meahta spede,
heah ond halig, ofer heofona þrym.”

So the beautiful bird ventured into flight.
Now he sought the home of the angels,
that glorious country, bold and strong in might;
now he swung back to earth again,
sought the ground by grace of the Spirit,
returned to the world. Of this the prophet sang:
“He was lifted up in the arms of angels
in the great abundance of his powers,
high and holy, above the glory of the heavens.”

Read it all.

'So the beautiful bird ventured into flight.
Now he sought the home of the angels above,
that glorious country, bold and strong in power.'

For Ascension Day, a wonderful Anglo-Saxon poem about Christ's 'leap' into heaven: https://t.co/MfwI6d6GOC pic.twitter.com/yVtFrGbIdc

— Eleanor Parker (@ClerkofOxford) May 29, 2025

lmighty God, whose only-begotten Son our Lord Jesus Christ ascended into heaven: May our hearts and minds also there ascend, and with him continually dwell; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

Today is Ascension Day, the 40th day of Easter, marking Christ's Ascension into Heaven. In 15th Century glass at East Harling, Norfolk, Mary and the disciples gather to watch his nail-scarred feet disappear into the sky, leaving his footprints on the mountain top. pic.twitter.com/3PqbZ8aJTe

— Simon Knott (@SimoninSuffolk) May 29, 2025

Lord, our Lord,
how majestic is thy name in all the earth!

Thou whose glory above the heavens is chanted
by the mouth of babes and infants,
thou hast founded a bulwark because of thy foes,
to still the enemy and the avenger.

When I look at thy heavens, the work of thy fingers,
the moon and the stars which thou hast established;
what is man that thou art mindful of him,
and the son of man that thou dost care for him?

–Psalm 8:1-4

NGC 6559 is a very beautiful star-bearing region located about 5,000 light years distant in Sagittarius. Colourful and displaying a rich tapestry of diverse nebulosity, the region is sadly overlooked in favour of the more imaged Lagoon and Trifid Nebulae. 📷 Adam Block #NGC6559 pic.twitter.com/nheTQSwtk3

— Lee-Anne Gibbon (@LeeAnneGibbon1) May 25, 2025

….the bridegroom rejoices to revisit the heart’s chamber when He finds it adorned with fruits and decked with flowers””that is, meditating on the mystery of His Passion or on the glory of His Resurrection.

The tokens of the Passion we recognize as the fruitage of the ages of the past, appearing in the fullness of time during the reign of sin and death (Gal. 4.4). But it is the glory of the Resurrection, in the new springtime of regenerating grace, that the fresh flowers of the later age come forth, whose fruit shall be given without measure at the general resurrection, when time shall be no more. And so it is written, ‘The winter is past, the rain is over and gone, the flowers appear on the earth’ (Cant. 2.11 f); signifying that summer has come back with Him who dissolves icy death into the spring of a new life and says, ‘Behold, I make all things new’ (Rev. 21.5). His Body sown in the grave has blossomed in the Resurrection (I Cor. 15.42); and in like manner our valleys and fields which were barren or frozen, as if dead, glow with reviving life and warmth.

The Father of Christ who makes all things new, is well pleased with the freshness of those flowers and fruits, and the beauty of the field which breathes forth such heavenly fragrance; and He says in benediction, ‘See, the smell of My Son is as the smell of a field which the Lord hath blessed’ (Gen. 27.27). Blessed to overflowing, indeed, since of His fullness have all we received (John 1.16). But the Bride may come when she pleases and gather flowers and fruits therewith to adorn the inmost recesses of her conscience; that the Bridegroom when He cometh may find the chamber of her heart redolent with perfume.

So it behoves us, if we would have Christ for a frequent guest, to fill our hearts with faithful meditations on the mercy He showed in dying for us, and on His mighty power in rising again from the dead. To this David testified when he sang, ”˜God spake once, and twice I have also heard the same; that power belongeth unto God; and that Thou, Lord, art merciful (Ps. 62.11f). And surely there is proof enough and to spare in that Christ died for our sins and rose again for our justification, and ascended into heaven that He might protect us from on high, and sent the Holy Spirit for our comfort. Hereafter He will come again for the consummation of our bliss. In His Death He displayed His mercy, in His Resurrection His power; both combine to manifest His glory.

–Bernard of Clairvaux (1090-1153), On Loving God, Chapter III

"Tell us, Mary: say what thou didst see upon the way.
The tomb the Living did enclose;
I saw Christ's glory as he rose!" (from the Easter Sequence)#EasterAtHome
BL Add 49598; Benedictional of Æthelwold; 963-984; England, S; ff.51v, 52v @BLMedieval pic.twitter.com/c8JJU8LvQG

— Ennius (@red_loeb) April 12, 2020

From here: Lord, who createdst man in wealth and store,
Though foolishly he lost the same,
Decaying more and more,
Till he became
Most poore:
With thee
O let me rise
As larks, harmoniously,
And sing this day thy victories:
Then shall the fall further the flight in me.

My tender age in sorrow did beginne
And still with sicknesses and shame.
Thou didst so punish sinne,
That I became
Most thinne.
With thee
Let me combine,
And feel thy victorie:
For, if I imp my wing on thine,
Affliction shall advance the flight in me.

Benvenuto Tisi (Garofalo), The Resurrection of Christ, c.1520 pic.twitter.com/p55TaMgKOH

— Solas (@solas_na_greine) November 18, 2024

The elders of the Hastings church — about 40 miles north of the Kansas state line — posted ads to fill the position.

They contacted preaching schools in Colorado and Texas.

They reached out to Christian universities.

Few candidates applied. Even fewer had ties to Churches of Christ.

“Before Russ came … I’m guessing we had at least 30 applicants,” elder Everett Hinton said. “Times have changed so much now.”

And it’s not a matter of money.

“We’re very well situated financially,” Hinton added. “The reason we don’t have a full-time preacher is because we can’t find one, not because we can’t afford one.”

The congregation has relied on York University — located about 60 miles away and associated with Churches of Christ — to supply speakers on Sunday.

Garrett Best, chair of York’s Bible and Ministry department, is one of several faculty on rotation to make the two-hour round trip.

“Their church is really the archetype of Midwestern churches,” said Best, minister for the Lifewalk Church of Christ in York. “They had 125 people 15 years ago, and they have just declined since.”

Read it all.

A small Nebraska lost its minister nearly two years ago and — despite solid finances — has been unable to fill the position. Meanwhile, a university 60 miles away has supplied Sunday speakers. https://t.co/fAnU9sEIrk via @christianchron @Travelers_Lane

— Religion Unplugged (@ReligionMag) May 23, 2025

Let the first rule of right prayer then be, to have our heart and mind framed as becomes those who are entering into converse with God. This we shall accomplish in regard to the mind, if, laying aside carnal thoughts and cares which might interfere with the direct and pure contemplation of God, it not only be wholly intent on prayer, but also, as far as possible, be borne and raised above itself. I do not here insist on a mind so disengaged as to feel none of the gnawings of anxiety; on the contrary, it is by much anxiety that the fervor of prayer is inflamed. Thus we see that the holy servants of God betray great anguish, not to say solicitude, when they cause the voice of complaint to ascend to the Lord from the deep abyss and the jaws of death. What I say is, that all foreign and extraneous cares must be dispelled by which the mind might be driven to and fro in vague suspense, be drawn down from heaven, and kept groveling on the earth. When I say it must be raised above itself, I mean that it must not bring into the presence of God any of those things which our blind and stupid reason is wont to devise, nor keep itself confined within the little measure of its own vanity, but rise to a purity worthy of God.

–Institutes 3.20

#OTD 1564
Death at Geneva of John Calvin, reformer and theologian. pic.twitter.com/Msi5Y8Zajv

— David Hacker, Sufficientist (@dhacker29) May 27, 2025

Sovereign and holy God, who didst bring John Calvin from a study of legal systems to understand the godliness of thy divine laws as revealed in Scripture: Fill us with a like zeal to teach and preach thy Word, that the whole world may come to know thy Son Jesus Christ, the true Word and Wisdom; who with thee and the Holy Spirit livest and reignest, ever one God, in glory everlasting. Amen.

“The music must not turn the church into an audience enjoying the music but into a congregation singing the Lord's praises in His presence.”

-John Calvin pic.twitter.com/tOppgwmXF5

— Reformed1563 (@Heidel_bro1563) May 19, 2025

God the Father bless me, Christ guard me, the Holy Spirit enlighten me, all the days of my life!  The Lord be the defender and guardian of my soul and my body, now and ever, and world without end!  Amen.  The right hand of the Lord preserve me always to old age!  The grace of Christ perpetually defend me from the enemy!  Direct, Lord, my heart into the way of peace.  Lord God, haste Thee to deliver me, make haste to help me, O Lord.

–Frederick B. Macnutt, The prayer manual for private devotions or public use on divers occasions: Compiled from all sources ancient, medieval, and modern (A.R. Mowbray, 1951)

Flying in for Wednesday 😁 pic.twitter.com/QI4fJ81okd

— Veronica in the Fens 🧚🏼‍♀️ My Heart in Nature (@VeronicaJoPo) May 28, 2025

Is any one among you suffering? Let him pray. Is any cheerful? Let him sing praise. Is any among you sick? Let him call for the elders of the church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord; and the prayer of faith will save the sick man, and the Lord will raise him up; and if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven. Therefore confess your sins to one another, and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous man has great power in its effects. Eli”²jah was a man of like nature with ourselves and he prayed fervently that it might not rain, and for three years and six months it did not rain on the earth. Then he prayed again and the heaven gave rain, and the earth brought forth its fruit.

–James 5:13-18

The North York Moors 💜 pic.twitter.com/pjT8ULR8dM

— Visit North Yorkshire (@visitnorthyork) May 28, 2025