And as Jesus taught in the temple, he said, “How can the scribes say that the Christ is the son of David? David himself, inspired by the Holy Spirit, declared,

‘The Lord said to my Lord,
Sit at my right hand,
till I put thy enemies under thy feet.’

David himself calls him Lord; so how is he his son?” And the great throng heard him gladly.

And in his teaching he said, “Beware of the scribes, who like to go about in long robes, and to have salutations in the market places and the best seats in the synagogues and the places of honor at feasts, who devour widows’ houses and for a pretense make long prayers. They will receive the greater condemnation.”

–Mark 12:35-40

First light…#WeekendVibes #winter #weather #StormHour #sunrise #grandrising #seatherapy #bluemind #GoodVibesOnly #jefinuist #Scotland #OuterHebrides pic.twitter.com/3PjdWexCto

— DaliMach (@frenchscotjeff) February 22, 2025

Paul’s understanding of sin as a community problem demands that, in the words of Esau McCaulley, we go “beyond naming.” McCaulley adds, “There has to be some vision of the righting of wrongs and the restoration of relationships. The call to be peacemakers is the call for the church to enter the messy world of politics and point toward a better way of being human.”

For this reason, Paul warns that we as individuals can become weapons of injustice, so even those individuals who are not actively participating in a particular sin can be guilty of passivity toward it. Notice Paul’s words in Romans 6: He does not say to simply refrain from sin but says that we must not allow sin to reign in our bodies or allow any part of ourselves to be controlled by sin (vv. 12–13). This implies a need for active resistance to sin, not just avoidance of it. For instance, Paul directly calls out Peter, who had been an early advocate of Gentile inclusion, for remaining silent on this issue (Gal. 2:11–14). Paul’s command for churches to be holy is not just a call not to sin but a call to oppose sin in their midst. To be passive to sins in our communities is to be used by the Enemy for injustice.

Another example is when Paul admonishes a man who slept with his stepmother. Paul calls out the Corinthian church and not just the individuals involved (1 Cor. 5:1­–2), making it the responsibility of the entire congregation to deal with the sinner in their midst.

In Galatians 6, Paul advises the church to gently restore fellow members in sin by leading them to repentance while cautioning them against being tempted in the process. He makes a profound statement: “Carry each other’s burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ” (v. 2). Likewise, in Romans 14 Paul argues that reconciliation requires certain rights and freedoms be laid down by all for the sake of some weaker brothers and sisters.

Read it all.

Scripture is full of examples of communities and institutions being held accountable for their sinfulness.

D. T. Everhart on systemic sin in the Bible:https://t.co/NkvfX6GqCf

— Christianity Today (@CTmagazine) February 21, 2025

“We want to show people what can be done in a small place,” said Priest-in-Charge, the Rev Kay Jones. “So, we started with the church environment being different.”

Inside the building, a legacy provided for LED lighting and thermal boards, helping the church lower its carbon emissions, as well as providing a warm space for the community. “It’s not freezing anymore,” said Kay. “We can have warm-space activities. People like being here.”

And people are connecting with it. An open day to launch the potting shed brought 17 adults and 27 children together. “It was hard to get rid of them at the end,” Kay joked. “It is changing things for small numbers of people,” she added.

“What I’m seeing is people wanting to be part of what we do,” she said. “People are trying different foods grown in the garden, learning how – and what – to recycle in the church’s recycling bins, and crucially, learning where food comes from, helping to reduce their food bills.”

Read it all.

"We want to show people what can be done in a small place."

A church in one of the country’s most deprived areas is bringing people together and helping them with their wellbeing – thanks to the launch of a series of environmental projects.

Read more at https://t.co/Joa7q8MizC.

— The Church of England (@churchofengland) February 21, 2025

It’s been a grim election season in Germany. Spanning the harsh winter months, the campaign — set off by the collapse of the government in December — has played out against a backdrop of short days, low temperatures and dark moods. The poor level of political debate has done little to lift the country’s spirits.

For a brief spell, taxes, jobs and government spending — the meat and drink of electoral contest — got most of the attention. But in late January an Afghan attacked a kindergarten group in a Bavarian town, killing a toddler and a bystander. The incident set off a political storm that eclipsed everything else.

Politicians jumped right in. Friedrich Merz, leader of the conservative Christian Democrats, introduced to Parliament a nonbinding proposal for stricter border controls and a crackdown on illegal immigration. To pass the motion, he relied on the support of the far-right Alternative for Germany. There was uproar. The center-left Social Democrats and the Greens cried foul, casting themselves as bastions against the rise of extremism.

The debate simmered away through February. That was until last Friday, when Vice President JD Vance made an incendiary speech at the Munich Security Conference, lambasting European governments for lax migration policies and their supposed censorship of the far right. Germany was shocked, plunged into deep anxiety about its relationship with an increasingly hostile America.

Read it all.

Germany Is in Big Trouble, and Nobody Knows What to Do About It
https://t.co/3ThTI1Ip2g

— Mary Lee Johnson (@mljtpa) February 21, 2025

God of all wisdom, we offer thanks for John Henry Newman, whose eloquence bore witness that thy Church is one, holy, catholic and apostolic, and who didst make of his own life a pilgrimage towards thy truth. Grant that, inspired by his words and example, we may ever follow thy kindly light till we rest in thy bosom, with your dear Son Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit, where heart speaks to heart eternally; for thou livest and reignest, one God, now and for ever. Amen.

#OTD 21 February 1801: birth of John Henry Newman, later canonised. https://t.co/VlG9p1ZoXv pic.twitter.com/HGvTiHyncY

— Caroline Murray (@Prof_hedgehog) February 21, 2025

Almighty God, whose sovereign purpose none can make void: Give us faith to stand calm and undismayed amid the tumults of the world, knowing that thy kingdom shall come and thy will be done; to the eternal glory of thy name, through Jesus Christ our Lord.

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

But thou, O Lord, art enthroned for ever;
    thy name endures to all generations.
Thou wilt arise and have pity on Zion;
    it is the time to favor her;
    the appointed time has come.
For thy servants hold her stones dear,
    and have pity on her dust.
The nations will fear the name of the Lord,
    and all the kings of the earth thy glory.
For the Lord will build up Zion,
    he will appear in his glory;
he will regard the prayer of the destitute,
    and will not despise their supplication.

–Psalm 102:12-17

Guten Morgen mit einer kleinen Winterimpression, heute aus Quedlinburg.#Deutschland pic.twitter.com/rGNAKOFcle

— Thomas Stiegler (@StieglerThomas) February 21, 2025

Holy Week can sit strangely in the church year. It is the most solemn and significant of times in the church calendar, and yet, to all intents and purposes, ordinary life carries on undisturbed by it. Unlike Christmas, which bursts upon the scene in a riot of tinsel and fairy lights, demanding attention and pulling people in from the streets to enjoy carolling and mince pies, for most of the population, Holy Week passes unnoticed. Only the promise of hot cross buns and free childcare when schools are closed or a few eccentrics walking mournfully round the community on Good Friday may have any impact at all.

How, then, to engage with the non-churchgoing public? How to share the message of sacrificial love — an unpopular theme in today’s “Because I’m worth it”, “Go on, treat yourself” society? Perhaps by using the week to experiment and challenge, to offer services and events that are different from the norm, and to think carefully about all sectors of the community and explore ways in which they might become engaged, even briefly, with the drama of Holy Week and the life-changing effect of its events.

Your community might well be happily settled into a regular rhythm of services. It is to be hoped that the schedule is one that all can manage — ministry team, musicians, volunteers working within their capacity and capability, able to maintain the level of effort and energy required without collapsing with burnout. Nevertheless, we all know the dangers of complacency, of falling into a routine that becomes almost mindless in its familiarity. Holy Week offers an opportunity to try out new things in a way that is manageable (because it is only one week), understandable (it’s a special week), and unrepeatable, if necessary. If something completely new is too challenging or demanding, try and ring the changes with the established patterns, enabling your community to look with fresh eyes on familiar events.

Read it all.

How to engage with the non-churchgoing public

Sally Welch continues her series exploring practical ideas for Lent and Easterhttps://t.co/hUxKr4235W

— Church Times (@ChurchTimes) February 18, 2025

Friedrich Merz, the man favored to be Germany’s next chancellor after elections on Sunday, is a conservative businessman who has never been a government minister and was forced out of party leadership years ago for challenging Angela Merkel.

As a Christian Democrat and committed trans-Atlanticist, he has been considered a potentially better match for President Trump than the current Social Democratic chancellor, Olaf Scholz. He is also expected to lead a foreign policy more aligned with Mr. Trump’s ideas about Europe’s taking responsibility for its own defense.

But recent comments by Mr. Trump and Vice President JD Vance have displayed just how difficult any partnership may be with a United States that is less reliable and possibly hostile, and sympathetic to Russia’s narrative on Ukraine and spheres of influence.

That challenge is especially profound for Germany, and after Sunday is likely to fall on Mr. Merz, 69, who is known to be assertive and direct, if a bit awkward.

Read it all.

"Next Likely Chancellor Promises a Tougher Germany" by Steven Erlanger via NYT New York Times https://t.co/k70kWvVQ7b

— LadyEleanorA (@LadyEleanorA) February 20, 2025

The former site of a 24 Hour Fitness gym soon will become a spiritual home for hundreds of Anglican Christians in southwest Fort Worth.

Members of Christ the Redeemer Anglican Church gathered on Feb. 2 for a ceremonial groundbreaking for the congregation’s new place of worship at 5001 Overton Ridge Blvd.

With hard hats, plastic shovels for kids and a disco ball, the ceremony marked the culmination of a 17-year search for a permanent location for the church plant to call home, said the Very Rev. Chris Culpepper, rector of Christ the Redeemer Anglican Church and canon for church planting for the Anglican Diocese of Fort Worth.

“I just told everybody, ‘Bring a shovel because we’re all in this together,’” Culpepper said.

Tony Rutigliano was one of over 200 people who attended the groundbreaking ceremony. He grew up nondenominational and Baptist while his wife grew up in the Western rite Orthodox faith. When searching for a place for the family to worship together, Christ the Redeemer Anglican Church offered a “happy medium,” Rutigliano said.

Read it all.

Melissa Greene, reporter for the Ft. Worth Report, wrote an article about Christ the Redeemer Anglican Church finding a new permanent home. Read it here: https://t.co/OtWbug9eRQ

— ACNA (@The_ACNA) February 19, 2025

The past week has been the bleakest in Europe since the fall of the Iron Curtain. Ukraine is being sold out, Russia is being rehabilitated and, under Donald Trump, America can no longer be counted on to come to Europe’s aid in wartime. The implications for Europe’s security are grave, but they have yet to sink in to the continent’s leaders and people. The old world needs a crash course on how to wield hard power in a lawless era, or it will fall victim to the new world disorder.

Speaking in Munich last week, America’s vice-president, J.D. Vance, offered a taste of how the home of fine wines, classical architecture and welfare cheques faces humiliation, when he ridiculed Europe as decadent and undemocratic. Its leaders have been excluded from peace talks between the White House and the Kremlin, which began officially in Riyadh on February 18th. However, the unfolding crisis goes far beyond insults and diplomatic niceties.

Mr Trump appears ready to walk away from Ukraine which he falsely blames for the war. Calling its president, Volodymyr Zelensky, a “dictator”, Mr Trump warned him that he had “better move fast or he is not going to have a country left”. America may try to impose an unstable ceasefire on Ukraine with only weak security guarantees that limit its right to re-arm.

Read it all.

Europe’s worst nightmare, and what to do about it. Our cover this week @TheEconomist https://t.co/JVwHunz4Cr pic.twitter.com/SCJc0rjs4R

— Sophie Pedder (@PedderSophie) February 20, 2025

Almighty God, we bless thy Name for the witness of Frederick Douglass, whose impassioned and reasonable speech moved the hearts of people to a deeper obedience to Christ: Strengthen us also to speak on behalf of those in captivity and tribulation, continuing in the Word of Jesus Christ our Liberator; who with thee and the Holy Spirit dwelleth in glory everlasting. Amen.

20 Feb 1895: Abolitionist and former slave Frederick Douglass dies in Washington, D.C. He wrote several books including "Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave" in 1845. #History #HistoryMatters #OTD #ad https://t.co/bFA6EuTgeg

Help support us. Click on… pic.twitter.com/KVkBqR0W5w

— Today In History (@URDailyHistory) February 20, 2025

Almighty and eternal God, who in thy Son Jesus Christ hast revealed thy nature as Love: We humbly pray thee to shed thy love abroad in our hearts by thy Holy Spirit; that so by thy grace we may evermore abide in thee, and thou in us, with all joyfulness, and free from fear or mistrust; through the same Jesus Christ our Lord.

Good morning!👋😊🌞
Happy Thursday!#sunrise #WINTER #sea #nature #NaturePhotography #NatureBeauty #naturelovers #NatureTherapy #photography pic.twitter.com/VJpPzYqOJq

— Kersti Sandström (@KerstiSandstrom) February 20, 2025

I was ready to be sought by those who did not ask for me;
    I was ready to be found by those who did not seek me.
I said, “Here am I, here am I,”
    to a nation that did not call on my name.
I spread out my hands all the day
    to a rebellious people,
who walk in a way that is not good,
    following their own devices;
a people who provoke me
    to my face continually,
sacrificing in gardens
    and burning incense upon bricks;
who sit in tombs,
    and spend the night in secret places;
who eat swine’s flesh,
    and broth of abominable things is in their vessels;
 who say, “Keep to yourself,
    do not come near me, for I am set apart from you.”

–Isaiah 65:1-5a

Happy Thursday all and hope your weekend has been better than mine! pic.twitter.com/zRrqtD0jqU

— David Oxtaby (@Disc_light) February 20, 2025

The person nominated to be the next Bishop of Durham has withdrawn from the process, it was announced on Monday. It has not been publicly revealed who the nominee was, or why they declined to take up the appointment.

A statement released by Church House on Monday afternoon said that the Crown Nominations Commission (CNC) for Durham had nominated a candidate, after interviews in November last year, but that this person had now “decided to withdraw from the nomination”.

The Durham CNC had agreed to reconvene “later in the year to continue the process of discernment”, the statement said, with a timetable to be issued in due course. A reserve candidate had not been chosen, which means that the process is likely to have to restart from an early stage.

The Suffragan Bishop of Jarrow, the Rt Revd Sarah Clark, will continue in her position as Acting Bishop of Durham, which she has held since the retirement of the Rt Revd Paul Butler last year 

Read it all.

The person nominated to be the next Bishop of Durham has withdrawn from the process, it was announced on Monday. It has not been publicly revealed who the nominee was, or why they declined to take up the appointment.https://t.co/UbR4Gp3jyo

— Church Times (@ChurchTimes) February 20, 2025

The “relevance to the 2020s” of Kindleberger’s [1973] book is greater and gloomier. We have two competing superpowers, the US and China. Both fancy themselves as hegemons; neither is willing to accept the responsibilities of the role. The US vows vengeance on anybody who threatens the primacy of the dollar even as its own actions put that primacy in doubt. China rails against its lack of status in the current economic system, even as it plays a prime role in destabilising it.

With luck, there will be no crisis on a scale that needs leadership and global co-ordination to resolve — but luck always runs out in the end. It makes sense to bolster the international institutions as much as possible. It makes sense, too, to run sensible domestic policies and not end up dependent on the kindness of strangers, an unhelpful truism, like advice not to let your house catch fire.

“If leadership is thought of as the provision of the public good of responsibility, rather than the exploitation of followers or the private good of prestige, it remains a positive idea,” wrote Kindleberger. The US, for all its failings, provided that kind of leadership. The world awaits, with trepidation, the experience of an economic or financial crisis without it.

Read it all (registration or subscription).

Who will now stabilise the world economy? https://t.co/gAb7tUq1jd | opinion

— Financial Times (@FT) February 19, 2025

Imagine being able to speed up evolution – hypothetically – to learn which genes might have a harmful or beneficial effect on human health. Imagine, further, being able to rapidly generate new genetic sequences that could help cure disease or solve environmental challenges. Now, scientists have developed a generative AI tool that can predict the form and function of proteins coded in the DNA of all domains of life, identify molecules that could be useful for bioengineering and medicine, and allow labs to run dozens of other standard experiments with a virtual query – in minutes or hours instead of years (or millennia).

The open-source, all-access tool, known as Evo 2, was developed by a multi-institutional team co-led by Stanford’s Brian Hie, an assistant professor of chemical engineering and a faculty fellow in Stanford Data Science. Evo 2 was trained on a dataset that includes all known living species, including humans, plants, bacteria, amoebas, and even a few extinct species. Stanford Report talked to Hie about Evo 2’s advanced capabilities, why the scientific world is so eager to get its hands on this new tool, and how Evo 2 could reshape the biological sciences.

Read it all.

Just now: @arcinstitute and @nvidia release Evo 2, the largest AI model for biology. It is fully open-source.

Evo 2 can predict which mutations in a gene are likely to be pathogenic, or even design entire eukaryotic genomes.

We covered it in @AsimovPress! Check it out 🔻 pic.twitter.com/hBJkrtNVr0

— Niko McCarty 🧫 (@NikoMcCarty) February 19, 2025

Every few weeks, it seems, another AI achievement sets the world abuzz. It speaks! It paints! It digests a whole book and spits out a 10-
minute podcast! 

This is generative AI, the large computing models that dazzle and worry us with their humanlike output. We’ve become accustomed to hearing about AI, but have we considered what it really offers us? Most simply: a promise of ease and justice. 

With the proper application of AI, its enthusiasts tell us, we won’t have to work so hard. Our economy will be more equitable, our laws and their enforcement closer to impartial, the slow and faulty human element bypassed altogether. We will achieve a painless and mechanistic fairness. 

Here, rather than dwell on any individual technological feat, I want to examine those two tempting offers. Long before generative AI became a reality, these temptations were offered elsewhere: by science fiction villains and by the Devil when he came to Jesus in the wilderness. 

Read it all.

“If we follow in Jesus’ steps—if we live slowly, do good things however inefficiently, and share the extravagant grace we’ve been given—the temptations of AI, like all false promises, will grow dim and unconvincing,” writes @jeff_bilbro.https://t.co/B2EDLsbPEo

— Christianity Today (@CTmagazine) February 17, 2025

What Ilyich faces in the final moment is grace. He is graced with the realization that he needs to offer care. Knowing that the real is compassion is not his accomplishment but is the gift of his son’s presence. We, who would so quickly assist him out of this life, would do so because we can bear with neither grace nor compassion. They ask too much of us for another. 

Because death is not taken from him by “assistance” that offers no real help, Ilyich is graced with realization that death is no more. “Instead of death there was light.” He sees this light and realizes that “death is over . . . there is no more death.” Ilyich’s realization echoes Revelation 21:4 that “death will be no more.” Only a culture that can see death and care for those who are dying can be a culture open to the One who bore all our burdens. Christ’s dying offers us abundant life even in our deaths if we are willing to face them. In his Good Death, death itself dies. Euthanasia denies us a good death because it is the denial of care, the denial of facing death authentically, and the denial of the goodness of life. It is thus the denial of the Author of Life—or of any possible spiritual breakthrough at all.

Each fall for many more years, my students and I will read a novella about a dying, loveless lawyer from Tsarist Russia. We will ask what the real life is and wonder if we are living it. We will consider what love and care look like and whether we live in a culture in which we bear each other’s burdens. To bear those burdens is to face our deaths together. The direction of our culture is increasingly toward “death pods” where we will die alone, because we, like Ivan, have refused to really live together. Resisting such a culture of solitary and uncared for assisted dying will take legislation, but it will also require that we spend some time with Ilyich and try to recover the goodness of a good life and of a good death. Someday I will face death. Someday my students will face it as well. Will we do so in a world detached from reality or attached to it? A culture that dispatches the burdensome or bears their burdens? A culture that offers care or that offers death? The euthanasia of Ilyich would have made impossible his eu thanatos. Our society’s growing practice of euthanasia may well prove to be the denial not only of our good deaths but also of the only real thing, a good life.

Read it all.

Resisting the march of euthanasia will require numerous approaches. I hope this reflection on the good death of Ivan Ilyich contributes in some small way. https://t.co/wOO6VTKdnF

— Terence Sweeney (@TerenceJSweeney) February 19, 2025

O Lord our God, grant us grace to desire thee with our whole heart; that so desiring thee we may seek and find thee; and so finding thee may love thee, and loving thee may hate those sins from which thou hast redeemed us; through Jesus Christ our Lord.

I hope to come to you soon, but I am writing these instructions to you so that, if I am delayed, you may know how one ought to behave in the household of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and bulwark of the truth. Great indeed, we confess, is the mystery of our religion: He was manifested in the flesh, vindicated in the Spirit, seen by angels, preached among the nations, believed on in the world, taken up in glory.

–1 Timothy 3:14-16

Bell then comments:

‘Such a vision of unity is surely what must lie at the heart of any theological vision for the Anglican Communion. The gift of unity, intertwined with truth and holiness, empowered and initiated through and by love, flowing from its Trinitarian source, and finding its visibility not only in our structures and institutions but in our relationships and lives of Christian service, witness mission. Unity as gift and imperative sits above our disagreements requiring us not to contort ourselves into pseudo- agreement, but instead to recognise that metaphysical unity precedes our disagreements and will be revealed in different visible ways as we journey on together.’ (p.191)

What conservative Anglicans would want to say in response to these paragraphs is that Archbishop Rowan is right to say that the unity that all true Christians possess is the ‘pure gift’ of  ‘being summoned and drawn into the same place before the Father’s throne.’ However, they would want to add that this pure gift also includes a summons to ‘bear much fruit’ (John 15:8) or in other words to begin to live a new life enabled by the Holy Spirit which fulfils God’s intentions for his human creatures. In addition they would want to say that according to the witness of Scripture, and the uniform tradition of the Christian Church based on Scripture, living this new life involves living as the men and women God created us to be and observing a strict sexual ethic involving sexual faithfulness within (heterosexual) marriage and sexual abstinence outside it.  

Because they would want to say this, they would also want to say that unity is broken not only when Christians are not ‘able to see in each other the same kind of conviction of being called by authoritative voice into a place where none of us has an automatic right to stand,’ but also when they are not able to see in each other a recognition of God’s call to bear fruit in the ways just described. They would also add that this is what is currently the case in the Anglican Communion and in the Church of England.

In response to Bell’s comments conservative Anglicans  would agree that unity is both a gift and an imperative and would also agree that it is ‘revealed in different visible ways.’ However, they would say that these ways have to include Christians living as the men and women God created them to be and observing the Christian sexual ethic as outlined above.

Read it all.

We may subjectively dislike what God has said, but true Christian humility lies in accepting what God has said and acting upon it anyway' Martin Davie https://t.co/EUCULJ0Bk1 #anglican #marriage #theology #sexualethics #anthropology #scripture #religion #uk pic.twitter.com/WyjgnobT0k

— Kendall Harmon (@KendallHarmon6) February 10, 2023

Deep under the sea, pipelines and cables carrying fuel, power and communications are strewn on the ocean floor like a central nervous system for the global economy. 

Huge stretches of these critical connectors lie unprotected in the murky depths—and vulnerable to attacks such as the 2022 sabotage of the Nord Stream pipelines that carry Russian natural gas to Europe under the Baltic Sea.

Now, in the way that the use of drones has changed the conduct of land wars, artificial intelligence is about to change everything about how the deep sea is navigated and how critical underwater infrastructure is protected in wartime and against threats of terrorism.

Read it all.

AI is about to change everything about how the deep sea is navigated and how critical underwater infrastructure is protected
https://t.co/JCmJcgtNe0 via @WSJ

— Martijn Rasser (@MartijnRasser) February 17, 2025

Donald Trump’s demand for a $500bn (£400bn) “payback” from Ukraine goes far beyond US control over the country’s critical minerals. It covers everything from ports and infrastructure to oil and gas, and the larger resource base of the country.

The terms of the contract that landed at Volodymyr Zelensky’s office a week ago amount to the US economic colonisation of Ukraine, in legal perpetuity. It implies a burden of reparations that cannot possibly be achieved. The document has caused consternation and panic in Kyiv.

The Telegraph has obtained a draft of the pre-decisional contract, marked “Privileged & Confidential’ and dated Feb 7 2025. It states that the US and Ukraine should form a joint investment fund to ensure that “hostile parties to the conflict do not benefit from the reconstruction of Ukraine”.

Read it all.

Revealed: Trump’s confidential plan to put Ukraine in a stranglehold

Panic in Kyiv as US president demands higher share of GDP than Germany’s First World War reparations.https://t.co/3rFDHydtCd

— Ruchir Sharma (@ruchirsharma_1) February 18, 2025

The Apostle Paul manifests his apostolic care for the Galatians. Sometimes he entreats them, then again he reproaches them, in accordance with his own advice to Timothy: “Preach the word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort.”In the midst of his discourse on Christian righteousness Paul breaks off, and turns to address the Galatians. “O foolish Galatians,” he cries. “I have brought you the true Gospel, and you received it with eagerness and gratitude. Now all of a sudden you drop the Gospel. What has got into you?”Paul reproves the Galatians rather sharply when he calls them “fools, bewitched, and disobedient.” Whether he is indignant or sorry, I cannot say. He may be both. It is the duty of a Christian pastor to reprove the people committed to his charge. Of course, his anger must not flow from malice, but from affection and a real zeal for Christ.There is no question that Paul is disappointed. It hurts him to think that his Galatians showed so little stability. We can hear him say: “I am sorry to hear of your troubles, and disappointed in you for the disgraceful part you played.” I say rather much on this point to save Paul from the charge that he railed upon the churches, contrary to the spirit of the Gospel.A certain distance and coolness can be noted in the title with which the Apostle addresses the Galatians. He does not now address them as his brethren, as he usually does. He addresses them as Galatians in order to remind them of their national trait to be foolish.We have here an example of bad traits that often cling to individual Christians and entire congregations. Grace does not suddenly transform a Christian into a new and perfect creature. Dregs of the old and natural corruption remain. The Spirit of God cannot at once overcome human deficiency. Sanctification takes time.Although the Galatians had been enlightened by the Holy Spirit through the preaching of faith, something of their national trait of foolishness plus their original depravity clung to them. Let no man think that once he has received faith, he can presently be converted into a faultless creature. The leavings of old vices will stick to him, be he ever so good a Christian.

–Luther, Commentary on Galatians, Chapter 3

#OTD February 18, 1546:
Martin Luther, the German reformer who sparked the Protestant Reformation, dies in his birthplace of Eisleben.

After his death, a scrap of paper was found on a nearby table containing his final recorded words: “We are beggars. This is true.” pic.twitter.com/eHE9jhcxFe

— ☧ Today in Christian History (@HistoricalRook) February 18, 2025

O God, our refuge and our strength, who didst raise up thy servant Martin Luther to reform and renew thy Church in the light of thy word: Defend and purify the Church in our own day and grant that, through faith, we may boldly proclaim the riches of thy grace, which thou hast made known in Jesus Christ our Savior, who, with thee and the Holy Spirit, liveth and reigneth, one God, now and for ever.

Today in #history: Martin Luther dies in his hometown of Eisleben, Germany. (1546 CE). #OnThisDay

📖 He became the central figure of the religious and cultural movement known as the Protestant Reformation.

Even though earlier reformers had expressed Luther's views, his… pic.twitter.com/IyaeUX9FLY

— World History Encyclopedia (@whencyclopedia) February 18, 2025

Give us, O Lord, a steadfast heart, which no unworthy affection may drag downwards; give us an unconquered heart, which no tribulation can wear out; give us an upright heart, which no unworthy purpose may tempt aside.  Bestow upon us also, O Lord our God, understanding to know thee, diligence to seek thee, wisdom to find thee, and a faithfulness that may finally embrace thee; through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Nature’s resilience – beauty mirrored in the calm after the storm@ThePhotoHour @StormHour #thicktrunktuesday #trees #TreeClub pic.twitter.com/Loe3bH10dQ

— Gary Ellis (@mrgaryellis) February 18, 2025

The Lord reigns; let the earth rejoice; let the many coastlands be glad! Clouds and thick darkness are round about him; righteousness and justice are the foundation of his throne. Fire goes before him, and burns up his adversaries round about. His lightnings lighten the world; the earth sees and trembles. The mountains melt like wax before the LORD, before the Lord of all the earth. The heavens proclaim his righteousness; and all the peoples behold his glory.

–Psalm 97:1-6

Cold and colorful #ogunquit #maine ⁦@AaronMylerWX⁩ ⁦@TVLeeG⁩ ⁦@SharonRoseNCM⁩ ⁦@RyanBretonWX⁩ ⁦@danaosgoodwx⁩ ⁦@StormHour⁩ ⁦@newscentermaine⁩ pic.twitter.com/R7n2Kajumv

— Realtor Rick 💙 (@rick03907) February 18, 2025

Every February, Americans take a day off of work to celebrate the presidents — the chief executives whose ideas, policies and foibles have helped to shape our history. So it’s only fitting that you take a moment to test your knowledge about these 44 prominent Americans with a 20-question quiz from “Presidential,” the Washington Post podcast that explores the presidents’ lives and legacies.

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By the article establishing the executive department it is made the duty of the President “to recommend to your consideration such measures as he shall judge necessary and expedient.” The circumstances under which I now meet you will acquit me from entering into that subject further than to refer to the great constitutional charter under which you are assembled, and which, in defining your powers, designates the objects to which your attention is to be given. It will be more consistent with those circumstances, and far more congenial with the feelings which actuate me, to substitute, in place of a recommendation of particular measures, the tribute that is due to the talents, the rectitude, and the patriotism which adorn the characters selected to devise and adopt them. In these honorable qualifications I behold the surest pledges that as on one side no local prejudices or attachments, no separate views nor party animosities, will misdirect the comprehensive and equal eye which ought to watch over this great assemblage of communities and interests, so, on another, that the foundation of our national policy will be laid in the pure and immutable principles of private morality, and the preeminence of free government be exemplified by all the attributes which can win the affections of its citizens and command the respect of the world. I dwell on this prospect with every satisfaction which an ardent love for my country can inspire, since there is no truth more thoroughly established than that there exists in the economy and course of nature an indissoluble union between virtue and happiness; between duty and advantage; between the genuine maxims of an honest and magnanimous policy and the solid rewards of public prosperity and felicity; since we ought to be no less persuaded that the propitious smiles of Heaven can never be expected on a nation that disregards the eternal rules of order and right which Heaven itself has ordained; and since the preservation of the sacred fire of liberty and the destiny of the republican model of government are justly considered, perhaps, as deeply, as finally, staked on the experiment entrusted to the hands of the American people.

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