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Almighty God, the fountain of all wisdom, you know our necessities before we ask and our ignorance in asking: Have compassion on our weakness, and mercifully give us those things which for our unworthiness we dare not, and for our blindness we cannot ask; through the worthiness of your Son Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen. BCP Read more

John Goldingay. Do We Need the New Testament?: Letting the Old Testament Speak for Itself. Downers Grove: IVP Academic, 2015. ISBN 978-0-8308-2469-4. Review by Michael C Thompson, doctoral student at Northern Seminary. Every now and then a book comes along that grabs your attention just by the topic or, as in this case, the title. Do we need the New Testament? is probably a question which most modern Christians have thought about before, and perhaps has the potential to disrupt more... Read more

From CNN: (CNN) The four joined the Marines to serve their country, willing to go to dangerous lands out of a sense of duty, idealism and patriotism. And three of them did so, risking their lives in Iraq and Afghanistan. Ultimately, the men died together on home turf, in Chattanooga, Tennessee…. [And also we think of and pray for the] wounded. Among the latter are [now sadly deceased] sailor Randall Smith, who was shot in the liver, colon and stomach, according... Read more

Memories, but not too many things at once, from Chris Benderev: It argues that when we let multiple memories come to mind simultaneously, those memories immediately lock into a fierce competition with each other. The milk and the phone call fight to each be remembered more than the other. “When these memories are tightly competing for our attention the brain steps in and actually modifies those memories,” says Jarrod Lewis-Peacock, a neuroscientist at UT Austin. The brain crowns winners and... Read more

From Cleveland Clinic: People who walk regularly swear by the health and psychological benefits of their daily jaunt. Here are five reasons why they’re right. 1. Walking reduces stress, cheers you up and increases self-esteem 2. You can lose weight by walking just 30 minutes a day 3. Regular walking lowers blood pressure, improves sleep and energizes you 4. Walks can be easier and more fun with a pedometer and a pal 5. People experience a major dip in snack... Read more

By John Stackhouse: and he has a link at the site where he explains his view more completely. What do you think? TOP 10 REASONS PASTORS SHOULD AVOID POLITICS 10. Because no one trained you properly to get involved with politics—and a little seminar, however exciting, won’t make up for that yawning deficit. (Do you think politicians can be trained to be pastors by attending a seminar?) 9. Because no one hired you to get involved with politics. (And if they did,... Read more

The tremendous prophetic vision that Isaiah sees for the exiles to return home staggers the mind. “Comfort, yes, comfort my people, says your God. Speak tenderly to (literally ‘speak to the heart of’) Jerusalem….”  These words trumpet out the “good news”that God will bring his exiled people back home. This imperative to comfort begins the “book of consolation to the people of Israel”in Isaiah. Curious as it is, the Hebrew word for “comfort”(nacham) here in Isaiah 40:1 is often translated... Read more

We all know what crowdsourcing is and most of us think it’s a special form of social support that can do much good. I propose in this post that we disapprove of crowdpounding. First, Ellen Pao at Redditt has recently been crowdpounded by those she calls “trolls,” and that will refer to persons who, often incognito, use the internet and especially Comments or Twitter feeds to pound on someone with heavy denunciation, name-calling, accusations, and speculations. The Internet started as... Read more