The IDF has issued emergency call up orders to six reserve battalions in light of new dangers on the Egyptian and Syrian borders. And the Knesset has given the IDF permission to summon a further 16 reserve battalions if necessary, Israeli media reported on Wednesday.

An IDF spokesperson said intelligence assessments called for the deployment of more soldiers.

Ugh--read it all

Filed under: * Economics, Politics • Defense, National Security, Military • * International News & Commentary • Middle East • Egypt • Israel • Syria

Police say no suicide note was left behind by football star Junior Seau, who was found dead Wednesday in his Oceanside home from an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound to his chest.

Though few details were available, police confirmed no suicide note was left behind, no foul play was suspected and his girlfriend discovered his body in bed Wednesday morning when she returned from the gym.

Later in the day, as police walked in and out of Seau's beachfront home, his family members could be seen huddling in the garage, weeping. Earlier, his mother appeared distraught.

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Filed under: * Christian Life / Church Life • Parish Ministry • Death / Burial / Funerals • * Culture-Watch • Health & Medicine • Men • Psychology • Suicide • Sports

From here:

For some time now, the Anglican Communion has been exercised over the issue of same-sex relationships. As this copy of ‘Outreach’ was going to press, Rowan Williams announced his decision to stand down as Archbishop of Canterbury. There have been many column inches written about the pressures that have led to this outcome, including those relating to this issue.

It’s high time that the Christ Church family had a mature conversation about same-sex relationships. We plan to do so at a special event in the Harwood Hall

Filed under: * Anglican - Episcopal • Archbishop of Canterbury • --Rowan Williams • Anglican Provinces • Church of England (CoE) • Sexuality Debate (in Anglican Communion) • Same-sex blessings • * Christian Life / Church Life • Parish Ministry • * Theology • Anthropology • Ethics / Moral Theology

The Rt Rev Justin Welby, Bishop of Durham, called for the Church to stand up for the world's poor, when he addressed the Anglican Alliance for Development at Bishopthorpe, York, in a keynote speech called 'Good News for the Poor - at home and in the wider world' on Monday 30th April.

During his keynote address, Bishop Justin said: "The question that faces the church both domestically and internationally, is that of what is human flourishing, good news, amidst the deep poverty that still grips many parts of the world and the utter spiritual bankruptcy and increasing material poverty in slump hit Britain?

"Our good news must be unique, because the radicality of the gospel calls us to a sense of what we are doing and saying utterly different from all other groups. The language of our good news is not GDP, output and so forth, though they are part of the means, it is human flourishing in a context of love. The tools of our good news is the unique ones of reconciliation and peace, with its fellow travellers of generosity, community and self-giving love.

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Filed under: * Anglican - Episcopal • Anglican Provinces • Church of England (CoE) • CoE Bishops • * Culture-Watch • Globalization • Poverty • Religion & Culture • * Theology • Ethics / Moral Theology

The idealism, ambition, self-assurance and total hubris at the heart of this salmon escapade are all hallmarks of the [Patagonia's Yvon] Chouinard executive style. His approach to leading a company is perhaps best understood as a sort of performance art—less about the bottom line than about providing a road map for future entrepreneurs. "I never even wanted to be in business," he says. "But I hang onto Patagonia because it's my resource to do something good. It's a way to demonstrate that corporations can lead examined lives."

That mission is already well under way. Chouinard's new book, "The Responsible Company," published this month, offers detailed checklists for making money without inflicting undue societal harm. Even megacorporations are paying attention to him these days.

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Filed under: * Culture-Watch • Psychology • * Economics, Politics • Economy • Corporations/Corporate Life • Energy, Natural Resources • * Theology • Ethics / Moral Theology

[DAVID] GREENE: Robert Caro's new book, "The Passage of Power," records the moment when Johnson became president of the United States. He was vice president elevated in an instant when President John F. Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas in 1963.

[STEVE] INSKEEP: A famous photo shows Johnson's hurried swearing in aboard Air Force One. Characteristically, the author has been researching that moment for years. We talked about his long, long dig for information as we sat among the bookshelves and filing cabinets at the New York office where Robert Caro works alone.

CARO: It's very easy to fool yourself that you're working, you know, when you're really not working very hard. I mean, I'm very lazy. So for me, I would always have an excuse, you know, to go - quit early, go to a museum, you know. So I do everything I can to make myself remember this is a job. I keep a schedule. People laugh at me for wearing, you know, a coat and tie to work...

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Filed under: * Culture-Watch • Books • History • * Economics, Politics • Politics in General • House of Representatives • Office of the President • Senate

From here:

And, if you’re following what’s happening, what you’re seeing is the conservatives who have left, now that they’re out, and their identity was defined in part by what they were against as well as the Gospel they were for, trying to figure out how to live together, and how they should live, has actually been harder than they thought, and they’ve actually started to divide among themselves. And so, one of the current tragedies is the group that has left looks very American and very Protestant and very chaotic. And that just has to owned on the front end. I wish it were different, but they are having a hard time cohering and working together. And that is a problem not simply for them, but also for the other conservatives in the Episcopal Church, because they have said, essentially, “this is the faithful way to do this and you need to come join us.” And I just need to tell you that, in all sorts of ways, and I say this with a very sad heart, it’s not attractive. They’re really struggling. So that’s one side.

Filed under: * Anglican - Episcopal • - Anglican: Commentary • Anglican Church in North America (ACNA) • Episcopal Church (TEC) • TEC Conflicts • TEC Departing Parishes • * Culture-Watch • Religion & Culture • * Theology • Ecclesiology • Pastoral Theology

I am extremely thankful to Archbishop Isingoma for offering ongoing canonical residence to our bishops and clergy, and I look forward with anticipation to a long-term relationship with him, a desire he expressed in London as well. In the near future, I expect other jurisdictions will also invite clergy to be canonically resident in their provinces, mirroring the Anglican Mission's original model of oversight and connection to the Global South through the provinces of South East Asia and Rwanda. In addition, I am pleased that an agreement has been reached allowing Bishop TJ Johnston and Bishop John Miller to be received temporarily into the Anglican Church of North America and to serve as assisting bishops within two dioceses. These bishops will continue to oversee Anglican Mission congregations with written permission from their bishops, Neil Lebhar and Foley Beach. This decision demonstrates our commitment to being a multi-jurisdictional entity. Bishops Johnston and Miller will also continue their conversations with Bishops Riches and Masters regarding a future connection with the Anglican Church in North America. There is no need for parishes to make any choice about jurisdictional relationships. Congregations will, of course, remain in the Anglican Mission unless they choose to disaffiliate and join with some other group or entity.

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Filed under: * Anglican - Episcopal • - Anglican: Latest News • Anglican Church in North America (ACNA) • Anglican Provinces • Anglican Church in Congo/Province de L'Eglise Anglicane Du Congo • Church of Rwanda • The Anglican Church in South East Asia • * Theology • Ecclesiology • Pastoral Theology

Pioneers, an evangelical mission movement, is reporting that thousands of Christians from Ghana, Nigeria and the Philippines are asking to be trained in the principles of “church-planting movements” (CPMs).

Today, cross-cultural church planting is taking place in regions fraught with poverty and persecution. By necessity, the local church often takes root in its simplest form. In these places, churches are essentially groups of believers gathering in homes, under trees, or cafe back rooms to worship, pray, study the Bible and teach others to do the same. And it is in response to these realities that Pioneers has adopted the “church-planting movements” approach.

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Filed under: * Christian Life / Church Life • Parish Ministry • Evangelism and Church Growth • * International News & Commentary • Africa • Nigeria • Asia • Philippines

St. Paul's Cathedral in London celebrates the occasion on 2 May with a special service of evensong, or evening prayer, from the 1662 volume, often shortened to the BCP or Prayer Book. Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams is to attend, along with members of Prayer Book societies in Australia, Canada and the U.K. that are dedicated to keeping the work alive.

"I hope and pray that people in Britain and around the English-speaking world realize the importance of this great work," Prudence Dailey, Chair of the Prayer Book Society in the U.K., told ENInews.

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Filed under: * Anglican - Episcopal • Anglican Provinces • Church of England (CoE) • * Christian Life / Church Life • Church History • Liturgy, Music, Worship • --Book of Common Prayer • Parish Ministry • * Culture-Watch • History • Poetry & Literature • Religion & Culture • * International News & Commentary • England / UK

England's Catholic jurisdiction for former Anglicans has received a $250,000 donation from Pope Benedict XVI, prompting an expression of thanks from its top cleric.

“I am very grateful to the Holy Father for his generosity and support,” said Monsignor Keith Newton, head of the Personal Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham, in a May 1 statement....

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Filed under: * Anglican - Episcopal • Archbishop of Canterbury • --Rowan Williams • Anglican Provinces • Church of England (CoE) • * Christian Life / Church Life • Parish Ministry • Ministry of the Laity • Ministry of the Ordained • * Culture-Watch • Religion & Culture • * International News & Commentary • England / UK • * Religion News & Commentary • Ecumenical Relations • Other Churches • Roman Catholic • Pope Benedict XVI

You may find the link and comment thread here.

Filed under: * Anglican - Episcopal • - Anglican: Commentary • Anglican Church in North America (ACNA) • Episcopal Church (TEC) • Global South Churches & Primates • FCA Meeting in London April 2012 • * South Carolina

...it is tempting for progressives to dismiss complaints about redistribution of wealth as ignorant or hypocritical, as in many cases they probably are. Yet all naïveté about public budgets aside, a strong presumption in favor of being able to keep the money you earn is a valuable and powerful thing. Progressives who embrace the concept of wealth redistribution on egalitarian grounds, or who join the refrain of “tax the rich” as the main solution to our fiscal and economic problems, tend to miss the many ways in which economic unfairness can remain untouched or even affirmed by redistributive policies....

It’s important to focus rhetoric and activism on making the rich “pay their fair share”—especially during this austerity season, in which the practical alternative is watching services for the poor dramatically cut....

This can’t, however, be the final analysis of redistributive policies. Throughout the Old Testament, inequality itself is hardly the only issue. There is also the question of fair access to the means of making a living—which, in the Old Testament world, means fair access to land ownership.

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Filed under: * Culture-Watch • Poverty • * Economics, Politics • Economy • Taxes • The U.S. Government • Politics in General • City Government • State Government • * Theology • Ethics / Moral Theology

ZENIT spoke with Father Tarcisio Giuseppe Stramare of the Congregation of Oblates of Saint Joseph, director of the Josephite Movement, about Tuesday's feast of St. Joseph the Worker....

ZENIT: What does “Gospel of work” mean?

Father Stramare: “Gospel” is the Good News that refers to Jesus, the Savior of humanity. Well, despite the fact that in general we see Jesus as someone who teaches and does miracles, he was so identified with work that in his time he was regarded as “the son of the carpenter,” namely, an artisan himself. Among many possible activities, the Wisdom of God chose for Jesus manual work, entrusted the education of his Son not to the school of the learned but to a humble artisan, namely, St. Joseph.

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Filed under: * Economics, Politics • Economy • Labor/Labor Unions/Labor Market • * Theology

The National Day of Reason — or "NDR" in the shorthand of the nontheist community — will also be held May 3, part protest, part celebration and totally godless.

"In times of great conflict and worry, people want to look to a higher power, and I am sympathetic to that," said Paul Fidalgo, communications director at the Center for Inquiry. "But our day puts the focus back on people and what we can do for ourselves. We are trying to make a better world on our own by emphasizing good works and good deeds on the day."

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Filed under: * Culture-Watch • Religion & Culture • * International News & Commentary • America/U.S.A. • * Religion News & Commentary • Other Faiths • Secularism

There are now more than 3,000 talks going back to the 1960s when noted Anglican evangelical leader John Stott was still rector.

The archive is constantly being added to with all Sunday and midweek talks are available as routine on the website as well as via podcast.

However, a lack of “tags” — words added to files to allow visitors to search the archive–means specific sermons are hard for visitors to find.

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Filed under: * Anglican - Episcopal • Anglican Provinces • Church of England (CoE) • * Christian Life / Church Life • Parish Ministry • Preaching / Homiletics • * Culture-Watch • Blogging & the Internet • --Social Networking • Globalization

"The Southwark Good Stewards Company Limited report that because there has been, in the last few days, much misrepresentation of the Southwark Good Stewards Trust, the Directors have issued the below Frequently Asked Questions, ahead of the official Trust launch and reception. The Directors hope that the FAQ's may be of interest to members of churches of other Dioceses where there is also widespread concern about revisionism."

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Filed under: * Anglican - Episcopal • Anglican Provinces • Church of England (CoE) • * Religion News & Commentary • Other Churches • Evangelicals

For this purpose, then, the incorporeal and incorruptible and immaterial Word of God comes to our realm, howbeit he was not far from us Acts 17:27 before. For no part of Creation is left void of Him: He has filled all things everywhere, remaining present with His own Father. But He comes in condescension to show loving-kindness upon us, and to visit us. And seeing the race of rational creatures in the way to perish, and death reigning over them by corruption; seeing, too, that the threat against transgression gave a firm hold to the corruption which was upon us, and that it was monstrous that before the law was fulfilled it should fall through: seeing, once more, the unseemliness of what was come to pass: that the things whereof He Himself was Artificer were passing away: seeing, further, the exceeding wickedness of men, and how by little and little they had increased it to an intolerable pitch against themselves: and seeing, lastly, how all men were under penalty of death: He took pity on our race, and had mercy on our infirmity, and condescended to our corruption, and, unable to bear that death should have the mastery—lest the creature should perish, and His Father's handiwork in men be spent for nought—He takes unto Himself a body, and that of no different sort from ours. For He did not simply will to become embodied, or will merely to appear. For if He willed merely to appear, He was able to effect His divine appearance by some other and higher means as well. But He takes a body of our kind, and not merely so, but from a spotless and stainless virgin, knowing not a man, a body clean and in very truth pure from intercourse of men. For being Himself mighty, and Artificer of everything, He prepares the body in the Virgin as a temple unto Himself, and makes it His very own as an instrument, in it manifested, and in it dwelling. And thus taking from our bodies one of like nature, because all were under penalty of the corruption of death He gave it over to death in the stead of all, and offered it to the Father—doing this, moreover, of His loving-kindness, to the end that, firstly, all being held to have died in Him, the law involving the ruin of men might be undone (inasmuch as its power was fully spent in the Lord's body, and had no longer holding-ground against men, his peers), and that, secondly, whereas men had turned toward corruption, He might turn them again toward incorruption, and quicken them from death by the appropriation of His body and by the grace of the Resurrection, banishing death from them like straw from the fire.

--Athanasius, On the Incarnation of the Word

Filed under: * Christian Life / Church Life • Church History • * Theology • Christology

Uphold thy Church, O God of truth, as thou didst uphold thy servant Athanasius, to maintain and proclaim boldly the catholic faith against all opposition, trusting solely in the grace of thine eternal Word, who took upon himself our humanity that we might share his divinity; who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever.

Filed under: * Christian Life / Church Life • Church History • Spirituality/Prayer

O God our Father, who hast taught us never to think of ourselves more highly than we ought to think: Help us to attain to that greatness of spirit that is ready for humble tasks, and ever to be servants of others because we are servants of thine; through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Filed under: * Christian Life / Church Life • Spirituality/Prayer

For you yourselves know, brethren, that our visit to you was not in vain; but though we had already suffered and been shamefully treated at Philip'pi, as you know, we had courage in our God to declare to you the gospel of God in the face of great opposition. For our appeal does not spring from error or uncleanness, nor is it made with guile; but just as we have been approved by God to be entrusted with the gospel, so we speak, not to please men, but to please God who tests our hearts. For we never used either words of flattery, as you know, or a cloak for greed, as God is witness; nor did we seek glory from men, whether from you or from others, though we might have made demands as apostles of Christ. But we were gentle among you, like a nurse taking care of her children. So, being affectionately desirous of you, we were ready to share with you not only the gospel of God but also our own selves, because you had become very dear to us. For you remember our labor and toil, brethren; we worked night and day, that we might not burden any of you, while we preached to you the gospel of God. 10 You are witnesses, and God also, how holy and righteous and blameless was our behavior to you believers; for you know how, like a father with his children, we exhorted each one of you and encouraged you and charged you to lead a life worthy of God, who calls you into his own kingdom and glory.

--1 Thessalonians 2:1-12

Filed under: * Theology • Theology: Scripture