I once witnessed a theatre director giving notes to a cast of actors preparing to perform on stage. She said to them: “Imagine, just before you go on, that you’ve forgotten all your lines, forgotten the whole play, forgotten all the work you’ve put into rehearsals and preparation. Forget it all, and then step into the light, into the story.”

But forgetting presupposes the memory you are to forget. For the actor, the truth of their performance arises out of this process of remembering and forgetting. And then you step into the light, into the story. . .

I want to say this is truth reclaimed for meaning, truth as meaning. In John’s Gospel, Jesus says: “For this I was born, and for this I came into the world, to testify to the truth. Everyone who belongs to the truth listens to my voice” (18.37) So, the actor’s truth and the Christian’s truth are alike in this respect: it is something we come to belong to; it is how we live our part.

Rather than the truth being raw, or coherent with other truth statements, or somehow correspondent with reality out there, the truth is a memory of an encounter with meaning, something to which we can belong and which re-members us in turn. In short, it’s personal. More, it’s a Person.

Whether or not you try to record this truth on paper is ultimately immaterial. But you must record it in your heart.

Read it all.

‘The love we share at Christmas is a refuge. It replenishes our depleted batteries and allows us to go out again into the world’: The 2023 Country Life Christmas message, by Revd Colin Heber-Percy https://t.co/Vedsc9ywQX pic.twitter.com/97trNbTmlt

— Country Life (@Countrylifemag) December 25, 2023

When Sheen appeared in his Emmy-winning show, “Life is Worth Living,” from 1952 to 1957, he was an auxiliary bishop in New York. He proved a natural for the medium: handsome with a beautiful voice and mesmerizing eyes. Sheen used no props except a chalkboard and chalk. He focused on such serious topics as philosophy, history and religion. He rarely, if ever, used notes.

“Life is Worth Living” routinely drew up to 30 million weekly viewers, becoming for a time the most popular television show in the country. Through both the show and his real-world ministry, Sheen inspired countless conversions.

Every bishop today wants to know Sheen’s secret. How did he enrapture millions of souls despite political, religious and geographical differences? How did he win converts while being outspoken about controversial truths?

The answer can primarily be found in Sheen’s prayer life, which inspired genuine love for his fellow human beings. On the day of his ordination in 1919, Sheen committed himself to a daily hour of prayer. He kept this promise until the day he died in 1979, despite a hectic schedule and major pastoral responsibilities. Sheen was so faithful to this promise that he drew his last breaths before the Eucharist.

Read it all.

America’s first bishop turned saint? Catholic leaders have a lot to learn from Blessed Fulton Sheen, master of the TV era, writes @ArchbishopOKChttps://t.co/nDX6j4ay62

— Wall Street Journal Opinion (@WSJopinion) September 25, 2026

A database of predicted structures for nearly every known protein on Earth is being upgraded to better represent some of the least-known and deadliest species: viruses.

Researchers added more than 8,000 virus protein dimers — pairs of interacting molecules — to the AlphaFold Protein Structure Database on 24 September. The resource contains predictions of the 3D structure of proteins, which are generated using the AlphaFold2 artificial-intelligence tool and made publicly available. The added proteins come from 23 virus families, all with human-infecting members, and are part of the launch of a ‘pandemic preparedness portal’ within the widely used and freely available AlphaFold database.

Earlier this year, researchers added predicted structures for 1.7 million pairs of interacting proteins from 20 widely studied organisms, including humans, mice and tuberculosis-causing bacteria. This marked the first time that protein complexes — such as enzymes comprising two identical protein strands — had been included in the AlphaFold database, which is maintained by the European Molecular Biology Laboratory’s European Bioinformatics Institute (EMBL-EBI) in Hinxton, UK.

“Many viral proteins do not act individually, they act in concert with partners,” says Joe Grove, a molecular virologist at the University of Glasgow, UK, who was part of the effort to add viral complexes to the database.

Read it all.

A database of predicted structures for nearly every known protein on Earth is being upgraded to better represent some of the least known and deadliest species: viruses.

Researchers added more than 8,000 virus protein dimers — pairs of interacting molecules — to the AlphaFold… pic.twitter.com/jarQwaigzD

— Flavian (@bullish1312) September 25, 2026

The title of James Patterson’s and Thomas Howes’s book Why Postliberalism Failed is not inspired by a belief that the contemporary American postliberal movement (made most famous in Patrick Deneen’s book Why Liberalism Failed) has collapsed. Quite the contrary: the authors believe that, in spite of an apparent retreat of postliberalism, the movement continues to influence contemporary American political discourse. Indeed, people who have publicly endorsed it (and who continue to defend postliberal positions) are in positions of the highest power in the U.S. government. All the more reason, Patterson and Howes argue, to understand what makes postliberalism tick. 

The authors helpfully summarize the whole postliberal platform (not just its integralist wing, the subject of Kevin Vallier’s excellent book All the Kingdoms of the World), which is diffused throughout hundreds of articles, social media posts, and several books. Postliberals reject liberalism’s protection of individual liberty as a precursor to communism, atheism, and other ills; they instead “advocate for restoring a divinely ordained hierarchy, with the Church providing spiritual rule and the state political rule.” (In theory the state submits to the Church if the two bodies disagree.) Demoting individual freedom means centrally organizing the economy (“in collaboration with state-approved guilds or cartels”) and concentrating all political power in a unitary executive that governs through bureaucracy (hence many postliberals’ sympathy for China’s present government). Unlike conservatives, who (out of respect for everyone’s freedom and dignity) try to effect political change through constitutional processes, postliberals employ cultural Marxist tactics, “us[ing] political power to reward their friends and crush their enemies.” They accept the administrative state and seek to populate it with their own numbers, “put[ting] that bureaucracy to work providing a kind of right-wing welfare state.” Whereas progressives use federal bureaucracy to advance sexual liberationism, many postliberals would use it to advance patriarchy. Finally, postliberalism rejects America’s responsibility for helping to uphold the law of nations; the United States should be neutral in all global conflicts, they say, even if that means allowing stronger countries to annex weaker ones. 

One of the book’s greatest achievements is to show in detail the similarity between contemporary postliberal theory and dozens of regimes that have actually existed in relatively recent history (although not in the memory of young postliberals), all of which failed to usher in the Christian society they promised (hence the book’s title). Contemporary postliberalism is not a discovery made by the American New Right in the last two decades; postliberalism has been a constant temptation of Western conservatives, especially religious ones, at least since the French Revolution. We’ve been through all this before, and it has always ended badly. 

Read it all.

John Doherty of @WitherspoonInst reviews @ThomasDHowes and @McGillPatterson’s Why Postliberalism Failed @PublicDiscourse — https://t.co/ME7aLT2aOF

— Matt Franck (@MatthewJFranck) September 24, 2026

O God, whose blessed Son became poor that we through his poverty might be rich: Deliver us, we pray thee, from an inordinate love of this world, that inspired by the devotion of thy servant Sergius of Moscow, we may serve thee with singleness of heart, and attain to the riches of the age to come; through the same Jesus Christ our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever.

Saint Sergius' labours (right part of the triptych), 1896 #mikhailnesterov #nesterov pic.twitter.com/EJZM9e8IP1

— Mikhail Nesterov (@artist_nesterov) September 26, 2021

Give, we beseech thee, merciful Lord, to thy waiting people freedom and strength; that we may be loosed from all our fears, and labor with a steady hand; through Jesus Christ our Lord.

–Robert W. Rodenmayer, ed., The Pastor’s Prayerbook: Selected and arranged for various occasions (New York: Oxford University Press, 1960)

I have photographed Whitby Abbey hundreds of times over the years but have never seen this before! A rainbow formed this morning not long after sunrise and hit straight onto the Abbey. pic.twitter.com/uLwtutu9lw

— Andrew McCaren 📷 (@AndrewMcCaren1) September 25, 2026

Dost thou work wonders for the dead? Do the shades rise up to praise thee?…Is thy steadfast love declared in the grave, or thy faithfulness in Abaddon? Are thy wonders known in the darkness, or thy saving help in the land of forgetfulness?

–Psalm 88:10-12

An absolutely stunning sunrise enjoyed by the @Cambridge_Uni CUBC women at training on the river Great Ouse in Ely, this Friday morning. 🧡🌅🧡#Sunrise #cambridge #LovEly #Rowing #Boatrace #TheFens — in Ely. pic.twitter.com/tAq5zFrY61

— Veronica in the Fens 🧚🏼‍♀️ My Heart in Nature (@VeronicaJoPo) September 25, 2026

Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

It is with renewed hope and deep gratitude to our Lord Jesus Christ that I announce to you that the Anglican Church in North America’s College of Bishops have sentenced Bishop Edgar to a censure with no accompanying pastoral admonition. There are no restrictions to his exercise of his episcopal office and, this action puts to rest the official  response of the Province to the [shared eucharist and] Chapel dedication at Porter-Gaud. Thank you for your prayers and concerns for Bishop Edgar. We now return our hearts and focus to the Gospel mission that is our primary calling.

Faithfully,

Shay +

The Very Rev. Shay Gaillard
President Standing Committee   

Reminder to all that the ACNA College of Bishops begins its meeting today, where they will decide how to sentence both Bp Chip Edgar (who consented to discipline) and Bp Derek Jones (who was convicted last month and has made no appeal): https://t.co/BOy9Ukki3r

— Arlie Coles (@ArlieColes) September 21, 2026

The College of Bishops of the Anglican Church in North America deposed Derek Jones from the Sacred Ministry on September 23, 2026.

This is in response to his guilt of four canonical charges against him, as determined by the Court for the Trial of a Bishop. The facts now established show that over a period of many years he has offended against God and the Body of Christ through acts of wickedness, cruelty, and abuse of power against chaplains with limited recourse.

The pain and destruction to these chaplains and their families is loathsome, and we are deeply ashamed and lament that members of this body who knew about this behavior neither urgently nor robustly addressed concerns and complaints regarding Mr. Jones.

Having read the affidavits and victim statements, we commit to continual prayer for victims known and unknown, pleading for God’s healing and hope. We also commit as a College to do everything in our power to address these injustices.

While we understand that we are unable to fully expunge the pain, destruction, and despair inflicted upon the lives of those who suffered, the College is undertaking a process by which chaplains may obtain canonical and pastoral restoration.

As part of our collective repentance, we recognize the culture of our College must change and we are seeking to understand how this abuse was allowed to happen.

Finally, the goal of disciplining a bishop is to protect the sheep and to invite the fallen shepherd to repent. Let us all fix our eyes on Christ Jesus the Good Shepherd under whose authority and care we all stand.

ACNA News: The College of Bishops has deposed Derek Jones, former chaplaincy bishop, from the ministry. "… we are deeply ashamed and lament that members of this body who knew about [his] behavior neither urgently nor robustly addressed concerns and complaints regarding [him]." pic.twitter.com/bf4kDRoymY

— Arlie Coles (@ArlieColes) September 24, 2026

Robots — the sector Mr. Xi first championed in his 2014 speech — have been a particular success. China has more than 2 million robots in its factories, more than in the rest of the world combined. Some Chinese researchers have argued that robots may be more promising for achieving general-purpose intelligence than large language models — Silicon Valley’s chosen method — because they can learn from interactions with the physical world.

Those rapid gains have fueled anxiety in Washington, where fears of being overtaken by China have become the main argument against reining in A.I. A congressional advisory group warned that China’s quick adoption of A.I. in robots and other practical applications would generate huge amounts of new data that could then be used to further improve its models. In July, the U.S. government proposed restricting imports of humanoid robots, a move Beijing denounced as discriminatory.

For people like Mr. Liang, the robotics company founder in Shenzhen, the signs of China’s progress are already all around.

He still admires American entrepreneurs, but he no longer looks only to them for inspiration. He wears smart glasses from Huawei. He has hired interns from American universities who are eager to learn from China’s robotics expertise.

“Before, we all used American technology as the benchmark, and we’d joke about ‘C-to-C’: ‘copy to China,’” Mr. Liang said. “I think it’s the mission of this generation of Chinese entrepreneurs to let the world know that some Chinese companies are different.”

Read it all.

How China’s Leader Plans to Win the Future With A.I.

A decade ago, Xi Jinping asked if China could master A.I. His push is remaking the economy, challenging the United States and keeping society under control. @vwang3 https://t.co/1NxAUK6oSR via @NYTimes

— Ashis Basu 🇨🇦 ashis.bluesky.social (@BasuAshis) September 23, 2026

Financing the AI buildout projects that AI investment in data center buildings, power systems, networking infrastructure, and specialized chips and other equipment will total an enormous $10.3 trillion from 2025 to 2032, or an average of 3.63% of U.S. gross domestic product per year.

“The projected buildout would be larger relative to the economy than the major U.S. canal, railroad, electrification, highway, and telecommunications investment booms,” writes the author, Stijn Van Nieuwerburgh of Columbia University.

The paper warns that the risks embodied in the AI investment race are migrating from transparent on-balance sheet financing by major corporations to opaque off-balance sheet financing through joint ventures, private credit, securitization, special-purpose vehicles, lease commitments, loan guarantees, and other structures.

These off-balance sheet arrangements then depend on AI companies’ cash flows and collateral values, which are subject to “uncertain AI demand, rapid technological change, timely access to power and hardware, and the continued credit quality of a small number of [data center] tenants,” Nieuwerburgh writes.

Read it all.

Financing the AI buildout will total $10.3 trillion from 2025-2032, or an average of 3.63% of US GDP each year: study. That "would be larger relative to the economy than the major US canal, railroad, electrification, highway, & telecom investment booms" https://t.co/RCT3oaG4VS

— Lisa Abramowicz (@lisaabramowicz1) September 24, 2026

Loving God, who didst call Anna Alexander as a deaconess in thy church: Grant unto us the wisdom to teach the gospel of Christ to whomever we meet, by word and by example, that all may come to the enlightenment thou dost intend for thy people; through Jesus Christ, our Teacher and Savior. Amen.

Today the Episcopal Church commemorates Anna Ellison Butler Alexander, Educator and First African-American Deaconess, 1947 https://t.co/inGI4Lb1mB pic.twitter.com/SeGiXEJ5rI

— The Anglican Church in St Petersburg (@anglicanspb) September 24, 2021

Lord of creation,
whose glory is around and within us:
by your Spirit open our eyes to your wonders,
that we may serve you with reverence
and know your peace at our lives’ end,
through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Amen (slightly edited-KSH).

Red skies sunrise – Armadale, Isle of Skye #Scotland 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 @ThePhotoHour @StormHour @BBCHighlands @VisitScotland pic.twitter.com/Nxf5VV8Fwy

— James MacInnes (@Macinnesplant) September 24, 2026

And Jesus returned in the power of the Spirit into Galilee, and a report concerning him went out through all the surrounding country. And he taught in their synagogues, being glorified by all.

And he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up; and he went to the synagogue, as his custom was, on the sabbath day. And he stood up to read; and there was given to him the book of the prophet Isaiah. He opened the book and found the place where it was written,

“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,
because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives
and recovering of sight to the blind,
to set at liberty those who are oppressed,
to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord.”

And he closed the book, and gave it back to the attendant, and sat down; and the eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on him. And he began to say to them, “Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.” And all spoke well of him, and wondered at the gracious words which proceeded out of his mouth; and they said, “Is not this Joseph’s son?” And he said to them, “Doubtless you will quote to me this proverb, ‘Physician, heal yourself; what we have heard you did at Caper′na-um, do here also in your own country.’” And he said, “Truly, I say to you, no prophet is acceptable in his own country. But in truth, I tell you, there were many widows in Israel in the days of Eli′jah, when the heaven was shut up three years and six months, when there came a great famine over all the land; and Eli′jah was sent to none of them but only to Zar′ephath, in the land of Sidon, to a woman who was a widow. And there were many lepers in Israel in the time of the prophet Eli′sha; and none of them was cleansed, but only Na′aman the Syrian.” When they heard this, all in the synagogue were filled with wrath. And they rose up and put him out of the city, and led him to the brow of the hill on which their city was built, that they might throw him down headlong. But passing through the midst of them he went away.

–Luke 4:14-30

🍂 Autumn colours are starting to arrive across the Dales, and this border collie definitely understood the assignment. 🐾🧡#YorkshireDales #Autumn #UpperWensleydale pic.twitter.com/nfn8w5ChdI

— Yorkshire Dales National Park (@yorkshire_dales) September 24, 2026

More than six years after the Covid-19 pandemic emptied offices around the world, the bet that time would heal the US commercial real estate market is ending. For years, lenders extended troubled loans rather than crystallize losses, on the assumption that lower interest rates and returning workers would eventually rescue them. But borrowing costs have stayed persistently high, and the Federal Reserve’s rate hike last week — and the prospect of more to come — means little relief is in sight. Billions of dollars of property loans are maturing and patience is running out.

“I joke that sometime between last year and this year was when hope that rates would decline died,” said Josh Morris, partner in global real estate at Davidson Kempner Capital Management. “There’s broader acceptance of the reality that we’re in a different regime than we were previously.”

The strains are particularly apparent in the mortgage-backed securities market, where the delinquency rate for US office CMBS reached 12% last month, according to Trepp, near a record and above levels hit in the aftermath of the 2008 global financial crisis.

Read it all.

America’s office bust is entering a new phase. With interest rates staying high and billions in debt coming due, landlords face a choice: put more money into struggling towers or walk away https://t.co/7wraxSjl5p

— Bloomberg (@business) September 21, 2026

A little over a year ago, Joseph Coates was told there was only one thing left to decide. Did he want to die at home, or in the hospital?

Coates, then 37 and living in Renton, Wash., was barely conscious. For months, he had been battling a rare blood disorder called POEMS syndrome, which had left him with numb hands and feet, an enlarged heart and failing kidneys. Every few days, doctors needed to drain liters of fluid from his abdomen. He became too sick to receive a stem cell transplant — one of the only treatments that could have put him into remission.

“I gave up,” he said. “I just thought the end was inevitable.”

But Coates’s girlfriend, Tara Theobald, wasn’t ready to quit. So she sent an email begging for help to a doctor in Philadelphia named David Fajgenbaum, whom the couple met a year earlier at a rare disease summit.

By the next morning, Dr. Fajgenbaum had replied, suggesting an unconventional combination of chemotherapy, immunotherapy and steroids previously untested as a treatment for Coates’s disorder.

Within a week, Coates was responding to treatment. In four months, he was healthy enough for a stem cell transplant. Today, he’s in remission.

The lifesaving drug regimen wasn’t thought up by the doctor, or any person. It had been spit out by an artificial intelligence model.

Read it all.

A 37-year-old man with a rare blood disease was being sent to hospice.

An AI model searched thousands of existing drugs and ranked a combination no one had tried for his condition.

He responded within a week. He is in remission.

The drugs were already on the shelf. The AI… pic.twitter.com/sFKRgqtz2g

— Cicero Institute (@InstituteCicero) September 23, 2026

Stephen Arscott Named Diocesan Lay Coordinator for Cursillo

Stephen Arscott, a member of Holy Comforter, Sumter has become the new Diocesan Lay Coordinator (DLC) for our diocesan Cursillo community. Stephen’s Cursillo journey began at Cursillo 170 in the summer of 2013, which he attended with his wife, Melissa. Since then, Cursillo has been an important part of their lives and their walk with Christ. Over the years, Stephen has served in numerous roles on Cursillo teams and committees, including serving as Ultreya Rector for Santee and, most recently, leading Cursillo 191. Stephen received his BS in Business Administration from the College of Charleston. In 2006 he purchased Sumter Lighting and Home, a residential lighting and home decor business. He and Melissa have three adult children. In a wonderful Cursillo connection, Stephen’s priest, the Rev. David Booman, was actually his roommate at Cursillo 170! Read the announcement. 

Read it all.

The Latest Edition of the #Anglican Diocese of #SouthCarolina Enewsletter https://t.co/CjlCMIee3l #parishministry #lowcountrylife #faith #ACNA #communication pic.twitter.com/ExisNjZ7b1

— Kendall Harmon (@KendallHarmon6) September 23, 2026

As many atheist philosophers (such as the eminent John Gray) have noted, the New Atheists’ philosophical arguments were never very good. Moreover, their arguments seemed strangely anachronistic following many of the great scientific discoveries of the 20th century.

Consider first modern cosmology. Cosmologists have discovered that the universe, contrary to the expectations of those who long portrayed it as eternal, probably had a beginning. Multiple lines of evidence from observational astronomy support this conclusion. Developments in theoretical physics (such as the Borde-Guth-Vilenkin theorem, which states that any universe that is expanding – as ours is – cannot be infinite in the past), also back it up.

Nobel laureate Arno Penzias, who helped make a key discovery supporting the Big Bang theory, noted the obvious connection between its affirmation of a cosmic beginning and the concept of divine creation. “The best data we have are exactly what I would have predicted, had I nothing to go on but the five books of Moses…[and] the Bible as a whole,” he wrote in 1978.

Atheist physicists Lawrence Krauss and Stephen Hawking claimed to explain the beginning of the universe from “nothing”, but their “nothing” turned out to be a set of mathematical laws that allegedly pre-existed (or existed independently of) the material universe. But maths has no causal power. Mathematical equations are inherently conceptual. Thus, the attempt to circumvent the problem of the beginning with what was called “quantum cosmology” led inexorably back to the need for a pre-existing mind.

Second, physicists have discovered that we live in a kind of “Goldilocks universe”. In other words, the fundamental laws and parameters of physics are finely tuned against all odds to make a life-friendly universe.

Read it all.

Who wrote the digital code?

"Discoveries in molecular biology have revealed digital code in even the simplest living cells. Francis Crick and James Watson elucidated the structure of the DNA molecule in 1953. Crick then developed his famed “sequence hypothesis”. He proposed that… pic.twitter.com/itAlWDyGN2

— Nancy Pearcey (@NancyRPearcey) September 23, 2026

A pastor was shot and killed while on his way to a church service in Nigeria’s Plateau State on Sunday morning, one of at least nine people killed in a series of attacks in rural communities over the weekend.

The pastor was walking to a church service at Dorowa Babuje in Barkin Ladi Local Government Area with a second victim when both were shot, Leadership reported.

Neither victim had been named publicly as of Sunday, according to National Accord.

Read it all.

A pastor walking to Sunday service was shot dead, one of nine killed in weekend attacks in Nigeria's Plateau State. #Nigeria #PlateauState #PersecutedChurch #Pastor #ChristianPost
🔗 https://t.co/SCSjmsCSL0 https://t.co/R5yEU278DB pic.twitter.com/8qqwzowmho

— The Christian Post (@ChristianPost) September 21, 2026

O Lord, we beseech you mercifully to hear the prayers
of your people who call upon you;
and grant that they may both perceive and know
what things they ought to do,
and also may have grace and power faithfully to fulfil them;
through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord,
who is alive and reigns with you,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.
Amen.

From Hamnøy looking out to Reine, Lofoten 😍 Photo Olivia Leefe #Norway 🌈 pic.twitter.com/OTBGMAmKMT

— Elusive Moose (@elusive_moose) September 23, 2026

On that night the king could not sleep; and he gave orders to bring the book of memorable deeds, the chronicles, and they were read before the king. And it was found written how Mor′decai had told about Bigthana and Teresh, two of the king’s eunuchs, who guarded the threshold, and who had sought to lay hands upon King Ahasu-e′rus. And the king said, “What honor or dignity has been bestowed on Mor′decai for this?” The king’s servants who attended him said, “Nothing has been done for him.” And the king said, “Who is in the court?” Now Haman had just entered the outer court of the king’s palace to speak to the king about having Mor′decai hanged on the gallows that he had prepared for him. So the king’s servants told him, “Haman is there, standing in the court.” And the king said, “Let him come in.” So Haman came in, and the king said to him, “What shall be done to the man whom the king delights to honor?” And Haman said to himself, “Whom would the king delight to honor more than me?” And Haman said to the king, “For the man whom the king delights to honor, let royal robes be brought, which the king has worn, and the horse which the king has ridden, and on whose head a royal crown is set; and let the robes and the horse be handed over to one of the king’s most noble princes; let him array the man whom the king delights to honor, and let him conduct the man on horseback through the open square of the city, proclaiming before him: ‘Thus shall it be done to the man whom the king delights to honor.’” Then the king said to Haman, “Make haste, take the robes and the horse, as you have said, and do so to Mor′decai the Jew who sits at the king’s gate. Leave out nothing that you have mentioned.” So Haman took the robes and the horse, and he arrayed Mor′decai and made him ride through the open square of the city, proclaiming, “Thus shall it be done to the man whom the king delights to honor.”

Then Mor′decai returned to the king’s gate. But Haman hurried to his house, mourning and with his head covered. And Haman told his wife Zeresh and all his friends everything that had befallen him. Then his wise men and his wife Zeresh said to him, “If Mor′decai, before whom you have begun to fall, is of the Jewish people, you will not prevail against him but will surely fall before him.”

While they were yet talking with him, the king’s eunuchs arrived and brought Haman in haste to the banquet that Esther had prepared.

–Esther 6:1-14

Het grijs maakt plaats voor zonneschijn. Fijne woensdag😀 #zonsopkomst #reflectie pic.twitter.com/nllUMjcDDV

— Tjark Dieterman (@DietermanTjark) September 23, 2026

For the First World War, he analyses three poets: Rupert Brooke, for whom the war was relief from an empty life, void of meaning; then Siegfried Sassoon, who wrote: “I died in hell — (They called it Passchendaele)”; and finally, Wilfred Owen, who in his “Anthem for Doomed Youth” wrote of “these who die as cattle”. The Second World War with the death of millions, the Nazis, the Holocaust, the Soviet Gulag, and the obscenity of death by atomic bomb — all of this undercut Christian moral and social values based on the faith. Existential angst and helplessness replaced churchgoing.

The 1960s brought massive social and technological challenges, which eroded support for the Church. Hayward describes how faith became to be regarded as the past, not the future. There was a widespread loss of trust in all institutions. Football came to replace church as the centre of community. For Hayward, the final critical event was when the churches were closed when they were most needed, in the pandemic.

Ironically, Hayward wisely sees that the pandemic and the lockdown gave the Church a chance to reset. People had space and silence to ask themselves what life was for, what their life was. People started to go on Alpha courses, return to church on Sundays, become interested in spirituality, not just religion, feel a deep need to care for the poor, needy, the homeless, and to look again to Jesus Christ and his teaching. Hayward gently concludes that when a tide goes out, the tide flows back, perhaps even more powerfully.

Read it all.

📙 Review: Lyle Dennen considers a hopeful commentator #BookReviews #ChurchTimes https://t.co/mwQx2fQF7E

— Church Times (@ChurchTimes) September 22, 2026

The roughly 4% unemployment rate measures something very different from what people often hear in the mainstream media or from well-meaning thought leaders: “all-time low,” “full employment” and similar descriptions.

They are mistaken.

The government also reports a measure called U-6. It includes the unemployed people, those “marginally attached” to the labor force and people working part time who want full-time work. The U-6 measure raises the 4% to about 8%….

The monthly number today of about 4% represents roughly 6.5 million Americans who are unemployed, looking for work and not working.

When including prime working-age (25-54) men and women “not working,” what I call real unemployment is closer to 12%. About 22 million out of work.

Read it all.

@cspanwj Unemployment: A National Misunderstanding Most of us accept use the term, &, most of us are sure this is correct. But we know there are more important measurements that suggest different gov't actions. https://t.co/ou67ovSHP5

— 34Hunter (@mikefreema38742) September 21, 2026

As part of those concrete steps to rebuilding trust, I hope that the CoB is considering these questions:

What is the plan for releasing the Lathrop report? This report examines the Provincial Office’s handling of the disciplinary process for Bp. Stewart Ruch, and its publication (with appropriate redactions) would increase transparency and display a desire for accountability. (Additionally, thoughtful preparation will avoid the problems that plagued the release of the Husch-Blackwell report during the investigation into Bp. Ruch.)

Will the transcripts of the Ruch trial be released? Given the many irregularities in that trial, making the transcripts available would show that the province is willing to be transparent about its own processes.

Will the College release the presentment against Bishop Edgar? As of now, we do not know what charges were brought against Bp. Edgar, nor who brought them, which shrouds the disciplinary process in secrecy and veils potential conflicts of interest on the part of the presenting bishops.

As the province transitions to the new disciplinary process outlined in the recently passed revisions to Title IV of the canons, how specifically does the province intend to care for reporters and whistleblowers? What are the protections against retaliation for those who raise concerns?

What specific steps will the province take to rebuild trust after the Wood trial concludes? Regardless of the outcome, the ACNA must grapple with how to move forward and demonstrate its commitment to caring for reporters and keeping the disciplinary process transparent….

What message does it send to the province that a presentment could be filed so swiftly against Bp. Chip Edgar for blessing a school chapel [as I have noted elsewhere this is NOT the heart of the issue it is participation in and reception of the Eucharist] alongside an Episcopal priest, while it took significantly longer—and much persistence from reporters—for presentments to be filed against Bps. Ruch, Jones, and Wood?

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Today on Substack, we’re naming questions we hope the College of Bishops addresses as it convenes this week. Which questions would you prioritize?https://t.co/dFw7dfdeys

— anglicanrenewal (@anglicanrenewal) September 21, 2026

The Bishop of Lincoln, the Right Reverend Stephen Conway, has resigned amid an ongoing investigation into an allegation of sexual assault.

It follows his arrest in February.

Conway’s resignation, which will formally come into effect on 1 October, was confirmed in a statement from the Church of England.

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Bishop of Lincoln resigns amid sex assault inquiry https://t.co/y4tPSjkZXd

— BBC News (UK) (@BBCNews) September 21, 2026

Almighty God, whose Son Jesus Christ is the pioneer and perfecter of our faith We give thee heartfelt thanks for the pioneering spirit of thy servant Philander Chase, and for his zeal in opening new frontiers for the ministry of thy Church. Grant us grace to minister in Christ’s name in every place, led by bold witnesses to the Gospel of the Prince of Peace, even Jesus Christ our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.

Lord, who hast warned us that without thee we can do nothing; and by thy holy apostle hast taught us that in thy strength we can do all things: So take and possess us, that our weakness may be transformed by thy power; that we be no longer our own, but thine; that it be not we who live, but thou who livest in us; who now reignest with the Father and the Holy Spirit, world without end.

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

On the third day Esther put on her royal robes and stood in the inner court of the king’s palace, opposite the king’s hall. The king was sitting on his royal throne inside the palace opposite the entrance to the palace; and when the king saw Queen Esther standing in the court, she found favor in his sight and he held out to Esther the golden scepter that was in his hand. Then Esther approached and touched the top of the scepter. And the king said to her, “What is it, Queen Esther? What is your request? It shall be given you, even to the half of my kingdom.” And Esther said, “If it please the king, let the king and Haman come this day to a dinner that I have prepared for the king.” Then said the king, “Bring Haman quickly, that we may do as Esther desires.” So the king and Haman came to the dinner that Esther had prepared. And as they were drinking wine, the king said to Esther, “What is your petition? It shall be granted you. And what is your request? Even to the half of my kingdom, it shall be fulfilled.” But Esther said, “My petition and my request is: If I have found favor in the sight of the king, and if it please the king to grant my petition and fulfil my request, let the king and Haman come tomorrow to the dinner which I will prepare for them, and tomorrow I will do as the king has said.”

And Haman went out that day joyful and glad of heart. But when Haman saw Mor′decai in the king’s gate, that he neither rose nor trembled before him, he was filled with wrath against Mor′decai. Nevertheless Haman restrained himself, and went home; and he sent and fetched his friends and his wife Zeresh. And Haman recounted to them the splendor of his riches, the number of his sons, all the promotions with which the king had honored him, and how he had advanced him above the princes and the servants of the king. And Haman added, “Even Queen Esther let no one come with the king to the banquet she prepared but myself. And tomorrow also I am invited by her together with the king. Yet all this does me no good, so long as I see Mor′decai the Jew sitting at the king’s gate.” Then his wife Zeresh and all his friends said to him, “Let a gallows fifty cubits high be made, and in the morning tell the king to have Mor′decai hanged upon it; then go merrily with the king to the dinner.” This counsel pleased Haman, and he had the gallows made.

–Esther 5:1-14

Finally, we will ask what went wrong.

The postmortem will be this. Many people panicked about the possibility of strong AI models killing us all. That fear was not based on peer-reviewed scientific research showing a high chance of doom, nor was doom indicated in any market prices of the time, including measures of risk. It was a story, just like this is a story, and it was spread on social media. The key point of the doom story was that, if America keeps the No. 1 spot in AI models, the models will be so strong they will do us all in, or lead to unimaginable catastrophes. We were too afraid to have America keep the lead, forgetting that if truly destructive AI is our fate, the doomer scenario can come from Chinese AI as well.

Today, we cannot say for sure that the AI doom scenario is false. But is it a story we wish to live by? Is belief in it a good way to protect and extend life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness? Will it help us much, or for long, if it is Chinese AI that turns on us and does us in?

In my view, successful societies accept challenges and meet them. Solving problems, bit by bit, is the best way to ensure that we have the capabilities to meet big and truly existential risks, should those risks come along. Debating the chances of our doom, ex ante, on a highly speculative basis, is unlikely to provide the same kind of expertise and talent cultivation. It is instead more likely to demoralize and immobilize us.

So which America are we going to choose?

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Tyler Cowen: A Doomsday Scenario for American AI https://t.co/3qm0eVwQ3I

— Mark Semonian (@msemonian) September 21, 2026

Iran, China and groups in Israel used artificial intelligence in novel ways in recent months to create first-of-their-kind influence campaigns on social media, ratcheting up concerns among U.S. officials and security researchers about the fast-evolving technology.

The countries and groups combined A.I. tactics to ramp up the speed and scale of online campaigns beyond what people could easily achieve and with minimal human interaction, U.S. officials and security researchers with knowledge of the efforts said.

First, the countries and groups turned to Chinese “open-source” A.I. models, which are increasingly powerful systems that are freely available to download and modify. Then they used those A.I. models to create “agents,” which are bots that can operate software and complete tasks on their own.

Once hundreds of those A.I. agents were let loose, they autonomously opened networks of fake accounts on platforms such as Instagram, Facebook, X and TikTok, the officials and security researchers said. The agents then rapidly seeded the fake accounts with false posts about politics and current events to sway opinions and inflame issues.

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