There are generally no new posts between sundown on the Sabbath and sundown on the Lord's Day.

Interesting what causes concern for pro-abortion lobby ...

With the clock running down on a long-fought primary, NARAL Pro-Choice America leaders sent state affiliates reeling this week by endorsing Sen. Barack Obama of Illinois. It was seen as a gratuitous slap in the face to a longtime ally, and it sparked a fear even closer to home: that the move will alienate donors loyal to Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York.

Many on this week’s conference call were stunned on learning the news, making urgent pleas for the group to remain neutral until after the June 3 Democratic primaries. “It’s created a firestorm,” said NARAL Pro-Choice New York President Kelli Conlin, who was on the conference call. “Everyone was mystified ... saying, ‘What is the upside for the organization? And, frankly, [there was] a lot of concern about the donor base. ... There was real concern there would be a backlash.” More.

Abortion largest cause of death in Europe ...

"There is a marital breakdown and an abortion in Europe almost every 30 seconds, according to a major new report.

Marriage and birth rates are falling dramatically, pensioners now outnumber teenagers, and more and more people are living alone, says the Institute for family policy in a survey of life in the 27 EU countries.

The report, ‘The evolution of the family in Europe in 2008’, was debated in parliament [UK] on recently and describes the European birth rate as “critical”.

Urging national governments to set up a ministry for the family, it says, “Europe is now an elderly continent. Almost one in every five pregnancies ends in abortion.

The marriage rate fell by 24 per cent between 1980 and 2006.

Two out of three households have no children, and nearly 28 per cent of households contain only one person.

”It says the average marriage lasts about 13 years and the number of abortions in the EU every year is put at 1.2 million - equivalent to the population of Slovenia. That makes abortion the largest single cause of death in Europe.

It warns: “Europe is undergoing a demographic winter ..." More

A UK blogger replies to the article:

But let's get this straight, we don't have enough young people in work to support the pensioners, we try to get around this by importing immigrants - frequently Muslim. Muslim immigrants and their descendants claim more welfare then the 'natives'. So immigration isn't a real solution to this problem, it makes it worse and makes bloody Balkanization likely.

Another blogger replies with this:

[He begins by affirming abortion rught up to viability. then says what follows. How would you describe this man's world view? Certainly it is not Jewish or Christian. But, what words would you use to describe it? GRL3}

Old people. When I was growing up, old people died in their own homes - essentially, when they could no longer look after themselves properly, they died. That is nature's way - indeed, nature in the raw is actually harsher than that: death from old age is almost exclusively a human thing.

In the wild, growing older and slower inevitably results in one of two things - death from starvation or deaath from predation. Personally - even though I do not believe in any form of afterlife - when I can no longer feed myself, and a little later on wipe my own backside then it's time to die. Goodbye. The only exception to this is if I have an accident and that condition is thus only temporary. But if it isn't going to get better - time to die. Far too many of us are kept alive far beyond our natural time.

Another blogger says this:

"The Great God Moloch is clearly insatiable."

[If you do not know much about the god Moloch you might want to do some research. He lured the ancient Hebrew/Jewish people. He is a lure to our Western culture - and indeed Western Church as surely and successfully today. GRL3]

Embracing the Virtues of the Single-Income Family (6)

To succeed on one income the family must embrace the six virtues of successful stay-at-home parents. Consider:

Virtue 6: Reject Materialism —

One of the more difficult challenges to our resolve comes from envy. As we watch our neighbors and friends enjoying the finer things in life, it is easy to assume that they must be happier than us. But the research on the subject conflicts with this premise.

Dr. Ed Diener has studied subjective well-being (SWB) and wealth. He concludes: It appears that a higher income might help if we are very poor. Gaining more income if we are middle-class or upper-class and are living in a wealthy nation is unlikely to substantially bolster our SWB on a long-term basis. (Will Money Increase Subjective Well-Being?, Diener and Biswas-Diener, 2001)

Now what if your basic needs are being met, yet you find yourself experiencing a great deal of monetary discontent? Materialism may be your problem as Dr. Tim Kasser’s research explains:

When people believe materialistic values are important, they report less happiness and more distress, have poorer interpersonal relationships, contribute less to the community, and engage in more ecologically damaging behaviors. (www.knox.edu/tkasser.xml, 2005)

Remember: It is often not the loss of income that is the greatest challenge for the new stay-at-home parent, but rather the inability to break out of the materialist hold money has on all of us. -- Christine Connors

New Dean and President for Trinity School for Ministry ...

The Trinity School for Ministry Board of Trustees announced today that the Rev. Dr. Justyn Terry has accepted an enthusiastic call by the board to become the new Dean and President, succeeding the Rt. Rev. Dr. John H. Rodgers, Trinity’s second Dean and President, who left retirement to serve as Interim Dean/President beginning in August 2007. More.

George Bush and Ariel Sharon on appeasement ...

What the ''outraged'' Democrats and mainstream media are completely ignoring in Bush's ''appeasement'' words used in yesterday's Knesset speech is that they addressed concerns originally raised by Ariel Sharon.

Shortly after the 9/11 attacks, then Israeli Prime Minister Sharon warned the United States not to ''appease the Arabs at [Israel's] expense.''

''Don't repeat the terrible mistakes of 1938, when the enlightened democracies in Europe decided to sacrifice Czechoslovakia for a comfortable, temporary solution.

Source: The American Thinker

The Prayer of the Trinity ...

Father almighty, maker of heaven and earth:
Set up your kingdom in our midst.

Lord Jesus Christ, Son of the living God:
Have mercy on me, a sinner.

Holy Spirit, breath of the living God:
Renew me and all the world.

This is a prayer written by Bishop Tom Wright. I find it extraordinary in its profundity and in its simplicity. Bishop Wright teaches about this prayer. You can read the teaching by clicking here. GRL3

Pictured above is the famous icon of the Trinity which was painted around 1410 by Andrei Rublev.

It depicts the three angels who visited Abraham at the Oak of Mamre - but is often interpreted as an icon of the Trinity.

The image is full of symbolism - designed to take the viewer into the Mystery of the Trinity. Let me share a few with you.

The three faces are identical... how might this help us to understand the nature of the Trinity?

All the figures wear a blue garment - the colour of the heavens... but each wears something that speaks of Their own identity.

They are turned towards the one looking at the icon - drawing them into their relationship.

Embracing the Virtues of the Single-Income Family (5)

To succeed on one income the family must embrace the six virtues of successful stay-at-home parents. Consider:

Virtue 5: Gratitude -

When we are always in a state of want, we fail to appreciate what it is we already have. Instead of comparing yourself to those who have more, try to compare yourself to those who have less, and be grateful for the blessings that you do have. -- Christine Connors

Why Bishop John Lipscomb Became a Roman Catholic ...

Why John Lipscomb Became a Roman Catholic (click here)

I think it weird - plus the priest cannot dance any better than me which is pathetic ...

Archbishop Orombi Responds to the Presiding Bishop ...

14th May 2008

The Most Rev. Katharine Jefferts Schori
The Episcopal Church USA
815 Second Avenue
New York, NY

Dear Bishop Katharine,

I received word of your letter through a colleague who had seen it on the internet. Without the internet, I may never have known that you had written such a personal, yet sadly ironic, letter to me.

Unfortunately, you appear to have been misinformed about key matters, which I hope to clear up in this letter.

1. I am not visiting a church in the Diocese of Georgia. I am visiting a congregation that is part of the Church of Uganda. Were I to visit a congregation within TEC, I would certainly observe the courtesy of contacting the local bishop. Since, however, I am visiting a congregation that is part of the Church of Uganda, I feel very free to visit them and encourage them through the Word of God.

2. The reason this congregation separated from TEC and is now part of the Church of Uganda is that the actions of TEC's General Convention and statements of duly elected TEC leaders and representatives indicate that TEC has abandoned the historic Christian faith. Furthermore, as predicted by the Primates of the Anglican Communion in October 2003, TEC's actions have, in fact, torn the fabric of the Communion at its deepest level.

3. May I remind you that the initial reason the Lambeth Commission on Communion was appointed was because of unbiblical decisions taken by TEC in defiance of repeated warnings by all of the Anglican Instruments of Communion. The Windsor Report was produced and accepted in amended form by the Primates at our meeting in Dromantine, Northern Ireland, in February 2005. It is, therefore, quite ironic for you to be quoting the Windsor Report to me. Nowhere in the Windsor Report or in subsequent statements of the Instruments of Communion is there a moral equivalence between the unbiblical actions and decisions of TEC that have torn the fabric of our Communion at its deepest level and the pastoral response on our part to provide ecclesiastical oversight to American congregations who wish to continue to uphold the faith once delivered to the saints and remain a part of the Anglican Communion. Your selective quoting of the Windsor Report is stunning in its arrogance and condescension.

4. You and your House of Bishops rejected outright the Pastoral Scheme painstakingly devised in Dar es Salaam, and to which you agreed. You have, therefore, left us no choice but to continue to respond to the cries of God's faithful people in America for episcopal oversight that upholds and promotes historic, biblical Anglicanism.

5. An important element of the Dar es Salaam agreement was the plea by the Primates that "the representatives of The Episcopal Church and of those congregations in property disputes with it to suspend all actions in law arising in this situation." This was something to which you gave verbal assent and yet you have initiated more legal actions against congregations and clergy in your short tenure as Presiding Bishop than all of your predecessors combined. I urge you to rethink, suspend litigation and follow a more Christ-like approach to settling your differences.

Finally, I appeal to you to heed the advice of Gamaliel in Acts 5.38ff, "Leave these [churches] alone! Let them go! For if their purpose or activity is of human origin, it will fail. But if it is from God, you will not be able to stop [them]; you will only find yourselves fighting against God."

Yours, in Christ,

The Most Rev. Henry Luke Orombi
ARCHBISHOP OF CHURCH OF UGANDA.

H/T Stand Firm

Embracing the Virtues of the Single-Income Family (4)

To succeed on one income the family must embrace the six virtues of successful stay-at-home parents. Consider:

Virtue 4: Humor - I have to admit that it took us a while before we could see the humor in a used Plymouth minivan we purchased a few years back.

Within a short period of time, everything that could possibly break on that death trap did. From the air conditioner to the transmission, from the power windows to the suspension, one-by-one, front to back, things just fell apart.

Our ongoing problems with the van went from distressing to absurd when the passenger door spontaneously rusted itself from the hinge followed by total failure of all the dashboard instruments. We improvised to get by.

The passenger door was held shut by duct tape and a rope tied to the inside handle. Vehicle speed was estimated by the sound of the wind blowing past our window. Finally, the transmission failed, putting an end to the year-long battle. We certainly haven’t always appreciated the humor at the time, but our low-income adventures eventually provide chuckles down the road. -- Christine Connors

Another "honor" killing ...

A man who was suspected of drowning his 22-year-old sister for having an extramarital affair was charged Monday with premeditated murder, a judicial official said. The unidentified woman’s brother beat her with the help of his family Saturday and then took her to the Dead Sea where he drowned her.

The state prosecutor also charged the woman’s parents and another brother Monday with assisting in the murder by knowing about it and beating the woman before she died, the official said.

No favor for Senator Obama indeed ...

The Hamas leader Ahmed Yousef did Barack Obama no favor recently when he said: “We like Mr. Obama and we hope that he will win the election.” -- The Atlantic

Matt Kennedy really nails this one ...

"...Most Episcopalians know too little about classic doctrine to question it, too little about scripture to reject its contents, too little about the Christian worldview to sense that it has gone missing because the past emphasis on these things has long since been discarded by the “shepherds” and “pastors” of the church who considered them irrelevant to modern humanity, replacing them with superficial calls to “love one another” and to 'social justice.'”

"And so absent a firm grasp of classic doctrine, absent the ongoing presence and proclamation of the content of the apostolic faith, inevitably the values, mores, habits of thought and life that characterize the culture began to characterize the church.

The Episcopal Church is a sick body. Like any sick body she manifests visible symptoms that tell knowledgeable observers that something has gone terribly wrong."

More

Embracing the Virtues of the Single-Income Family (3)

To succeed on one income the family must embrace the six virtues of successful stay-at-home parents. Consider:

Virtue 3: Simplicity -

A life of simplicity is in many ways a spiritual quest, one that requires that we separate ourselves from a world obsessed with having the newest, biggest, and best.

The goal of simplicity is to find peace in a walk that is often far different from the others walking around you. While your working friends and neighbors may be buying bigger homes, dressing their children in brand-named clothes, and enjoying fabulous vacations, you on the other hand may be downsizing your home, dressing your children in hand-me-downs, and selling family heirlooms to pay the phone bill.

To find peace in this means that we are not envious, angry, or bitter about the absence of things that we’ve chosen to live without. -- Christine Connors

Muslim chases service animal out of school ...

A St. Cloud State University student in a teacher-training program at Technical High School left the school in late April because he says he feared for the safety of his service dog.

The school district calls it a misunderstanding, and officials there say they hoped Tyler Hurd, a 23-year-old junior from Mahtomedi who aspires to teach special education, would continue his training in the district.

Hurd said a student threatened to kill his service dog named Emmitt. The black lab is trained to protect Hurd when he has seizures. …

Hurd trained at Talahi Community School and Tech. He said his experience at Talahi was good. The Somali students there warmed to the dog and eventually petted him using paper to keep their hands off his fur, Hurd said.

Things didn’t go as well at Tech, Hurd said. Students there taunted his dog, and he finally felt he had to leave after he was told a student made a threat. Hurd met with Lockhart but said he did not feel comfortable continuing.

Inspiring anyone?

As many as 700 arrested in illegal immigration raid ...

A raid by federal immigration officials at the nation's largest kosher meatpacking plant may have resulted in as many as 700 arrests, immigration officials said Monday Agents from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement entered the Agriprocessors Inc. complex in northeast Iowa Monday morning to execute a criminal search warrant for evidence relating to aggravated identity theft, fraudulent use of Social Security numbers and other crimes, said Tim Counts, a Midwest ICE spokesman.

Source: Des Moines Register

1,000 Christian leaders, 280 bishops to GAFCON in Jerusalem

Over 1000 senior leaders from seventeen provinces in the Anglican Communion, representing 35 million church-going Anglicans, have registered for the Global Anglican Future Conference (GAFCON) in Jerusalem at the close of the online registration process. They include 280 bishops, almost all accompanied by their wives. Final attendance figures will depend on smooth processing of requested visas, and other factors.

GAFCON leaders have met in the period leading up to Pentecost with the leaders of Anglican, Orthodox, Roman Catholic and Eastern Catholic churches and Palestinian Christians and Messianic Jews in Jerusalem to brief them on the nature and purpose of GAFCON. GAFCON is concerned to affirm the continuing presence of the Church in the Holy Land.

Archbishop Peter Jensen of Sydney, the chair of the Programme Committee reports that the programme is almost complete. "Our programme will focus on the transforming love of Christ. We will be drawing from the scriptures of the Old and New Testament in our pilgrimage, and their relevance to the challenges facing the church globally today. These include secularism, other religions, poverty and HIV/Aids as well as moral and theological issues."

Pilgrims will visit traditional sites in Jerusalem during the pilgrimage June 22 – 29, 2008 including Mount of Olives, the Garden of Gethsemane and the Ophel Gardens and Temple steps where at the first Pentecost Peter preached and people of all nations responded. The 1000 pilgrims will travel to Bethlehem to the Church of the Nativity and Shepherds' Field, and then to Galilee.

The goals of the GAFCON conference in Jerusalem are to:

1. Provide an opportunity for fellowship as well as to continue to experience and proclaim the transforming love of Christ.

2. Develop a renewed understanding of our identity as Anglican Christians.

3. Prepare for an Anglican future in which the Gospel is uncompromised and Christ-centered mission a top priority. Pentecost 2008

Trust me, I am a Zulu ...

"The Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, has admitted the coming Lambeth Conference of the Anglican Church's bishops from around the world may well be a "painful" experience for many. As we report, he said he hoped a "way forward" could be found in a Church facing almost inevitable schism ..."

"He also said that instead of the usual confrontational parliamentary methods of debate, the conference will be run using 'indaba' groups, a form of Zulu negotiation."

This is excellent. A blogger replies ...

"It's a pity the AbC wasn't living in the Fourth Century, when he could have introduced the Fathers assembled at Nicaea to "indaba groups" and so have avoided all that tiresome squabbling over Arius ..."

"His master the Emperor Constantine would have been much more pleased with that outcome, than that which, faced with all those tiresome Africans and their sympathizers, he actually got. But better late than never -- at least those tiresome contemporary Africans can be sidelined by this trendy bit of multiculturalism."

Source: Ruth Gledhill, The London Times

Embracing the Virtues of the Single-Income Family (2)

To succeed on one income the family must embrace the six virtues of successful stay-at-home parents. Consider:

Virtue 2: Humility -

A woman writes: "I was in line at Goodwill once when the phone belonging to the lady in front of me began to ring. She picked it up and said, “Oh Hi! Well, I’ll be there in about 15 minutes. I’m at the mall.” I thought of yelling, “Don’t believe her! She’s in line with us losers at Goodwill!” I find no shame in shopping at Goodwill. In fact, had I taken the call, it probably would have sounded like this: “Girlfriend, guess where I am? I’m at Goodwill, and you would not believe the deals today!” -- Christine Connors

Military hits recruiting goals across the board ...

Many media outlets have assumed that the military has a difficult time recruiting and retaining men and women during a war. The Pentagon released figures showing that both recruitment and retention continue to meet or exceed goals for the year. Every service branch in both active duty and reserves have made their April targets as well as the year-to-date goals.

Congratulations on a job well done. Will this get much attention in the national media? HA. GRL3

The best Hillary impression you’ll ever see ...

Awesome! GRL3

Embracing the Virtues of the Single-Income Family (1)

There is no question about it, moving from two incomes to one has a dramatic impact on our lives. To succeed the family must do more than simply cut corners, it must embrace the six virtues of successful stay-at-home parents. The question I am raising in these six posts is: "how important is it to you to raise your own children rather than have them raised by others?"

Virtue 1: Sacrifice

Shifting to one income requires sacrifice. It is this same sacrifice that causes stay-at-home parents to recoil when they are told that they are ‘fortunate’, ‘blessed’, or ‘lucky’ to be home. While they may be blessed indeed, most families make major sacrifices in order to be so. -- Christine Connors