Rosie Harper writes for The Guardian about General Synod’s cliquey clergy. “The tribal factions of the General Synod aren’t hard to spot – but they’re supposed to work out God’s agenda, not their own.”
Andrew Brown at The Guardian offers a brief meditation on original sin, Apples, and omnipotent network gods: Augustinian and Pelagian software.
Savi Hensman writes for Ekklesia about Baptism: A new world coming.
Giles Fraser writes in the Church Times about Praise from a mouth that waters.
Shoshana Garfield writes in The Guardian about Faith in the darkest of moments. “Many torture victims tell convincing stories of divine intervention in their ordeal.”
Helen Lee writes for Busted Halo about God in Gaga. “Lady Gaga’s latest single is an anthem for the marginalized.” The article has been reprinted by The Washington Post.
In his article on grace before meals, Giles Fraser confessed “we rarely say grace together as a family, which is a pity”. That is a pity. My extended family always says grace before meals, joining hands [started to keep little fingers out of the food while our heads were bowed!] one of us will say the grace. This is a thrice daily oportunity to ‘touch base with God’ and a constant reminder that all our benefits come from God. When we join hands and say grace in public, I also believe it is a witness to others. In my small… Read more »
U2charist left me cold . . . but bring on Gagarist! [j/k . . . *slightly* ;-)]
Lady Gaga may be a flawed vessel (aren’t we all?), but she IS doing the Lord’s work here. God makes no mistakes! 🙂
Lady Gaga rocks!
Grace before dinner was a given as I grew up. “For what we are baout to receive, may the Lord make us truly tahnksful.” When I was old enough to read the C. S. Forester series about the career of the intrepid Hornblower in the British Navy, imagine my delight when I read that our dinner grace was the ironic prayer of sailors facing a broadside from the enemy!
If I recall Forrester correctly, he never actually provides the whole ironic prayer, but merely the opening. The naval use (which is still the official Naval Grace) both before battle with the enemy or battle with one’s rations is usually rendered: “For what we are about to receive, THANK GOD.”
Malcolm – I expect you are right. It’s been a long time since I read those books – when I was a child, they were serialized in the Saturday Evening Post. My parents bought some of the books, and I can remember when I would have been in grade school, my mother insisting to the librarian at our local public library that I could indeed check out one of them, even though they were NOT in the ‘juvenile’ section.