Collect on the Comprehension of the Mysteries

O Lord, when your Son ascended into heaven he sent down upon the Apostles the Holy Spirit, as he had promised, that they might comprehend the mysteries of the kingdom: Distribute among us, we pray, the gifts of the selfsame Spirit; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.

 

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Thursday’s Round-up: Non-Catholic Christians, Losing the Faith, and Businesspeople in the Church

Leroy Huizenga, Director of the Christian Leadership Center at the University of Mary, clarifies that Catholics actually do believe that non-Catholic Christians are . . . Christian.

Frederick Schmidt discusses the reasons pastors lose their faith in the midst of their ministries.

An excerpt from “How the Church Fails Businesspeople (and What Can Be Done About It),” by John C. Knapp, is presented  over at Christianity Today.

 

 

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Collect on the Glorification of Christ

O God, by the glorification of Jesus Christ and the coming of the Holy Spirit you have opened for us the gates of your kingdom: Grant that we, who have received such great gifts, may dedicate ourselves more diligently to your service, and live more fully the riches of our faith; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.

 

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Wednesday’s Round-up: The Next Archbishop (?) and the Lutheran-Anglican Alliance

Peter Stanford, in the Daily Telegraph, reports on the possible candidates to become the next Archbishop of Canterbury.

The Christian Post reports on the ecumenical efforts of the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod and the Anglican Church in North America to define common beliefs, affirm the core teachings of the faith, and identify ways to address the social challenges confronting the church today.

 

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Prayer to the King of Glory

O God, the King of glory, you have exalted your only Son Jesus Christ with great triumph to your kingdom in heaven: Do not leave us comfortless, but send us your Holy Spirit to strengthen us, and exalt us to that place where our Savior Christ has gone before; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, in glory everlasting. Amen.

 

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Tuesday’s Round-up: Communion Without Baptism, Pentecost, and Challenging Canterbury

After the Episcopal Diocese of Eastern Oregon proposed a resolution to administer communion to the unbaptized, Communion Without Baptism (CWB) has become a hotly debated topic. Bryan Owen, over at Creedal Christian, calls CWB an “assault on the church.” Fr. Tony Clavier, over at Shreds and Patches, provides a short theology of baptism in response to the proposal.

Fr. Robert Hart discusses Pentecost Sunday, otherwise know as Whitsunday, in a substantial reflection on the significance of the Day of Pentecost.

Thomas Kidd reports on the ways Anglicans throughout the world are challenging British leadership.

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Collect for Strength

O God, the King of glory, you have exalted your only Son Jesus Christ with great triumph to your kingdom in heaven: Do not leave us comfortless, but send us your Holy Spirit to strengthen us, and exalt us to that place where our Savior Christ has gone before; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, in glory everlasting. Amen.

 

 

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Friday’s Round-up: The Three Streams, Losing Passion, and Narnian Pilgrims

Connor Wood explores whether analytical thinking is bad for religious belief, after a study in Science magazine compared the religious beliefs of analytical thinkers versus intuitive thinkers.

Gillis Harp has written a long essay on the “Three Streams, One River” typology that is currently influencing Anglicanism, even offering up a few criticisms of the typology for the church. Compare the essay against Matthew Brench’s essay on the same subject in the Spring edition of the Center for Theology.

Adrian Boykin offers advice to church leaders who have lost their passion for their vocation, and suffer from the ancient sin of acedia, or “not caring.”

Cameron Nation discusses his pilgrimage to see all the sacred sites and relics of . . . C. S. Lewis.

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Collect for Fruitful Seasons

Almighty God, Lord of heaven and earth: We humbly pray that your gracious providence may give and preserve to our use the harvests of the land and of the seas, and may prosper all who labor to gather them, that we, who are constantly receiving good things from your hand, may always give you thanks; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

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Thursday’s Round-up: Marian Apparition Rules, Generous Orthodoxy, and Bad Religion

The Vatican has released rules for seeing the Virgin Mary–a good thing to keep in your back-pocket the next time you see the apparition of Mary.

Michael L. Lindvall discusses proportional truth and generous orthodoxy, exploring the limits of what the church can know about God, by comparing the thought of philosopher Jean-Jacques Rousseau to theologian Karl Barth.

Ross Douthat summarizes and responds to many of the objections to his book “Bad Religion,” and discusses how secular liberalism makes many moral claims without any supernatural or metaphysical basis to them.

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