Abortion
Jean Garton tells 2016 NRL Prayer Breakfast, “Where there is life, There is Hope” by Dave Andrusko
New Zealand denies abortion parental notification rights for girls 15 and younger by Michelle Kaufman
Supreme Court Says Pharmacists Must Dispense Abortifacients by Zack Pruitt – “If the Supreme Court were ever going to defend the Free Exercise Clause, this was the case to do it.”
Why Don’t Consumer Protections Apply To The Abortion Industry? by Nick Dusek – “In making access the measure of scrutiny for abortion regulations, the Supreme Court has made it nearly impossible to enact the kind of consumer protections that apply to all other industries.”
Irish Parliament votes to protect unborn children from abortion
End-of-Life
Canada: the world has gone MAD by Paul Russell – “The government will help you violate your conscience.”
Euthanasia Tyranny Prevails in Canada by Wesley J. Smith
Family Living
Our Love Remains Unchanged: Making the Transition From Husband to Caregiver by Jane Bianchi – “As dementia slowly steals my wife of 41 years, I do everything I can to make her feel comfortable and loved.”
It Took Us 25 Years To Find Each Other, But It Was Worth It by F.J. Rocca – “My wife and I are 20 years apart, and traveled many winding roads to finally reach each other.”
Sexual Purity
How a rolling sexual revolution is crushing freedom by Gabriele Kuby – “A strong voice from Europe warns that ‘sexual liberation’ is anything but.”
Worldview and Culture
The Transgender Suicide Rate Isn’t Due To Discrimination by Daniel Payne
Iowa’s Law-Gospel Dialectic by Carl R. Trueman
This Pro-Life Leader Did Something When She Was 16 That Might Surprise You by Emily Derois
What Can the Church Do in Times of Violence by Chad Bird
Jesus Said You Shouldn’t Judge by Tim Barnett
Textual Variants: It’s the Nature, Not the Number, That Matters by Tim Barnett
Letting God Take the Heat by Alan Shlemon
Russia’s Newest Law: No Evangelizing Outside of Church – UPDATE: Putin signs new restrictions that limit where and how Christians share the gospel by Kate Shellnutt
The Fake “Jesus’ Wife” Papyrus – Un-Believers Gotta Un-Believe by Eric Metaxas – “Probably a fake. That’s what a Harvard professor is saying about the ‘Jesus’ wife’ papyrus she once believed to be authentic. Why did folks fall for it in the first place?”
Bless Thou the Astronauts – How the church shaped early lunar exploration by David Bradstreet and Steve Rabey
What’s it really like to live in a 267-square-foot house? A Minnesota family tells all by Kim Palmer
Chewbacca Mom Sings The National Anthem At The Houston Astros Game — And It’s Beautiful! by Allyson Souza
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Freedom of Religion by James M. Kushiner, The Fellowship of St. James
“Grant, we beseech Thee, Almighty God, as we are bathed in the new light of Thine incarnate Word, that what shines by faith in our minds may also blaze out in our lives. Through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.”
This prayer from the Gregorian Sacramentary is in the St. James Daily Devotional Guide for July 3-9, 2016.
It asks for the Lord’s assistance in translating the objective content of what we believe in our minds (and confess with our lips, I might add) into a living faith, one that is manifested in our daily lives. It is another way of asking the Lord to help us to fulfill his teaching: “Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.” (Matthew 5:16)
But this “light” is not simply the light of a generic all-purpose “religious” faith, the inner light of that “spirituality” that western moderns love to congratulate themselves on. This is no ordinary religious light, but something New coming into the world.
In our prayer for this week, we pray about this “new light of Thine Incarnate Word” in which we are bathed, presumably in baptism and by the Holy Spirit. This new light is Jesus himself–“I am the Light of the world.”
The light of Christ is unlike any other so-called lights, including those of so-called enlightened ones. And that light is his life–“In him was life, and his life was the light of men.” The way that he lived and died and rose again marks out our path from darkness to the kingdom of light.
This new light overturns self-focus, ego, vengeance, pride, self-righteousness, indulgence of passions, hatred, oppression, and it flows from the self-giving of God in Christ, embracing, welcoming the divine creation and all of life. Acknowledging the fallen state of man, it embraces sacrifice, repentance, forgiveness and mercy.
For this reason, our religion can never simply be restricted to formal worship rites, church attendance, and restricted to Sunday servcies or religious holy days. It is a 24-7 life in Christ expressed in both word and deed in our homes, schools, marketplace, and public square–wherever we find ourselves.
For this reason, freedom of religion for Christians can not be the same as mere “freedom of worship.” Unless we insist on a broader definition of worship–that our 24-7 living in Christ is worship.
If a state recognizes only freedom of worship, our response is that the faith in our minds must blaze out in our daily lives as living acts of worship. Our Christian lives and our Christian worship are to blaze out well beyond Sunday services. So, let the light shine!