Wednesday's Catch: The Temptation of the Status Quo and More

Why the Status Quo is So Tempting (and Dangerous)

Ronald Reagan once stated, “Status quo, you know, that is Latin for the mess we’re in.” Most churches (and church leaders) that clamor for the status quo are messes. You don’t often hear of a healthy church championing the status quo. Visionary leaders don’t compel others to stay the same. Read More 

What To Read about Conspiracy Theory

Ihave been doing a lot of thinking and writing about conspiracy theory, and it’s all Carl Trueman’s fault. I got an advance copy of his forthcoming book The Rise and Triumph of the Modern Self and enjoyed it so much that I decided to go back and read some of his other books. Next on my list was Histories and Fallacies, which concerns historical method. His thoughts on Holocast Denial sparked some questions about conspiracy theory, and from there I was off to the races. A couple of weeks later I had read 7 or 8 books on conspiracy theory and various related topics. It made for a fascinating study. Read More

We are now living in a world in which people would rather believe implausible conspiracy theories than they would face reality. What should concern church leaders is that these conspiracy theories are not only leading the members of their congregations  but also their fellow church leaders away from Jesus and his teaching. A their core conspiracy theories are a collection of lies and half-truths. These lies and half-truths point to one of the culprits behind conspiracy theories, the devil himself, the father of lies. The Christian market needs not only one or more good books on the subject but also books that explore the spiritual warfare dimensions of conspiracy theories.

One in Five COVID Patients Goes on to Develop Mental Illness

For clergy who care for COVID-19 patients in their communities, these findings, as Megan Briggs points out, will likely be of interest to them. As Megan Briggs also observes, "the number of cases in the United States continues to rise at an alarming rate, which means the number of clergy with parishioners who contract COVID-19 or who are caring for a loved one with COVID-19 are likely rising as well." Read More

Half of Pastors Say the Economy Is Hurting Their Churches

After a few years of economic optimism, pastors say the 2020 economy is hurting their congregation. Read More

A.S.K. God for What You Need and Expect Him to Answer!

“So I say to you: ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened." Luke 11:9,10 In this passage, Jesus tells us to pray for what we want and need with expectance. He shows us how to A.S.K. God for what we want and need. Ask. Seek. Knock.

Read More

Latest on the COVID-19 Coronavirus, Its Transmission, and Its Effects

The United States is far from "turning the corner" on the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic. New cases and hospitalizations are on the rise across the country. The Lexington Herald Leader ran this headline earlier today. "Kentucky coronavirus record: 2,700 new cases and 14 deaths. Positivity rate above 8%." It reported that the state's positivity rate continues to spike, topping at 8.12 percent, the highest since May 5. My own country is a "red-zone" county, which means that it has one of the highest incidences of infection in the Commonwealth of Kentucky. Today the county health department reported 24 new cases. I am posting links to a number of articles that may prove helpful to church leaders seeking to protect their congregations and their communities from the virus. 

These Venues Are High-Risk Areas for Spreading the Coronavirus, Model Suggests

Restaurants, gyms and coffee shops rank high among locations where the coronavirus is most likely to spread outside the home. That’s according to a newly published report based on data from millions of Americans, tracked by their phones as they went about daily life during the pandemic’s first wave. Read More

In Places You're Most likely to Catch Covid-19, Reducing Crowds Can Help

A small minority of places where people go frequently account for a large majority of coronavirus infections in big cities, according to a new modeling study. Read More

COVID Spreads Quickly Here, Warns CDC

During a week in which doctors, experts, governors and the Coronavirus Task Force have warned that COVID is spreading indoors among families, the CDC has just released a report confirming that household spread was common and quick anong the families it studied. "Household transmission of SARS-CoV-2 is common and occurs early after illness onset. Persons should self-isolate immediately at the onset of COVID-like symptoms, at the time of testing as a result of a high risk exposure, or at time of a positive test result, whichever comes first," the authors reported on October 30th. "All household members, including the index case, should wear masks within shared spaces in the household." Read More

Covid-19 Patients Infect Half of Household: US Govt Study

People who develop Covid-19 infect around half of their household members, with adults only slightly more likely than children to spread the virus, a US government study said Friday. Read More

There's One Main Way to Contract COVID-19 When Grocery Shopping, CDC Says

Grocery shopping, while a necessity, has become one of the most anxiety-inducing activities in our daily pandemic-filled lives. From crowds that are sometimes impossible to avoid to concerns surrounding what we should and shouldn't be touching, the potential for contracting the coronavirus seems overwhelming. However, we can all breathe a collective (masked) sigh of relief, because the CDC is has provided clear, instructive safety guidelines that we can follow to ensure we're staying as safe as possible when we're out shopping. Read More

How Does COVID-19 Spread Differently Than The Flu?

There are some similarities between coronavirus and influenza transmission, but also a few scary and distinct differences. Read More>

CDC Now Says Masks Protect Both the Wearers and Those around Them from Covid-19

Wearing a mask can help protect you, not just those around you, from coronavirus transmission, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said in new guidance Tuesday. The statement was an update to previous guidance suggesting the main benefit of mask wearing was to help prevent infected people from spreading the virus to others. Read More

The 'Dose' of Coronavirus a Person Gets May Determine How Sick They Get; Masks Could Help

"The dose makes the poison" is an adage credited to Paracelsus, a Swiss physician-philosopher from the early Renaissance. Basically, it means that any substance can become toxic if given at a high enough concentration. Even too much water can throw off your electrolytes and be potentially fatal. Viewing the coronavirus through that lens -- that the "dose" of the virus you receive might make the difference between being asymptomatic, getting mildly sick or becoming critically ill -- may be helpful when thinking about protection against Covid-19 as the colder temperatures arrive and cases spike. Read More

One of the factors that is considered in determing whether a place is high-risk for spread the COVID-19 coronavirus is the length of time that people may be exposed to the virus while they are in that place. For this reason places of worship are considered as high-risk places since people typically spend an hour or more gathered in one room in a place of worship. The longer the people are gathered together, the longer they may be exposed to the virus and the higher the "dose" of the virus to which they may be exposed. The number of people who are asymptomatic or pre-symptomatic but infectious, the optional use of face masks, poor ventilation, inadequate social distancing, the lack of other precautionary measures, the tendency to lower one's guard when around friends and acquaintances, and the belief that God will provide blanket protection from the virus to the congregation are also factors that affect the "dose" of the virus that people may receive while they are at a place of worship.

Does Weather Affect the Spread of the Coronavirus Outside?

Does weather affect the spread of the coronavirus outside Not really. The World Health Organization says the virus can be transmitted in any kind of weather and that there is no reason to believe that cold weather can kill it. The U.N. health agency says the virus is mainly spread between people. Rain and snow might dilute any traces of the virus on benches or other outside objects, but transmission from surfaces is not believed to be a major contributor to the pandemic. Scientists say the real concern about cold weather is that lower temperatures are more likely to keep people indoors — potentially in more crowded spaces where the virus can spread more easily. Read More

Pregnant Women with Covid-19 Face Higher Risk of Severe Illness and Death, Study Says

Pregnant women infected with the coronavirus are more likely to become severely ill and die from Covid-19, and they're at increased risk for premature delivery, according to a pair of reports released Monday by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Read More

One in Five COVID-19 Patients Develop Mental Illness within 90 Days - Study

Many COVID-19 survivors are likely to be at greater riskof developing mental illness, psychiatrists said on Monday, after a large study found 20% of those infected with the coronavirus are diagnosed with a psychiatric disorder within 90 days. Read More

Also see "Bidirectional associations between COVID-19 and psychiatric disorder: retrospective cohort studies of 62 354 COVID-19 cases in the USA"

All Hallows Evening Prayer for Wednesday Evening (November 11, 2020) Now Online

The daily rhythm of praise and prayer has helped generations of Christians in difficult times like our own. It focuses our attention on what is most important—our relationship with God. Everything else in its time will fade away. But our relationship with God lasts forever.

All Hallows Murray offers its weekly services of Evening Prayer on Wednesday, Saturday, and Sunday evenings with that thought in mind. It does not matter who you are, the walk of life from which you come, or where you are in your faith journey, these services are offered to help you to draw closer to God and to live in the way that God is calling you to live, at peace and in harmony with God and all humankind. May they prove a lasting blessing to you and to whoever with whom you share them.

The reading for this evening is: Matthew 15: 1-9.

 The homily for this evening is titled "Not My Will, But Your Will."

The link to this evening’s service is: https://allhallowsmurray.blogspot.com/2020/11/all-hallows-evening-prayer-for.html#more

Please feel free to share this link with anyone whom you believe might benefit from the service.

If an ad plays when you open a link to a video in a new tab, click the refresh icon of your browser until the song appears.

Previous services are online at: https://allhallowsmurray.blogspot.com/

Tuesday's Catch: Is the Church Becoming Too Worldly? And More

When You Say Nothing at All

Kevin DeYoung shares his concern that "we are letting the world’s priorities dictate what the church is most passionate about." Read More

Embracing God's Blessings: How to Seek and Pursue Peace

Throughout the Bible, we are given insight into how to pursue reciprocal, mutually beneficial peace. While many of these scriptures are found in the New Testament, three Old Testament passages show us how God has long made a pathway for communal peace. Read More

Five Ways Churches Are Responding to a Second COVID Spike

Though a number of pundits told us to expect a second COVID spike, we were all hoping it would not happen. In many areas, the spike has happened. We at Church Answers are in constant conversation with church leaders, so we were really curious to know how churches are responding. Between our Church Answers’ community of 2,000 leaders and social media, we heard directly from over 200 church leaders. They shared five responses that we list here in order of magnitude. Read More

5 Traits of Churches That Will Build Again

Building again does not refer to physical buildings, but building the body of Christ stronger and larger, one person at a time. Read More

Abusive Leadership

The term ‘spiritual abuse’ has crossed my radar several times in the last year in connection with evangelical churches, along with accounts of leaders stepping down or being asked to step aside because of the impact of their approach to ministry. These are not instances of sexual misconduct or violent temper, but of something more subtle. Read More

Time to Bind Up the Nation's Wounds

Witch hunts have a long history. In Europe they go back to Roman times if not earlier. In the United States they go back to the Salem witch trials in the seventeenth century. Something would go wrong in the community—an outbreak of disease, a crop failure, a misadventure such as an accidental drowning, and members of the community would look for someone to blame. 

Maybe it would be an old woman who mumbled to themselves or had an odd-looking blemish on their skin. May it would someone against whom a community leader or a member of his family held a grudge. Whoever it was, would be accused of witchcraft, of consorting with the devil. They would be tortured and a confession wrung from them. They would then be put on trial, convicted of witchcraft, and then burned, strangled, hung, or drowned.

The community, however, might not be satisfied with their death. They would embark on a hunt for more witches. We no longer burn, strangle, hang, or drown witches. But we still go on witch hunts.

For the last four years President Trump has repeatedly accused of embarking on a witch hunt anyone to whom he has taken a dislike because they found or suspected wrongdoing during his presidency. Now President Trump is going on a witch hunt, making false accusations of election fraud because he lost the 2020 presidential election to his Democratic opponent. Having accused the Democrats of stealing the election from him, he is trying to steal the election from them, or at least spread a dark cloud over its legitimacy. He has teams of attorneys spreading out across the country, looking for election irregularities, real or imagined, and anything else that might be used to discredit the election of his Democratic opponent.

When I was a schoolboy, we called those who were on the losing side of a game and who refused to accept that they had lost and who accused the winning side of cheating sore losers and poor sports.

The only folks benefiting from President Trump’s response to losing the election are the lawyers who are collecting hefty retainers for their services and the enemies of the United States who are delighted when Americans squabble among themselves. They saw Trump as a gift from heaven, not because they, like some evangelicals, thought that he was a messianic figure but because he would make their task of dividing Americans against each other easier.

Trump loyalists are not benefitting from Trump’s response. Neither are other Republicans. During the remainder of his term of office things are going to get worse than they are already. Trump himself will make it worse. He is his own worst enemy. He runs a risk of further alienating those who he has already alienated.

Republicans have picked up seats in the House of Representatives. They look like they will retain the majority in the Senate. They have three conservative judges on the Supreme Court. They have a good crack at the presidency in 2024. Trump in sulking over his loss is spoiling it for them.

Joe Biden faces a far greater challenge than Franklin Delano Roosevelt at the Depression. Republicans need to take a long view.

It is time for Republicans to move on and to bid Donald Trump adieu. It is time to let wounds heal and not to pick off the scabs and make them bleed again. A truly great nation is a nation that is united, not divided against itself, a nation whose people work together to forge a bright future for themselves.

3 Keys to Keeping Your Church Engaged During the Pandemic

Whether you are still “closed” in regard to large, indoor gatherings or have officially “opened” to socially distanced indoor services, most churches are finding the following two dynamics to be true: 1) safety protocols severely limit indoor attendance capacity; 2) most people are voting with their feet and choosing to stay home.

Whether one or both are true for your church’s situation, the result is the same: you have to keep people who are largely online engaged. But how do you do that?

Here are three keys... Read More

8 Tips for Unforgettable Bible Teaching

We’ve all been there at some point in our ministry: We’ve waited until the last minute to add final details to our lessons or sermons, pushed the envelope when it comes to finalizing materials, and barely made it to the church, home, or classroom on time.

It’s not a good feeling, and it sets the stage for a rushed, disjointed time with those we serve.

As a pastor for 17 years, I’ve tried to demonstrate an extreme preparation mentality for my ministry teams.

My goal was to finish my sermon manuscript by midweek, with any visual aids pre-selected. All this would get turned in to the media team days in advance so they could also practice extreme preparation.

On Sundays, I would plan to arrive at church at least an hour early to run through the slides with the team, and to go back over the message another time or two.

I would want to be in the main room and ready to go, greeting people with a calm, peaceful smile on my face as they found their seats.

I tried to model this behavior because I wanted our team to do the same in their respective ministries. A well-prepared atmosphere makes a world of difference.

But intentionality and preparation should go beyond the preacher delivering the weekend sermon; it also applies to a Bible study group leader. Read More

Study Finds That Queer Christians Quit the Church Twice as Much as Others

A study in the Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion strongly associated queer identity with a decision to attend church less frequently or stop going altogether.

Taylor Valci was 7 the first time she spoke in tongues. The daughter of a Pentecostal pastor in California’s Bay Area, she grew up watching “Veggie Tales” and attending Missionettes, the Assemblies of God version of Girl Scouts.

“For me, personally, God was absolutely the most important thing in the world,” Valci told Religion News Service.

But by the time she was attending Gordon College in Massachusetts in the fall of 2016, Valci, now 22, no longer considered herself a Christian, at least in part because she was starting to realize she was queer.

Her experience is not uncommon in the Christian church. Earlier this year, the Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion published a report that said same-sex attraction, behavior and queer identity is strongly associated with a decision to step away from organized religion, attend church less frequently or stop going altogether. Read More i

Reflections on the Outcome of the 2020 Election

If you go on Facebook and other social media platforms, you may read or hear a number of people talking armed rebellion in response to the election of Joe Biden. While they may receive a sympathetic hearing from the extreme fringes of President Trump’s supporters, what the individuals who talking armed rebellion are doing is inciting their fellow Americans (if they are indeed Americans themselves) to commit treason under the laws of the United States, laws that were adopted by legislators from both parties in the US Congress and signed into law by US Presidents from both parties. 

There is a good chance, however, that they may not be Americans. They may be agent provocateurs of foreign powers hostile to the United States or dupes of these agent provocateurs seeking to take advantage of the disappointment of Trump supporters in the outcome of the presidential election and to further divide and weaken the United States. A divided nation cannot stand. A number of foreign powers have a long history of seeking to sow the seeds of civil unrest and violent upheaval in other countries to advance their own geopolitical aims. This was a strategy Adolph Hitler used to soften countries before their takeover by the Nazis. It was also a strategy used by the Soviets in the last century.

For those who may be unfamiliar with the term “agent provocateur” I have provided this excerpt from a Wikipedia article on the subject.

An agent provocateur (French for "inciting agent") is a person who commits or who acts to entice another person to commit an illegal or rash act or falsely implicate them in partaking in an illegal act, so as to ruin the reputation or entice legal action against the target or a group they belong to. They may target any group, such as a peaceful protest or demonstration, a union, a political party or a company.

In jurisdictions in which conspiracy is a serious crime in itself, it can be sufficient for the agent provocateur to entrap the target into discussing and planning an illegal act. It is not necessary for the illegal act to be carried out or even prepared.

In a number of cases those who are talking the overthrow of a democratically-elected President are victims of their own overactive imaginations, who give credence to all kinds of wild conspiracy theories and who see evidence of insidious plots in coincidental occurrences. If they were psychiatric patients, they would be diagnosed as suffering from paranoid delusions.

While President Trump received a large share of the popular vote, his opponent received a larger share. While he won a large number of electoral college votes, his opponent won more, enough to put him on the path to the presidency. While President Trump has claimed all kinds of election irregularities, his team has produced little credible evidence of these irregularities. His legal challenges to the vote count in a number of states are a long shot. All indications point to him as having lost the election.

During the past four years we often heard the excuse, “Trump will be Trump.” During that time an increasing number of people became fed up with Trump being Trump even though they may have voted for him in 2016. They had hoped that Trump once he was elected would become more presidential. But to anyone who followed Trump’s career since the early days, these folks were deceiving themselves. The Trump mystique which may have initially attracted them began to wear thin. While Trump being Trump still appeals to his supporters who attend his rallies, Trump’s posturing and rhetoric has been alienating other voters.

If Trump had not cozied up to Vladimir Putin and dismissed the Russian efforts to influence the outcome of the 2016 election, had come up with a workable alternative to Obamacare, had exhibited greater diplomacy and more empathy, acted decisively at the beginning of the COVID-19 outbreak instead of downplaying its seriousness, had not surrounded himself with sycophants who told him what he wanted to hear, and had reached out to Americans outside his base, he might have been re-elected. However, “Trump will be Trump.” His personality is not an asset. It is a liability. It may have served him in the rough and tumble world of the New York real estate business. But it did not serve him well as the President of the United States.

The post-election shenanigans that Trump and his aides are planning are reminiscent of the behavior of a spoiled child who, having lost a board game, accuses the other players of cheating, throws a tantrum, overturns the board and scatters the pieces and storms out of the room, taking the board with him so that the others cannot play the game. 

How are Christians to respond to the outcome of the 2020 election? First, they should not allow themselves to be drawn into the delusions and schemes of the extreme fringe of President Trump’s base or any other group. As disciples of Jesus Christ their first loyalty is to the One they call Savor and Lord, not to any politician on the right or the left. Their first loyalty is not to any political ideology or personality cult. It is to the teaching and example of Jesus Christ. 

They should pray for the gift of discernment, for the God-given ability to tell right from wrong, good from evil. God is the God of truth. Lying lips are an abomination to him. 

They should not forget that the evil one seeks to blind people to the truth, to tempt them into doing evil, and to entrap them in all kinds of evil schemes. They should also be mindful that those who have fallen under the influence of the evil one often do not recognize the evil one's influence in their lives. 

They also should be wary of those who claim special revelations from God. The Bible tells us that prophesy is subject to the will of the prophet. 

When a prophesy is made, we should not be too quick to believe it. Rather we should test the spirits. The Holy Spirit does not contradict himself. He does not say one thing in the Bible and another thing to a so-called prophet. 

The next four years will be a test of our faithfulness, our faithfulness to our Lord, our faithfulness to his teaching and example. Let us pray that we do not fail this test.

All Hallows Evening Prayer for Sunday Evening (November 8, 2020) Now Online

The daily rhythm of praise and prayer has helped generations of Christians in difficult times like our own. It focuses our attention on what is most important—our relationship with God. Everything else in its time will fade away. But our relationship with God lasts forever.

All Hallows Murray offers its weekly services of Evening Prayer on Wednesday, Saturday, and Sunday evenings with that thought in mind. It does not matter who you are, the walk of life from which you come, or where you are in your faith journey, these services are offered to help you to draw closer to God and to live in the way that God is calling you to live, at peace and in harmony with God and all humankind. May they prove a lasting blessing to you and to whoever with whom you share them.

The reading for this evening is: Matthew 14:13-27

 The homily for this evening is titled "Grace Beyond Measure."

The link to this evening’s service is: https://allhallowsmurray.blogspot.com/2020/11/all-hallows-evening-prayer-for-sunday.html#more

Please feel free to share this link with anyone whom you believe might benefit from the service.

If an ad plays when you open a link to a video in a new tab, click the refresh icon of your browser until the song appears.

Previous services are online at: https://allhallowsmurray.blogspot.com/

Saturday Lagniappe: The Ninth Commandment and the God of Truth and More

The Ninth Commandment and the God of Truth

How often do we skirt the truth, hide the truth, or neglect to tell the truth? The reality is that God loves the truth, delights in the truth, and upholds the truth because He is the God of truth. As the sovereign Creator of all things, He established truth and has revealed His truth generally in creation and specifically in His Word (Ps. 19). Read More

How Grace Lets You Have It All

The more you understand the magnitude of God’s grace, the more accurate will be your view of the depth of your unrighteousness; and the more you understand the depth of your unrighteousness, the more you will appreciate the magnitude of God’s gift of grace. The person who is comfortable in his own righteousness hasn’t really understood grace, and the person who is unimpressed by God’s grace hasn’t really understood his sin. So let’s talk about the essentiality of God’s grace. Read More

When the Church Bully Happens to Be the Pastor

We have written extensively on this website about church members who take the reins of the church and call the shots, who bully parishioners and pastors alike. But a friend wrote, “What are we to do when the bully is the pastor?” “What does your pastor do?” I asked him. His bullying pastor demands his way in everything, tolerates no dissent, and ousts anyone not obeying him. He intimidates church members and dominates the other ministers. His opinion is the only one that counts. We could wish it were a rare phenomenon. It isn’t. Read More

On a Mail-In Ballot and a Prayer, Biden Wins White House

In a contentious election taking days to call, the Catholic candidate’s faith outreach paid off in swing states. Trump has pledged to challenge in court. Read More

Donald Trump Refuses to Concede Defeat as Recriminations Begin

Biden declared winner but president says: ‘This is far from over.’ Legal challenges threatened but experts doubt they will succeed. Read Nore

The Real Competition for the Local Church

We’re not competing against the things we think we are for people’s time and attention. Read More

Some Surprises of the Post-Quarantine Church: An Interview with Carey Nieuwhof [Podcast]

An expert in practical local church leadership, Carey Nieuwhof joins Thom and Sam Rainer to discuss his most recent book and a few surprises of the post-quarantine church. Listen Now

All Hallows Evening Prayer for Saturday Evening (November 7, 2020) Now Online

The daily rhythm of praise and prayer has helped generations of Christians in difficult times like our own. It focuses our attention on what is most important—our relationship with God. Everything else in its time will fade away. But our relationship with God lasts forever.

All Hallows Murray offers its weekly services of Evening Prayer on Wednesday, Saturday, and Sunday evenings with that thought in mind. It does not matter who you are, the walk of life from which you come, or where you are in your faith journey, these services are offered to help you to draw closer to God and to live in the way that God is calling you to live, at peace and in harmony with God and all humankind. May they prove a lasting blessing to you and to whoever with whom you share them.

The reading for this evening is: Matthew 13:33

 The homily for this evening is titled The Kingdom of God"

The link to this evening’s service is:  https://allhallowsmurray.blogspot.com/2020/11/all-hallows-evening-prayer-for-saturday.html#more

Please feel free to share this link with anyone whom you believe might benefit from the service.

If an ad plays when you open a link to a video in a new tab, click the refresh icon of your browser until the song appears.

Previous services are online at: https://allhallowsmurray.blogspot.com/

Friday's Catch: While We Wait....

Some Thoughts After the 2020 Election

By all accounts, this has been a strange year. So perhaps it shouldn’t surprise us that a presidential election has come (and gone) without us knowing the clear winner. In due time, we will learn the results of yesterday’s vote. Until then, what should Christians do in the upcoming days and weeks? Read More

If you have studied the history of presidential elections as I have, you are not supried by a wait before announcement of a winner of the election. In the past it was a common occurrence. We are also in the midst of a full-blown pandemic. The pandemic is not going to go away after election as someone falsely claimed.

Your Virtual Small Group Can Still Be Vibrant

Becky Kiern and Jenilyn Swett offer suggestions for maintaining a vibrant virtual small-group community. Read More

With the small indoor gatherings implicated in the increased incidences of COVID-19 infection, virtual small groups is the safest option during the fall and winter. In-person small groups are not capable of establishing the multiple levels of intervention needed to reduce COVID-19 transmission risks as has the experiment with social bubbling in the United Kingdom has shown.

The Church’s Social Dilemma

There are only two industries that call their customers ‘users’: illegal drugs and software. Read More

A Word of Warning to US Christians

 

A so-called “conservative Christian” Facebook page that is connected to a defunct website and which churn out false reports of election irregularities and other disinformation is not genuinely Christian. The Holy Scriptures teach that bearing false witness is a sin and lying is an abomination to God. The Holy Scriptures tell us that liars will have no place in the new heaven and the new earth and will be cast into the lake of fire with the devil and his angels. They will suffer the “second death” and will be cut off from God for all eternity. 

Genuine Christians who accept the Holy Scriptures as God’ Word and follow the teaching and example of the Lord Jesus Christ would not do such a thing. On the other hand, foreign actors seeking to further divide the United States, stir up rebellion and violent unrest and thereby weaken the nation would do exactly that.

Whoever is behind the Facebook page is using the term “conservative Christian” to cynically manipulate Christians who may have voted for Donald Trump. Christians need to use discernment regarding any claims that are made on social media like Facebook and Twitter. The claims of election fraud and the like have repeatedly been shown to be baseless and without merit. Foreign actors are using such claims on social media to promote the political and economic dislocation of the United States. They are engaged in a relentless propaganda war to undermine the United State. 

Gullible Christians are unfortunately falling for their disinformation. They are not only becoming the unwitting accomplices of these foreign actors, but they are also damaging the reputation of US Christians. By contributing to the further political polarization of the United States, they are making the task of evangelizing the nation more difficult.

The outcome of Tuesday’s election is in God’s hands. God’s ways are not our ways. God’s thoughts are not our thoughts. We should not presume because God might permit a candidate to win one election, he will permit them to win a subsequent election. As for prophecies about a candidate we should remember that the Holy Scriptures tell us that prophesy is subject to the will of the prophet.

The Holy Scriptures warn us not to put our trust in human leaders, mortals like ourselves whose plans die with them. 

The Holy Scriptures tell us that people of Israel clamored for an earthly ruler. God gave them a king but having a king did not prove a blessing for them. They turned away from God. They worshiped other gods. They sacrificed their children to idols. The foreign princes with whom they made alliances failed them. The kingdom of Israel would be split into two kingdoms. A foreign people would occupy the northern kingdom and the people of the southern kingdom would be taken into captivity. They would put to death their one true King, Jesus, the Son of God incarnate. 

God may use unregenerate men to accomplish his will. He also may use them as a judgment upon a nation.

Those who claim Jesus as their Lord and Savior have no need of a king. They have Jesus. He is their one true King. They should not let anyone else take his place in their hearts. No one.

Just a Reminder: We Are in the Midst of a Pandemic

This article was prompted by two articles that was posted on the internet earlier this week, “7 Steps to Get Covid-Concerned Churchgoers Back” and “3 Ways to Help Your Church’s Groups Bounce Back from COVID-19.” These two articles do contain useful information but they overlook one important fact. We are in the midst of a full-blown pandemic. We are not at its tail end.

A sharp rise in COVID-19 cases is sweeping across the United States. Dr. Deborah Birx who heads the White House COVID-19 task force has warned top administration officials, "We are entering the most concerning and most deadly phase of this pandemic ... leading to increasing mortality.” The colder weather is keeping people indoors and boosting the infection rates.

80 counties of Kentucky has been classified as a red-zone counties because of their high incidence rates of COVID-19 infections. My county is one of them. On Wednesday 21 new COVID-19 cases and 2 new COVID-19 related deaths were reported. With the exception of the police the county seat on whose outskirts I live has closed its offices. The health authorities are calling for stricter enforcement of face mask wearing.

In all the articles about how to encourage more people to return to church, one group is seldom given a voice—the people who have not yet returned to church.

A number of church leaders appear to be in such a hurry to get people back that they do not inspire confidence that they are doing everything to address the safety concerns of those who were attending the church before the pandemic and have not yet returned. They give the impression that what interests them most is filling the pews with warm bodies and the offering plate with offering envelopes. Their primary concerns are not the safety of the congregation but the church’s survival, its budget, and their salary.

I am not saying these concerns are not legitimate. But if church leaders hope to persuade these reluctant folks to return, they really need to address their safety concerns. They also need to be careful about the impression that they are creating.

A number of the people who are reluctant to return may be better informed about COVID-19, how it is transmitted, and how transmission risks may be reduced than the church leaders are. It is disconcerting to them when church leaders rely on outdated guidance. It is even more unsettling when they urge people to return when the pandemic is entering its most deadly phase.

Church leaders are also not going to get people back by harping on the importance of gathering and otherwise trying to make them feel guilty about not returning. This kind of heavy-heavy handed approach does not create trust. Establishing trust is critical. The folks who have not returned will not return if they do not believe that church leaders genuinely care about their wellbeing.

Church leaders who are quick to assume that the people who have not returned have come to prefer the comforts of home to attending church are creating a barrier to their returning. They are minimizing these folks’ safety concerns and their minimization of their concerns will not go unnoticed.

The people who have not returned may know the congregation better than church leaders do. They know that Mike and his wife Janet may wear facemasks and social distance at church but not outside church. Mike does not wear a mask at work and Janet at the grocery store. They often have friends over to the house when the governor has asked residents of the state not to have family and small gatherings because they have been implicated in the transmission of the COVID-19 coronavirus.

The people who have not returned may have encountered on social media websites individuals who identify themselves as Christians and who peddle all kinds of inaccurate and false information about the COVID-19 pandemic. These individuals deny the seriousness of the pandemic and dismiss the concerns of those who take the pandemic with the seriousness that it warrants. The folks who have not returned may know congregants who share views of such individuals.

The people who have not returned read or hear on the national and local news stories of churches that did not follow recommended guidelines for churches and which became the epicenter of fresh clusters of new COVID-19 cases, hospitalizations, and deaths. The number of such churches is growing.

The folks who have not returned also read articles by respected church leaders offering all kinds of advice to their fellow church leaders on what they do during the pandemic, advice that shows that the authors of the articles are not up-to-date on what church leaders need to know about the COVID-19 coronavirus, its transmission, and transmission risk reduction. For example, at one point meeting in small home gatherings was recommended. Since that time family and small gatherings have been implicated in the increased rates of infection in the United States and the growing number of new COVID-19 cases.

The timing of a number of articles has been bad. Articles on what can be done to encourage people to return to church are posted online when new COVID-19 cases are surging in states, counties, and cities across the United States. This points to a major disconnect between the church leaders writing these articles and the websites posting them and the realities of the pandemic.

Church leaders need to be brutally honest with themselves as well as churchgoers, those who have returned and those who have not. If they have been monitoring the situation in the United Kingdom, Europe, and other parts of the world, they know that countries that reopened are now experiencing high infection rates and are implementing near-lockdown and lockdown restrictions. As the countries reopened, people lowered their guard and the COVID-19 coronavirus took advantage of their lack of vigilance. The same thing is happening in the United States. Rather than look at ways to getting churchgoers back in the building, they need to be looking at ways of staying connected with folks who are staying home for their own safety.

Thursday's Catch: Reclaiming the Church from Politics and More

Observing the Presidential Race and Exhorting the Church

Churches must be stronger than political division. Read More

Politics is dividing, distracting, and destroying US churches.

Strategies That Hurt and Help: Researchers Study Politically Divided Relationships

How we can learn from the impact of the 2016 U.S. Presidential Election on politically divided relationships. Read More>

Debriefing in and After a Crisis

Crises are inevitable, given the theological reality we live in a fallen world. They’re coming, if they haven’t already landed. I also know that, at the time of this writing, we are still in the midst of the COVID-19 global pandemic. And this global health crisis has caused many other incident and issue-based crises that our organizations and churches are having to lead through. Read More

4 Ideas for Holiday Outreach During a Pandemic

How can a church reach out—with minimal contact? These fresh outreach ideas for 2020 can be accomplished with social distancing in mind. Read More

How the Pandemic Opens Doors for Evangelism

The pandemic’s deconstruction of the Western storyline is a gospel opportunity. The world is shaken in new ways and searching for answers in new places. A more secure, satisfying storyline is needed, and Christians should be sharing it. Read More

Wednesday's Catch: Mission Drift, the Post-Election Church, and More

Eight Warning Signs Your Church is Drifting from God’s Mission

Churches without purpose tend to drift. Like the flotsam and jetsam in the sea, a church adrift does little more than float along as aimless debris. I have yet to see a church drift towards God’s mission. The current of apathy always pulls away. It’s obvious to point out drifting churches as lacking purpose. But what causes this drift? What are some early warning signs of an unraveling in a congregation? Let’s look at eight practical indicators. Read More

After the US Election: 3 Things the Culture Needs Right Now the Church Can Give

While the situation is so much more complex and nuanced than a 1,000 word blog post can address, as the Presidential election hangs in the balance, here are three things we do know that can help you move forward as a church leader. Read More

Elections, Justice, and the Church in the Rural-Urban Divide

As I write this, the outcome of the 2020 election is anyone’s guess. One of my hopes is that, regardless of the outcome, we can avoid some of the cliched approaches that perpetuated a rural-urban divide last time around. Such a divide harms the church’s witness in these communities and prevents the church from engaging in meaningful and transformative ministry. Read More

Rick Warren: Unity is the Priority Over Politics

Continuing the conversation with "America's Pastor" about the role of politics and fear in our nation. Read More

Also see "Rick Warren: The Mind of Christ for This Election."

Tips for Leaders Who Lack the Crucial Skill of Listening Well

Here are some tips that I am working on that can help you and I become better listeners.... Read More

Watching Our Words

In a world of shrill tones, we can demonstrate the gospel through our words. Read More

4 Tools for the Church in Divisive Days

How can Christians live wisely in divisive times, in a media landscape where algorithms perpetuate, and corporations profit from, polarization? In his sovereignty and grace, God gives his church tools for resisting the pull toward disunity. Here are four of them. Read More

What Unforgiveness Does to Your Brain

We’ve all been deeply hurt in some way … a betrayal by a spouse, a behind-your-back criticism from a friend, hateful judgment from someone at church, a false accusation by a co-worker, unfair treatment by a boss or a parent. And the deeper the hurt, the harder it is and the longer it takes us to forgive. But sometimes we simply don’t forgive. We harbor a grudge. Resentment builds in our hearts. We nurse the offense. As a result, we remain prisoner to our pain and we harm our brain. Read More

11 Tips for Minimizing the Dark Sides of Social Media

How do you take advantage of the rewards of social media while avoiding its pitfalls? Read More>

All Hallows Evening Prayer for Wednesday Evening (November 4, 2020) Now Online

The daily rhythm of praise and prayer has helped generations of Christians in difficult times like our own. It focuses our attention on what is most important—our relationship with God. Everything else in its time will fade away. But our relationship with God lasts forever.

All Hallows Murray offers its weekly services of Evening Prayer on Wednesday, Saturday, and Sunday evenings with that thought in mind. It does not matter who you are, the walk of life from which you come, or where you are in your faith journey, these services are offered to help you to draw closer to God and to live in the way that God is calling you to live, at peace and in harmony with God and all humankind. May they prove a lasting blessing to you and to whoever with whom you share them.

The reading for this evening is: 1 Timothy 6: 11-18

 The homily for this evening is titled "Jesus, Our True King"

The link to this evening’s service is:  https://allhallowsmurray.blogspot.com/2020/11/evening-prayer-service-of-light-jesus.html#more

Please feel free to share this link with anyone whom you believe might benefit from the service.

If an ad plays when you open a link to a video in a new tab, click the refresh icon of your browser until the song appears.

Previous services are online at: https://allhallowsmurray.blogspot.com/

The First Tuesday of November: Election Day

With the minds of most US readers on the election, today's issue of Anglicans Ablaze will focus on the election and its aftermath. Whatever the outcome of the election, our first loyalty is to Jesus Christ, our true King, and his teaching and example. Political leaders come and go. Nations rise and fall. Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.

4 Prayers to Consider and Pray on This Election Day

Today is Election Day—a day to cover in prayer. Here are a few historical prayers that might guide you as you pray.... Read More

3 Ways to Be a Christian on Election Day

How can Christians participate in our electoral privileges, and even discuss and debate relevant issues, without compromising our witness? Here are three ways I’d suggest we can wisely engage in our political process without losing perspective on what matters more than who wins or loses. Read More

3 Practices for Election Day Winners and Losers

How then should we live with one another in light of the wins and losses of Election Day? Consider leading your church through these three practices for your post-Election Day blues—or reds. Read More

Election Civility Is Not Enough

Love keeps no record of wrongs, but it does stand up against them. Read More

Searching for Solidarity—and Starting with Facts

When it comes to our national political community, this collective “we” is under pressure. And Jonathan Sacks underscores the significance of what’s at stake in his new book, Morality: Restoring the Common Good in Divided Times. Read More

What Will Still Be True When the Election Is Over

We may know by early morning who will be president. Or we may not know until the end of the year which side will be celebrating come Inauguration Day. But whether we have hours or days or weeks left, the 2020 election season will come to an end. And when it is over—after countless tweets, posts, articles, and punditry; after being exposed to a steady stream of advertising, befuddlement, and outrage; after all the ballots have been counted and you feel relieved, grateful, or despondent—don’t forget what will still be true.... Read More

On the Eve of the Election: Looking to the Days after the Election

 

 “Who sups with the devil should have a long spoon.” 

As readers may know, I am not a fan of Donald Trump. My impression of Trump was formed years ago during the early part of his career. The last four years only has reinforced this impression. The people of the United States have experienced a lot of pain since March of this year. If Trump is reelected, they will experience even more pain in the next four years.

Trump is a man who has negligible empathy for other people. If you listen to his public statements and his private comments and read between the lines, he has written off a large segment of the US population. They are expendable from his point of view. Other members of his administration may express concern for them but he himself has none.

Trump is also a bad influence—not only on those around him but on the nation as a whole. His proclivity to stir up conflict, to encourage division, and to bring out the worst in people do not bode well for this country.

As his biographers have observed, his management style is to foster chaos. He will pit his underlings against each other and encourage their competition for his attention and approval. The late psychiatrist and psychoanalyst Eric Berne identified these kinds of transactions as a psychological game which he called “Let You and Him Fight.” The purpose of the game is to prove to the instigator of the fighting that other people are stupid and manipulatable and the instigator himself is superior to them.

Trump demands absolute loyalty from others but shows no loyalty to them. Whatever Trump does is self-serving. He will adopt a particular course of action because one way or another it benefits him.

These characteristics are not the kind of characteristics that a country needs in a national leader in a time of crisis. They are not the kind of characteristics that a country needs in a national leader when things are going well.

Trump enjoys the support of a segment of the evangelical community. Trump is very good at sizing up an audience and telling that audience what it wants to hear. For a man whose character embodies what our Lord and the apostles rejected as not just as ungodly but also as abhorred by God, it is surprising that he has gained the ear of this segment of the evangelical community. This should concern us.

Rather than evangelicals having a positive influence upon Trump, he is having a negative influence upon evangelicals. This is quite evident from articles, posts, and comments on websites that serve the evangelical community or which evangelicals frequent. A number of ostensible evangelicals have discarded the teaching and example of our Lord and the apostles and substituted for them Trump’s rhetoric.

Trump’s negative influence is bound to have a harmful effect upon the witness of evangelicals but also other Christians as well. It feeds into the damaging stereotypes that non-Christians have of Christians. It reinforces these stereotypes and erects barriers to the gospel. Trump promised to erect a wall but the wall he is erecting will separate Christians from those whom their Lord has commissioned to reach with the gospel. 

In the long term I believe that evangelicals will regret their support of Trump. As the proverb that I quoted at the beginning of this article draws to our attention, we cannot deal with dangerous persons without risking coming to harm ourselves.

Those who believe that they can restore Christianity to its former position of influence in the life of the nation through legislation, presidential executive orders,  and judicial appointments are deceiving themselves. One cannot change minds by edict. If they wish to become an influence in the nation’s life, they must earn it. They must gain the trust and respect of the people whom they wish to influence. They must listen to people not only in their own circumscribed world but also outside it.

Whoever wins the presidential election, this will be the challenge facing evangelicals and other Christians. How then do they gain the trust and respect of their fellow Americans? They must genuinely live their lives in accordance to the teaching and example of Jesus Christ and his apostles. They must love their neighbors as themselves. They must become living exemplars of the Golden Rule. They must love their fellow Christians with the same sacrificial love which our Lord loves us. They must love their enemies—those who hate and despise them. They must be merciful as God himself is merciful and thereby show that they are indeed the children of the Most High.

Monday's Catch: Election Day and Its Aftermath

Why Evangelicals Disagree on the President

The reason we’re divided, and how we can come together. Read More

4 Questions Before Election Day

Scripture largely casts our involvement with civil rulers in a positive light. One thing we’re clearly told not to do, though, is to put our trust in them. Read More

3 Things Americans Want from Their Pastors This Election (And One Thing They Don't)

Many pastors say their church is divided over politics and the pandemic. Church leaders may not know what is expected of them during a potentially volatile election day and the aftermath. Read More

All Hallows Evening Prayer for All Saints' Sunday (November 1, 2020) Now Online

This year Hallowmas, also known as the All Saints' Day,  in which we honor the great cloud of witnesses that has gone before us falls on a Sunday. Hallowmas, or All Hallows, is an older English term for All Saints' Day. It is short for the feast of Allhallowsmas. "Hallow" means "holy person, or saint," and includes all who believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and follow his teaching and example. All Hallows Murray is named in honor of this great cloud of witnesses. 

The daily rhythm of praise and prayer has helped generations of Christians in difficult times like our own. It focuses our attention on what is most important—our relationship with God. Everything else in its time will fade away. But our relationship with God lasts forever.

All Hallows Murray offers its weekly services of Evening Prayer on Wednesday, Saturday, and Sunday evenings with that thought in mind. It does not matter who you are, the walk of life from which you come, or where you are in your faith journey, these services are offered to help you to draw closer to God and to live in the way that God is calling you to live, at peace and in harmony with God and all humankind. May they prove a lasting blessing to you and to whoever with whom you share them.

The reading for this evening is: Matthew 12: 46-50

 The homily for this evening is titled "Jesus' True Kindred"

The link to this evening’s service is:  https://allhallowsmurray.blogspot.com/2020/11/all-hallows-evening-prayer-for-all.html#more

Please feel free to share this link with anyone whom you believe might benefit from the service.

If an ad plays when you open a link to a video in a new tab, click the refresh icon of your browser until the song appears.

Previous services are online at: https://allhallowsmurray.blogspot.com/