Super User
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipisicing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Duis aute irure dolor in reprehenderit in voluptate velit esse cillum dolore eu fugiat nulla pariatur
Technology and the pressures of modern life are today blamed for creating an epidemic of loneliness, as increasing numbers of people rely on the Internet to communicate with friends and family. A major report by the Mental Health Foundation suggests that more than one in ten people in Britain feel lonely ‘often’, as increasing numbers choose to live alone, work long hours and see each other less and less. The findings, from a survey of more than 2,200 adults from across Britain, suggest loneliness affects people of all ages but that women are more likely than men to report feelings of isolation. ‘Once loneliness becomes chronic, it is difficult to treat,’ the report adds. ‘People who are chronically lonely can get stuck in a loop of negative behaviour, and might push others away or seek transient contact, such as multiple sexual partners, which can make them even more isolated.’ Pray: for all those who are lonely that God would bring friendship into their lives. Pray also that the Church will find ways of reaching these people. (Ps.68:6a) More: http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/health/article7135506.ece
Edmund Adamus, an adviser to the Archbishop of Westminster, said five decades of liberalising abortion and gay rights laws had made Britain more anti-Catholic than countries where Christians can be subjected to violent persecution. The director of pastoral affairs in the diocese of Westminster blamed Parliament for allowing the country to become ‘the geopolitical epicentre of the culture of death’. His remarks are likely to cause tension ahead of the Pope's state visit to Britain later this month. He said ‘ Britain, and in particular London, has been and is the epicentre.’ The expression ‘culture of death’ is often used to refer to liberal policies on abortion and euthanasia. He added that Parliament over the last 50 years had been ‘the most permissively anti-life and progressively anti-family and marriage, in essence one of the most anti-Catholic landscapes, culturally speaking, more even than those places where Catholics suffer open persecution.’ Pray: for God’s guidance as we weigh these cautionary comments. (1Co.14:29)
The ecclesiastical landscape is changing and new mission movements are growing out of, or in some cases, away from traditional church models. The challenge is: how old and new can grow long into the future in a way that allows them to complement, rather than challenge, each other. Around a hundred Christians engaged in fresh expressions and mission movements across the UK convened at Sheffield Cathedral on Thursday in an attempt to break some new ground on this issue. The Bishop of Sheffield, the Rt Rev Dr Steven Croft, sees it as one of the most important in the coming years. In his opening address to the New Monasticism conference, he said: ‘The principal challenge for the Church of England in the next 10 years is helping structures of the institutional church relate to the new mission structures that are emerging, and to help these mission structures relate to the Church of England.’
Pray: for both 'new' and 'old' to work together to more effectively carry out the work of the Church. (Isa.13:4)
More: http://www.christiantoday.co.uk/article/brave.new.church/29565.htm
The morning-after pill will be posted out to women for free throughout December under a ‘vulgar’ new scheme which has been slammed by critics. BPAS, (British Pregnancy Advisory Service), is encouraging women to stock up ahead of the Christmas party season. A poster advertising the scheme shows the word ‘sex’ in Christmas-tree lights, and bears the slogan: ‘Getting ‘turned on’ this Christmas?’ And a dedicated website for the controversial service is entitled santacomes.org. Josephine Quintavalle, of the ProLife Alliance, has branded the campaign ‘incredibly vulgar’. Norman Wells, director of the Family Education Trust, said: The pill was supposed to be a prescription-only drug under the control of doctors yet it is now being marketed as a ‘just-in-case’ drug and supplied free of charge. BPAS’s telephone service will inevitably lead to underage girls lying about their age in order to access it.’ A spokesman for BPAS has admitted that some children ‘will not be completely honest about their age’.
Pray: for proper and effective control over the issuing of such drugs. (Pr.4:11)
More: http://www.christian.org.uk/news/bpas-to-post-morning-after-pills-out-for-free-at-christmas/
A three-year-old boy has been taught by his nursery carer that when he grows up he will be able to marry a boy or a girl. The boy’s identity is being protected, but his parent wrote a letter to a local newspaper about the incident. ‘In response to my three-year-old son’s question as to what marriage was, I told him that it was when a man and woman loved each other very much and wanted to spend their lives together. My son then told me that ‘boys’ could get married, too. As he doesn’t read the newspapers, I was keen to understand how he had formed this view. Apparently, his carer at nursery, a homosexual, told the entire class that he had great news: when they grew up, they could get married to a girl, or a boy.
Pray: that the teaching of those who are young should be wise and not be directed along non conformist ways. (Ps.25:5)
More: http://www.christian.org.uk/news/boy-3-taught-about-gay-marriage-in-nursery/
London Mayor Boris Johnson says the nation needs ‘to move beyond the Stone Age’ by redefining marriage. He supports David Cameron’s plan to rewrite the meaning of marriage, saying: ‘frankly I can’t see what the fuss is about.’ He made the dismissive remarks in an article for The Independent. He said marriage ‘has been here since before the Stone Age, and now it needs to move beyond the Stone Age’. Prime Minister David Cameron avoided mentioning his controversial gay marriage policy in his keynote speech at the Tory Party conference. However, in what may be a coordinated manoeuvre by Tory top brass, Chancellor George Osborne, Foreign Secretary William Hague, Education Secretary Michael Gove, and Equalities Minister Maria Miller have all voiced their support for changing marriage. Last weekend it was revealed that over 70 per cent of Tory constituency chairmen want the plans to be dropped, and nearly half say they have lost members because of the policy.
Pray: for an end to glib and superficial statements and for a deeper understanding of how the proposed changes will impact the vast majority of the population who want hetrosexual marriage. (Pr.8:1 )
More: http://www.christian.org.uk/news/boris-says-marriage-is-a-relic-of-the-stone-age/
On Tuesday the Mayor of London Boris Johnson opened a new food depot in London that will distribute more than 300 tonnes of surplus food a year - the equivalent of 800,000 meals - to charities, instead of clogging up landfill sites. The FareShare depot was made possible by a £362,000 grant from the London Waste and Recycling Board. It will focus on rescuing surplus and still perfectly edible food from organisations within London and redistributing it to support some of city’s most disadvantaged people, helping to reduce the amount of food being sent to landfill. The Mayor Boris Johnson said: This inspiring project will have a genuine impact helping vulnerable people.
Pray: that the Government will adopt policies that will not lead to people losing their homes. (Mt.25:37)
A wave of new faith-based schools could lead to the building of new churches in the United Kingdom for the first time in more than half a century. Churches are planned for new towns and expanding housing developments, set to burgeon as planning laws are relaxed, according to Britain’s Daily Express newspaper. The newspaper reports that the Bishop of Oxford, the Rt Rev John Pritchard, confirmed that areas around his own diocese will be part of the expansion plans. After the publication of a new report, The Church School of the Future, Church of England schools are set to enjoy a renaissance as hundreds are converted into Academies, the newspaper said. Rt Rev Pritchard, who is chairman of the Church's Board of Education, said: ‘It is around new communities that we see our one area of new expansion in terms of building new schools. Around my diocese in Oxford, for example, there is a vast number of new houses’.
Pray: for the opportunities that arise for building churches in new communities. (1Chr.29:16)
After a 38-year struggle for truth and justice, campaigners for those killed in Derry on Bloody Sunday celebrate the Saville Report's exoneration of the victims and its unequivocal conclusion that the shootings were ‘unjustified’. The Bloody Sunday tribunal's verdict that soldiers had lied to the inquiry now opens up the possibility of legal action against the former troops involved. David Cameron announced the findings and apologised on behalf of the British state, ‘I never want to call into question the behaviour of our soldiers and our army, who I believe to be the finest in the world, but the conclusions of this report are absolutely clear. There is no doubt, there is nothing equivocal, there are no ambiguities. What happened on Bloody Sunday was both unjustified and unjustifiable. It was wrong.’
Pray: for all those affected by these events and that the report might heal old wounds. (1Pe.5:10)
More: http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2010/jun/15/bloody-sunday-report-soldiers-prosecuted
The Archbishop of York has hit out at the selfish pursuit of profit and called for a return to the pursuit of social justice and generosity as a means to building a truly wealthy nation. Addressing the Church of England’s General Synod in York, Dr John Sentamu said it was understandable that governments wanted to achieve economic recovery after two years of financial crisis, but stressed that recovery should be regarded as a means to an end rather than an end in itself. People should not just be consumers but rather live out their common citizenship in social action or ‘good work’ beyond paid employment. He argued that profit making was a ‘simple and stupid’ objective, and called for a return to the principles of honesty and generosity towards neighbours. He said that an obsession with wealth was ‘evil’ and that society should pursue economic justice rather than solely profit. Pray: for the Holy Spirit to infuse our leaders with social ethics as well as fiscal focus. (Ac.11:15) More: http://www.christiantoday.com/article/blind.pursuit.of.profit.must.end.says.archbishop/26261.htm