New Website Launched to Mark 350th Anniversary of Book of Common Prayer

HT: Anglican Mainstream.

The Prayer Book Society has launched a new website ahead of yearlong celebrations in 2012 to mark the 350th anniversary of the 1662 Book of Common Prayer.

The website, www.bcp350.org.uk, details the history of the liturgy and national and regional events marking its anniversary.

Cool. Read it all.

Titanic Sunk by Steering Mistake, Author Says

From Yahoo News.

The Titanic hit an iceberg in 1912 because of a basic steering error, and only sank as fast as it did because an official persuaded the captain to continue sailing, an author said in an interview published on Wednesday.

Louise Patten, a writer and granddaughter of Titanic second officer Charles Lightoller, said the truth about what happened nearly 100 years ago had been hidden for fear of tarnishing the reputation of her grandfather, who later became a war hero.

Lightoller, the most senior officer to have survived the disaster, covered up the error in two inquiries on both sides of the Atlantic because he was worried it would bankrupt the ill-fated liner’s owners and put his colleagues out of a job.

A fascinating account. Read it all.

Research: Bible May Have Been Right About Red Sea Miracle

HT: Stand Firm.

It’s one of the more famous Bible stories. While fleeing from their Egyptian masters, the Israelites reach a dead end at the Red Sea and are almost assured death or a return to slavery. But, the story in Exodus goes, God parted the waters allowing the Israelites to cross, and collapsed the waters on the Egyptians when they tried to use the same passage.

Now, according to new computer analysis from the National Center for Atmospheric Research, the miracle may not be as impossible as some detractors think. The study, published today in the online journal PLoS ONE, finds that strong, persistent winds could offer a physical explanation for the event.

“The simulations match fairly closely with the account in Exodus,” lead researcher Carl Drews told the London Telegraph.

Here’s how:

Read it all. And then check out this more detailed article on the computer model used.

Here is my take on this article. Scientific validation is nice but is it necessary for biblical faith? I think not. Don’t misunderstand. I have nothing against science or empirical data. Both are immensely important and valid tools. But science is not the arbiter of faith simply because it cannot be.

What do you think?

From the Morning Scriptures

That night the king could not sleep; so he ordered the book of the chronicles, the record of his reign, to be brought in and read to him. It was found recorded there that Mordecai had exposed Bigthana and Teresh, two of the king’s officers who guarded the doorway, who had conspired to assassinate King Xerxes. “What honor and recognition has Mordecai received for this?” the king asked.  “Nothing has been done for him,” his attendants answered. The king said, “Who is in the court?” Now Haman had just entered the outer court of the palace to speak to the king about impaling Mordecai on the pole he had set up for him. His attendants answered, “Haman is standing in the court.” “Bring him in,” the king ordered. When Haman entered, the king asked him, “What should be done for the man the king delights to honor?” Now Haman thought to himself, “Who is there that the king would rather honor than me?” So he answered the king, “For the man the king delights to honor, have them bring a royal robe the king has worn and a horse the king has ridden, one with a royal crest placed on its head. Then let the robe and horse be entrusted to one of the king’s most noble princes. Let them robe the man the king delights to honor, and lead him on the horse through the city streets, proclaiming before him, ‘This is what is done for the man the king delights to honor!’ ” “Go at once,” the king commanded Haman. “Get the robe and the horse and do just as you have suggested for Mordecai the Jew, who sits at the king’s gate. Do not neglect anything you have recommended.” So Haman got the robe and the horse. He robed Mordecai, and led him on horseback through the city streets, proclaiming before him, “This is what is done for the man the king delights to honor!” Afterward Mordecai returned to the king’s gate. But Haman rushed home, with his head covered in grief, and told Zeresh his wife and all his friends everything that had happened to him. His advisers and his wife Zeresh said to him, “Since Mordecai, before whom your downfall has started, is of Jewish origin, you cannot stand against him—you will surely come to ruin!” While they were still talking with him, the king’s eunuchs arrived and hurried Haman away to the banquet Esther had prepared.

–Esther 6 (TNIV)

Yesterday I introduced the book of Esther and noted that nowhere in it is God’s name explicitly mentioned, but that God is at work in the ordinary circumstances, events, and people in the narrative. Today the story continues to unfold and the wicked Haman is getting ready to reap the fruits of his wickedness.

Notice how circumstances once again conspire to set the stage for his undoing. King Xerxes cannot sleep and so he orders his chronicles to be read and is reminded of Mordecai’s great kindness toward him. Haman just happens to be in the king’s court and his proud arrogance and assumption lead him to humiliation. He must do for Mordecai whom he hates, that which he hates and which brings him humiliation.

Notice too the fair weather fans. Yesterday we read where Haman’s wife and friends puffed him up by singing his praises. Today they are raining on his parade, implying that because Haman is against the Jews he is against their God, and that spells trouble.

As we saw yesterday, we can take comfort in the fact that God is active in our lives, even when we cannot see that he is. This is when we must live in faith. As the writer of Hebrews says, “faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see” (Hebrews 11:1). The writer of Esther is showing us how that works in real life. Thanks be to God.

You Are What You Seek

The soul attracts that which it secretly harbors; that which it loves, and also that which it fears; it reaches the height of its cherished aspirations; it falls to the level of its unchastened desires, and circumstances are the means by which the soul receives its own. Every thought-seed sown or allowed to fall into the mind, and to take root there, produces its own, blossoming sooner or later into act. Good thoughts bear good fruit, bad thoughts bad fruit. Following the inmost desires, aspirations, thoughts, by which one allows oneself to be dominated (pursuing the will-o-the-wisps of impure imagining or steadfastly walking the highway of strong and high endeavor), a person at last arrives at their fruition and fulfillment in the outer condition of life.

–James Allen, As a Man Thinketh

Angry Patients

Patients insane with anger sometimes strike their doctors. If they are very strong, they may even kill the one who seeks to cure them. Our Doctor (Jesus) was not afraid of being killed by his insane patients. Indeed, through his death he brought the remedy for their frenzy. Notice how he did not get angry with those who injured him. He felt sorry for them and wanted to heal them as they raged against him. Hanging on the cross, he looked at those who were venting their rage against him and prayed: “Father, forgive the because they do not know what they are doing.”

–Augustine, Sermon 360B.18

True Humility

When someone who has the power to think great thoughts humbles himself, that one is humble. But when his humility comes from impotence, that is not what you would call humility. It is a humility of a greater sort to refrain from seizing power, to be “obedient to death.”

–John Chrysostom, Homily on Philippians 7.2.5

Selfishness is the Cause of All Sorts of Evils

Selfishness is the cause of all sorts of evils. From it comes strife and rivalry. From these come jealousy and contentiousness. Out of this that love grows cool when we are in love with human glory and become enslaved to the honors of popularity. One cannot be both a slave to popularity and a true servant of God.

–John Chrysostom, Homily on Philippians 6.2.1-4

The Power of Confession

The prayer [of confession] which frees us from faults wins the heart of the judge and wipes away sins; mercy cannot be withheld from the one who asks for it, as humility fires us to pray unceasingly for forgiveness. All this is achieved by the devoted Lord, for he does not wish to condemn those whom he forewarns.

–Cassiodorus, Expositions of Psalm 140.1