Is there a difference between "Christian marriage" and "Civil marriage"?

Two Anglican theologians have published an article containing their conviction that there is a significant difference between
what the State defines "Civil Marriage" to be, and that which Christian theology defines as a "Christian marriage".

After years of wrestling on this topic, you might be surprised to hear their conclusion, and the reasons for it: they propose a Marriage pledge - "in which they undertake to refrain from serving as agents of the state in marriage by, e.g., signing government-provided marriage certificates. Couples will be asked to contract civil marriage separately from “weddings that seek to establish a Christian marriage in accord with the principles articulated and lived out from the beginning of the Church’s life.”

See what you think of their conclusion and the reasons for their arriving at a whole new way of understanding the relationship between Christian churches and the State.

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Thanksgiving: Now Thank we all our God -

Fabulous German choir - and great words, too.

Click here.

Lyrics: Now thank we all our God,
with heart and hands and voices,
who wondrous things has done,
in whom this world rejoices;
who from our mothers' arms
has blessed us on our way
with countless gifts of love,
and still is ours today.
O may this bounteous God
through all our life be near us,
with ever joyful hearts
and blessed peace to cheer us;
and keep us still in grace,
and guide us when perplexed;
and free us from all ills,
in this world and the next.

All praise and thanks to God
the Father now be given;
the Son, and him who reigns
with them in highest heaven;
the one eternal God,
whom earth and heaven adore;
for thus it was, is now,
and shall be evermore.

Thanksgiving: O Clap your hands, by Orland Gibbons 1583-1625

Thanksgiving as it sounded four hundred years ago!

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Wild Gorillas: What do you do if you get kissed by a wild gorrilla?

 Here's a great video - one unbelievable story.

This story doesn't need words - the pictures speak for themselves.

Click here.

As Fall colors blaze out their glorious Display

By Pearl (Phillips) Thomas

 

Stunningly beautiful!!  Nothing like it , as the colors blaze out their glorious display!  

A brief moment of glory shown only by the flora of all regions, but the memories can

Be locked into the depths of our beings

To be accessed at any time or place, to warm the heart, and cheer the soul 

In the long, dark, dismal, colourless and cold

Days and nights of the winter ahead.

 

 

 

 Such a brief space of time to silently offer their best

To eyes that will to see

To hearts that will to cherish.

Golden trees today, letting their gold fall at the feet of travellers

Barren trees tomorrow;  silently, stoically making bare their limbs

Assured of the memories of the forward March of the Seasons

That even as it was, it will be now, and forever.

 

 

Trees that are silent in every season, -tree-like knowledge internalized

Within their branches and trunks. 

Bearing up bravely during the massive storms they must endure

Storing up strength, and great beauty within the tree-like soul

Preparing for the next season's display.

First of new birth, of leafy waving greens,

Concealing the secrets that will be displayed

When the bitter cold blasts their inner beings.

 

 

 

And the trees loving, peace-making responses 

To rise to the occasion of their highest calling

To once more show forth their splendours;

Calling out their art form in silent, gentle strains to all travellers passing by 

Who will to look, see,

Capture the moments of beauty on display.

 

For such a brief moment of time.

 

 

 

 

Truly, time is golden!  Silence too, is golden here!

I take up the challenge to love, and appreciate,

 To honour nature's beauties, hiding the treasures

Deep within my own heart and soul

For all the cold, bare winters' days ahead.

 

A  briefly known Beauty, -

Yielding everlasting joyful, golden memories for my heart's delight.

Gold! Hidden in plain sight!

Treasures to be had by all who will!

Three Unexpected Kinds of People the World Really Needs.

From A Holy Experience:

"I spent some time with an unlikely spokesman for religion and the arts, a Japanese-American by the name of Makoto Fujimura.

Mako's paintings hang in almost every major museum in Japan and in the U.S., too, his work commands respect and high prices. He was honored with a career retrospective in Tokyo before he turned forty, and as a Presidential appointee to the National Council on the Arts, Fujimura served as an international ambassador for the arts.

A thoughtful Christian, Fujimura was also named the 2014 recipient of the Religion and the Arts Award given annually by American Academy of Religion.

One thing about Mako impresses me more than his many accomplishments: In the wider artistic community he lives out his faith with grace and compassion.

On September 11, 2001, Mako was residing a few blocks from Ground Zero in an area popular with artists. After the World Trade Center disaster, with many of these artists shut out of their homes and studios, Mako opened a communal studio to allow them to continue working.   He called it his tea house, and dedicated it as "an oasis of collaboration by Ground Zero artists."

Read more.

 

"No Fixed Address" - ministry in an impoverished Toronto neighborhood

Most people in Parkdale would love to be able to stand in line.

 Jesus, during his ministry  was often walking around Palestine under the hot Mediterranean sun. He talked  with lepers and leaders. How many times was he dehydrated, hungry, exhausted and without the prospect of the creature comforts of home?

Park Dale, in Toronto, also has more than its share of people with no fixed address. A once wealthy area, Park Dale has long been associated with urban decline, homelessness and mental illness.

Ministry here involves very special heroes of the faith. Read more.

100 years ago today - the present day Middle East Crisis began.

Today marks the beginning of the present day Middle East Crisis.

Without any agreement of the Ottoman Parliament, ships belonging to the Ottoman Royal Navy bombarded two Russian ports in what is today Ukraine. These ports were Odessa and Sevastopol. Admiral Wilhelm Souchon was a German military officer.

The next day, Russia began its war against the Ottoman Empire.

World War I brought about the end of the Ottoman Empire, the death of millions of Russians, Ukrainians and Turks. Over 1,500,000 Armenians died in the conflict in what is today eastern Turkey. Over 5,000,000 Ottomans died in the agonizing collapse of the Ottoman Empire and the borders of present day Middle East were drawn by English and French politicians.

Galipoli became a house word name as eight months of cruel battle shaped the political destinies of far off New Zealand and Australia.

Today is a very sad day - but not as sad as the day that all the men in the photo made their attack on Russian war ships, and then faced their own deaths later on.

Read more.

 

The Lion Whisperer: "Eyes, and hugs, only for Kevin" -

In South Africa, Kevin Richardson is applauded for his amazing rapport with adult lions. In this, and other clips, the adult lions interrupt Kevin, hugging him, as he explains of how he "adopted" them as cubs after the mother abandoned them.

Video here. 

The Anglicans: One of their finest hours. (Or, Why don't we celebrate such great stories?)

Traveling in India, one cannot help but note the influence of England: trains run on time, cricket captures and endlessly ensnares the passions of young men and the court system is based on British concepts of law.

How did all this happen? It was due to one of the Anglican's finest moments. India drew British missionaries, some of the most capable to ever graduate from Oxford and Cambridge.

Henry Martyn (1781-1812) translated the New Testament into Urdu and Persian, and this translation work founded the development of a national language. Many other scholars influenced the groundwork of education and the development of India's modern languages.

Decades of sacrificial service by Bible translators made it possible for the British government to agree to making Hindustani their court language at the lower levels of administration.

This meant that a peasant in North India could go to a British court, and understand the prosecutor, witness, lawyers and judge. Gifted Indian writers could write in a language that even the most humble could appreciate. Previous to this, the court language under Akbar (15556-1605) was Persian.

Claudius Buchanan (1766-1815), Charles Grant, Alexander Duff, Charles Trevelyan (1807-1886) and Lord Macaulay (and hundreds more) showed an interest in enriching Indian vernaculars, educating the masses and preparing India for self-government. John Borthwick Gilchrist (1759-1841) developed "Tables and Principles" of Hindustani.

These men, their wives and  others, were supported in England by giants of the faith, such as Charles Simon (1759-1836), whose ministry in Cambridge constantly challenged students in the university to serve India. Together with others, such as William Wilberforce, (1759-1833). they opposed the lucrative slaver trade, of which the British Company was most famous.

Sir William Muir, (1819-1905)  founded the University of Allahabad as Muir Central College, which influenced many of India's greatest statesmen and women. "It's educational and political culture forged by its municipality, High Court, university, press and a strategic location gave India five of her first seven prime ministers. (p. 207, The Book that Made Your World.)

Charles Trevelyan could not have been more blunt. He foresaw, and encouraged, India's Independence!

He was 120 years ahead of his time when he wrote: The existing connection between two such distant countries as England and India, cannot, in the nature of things be permanent; no effort of policy can prevent the natives from ultimately regain their independence. That was written in 1838!

The influence of the Bible and the application of the teachings of Jesus to "Love your neighbor as yourself" led to opposition of traditional beliefs and practices: widow burning, infanticide, untouchability, temple prostitution, polygamy and idolatry.

Most important of all, the concept of "one person-one vote" illustrated the dignity of all citizens, with freedoms guaranteed by a Constitution and free elections. Today, when elections take place in India, the process for so many hundreds of millions to vote is an epoch event: it takes days to vote and more days to count the votes.

Mahatma Ghandi, a Gujarati, and Rabindranath Tagore, a Bengali, met in the 1920's and decided that Hindi, not Sanskrit, and not English, had to be India's future.

For a fascinating "re-discovery" of many ways that our modern world has been influenced by these giants of literature, education, science, music and other aspects of culture, I highly recommend the book The Book that Made Your World: How the Bible Created the Soul of Western Civilization, by Indian writer, Vishal Mangalwadi. (published by Thomas Nelson, 2011)

If you are looking for a great book as a Christmas present, one that will keep you going back to it over and over again (unlike most websites these days!), I suggest this book as a modern day treasure!