“Do the good that you can do today.”

Image courtesy of the Oakland Institute (www.oaklandinstitute.org)

My priest gives this advice on a regular basis. It sounds so simple, but I think in reality we tend to disregard it in one of two major ways: either by thinking that The Problem is so large that there is no good that we can do, or by thinking we’re already doing enough when in fact with a little effort we could do so much more. Maybe we have great ideas for ways we’re going to pitch in or help out or lend a hand, but we confidently plan to do them “tomorrow” and then somehow tomorrow never comes. Either way, thinking gets in the way of action and the good remains undone.

I’d like to occasionally throw out a good idea in this blog that maybe one or two of you will actually find useful. Sometimes…

http://nitawriter.wordpress.com/2007/09/15/why-people-are-religious/

I wanted to write a blog about the sad situation with Christians in the middle east (especially Iraq) talking about how they have lived there harmoniously and prosperously for over a thousand years and how the recent events have destabilized their situation like never in a thousand years. In doing the research I saw this article from nearly two years ago about the Archbishop of Canterbury Mr. Dr. Rowan Williams speaking strongly to bring attention to their plight.

Archbishop of Canterbury Mr. Dr. Rowan Williams

It reminded me yet again how many times Anglicans (or Episcopals in USA) are often foremost in speaking up in matters of faith to support those needing support. A few months ago Dr. Rowan Williams spoke in support of allowing Sharia law in UK to help settle domestic issues within the large Muslim minority in UK. Though there was a large outcry from many to oppose this when…

credit:The Restoration House

“It is a good thing to give thanks unto the Lord.” Psalm 106:1

St. Athanasius, 4th C. Bishop of Alexandria, is said to have prayed:

We give Thee thanks, our Father, for the holy Resurrection which Thou has manifested to us through Jesus, Thy Son, and even as this bread which is here upon this table was formerly scattered abroad and has been made compact, so may Thy Church be reunited from the ends of the earth for Thy Kingdom, for Thine is the power and the glory, for ever and ever. [A Little Book of Table Graces, Appletree Press]

For millennia we’ve been thanking God for his many blessings , nowhere more joyously than in the United States of America on Thanksgiving Day.

And we Americans show our gratitude by giving of ourselves to others. According to the Christian Post, Americans are still giving during our most recent economic downturn:

Seven in ten…