Magic Statistics

The Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, is visiting Pakistan this week. What's on his agenda?

This is a crucial time to be visiting Pakistan. I know that there are many concerns about those who may have survived the recent earthquake but whose future is still threatened by the onset of extremely cold weather conditions. I hope to learn about the things being done to transfer aid to people in the direst of needs.

This is also a very important time for Pakistan's faith communities - the good relations between Christians and Muslims in many parts of the UK and in Pakistan provide a platform for building further and for eradicating mistrust and misunderstanding. I am pleased to be able to visit Muslim students, scholars and leaders in the Islamic University of Islamabad and elsewhere.

Rev Dr Peter Mullen, Rector of St Michael's, Cornhill asks: Is that it? Nowhere in the CofE's announcement of Abp Williams' visit is there a hint that he intends to draw attention to persecution of fellow Christians.

In reality it is a very dangerous thing to practise the Christian faith in Pakistan. At Christmas 2002 a church was burnt to the ground and many Christians were injured and dispossessed. Only last week a church, church school and other Christian buildings were destroyed or severely damaged and again Christians went in danger of their lives.
. . .
Unfortunately, the Church of England hierarchy is in denial when it comes to the sufferings of Christians at the hands of fanatical Muslims. We do not look only to Pakistan. Christians are persecuted by Muslim extremists in Sudan, Somalia and Israel. Most of the Christian population of Bethlehem, for example, has been driven out by threats and violence. A fortnight since in Indonesia three schoolgirls were abducted and beheaded and their heads left outside the Christian school they had attended. You can't wear a crucifix in Saudi Arabia without having it wrenched from around your neck.

Read the whole thing.

UPDATE (24 Nov.): I was wrong. Details here.

What is the essential ingredient for preparing a good sermon? Hard work, says the Rev Peter Owen-Jones, an Anglican vicar in Sussex.

"At theological college, we were taught that, for every minute preached, an hour must be spent in preparation. That's a good yardstick. How many people get to hold forth without being interrupted? It's an extraordinary privilege. I used to be a copywriter for an ad agency and the premise is the same: it's about giving a message in an illuminating and entertaining way."

I'm afraid that many American televangelists follow that ad agency model too closely. They tend to sound as if they're selling a product, not just giving a message.

Several lame jokes are scattered throughout this news story about sermons–but there's one good one:

There is the story - possibly apocryphal - of a congregant who had to leave church early. As he went out, someone rushed in late and asked: "Have I missed the sermon?" "Yes and no," came the reply. "The sermon is over, but the minister is still talking."

As an added bonus, this sidebar gives suggestions on how to amuse (or excuse) yourself during particularly bad sermons.

The collect for today, the Sunday before Advent, from the 1662 Book of Common Prayer:

Stir up, we beseech thee, O Lord, the wills of thy faithful people; that they, plenteously bringing forth the fruit of good works, may of thee be plenteously rewarded; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.