A Christmas Eve Confession & Absolution

Holy God, as Christmas Eve dawns
we find little joy in our hearts.
We have lost so many things
and given up so much
in trying to protect the world around us
and the loved ones we hold so dear
but cannot hold.

None of us are at our best.
We are frustrated with ourselves,
with our family, with all our fellow children of God.
Our spirits are faint and fraying.
Yet still, you are on your way.
Just as you came at Christmas,
you will now not leave us
without mercy and comfort.
We cry out:
Come, O come, Immanuel!
Holy God,
Our holiday meals are made with tears
and our gifts wrapped with tired hands.
We are struggling to stay connected
in this time when the safety of all
requires distance from each other.
All around your beloved world, too many tables
will have empty seats at Christmas.
What should be a time of celebration
only feels like mourning.
Yet still, you are on your way.
Just as you were born and laid in a manger,
you will find us not where we think we should be
but right where we are.
We cry out:
Come, O come, Immanuel!
Healing God,
All our hearts are weary and worn-down.
As we recognize our own griefs
over this strange and painful year,
we especially lift up to you
those who are sick or suffering...
...especially the 326,000+ families without a loved one
due to COVID-19,
and the hundreds of thousands of others living in physical, emotional, and economic distress because of it.
Sickness and sadness feels all around us.
Yet still, you are on your way.
Just as long ago
you healed the sick and
proclaimed the year of the Lord's favor,
proclaim it for us now.

We cry out:
Come, O come, Immanuel!
Hear the promise of long ago: when the shadows are longest, when the day is shortest, when the cold has chilled us and it seems that nothing will be right again -- that is when God arrives.
This Christmas season, may you know that Jesus has not come looking for tradition, for perfection, for everything to be as it always was.

Jesus has come looking for you.

Amen.

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One of the authors of the Policy Exchange report on academic free speech thinks it is "ridiculous" to expect him to accurately portray an incident at Cardiff University in his study, both in the reporting and in a question put to a student sample.


Here is the incident Kaufmann incorporated into his study, as told by a Cardiff professor who was there. As you can see, the incident involved the university intervening to *uphold* free speech principles:


Here is the first mention of the Greer at Cardiff incident in Kaufmann's report. It refers to the "concrete case" of the "no-platforming of Germaine Greer". Any reasonable reader would assume that refers to an incident of no-platforming instead of its opposite.


Here is the next mention of Greer in the report. The text asks whether the University "should have overruled protestors" and "stepped in...and guaranteed Greer the right to speak". Again the strong implication is that this did not happen and Greer was "no platformed".


The authors could easily have added a footnote at this point explaining what actually happened in Cardiff. They did not.
Best books I read in 2020

1. Atomic Habits by @JamesClear

“If you show up at the gym 5 days in a row—even for 2 minutes—you're casting votes for your new identity. You’re not worried about getting in shape. Youre focused on becoming the type of person who doesn’t miss workouts”


Good Reasons for Bad Feelings

https://t.co/KZDqte19nG

2. “social anxiety is overwhelmingly common. Natural selection shaped us to care enormously what other people think..We constantly monitor how much others value us..Low self-esteem is a signal to try harder to please others”


The True Believer by Eric Hoffer

https://t.co/uZT4kdhzvZ

“Hatred is the most accessible and comprehensive of all unifying agents...Mass movements can rise and spread without belief in a God, but never without a believe in a devil.”


Grandstanding

https://t.co/4Of58AZUj8

"if politics becomes a morality pageant, then the contestants have an incentive to keep problems intact...politics becomes a forum to show off moral qualities...people will be dedicated to activism for its own sake, as a vehicle to preen"


Warriors and Worriers by Joyce Benenson

https://t.co/yLC4eGHEd4

“Across diverse cultures, a man who lives in the house with another man’s children is about 60 times more likely than the biological father to kill those children.”

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https://t.co/9X8OheIvRw
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3) UCAS School of nuclear sciences and technology
https://t.co/nQH8JnewcJ
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😎 Microgravity Science Teaching and Research

9) High temperature gas dynamics teaching and research section
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10) Department of Biomechanics and Medical Engineering
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Хајде да направимо мали осврт на случај Мика Алексић .

Алексић је жртва енглеске освете преко Оливере Иванчић .
Мика је одбио да снима филм о блаћењу Срба и мењању историје Срба , иза целокупног пројекта стоји дипломатски кор Британаца у Београду и Оливера Иванчић


Оливера Илинчић је иначе мајка једне од његових ученица .
Која је претила да ће се осветити .

Мика се налази у притвору због наводних оптужби глумице Милене Радуловић да ју је наводно силовао човек од 70 година , са три бајпаса и извађеном простатом пре пет година

Иста персона је и обезбедила финансије за филм преко Беча а филм је требао да се бави животом Десанке Максимовић .
А сетите се и ко је иницирао да се Десанка Максимовић избаци из уџбеника и школства у Србији .

И тако уместо романсиране верзије Десанке Максимовић утицај Британаца

У Србији стави на пиједестал и да се Британци у Србији позитивно афирмишу како би се на тај начин усмерила будућност али и мењао ток историје .
Зато Мика са гнушањем и поносно одбија да снима такав филм тада и почиње хајка и претње која потиче из британских дипломатских кругова

Најгоре од свега што је то Мика Алексић изговорио у присуству високих дипломатских представника , а одговор је био да се све неће на томе завршити и да ће га то скупо коштати .
Нашта им је Мика рекао да је он свој живот проживео и да могу да му раде шта хоће и силно их извређао