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“Hark the Herald Angels Sing, Glory to the newborn King”

By Mark Wilmoth Things don’t always go according to plan. Back in 1737, Charles Wesley wrote a Christmas carol called Hark, How All the Welkin Rings, Glory to the King of Kings. Welkin is an old English word meaning “the sky” or “Heaven.” Wesley intended his carol to be sung to the tune you might recognize as “Christ the Lord Is Risen Today.” (Go ahead, sing it to yourself, the words fit!). But 20 years later, George Whitefield changed the words to Wesley’s song to read, “Hark the Herald Angels Sing, Glory to the newborn King.” Like most poets, Wesley didn’t ...

Pope names new archbishop of Westminster as part of generational shift in English-speaking hierarchy

ROME (AP) — Pope Leo XIV named a new archbishop of Westminster on Friday in another high-profile appointment that signals a generational shift in the English-speaking Catholic hierarchy. Leo tapped Bishop Richard Moth, 67, to replace the retiring Cardinal Vincent Nichols, 80, as the London-based archbishop of the largest British diocese in terms of Catholic population and priests. The appointment came a day after Leo named Bishop Ronald Hicks, 58, to succeed the retiring Cardinal Timothy Dolan as archbishop of New York, one of the biggest and most important archdioceses in the ...

Church repatriates sacred rock covered with petroglyphs after 14-year effort

TREMONTON, Utah (AP) — A large rock bearing petroglyphs created more than 1,000 years ago by the ancestors of the Northwestern Band of the Shoshone Nation is finally back home in the mountains of northern Utah. The repatriation effort, which began in 2011, culminated earlier this month ...

Lead us not into temptation

By Mark Wilmoth Did you ever wonder why Jesus taught his disciples to pray, “And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one” (Matthew 6:13, NIV)? Why should that prayer be necessary? After all, why would a holy God who does not want his children to sin ever lead them into temptation? Besides, doesn’t James 1:13-14 say “When tempted, no one should say, “God is tempting me.” For God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does he tempt anyone; but each person is tempted when they are dragged away by their own evil desire and enticed.” Part of the problem in ...

Forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors

When a group recites the Lord’s prayer together, the group leader may say, “Let’s use ‘trespasses” or “Let’s use ‘debts,” as in “forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors.” Both words work, but in Matthew’s account of the Lord’s prayer (Matthew 6:9-13), Jesus used the word “debts.” “Debts” reminds us that we owed God obedience and He didn’t get it. We abandoned His path and struck out on our own. Maybe it’s easier to understand this principle if we think about someone whose actions or words wounded deeply. They “owe” us. They have taken ...