On this small island in rural Nagasaki, Japan’s Hidden Christians gather to worship what they call the Closet God. In a special room about the size of a tatami mat is a scroll painting of a kimono-clad Asian woman. She looks like a Buddhist Bodhisattva holding a baby, but for the faithful, this is a concealed version of Mary and the baby Jesus. Another scroll shows a man wearing a kimono covered with camellias, an allusion to John the Baptist’s beheading and martyrdom. (Klug, Yamaguchi & Ono, AP News)
Read MoreThe hajj, one of the largest annual human gatherings in the world, begins on Wednesday in Mecca, Saudi Arabia. Amid rising temperatures and logistical challenges, the pilgrimage has increasingly become a test of endurance both for pilgrims and the Saudi government. Millions of Muslims from around the world travel to the city to take part; Saudi Arabia said 1,475,230 pilgrims from abroad have arrived since Sunday. (Naar, The New York Times)
Read More“Many of those leaving the pastorate feel they are moving at God’s direction to another role of ministry. However, it’s easy for those outside and those inside the church to fixate on those who leave because of conflict, burnout or moral failure. Speculation always overstates these cases, yet these are the outcomes churches can seek to prevent.” (Earls, Christianity Today)
Read More[Rachel] Accurso is a children’s YouTuber and host of a show called Songs for Littles. She’s both integral to the Netflix business plan and a lightning rod for the culture wars – one suspected by the pro-Israel group StopAntisemitism to be operating as a pro-Hamas foreign agent (a claim she vehemently denies). But watching a Ms Rachel video, you wouldn’t immediately pick that up. (Armstrong, The Telegraph)
Read More“The cultural context Hispanic pastors face is diversity in the cultural backgrounds that are part of each individual Hispanic country that is part of the church. This creates a communication problem within the church.” “To connect with the new generations, we must have an open mind to change, to leave aside culture and traditions without ever compromising the Word of God.” (Unknown, Lifeway Research)
Read MoreThe morning after a man hurled Molotov cocktails at a crowd of Jewish Americans in Boulder, Colo., Rabbi Noah Farkas celebrated the first day of Shavuot in the usual way: He read the Torah about the giving of the Ten Commandments to the Israelites at Mt. Sinai. But Farkas, the president of the Jewish Federation of Greater Los Angeles, said what was supposed to be a holiday celebrating the establishment of law and order was marred by the weekend violence. (Jarvis & Solis, Los Angeles Times)
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