From Worship to Willpower

Views from elsewhere:

A superb series on worship by Sam Norton, scroll back to Monday for the first one. Particularly like this observation:
Worship can be oriented correctly to God, yet not engage the worshipping community - then it is no longer worship but performance. On the other hand, worship can engage the community but not be oriented to God - that is simply self-congratulation.

The blogging Bishops are getting stuck into financial/political issues, Bishop Alan blogs on dogs, vomit and microcredit, and Nick Baines wonders how posh Tories can say 'we're all in this together'.

Church Mouse reveals that most people want Christmas to stay Christmas, according to Theos.

MadPriest reveals what goes on after the Pet Blessing service.

Cranmers Curate is inspired by Matt Redman

Following vandalism to Alpha Course posters, the Beaker Folk have an alternative.

In the week where everyone's talking about retirement, Mike Collyer asks if the church has a blind spot when it comes to older people and mission.

Want to be a free thinker but still a nice person looks at some research on willpower, and what helps and hinders it. After completing tasks that required self-control, study subjects had less physical stamina and impulse control and increased difficulty with problem-solving activities. In particular, resisting temptation consumed an important resource that was then less available to help the person persist in the face of failure on subsequent tests. But you can work on your willpower. "Willpower is like a muscle: it needs to be challenged to build itself,"