Southwell Minster Choir - "On Jordan's Bank"

Second Sunday of Advent

"On Jordan's bank the Baptist's cry
announces that the Lord is nigh;
awake and hearken, for he brings
glad tidings of the King of kings.

Then cleansed be every breast from sin;
make straight the way for God within,
prepare we in our hearts a home
where such a mighty Guest may come.

For thou art our salvation, Lord,
our refuge and our great reward;
without thy grace we waste away
like flowers that wither and decay.

To heal the sick stretch out thine hand,
and bid the fallen sinner stand;
shine forth and let thy light restore
earth's own true loveliness once more.

All praise, eternal Son, to thee,
whose advent doth thy people free;
whom with the Father we adore
and Holy Ghost for evermore."

Oath Keepers Reject Orders, Refuse to Stand Down, Remain on Ferguson Rooftops

Armed Oath Keepers have advised St. Louis County Police through their attorney that they have every right to guard rooftops of Ferguson businesses that want them there, and have refused to stand down.

Photo by Scott Olson/Getty Images

From Examiner.com

By David Codrea

Members of Oath Keepers, a national group that includes current and retired military and law enforcement personnel, have rejected orders from St. Louis County Police to abandon posts on top of private businesses that invited their protection, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported Monday. The order to stand down was issued under presumed authority of a county ordinance prohibiting unlicensed security personnel.

“Once we read the statute, we laughed at it,” local Oath Keepers leader Sam Andrews commented, explaining the ordinance applies to employed security personnel. “Then, the next night, we were there.”

The committed presence of Oath Keepers could renew confrontation dangers, as group founder Stewart Rhodes had earlier cited a report of members being targeted, presumably by a federal law enforcement sniper team. Per Rhodes, such teams had not communicated with local law enforcement, let alone coordinated activities with them.

Confirming the Post-Dispatch report is an update from Rhodes sent to members and supporters Wednesday, explaining that, contrary to some reports, the group did not abandon their posts. The alert also included a letter from an Oath Keepers attorney.

“As retired police officer and Missouri police academy instructor John Karriman said, we will not, and did not, stop protecting the buildings and people we had promised to protect,” Rhodes insisted. “We were there the very next night after being told to stop, and we have been there every night since. And we will continue to be there until calm is restored and we are no longer needed.”

“A review of the applicable statutes and regulations makes clear that the Oath Keepers do not fall under the provisions of St. Louis County Code ... as suggested by your officers,” attorney Matthew H. Hearne advised St. Louis County Police Chief Jon Belmar. “To assert that the property owners of Ferguson do not have the right to invite the Oath Keepers to assist them would be tantamount to telling an individual that they do not have the right to assist a neighbor in need. Additionally the property owners and Oath Keepers have numerous other Rights guaranteed by the United States Constitution including the right to freely assemble which may not be restricted by any County Ordinance or State Statute.”

What will happen next, and if the official response will be through attorneys or through initiation of force aimed at removing volunteers from businesses they have been gratefully welcomed to protect, is unknown at this writing. The one certainty at this time is that no businesses being guarded by armed guest volunteers actualizing the motto "Not on our watch" have been attacked or burned while they were standing guard.

Cardinal Burke: Church Teaching on Sexuality Must Be Clarified, and Only Pope Francis Can Do It

Cardinal Raymond Burke

In an interview with Ireland’s state broadcaster, RTE, one of the Catholic hierarchy’s most outspoken defenders of life and family and the Church’s sexual moral teachings again indicated Pope Francis needs to “clarify” that divorced and remarried Catholics, and active homosexuals, cannot be admitted to the sacraments.

As he did during the course of the contentious Extraordinary Synod of Bishops in Rome last month, Cardinal Raymond Leo Burke told RTE in a video interview, “I believe very strongly that – I’m not the pope, and I’m not in the business of telling him what to do – but in my judgment this needs to be clarified, and there’s only one person who can clarify it at this point.”

The possibility of the Church in any way accepting sexual immorality, whether in the form of divorce, “second marriages” or homosexual acts, he said, must be taken “off the table” for next year’s Synod in a definitive way that only the pope can accomplish.

The cardinal denied that this was an instance of “defying” the pope’s authority, saying that Pope Francis would agree that Church teaching is immutable. But he added that he cannot see how the Church’s teaching is being clarified by the Synod process of protracted discussion and debate. He said that he has heard from lay people that “there’s really just a growing confusion about what the Church really teaches, and we’re not coming to any clarity.

Read more at LifeSiteNews >>

 

Trinity College Choir - Advent Carol Service

Recently voted the fifth best choir in the world in Gramophone magazine's "20 Greatest Choirs", The Choir of Trinity College Cambridge comprises around thirty Choral Scholars and two Organ Scholars, all of whom are ordinarily undergraduates of the College.

The College’s choral tradition dates back to the all-male choir of the fourteenth century, when former Chapel Royal choristers studied in King’s Hall which later became part of Trinity College. Directors of Music have included Charles Villiers Stanford, Alan Gray, Raymond Leppard and Richard Marlow. Female voices were introduced in the 1980s by Richard Marlow, in a new departure for Cambridge choral music. Stephen Layton has been Director of Music since 2006.

Prelude on Es ist ein Ros' entsprungen (Brahms)
The Advent Matins Responsory (Richard Marlow)
Creator of the stars of night (Plainsong)
Hymn: Of the Father's heart begotten (arr Willcocks)
Hymn: Come, thou Redeemer of the earth (arr Willcocks)
There is no rose (Anon arr Stevens)
Hymn: O come, O come, Emmanuel (arr Willcocks)
Bogoróditse Djévo (Part)
Ave Maria (Parsons)
Hymn: On Jordan's bank the Baptist's cry (arr Ledger)
Wachet auf! (Nicolai arr Bach)
E'en so, Lord Jesus, quickly come (Paul Manz)
Hymn: Come, thou long-expected Jesus
Seek him that maketh the seven stars (Jonathan Dove)
Hymn: Lo, he comes with clouds descending
Puer natus est (Plainsong)
Brich an, o schönes Morgenlicht (Bach)
Organ voluntary: Prelude and Fugue in G, BWV 541 (Bach)
 

New Video Calls Out America's Lawless President

Thanksgiving Day Proclamation by President George Washington

Whereas it is the duty of all nations to acknowledge the providence of Almighty God, to obey His will, to be grateful for His benefits, and humbly to implore His protection and favor; and whereas both Houses of Congress have, by their joint committee, requested me to "recommend to the people of the United States a day of public thanksgiving and prayer, to be observed by acknowledging with grateful hearts the many and signal favors of Almighty God, especially by affording them an opportunity peaceably to establish a form of government for their safety and happiness:" 

Now, therefore, I do recommend and assign Thursday, the 26th day of November next, to be devoted by the people of these States to the service of that great and glorious Being who is the beneficent Author of all the good that was, that is, or that will be; that we may then all unite in rendering unto Him our sincere and humble thanks for His kind care and protection of the people of this country previous to their becoming a nation; for the signal and manifold mercies and the favorable interpositions of His providence in the course and conclusion of the late war; for the great degree of tranquility, union, and plenty which we have since enjoyed; for the peaceable and rational manner in which we have been enable to establish constitutions of government for our safety and happiness, and particularly the national one now lately instituted for the civil and religious liberty with which we are blessed, and the means we have of acquiring and diffusing useful knowledge; and, in general, for all the great and various favors which He has been pleased to confer upon us. 

And also that we may then unite in most humbly offering our prayers and supplications to the great Lord and Ruler of Nations and beseech Him to pardon our national and other transgressions; to enable us all, whether in public or private stations, to perform our several and relative duties properly and punctually; to render our National Government a blessing to all the people by constantly being a Government of wise, just, and constitutional laws, discreetly and faithfully executed and obeyed; to protect and guide all sovereigns and nations (especially such as have shown kindness to us), and to bless them with good governments, peace, and concord; to promote the knowledge and practice of true religion and virtue, and the increase of science among them and us; and, generally to grant unto all mankind such a degree of temporal prosperity as He alone knows to be best. 

Given under my hand, at the city of New York, the 3d day of October, A.D. 1789. 

Effects of the Affordable Care Act on Economic Productivity

CASEY MULLIGAN, a professor of economics at the University of Chicago, received his Ph.D. in economics from the University of Chicago in 1993. He has been a visiting professor at Harvard University and Clemson University, and is affiliated with the National Bureau of Economic Research, the George J. Stigler Center for the Study of the Economy and the State, and the Population Research Center. He has written for the Chicago Tribune, the Chicago Sun-Times, the New York Times, and the Wall Street Journal, and is the author of three books, including Side Effects: The Economic Consequences of the Health Reform.

The following is adapted from a speech by Casey Mulligan delivered on October 24, 2014, at a Hillsdale College Free Market Forum in Indianapolis, Indiana.

The topic of my talk today is the economic side effects of the Affordable Care Act (ACA), sometimes referred to as Obamacare. Since most of the economy has to do with labor and work, that’s where I’ll start. But, first a caveat. I’m an economist, and I’m going to talk about some parts of this complex law that have an impact on the labor market. Other parts of it relate to health and medicine, and because I’m not a doctor or a biologist, I’m not going to speak to those parts. From an economic or labor-market perspective, I’m going to explain how the costs of the ACA outweigh its benefits. But I can’t measure or estimate its effects on health care. I leave that to others.