"When #HenryWadsworthLongfellow visited #Newport’s #Jewish #cemetery [...], he wrote of the graves as “silent beside the never-silent waves.” He noticed, too, what endured there: “Gone are the living, but the dead remain,” he observed, “and not neglected.”

Newport’s preservation of Jewish #sacred space was shared. #Jews endowed these places and returned to bury their dead there. #Christian officials repaired, protected, and publicly honored them. In this way, a Jewish inheritance was carried forward until communal life returned.

In 1883, #TouroSynagogue was rededicated and a new Jewish community established in Newport. But even in the window of years when the #congregation was gone, the dead were not abandoned."

https://forward.com/culture/815749/newport-touro-synagogue-jewish-cemetery-history/

America’s oldest synagogue closed. Then an unlikely group tended its cemetery.

For decades after its congregation faded, one of America’s oldest Jewish cemeteries endured — preserved by both Christians and Jews

The Forward
Bible quiz for kids helps Grande Prairie congregation heal after fatal bus crash
Church children tested their Bible knowledge as a Grande Prairie church hosted a competition for the first time. This comes five weeks after a bus crash left one congregant dead and several others injured.
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/edmonton/grande-prairie-seventh-day-adventist-church-bus-crash-9.7131065?cmp=rss

A quotation from Josh Billings

Whenever a minister haz preached a sermon that pleazes the whole congregashun, he probably haz preached one that the Lord wont endorse.
 
[Whenever a minister has preached a sermon that pleases the whole congregation, he probably haz preached one that the Lord won’t endorse.]

Josh Billings (1818-1885) American humorist, aphorist [pseud. of Henry Wheeler Shaw]
Josh Billings’ Farmer’s Allminax, 1871-06 (1871 ed.)

More about this quote: wist.info/billings-josh/82236/

#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #joshbillings #audience #challenge #congregation #discomfort #enjoyment #homily #pleasing #preacher #sermon #crowdpleaser

Billings, Josh - Josh Billings' Farmer's Allminax, 1871-06 (1871 ed.) | WIST Quotations

Whenever a minister haz preached a sermon that pleazes the whole congregashun, he probably haz preached one that the Lord wont endorse. [Whenever a minister has preached a sermon that pleases the whole congregation, he probably haz preached one that the Lord won't endorse.]

WIST Quotations

Another feature that makes #CongRegation unique among unconferences is there is a selection of books are made available prior to the conference, on the theme, and some can be mailed in advance of attendance. I chose one of the few women authors on the list, because women. Thanks to The Irish History Book Shop in Cong for sending on From Chaos to Creativity by Kim Bellisimo #chaos

https://congregation.ie/

New Testament Reading: 2 Thessalonians 1:1-4, 11-12
 
#Paul wrote again to the #Thessalonians regarding some particular challenges in the #congregation

https://congregation.ie/home/intro/

only a few weeks to go until Ireland's best annual unconference in the village of Cong, Co Mayo.
Entrance via blog post.
Theme for 2025 is Chaos.
(Timely, or what ?!?)

#Cong #CongRegation #Chaos

@topgold my next outing will be to Cong for #CongRegation

This #Christian #pastor preached a #sermon while pointing an #AR15 at the #congregation

Pastor #PhilipThornton of #LegacyFaithChurch in #Harrisburg, PA told his congregation they needed to go all out when spreading their #faith.

The illustration he used was deeply #disturbing. And it would no doubt have caused a national firestorm if this were a non- #Christian church.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bD5cSJ84Hgo
https://protestia.com/2025/09/28/pastor-preaches-sermon-with-a-ar-15-strapped-to-his-chest/

#guncontrol #gunviolence #mentalillness #USA

This Christian pastor preached a sermon while pointing an AR-15 at the congregation

YouTube
Mega-Church Pastor Scolds His Congregation for Not Helping Him Pay Off 400k Loan

Hank Kunneman, a mega-church pastor and self-proclaimed “prophet,” recently scolded his congregation after they failed to raise $400,000 to help him pay off a loan. To his credit, the loan was for renovations he made to the church — or so he said — and during his rant, he tried his best “not to rebuke” his audience, but to awaken the holy spirit within them.Yeah, sure.Jesus was a huge fan of credit and predatory lending, just read the Bible and you’ll find story after story of Christ standing on the side of big banks using peonage to keep people under their control. Jesus also loved flashy churches with state-of-the-art A/V departments and pastors who sold tickets to conferences and events.So be a good Christian and help Kunneman pay his debts, it’s what Jesus would have wanted. 

Before you continue to YouTube