mike@mikelilley.com

Thirteenth Sunday after Pentecost

by

Occasion: Proper 17
Sunday, August 30, 2020
Year (cycle): A

Old Testament: Exodus 3:1-15 [Alternate: Jeremiah 15:15-21]
1 Moses was keeping the flock of his father-in-law Jethro, the priest of Midian; he led his flock beyond the wilderness, and came to Horeb, the mountain of God. 2 There the angel of the Lord appeared to him in a flame of fire out of a bush; he looked, and the bush was blazing, yet it was not consumed. 3 Then Moses said, ‘I must turn aside and look at this great sight, and see why the bush is not burned up.’ 4 When the Lord saw that he had turned aside to see, God called to him out of the bush, ‘Moses, Moses!’ And he said, ‘Here I am.’ 5 Then he said, ‘Come no closer! Remove the sandals from your feet, for the place on which you are standing is holy ground.’ 6 He said further, ‘I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.’ And Moses hid his face, for he was afraid to look at God.

Read more

Chris Cornell covers Prince megahit “Nothing compares 2 U”

by

When Chris Cornell died last year, he left behind a sweeping and complex recorded legacy: He’d lent his voice to one of the biggest bands in rock (Soundgarden), a successful supergroup (Audioslave), an early Seattle standard-bearer (Temple of the Dog) and countless one-offs, collaborations and solo albums. So summing up his career on a single record — which a new self-titled compilation, out Nov. 16, intends to do — requires skidding across a huge swath of artistic identities and iterations. (For those who’d like to dig deeper, Chris Cornell will be available as both a 17-song album and a 64-song box set, the latter of which includes 11 unreleased tracks. There’ll also be a “super deluxe” box containing a couple dozen additional videos, a hardcover book, lithographs, a turntable mat, a poster, and so on.)

Read more

Hurricane Laura makes landfall in Louisiana as Category 3 major storm

by

Hurricane Laura pummeled the Gulf Coast on Thursday morning with maximum sustained winds of 120 mph and storm surge waters, exceeding 9 feet in some parts of Louisiana.

Laura slightly weakened from a Category 4 storm with 150 mph winds to a Category 3 after making landfall around 2 a.m. eastern time, near Cameron, Louisiana. The storm is 30 miles north-northwest of Lake Charles and moving north at 15 mph, the National Hurricane Center said in its 5 a.m. update.

“At the time of landfall, Laura was a ferocious looking hurricane with a clear circular eye, an intense eyewall, and tightly-coiled surrounding spiral bands,” the NHC said.

Laura has “unsurvivable” storm surge, according to the NHC, capable of penetrating 40 miles inland from the Louisiana-Texas coast, as much as 20 feet high in some places. Thus far, most areas around the coast have received surge levels higher than 3 feet, but certain areas have recorded over 9 feet, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s storm surge map.

Read more

New Job Postings Are Plummeting For White-Collar Professionals

by

A good way to gauge the health of the job market is to see how many new opportunities are listed online. Indeed, one of the largest job aggregation sites, released a report indicating the direction of new job postings in the United States. 

The job site’s data revealed a massive drop in listings during March, April and May—some of the most difficult months of the Covid-19 pandemic. At that time, job postings plummeted nearly 40% compared to the same period last year. 

According to Indeed, “The trend in job postings—a real-time measure of labor market activity— is 20.3% lower than in 2019, as of August 14.” Hospitality, travel, tourism, child care and other sectors that rely upon face-to-face activities saw job listings appreciably fall. 

What’s surprising to see is that white-collar job advertisements, such as software development, banking and finance, declined. Indeed claims that job postings for higher-wage occupations have taken the biggest tumble. “Postings in higher-wage occupations are now 28% below trend, versus 12% below trend for lower-wage occupations.”

Read more

Central Florida dominates state jobless rate ranks

by

Central Florida, a tourism-dependent region walloped by the coronavirus pandemic, hold four of the top seven highest unemployment rates for July, according to state figures.
Osceola and Orange rank first and second, while Polk is fourth and Lake is seventh. Statewide, 11.3% of workers were unemployed. Here’s a look at county-bycounty jobless numbers for the month.

■ Osceola County: 20.2 percent
■ Orange County: 16.1percent
■ Miami-Dade County: 14.2 percent
■ Polk County: 13.2 percent
■ Broward County:13.1percent
■ Hendry County:13 percent
■ Lake County: 12.4 percent
■ Palm Beach County: 11.6 percent
■ Citrus County:11.2 percent
■ St. Lucie County:11percent
■ Hernando County:10.9 percent
■ Putnam County:10.9 percent
■ Hamilton County:10.7 percent
■ Lee County:10.7 percent
■ Seminole County: 10.5 percent
■ Volusia County: 10.5 percent


Read more

On this day, 1944 Paris was liberated from 4 years of Nazi occupation.

by

After more than four years of Nazi occupation, Paris is liberated by the French 2nd Armored Division and the U.S. 4th Infantry Division. German resistance was light, and General Dietrich von Choltitz, commander of the German garrison, defied an order by Adolf Hitler to blow up Paris’ landmarks and burn the city to the ground before its liberation. Choltitz signed a formal surrender that afternoon, and on August 26, Free French General Charles de Gaulle led a joyous liberation march down the Champs d’Elysees.

Paris fell to Nazi Germany on June 14, 1940, one month after the German Wehrmacht stormed into France. Eight days later, France signed an armistice with the Germans, and a puppet French state was set up with its capital at Vichy. Elsewhere, however, General Charles de Gaulle and the Free French kept fighting, and the Resistance sprang up in occupied France to resist Nazi and Vichy rule.

The French 2nd Armored Division was formed in London in late 1943 with the express purpose of leading the liberation of Paris during the Allied invasion of France. In August 1944, the division arrived at Normandy under the command of General Jacques-Philippe Leclerc and was attached to General George S. Patton’s 3rd U.S. Army. By August 18, Allied forces were near Paris, and workers in the city went on strike as Resistance fighters emerged from hiding and began attacking German forces and fortifications.

Read more

John MacArthur Files Declaration Against Los Angeles for Repeated Church Closure Attacks

by

The battle between Los Angeles County officials and California megachurch Pastor John MacArthur is continuing.

According to a press release obtained by Faithwire, county officials are attempting — for the fourth time — to get a court order to shutter MacArthur’s Grace Community Church in Sun Valley, which has been holding in-person worship services since last month, a violation of orders from Gov. Gavin Newsom (D), who has mandated churches keep their doors closed amid the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.

MacArthur, in his declaration released Monday, argued the county is attempting to impede on his and his congregation’s “free exercise of religion by criminalizing activity directly required by our faith.”

“As a church,” he wrote, “we have a moral and religious obligation to continue allowing our congregants to gather in our sanctuary to worship the Lord.”

He continued, in part:

This church is the core of life for thousands from nursery to seniors. Our church is not an event center. It is a family of lives who love and care for each other in very intensely personal ways. So essential to personal well-being that people rushed back as soon as they could. The utter unnecessary deprivation of all our people by completely shutting down the mutual love and care that sustains our people in all the exigencies, pressures, and challenges of life, was cruel. And after 63 years of sacrificial, kindness to our city, to be repeatedly threatened with court-ordered efforts to shut Grace Community Church down when no one is sick, reveals an inexplicable preference for a mostly harmless virus over the life-enriching and necessary fellowship of the church. Our leaders and congregation see no real health threat to warrant such restraint. We see this action against us as an illegitimate misuse of power.

Read more