the BBS goes read-only on Friday, replaced by Substack comments, and the community is not happy #

Fr. Apostolos talks about financial pressures, contentment, and priorities. "As we grow in contentment, and learn to resist the allure of the never-ending parade of consumer goods that we didn't know existed a moment ago, but somehow cannot now possibly live without, a new world of possibilities will emerge for us in the freedom that only Jesus Christ can give."

Fr. Apostolos helps to prepare us for Great Lent with reflections on the humility of the Publican.

Fr. Apostolos Hill delivers a homily at the 200 year anniversary of Greek Independence about the true freedom wrought for us in Christ.

Fr. Apostolos Hill speaks on the difference between Independence and Freedom with a brief history lesson about Independence Day.

Sunday of the Paralytic - Fourth Sunday of Pascha

Deacon Christopher is the homilist on Great and Holy Saturday.

We are not called to set ourselves free, but we do need to want to be healed. We do need to praise God for coming into our lives—for joining us to Him and to each other in the Church.

What are we free and not free to do as believers in Christ? Dr. Rossi gives some practical examples of freedom used where freedom was not appropriate.

Dr. Albert Rossi considers the difference between suffering and pain, and how we can be set free from suffering even during the pain of life.

Taking up a passage from the writings of St. Theophan the Recluse, Archimandrite Irenei examines the nature of human freedom, not as a thing good in itself, but which is to be sacrificed as a perfect offering to God.

In breaking news, Kevin Allen speaks with Samuel Noble who edits the Arab Orthodoxy blog site and who is an expert on Arab Orthodox matters, regarding reports that the kidnapped nuns of Maaloula and St. Thekla Monastery have been freed. The situation is very fluid but confirmation has been received of their release.

True freedom is not the ability to choose; it is found through habitual thanksgiving, and it leads to a blessed and transfigured soul.

There is no easy way to eternal life. We are made to know God, to love God, to serve God, and that is hard. Fr. Pat offers reflections on this via three theses.

What does it mean to be the bee?

St. Dionysios of Zakynthos is a powerful example of forgiveness. He shows us how forgiveness can free us to be who God made us to be, rather than trapping us and defining us by our sins and shortcomings.

Kevin's guests are Scripps-Howard columnist and Orthodox Christian Terry Mattingly and Fr. Hans Jacobse of the American Orthodox Institute. They discuss the complex issues surrounding religious freedom as well as the prospects of losing it.

We can be enslaved by a multitude of things, expectations and the evil one himself. Alternatively we can be slaves of Christ and receive the freedom that comes with that. "I call you my friends" He said.

Should you narrow your focus and choose a copywriting niche? Check out top niches you should consider in 2023.

The post Best copywriting niches for new freelancers appeared first on Coaching and training to scale your copywriting business, plus programs for new copywriters, startups, and marketers.

Recruiting and hiring call center employees can be a pain, but it doesn’t have to be so bad. For example, depending on the roles you’re looking to hire, you may not even have to write a job description—because you can just use ours instead.  Below, we’ve put together four of […]

The post Steal These Free Call Center Job Description Templates appeared first on .

Experts used underwater cameras to work out how the whale was trapped, before untangling it in Loch Fyne.

Bus gate fines are funding the new weekend Aberdeen services to run from Saturday until 5 January.

Hospital waiting times hit record levels this year raising concerns about the NHS during winter.

The display will be held as compensation for delays at an event on Sunday.

Discover FoodCycle, which turns supermarket food waste into hot meals.

Weymouth Town Council says it has made 23 December a free parking day to help last-minute shoppers.

Things to do for a fiver or less.

Things to do for a fiver or less.

Illuminations to be dotted among the skyscrapers again.

I went to Australia last month as a guest of the Opera House for the All About Women symposium.  As part of the event, I agreed to do some media appearances on ABC, including the Drum and Q&A.

All About Women was a fantastic day and I feel privileged to have met so many interesting and talented people there, including people I would put in the category of genuine modern heroes. 

As for Q&A… this is the Australian equivalent of Question Time, so I went anticipating a varied panel with a wide variety of opinions jostling to be heard. I was told Tony Jones was a strong moderator, so I went expecting him to rein in the conversation if things went off-piste. This was to be Q & A's first all-woman panel and expectations were high. The topics they circulated beforehand indicated I was in for a grilling while everyone else got softball. I went, not to put too fine a point on it, loaded for bear.

I thought it went pretty well. Opinions differed. Points of view were exchanged. Margaret Thatcher died. All in all, a good night. The producers seemed very pleased with the outcome.

So imagine my surprise, weeks later, that fellow guest Mia Freedman is still flogging her commentary about the appearance as content on her site MamaMia. The topic: should she apologise for continually insulting sex workers?

During the show Mia kept falling back on sloppy, ill-thought, and pat little lines that were easily countered. I found to my surprise a lot of common ground with Germaine Greer, hardly known as a fan of sexual entertainment, on the fact that conditions of labour and not sex per se are the most pressing issue for sex workers worldwide right now. Then in comes Mia with her assumptions about the people who do sex work (men AND women) and the people who hire them (men AND women). With Tony backing her up. So much for the disinterested moderator, eh? Maybe he felt bad for her. I don't know.

Here's the thing. I agree with Mia on this: I don't think she should apologise.

Why not? Because if she did it would be insincere. My first impression when we met backstage was that she was insincere, and damn it, a successful lady editor like her should have the guts to be true to herself and stand by her opinions no matter what they are.

Because the general public needs to see what kinds of uninformed nonsense that sex workers who stick their heads above the parapet get every single day.

Because for every 100 people who visit her site, there is one who is both a parent AND a sex worker, who knows what she is saying is nonsense. Yes, that's right Mia: sex workers raise families too. It's almost as if we're people.

Because she is a magazine editor who cares deeply about hits and attention, and clearly this is delivering on every level.

Because the sort of people who think sex workers should be topics of discussion rather than active participants are fighting a losing battle.

Keep digging, Mia. I ain't gonna stop you. Keep writing off other people simply because they didn't have the privileges you did or didn't make the same choices you did, and you can't accept that. Get it off your chest, lock up your children, whatever you think you need to do. Perhaps you have some issues about sex you want to work out in public, or this wouldn't be the biggest issue on your agenda weeks after the show went to air?

Mia, you have my express permission not to apologise. No, don't thank me… I insist.

In the round-up: Teams "welcome freedom" of 2026 regulations • Alpine targets Colapinto - reports • Pulling quickest in Formula E test

I’ve ditched the usual blurb about “not being a movies person, but anyway…” because since I started going to the cinema regularly in 2022 I’ve turned into the kind of guy who downloads the London Film Festival brochure and meticulously...

I used to keep the records on my clients, projects, invoices, etc. in Excel sheets and to generate my monthly invoices manually. However, with growing client base, invoicing became a time-consuming and annoying work that had to be performed at the … Continue reading →