READ IT // INWARDLY DIGEST IT.

AT ARE YOU READING? IS IT ENLIGHTENING?

BCP In the public domain via Wikipedia

". . .Read, Mark, Learn and Inwardly Digest Them!" My prof., Donald Demaray, delivered me this phrase from the Book of Common Prayer (BCP) in the 1950s and I've carried the words around in my memory ever since. 

In the BCP, the prayer refers to the scriptures. 

But I expand the scope to refer to anything that's available to read. 

But you still have to choose what to be reading? The scriptures? . .surely. But beyond that, what?

I rely on the internet for most of my reading. I'll just mention one source I refer to constantly: "The Manchester Guardian Newspaper." The "Guardian" covers the U.K., Europe, and to a lesser extent the entire globe. 

"The Guardian" provides the U.S. its own section in "The Guardian", and here I find some great insights into my country. I give just one example: 

The best article I've read on the Sanders / Clinton primary contest appears in today's "Guardian." Read it for yourself by clicking here: http://www.theguardian.com/uk/manchester. The demographic groups that support Sanders are the young and the poor. The demographics that support Clinton are the older and wealthier. The author's most stunning thought is: Socialism is no longer a dirty word. People associate socialism with sunny Sweden, not icy Russia.

I'll write more in coming weeks about what I'm reading. But for now, I recommend highly that you naviagte to "The Guardian." Rate it for yourself. For me, I "Read, Mark, Learn and Inwardly Digest. . ." what I find here. 

I'm sure Lord Cranmer, a bit of a rebel himself, would approve. (Why on earth do I always choose martyred rebels like Cranmer and Lord Thomas Moore for heroes?)

That's not what motivates me, though. What motivates me to read "The Guardian" is my need to find out what's going on in my country and the world in an inwardly digestible form.

P.S. Unfortunately, you won't find the words in the 1979 BCP of The Episcopal Church. They were omitted in favor of another collect for the second Sunday in Advent. You may read the prayer here: http://angalmond.blogspot.com/2014/03/hear-read-mark-learn-and-inwardly-digest.html