All posts tagged: Ended

The schism in the UMC ended two years ago; but not in this Dallas church

The schism in the UMC ended two years ago; but not in this Dallas church

Published by Sam Flores

DALLAS (RNS) — Hundreds of members of Highland Park United Methodist Church crowded into an auditorium Wednesday (Aug. 26) for a congregational meeting to better understand why the denomination to which it has belonged for 110 years has now sued them in court. It was the first opportunity for the church’s senior minister, Matt Tuggle, and members of the church council to explain why the church in Dallas’ tony University Park neighborhood changed its governing documents four years ago to essentially cut off legal ties to the United Methodist Church. During the mostly polite and occasionally tense one-hour meeting in the cavernous contemporary worship auditorium, Tuggle repeatedly claimed the 110-year-old church — the denomination’s largest U.S. congregation by membership — wants to remain a United Methodist church but changed its bylaws during a period of uncertainty with the denomination. Church leaders declined RNS reporters’ questions. Members leaving the building also did not want to talk. Two years after a schism led 7,600 churches to leave the United Methodist fold, its reverberations are now being felt …

Mapped: How Islam (not Germanic invaders) likely ended antiquity

Mapped: How Islam (not Germanic invaders) likely ended antiquity

Published by Jenni Sidey

In 1922, the Belgian medievalist Henri Pirenne wrote, “Without Islam, the Frankish Empire would never have existed, and without Muhammad, Charlemagne would be inconceivable.” That controversial thesis ignited a century of trench warfare across history faculties. Bone of contention: What actually ended the ancient world? Was it the Germanic invasions, the Justinian plague, moral decay, the conversion to Christianity, or simply too much lead in the imperial plumbing that drove the emperors mad? The most conventional endpoint — the one you probably learned in school — is 476 A.D., when Romulus Augustulus, the last emperor in Rome, was deposed by Germanic chieftain Odoacer, marking the fall of the Western Roman Empire. Transport of exotic animals by ship, as depicted on an early 4th-century Roman mosaic in the Villa del Casale, Piazza Armerina, Sicily. Antiquity was essentially a Mediterranean-centered civilization. Rome was not just an empire around a sea, it was an empire because of a sea. (Credit: public domain) Now, these maps support Pirenne’s two main points: that it was the rise of Islam in …

The mindset shift that ended my Sunday-night dread

The mindset shift that ended my Sunday-night dread

Published by Jenni Sidey

Sunday evening. I’m staring at my to-do list for the week ahead, and that familiar weight settles into my chest. There’s the newsletter draft I need to finish. The client presentation to revise. Three strategy documents waiting for review. Dozens of unread emails. My first thought: “I’m already behind.” My second thought: “Have I ever truly felt on top of things?” That question took me by surprise. A lot of these tasks are things I chose. There’s work I care about, client deliveries I find meaningful, and working with colleagues I care about. Not to mention side projects, such as writing articles like this. These are all, in theory, things I like. So why does it feel like I’m drowning in obligation? Author Oliver Burkeman, who wrote the bestseller Four Thousand Weeks, might say it’s because of my belief that it’s ever possible to get on top of things in the first place.  “There will always be too much to do,” Burkeman told Big Think. “That’s why I think we need a way of understanding …

Kelly Reilly says it’s a shame Yellowstone ended the way it did

Kelly Reilly says it’s a shame Yellowstone ended the way it did

Published by Daniella Wilson

Kelly Reilly has opened up about the tumultuous conclusion to hit series Yellowstone, which was marred by reports of conflict between creator Taylor Sheridan and actor Kevin Costner. Reilly, 48, starred as Beth Dutton, the daughter of Costner’s character, John Dutton, in the contemporary western about a family fighting to preserve their sprawling Montana cattle ranch. The Paramount show was cancelled after its fifth season, amid rumours that Costner – who dramatically quit in 2023 – had clashed with Sheridan. The final season was controversial, with fan complaints over multiple character deaths that drew negative comparisons to HBO’s blockbuster fantasy series Game of Thrones. British actor Reilly, who received critical praise for her performance as Beth, told The Sunday Times that it was “a shame it ended that way, but it did”. “[If] we were just having a beer, I could share more,” she said. “But yes, it was only supposed to go on for five years… It was successful… A life of its own.” open image in gallery Kelly Reilly as Beth Dutton with …

How climbing California’s Mt. Shasta ended in a death

How climbing California’s Mt. Shasta ended in a death

Published by Sam Flores

MT. SHASTA — The couple from Seattle had a taste for adventure but little alpine experience, so they hired Jillian Webster, a professional mountain guide, to help them climb Mt. Shasta — one of California’s most dramatic peaks. The trio crawled from their tents partway up the mountain at 2:30 a.m. on June 6 and set out for the summit. Snow and rain had forced climbers to turn back the day before, but that Monday the weather was nearly perfect, so clear one of Webster’s clients remembers looking to the heavens and being awed by the sight of the Milky Way. With crampons on their boots and ice axes in hand, they spent hours kicking and clawing their way up the snowy route known as Avalanche Gulch. They did not know that, up ahead, an extremely hard, slick layer of ice was waiting for them at the worst possible place, on the steepest section of the climb at about 12,000 feet elevation. When they reached that stretch, one of Webster’s co-workers from Shasta Mountain Guides, who was …